Shakespeare meets Final Fantasy | FFXV is a Reinvented Story of Hamlet

Lately I've been seeing many posts going around in the FFXV fandom that compare the game to The Lion King, so in this (long) blog post, why not take it a step further?

There's no doubt in my mind that The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is my favorite William Shakespeare play, probably because I grew up watching The Lion King and loving the story of Simba. So how are Hamlet and Simba related? It's no secret that Disney was heavily inspired by that particular Shakespearian play; you could even go as far as saying that The Lion King is an adaptation of the Hamlet story.

And now to address the elephant in the room, where does Final Fantasy XV fit in all this?

Just like The Lion King, one could claim that FFXV is also heavily inspired by Shakespeare. In fact, back when FFXV was still known as Final Fantasy Versus XIII, the early concept trailers (including the 1st trailer ever OMG) for the game took a direct quote from one of Shakespeare's plays. And that play was none other than Hamlet. 

"Why, then, 'tis none to you, for there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. To me it is a prison." -Hamlet, Act II, Scene 2, Page 11

But how could one Shakespeare play be a main theme of this upcoming game if the game itself has only utilized one quote from the play? Not to mention that this happened during FF Versus XIII days, before the game went through some dramatic changes once it was renamed to FFXV. However, this case doesn't end with just one quote. So now let's study the story and characters of FFXV and compare and contrast them to Hamlet and The Lion King.

BEWARE! THE CONTENT BELOW CONTAINS SPOILERS!



Let's start off by giving a brief summary of the three stories (though I definitely recommend checking these out for yourself if you haven't already; they are all amazing).

Hamlet (1996)

Hamlet is the story of the Prince of Denmark, Hamlet, and his quest to avenge his father's death. In the beginning, we learn that Claudius, Hamlet's uncle on his father's side, is the new King of Denmark because King Hamlet mysteriously passed away. At the same time, Denmark is on the brink of war with Norway because they killed their king during Old Hamlet's reign, and now Prince Fortinbras wants revenge (Hamlet has many foils). And if things couldn't get any worse, Denmark is also facing a horrible plague. With Hamlet still mourning his father's death, unlike his mother Gertrude who quickly married Claudius, many people believe he has gone mad. But then one night, a Ghost appears in front of Hamlet, who is presumably the dead King Hamlet. The Ghost reveals to Hamlet that Claudius murdered the previous king to claim the throne, and thus Hamlet vows to get revenge on his uncle. Hamlet devices a plan to expose Claudius' crimes, so he orchestrates a play that reenacts the way that King Hamlet truly died. This puts Claudius on edge, and he's smart enough to suspect Hamlet of knowing the truth, so Claudius tries to kill Hamlet before his secrets can be exposed to world. With this story being a tragedy, many of the characters die, including Hamlet, but in the end justice and peace is served in Denmark.

The Lion King has a very similar tale, except it has a happy ending and all the characters are animals. The lion cub and heir to the Pride Lands, Simba is adventurous and eager to become the next king. This, along with being manipulated by his evil uncle Scar, gets him into dangerous situations, and his father Mufasa must constantly rescue him. On one such occasion, Scar sends a stampede of wildebeest to trample Simba, which would inevitably force Mufasa to risk his own life to save his son. Mufasa succeeds, but Scar kills Mufasa with the stampede. Feeling guilt over his father's death, Simba runs away from home and stays in a jungle paradise until adulthood. His romantic interest, Nala, finds him and tells him that Scar has become the new king of Pride Rock and the Pride Lands have become barren. Still not willing to face his past, it takes Rafiki's wisdom and Mufasa's spirit to finally convince Simba to go back home and reclaim his rightful place at the throne. There, Simba squares off with Scar and wins after realizing that Scar was the one responsible for Mufasa's death. Afterwards, Simba becomes King and the Pride Lands are restored to their former glory.

