This was a good reminder of why I like Lavos so much as an antagonist. For something so unknowable without a single piece of dialogue, it offers more nuance to the narrative than some villains with lengthy monologues and tragic backstories of varying quality. Can't think of any other villain quite like Lavos, even Galactus from the Fantastic Four who has the same world devourer schtick isn't quite as compelling the way Lavos is.
It's worth noting that one of the battle themes against Lavos (first phase of the fight inside its shell) is titled 'World Revolution.' Which could be read a few different ways. Referring to how the world effectively revolves around Lavos, or the world having a revolution against Lavos through the party, or the party revolting against the world by fighting Lavos.
Also appreciated the look at how open to interpretation the game leaves its plot. I didn't think of the two outcomes to Lucca's little side quest that way. It's odd how such an interesting sequence that adds so much to the narrative is left entirely optional.
I think you underplay the fact that humans existed before Lavos. Ayla and her people are proof humanity's sentience doesn't derive from Lavos, they already have a civilization with language (that's somehow recognizable to people from the distant future) and differing beliefs. Lavos's influence is definitely a major factor in human development as seen in Zeal, but there's nothing painting Ayla as a distinct kind of human from Chrono or Marle aside from the era they live in.
Also the synopsis of Zeal feels a little incomplete without mentioning Janus/Magus and the omen Janus gives you about someone dying, those are important elements for the tone and mystery of Zeal. Not to mention Magus himself is a rather major figure in the overall plot, and it's impossible to dig into his character without discussing Zeal.
As a side note do you know about Chrono Trigger the musical by Man on the Internet? As the name implies it's a fan made musical adaptation of Chrono Trigger on youtube, though done as audio only. Naturally it had to give Lavos a voice, so in the final battles it sings about inevitably and refers to the party as cattle, eventually accusing the party of having 'ruined space and time' during the final phase. The musical seems to lean more towards the fighting against fate reading of the plot.
Funny you mention World Revolution (one of my favorite Chrono tracks). I'm actually going to add a "Side Quest" section to next week's issue that'll examine how that track in particular uses leitmotifs to tell the story of the cosmic showdown against Lavos. I hadn't thought of the name in that way, though. Just goes to show how layered and deep this game is! I also hadn't heard of the fan musical, I'm listening to it as I type this. Excellent stuff, thanks for the tip!
I see where you're coming from re: human sentience. But that said, I do believe that the game points to at least *some* fundamental difference between prehistoric and modern humans. Namely, Ayla is one of only two characters (the other being Robo), and the only *human* character, that Spekkio explicitly states cannot use magic—in Ayla's case because she's from a time before humanity discovered magic. Not that this makes the rest of the party intrinsically better, smarter, or superior to Ayla (on the contrary—that Ayla doesn't need magic to kick ass shows how awesome and formidable she is). But Lavos undeniably gave humans something that propelled them light-years beyond what their natural evolution would've arrived at, at least within the timespan the game covers. That's more what I was getting at.
Maybe "sentience" wasn't the right word, and something like "evolution" or "advancement" might have worked better. But those words don't quite capture the nuance, either. Might have to make up a word for it. 🤔
Totally hear you on Janus/Magus, and it was oh so very, very painful to leave him out. He's such a key player, and I could dedicate an entire issue just on Magus' arc (maybe I will, at some point). But alas, it wasn't meant to be this time. Once this piece hit 7,000 words, I figured that's pushing the limits of most readers' time and patience, and so I had to triage a bit 😅
That said, I plan to go (slightly) into more depth about Magus next week. Stay tuned!
And thanks for the detailed and thoughtful comment! It's always fun to geek out about lore and details. Hope you'll stick around for more ⏱️
(Oh, and I just listened to the musical's adaptation of World Revolution/Final Battle. WOW. What lyrics! And Malcolm Robinson helped with the music? Hell yeah. I might actually post a link to the musical next week, as an easy and fun way for folks without ~20-40 hours of spare time to experience the story and follow along. Thanks again for recommending it!)
Yeah the 'modern' humans in Chrono Trigger definitely owe a lot to the influence of Lavos, I just took issue with sentience being listed as one of those benefits. It definitely accelerated humanity's development like you said. I haven't played Chrono Cross, but I know that ends up emphasizing the connection between humanity and Lavos.
Also you're welcome for the musical mention. Looking forward to reading about Magus.
Yeah, I totally get it. I wonder if "sapient" would be a little better (Lavos Sapiens?), but then again it doesn't resolve the problem. Ah, well. Still not as tough as trying to make sense of Cross, though!
