Theory: The Formation of Gates

[Frisko]

After analyzing Chrono Trigger I've dertermined three components are neccesary for a gate to form. NOTE: This theory only applies to Blue & Red Gates.  It doesn't apply to Green Gates or the hypothetical Black Gates.  

1. "Enity Energy" (Basicly energy that is present where ever a gate can be formed, so named due to the fact the Entiy could be reponsible for it, then again it could be natural)
2.  Dreamstone
3.  A focusing device

Heres how I think it works

1.  Dreamstone absorbs Entity Energy.
2.  Dreamstone begins radiating gates on a microscopic level. (think subatomic)
3. A focusing device brings the micro-gates together into a gate large enough to transfer macroscopic matter.

I will now explain how this works with every Blue and Red Gate in Chrono Trigger.

Telepod Gates: Marle's pendant begins radiating micro-gates. When she, or Crono is teleported the telepod has to use a focusing device to move them to the other side, however since it also focuses the micro-gates the process is interrupted midway & a gate forms.

Gate Key Gates:  The Gate Key is based off of the telepod (as Lucca herself says) it is essentally a handheld version of the telepod's focusing device.

Magus's Castle Gate: When your fighting Magus their is a considerable amount of Dreamstone: Masamune, Marle's Pendant, Magus's Weapon .  So much infact that the micro-gates they readiate cause the Gate Key to activate without being turned on.  As for why it took until you defeated Magus for that gate to open, I believe that Magus had an anti-gate spell active during the battle (to prevent Lavos for escaping by using a gate to send Magus away), when you beat him he was too weak to maintain the spell.  However, the spell was counter-productive as it acted as a dam and when the spell came down it was like tons of water rushing in, hence the large size & the Gate Key's "Self" Activation. (w/o the spell in all likelyhood  the Gate Key wouldn't have activated.

Zeal Gates: The Mammon Machine uses Dreamstone &  it uses Lavos's energy to provide the people of Zeal with magic, in order to do so it would need a focusing device of some kind so as little energy as possible was wasted.  When the Masamune damaged the Mammon Machine it broke the focusing device causing it to focus the micro-gates into 4 gates.

Red Gate:  As you probally know the Red Gate is the only one to be formed after Marle's Pendant has been recharged.  IMO this is very important as it gives the Pendant a further range this allows the gate to form.  The reason it only appears once is probally due to the pendants charged state, its able to form more precise gates, but unable to form gates that last for a long time.

Please reply with any thoughts you have about this theory & feel free to post your own theories about Gate Formation in this topic.

[Zaperking]

Wow. I was thinking along the likes of that too. But what did you mean by the black and green gates?

And one note, you didn't really explain the first portal. Crono went through the gate with the pendant... Lucca used just the gate key to open it up. I am guessing that the pendant activates the portal and leaves it there forever, or until the entitiy doesn't want it there anymore. Lucca could have just hitched herself a ride once it was activated, otherwise it would never have been there.

[SilentMartyr]

The red gate was activated by the pendant?? Thats new, I don't remember Lucca ever having the pendant in the game. It is either in Crono or Marle's possesion from what I know.

[Frisko]

But what did you mean by the black and green gates?

By the Green Gate I meant the one that appears on the right Telepod in New Game+.  As for the Black Gate I noticed that one of the Enlightened Ones mentioned Janus & Melchoir disappeared though a BLACK  portal , since the gates we usu. see are blue I figured it must be a different kind of gate.

The red gate was activated by the pendant?? Thats new, I don't remember Lucca ever having the pendant in the game. It is either in Crono or Marle's possesion from what I know.

Your right however as I stated (or intended to state) in its charged state the Pendant radiates micro-gates much further due to this fact the Gate Key was able to focus them despite being several yards from the Pendant.

And one note, you didn't really explain the first portal. Crono went through the gate with the pendant... Lucca used just the gate key to open it up. I am guessing that the pendant activates the portal and leaves it there forever, or until the entitiy doesn't want it there anymore. Lucca could have just hitched herself a ride once it was activated, otherwise it would never have been there.

I completly forgot about Lucca coming though that gate , but I have an explaination for that too.  When micro-gates form they last a long time, so long that even when the Pendant was sent to 600 A.D. they were still present. So as soon as Lucca activated the Telepod or for that matter used the Gate Key they became focused to form a gate.[/quote]

[V_Translanka]

1. I don't think they specified what color the gate that Janus & Melchior went through...anybody got the exact quote?

2. Magus' weapon was not dreamstone when you fight him in his castle.

3. This theory fails to explain most of the gates that already exist...

The way I see it, it's just as they said during the 400 Year Reunion (I always feel like I'm messing up that year...600...1000...right...)...The gates are created by the entity so that Crono & Co will help to finally defeat Lavos...

