I was gunna add this comment to this thread but I think it justifies it's own thread.

Apparently Stella looks just like Cidney. The resemblance is uncanny. Same eyes, same jawline, same hair colour, same lips, same skin colour.

But that got me thinking. What if Stella is still in the game but disguised? Why would SE remove a highly detailed finished character model with another newly made one despite the fact that they would basically have the near identical role in the story? Figuring out the looks of a character is done in concept art, not when your team is creating the model and definitely not after the model is fully finished. Imagine of Ellie from the Last of Us had been totally replaced by another character instead of getting minor adjustments.

Maybe they took a page out of Kojima's work? Maybe Stella and Luna exist in the game and story? For those who know what Kojima did with the MGS2 trailers, and played MGS4 and 5 knows what I’m talking about so I won’t post spoilers. However, in MGS4 the end reveal was waaaaaaaay out in left field but it was done so masterfully when you know who shows up. And MGS5 was even more way out of left field.

Lets refer to Stella as Stella 13 and Luna as Luna 15. Stella 13 was from a rich family in Tenebrae according to V-XIII and Luna 15 is from the royal family of Tenebrae according to XV. Here’s the big what-if: What if in XV Stella 13 is actually be from the royal family and her real name could very well be Luna but swapped places with Luna 15 when they got invaded. It is common that aristocrats personally know the royal families. So Princess Stella 13 (real name Luna) swapped with rich girl Luna 15 (real name Stella). Confused yet? They could’ve swapped during the invasion based on how similar they looked or probably because Luna 15 is actually an Oracle and because of it, Tenebrae could still hold some autonomy. All the while Stella 13 is hiding out as Cidney or elsewhere, and coordinating the resistance movement and secretly guiding the bros the same way evil Pope guy in XIII guided Lightning and Co.

If this is true I’m gunna guess how this story goes. I bet Luna 15 dies in some sort of uber boss fight, your party is injured and exhausted, countless enemies still arriving, all hope seems lost, and outta nowhere Stella 13 comes and saves the day. It's gunna be like the downer moment in movies right before the good guys barely survive, acquire some sort of new knowledge or skill, and go on to a few morning rising actions and then the climax to face the enemy once and for all. However, some time needs to pass to let Luna’s death sink in and then knee-jerk us when Stella shows up. Stella and Noctis would probably fight like shown in the very old trailers because of key differences and then get along to finally face the evil emperor dude.

Maybe I’m reading into this too much, or I’m too imaginative, but what else is the reason for paying artists tens of thousands to create Luna to replace Stella when they could've kept Stella and put her in the same story Luna is in now? Let's not forget that Stella was confirmed cancelled in 2015, two years after the rebranding trailer in 2013 (btw is that Stella or Luna in the 2013 trailer?). Luna was shown in the 2014, so Stella’s status in the game was in limbo for a year but why is that if Luna was clearly a replacement?

Let’s discuss.