Full disclosure, I originally wrote this in my blog, which has better spacing. I mostly just copied and pasted what was already written here:
https://jarinjove.com/2018/12/07/chrono-cross-3/Personally, I think this is the only way any of the numerous events in Chrono Cross make any sense and yes, I still have a very negative opinion of the game itself. Nevertheless, I saw patterns, connections, and themes and thought I'd offer a coherent theory for those who enjoy the game. Feel free to lambast me as you wish.
The Serge is Janus Theory By Jarin Jove:
Noteworthy Timeline events to keep in mind:1004 AD – Lucca finds Kid and makes the orphanage.
1005 AD – Guardia Falls. Overlord from another timeline helps Dalton to destroy Guardia with the help of an Overlord / Emperor who time traveled.
1006 AD – 4-year Old Serge is Attacked by the Panther.
1010 AD – Kid saves Serge from drowning in Home World while the other Serge dies in Another World.
1015 AD – Kid’s orphanage burned down and Serge saves her as Lynx burned it down.For this theory, I make five key assumptions about the plot and Masato Kato’s own story at face value:
1. FATE is a supercomputer capable of predicting the future, acting on those future predictions, and all its subsequent actions are based on this logic and have a singular purpose that is being fulfilled as Balthasar intended.
2. Janus was willing to do absolutely everything to save Schala, no matter what the cost. This is a completely reasonable and almost wholly obvious assumption. Kato himself claims to have written the Zeal Arc and much of Chrono Cross is based on Zeal with the endgame apparitions in Chrono Cross saying it all began in Zeal.
3. Serge loves Kid. And since Kato said this was really a boy meets a girl story, this is a fairly innocuous assumption that is repeatedly defended within the content of Chrono Cross itself through Serge’s actions in the game’s story and by many Chrono Cross fans themselves who claim as much about the story and how great the ending is when depicting the love between Serge and Kid.
4. The Time Bastard Theory — in brief, the theory that two alternate selves can’t exist in the same universe after going back in time to change the future and that each universe creates only one person per universe as these universes diverge — has been debunked by Masato Kato himself in Chrono Trigger DS. The shocked expression of Magus in your party and his recognition of Schala being trapped provide ample evidence of this in the added secret ending of Chrono Trigger DS, which will be shown below.
5. Lucca’s letter was left by the developers on purpose and wasn’t an accident. The context of her intimate knowledge and familiarity with Janus gives significant in-game evidence that Janus did join the party in the Chrono Cross timeline. The letter strongly implies that he grew so acquainted with Lucca and likely the others that they even casually talk to him using his real name. Lucca is so confident within the letter that she makes it clear that Janus will definitely always protect Kid. She uses his real name out of endearment and familiarity.
Now, after thinking over how to begin the topic, I feel it is best to just dive right into the theory itself. Please be sure to keep those five assumptions in mind as the basis for the conjecture and implications within the parameters of this theory.
First, let’s start with Masato Kato’s added content in Chrono Trigger DS, which shows us a Magus from another universe discussing how he’s from a timeline where they’ve already beaten Lavos and he’s unsure if the dark presence ahead will be your future timeline or not. The Magus in your party does react to him and is shown to be genuinely dumbfounded by the existence of another version of himself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AalT1dVmgiw&feature=emb_title What is of genuine intrigue though is that the Other Magus seems to be fully aware of what’s up ahead and requests that you allow him to solely deal with it. Now, how could he have been so certain about what was up ahead, if we assume that he’d never been there before? And, if he had never been there before, how was it that he knew what happened to Schala already? If he had been there before, why didn’t the Dream Devourer attack or attempt to kill him? Moreover, why was he there alone and without support from his universe’s CT cast?
Given Magus’s past history and his actions throughout the main story, and the fact that he’s there at Time’s End by his own doing with foreknowledge of what he was about to face, I think there are quite strong implications that the Other Magus was the one who caused Lavos to attach itself to Schala in the first place. Not on purpose, of course. What happened was likely a tragic accident. You have to remember that both the Kingdom of Zeal and Magus himself are shown to be proficient at summoning Lavos from the depths. In the Original Chrono Trigger ending, Magus is in Antiquity looking for Schala and obviously desperate to find her. We know that he uses summoning rituals and that he is capable of summoning Lavos on his own. Perhaps the Other Magus grew desperate, or perhaps more likely, he discovered that his beloved sister was a hundred percent dead by discovering her remains. The blast inside Zeal castle likely having killed her just like their hated mother. Why would Schala be specially protected, after all?
It is not a leap or a stretch to say this scenario is entirely possible given the blast radius, the near-extinction of all life in the Antiquity era, and the fact the time portals hurled people away before the blast fully happened. Other Magus would have grown desperate, aghast at having lost any chance at saving the sister that he loved so dearly, and his last hope of rebuilding his life after losing everything. Desperate enough to do absolutely everything to bring her back, no matter the cost. And so, he either went further back in time where he knew Schala would be and used a summoning ritual, or — far more likely — he impetuously used a summoning ritual after discovering her dead body. Intent on bending time to have her summoned to him in the exact moment or perhaps before the exact moment where Antiquity was nigh-totally destroyed. So Other Magus uses a summoning circle to summon Schala as Schala herself is using her magic and amulet to empower Lavos to summon him. Other Magus accidentally summons both and the ritual fuses the two; Lavos as the Dream Devourer then uses Schala’s powers to hurl itself to the Edge of Time to begin eating the world. Or, perhaps just as likely, Other Magus completely botches the ritual and accidently summoned both Schala and a Lavos that sensed it’s imminent demise and so latched onto Schala after she was hurled through time. However, if readers are adamant to argue that Schala was in the Darkness Beyond Time (The Tesseract in the Japanese version as Darkness Beyond Time was a US colloquial term added in to fill-in plot holes because Masato Kato is a terrible writer) then Magus simply summoned Schala from the Darkness Beyond Time and still botched the ritual by accidentally summoning Lavos too (as the ritual was originally meant for him) and fused the two together. The point is that Other Magus was the one to cause the Dream Devourer’s existence.
That’s why he went alone, that’s why he was intent on solving this problem himself as it was also deeply personal and he felt personally responsible, and in fact, this clears-up a plot hole quite well and doesn’t create more in its wake. How could Balthasar have predicted the Time Devourer’s existence or that the world was headed for annihilation? The answer is that he didn’t. Other Magus briefly visited, perhaps desperate for help or perhaps wanting to know how it would all go down, and Other Magus told Balthasar what he had done and what the Dream Devourer was intent on doing as a result of Other Magus having completely botched it up. Balthasar agrees to help and dedicates himself to creating FATE, the Supercomputer to save Schala, the Princess and of course, to help his Prince as he’s obligated to do so since they’re royalty that he was bound to serve by his cultural customs. Then, Other Magus goes on to face the Dream Devourer, loses horribly, and sees the more powerful Chrono Trigger team also lose horribly.