Obviously we still don't know the whole story to FFXV (even though it's been ten years in the making *cries*), but thanks to numerous trailers, demos, the Brotherhood anime, and Kingsglaive, we at least have a basic premise. To spare you from reading another summary, here are the first twelve minutes of Kingsglaive, which introduces us to the world of FFXV:

Here's a link to one of the many trailers for the game (I tried picking one that revealed more about the story rather than those open world tours.)

And here's another video that introduces us to the voice actors in FFXV. They briefly explain more about the characters in the game.

So now that we have a basic concept of what these stories are about, let's draw some comparisons.

First column: Simba, Hamlet, Noctis
Second column: Timon, Guildenstern, Prompto
Third column: Pumbaa, Rosencrantz, Gladiolus
Fourth column: Zazu, Polonius, Ignis
NOTE: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern can be interchangeable Also, those two actors aren't from the 1996 version of Hamlet.

The Princes

Obviously the protagonists of all three stories are the princes: Simba, Hamlet, and Noctis. And they each share a similar crisis: their fathers are murdered for their throne or power, and the world around them is falling apart. 

Like Simba and Hamlet, it's evident that Noctis will suffer greatly from the death of his father, especially since his father has been the only parent he's had for most of his life. In these three stories, it's clear that the bond between father and son is strong. When loss hits the princes, it tears them apart: Simba runs away (he can't even face his mother for the guilt he has), Hamlet is depressed to the point where people think he's mad (but to be fair, he is a little crazy) and starts to have suicidal thoughts (see: "To be, or not to be" monologue), and there's no doubt that Noctis will share some sort of troubled response. He might not exactly feel Simba's guilt since obviously he didn't kill his father, but he might regret not being prepared enough to reclaim the throne. Back to "to be or not be", though I doubt Noctis is suicidal like Hamlet, Noctis does have an affinity for death. For some reason his eyes have the ability to "see the light of expiring souls", meaning that he can foresee a person's death. And as if he couldn't be more like Hamlet, in 2011 there were even hints of Noctis planning out his revenge. 

(Rough Translation)
"Do you have a plan? Something ten times worse than their own?" -Noctis
"I'm going to think of a way to return it hundredfold." -Ignis

What's certain is that Noctis has some big shoes to fill in, especially when the world is counting on him.

And now let's address "the plagues" that threaten the princes' worlds. In Hamlet, Denmark is conveyed as a physical body that has fallen ill due to the moral corruption of Claudius and Gertrude. The diseased body of Denmark is suffering dearly while Fortinbras is slowly looming closer for an attack. During Scar's reign, food is scarce and the Pride Lands become a wasteland of sorts. And aside from Niflheim almost obtaining complete world domination, "The Plague of Stars" looms closer, darkening the world and unleashing hell. Only our three princes can end these nightmares. Though Hamlet's initial target is Claudius, the events in the story kill off all the "corrupt" characters, including Hamlet himself (he's no cinnamon roll, that's for sure), ultimately "purifying" Denmark in a sense. Of course, with Scar dead, the hyenas no longer ruin the Pride Lands, which gives Simba time to bang Nala and end the movie with another lion cub being born. And the resolution to the conflict in FFXV is to eventually take back the Lucian throne and save the world from "the star plague" with your chocobros.

Noctis' story is similar to Simba's for the fact that their story is also a classic coming of age story. We see Simba grow up from cub to adult lion, and though Noctis is twenty at the start of the game, the story also depends on Noctis' childhood. And if you haven't seen recent trailers, the game takes place over a course of ten years, so by the end of the game Noctis is thirty and his looks change drastically. No doubt we'll also see some intense character development in those ten years.

Noctis gets so Daddy, I can't believe it *drools*.

