OMG!

[Exodus]

I would like to remind you, Josh, that your theory is pure speculation, as is any notion that Lavos has a gender.

At the present time, there is no proof to suggest that Lavos has a gender, nor is there any proof that Lavos is genderless.

I'm being perfectly serious in this one instance: Just stop trying until sufficient proof is established. What  you have at the moment is simply not enough for either party to come to a satisfactory conclusion, without a bunch of "I think, you think" arguments.

[GrayLensman]

3.  I support the idea that Lavos is an it.  We have genderless species throughout our Earth.  Who's to say our concepts of gender even exist in space?  It is extremely unlikely that they do.  Don't say the Lavos need a gender to reproduce, as that is both stupid, as we never see another Lavos.  He's an alien.

In Chrono Trigger, Lavos is referred to variously as a "he." This is why many fans believe Lavos is male, but that is a misconception on their part. The usage of "he" is that of the gender-neutral pronoun, which in languages whose pronouns are gendered usually falls to the male gender. ("To each his own," and the like.)

In Chrono Cross the confusing usage of "he" is removed, and Lavos is referred to solely as an "it."

If Lavos were a male, then either there had to have been a female Lavos on the planet, for the purposes of procreation, which there wasn't, or "he" must have been already carrying the Lavos spawn that began to spread across the world 65 million years after Lavos landed. That's a farfetched notion. All the evidence seems to point to a genderless Lavos who procreates asexually.

Incidentally, since you mentioned that gender might not exist among life forms "in space," the most appealing theory (to me) that attempts to explain the evolution of gender, is that two-parent reproduction allows for a much more rapid retention of favorable genetic traits--an implicit survival mechanism. If so, it would be equally plausible to occur in an evolutionary chain throughout the universe. I encourage you to look at some of the literature on this subject, if you're interested.

Lavos may be capable of both sexual and asexual reproduction.  What occurred in 1999 AD was definitely asexual reproduction; Lavos produced the spawns based on the genetic material it had assimilated on earth.  However, Lavos-type beings may also engage in sexual reproduction at some other point in their lifecycle, or perhaps exchange genetic material like bacteria.  I don't particularly want to imagine what such an encounter would entail.

[Burning Zeppelin]

I wouldnt be suprised. Depending on if Lavos is a being like us. But isnt asexual reproduction splitting yourself in two?

[Lord J Esq]

But isnt asexual reproduction splitting yourself in two?

The short 'n easy answer is no. And certainly we needn't conjure up dramatic imagery of Lavos chopping itself in half with a Lavos Screech (TM). The basic difference between sexual and asexual reproduction is that sexual reproduction retains half the genetic information from two parents (one of each sex), and then combines that information to produce offspring that is neither solely the mother nor solely the father but partially both, while asexual reproduction retains the entire genetic information from only one parent.

[SilentMartyr]

But isnt asexual reproduction splitting yourself in two?

The short 'n easy answer is no. And certainly we needn't conjure up dramatic imagery of Lavos chopping itself in half with a Lavos Screech (TM). The basic difference between sexual and asexual reproduction is that sexual reproduction retains half the genetic information from two parents (one of each sex), and then combines that information to produce offspring that is neither solely the mother nor solely the father but partially both, while asexual reproduction retains the entire genetic information from only one parent.

It basically copies itself, with very minor differences in genetic makeup, if at all.

[Radical_Dreamer]

Unless of course, we're dealing in hermpahroditic sexual reproduction, in which case the offspring of a single parent can have a quite different genetic make up than it's parent.

[Burning Zeppelin]

Is there really hermaphoriditc reproduction?

[Radical_Dreamer]

Is there really hermaphoriditc reproduction?

Most worms are hermaphrodites, although I assume they look for partners if it all possible.

[Burning Zeppelin]

Oh, sorry, i forgot  

[Crono_Maniac]

Evolution occurs independently.  To say that Lavos has a gender is like saying if an alien comes to Earth, it woul have 2 eyes, a nose, a mouth, and be humanoid.  Who are we to say Lavos reproduces with in any Earthly way?  Stephen Hawking states that alien life would have no similarites to human life.  The chances that Lavos has a gender is absurd.  Also each Lavos would be completely different based off the DNA it absorbs.

[Kazuki]

Bot! I smell a bot...

[Zaperking]

Well, It's kind of obvious that Lavos is a female.
1) It uses DNA as like an equivalant to sperm so that it will have a better Gene pool than by itself.
2) The Time Devourer is Female.

LAVOS HAS PMS!!! RUN1!!!!11!!!!ONEONEONE!!!1!!

[V_Translanka]

1) It uses DNA as like an equivalant to sperm so that it will have a better Gene pool than by itself.

So basically you're saying that since Lavos takes in DNA from an external source that automatically gives the DNA a male sex? What kind of basis is that?

2) The Time Devourer is Female.

Yeah, so? Schala is female. The sky is blue. The earth revolves around the sun. etc. See what I did there? Your fact is meaningless in conjunction to finding out Lavos' sex (if indeed it has one).