We already know what happens after that point. Other Magus obviously isn’t the Magus that Lucca was talking about. He wipes out his own memory, becomes an amnesiac, and purportedly becomes Guile . . . (despite the fact Kato previously confirming that Guile wasn’t Magus . . . but hey, can’t expect reasonable or logical writing from the guy). Anyway, that Magus is no longer a factor due to making himself moot. But, Balthasar has all he needs to know to create FATE and cause the Time Crash to save the future. He sends Schala’s Daughter-Clone to Lucca and the Other Magus disappears into obscurity (or becomes Guile . . . even though Kato confirmed he wasn’t Guile before confirming that he is Guile, but whatever). But of course, that’s where the first key divergence begins as its already been established from Chrono Trigger DS’s extra content that the impact of Schala on the Chrono Cross timeline happened from outside the bounds of their universe.
The Magus who is part of the Chrono Trigger – Chrono Cross timeline that we’re familiar with (who isn’t Guile / Other Magus) has the knowledge that Schala is held captive by Lavos and thus has no reason to search for her in Antiquity like in the Original Chrono Trigger ending as he knows that it is pointless. Now, even assuming that he decides to do so anyway despite knowing it is completely pointless, it is not out of the realm of possibility for Balthasar to contact him and given ample evidence of all of Balthasar’s time travel shenanigans in Chrono Cross alone, this isn’t a logical leap at all. Irrespective of how he gets in contact with Balthasar; most likely, Balthasar either contacts him immediately after Lavos’s defeat in their universe or Magus goes to Balthasar to find out how to save Schala since that’s his top priority, and they work together on Project Kid. They plan the Time Crash together and so forth. They either work out the plan to save Schala together or Balthasar concocted it on his own and simply told Magus what would be needed to be done. As for how would Magus traverse timelines? I’m of the opinion, based on the evidence of the Other Magus and what he accomplished, that Magus is capable enough to do it on his own and proves it with his alternate self traversing the Edge of Time. Assuming, for whatever reason, that isn’t possible then Gasper would likely help Magus, similar to helping resurrect Crono in one of the alternate Chrono Trigger endings, because Magus is distraught and because Magus is basically his Prince and technically King (as the last heir of royalty) whom he must serve by cultural customs of Antiquity. Also, if you find my argument about cultural customs problematic, then consider the fact that Balthasar obviously did his best to save Schala and it was clearly not entirely because she was just some person that he wanted to save out of the goodness of his heart. That may have been partly the reason, but considering the fall of Guardia and his indifference to what happened to the Chrono Trigger team as a whole, it’s clear that his cultural customs were the main motivator. Saving the princess, who may as well be his ruler and is basically his Queen in the line of succession, took priority. Therefore, he wants to save Schala and to make sure that both Magus and Schala live happy lives upon reuniting and will do everything to make it happen.
Now, the Time Crash occurs as a result of Balthasar or Magus and Balthasar causing it, and the possible future of Dinopolis gets sucked into the past inadvertently. This was likely the only possible mistake as a result of pure bad luck and random chance that couldn’t have been predicted. Now, we are under the assumption that FATE isn’t a bucket of bad writing, but rather ingenuous writing and that its actions are coherent. Given that FATE has a coherent singular purpose, and that purpose that Balthasar made for it is to take whatever steps necessary to save Schala and to give Magus and Schala a happy future. Protecting humanity is also a goal, but only in the service of saving Schala and making both of the Zeal royals live happy and fulfilling lives together.
FATE wages war on Dinopolis as it’s a threat to humanity and successfully destroys Dinopolis, with its pieces being the scattered sky remains seen in the latter portions of Chrono Cross. Also, it forms the El Nido Archipelago sometime during or after successfully destroying the inadvertently resurrected Dinopolis. FATE has fortunes given to people throughout El Nido which they presumably follow fully as its the local religion that FATE has established to control the population to do its bidding. Now, the Time Crash was planned, but Dinopolis’s accidental resurrection and subsequent annihilation was presumably not planned at all. Dinopolis was a wrench in the plans of FATE and Balthasar. Given that FATE had to go to such great lengths to annihilate Dinopolis, then hide itself to not cause too much damage in terms of time paradoxes, and control the entire population of El Nido through a local religious practice that they formed for the population to submit and follow; it is likely that FATE, despite being a supercomputer, was running out of energy, or weakened, or otherwise somewhat compromised in its internal power. Waging a war to wipe out an entire race, forming islands, and then crafting a religion for either the first settlers or entirely creating the population itself from scratch would do that to FATE. It’s not much of a stretch to accept this given the circumstances.
However, within the context of the game, we only really see an ancient computerized building, people frozen in time (in Home World — in which Lynx and Harle are not among them despite what Kato said), and the ghosts of the Fisherman bloke and Lucca, Marle, and Crono. Now, since the Fisherman is Wazuki’s friend (Wazuki being Serge’s father), and he’s a ghostly apparition made to be part of FATE in Home World . . . what are Lucca, Marle, and Crono doing there? Moreover, why do they blame Serge (in this context, Serge who is in Lynx’s body) for not only the changed timeline where Lavos will destroy the future in 1999 AD, but also for the destruction of Guardia too? Why blame Serge for Guardia’s Fall, after mentioning Nadia’s bell and how it’ll never chime again because of Serge’s existence? Serge was presumably 3-years of age in 1005 AD during the Fall of Guardia just living in El Nido with his family and he was attacked by the Panther in 1006 AD. None of these events are connected to either the Time split in 1010 AD or have anything to do with Dalton destroying Guardia. Why do these ghosts blame Serge for that by talking about Nadia’s bell and how it’ll never ring again alluding to Guardia’s Fall? Crono explicitly calls Serge a murderer. The Fisherman bloke says they’re just ghosts and not to pay any attention to them. Now, if they’re just there to psychologically inflict harm on Serge, then why doesn’t FATE just use Wazuki who has been missing for about a decade? Why not Kid whom Serge thought dead at that point? And, if it really was meant to serve no purpose, why on earth have it there at all? What would be the point of showing a gut-wrenching emotional scene of the Chrono Trigger cast blaming Serge and then for it to just be completely pointless shock value that had no meaningful story relevance or impact?
Since one of our assumptions is that the plot must make sense and presumably isn’t a poorly written piece of garbage, we must reflect on and uncover the underlying significance of this poignant plot event of the ghosts accusing Serge of ruining Home World’s future with Lavos’s return and for the Fall of Guardia; as they accuse him of the annihilation of Guardia and speak of how Nadia’s bell (Nadia being Marle’s real name) will never ring again. Now, since Nadia’s bell has no relevance to Serge personally and Guardia’s Fall would be some event happening to another country that has no legitimate significance to Serge’s personal life, and since FATE was obviously indifferent to what Dalton did, what about this specific scene could connect to Serge? In fact, why are the dead ghosts of the Chrono Trigger team specifically accusing Serge of such heinous deeds? What could Serge have done that linked him to the Fall of Guardia and the subsequent destruction of Nadia’s bell? Why share Nadia’s name too? Or alternatively, since Nadia is the real name of Marle, then why share the nickname Marle with Serge?