The Bros

This part is a little interesting because "The Bros" have slightly different roles in each Hamlet adaptation. In the original Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern aren't the best bros to have around because they are dumb as hell, and they agree to Claudius' wishes to sail Hamlet to England so he can  be executed (Claudius uses Polonius' death as an excuse for Hamlet to answer to the English court). Of course, Hamlet is smarter than the two combined, so he tricks them into walking to their own execution instead. However, they (along with some gravediggers) are the only comic relief we get in the story, so that's perhaps the one thing Gladio and Prompto can relate to. In reality, Gladio and Prompto share a stronger resemblance to Pumbaa and Timon since obviously they take care of Simba in the jungle and their friendship takes them all the way back to the Pride Lands. 

But if you have to connect all three of these stories in some way, the tie that makes the most sense is the carefree attitude of these easy-going characters. Though it's never explicitly stated, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern posses nihilistic qualities since they have no heavy purpose in the story, literally and metaphorically, and they're consequently carefree to the point that it gets them killed. And the phrase "Hakuna Matata", or "No Worries", essentially stems from nihilism or apathy (see: Timon and Pumbaa spend most of their days chilling out and being lazy in the jungle instead of having significant responsibilities besides raising Simba). 

Of course, it's easily arguable that neither Gladio or Prompto are extremely lackadaisical or lack any sense of duty or responsibility, but they are characters that fall into the archetype of being laid-back and are there for comedic relief. Though FFXV has promised that these characters aren't just there for the ride; they are each on their own journey, and they're all pretty grounded given the serious circumstances they face.

Now let's finish off with Ignis. He is clearly similar to Polonius and Zazu because he's more on the serious and tidy side of the spectrum. As Zazu is the royal adviser to Mufasa and eventually to Simba as well, Ignis is also an advisor to Noctis, the king-to-be. Polonius is an aide to King Claudius, which technically makes him similar to Zazu and Ignis, but he's obsessed with improving his social standing, and he eavesdrops too much for his own good (it actually gets him killed lol). 

So after addressing Gladio, Prompto, and Ignis, it's clear that their roles in FFXV are a huge part of the story (one of the main themes of the game is brotherhood, after all). Yes, they're there to put smiles on our faces, but these Hamlet adaptations of Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Polonius are humble and strong in their own unique ways, but most importantly, they are loyal friends to their prince.

Now let's bring in the second wave of characters.

First column: Mufasa, Old Hamlet, King Regis
Second column: Scar, Claudius, Iedolas (Ardyn could also fit in this column)
Third column: Nala, Ophelia, Lunafreya
Fourth coloumn: N/A, Laertes, Ravus

The Old Kings and Ghosts

For being dead prior to the events of the story or dying early on in the introduction, these characters have the biggest impact on the princes. "Father and Son" is one of the main themes in FFXV, and it's made painfully true in the "Dawn" trailer where we see King Regis crying while holding his baby boy.

"I will be with you..."
-King Regis

I feel like it's almost unnecessary for me to go into too much detail because you'd have to be dense as fuck if you can't feel the overwhelming love King Regis has for Noctis. And back to "The Princes" segment of this meta, we know that Noctis will suffer tremendously when he eventually finds out that his father is dead. So let's take a break from the angst for just a minute and talk about ghosts.

"Remember who you are..."

Ghosts play another major role in these stories. In Hamlet, the presumed ghost of Old Hamlet is the one who sets the plot in motion; in The Lion King, Mufasa's spirit is ultimately the driving force for Simba to return home and reclaim the throne from Scar. So how in the world do ghosts appear in FFXV? Simply put, Kingsglaive already spoiled this for us because the all-powerful ring of Lucis conjures the Past Kings. As soon as Nyx Ulric puts on the ring, King Regis' ghost convinces the other kings that Nyx is worthy despite him not being a Lucian royal. And guess who we see putting on that same ring in a trailer and saying "Thanks Dad"?

We can definitely expect Noctis to have interactions with his dead father after he gets the ring; we'll most likely get a pep talk filled with fatherly love and angst. Seeing ghosts/spirits isn't something that's out of the ordinary for Final Fantasy. To give an easy example, in Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, Cloud sees the ghosts of his friends Zack and Aeris (Aerith).

