I did try to draw a little bit from the CC opening for it. In case it isn't obvious, Janus is the narrator there; the mood is much like his spell for summoning Lavos. I threw in a little bit of the linguistic style from Pious Augustus' opening soliloquy from Eternal Darkness, in which he laments that he once did not have the power that the Ancients have bestowed upon him as a lich.
Pius Augustus... dutiful and revered. Strange name for something that is recalled from Hades.
NOTE: HADRIEL, THIS ALL CAME TO ME, AND I FIGURE IT FOR A RATHER GOOD IDEA. PLEASE DO READ THIS THROUGH AND CONSIDER WHAT I SAY... OH, AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK OF IT!
Anyway, that does make a rather good speech for Janus. Actually, here's an idea for it, and do consider it, as it strikes me well and I think it could work wondrously. You'll be using it as the opening, of course, but why not put it in the end as well? You could have Janus, at the very end, confronted by some strange people somewhere - or here's an idea: the race of Lavos themselves! - who are wondering at what this great travail and tale that has passed has been about, from beginning to end. And as the last of the screens darkens, one of these beings asks him of this, and commands him to tell. And Janus, in the fashion of a poet of the Zeal court (and considering how he is in RD, I think that Janus has the ability to be very formal and well-spoken, if he so wishes, best in all pursuits of mind and body, of learning and skill) stands forward, sweeps his cloak, and begins to speak this. Imagine! The end is Janus, before the people of Lavos himself, as a guest-friend and, I should think, a peer, telling a grand tale, like some new Odysseus before a gracious Phaikaian king. Long-suffering Odysseus... it could be said for Janus as well. And Odysseus had his homecoming... why should Janus remain forever in suffering?
Honestly, I think that would make for a wonderful end - it would seem as though the story has gone full-circle, and what was prophecied at the beginning has come and gone, and is being retold, and so on. Yes, I really think this could work wonderfully. I'd imagine the people of Lavos to be a very austere and ancient group, loving of wisdom and knowledge and tales, and all that sort of thing. Imagine... oh, like some messenger play, where the people of some expedition wait for the tidings, and when they come in the form of a messenger they are grim, things of woe and ruin. Like Aeschylus' Persians, wherein a messenger speaks of the destruction of their armies at Salamis. I can imagine these ancient lords of Lavos' people - maybe even the father of Lavos himself - sitting in council, and aghast to hear that their mission has gone so astray. And so it could end, with Janus* standing before them, great and powerful as the last son of Zeal (and in this, I'm thinking of how I've spoken of him at the end of Twilight of Fate), the equal of this great people. They would weep to hear of the fall of such a race as Zeal, and be heartbroken that one of their own betrayed an entire world in such a way. Oh, dammit all, I cannot quite tell it as I wish, or speak properly of the feeling of it. To me, it seems like such a grand final flourish - Janus, the mighty tale-teller, standing there in counsel before the lords of Lavos' people. For who else but he could do such a thing? Who else of humanity would be worthy, or might enough, to be counted equal amongst the lords of that race in keeness of mind and strength of power? With Zeal downfallen, only he, the last prince and lord. Do you see what I'm getting at? Got it! That's what I was thinking of. Alright, here's the final point, the feel I was going for: Horatio in Hamlet. At the end, Fortinbras strides in saying, what is all this? And Horatio there says he will speak of these things, of foul things, and all that sort. That's what I was thinking of, though mingled with a more programatic proem and formal epic, as you wrote. Think of the feeling of the end of Hamlet when Horatio is about to speak all this to Fortinbras - then think of Janus before the lords of Lavos' race.
*Janus I see as a transitory character, and one that could do well to remove himself from his darkness - much as it seems to be the hallmark of the character of Magus, it seems to me that it is rather a sickness or shadow ever-present upon him, and masks his true self even from himself. That for all his dark-earned power, it is just a shadow of what he could be free from it, in full nobility and grandeur such as a lord of Zeal should truly be, shining like an angel amidst humanity. Now, the whole grim sorcerer thing is wonderful, of course, but needn't last forever. It's only his warrior guise, a mask and cloak borne up by need of the harsh endeavours he is subjected to. And when the journey is over... it is cast aside. He returns to bright glory, setting aside the dark form of his younger years. I, personally, do that transition very quickly in my story - all at once, at the defeat of Lavos, because I consider Lavos himself the root of that darkness and that, undefeated, it forever prey's on Janus' mind...an oath that he swore being unfulfilled, that being to kill Lavos. So it his oath, his vows, that chain him. They limit him and drive him to harshness and anger. Honestly, I think it would be immensely interesting if he would of a suddenly change at the end: become bright and glorious like some heavenly thing, like a sudden spring after a long harsh winter. I read recently that Tolkien had this idea of an inverse to the typical classical turn for the worse: a turn for the better. Say, the coming of the Rohirrim. It leaves one with such joy and relief, and feeling of things being better. Anyway, I'm rambling, but the thing is, Janus' character has so far in Chrono Trigger been rather static in his tragedy - to suddenly wrench that way and give him a noble and bright glory would be more touching, I think, than any character death could now do. Oh, here's what I was thinking of with the more glorious version of Janus:
Though it had ever been his way to speak rashly and in pride, such things had now departed from him forever. The dark sorcerer was no more, for he was robed in garments of shimmering white, traced with weavings of gold and silver that reflected the sheen of the sun. He seemed as a cloud behind which the sun hides, yet even as the heavenly light burns at its verges, and flames from behind in hidden glory, his power could not be fully veiled. Truly here was the last prince and lord of Zeal, and his words were as the wisdom that brings low all foolishness. His countenance bore none of the rage, neither the hate nor pain that it had carried in all the long years of his life before. A joyous peace had descended upon his mind, and it shone like a starfire in his eyes. He was his true self once again, such as he had not been since before his memory could recall. So please, tell me what you think of this idea. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? I think that Janus the aoidos, Janus the poet, would be a wonderful conclusion to the thing, and would show the regal side of his character, and in power standing as a peer beside the people of Lavos, as a final grand and joyful flourish.