Let’s step back a bit and look into what particularly the context of the Fall of Guardia was from what little Kato bothers to tell us about it. Evidently, Dalton led a successful invasion and destroyed Guardia within a year’s time. When fans asked how this could be possible with Lucca, Marle, and Crono having been strong enough to destroy Lavos to save the future. The only explanation given was that some Overlord / Emperor from another timeline helped Dalton to destroy the entire Kingdom of Guardia within the sole year of 1005 AD. This explanation sent a huge backlash of negativity from ardent Chrono Trigger fans and even from Chrono Cross fans who love both games. After all, how could some Overlord from either the future or an alternate universe be more powerful than Lavos? How could that make any reasonable sense? The most glaring flaw of this is that we are never given any further details than that. What was the motives of this Overlord? Where did this Overlord come from? Why did this Overlord take an interest to destroy Guardia? What reason did Dalton have to attack Guardia? No explanations were ever given until Chrono Trigger DS, where we see Dalton in a pocket dimension due to a Time Vortex where he makes his plans clear, but it’s passed off as a joke. No other explanation for what motivated Dalton for this and no evidence for this supposed Overlord from another timeline or the future. How does any of this make coherent sense? Chrono Trigger fans hate Chrono Cross for this reason and Chrono Cross fans can’t really explain it well other than to bash Chrono Trigger’s plot or argue gameplay and story aren’t related, thereby inadvertently bashing Chrono Cross’s own element system as a plot point which was important for the True Ending of the game.
How is this not a major failing on the overarching plot of Chrono Cross or just plain poor quality writing from Masato Kato? Contrary to popular belief, this does have significance for Kid’s background, as we’re left wondering why the hell Lucca didn’t help defend her friends from Dalton purportedly killing them and – more explicitly shown – from murdering her entire countrymen and innocent civilians. It would have been simpler to write that Lucca left to defend her country and never returned. There’s no reason to believe Dalton’s forces wouldn’t have wrecked her home, which was part of Guardia and quite close to it, after ravaging Guardia proper. Moreover, why hadn’t the invasion actually impacted Lucca herself as all of Guardia had fallen within a year? What about her parents and her friends? Was this a severe plot hole and a cornucopia of failed concepts to deliberately shovel contempt at Chrono Trigger? What could help explain these confusing contradictions in character motives and actions? Lucca never once even mentions the Fall of Guardia when mentioning her friends and her fears in her letter.
A horrible answer came to me for the duration that I played Chrono Cross the first time. The close friend who told me his opinion of how Lucca’s Letter basically confirmed to him that Serge was Janus was also on the forefront of my mind. However, I was ill-equipped to explain my reasoning to the broader Chrono Cross community, despite the fact that many who just finish Chrono Cross and get the true ending also claim that the game strongly implies that Serge is Janus. Older fans repeatedly try to dismiss this as a misinterpretation that makes no sense, yet this interpretation is the most prevalent among people who have the game fresh in their memory. Nevertheless, old-time fans are strident in their demands that Serge can’t be Janus because of trite arguments about age and time in a game about time dimensions, potential time paradoxes, and soul-shifting from bodies. Nevertheless, Serge being Janus can be explained and it makes sense; terrible, nauseating sense that leaves the most ardent Chrono Cross fans stupefied and aghast as they’re quite adept at understanding the horrifying implications of what Chrono Cross really was if it was truly a love story of a boy meeting a girl as Masato Kato envisioned . . . I say this because I couldn’t help but think about Chrono Cross after so long ago when I buried the game in the pits of hate and contempt. I had made four videos explaining how the plot didn’t make sense, but all the while . . . I couldn’t shake this horrifying feeling that I was connecting the dots. I spoke louder, assured, and confident that the game was just a plothole ridden mess as the horrifying theory pronounced itself more and cleared away potential plot holes into intersecting plot points that made coherent sense in the most horrifying pathways imaginable. I was horrified as it was happening and tried to tell myself that I was clearly looking too deeply in a plot in which the author encourages gamers to look deeply into everything. I tried to deny that I had uncovered a theory of something truly evil that fixed all the plot holes that I had adamantly described and which brought about one of the worst and possibly most contentious themes for a game of its time. Comparable to the first Drakengard game in terms of bringing heart-wrenching disgust and a chilling amount of sense as the puzzles began to shift and interlock together to create a tapestry of mayhem, malady, and blood-soaked purity. Indeed, every question I just mentioned is explainable and the plot pieces were staring Chrono Cross fans in the face all along; the horrible, terrifying sense of it all was synonymously breathtaking and exhausting.
What we thought was scattered plot points actually make a coherent whole story once we place the pieces together and accept that the Janus mentioned in Lucca’s letter had impact in the plot; that is, the Magus in the Chrono Trigger party is in 1000 AD or had the ability to time travel to go to 1000 AD whenever he wanted as I suggest. The Magus who isn’t Guile and whom we never see mentioned once. Chrono Trigger DS, written and made by Masato Kato himself to clear away inconsistencies, is what made this theory possible. It is because of Masato Kato’s writing that validates this theory for both Chrono Trigger DS and Chrono Cross; Masato Kato specifically made it clear that there are two Magus’s in the Chrono Cross timeline before the time split in 1010 AD when Schala /Kid saves Serge from drowning to create Home World. Therefore, just as there are two of Schala thanks to Project Kid, there are two Magus’s thanks to the clarifications on the plot by Masato Kato. With this information fully clarified by Kato himself and used to further connect plot threads to clear away plot contradictions, we may now rest assured that this theory is entirely viable and I obviously think that it is most likely what happened. I used Occam’s Razor with the idea of two Magus’s in mind and everything fell into place. My rational mind cleared away the contradictions and saw what was right in front of the fanbase that was too horrified to acknowledge and speak of the truth of what befell Guardia in 1005 AD. Now, I shall stop doing my best impersonation of Lynx and get to the point of the matter.