To close this section, these dad-ghosts are ultimately the ones who encourage their sons to set things right, and we'll see this unfold in FFXV.

The Greedy Sons of Bitches

Now we run into our main antagonists, who hungrily lust for power. Iedolas fits the "Claudius/Scar description" like a glove with him waging war on Lucis for the power of the crystal and the king's ring, which summons the power of the Lucii. From what FFXV has shown us with trailers and Kingsglaive, Iedolas "deceptively" offers terms of peace to King Regis since Lucis is clearly losing the war against Niflheim. So in order to maintain the prized capital of Insomnia along with the crystal, King Regis accepts Iedolas' peace offering, but we all know how that goes down...

"Peace treaty my ass!"
-King Regis....probably

Although it was General Glauca who killed King Regis, it was still part of Iedolas' evil plan, so he's just as responsible for murdering the Lucian king. Again, we can clearly see how this exhibits behavior from Claudius/Scar. And now that King Regis is dead, Iedolas only has one more Lucian royal left to kill.

Still talking about this archetype, I think it's worth mentioning Ardyn Izunia because he does show characteristics that are similar to Claudius/Scar.

"I'm an impatient traveler, ready to turn ship." -Ardyn
A very suspicious line, if you ask me.

It's clear that the Chancellor of Niflheim is teaming up with "the bad guys", but what if Ardyn was more than just a pawn in Niflheim's war? From the way he talks to the way he acts with his "sincere insincerity", it's very reminiscent of Scar.

In a few recent trailers, we see Ardyn offering to "guide" Noctis and friends somewhere (and I don't think Noctis and friends know who he really is, or who he is affiliated with). This seems like a trap to me, which coincides with Claudius/Scar behavior, but it's possible that Ardyn might even be the next Kefka of Final Fantasy, and ultimately betray Iedolas to come to power and become "the final boss". After all, he's been described as "oily" and "a man of no consequence", so this sort of thing could happen in the game.

The Romantic Interests

This role is quite interesting because even though our ladies are all beautiful and elegant, their stories are incredibly different from each other. Hamlet and Ophelia are hopelessly in love with each other, but to our modern standards, Hamlet is quite cruel and misogynistic to poor Ophelia. In fact, there aren't many people who treat Ophelia well; her own father even uses her to gather intel on Hamlet's madness. On the other hand, Nala is strong and independent, and she isn't afraid to call Simba out on his bullshit. Nonetheless, she's forgiving, and though Simba is too stubborn to listen to her sometimes, she's still willing to support the one true king.

Like Nala, Luna is childhood friends with her significant other before being separated for a long time.

Young Noctis and Luna before Niflheim invades Tenebrae.

Luna and Ophelia are both maidenly, but Ophelia is fragile because she's too dependent on men to tell her how she should behave, and that is her downfall because she goes mad and drowns herself after her father's death. On the other hand, Luna has been described to be independent, even more so than Noctis.

Hajime Tabata has told us that Luna will have an even bigger role, which is why I don't believe Luna will ever be a damsel in distress. Aside from simply being engaged to Noctis, she is responsible for delivering the Lucian ring to Noctis. Not only that, but she's also the Oracle, and her connection to the moon is what's delaying the "plague of the stars" until Noctis is strong enough to end it. Oh, and she can talk to the gods, no bigge.

The Oracle

And to top the cake, she still squares off with Leviathan like a champ.

Say "Ahhh"

And while all that is fine and dandy, I have my own suspicion that Luna will die in the game. Even though Nala doesn't die, Ophelia does. In Kingsglaive, I also noticed that Luna repeatedly says she isn't afraid to die; she's more afraid of doing nothing, and that to me seems like something that would set up her death. I can very easily picture Luna sacrificing herself for the greater good; she already tried doing that in Kingsglaive by nearly putting on the ring, but of course Nyx intervenes and wears the ring instead.

Besides looking forward to seeing her in game, there's still another upcoming Brotherhood episode dedicated to Luna, so we should learn a couple new things about her. Maybe we'll even find out more things about her attendant, Gentiana.

