Hope/History

On the fifth floor of Ebony Tower, was a strange resemblance of a map cut into an indestructible stone. One of the images depicted on it was a silhouette of a graceful pagoda floating above flames, which was assumed to be the Ivory Tower. The inscription cut into the stone near the image of the Ivory Tower were runes closely resembled those usually used by the Spell. It was "Desire". The other meaning of the runes was hope. The Ivory Tower had once belonged to the Demon of Hope.^[1]

It can be also said that the ruler of the beautiful and prosperous land that had invoked the wrath of the Sun God and doomed their kingdom to destruction and eventually transformed into the Chained Isles, was a daemon, as well.^[2][1]

See also: Ebony Tower Map

Inside the Ivory Tower, were seven chains sprawled on a pristine white floor. The shackles were inscribed with a myriad of runes and marred, their metal torn.^[3] According to Mordret, it was the chains that Hope herself had been bound.^[4]

The runes Hope had used were giant, spanning the whole width of the ancient arena, and guided torrential floods of soul energy to create the unimaginably powerful enchantments. The source of power that fueled the enchantments of the ancient theater came from the jubilation, elation, and sincere excitement of the crowd of spectators.^[5]

See also: Red Colosseum

Quote: That is the question, isn't it? Why destroy this land and put its kind Lady in shackles? Who knows... if mortals like us could know the will of gods, then, maybe, we'd be gods instead… — Sunny (as an old man) to Solvane — Chapter 635 The Will of Gods

According to the son of Aidre, Hope is the daemon who was imprisoned within the Ivory Tower by the gods as a punishment for her malevolence, corruption, and pride. However, she was never evil, malevolent, or corrupt. In fact, she was very kind and generous to the humans. No one knows why the former lands of the Kingdom of Hope were destroyed by the gods and she was shackled.^[6]

It was revealed by Noctis that Hope's prison wasn't perfect anymore after one of the seven shackles died. It enabled her will, her insidious influence sipped out, little by little, infecting all of them.^[7]

Hope, who holds domain over desire, used her power to reach through the tiny cracks in her prison, and drove a whole realm utterly insane, turning it into a ghastly, hideous, demented hell. Every aspiration, every desire, every dream, and every hope were twisted, set aflame, and turned into a weapon. An insidious, invisible weapon that struck at human hearts and minds from within. No one was immune to her power. Neither mundane humans nor Awakened, not even Saints. Those who were closed and those who were far, all fell victim to the daemon's curse. She wanted to be free. She was driving her jailers mad so that they would destroy each other. And her curse worked all too well.^[8]

The Demon of Desire decided to come and live among the mortals, becoming known as Hope. After she built her kingdom, people soon learned to love her and not long after that, they started to worship her. While the gods were friendly to daemons and indifferent to mortals building temples to beasts, spirits, and rocks. They would not allow a daemon to be worshiped. They were so unwilling that the Lord of Light brought down his flames upon the mortal realm, obliterating a whole chunk of it. After her imprisonment, the idea of worshiping a daemon slowly became tantamount to heresy.^[9]

Sunny: "Wait! Don't go! Tell me… tell me why the Lord of Light did this! Why did the gods imprison you?! Why couldn't they just kill you?! Why?!"

Hope: "...Because we are their Flaw."

― Conversation Hope was gone,
Chapter 742 Hope

It was implied in the answer of Hope that the daemons were possibly the personifications of the Flaws that the gods had shed.^[10]