The main gripe that both Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross fans have with the Fall of Guardia is that Marle and Crono were powerful enough to overpower and defeat Lavos; so how could Dalton, his army (who, from what we see in Chrono Cross, don’t even compare to the dangerous future tech robots of 2300 AD), or some Overlord / Evil Emperor / Time Lord be stronger than the people who killed Lavos? How does that even make sense? How could they have destroyed Guardia within a year when Magus’s civil war in 600 AD purportedly went on for several years? Worse than that, the Overlord explanation is the vaguest and most banal of explanations with no further reasoning or explanation given. Some Chrono Cross fans are quick to argue that it doesn’t prove that Marle and Crono are dead and that they may have let Guardia fall; we’re expected to believe the Princess and her Prince-Consort allowed their beloved countrymen to get slaughtered mercilessly? They simply allowed innocent children to be massacred, when they broke the boundaries of time to save all of humanity from Lavos? That doesn’t fit their selfless characters and it’s a horrible explanation that pisses off both Chrono Trigger and even diehard Chrono Cross fans. Many diehard Chrono Cross fans themselves are convinced that Masato Kato hated Chrono Trigger, or argue repeatedly that Crono and Marle aren’t dead despite the incoherence of allowing Guardia to fall. What on earth happened? What can explain this? The answer is exceedingly simple and utterly horrifying:
The Overlord that helped Dalton was part of the Chrono Trigger team and aided in defeating Lavos along with the rest of them. Yes, that’s right . . . Magus helped Dalton to obliterate Guardia off the face of the world. The more I thought over this possibility, the more sense it made, and the more the puzzle pieces fit neatly together. After all, if it was solely Dalton who caused the obliteration of Guardia, then why did he use the Epoch to return to Antiquity and immediately get murdered by the much weaker Chrono Trigger team who, from their vantage point, hadn’t defeated Lavos yet? If he truly was the causal factor in terms of strength, then how could he have been killed so easily by much weaker Chrono Trigger team that hadn’t defeated Lavos and was short Crono in the party? By contrast, everything about Magus, his history, and his abilities fit as being the causal factor for Guardia’s downfall. First, he was obviously just as powerful and perhaps more powerful than Crono himself thanks to his dark magic and likely helped in his fair share on defeating Lavos. Second, unlike Dalton, he had significant experience and history with taking on Guardia in 600 AD. Does it truly make sense that someone as incompetent as Dalton could wage a successful war within a year, while Magus had several years of a prolonged civil war with Guardia in 600 AD? Magus had optimal experience in facing Guardia throughout his time in 600 AD. He successfully kidnapped the Queen, killed their finest knight Cyrus, and cursed Glenn into becoming a Frog. He battered Guardia and at the very least had them at a stalemate until Crono arrived from the future. In fact, the only reason implied for why Magus was defeated was that it was self-caused by his hatred for Lavos and desire to summon Lavos to kill it. Lavos’s summoning obliterated his castle and likely killed him in the original timeline before Crono’s group arrived to face him. Many fans may sputter and come-up with arguments about Guile, but Guile is the Other Magus who has lost his memory and teleported himself into the universe we play and experience in Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. I must stress again that it was Masato Kato himself who wrote that in. And think about this: from a lengthy look into the plot and characters of both games, the only one who fits the bill for being an evil emperor, or an Overlord, or a Time Lord is Magus. His ominous castle from 600 AD fits the Overlord motif, being a time lord is easily explained since our timeline’s Magus would have the same powers or grow to have the same powers as the Other Magus who was at the Edge of Time by his own abilities, and he’s the only thing close to an evil emperor in these games. Magus would know how to corrupt Masamune and he would have a reason to: to spite Frog’s memory and to show the depth of his bitterness and loathing for Frog as a sort of posthumous revenge on his archenemy. Moreover, to get back at Masa and Mune for what seemed to him like a betrayal since they’re suppose to serve him as their prince or King as he would be the last heir of the Zeal kingdom at that point.
Sadly, murdering Marle and Crono would be the easiest part to do. Dalton was either an effective cover story for Magus, or Magus made sure that Dalton got all the credit so his actions were kept unknown to the broader international public as he simply wanted to do all he could to bring Schala back and save her, but more on that further on. Magus proved that he could get past Guardia’s defenses and kidnap people. He likely kidnapped Marle’s father and then demanded – or had Dalton demand – that Crono and Marle give up their weapons and armor to be killed and they’d let the King go. This explanation works perfectly with the extreme and one-dimensional selflessness of Crono and Marle’s characters and their love for the people of Guardia and the world at large. So Magus or Dalton then killed them and proceeded to completely wreck Guardia after killing Marle’s distraught father. Or, since Chrono Cross likes being edgy and grim for the sake of it, Magus kidnapped Crono and Marle’s child. After killing them, they either killed Crono and Marle’s child or perhaps Dalton, who has shown pedophilic tendencies towards Schala in the original Chrono Trigger, raped Marle and Crono’s child either before or after Magus successfully killed them and then Magus sent him off on the Epoch that Dalton had come in from Chrono Trigger so that he would get killed by Marle and the rest of the Chrono Trigger cast (minus Crono). Dalton raping a child most likely happened given the context of his implied sexual abuse of Schala, which Janus wasn’t fully aware of as a child. This is likely why Masato Kato didn’t want to delve into it too deeply, since the actions Dalton did were so horrifyingly depraved. Magus only realized it too late as Dalton raped Marle and Crono’s young child before or after Marle and Crono were murdered. Perhaps to enrage them into a fit of anger and madness, which Magus quickly took advantage of to kill them both. Or perhaps Dalton raped Marle in front of Crono after threatening their child who was kidnapped at that point and in Dalton’s captivity, only for Dalton to sickly reveal the truth of having raped and murdered Marle and Crono’s child already. Which again, Magus would take advantage of because he solely loves and cares about saving Schala, and killed Crono and Marle who suffered in anguish and the most miserable of emotional pains before being brutally murdered. Given Dalton’s proclivities towards Schala, the rape and murder of Marle and Crono’s child isn’t out of the question. After all, Chrono Cross implies all of Kid’s orphanage friends burned to death in the most gruesome ways imaginable despite Serge’s interference.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRyCy2IDnlw&feature=emb_titleLucca’s letter lends significant credence to this argument because of both what it says and what it neglects to say. Lucca writes of being fearful of the vicissitudes of changing the future, yet at no point does she talk about the Fall of Guardia, the massacring of her fellow citizens shown in Chrono Trigger PS1/DS’s extended ending, or what specifically happened to her friends and family who should be one hundred percent dead by the time of her writing that letter and giving it to Luccia. Instead, she heavily implies that she knows Kid is Schala’s Daughter-Clone and she explicitly states her absolute faith and certainty that Janus will protect Kid and keep her safe, no matter what the cost. The Magus that Lucca refers to had to have been with her in the Chrono Trigger party, or she would never have been comfortable enough to speak his real name, Janus, so openly and happily. It could never have been the Other Magus that turned into Guile. She had no way of knowing what happened to that Other Magus after the battle with the Dream Devourer, she never worked with or spoke to that Other Magus; if her party had been the timeline in which Magus had been killed by Frog then it makes absolutely no sense for Lucca to write of Magus so fondly, to openly write of the intimate details of his life and true name, and to be so certain that Magus would protect Kid. How could a dead man who was killed by Frog in Antiquity protect Kid? Furthermore, if Magus wasn’t either time traveling or in 1000 AD, but instead stuck in Antiquity in a hopeless quest to find Schala and living only within the Antiquity timeline, then Lucca’s letter loses all coherence because it makes absolutely no sense for her to put faith in Magus protecting Kid because he should be long dead within the scope of the Chrono Trigger-Chrono Cross timeline. It goes back to the same problem: how could a dead man from Antiquity protect Kid? Keep in mind, Lucca is the most logical member of the party and tries to make as rational approach as possible. It’s completely out of character for her to bet Kid’s safety on a dead person.