Gentiana is even more mysterious than Ardyn.

The Vengeful Brothers

I'm quite intrigued to see how this role will play out in FFXV, but to be honest, I've been interested in the notorious and mysterious hooded man from the FF Versus XIII days. Now that we know he is Ravus Nox Fleuret, and after receiving some of his backstory in Kingsglaive, it's becoming clearer to me that Ravus perfectly fits the role of Laertes, who is Ophelia's brother in Hamlet. There is no counterpart in The Lion King because Nala has no brothers, and there's no other animal who embodies Laertes to the dot.

Anyway, Laertes plays a key role near the end of Hamlet. Do you remember I mentioned that Polonius' eavesdropping got him killed? Well that happened because he was listening in on a conversation between Hamlet and Gertrude. Hamlet, being paranoid and mad, could sense that someone was spying on them (and he initially believed the spy was Claudius), so he stabbed the curtain that Polonius was hiding behind and ultimately killed the man. Because of this event, Laertes, Polonius' son, wants to get revenge on Hamlet (oh how the cycle of revenge continues with this story). Eventually Laertes teams up with Claudius to kill Hamlet, so Laertes challenges Hamlet to a duel (they even compete with each other over who loves Ophelia the most....yes, it's subtly implied that Laertes had romantic feelings for his sister; incest is wincest). This duel is hectic because so many character deaths occur, and the main killer is the poison that Laertes and Claudius plan to use in order to kill the prince. Laertes poisoned his sword so that even a scratch would kill Hamlet (and this plan works), and in case Hamlet survived the duel unscathed, Claudius would poison Hamlet's drink (which works, but Gertrude is the one to drink out of it first). This is the climax because it exposes Claudius, which leads Hamlet to force the poisoned wine down his uncle's throat. And Laertes, who had been stabbed by his own sword, apologizes to Hamlet before dying. Shortly after, the poison takes its toll on Hamlet and he dies.

Laertes' quest for revenge is very similar to Ravus' hatred toward King Regis. He blames King Regis for the death of his mother and the loss of his birthright to the throne of Tenebrae.

Young Ravus watching General Glauca murder his mother in Kingsglaive.

Over the years he's been forced to serve Niflheim, but his wrath has clouded him to think that Regis and his ring are the sole reason as to why he's been so unfortunate. With everything being stolen from him for this powerful ring, Ravus naturally believes that the ring should belong to him (besides being a royal, therefore having ties to the Past Kings of Lucis) since he has paid the price for it dearly.

"I lost my mother, my country, my birthright. Niflheim was the only life left to me. But all of that was for this."
-Ravus (Kingsglaive)

We only got a glimpse of what Ravus is like in Kingsglaive, but he's still bound to show up in FFXV, and more than likely his hatred for King Regis will carry through to Noctis. So yes, I am expecting some sort of rivalry between them; it was even teased in an early FF Versus XIII trailer (though things have changed since then). And to be more specific, I think the two will duel over ownership of this damn ring.

Ravus fighitng Noctis in FF Versus XIII

As for how it'll end, we'll have to wait for the game's release to find out. Like Ardyn, Ravus' hatred might just be enough to potentially make him a candidate for "the final boss". Or like Laertes, Ravus could realize just how wrong he's been and help Noctis save the world (hopefully this comes with a resolution with his sister, Luna).

Triple Threat

Top row (left to right): Banzai, Shenzi, Ed
Bottom row (left to right): General Glauca, Aranea Highwind, Verstael

This is just a brief mention of the hyenas and the Niflheim trio; sadly there's not much Shakespeare that can go along with this. They're quite conventional; the hyenas are scary and funny, and the FFXV villains (supposedly) are here to just look cool and be awesome boss battles in the game (except Glauca since he dies in Kingsglaive).

