Dalton

General Information

For boss information, see Dalton (Monster).

Game Information

Chrono Trigger

Full Name: Sir Dalton
Age: Indeterminate, young man to mid-thirties
Species: Human
Home Time: 12000 B.C.
Home Area: Zeal

Dalton is the overly ambitious and egotistical antagonist of the world of Zeal. He is apparently the commander of Zeal's security forces as Queen Zeal's aide. This is apparent from the name of several Zeal guards, called the "Dalton Corps" (this detail was omitted in the English version of the game). He is also a ruthless and maniacal foe who craves power and has little regard for human life. Of course, this cruel description does not do his humor justice; similar to Kefka in Final Fantasy 6 (although not quite as crazy), Dalton delights in taunting his foes and getting involved in comical situations in which he's usually the butt of the joke. While the exact details of his rise to power are unknown, he is a cruel commander to his underlings, ridiculing them and undercompensating them for service. Dalton was placed in charge of the Ocean Palace's construction, though he was later edged out of this position by The Prophet -- which placed him in a typically bad mood. He was said to have used slave Earthbound labor under his command. He soon diverted his attention to the Blackbird, as he was now in charge of its security. His second encounter with Crono came in Zeal Palace, where he first demonstrated his close ties to a group of Golems whom he summoned to fight his battles for him (he is a magic innate, despite not wanting to soil his hands in battle himself).

He later met the party again in Algetty, where he kidnapped Schala after the party rescued Melchior from Mt. Woe. He took her to the Ocean Palace (where he was to serve guard duty), threatening to kill her if the party pursued. Soon feeling Lavos's energy, he decided to flee the palace for fear of his life (in the Lavos Timeline, he presumably stayed behind and perished in the Ocean Palace Incident). After the Fall of Zeal, he arrived in the Blackbird and declared himself king of Last Village and the other survivors. He confronted the party, underhandedly distracting them by yelling "what's that?!" before knocking them out. He then kidnapped the heroes of time, who had to break out of the airplane unassisted. While they escaped, Dalton interred the Epoch and commissioned the building of wings and lasers, giving it the title of his airthrone -- the Aero-Dalton Imperial. Ownership was returned to the party, however, after he accidentally fell into a portal he was using to summon Golems from while riding the machine. He was never seen or heard from again.

Dalton's use of "what's that!?", comparable to Marty McFly's use of "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?" against Biff in Back to the Future, was botched somewhat in the English translation.

Chrono Cross

Some believe that Dalton had a hand in the Fall of Guardia, as a long-haired assailant is depicted killing the Kingdom of Guardia's last defender in a cutscene in CT PSX. However, this is a bit farfetched, though Masato Kato did say that Porre had help outside of normal time.