This brings up another point; the letter heavily implies and makes it all but clear that Lucca knew that Kid was Schala’s Daughter-Clone. How is such a thing possible? Chrono Cross fans speculate that she was in contact with Balthasar with no real explanation on how or why. Just vague possibilities thrown around everywhere due to her desk and letters in one subplot story; none of which do much more than show that Lucca was working on time eggs and didn’t want the kids around her desk. This brings up even more questions though; why didn’t she fight for her friends and country after being so selfless in Chrono Trigger? Contrary to popular belief, the Orphanage is in more danger under Porre’s army as they’re shown to be indiscriminately slaughtering Guardia denizens and plundering the country. It makes no sense for Lucca to not fight them since the children would be in more danger under Porre than the more benevolent Guardia. Why didn’t Porre’s army attack her house/orphanage? They wouldn’t be above using child soldiers after kidnapping some children, or just killing them or raping them. They’re shown to be utterly remorseless in Chrono Cross itself. Why didn’t she mention anything about the Fall of Guardia in her letter, which is literally her backyard?
The explanation that nicely fits and clears away any plotholes in this letter is simply accepting that Janus was there in 1000 AD. Magus must have told Lucca about Kid’s true origins; he knew who and what Kid was because he helped with Project Kid and with the Time Crash. Perhaps even telling her of his intent to protect Kid. Lucca didn’t mention the Fall of Guardia, because it was a divisive split among her close friends who were out to kill each other. Magus was a dear friend to Lucca, and it could even be interpreted as unrequited romantic love on Lucca’s part for Magus. The Overlord being Magus makes the most consistent sense and the horrific acts done to Marle and Crono were likely not mentioned either to spare Kid further grief or Magus lied to Lucca about what happened as she had stayed neutral to the conflict and he wished for her to remain so.
The obvious question now present is: why would Magus do this to his erstwhile allies? It’s important to note that Magus wanted to kill Lavos partly because of revenge and partly because of his yearning to find Schala. He never gave-up on her despite being stuck in a future timeline. The only one that poor Magus grew-up feeling any sort of emotional connection with and kept him going was the idea of returning to save his sister. Sadly, this idea helped to form a idolized version of Schala in which Magus interpreted his sister as the only positive ray of hope throughout his life. This idolized version may have also kept him going during his puberty years as all that was around him were monsters who demanded survival of the fittest and grueling work. Ergo, he fell in deep incestuous love with the fantasized version of his older sister and wanted his intense sexual frustration requited with his older sister. Now, before some of you stop reading and lambast me for this portion, keep in mind that Schala was the only good thing that kept Magus going for an alleged 20 – 30 years in 600 AD. Moreover, the original ending of Chrono Trigger is Magus trying to find Schala, so this isn’t something argued without valid reasons as Kato’s Chrono Trigger story of Zeal is what made many fans, including myself, conclude that Magus’s sole drive was getting his sister back. To add to this, Antiquity’s morals probably fall more closely to ye olde blood purity and keeping the Kingdom’s bloodline pure kind of mentality and it isn’t a stretch to say that since we never learn anything about Schala and Magus’s parents beyond Queen Zeal’s abusive qualities and greed. Therefore, Magus having lust for his older sister might be normal and may have been encouraged for the norms and ethics of his time period of Antiquity. He would do everything to save Schala, no matter the cost. He is fallible though, so he may have helped Dalton in raping and killing either Marle, Marle and Crono’s child, or perhaps even Marle’s father or Crono himself out of sexual frustration and rationalized that he intended to kill them anyway so it didn’t matter.
What was the motive for attacking Guardia, though? How did helping Dalton kill or likely rape and kill Marle, Crono, Marle’s father, or Marle and Crono’s child help in saving Schala? The answer is FATE. Due to Chronopolis being weakened by needing to wipe out Dinopolis immediately after the Time Crash, then create the El Nido Archipelago so it wouldn’t create a time paradox and stay relatively quiet for thousands of years, and also to keep the El Nido denizens controlled under the local religion it formed for them; FATE was obviously running low on power and this badly damaged the possibility of saving Schala from the Time Devourer and Magus’s own possibility of a happy ending with his older sister. And what better assurance for Chronopolis than to give it the souls of his comrades who had already killed Lavos to guarantee success in saving Schala?
Thus, Magus killed his beloved companions for his deep-seeded incestuous greed to become sexual with his older sister which FATE would be key in fulfilling. Magus needed to harvest the souls of his old teammates to give to FATE to keep it powered-up. This portion might seem more akin to fanfiction, but it is within Chrono Cross itself that we see the farmer bloke being in Chronopolis without ever having aged after being stuck there since 1006 AD and its depicted to be his soul instead of his physical body. Moreover, Chronopolis went from waging a successful war that ravaged Dinopolis into extinction to needing Wazuki to become its biological interface to achieve its objectives. FATE is capable of switching souls as per Lynx and Serge, FATE is capable of using souls as puppets (Wazuki), and using souls to empower itself and even harm others (the Farmer bloke). Magus choosing to go along with Dalton’s plans, and allowing Dalton to gain the fame or infamy of the deeds while collecting two powerful souls for Chronopolis to keep itself powered-up, especially two of the very people who defeated Lavos to assure Chronopolis’s success in being used as a tool to free Schala from Lavos’s new form, would be Magus’s surest bet to achieve his aims of saving his sister. There’s ample reasons to believe the souls of Crono, Marle, and Lucca are really there in Chronopolis in both Home World and Another World. They bring-up Nadia’s Bell, something only the people of Guardia, especially the main Chrono Trigger team, would have any real interest in. The Home World and Another World ghosts react differently to Serge; if they were just FATE’s ghostly programming placed there for no reason, then it wouldn’t make sense for the ghosts to have alternative reactions and behaviors just like every other sentient being from the split universes. In Home World, they seem to be resisting FATE’s indoctrination unlike the idiotic Farmer bloke, but in Another World, they’ve been fully indoctrinated and had their souls cleansed to serve FATE and Balthasar’s objectives of freeing Schala. Moreover, if they really represented nothing during the relatively slow pacing of the story when you go to Chronopolis in Home World when you’re in Lynx’s body as Chrono Cross fans have told me, then what was the point of that entire poignant scene of them blaming him for Guardia’s fall? Was it just bad writing on Masato Kato’s part? Well, since this theory assumes that Kato isn’t making plot holes, and since I’ve already brought up ample reasons to suggest that they’re the real Marle, Crono, and Lucca; the only meaningful questions left are when was Lucca harvested for FATE, what did Magus and Balthasar want FATE to do, and why did Home World Crono, Marle, and Lucca’s souls blame Serge for the destruction of Guardia?