• General Glauca is the main antagonist in Kingsglaive, but he certainly does know how to uplift the whole betrayal card like Claudius/Scar, which makes it a nice twist when we find out he's actually Titus Drautos, the commander of the glaive.
• Aranea Highwind is perhaps the most anticipated antagonist because we've seen this dragoon lady since FF Versus XIII. She's the captain of Niflheim's Third Army Corps 86th Airborne Unit, and she's sexy (yes, I'm in love with her).
• Verstael is a researcher who helped create Niflheim's magitek infantry. Not much else to him at the moment except for a few seconds of a CGI cutscene in the FFXV E3 2013 trailer.

"O, I die, Horatio!"

Horatio (right) is almost like the Shakespearean "cinnamon roll".

Oh poor Horatio! He's often the one character that gets left out of these Hamlet comparisons, and that's probably because he's the most normal (by that I mean he's not insane) character ever. Essentially he's Hamlet's loyal friend and an all-around good guy. I actually feel sad for him in the end of the play because he does mourn for Hamlet, yet I applaud him for the little time he gets to shine at this part. After Hamlet dies, Horatio promises to tell tales of his friend and of all the shenanigans that happened in Denmark after King Hamlet was murdered.

There really is no particular character that's exactly like Horatio in FFXV, but Horatio is definitely a better friend than Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, and Polonius (Polonius was never Hamlet's friend to begin with), so it makes more sense to claim that despite the archetypes mentioned above, The Bros and Noctis' friends (including Cid, Cindy, and Cor) all have a little Horatio in them.

Romeo and Juliet: What Final Fantasy Versus XIII Could've Been

Since we're on the topic of Shakespeare, I think this is a good time to bring up the initial direction of FF Versus XIII. Whether or not you prefer Stella or Luna is another debate on its own, but in this section I'm going to be focusing on the references from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet that FF Versus XIII could've potentially used.

If you ask me, besides "a fantasy based on reality", Versus XIII was probably intended to be a clusterfuck of Shakespeare references, not just solely a reinvented story of Hamlet. Though the big picture of this Final Fantasy story is the Hamlet story (and still is, obviously), another driving force of the story would've been the famous theme of "star-crossed lovers". I don't think it's necessary for me to go into detail about Romeo and Juliet, but Noctis is your Romeo, and Stella is your Juliet. Even the way they first meet is pretty reminiscent of how Romeo and Juliet meet; they're both at a party, and it takes one good look at Stella/Juliet for Noctis/Romeo to be completely captivated (at least Noctis seems to keep a cool air whereas Romeo instantly falls in love with Juliet, and though he's passionate, he's so desperate for her). 

Subtext Clues: You don't focus on seeing a pretty woman's face for the first time in slow-motion with sparkly eyes and perfect hair porn unless you want us (including Noctis) to fall in love with her.

Lucis would've been a substitute for the Montague domain, and Tenebrae would've been the Capulet's. From what we've learned in Kingsglaive, Tenebrae becomes a sworn enemy to Lucis thanks to Niflheim's bitch ass. And even if things went a little differently in Versus XIII, Tenebrae would one way or the other end up being forced to serve Niflheim. In this early version of the story, Noctis' goal is to protect the crystal from falling into enemy hands, and this is where Ravus comes in.

Ravus attempting to steal the Lucian crystal in Final Fantasy Versus XIII.

Aside from playing the role of Laertes, Ravus would've probably also played the role of "Tybalt", Juliet's benevolent cousin. Tybalt loathes the Montagues. He's quick to draw his sword at every little jab toward his pride, but he's absolutely dangerous. He kills one of Romeo's friends, which infuriates Romeo, and finally he kills Tybalt. Prince Escalus, being fed up with the family dispute in his city, banishes Romeo from Verona. In this case, Tybalt's hatred for the Montagues could have been relatable to Ravus' hatred for the Lucian royals. And just to spice things up, we don't really know how Ravus feels about Luna's engagement to Noctis, but my guess is that he's not totally happy about it. If Stella were still his original sister, my assumption would be that Ravus gets enraged by whatever romantic relationship she would develop with Noctis, and he would force an ultimatum on her: family and loyalty to her country, or forbidden love and treason.

