Ah, sorry guys. Don't take what I say quite so seriously. My style lends itself to sounding serious, even in forum posts, but I'm not quite that ardent about it. I merely try to reconcile my liking of the Chrono universe with my love of high fantasy, which I hold in very high regard. Not quite the direction most Chrono fans go, I realize, and makes me a little different. As a result it is very difficult for me to think of Chrono things in terms of evolution and such any more, though I realize fully that having that as a basis was the original intent of the game makers. I can only defend myself by saying that most of the theories are not what they had intended either, and is simply a personal interpretation of the events.
Regardless, I still think, evolution or not, that the Dragons do lie. That was their version of history, and is tainted by their hatred of humans. I did not take this as the sole basis for that comment, however. What I thought was that Ayla seemed quite intelligent, being only less intelligent by being raised in an unadvanced age; had she been brought up in the future, she would have been no less intelligent than Crono. At the very least her mind is far more advanced than the Dragons would account to humans in their murals. So if humans do evolve, it is natural, and they are simply misunderstood by the Dragons. Not unexpected, however. The humans base their technology in skill, the Dragons in the power of the earth. This creates a natural enimity between the two races. Remember, the Reptites and humans were at war already long before Lavos arrived. I don't remember Azala's appraisal of humankind all that friendly. Naturally I don't expect her descendents, from a city ripped from its own dimension only to find all of its race surplanted by their ancient enemies, to take to kindly to these "apes". On this basis, I would say that the Dragons lie. Humanity is every bit as natural as Dragons. It was not till the experimentation with the Frozen Flame in Chronopolis that they fell under the thrall of Lavos.
Now, in regards to the final battle, and all the comments the characters make...I never thought any of those referred to evolution, even the first time I played the game. He indeed took all the DNA...that was his purpose in his long parasitic sleep, was it not? To gain power and absorb the essence of all the beings? When Frog says that they have been raised as "animals for the slaughter", or whatever he says, why does that mean that Lavos has guided evolution? It simply means that their only purpose in the last 65,000,000 years, pending the destruction of the earth, was to provide the neccessary DNA. If evolution has occurred, it has been natural, and Lavos has only watched by with an evil eye on lordship over the earth, biding his time.
Also, I do think that the dreamstone gave birth to magic. The red knife, after all, is magical. Is it not then feasable that it was from this hallowed stone from which both the greatest sword and the Mammon machine were forged that magic came to humanity?
But here is a theory that combines both what the Dragons say and what is said in Zeal in the library. Is it not possible that the source for the evolution of the human mind in CT was not of the Frozen Flame, but rather the Dreamstone? It does say in Zeal that it was from this that hopes and dreams, which are higher levels of thought, are born. This seems to confirm, along with the fact that Ayla too has hopes and dreams, that it was not the Frozen Flame, but rather the Dreamstone that hyper-evolved humanity. But the Dreamstone is a natural part of the earth, so this is not, as the Dragons would say, an unnatural evolution. It is the guiding force of fate, which could in the Chrono universe be construed as the will of the planet.
In this respect, I am unsure where Mystics fall. They are not Reptites, that is sure. Maybe the Heckran is, but certainly the gargoyles and trolls are not. They could not have evolved from the Reptites either; this would counter one of the basic premises of evolution: survival of the fittest. Were the Mystics one race, this may have been possible. But they are no less than a dozen races, so evolution is not the key to their origin. They would have killed each other off for supremacy. What remains then? Perhaps they are simply a race born of magic, or even of the will of the earth. Just as in Greek mythology, where Gaia gives birth to the Giants to storm Olympus, perhaps their origin lies in such magical realms.
