Fans of Final Fantasy would recognize Shiva as one of the "mainstay" summons for the party. In games across the Square Enix title, Shiva often served a minor role as an ice-themed summon that dealt special elemental damage to enemies. However, Final Fantasy 15 elevates Shiva's role into that of a relevant part of its supporting cast. In FF15, Shiva still retains her role as a key summon in the party's arsenal. However, she also has a human form - that of Gentiana - that aided Noctis and the team in their journey.
Moreover, it seems Shiva and Gentiana represent a more human take on the concept of summons in FF15. Unlike in other games, popular summons - now called Astrals - have a vital role in the plot. And while much of the Astrals lie in deep sleep, Shiva and Gentiana have an active role in maintaining the balance of FF15's world of Eos. However, what else should players know about the mighty Shiva?
10 Originally Hated Humanity
Despite Gentiana and Shiva's present efforts in helping humanity fend off the threats of darkness and demons, Shiva previously felt indifference and even hatred for humans. At first, she always found herself indifferent to the struggles of humans given their fragile and finite existence. However, she admires Ifrit's trust in humanity's strength of character and grew to love the Astral when he gifted humanity with fire.
Unfortunately, Shiva also bore hatred against humanity when they rose up against Ifrit and the other Astrals. In the Astral War, Shiva and other Astrals fended off Bahamut and his threat to destroy Eos. As a result, Shiva fell into a deep sleep, harboring hate towards humans. It's thanks to the efforts of Lunafreya and her ancestors that Shiva grew to appreciate humanity.
9 Her True Form Is A Mystery
Interestingly, unlike other Astrals, Shiva apparently has the ability to assume various forms. In her "original" form she appears as a figure made of pure ice that's a bit taller than humans. However, it seems she's capable of spawning different copies of herself at once. Moreover, years before the events of FF15, Shiva found her body "destroyed" by magitek infantry, an event that transformed Graela's desert plains into a tundra covered by a massive snowstorm.
It's unknown whether Gentiana serves as one of Shiva's other forms, or if she's a vessel Shiva used to house her essence. However, it's known that Gentiana can still work alongside Lunafreya while another form of Shiva appears to help Noctis fight his battles.
8 Loyal Even In Alternate Realities
In the alternate timeline of The Dawn of the Future, Ardyn gathers too much power that even Noctis cannot purge from him with the Ring of Lucii. Bahamut once again follows his original plan of wiping Eos, including humanity and Astrals. To do this, he revives Lunafreya with the power to absorb demons in order to finish off Ardyn.
However, Gentiana successfully manages to impart to Lunafreya about Bahamut's original plan. To stop Bahamut, Shiva teams up with Noctis, the healed Ifrit, Leviathan, Ramuh, and Titan to fend off Bahamut's Teraflare. After Noctis and Ardyn kill Bahamut, all Astrals begin to disappear as magic also vanishes from Eos. In one last act of loyalty, Gentiana heals Lunafreya of her ability to absorb darkness and wishes her a happy life with Noctis.
7 The Most Powerful Summon
Fans often fight over who the "best summons" are in any Final Fantasy game, but chances are, it's almost always not Shiva. Unlike other summons, Shiva becomes one of the more accessible summons with the Summon command, often becoming a default. In FF15, however, Shiva serves as the most powerful summon available.
Players can summon Shiva in regular battles beginning in Chapter 14. When summoned, Gentiana enters the battlefield before transforming into Shiva, freezing the landscape around her. Afterward, Shiva unleashes Diamond Dust to summon gusts of chilled air to attack opponents. Interestingly, Shiva does get a unique animation when fighting Ifrit.
6 Spoken Language Is A Rarity
Aside from having their own Astral language, each Astral was to have a different method of speaking. For instance, Gentiana always refers to herself in the third person. However, while useful for monologues, this system proved quite tricky to implement for regular dialogue.
In turn, some interactions with Shiva received changes to make it easier to interact with them. For instance, Shiva's first encounter with Noctis originally intended for her not to speak. However, the devs included a scene where Shiva now uses human tongue to talk of the Great War of Old. Moreover, in the penultimate boss battle, Shiva now spoke in human tongue instead of Astral tongue. Interestingly, only Shiva and Bahamut were shown to speak human language amongst the Astrals.
5 A Photobomber, Chef On The Side
Aside from her role as Lunafreya's Messenger, Gentiana does seem to have other "hobbies" on the side. For instance, the game implies that Gentiana has been guiding Noctis in their journey to "bring back the light" in Eos. Players can observe this when Gentiana randomly appears in some of Prompto's photos beginning Chapter Five.
Likewise, the Comrades DLC also featured a Gentiana-exclusive dish called the "Feast of the Divine," Ignis's favorite food. In-game, eating the food makes the party immune to ice attacks and status ailments, as well as give them a huge HP boost. However, the food becomes a "default" dish in the game once Comrades had become its own game.
4 A Little Design Alteration
Like with other members of FF15's cast, Shiva also received some minor alterations in her original design, albeit in her Gentiana form. Roberto Ferrari, who worked as a sub-character designer for the game, explained that the devs changed his initial concept of Gentiana's design to accommodate the script.
According to Ferrari, he created two designs for Gentiana - a party dress and a formal outfit. In Gentiana's final design, Ferrari clarified that they kept the face and "kept much" from the two original outfits. However, they did remove his concept of a heavy sword, white armor, and red-framed glasses.
3 Oddities In Small Details
Eagle-eyed fans may also notice some small references to Gentiana across various chapters and related media. For instance, checking young Noctis's Cosmogony book reveals not just a winged Pyrna and Umbra, but also a winged Gentiana. Moreover, players may be able to spot her on a balcony during the Moogle Chocobo Carnival.
Interestingly, Gentiana's "cameos" extended to other media as well. In Episode Ardyn, viewers can see someone with Gentiana's features appearing just for a split second with Aera Mirus Fleuret, the original love interest of Ardyn. Interestingly, before Gentiana freezes Ardyn's body, the latter says, "Ahh, the face you wore the day you..." which implies they have met long before their encounter within the game.
2 Revised For Censorship
Despite Gentiana receiving minimal design alterations, the Shiva form did get a number of changes for her Chinese counterpart. Unlike the heavy white color scheme of the original Shiva, the Chinese version has a more human skin color. Moreover, the design moved away from Shiva's implied nakedness. Instead, the Shiva model has a blue bodysuit beneath her ice-themed details.
Interestingly, a "nude" model for Gentiana still exists in the version for her transformation sequence. However, this model is viewed from the back during the scene, making it not-so-explicit. Moreover, in this version, it's not possible to zoom in or rotate Shiva when viewing her entry in the bestiary.
1 A Different Role Entirely
Interestingly, while Gentiana didn't receive that many aesthetic changes, her role in the final draft did differ greatly from her original role in the story. Apparently, Gentiana served as a contact point between the opposing countries of Niflheim and Tenebrae, which may explain her heavy sword in her original design. Moreover, Gentiana should've been the messenger of Stella Nox Fleuret, the original iteration of Lunafreya Nox Fleuret.
Unfortunately, as with Stella's character, not much is known about Gentiana's original role with regards to Lunafreya's story. However, considering that early trailers of Versus 13 meant for Noctis and Stella to do battle, Gentiana may double as Lunafreya's guardian as well, similar to how Noctis has his own team of guardians.