This was a good reminder of why I like Lavos so much as an antagonist. For something so unknowable without a single piece of dialogue, it offers more nuance to the narrative than some villains with lengthy monologues and tragic backstories of varying quality. Can't think of any other villain quite like Lavos, even Galactus from the Fantastic Four who has the same world devourer schtick isn't quite as compelling the way Lavos is.
It's worth noting that one of the battle themes against Lavos (first phase of the fight inside its shell) is titled 'World Revolution.' Which could be read a few different ways. Referring to how the world effectively revolves around Lavos, or the world having a revolution against Lavos through the party, or the party revolting against the world by fighting Lavos.
Also appreciated the look at how open to interpretation the game leaves its plot. I didn't think of the two outcomes to Lucca's little side quest that way. It's odd how such an interesting sequence that adds so much to the narrative is left entirely optional.
I think you underplay the fact that humans existed before Lavos. Ayla and her people are proof humanity's sentience doesn't derive from Lavos, they already have a civilization with language (that's somehow recognizable to people from the distant future) and differing beliefs. Lavos's influence is definitely a major factor in human development as seen in Zeal, but there's nothing painting Ayla as a distinct kind of human from Chrono or Marle aside from the era they live in.
Also the synopsis of Zeal feels a little incomplete without mentioning Janus/Magus and the omen Janus gives you about someone dying, those are important elements for the tone and mystery of Zeal. Not to mention Magus himself is a rather major figure in the overall plot, and it's impossible to dig into his character without discussing Zeal.
As a side note do you know about Chrono Trigger the musical by Man on the Internet? As the name implies it's a fan made musical adaptation of Chrono Trigger on youtube, though done as audio only. Naturally it had to give Lavos a voice, so in the final battles it sings about inevitably and refers to the party as cattle, eventually accusing the party of having 'ruined space and time' during the final phase. The musical seems to lean more towards the fighting against fate reading of the plot.
All excellent points 💯💯💯
Funny you mention World Revolution (one of my favorite Chrono tracks). I'm actually going to add a "Side Quest" section to next week's issue that'll examine how that track in particular uses leitmotifs to tell the story of the cosmic showdown against Lavos. I hadn't thought of the name in that way, though. Just goes to show how layered and deep this game is! I also hadn't heard of the fan musical, I'm listening to it as I type this. Excellent stuff, thanks for the tip!
I see where you're coming from re: human sentience. But that said, I do believe that the game points to at least *some* fundamental difference between prehistoric and modern humans. Namely, Ayla is one of only two characters (the other being Robo), and the only *human* character, that Spekkio explicitly states cannot use magic—in Ayla's case because she's from a time before humanity discovered magic. Not that this makes the rest of the party intrinsically better, smarter, or superior to Ayla (on the contrary—that Ayla doesn't need magic to kick ass shows how awesome and formidable she is). But Lavos undeniably gave humans something that propelled them light-years beyond what their natural evolution would've arrived at, at least within the timespan the game covers. That's more what I was getting at.
Maybe "sentience" wasn't the right word, and something like "evolution" or "advancement" might have worked better. But those words don't quite capture the nuance, either. Might have to make up a word for it. 🤔
Totally hear you on Janus/Magus, and it was oh so very, very painful to leave him out. He's such a key player, and I could dedicate an entire issue just on Magus' arc (maybe I will, at some point). But alas, it wasn't meant to be this time. Once this piece hit 7,000 words, I figured that's pushing the limits of most readers' time and patience, and so I had to triage a bit 😅
That said, I plan to go (slightly) into more depth about Magus next week. Stay tuned!
And thanks for the detailed and thoughtful comment! It's always fun to geek out about lore and details. Hope you'll stick around for more ⏱️
(Oh, and I just listened to the musical's adaptation of World Revolution/Final Battle. WOW. What lyrics! And Malcolm Robinson helped with the music? Hell yeah. I might actually post a link to the musical next week, as an easy and fun way for folks without ~20-40 hours of spare time to experience the story and follow along. Thanks again for recommending it!)
Yeah the 'modern' humans in Chrono Trigger definitely owe a lot to the influence of Lavos, I just took issue with sentience being listed as one of those benefits. It definitely accelerated humanity's development like you said. I haven't played Chrono Cross, but I know that ends up emphasizing the connection between humanity and Lavos.
Also you're welcome for the musical mention. Looking forward to reading about Magus.
Yeah, I totally get it. I wonder if "sapient" would be a little better (Lavos Sapiens?), but then again it doesn't resolve the problem. Ah, well. Still not as tough as trying to make sense of Cross, though!