Upon successfully murdering two of his close comrades to harvest their souls, corrupting Masamune with his dark powers for its perceived betrayal, and allowing Dalton to take the credit of all these misdeeds; Magus’s conscience must have grown heavy. Sure, it was all for Schala, but he understood the weight of his bloodbath as he kept killing and killing the innocent civilians of Guardia with Dalton, a hated idiot that he never thought he would work alongside with, and Dalton laughed at the success whilst taking the glory of the conquest for himself as he likely did whatever he wanted; steal, murder, or rape the innocent civilians of Guardia — including helpless children. That’s when Magus conducted one of the most brilliant moves in his pursuit of saving Schala. He deceived or knocked Dalton flat and stuck him on Dalton’s copy of the Epoch to send him back to the time in Antiquity that he had just left in as he full well knew that Dalton would be killed by the weakened Chrono Trigger team of that time and place. This is another reason why Magus is likely the Overlord, Dalton had succeeded in destroying Guardia with the help of some anonymous Overlord, so why did he return on the Epoch only to be killed by a far weaker cast of Chrono Trigger’s main characters and without Crono to boot? The Overlord had to know what the Epoch did and that Dalton wouldn’t come back once sending him back on the Epoch. Information that Magus himself had firsthand experience and intimate knowledge of. And, if Dalton was so successful and so powerful, why did he return on the Epoch and get killed immediately by the weakened Chrono Trigger team? The Overlord had to have known Dalton’s fate and likely booted him onto it to get killed. As a result, in one brilliant stroke, Magus created a self-perpetuating time loop in which Marle’s group kills Dalton and Dalton likewise slaughters all of Guardia with there being no hope of either of the opposing sides from changing the future since it’s a self-perpetuating paradox. Thus, neither group could ever gain vengeance upon Magus for what he did so long as Frog never kills him at the North Cape; which, obviously, isn’t the route the Chrono Trigger team took and so Guardia’s fall likely only happens if the Chrono Trigger team doesn’t kill Magus and instead allows him to join.
After sending Dalton back to Antiquity the exact moment he left so that he’s killed, Magus takes the souls of Crono and Marle to the Dead Sea so that Chronopolis can harvest them to power itself up. Although it was likely still weakened, Magus had managed to keep FATE and Chronopolis strong enough to continue on. Alternatively, it was stabilized but required more strength to harvest for later on in order to bring about the objective that Balthasar and Magus had for it. As for Porre? Control of it seems to have been manipulated by FATE later on, but we’ll get to that in a bit further on.
A year after Guardia’s Fall, Four-year old Serge is assaulted by a panther in 1006 AD. His father Wazuki and Farmer bloke try to get him healed and then a storm happens which causes them to veer off course to Chronopolis. Chrono Cross fans speculate that Schala was the cause of the storm, but there is no proof of this. It would also create far too many plot holes, if it were the case and seems to just be a hasty assumption without considering the problems. For instance, why would Schala be able to arbitrarily effect people’s lives and why would she care about some random boy being attacked by a panther? She’s suppose to be trapped in the Edge of Time and the only way of unsealing her is suppose to be the Chrono Cross itself. Schala arbitrarily deciding to create a weather storm to send a bunch of people to Chronopolis makes no sense. There’s even worse problems with the assumption that Schala was the cause of the storm: not only did she have no motive, but what would be the point if the place that Wazuki was going to would have healed Serge’s injuries anyway? Moreover, even if Chronopolis hadn’t been aware of Wazuki, Farmer bloke, and the injured Serge being in Chronopolis; why hadn’t the security system detected it and how on earth did either Wazuki or Farmer bloke know what contraptions to utilize in order to heal Serge? They’re a bunch of dipshit bumpkins with no formal education and we’re expected to believe they knew how to use super-advanced 2300 AD technology made by Balthasar? And this technology just so happens to heal Serge rather conveniently without FATE being aware or having any ability to do anything as the two idiot bumpkins were inside Chronopolis? One answer might be Prometheus, but Prometheus was killed in Chrono Cross itself for going against FATE so that doesn’t really fit since FATE would be able to do that at any time.
A more believable explanation, that has congruence with this theory, is that FATE wanted them to appear on Chronopolis to achieve one of its core objectives. FATE already controlled the lives of all of El Nido Archipelago through the religious customs of the fortune system. Alternatively, Magus could have used his magical abilities to cause the storm, but most likely, FATE wanted them in Chronopolis to achieve an objective. From there, Prometheus or Magus and Prometheus instructed them on what was needed to be done. Magus, most likely FATE, and possibly Robo deceived the witless idiots carrying the mutilated four-year old boy to serve one of FATE, Magus, and Balthasar’s chief objectives in order to bring about a happy ending for both Schala and Magus.
“
If you try and go against réalité… Réalité will surely crush you. Réalité will kill you. And réalité will continue to go on az if not’ing ever happened… From yesterday to today, and from today to tomorrow. Réalité marchez on… Leaving your crushed body behind…”—
Harle to SergeFarmer bloke, i.e. Miguel, was caught by either Magus or FATE and harvested. Magus, feeling a surge of guilt over having killed Marle and Crono along with possibly Marle’s father or her child, decided to recompense them by allowing his own soul to be indoctrinated and his own body to go through the harvesting, but only after one major change. The four-year old Serge was most likely one hundred percent dead at this point. He was mauled by a panther (possibly a panther demon) and then a storm sent them to Chronopolis. Miguel was trapped and turned into a weaponized guard by Chronopolis and Wazuki became indoctrinated and transformed into FATE’s biological interface. Yet, we’re to believe that Serge remained unscathed apart from becoming the Arbiter of the Frozen Flame and completely healed? In actuality, he most likely received the worst brunt of FATE’s plans. The people of El Nido Archipelago have no concrete personalities and exist solely to be toyed with FATE in order for FATE to meet its objectives. This never changed and “Serge” wasn’t a mysterious or unique individual who could fight against being toyed with. The real Serge was either completely dead by that point due to the panther attack or the poor four-year old’s soul was taken out of his body and Wazuki was some dipshit who never understood the difference since all he saw was his “son” physically healed of his injuries.
