I know there are about a zillion Magic topics on this board already, so forgive me for adding another shrimp to the Barbee here, but I didn't want this to get sunk in the ocean of some long thread where others are already carrying out lively conversations and might find this to be a disruption. Feedback is encouraged.
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Josh’s Magic Guide to the Chrono SeriesTotal MS Word editing time: 100 minutes (exactly!)
Terminology Notes: Do not confuse “Elementals” (CT’s four substances), “Dragonian Elements,” (CC’s six colors), and “Equippable Elements,” (the CC equips).
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1. The Elementals: Planet Power
Let the Elementals represent the substance of the Entity—that is, of the entire planet’s life-force. Lightning and Shadow embody its
essence (
genius), while Fire and Water represent its
will (
numen). Each of these pairs are diametric opposites and provide the world with its living animation, or verve.
The exploitation of these energies comprise
magic as we think of it throughout most of Chrono Trigger. This is the magic that Zeal used before Lavos came into the picture, and is the source of Spekkio’s power. Being “Planet Magic,” we can assume that this is some good, strong, virtuous stuff. It is also the magic that Crono & Co. used.
Elemental Innateness signifies that all living beings are a part of the greater whole all around them; i.e., the planet that animates them. Excepted from “all living beings” are any tendrils of influence reaching from Lavos into humans and elsewhere in the world.
Notes:
1. All living activity on a planet like ours (and hence Crono’s) is like a web of restive energy captured from the sun. Zeal’s enigmatic Sun Stone, therefore, can be construed as a potent curator of the world’s energy, channeling all four Elementals simultaneously. Thus, the sun nourishes the planet, and we have no violations of physics so far…just some highfalutin legerdemain.
2. Spekkio might be the Gestalt representative of the power that follows from the planet’s energy, hence his title as Master of War, which would be more an affirmation that the world is alive and in motion and in possession of awesome potentials, rather than an implication that he is some berserk warmonger. The stronger Crono & Co. become, the more they are able to manifest the complexity of the planet’s energies, and they phase piecemeal into perceiving Spekkio’s ultimate form.
3. Why did Spekkio say Elemental magic “not exist” as far back as 65 million B.C.? This is a deceptive question, because it
does exist in that time, used by Crono & Co. on many occasions, even before Lavos arrives. These guys might be good, yes, but they aren’t creating that magic out of thin air. Instead, perhaps what Spekkio meant is that no one in 65 million B.C.—Ayla included—is able to manifest Elemental magic at the level that it becomes “magic” per se…like trying to teach a gorilla to play Mozart. The fingers are there, but the sophistication is not. Likewise, those 65 million years of evolution have to count for
something. Thus, I would posit that only very highly advanced beings like contemporary humans can manifest Elemental substance in the form of usable Elemental magic.
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2. Lavos Energy: Planet Power as Seen through a Dark Mirror
Lavos energy is antithetical to the planet’s substance, but it is not directly corresponding in its representation. Instead, “Lavos energy” suggests a single form with no elemental components defined. Lavos feeds on the Elementals, and regurgitates some of that substance back into the world to strengthen its grip. Examples of these tendrils include the Mother Brain, who is either in league with or enthralled by Lavos, the Masamune, ascended from a simple knife by the Mammon Machine, and of course the Mammon Machine itself. These three entities, and many others which Lavos affected, had an enormous influence in the history of the world, and their source is not wisely forgotten.
However, far and away the most important form of Lavos energy is the Frozen Flame. More than simply a “piece” of Lavos, I think it has a more special meaning than that. Forgive me the vanity of quoting myself from the GameFAQs boards:
What does the Frozen Flame do?
The Frozen Flame is like the One Ring, the essence of Lavos captured in earthly Dreamstone. It is supposedly responsible for a great deal of influence in human thinking over the ages. It bestows incredible powers upon its wielder, but it isn't a passive object of power like the Triforce in Zelda. Instead, it plays an active hand in things. You might say it has a sort of mind of its own.