Not gonna lie, this heart-wrenching fight would've been AMAZING to see.

In the play, Juliet weeps for Romeo's exile instead of Tybalt's death, but I have a strong feeling that Stella would've done the latter instead, if not both. Clearly Stella has a sense of loyalty for her family if she's willing to fight Noctis one-on-one. What I liked about them was how they seemed to balance each other out to the point where they were always on equal footing, like Yin & Yang. 

• Noctis is a Dark Prince who's destined to bring back the light into the world, whereas Stella was the Princess of Light who eventually becomes Noctis' sworn enemy.
• Noctis is cool on the outside but weird in the inside; Stella seems bright and cheerful, yet we see shots of her where she seems melancholic.
• Noctis is more dependent; Stella is independent and willful. 

It's also worth mentioning that "Lucis" means "light", whereas "Tenebrae" means "darkness". And to further even the scales, they have the same magical abilities thanks to their royal blood and their ties to the crystal. With trailers repeatedly stating that Lucis has the last crystal in the world, surely Tenebrae would be after its power (forced by Niflheim or not, we won't ever know).

The story of Noctis and Stella would've been about true love vs duty, and unfortunately we'll never know the outcome of that story. That being said, I'm equally attached to both Stella and Luna. I love Stella because I'm a hopeless romantic and enjoy stories about forbidden love, and I love Luna because I love her fearlessness, selflessness, and deep love for her family (including King Regis and Noctis).

Protective Mothers / Caretakers

I've mentioned Gertrude several times in this meta, though it's almost unnecessary for me to mention her. Even though Simba's mother, Sarabi, is her counterpart, Noctis' mother isn't alive for the game (apparently she died when Noctis was still a baby; so this was well before Brotherhood). Her corpse (EDIT: this was written before Ep 5 of Brotherhood; the woman's corpse from Ep 1 wasn't actually Noctis' mother) Noctis' caretaker is briefly shown in the first episode of Brotherhood, and it's evident she died protecting Noctis from that Medusa-looking daemon. It's this event where young Noctis receives that grievous injury (which is why he has that wheelchair) and goes into a coma for a short time, which kicks off the plot for the Platinum Demo. This moment is still shrouded in so much mystery, especially when we still don't know what or who tried to prevent Noctis from ever leaving his dream world.

However, no matter how good they are as mothers, Gertrude, Sarabi, and Noctis' mother caretaker all protect the princes at some point. For Hamlet, though her loyalty to her son is highly questionable, Gertrude managed to warn him about the poison, which helped in exposing Claudius. Sarabi is obviously a fierce mama lioness. And for what little we know of Noctis' caretaker, we know enough to realize that she was willing to sacrifice herself to save the prince's life.

NOT Noctis' mother, but she's as close as we'll get.

Closing Thoughts

Even after drawing all these comparisons and predicting how it'll effect the game's story, I certainly don't expect FFXV to follow Hamlet's and The Lion King's storyline piece by piece (lol can you imagine Noctis having a baby girl and presenting her to the whole kingdom of Lucis by holding her up to the heavens?). Even though I'm 99.9% sure that Noctis will be triumphant in his quest, this is still a darker Final Fantasy story (the only reason it has seemed peppy and fluffy so far is because the FFXV staff are doing the best they can to avoid giving away major spoilers), and there will be plenty of tribulations that Noctis and his chocobros will have to overcome. Nonetheless, there's already so much beauty being shown in this game, and I can't wait for November to finally play this game after ten years (it's been a shitty year in general with everything that's going on in the world, so this game and Star Wars are the only two big things getting me through the year).

Anyway, thank you for reading this thing I put together in the midst of my hectic schedule. When FFXV is finally out, I'll be sure to write more about the game, so stay tuned.

As always, may the Nerd be with you!