Indeed, FATE, possibly the Prometheus Circuit itself, and Magus switched Magus’s soul with the four-year old’s body after FATE indoctrinated Magus just as the souls of Miguel, Marle, and Crono were indoctrinated to do FATE’s bidding. This was Magus’s twisted apology to his deceased friends, when really he just wanted to pursue his own selfish goals and rationalize his actions. FATE finally brought him a suitable specimen to switch his soul with so that they could begin plans to have him and his sister reunited and for Magus’s disturbing sexual fantasies to be fulfilled. The El Nido Archipelago consisted of people who existed to serve FATE, i.e. who existed to serve Balthasar and Magus’s schemes. The real body of Magus was harvested just like Miguel’s but was unseen, since “Serge” doesn’t want to remember his true past but instead wishes to play hero to rescue his sister. This explains why Serge randomly falls in love with Kid. It’s really an amnesiac Magus in a young boy’s body who finally gets his sexual fantasies for his idolized sister fulfilled along with finally reuniting with her. The real Serge died in 1006 AD after FATE harvested and indoctrinated Miguel, slowly turned Wazuki crazy by turning him into Lynx over the years, and switched little Serge’s soul with an indoctrinated Magus’s soul. The harvested Magus body went unseen and the real Serge’s soul died in 1006 AD. The Frozen Flame seemingly healed “Serge” and Wazuki, being an inept and stupid fisherman from a backwater village, had no idea what the 2300 AD technology had actually done and so assumed that the Frozen Flame had healed his little boy’s injuries without realizing that he had tragically killed his real son. Magus became Serge and overwrote his own memories to assure himself that he would believe it; either through FATE’s indoctrination or, if you don’t believe FATE indoctrinated Serge just like FATE did Miguel and Wazuki, then Magus eliminated his own memories just like Other Magus. We know FATE can switch souls since Lynx, FATE’s biological interface, switched Serge’s soul for his own within the game itself. Some Chrono Cross fans adamantly argue and shout down such a possibility because they go on arguing the core element of a soul can’t change and so Serge should be a Dark Element like Magus. This is an utterly stupid argument and is utterly disproven by the vast majority of Chrono Cross’s content itself. Serge was a Light Element and when his soul was swapped into Lynx’s body, it became a Dark Element. Within Chrono Cross itself, and for the majority of the Chrono Cross playthrough, such an argument is thoroughly disproven by the basic contents of Chrono Cross itself in both plot and gameplay. Sorry, but no, Serge being a Light element doesn’t disprove this theory since in Lynx’s body, he’s a Dark element. The elements seem to comprise of physical make-up similar to genetics and have nothing to do with one’s soul.
What happened next? Wazuki, foolishly believing he had his son healed, returned to El Nido while Miguel was harvested by FATE and Wazuki was unknowingly indoctrinated by FATE like the aforementioned rest. Slowly, the Amnesiac Magus began to live as if he was Serge as he didn’t know any better, but Wazuki likely started seeing differences in behavior that seemed innocuous at first, but over the years Wazuki grew more troubled and alarmed. Whispers in his mind by FATE telling him of his new purpose slowly weakened his sanity as the indoctrination slowly took hold. Amnesiac Magus had the memories of Serge, even the panther attack, and so believed himself to be Serge as he grew accustomed to the name and role that Balthasar, FATE, and his previous self had dictated for him. However, Wazuki saw problems emerge and it is likely that the more he thought about his old pal Miguel and what had happened, the more he realized that something was wrong with his son. Why didn’t his son exhibit any issues, while he himself did from that place that had healed his son? Why was Serge’s personality so different? What had that bizarre robotic area in the deep waters actually done to his precious son, Serge?
Whether due to FATE’s whispers or finally allowing himself to use critical thinking, the backwater bumpkin that was Wazuki finally realized the true horror of what he had wrought. So shaken by horror and grief, he didn’t speak a word of what he realized, or perhaps what FATE’s whispers had led him to acknowledge, because of his utter self-loathing and shame. How could poor Wazuki explain to his beloved wife that their darling son wasn’t completely healed by a miracle as he had told her in a bittersweet reunion upon explaining Miguel’s untimely demise? He couldn’t explain Miguel’s death, but he probably had explained to his fellow villagers how Miguel’s sacrifice had saved his son’s life. Leena believed her father to have been a hero and Serge was seemingly healthy and alive. Now, upon recognizing just what truly happened to his dearly departed son, Wazuki felt anguish and self-loathing as he recognized Miguel’s sacrifice was for nothing and “Serge” was but a puppet and emotional deception that was impersonating his true son. Grief, anger, rage, loathing, and remorse likely wafted through Wazuki’s mind as he tried to process what that vile place deep in the oceans were and what it had done to his precious little boy. How could he explain to his wife that he hadn’t triumphantly saved their beloved son from the jaws of death, but rather placed their helpless child on a table to be slaughtered like a lamb and replaced by a creepy manikin that deceived itself to be like their son? How could he explain to Leena and Leena’s mother about Miguel’s sacrifice being in vain? How could he explain to the villagers the creepy, mechanical voodoo that caused some dark sorcerer to inhabit his son’s body? How could he explain to them all, let alone his own wife, that the real Serge was long dead and it was all his fault?
In a fit of grief, rage, and utter insanity; Wazuki temporarily overpowered FATE’s slow indoctrination, and in 1010 AD attempted to kill Amnesiac Magus. This insane, horrific, and painful act was done not because of FATE, but because of the power of love that was twisted into a monstrosity that Wazuki could never understand as it had to do with timelines, a Sage manipulating his entire way of life and even his existence, and Magus’s machinations because his son happened to be a suitable host. Wazuki wasn’t falling prey when he attempted to drown Serge, it was the last act of a desperate, loving father who had been manipulated and mentally tormented; who saw no way out of the horror that he had wrought and the grief he endured for killing his own son, that he allowed himself to go insane in a fit of rage to murder his precious son’s killer who inhabited his own son’s body. The drowning was a last and desperate act of love from a truly honest man and loving father whose life had been twisted, manipulated, exploited, and destroyed by forces that he would never understand. He was a backwater country bumpkin and possibly a totally uneducated idiot, but he truly a loving father whose grief overcame him as he tried to avenge his son’s horrific death that he had unknowingly been a part of by the twisted machinations of his creators (Balthasar), the God (FATE) that he believed in, and his son’s true killer (Magus).
Contrary to popular belief, FATE didn’t control Wazuki to drown Serge. FATE needed Serge’s body to open the door to the Frozen Flame, but that wouldn’t be for many years later and only under the proscribed guidelines of Balthasar to make Serge and Kid fall in love to give Magus and Schala a happy ending. If it had been about opening a single door, FATE could have killed the Prometheus Circuit whenever it wanted or alternatively, just had Wazuki bring Serge to Eden at any time in those four years. That would be pure bad writing on Masato Kato’s part, and this theory assumes that Masato Kato could never possibly be a piss poor writer of low intellectual quality and caliber. Killing Serge would seal access to the Frozen Flame forever and makes no sense. Moreover, if killing Serge would have done that, then Wazuki being fully overtaken and turned into Lynx should have taken Serge to Chronopolis immediately. He could have kidnapped or attacked Serge at any time to bring him there just like he had burned down Lucca’s orphanage for some anonymous reason that this theory will try to explain. So anyway, moving on with what happened next.
FATE immediately took full control through its most powerful indoctrination methods to stop Wazuki from attempting to kill FATE’s Master, Magus in Serge’s body. Wazuki could temporarily overcome the slow indoctrination through sheer insanity over the grief of the death of his real son, but he couldn’t stop FATE from taking full control when FATE fully turned him into its biological interface. Due to his grief, Wazuki became similar to the panther demon that had harmed his son; likening his own actions of having trusted the mysterious Chronopolis with his son’s welfare to the same as the panther having mauled his son. Emblemizing himself in his own grief and rage as his very mind and ability to think was taken away from him and his love for his son but a distant regret in Another World and the driving force of Home World.