The main thing I noticed about the portals was, like a man reliving his memories at death, that they all happened to occur during drastic, momentous times on the planet (ie the Coming of Lavos, the Fall of Zeal, the Guardia/Mystic War, etc).

[Frisko]

 1. I don't think they specified what color the gate that Janus & Melchior went through...anybody got the exact quote?

I was going to get it from the script in the Compendium, but it's not working.  Its possible that it was described as being dark rather then  black, but that would still require another color   (as red, green, and blue hardly qualify as dark).

2. Magus' weapon was not dreamstone when you fight him in his castle.

I never said it was the weapon he was using I just said he had it with him (after all Crono could of had the Wooden Sword with him, but that doesn't mean he was using it when he fought Magus). How else would you explain him having his dreamstone weapon in Zeal if he didn't have it when we was pulled into the gate?  I don't know about you, but I doubt Zeal had that much Dreamstone lying around because then you'd see it a lot more (besides the Mammon Machine and Magus's Weapon we only see Schala's Pendant, and the Red Knife (both of which are pretty small).

3. This theory fails to explain most of the gates that already exist...

Really? Hmm...  I said I wasn't doing the Green Gate....  oh you mean the pillars & the bucket at the End of Time, right?

Well, I've always believed that the pillars slip you into an already existing gate stream, going in a predetermined direction. Although come to think of it that doesn't explain how the micro-gates on the other end stay focused enough for you utilize the gate.
I'll have to think that part over.

As for the bucket I believe it works just like the pillars.
 

The way I see it, it's just as they said during the 400 Year Reunion (I always feel like I'm messing up that year...600...1000...right...)...The gates are created by the entity so that Crono & Co will help to finally defeat Lavos...

True, but you have to recall it was just a hypothesis.  Assuming it's correct it still leaves open the question as to how the Entiy created them which my theory could be used to explains with "it put the energy neccesary for dreamstone to generate micro-gates in place".

The main thing I noticed about the portals was, like a man reliving his memories at death, that they all happened to occur during drastic, momentous times on the planet (ie the Coming of Lavos, the Fall of Zeal, the Guardia/Mystic War, etc).

Lara losing her legs. . . nope doesn't seem like a symptom of drastic, momentous times on the planet.

Millenial Fair drastic, no.  Momentous not when the planet and for that matter humans are well over 65,000,000 years old.

End of Time: The Planet isn't even there.

[GreenGannon]

Firstly, the red gate is a different Gate, it's been assumed that the Entity took pity on Lucca.

Secondly, if they had enough Dreamstone to build the Mammon Machine, they'd probably have enough to build Magus's weapon.

Thirdly, the Millenial Fair is where the planet chose its heroes.

Lastly, the End of Time is there as a side result of the actual process of time travel.

[V_Translanka]

I think the regular blue gates are pretty dark...But seriously, I just remember it as being 'a gate'...

As for Magus' 'dreamstone weapon'...I always assumed that he used the Masamune to fight Lavos with. It seems as though he would think that legendary weapon would have some effect on Lavos as it had such drastic effects on himself...Plus, it's right there for the taking after the Red Knife transforms (and maybe after Crono & Co. defeat the Mammon Machine if you think it's somehow still stuck in it).

I meant just the gates everywhere...What you seem to be calling 'micro-gates', I think...They are just gates that aren't opened for use, really. It's never said that they are anything but.

I know it was a hypothesis, I was just countering it (go science!).

As for the Red Gate...Yes, I think it is important to the Entity because it is important to Lucca, one of the Entity's chosen heroes. It can be said that she needs to see those events (and possibly save her mother) for her own well being, and thusly the further well being of the planet.

As for 1000A.D. aside from being the time when at least one person is flung back in time (not drastic or momentous enough for ya?), you'll also note that the planet has been going through various earthquakes at the time (from Lavos preparing to erupt just under a hundred years later).

As for the End of Time...Well, no gate actually goes to the End of Time. Like GreenGannon said, it's a side effect of time travel itself. Also, even if you choose to refute that, I think that the time when time ends might be drastic enough for the Entity to consider important...But that's beside the point...

[ZeaLitY]

This needs further discussion. Can anyone comment on this? It would rely on the Entity using focused reserves of Dreamstone to create Gates in certain eras. The curiosity and "hm...interesting" prevent me from just writing it off, but we need to determine if it is viable and worthy of an analytical entry or if it's just a bit too farfetched to be taken seriously.