Final Fantasy 15 has been a real pleasure to play especially as I discover more and more of the story.  Episode Prompto, a DLC of the original game, adds more layering to the multifaceted story.  Here are my thoughts and theories on Episode Prompto.

Spoilers Ahead

Episode Prompto kicks off right after the scene in the game where Noctis is tricked into attacking Prompto and knocking him off the train.  The next time fans get to see Prompto in the game is when Noctis finds him in the Niflheim military base chained up, but what happened to him in between?  Well Episode Prompto tells you just what happens to him and explores his origins and backstory more.  Note to those who have not played the DLC, spoilers are ahead.

I really liked this DLC as it brings in an amazing amount of character depth into Prompto and takes a hard look at a character who is normally the comic cheery one of the bunch.  In this DLC, fans get to see a much darker side of Prompto as he struggles with his self doubt as to whether he even belongs with the group.  Fans also get an interesting origin story for Prompto.  As it was told in the game, Prompto had a unique birth in that he is a clone of Verstael Besithia, Nilflheim’s chief scientific officer who perfected the Magitek troopers.  The clones are used as the Magitek troopers and are infused with demon essence.  This would make anyone reel as it did with Prompto. It was a sad moment when Prompto realized that the very creatures he had been fighting all along were, technically, his clone brothers.

Story wise, I think this DLC definitely added a nice addition to the story.  I liked the inner turmoil I saw Prompto going through as he grapples with the news that he was born from a lab and was a Niflheim experiment.  I also liked how he grappled with having doubt on whether he was a help or a hinderance to Noctis.  Fans can see the pain that Prompto goes through when he wonders if Noctis and his friends could accept him after learning of his origins.  I will say that I suggest people watch Prompto’s episode from the Final Fantasy Brotherhood anime which goes into more detail of how Prompto met Noctis.  I think it adds a bit to the understanding of what is going on in the DLC.

Young Prompto in Final Fantasy XV Brotherhood

Some people feel the information in the DLC should have been in the original game.  I do think that the original game should have had more character development for the trio of friends.  But I will have to say that it was fun to play solely as Prompto even if I was pretty bad at the whole first person shooter aspect of the DLC.

Each special character episode has a unique fighting style that is suited for the character that the episode focuses on.  In Prompto’s case, his DLC has a first person shooter aspect to it.  Fans got to see all the weapons Prompto can use as well as his signature selfie option.  I rarely used the selfie as it doesn’t really help in combat.  It was just a nice nod to Prompto’s other passion which is photography.  I liked how you really had to pick and choose which weapon would be best for which situation.

The two major highlights of this episode, which really stuck with me, was the story elements added in and having Aranea as a partner.  The story elements are hidden in a series of tapes and letters that Prompto finds throughout a Niflheim base he is infiltrating.  Through these tapes and letters that he finds, fans piece together a story of how the Magitek troopers started and the gradual decline into madness that Verstael Besithia fell into.  Fans also get to see how Niflheim empire itself fell into madness as it desperately searched for a way to make weapons they could control to use against their enemies (Kingdom of Lucis and the Astrals).

Verstael Besithia as he is taken over by the star scourge.

Ardyn also pops in here and there in the DLC and fans know all to well that anything that Ardyn tells you or gives you should definitely be looked at closely.  He is a master manipulator and this is seen very clearly in this DLC as well.  Fans can see that Verstael’s obsession with perfecting the Magitek forces and becoming immortal was encouraged by Ardyn.  Another interesting fact that we learn is that Prompto was stolen out of the facility as a baby and was raised by a commoner family in Insomnia.  Could it have been Regis and his crew?  We know that Regis and his friends went on a similar journey as Noctis as seen in the game.  Could he had saved Prompto?  That would be an interesting theory and I have a few theories about this DLC, but I will get into that a little later.

The second highlight in this DLC is having Aranea as a partner.  In the main game, Aranea Highwind is a fan favorite and a kickass female character.  Unfortunately, fans did not get as much of a chance to play alongside or fight Aranea.  This changed though with this DLC as Prompto spends a good time fighting alongside Aranea.  I liked her addition and it was awesome to see more of her fighting style in this.  I also think she greatly helped Prompto to come to terms with some of the issues he was dealing with.  With tough love, she set him on the path he needed and helped him realize that he was an asset to Noctis.  Let’s just say when there is an Aranea Highwind DLC (which there looks like there will be one in the near future), I would be on board with playing such a badass female character.

Overall, I thought this DLC was well worth the $5 I paid and maybe even more so.  The graphics were beautiful and the music a wonderful addition.  I liked the play style and the story elements that it added to the main story.

Theory

Now on to the theory portion of this article.  Everything beyond this point is pure conjecture from my part.  This theory may not even be too new either, but it was a thought that really stuck with me throughout this dlc.  The theory that I have is that the entire dlc all takes place in Prompto’s head.  Does this mean that I am saying that all the information we got is not true?  I really think that all the information we got from episode Prompto is true and accurate and put into Prompto’s head by Ardyn.  Here are the reasons why I think this could have taken place in Prompto’s head:

– Prompto’s clothes

Yes, his clothes.  When episode Prompto starts, we see Prompto in some nice winter wear and the question we immediately think of is where did he get those clothes and did he have his own money to buy anything?  Now it is very plausible that he did find better clothes to wear for the cold weather, but then we get to the end of the dlc.  Prompto is found by Noctis wearing his usual garb that we typically see him in.  Was this an oversight by the video game creators?  Did Prompto change back into his normal garb and then get caught again?  That would mean he would have had to be carrying his old clothes with him the entire time.  That is plausible, but what could be even more plausible is that the moment Prompto fell off the train, he was caught by the Magitek Troopers and sent to the Niflheim base where the crystal was being held.  He was strung up as fans found him in chapter 13, and he never visited the base in Gralea.  We know that Ardyn can make pretty convincing illusions.  Could he have created a dream world for Prompto or could he have fed Prompto information and Prompto, due to some head injury from falling from a moving train, conjured up this wintery scenario?