The drowning of Magus within his new vessel was a calamity that had to be prevented at all costs. Schala heard the cries of Serge as he was drowning. The game claims that she was reminded of her brother Janus, but does it really make sense for Schala to save Serge because she’s reminded of her brother’s cries when her brother is actually crying and being harmed in 600 AD? If Serge was just some bumpkin in El Nido Archipelago, then why didn’t Schala just save Janus in 600 AD, if that’s what she was being reminded of? It’s because the Serge that was being drowned by the distraught Wazuki was actually Janus himself but in an amnesiac condition within a new vessel. Schala loved her brother and wanted to save him; so she creates a time portal to send her Daughter-Clone, Kid, to rescue Amnesiac Janus in the ten-year old body of his new vessel. Kid goes and saves Amnesiac Janus, and Amnesiac Janus under the belief that he’s Serge, immediately falls in love with his rescuer and restarts worshiping her and having sexual fantasies about her in idolized fascination with the mystery beauty. Schala sends Kid back to her own timeline and one part of a loop, similar to the Dalton-Marle loop, is formed thanks to Schala’s tinkering with space-time.
Wazuki is placed firmly into the control of FATE, bound by the chains of his regret and self-loathing, and becomes Lynx completely through indoctrination. Lynx, who is FATE’s biological interface, then goes off to take full control of Porre’s army for five years in preparation for 1020 AD. Home World FATE is desperate because Serge is dead and it knows it’s part of a fallen timeline whilst Another World FATE awaits confirmation of the next time loop so that the process may begin to simulate a journey so that Serge and Kid mutually fall in love as per their programming and Schala can finally be freed to unify herself with her amnesiac biological interface of Kid who is her “daughter-clone” but also Schala herself. This is possibly the reason Kid loses her memory through the self-reset powers, since Schala takes over from time to time and Kid merely exists to fulfill Schala’s wishes and simulate her sexually repressed feelings for her younger brother.
Five years later, feeling weakened and potentially losing its grip on Lynx, FATE orders Lynx to attack Lucca’s orphanage and harvest Lucca’s soul in 1015 AD. This was always meant to happen as Magus and Balthasar needed their souls to power-up FATE so that they could pursue saving Schala. In fact, opening the door to Chronopolis for the Frozen Flame makes even less sense than Wazuki drowning Serge to do that. After all, FATE would need Lucca to be alive to actually work on getting past the Prometheus Circuit, and simply kidnapping a child and threatening to murder the kidnapped orphan would have been enough of a motivation to force Lucca to comply. Instead Lynx burned the orphanage, the orphans are implied to be dead regardless of if Serge helps them, and Lucca was killed by Lynx. Lynx, FATE’s biological interface, came to the orphanage to kill Lucca and harvest her soul to further empower Chronopolis.
In 1015 AD, the next and most important self-perpetuating timeloop is perfected. Both Home World and Another World FATE see the confirmation of the purpose of burning down the orphanage when they see Serge arrive to help Kid as Lynx and Harle disappear into the fire. Lynx looks right at Serge before he vanishes completely and upon seeing Serge, FATE from Home World knows that it is doomed and FATE from Another World knows that the self-perpetuating time loop is stabilized. After Serge brings Kid outside, Serge responds with the correct answer of always being there to protect her after she asks what else is there to live for. The young Kid ends-up idolizing and fantasizing about her rescuer, Serge, and falls in love with him completely in 1015 AD just as Amnesiac Magus fell in love with Kid when being rescued by her in 1010 AD. Thus, the self-perpetuating time loop and FATE’s objective of destroying everyone else who could potentially be a nuisance to Kid and Serge getting together is achieved. Magus and Balthsaur achieve the goal of Magus and Schala living happily ever after once the journey of Chrono Cross is complete.
Lynx of Another World is fully indoctrinated and brings Lucca’s soul back with no trouble. Lynx of Home World organizes a party with Viper, ostensibly to forge an agreement between Porre Military and Viper’s army, to go to the Sea of Eden and wipe FATE out. Wazuki’s insanity allows him to temporarily break free of FATE’s control again and so Home World FATE seals its own Biological interface, Harle, and the Viper entourage permanently in Chronopolis. Despite not physically being there in the game itself, Masato Kato explained in an interview that Home World Harle and Lynx are indeed frozen in time. It seems Home World FATE grew desperate and harvested them and was then corrupted by Harle’s dragon powers, unlike Another World FATE which has stabilized and fully indoctrinated the souls that it has stored whilst it’s biological interface does as it is told.
The rest, as they say, is history as people play the main game of Chrono Cross itself. Lynx switches bodies with Amnesiac Magus in order for Amnesiac Magus to have an identity crisis and affirm in Amnesiac Magus’s own mind that his own existence is that he is Serge so that he is fully indoctrinated. Kid is stabbed to make Amnesiac Magus long for Kid, whilst Kid herself follows along Dark Serge’s plans to affirm their love as they slaughter FATE’s pawns in the El Nido Archipelago by massacring civilians so that Kid feels more in love with Serge than she did from meeting him earlier in the game. Serge is duped by the dragons and uses Masamune / Mastermune to save Kid through time travel to affirm the loop and later on Schala is rescued. The timelines all converge and a new world is borne. Masato Kato’s dream of a brother meeting a sister in incestuous matrimony and sexual repression being fulfilled is affirmed through Masato Kato’s own story writing.
Magus can even be seen standing by where Schala is sitting in the end-game picture and it’s important to note that Masato Kato wrote the story of Princess Maker 2, one of which has an incest ending of the Princess having a sexual relationship with her own father so an incest story is not out of the norm for Masato Kato. Ultimately, the story is about how nobles who desire purity of blood and have a forbidden love due to circumstances beyond their control, ultimately rewrite reality in order to be together. Also, it’s the reverse of an old Japanese fable of lovers committing suicide becoming reincarnated as twins. In this instance, it’s family members falling in love and rewriting reality to make their love into something that isn’t forbidden in a grim, disturbing, and twisted “Love Conquers All” message. It is the love of two aristocrats who follow the cultural customs of incest and sacrifice the paupers and peons for their own gut-wrenching thrills and sexual jollies as aristocrats who live above morality with a system that keeps them from ever having to face the consequences of their actions. After all, Kid never faced any consequences when joining Dark Serge’s massacres of El Nido and Serge himself never faced any consequences when massacring the fairy population to save Kid from what he thought was her being fatally poisoned.
In short, the twisted, disturbing incest love of nobility is more important than the lives of the commoners whom Serge and Kid / Magus and Schala sacrifice for their bloodlust and unrestrained, incestuous sexual thrills for each other. The last image of the game is Schala “Kid” Zeal and Janus “Serge” Zeal living happily ever after just as FATE, Balthasar, Magus, and Schala had planned and wanted after mercilessly sacrificing the lives of countless innocents who would be thrown into the Darkness Beyond Time (which must still exist, since Kid was in a different timeline from Serge before the final scene); the important aristocrats finally achieve their goals of living their grim and twisted incest dream into reality. The last scene of Schala looking towards the beach is her bated breath before this picture finalizes the moment; turning the ending into a reverse type of revelation. In which, the finalizing image is actually this picture of Janus and Schala living happily ever after.
Poll