EMMA D’ARCY As RHAENYRA TARGARYEN

EMMA D’ARCY as RHAENYRA TARGARYEN

HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 1.06 “THE PRINCESS AND THE QUEEN"

Noctis, impending death, and depression:

There are some things I want to address that I see people on twitter talking about a lot lately that are really frustrating me.

One thing I see over and over is about how “Noctis didn’t know he was going to die!” and “If he did, (if Luna and his father told him the truth, etc.) he would’ve shut down mentally!!” …. don’t you realize that he already has?

First of all, we have to address that Noctis is not a “normal boy” and will not react to things as a normal person. He is royalty, and that will always affect how he reacts to certain things no matter how much his father tried to get him to feel like he was just a normal kid. That’s another long, complicated post in and of itself so I’ll just leave it there.

What people are forgetting is that Noctis absolutely knows he’s going to die. While it may not be the revelation of Bahamut, or even outright directly stated this is what he knows, even by the timeline of the 4th episode of Brotherhood that directly has him facing this, he knows he is doomed to die and so do his friends. That episode is actually one of the most important parts of Noctis’ characterization the development team gave us as far as I’m concerned.

On the surface, that episode is about Noctis coming to terms with his father’s failing health and Ignis trying to settle into his more adult role of advisor. Okay, but why is Noctis’ father’s health failing? Because of the ring of the Lucii. Because of the very mark of being a Lucian king requiring his life-force in return for protecting his people. The Citadel interior that Noctis grew up in, is covered in sayings etched into gold and marble about their ‘martyr’ kings.(visible at the top of the 1st image) Noctis has known since as long as he could read, that he is not going to live a natural life or die of old age. While this isn’t the same as being told what Bahamut told him at the end, he has still had to live with not only the pain of watching his father breaking down and dying before his eyes, but with the fact that when his dad’s body gives out—he is next.

Noctis, Impending Death, And Depression:

“He would shut down mentally!” – back to this

Yes. Seeing your entire retinue (caretakers and guards) murdered bloodily by a huge 2-story tall monster at the tender age of 7-8? Irrevocably traumatic. Knowing you’re going to die unnaturally, (before your time, etc.) traumatic. Most people do shut down mentally to some extent when they are given that kind of prognosis.

Now go back to that 4th episode of Brotherhood and look at Noctis’ habits. Nothing makes me more furious, as someone who suffers from trauma and mental illness and understands firsthand—when people look at that episode and call Noctis a brat, or worse 'uwu oh boys are so messy.’ No. That is not the living space of a neurotypical person, spoiled rotten or not. He is barely functioning, barely able to keep up appearances enough to keep going to school while his mental health deteriorates. So that statement is both correct and not—any person would become unstable at the realization that they’re dying. The thing is… no one really noticed or tried to help Noctis with those things…. even though his friends obviously have the same information that he does. His obvious symptoms of mental illness were treated as a source of irritation and nothing more.

I look at the state of Noctis’ apartment and the attention to detail in the animation always moves me. This is more of a personal analysis, but I hope it’s at least beneficial to someone. There is trash everywhere. That’s not normal, that’s not just 'haha messy teenager.’ That is a symptom that often accompanies the apathy and lethargy of severe depression. This episode moves me to tears nearly every time I watch it if only because it reminds me very keenly of a time in my own life before my family had been unwilling to get me treatment for my depression, when I could not function at all. I lived like this. I did not want to.But it happened anyway.. The thing that stands out to me the most is that there are countless convenience store bags, but they’re full—as if Noctis knew he needed to try to pick up after himself, but just couldn’t get past stuffing whatever debris was around him into the bag he’d brought it in with. I’ve been there. Later on, it’s stated in-game that he had a job as a part-time cook after high school, likely for life experience, or for the sake of being among the common people. It’s not that Noctis can’t cook. It’s that he doesn’t have the energy or the attention span not to scorch everything, which is more or less a key plot point of episode 4 of Brotherhood. While the others are frustrated with him for not functioning on their level, he is doing as much as he can. That’s the hardest thing with diseases like depression—you can be giving your all, and because it’s not the same as what a healthy person can do, you’ll always be called lazy and ineffective.

To me more and more, Final Fantasy XV has become a metaphor for how much a person who is hurting and desperately trying to carry on like they’re not can become reticent and unable to express those feelings they’re keeping buried when they don’t get the proper help they need. It happens in real life all of the time: Noctis’ friends love him and want to help him—but they don’t know how.