Given Lavos' nature, the Frozen Flame does not exist completely in normal time—like its name suggests—and it apparently can be utilized for time manipulation. That much was said explicitly in Radical Dreamers, and implied in Chrono Cross by the Chronopolis facilities.
The Frozen Flame almost single-handedly represents all that is wicked and vile in humanity. Lavos is a corruption of the planet, and to a lesser extent, humans reflect this by existing in a duality where they are both themselves and a corruption of themselves. Their capacity for good and evil is a function of the planet and Lavos’ antagonism of the planet, and the mechanism for this is the Frozen Flame. In my recollection it is the only instance in the Chrono series in which playing characters use Lavos energy directly…but boy! “Use” is an understatement.
Notes:
1. An interesting inconsistency in Chrono Trigger is that the machines in 2300 suggest that the world could sustain the Lavos spawn if humans went extinct, but at the final confrontation with Lavos it is deduced that Lavos feeds not only on the Elementals in general but on the DNA of living beings in particular, and thus would stand to lose a very elegant meal if humanity really did go the way of the dodo. Lavos would not be able to continue to exist if the planet were to die out. However, this may simply be Lavos in its larval, “pre-awakening” stage. Lavos doesn’t seem all that hungry after it awakens.
2. Lavos corrupted human sentience through the Frozen Flame. This brings to mind the old question of whether Lavos itself is sentient or not. Nothing it does in the series actually indicates it has its own
being. Lavos energy, remember, is simply a corruption of the Elementals.
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3. Dragonian Elements: Aesthetic Reconstitution of Planet Power
The closest equivalent of the Dragon God is the Mammon Machine. The Dragon God was a fantastical device constructed by the Reptites—in a dimension where they prevailed against humanity—used to focus the Elementals. The Mammon Machine, likewise, was a device built by humans to focus the treacherous Lavos energy. The difference is that the Dragon God might be interpreted as having the endorsement of the Entity—that is, the planet’s living spirit—given that the Reptites are said to have been in much closer communion with the natural order of the world, whereas the Mammon Machine relied on the energy produced by the external parasite Lavos, which itself fed on the Elementals, which the Entity no doubt lamented very much.
The Dragon God was no doubt much like the Sun Stone in that it represented all four Elementals simultaneously. We never get to see the “true” Dragon God, but this is affirmed by the quasi-Dragon God, who is able to command all Dragonian Elements: Light (white), Shadow (black), Air (yellow), Water (blue), Fire (red), and Earth (green). While we have yet to reconcile these six Dragonian Elements with the planet’s four Elementals, we can already deduce that “all” Dragonian Elements correspond with “all” Elementals.
When FATE sundered the Dragon God, the division was arbitrary and not representative of the true four fundamental Elementals. The six do not correspond with the four in any way, not even in apparently obvious modes such as Dragonian Red to Elemental Fire. Instead, the Dragonian Elements are an
aesthetic division, and each of the six Elements very likely draws on some or all of the primary Elementals. This arrangement nevertheless operates cleanly, a testament to the grace of FATE.
We do know something about the mechanism of operation of the Dragon God: the so-called
power points across the world where the substance of the planet wellsprings. Under the auspices of the six Dragons, people used these power points to manufacture biotechnologies that harnessed this energy and use it to create reproducible, consistent effects. These would be the
Equippable Elements equipped by Serge & Co. in Chrono Cross. They are derivative of the Dragonian Elements and ultimately are sustained by the Elementals, yet do not require their users to be able to manifest Elemental magic as Crono & Co. did. Even the likes of Ayla would be able to equip these Equippable Elements.
Equippable Element Innateness signifies a person’s natural proclivity toward a particular arrangement of Elementals as represented by a respective Dragonian Element.
Notes:
1. The Dragon God was tainted by Lavos before being sundered by FATE, which itself was also tainted by Lavos. Thus, Equippable Elements are not pure.