– Pryna

Prompto has always had a connection to Pryna throughout the series.  In the Brotherhood anime, we see a young Prompto find an injured Pryna and nurse her back to health.  He even uses a scarf with his name on it as a bandage.  Pryna and Prompto’s scarf make it back to Lunafreya who assumes that Prompto is close friends with Noctis as Pryna was originally sent to Noctis.  She encourages Prompto to remain a good friend to Noctis despite the fact that Prompto had never met Noctis.  This moment leads Prompto to start up a friendship with Noctis which stays true to the very end.  In episode Prompto, we see Pryna leading Prompto on a journey of self discovery.  One problem with this?  Pryna is dead at this point.  Pryna died on the day Lunafreya died presumably from heartbreak, and all before episode Prompto.  Was Pryna a messenger beyond the grave? Or was she a familiar and loved connection to the past for Prompto, and that is why he conjured her up as his spirit guide?

–Prompto facing his inner demons

Several times in the dlc, Prompto has moments that can only be described as a manifestation of his worst fears and past doubts.  It happens three times in this DLC.  The first time is when Prompto faces his younger self and we get a flashback into his past.  Fans also get to see his self doubt on whether or not he is good enough to be apart of the band of brothers.  Prompto learns to face his inner child and confronts an illusion of his younger self.  Was this put into his head by Ardyn or was his mind forcing him to face himself?

The second time he faces his inner demons was when he runs into Noctis.  Now we know that Noctis was not there with Prompto.  In this scene, Noctis comes after Prompto and Prompto has to escape from him.  It was actually really interesting to play this part because players realize just how scary Noctis can be when he is using lethal force on you.  In this part, not only is Prompto projecting his fear of being rejected by Noctis, but he also looks down and sees himself as a Magitek Trooper.  This fits well into his psychological issues that he is dealing with dealing with being a clone of Verstael.  He could have easily become a Magitek Trooper if he had not been taken from the facility.  He also has to face the fact that he has been shooting beings that look just like him under the masks.  That would make anyone have a psychological crisis.

The third psychological issue he faces is his true father.  His biological father has always been an unknown figure in his life.  When he finally meets his biological father and finds out that Verstael is responsible for the Magitek Troopers, Verstael turns into a monster.  Coincidence?  Not if all of this takes place in Prompto’s head.  Verstael would be a monster to Prompto and taking his monstrous father down (in the form of Immortalis), which is the farthest thing from human you can get, could be Prompto’s way of confronting his past and realizing that he is a necessary member of Noctis’s retinue.  Maybe in his head, taking on Immortalis and defeating it, thus stopping a terrible weapon from being used on Noctis, allowed Prompto to come to terms with the idea that he was an asset and not a hinderance to Noctis.  This also could all be symbolic as well if all of it actually did happen.

–Aranea Highwind and Ardyn Lucis Caelum

Now I know that Aranea is very capable and may have had an idea where Prompto could have ended up.  I know that there is a real possibility that she really did come to destroy Immortalis and found Prompto by happenstance.  I know all of that is logically possible of happening, but let’s look at Aranea’s presence from the perspective of this theory.  If all of this is in Prompto’s head either because it was put there by Ardyn or it was Prompto’s own machinations, why would he pick Aranea as his partner?  The obvious reason most people would say is because he thought she was attractive, but I say it it way more than that.  Prompto, during the base game, remarked several times when Aranea fought at their side that Aranea was very capable and strong.  I think he admired her combative ability and strength.  If you could have anyone fighting on your side, why not Aranea?  But then why not conjure up Noctis?  I think, again if this all did take place in his head, he conjured up Aranea for another reason as well.  I think he chose her because she was also a former member of the Niflheim armed forces who defected and switched sides.  If he feels as if he could have been a sleeper agent and a possible threat to Noctis all this time, then meeting someone who has been on the other side of the battle would be something Prompto could have created.  Aranea, of all people, would know exactly what he was feeling and what to say to him to help him through this.  I think he felt the closest connection to her because she was not always on Noctis’s side, but redeemed herself and became a useful ally to Noctis.

As for Ardyn,  the reason why his presence in this dlc made me think this was all in Prompto’s head was this: at the end of the dlc, as Prompto is riding off and leaving Aranea behind to find Noctis, the camera quickly switches to Ardyn.  Ardyn watches him ride off, doesn’t attempt to stop him, and then hums the well known victory tune that is used when a mission has been accomplished or a boss defeated.  This suggests that everything that happened in this dlc including the defeat of Immortalis was still a victory for Ardyn.  How did he know exactly where Prompto would be in the north?  If Ardyn is messing with Prompto’s head and is setting Prompto on the path to help Noctis which will eventually lead Noctis to get strong enough to take down Ardyn and the Star Scourge as well as himself and the Lucian bloodline, would that not be victory for Ardyn?  If Ardyn’s goal is to die and take out the Lucian Bloodline, wouldn’t this be a step towards his victory?  Still, the question remains: why hum the victory tune in the end?  There are many theories about Ardyn’s motives and why he does all that he does, but that is a discussion for another day as Ardyn’s dlc, which will be coming out in 2019, may shed light in all of this.

And that is it for my theory portion.  It may be wild and it may be wrong, but it has stuck with me and I thought I would add it in.  That just shows just how interesting and thought provoking this dlc was in my opinion.  Overall, double thumbs up for this dlc!