How did lavos absorb DNA?

[wsdragon]

One thing that has always bothered me is that I keep hearing about Lavos "absorbing" DNA into its own and also directing the evolution on the planet, but it is not clear to me how it can do so.

Seeing as how Lavos is buried (and possibly dormant) deep within the planet, it never actually is able to make any physical contact with organisms from the surface world except for possibly upon its landing on earth and the 2 times that it had surfaced (12000BC and 1999AD).  Is it physically gathering this DNA?  If so, by what means?  It certainly does not have access to the corpses of deceased organisms when it is buried that deeply in the planet.

If it is simply observing the genetic makeup of organisms and integrating certain traits into itself, how is it performing this observation?  To my understanding, other than the frozen flame and mammon machine, there is no other way in which Lavos can sense and influence anything on the surface.  That is the whole reason why it had to burst through surface in 12000BC and 1999AD, because the only way it could influence the surface world was physically.  If instead it were able to "psychically" read and alter the genetic makeup of organisms on the surface, then it could have just easily unleashed some sort of genetic disorder or disease that would wipe out surface life in 1999AD from the comfort of being below the surface instead of putting itself at risk by surfacing (which ultimately lead to its demise).

Any thoughts?

[utunnels]

There are some random thoughts:

1. It is magic! Pretty much this is a lazy theory that solves all mysteries. But, consider how the Frozen Flame makes contact with Lavos itself (they don't have physical contact either), maybe those species whose evolution has been influenced by Lavos also have some sort connections.
2. Lavos has some agents who collect informations for it besides the Frozen Flame or dreamstones.
3. It haunts in dreams of the creatures so the informations/data can be transfered in the form of electromagnetic energy or a way similar to theory 1. Bet I'm inspired by Cthulhu Mythos, hehe.
4. It communicates with or even abduct the Planet /Entity! For the creatures are after all 'dreams' of the planet.

[Chrono45]

lol, em waves. lavos, the large scale MRI. but seriously thought, I do actually like the EM wave theory. It may very well be possible that lavos is able to discern certain facts about dna strands by techniques that arn't largely different than modern spectroscopy. If you are familiar with how Carbon 13 and hydrogen 1 spectroscopy works, maybe lavos is using the planet as a giant magnet to separate magnetic resonances of certain molecules. A far out theory, but possibly a better theory than magic (however spectroscopy is never mentioned in chrono trigger where as magic is referenced one or twice).

[Toby]

If Nu's a harbingers of Lavos, it could be the Nu's harvesting the DNA for Lavos.

If Nu's are just a natural element of the planet and nothing to do with Lavos... then no idea.

[EgyLynx]

 
I beat that without think to that... oh my...

[ThatGuy]

Well, a Nu or two can be found in Ayla's time, and therefor seem to have been there even before Lavos showed up. And there's never any implied connection of any kind. So, I dunno.

 

[CCrossSerg]

I thought it was mostly implied that it had some supernatural power to do so

[xcalibur]

Lavos' mechanisms are unknown. From what I've observed, he mostly seems to passively absorb DNA from the surface. Although he does control evolution, he seems to do so through very subtle and indirect means.

[Acacia Sgt]

Hmm, never thought much on this, but if I were to guess...

Perhaps, being underground, it had a way to collect DNA samples from dead beings. You know, for those that get buried and stuff.

Yeah... not much I can think of without realying on external agents or through supernatural ways...

[chrono.source]

Is it possible that Lavos has the ability to transcend time AND space? If this were true, it would have the ability to be anywhere at anytime, therefore having the capacity to extract DNA from anything.

[EgyLynx]

Why then that Lavos day then happened? Or are it get all at what possible? Or just bad day?

[ThatGuy]

I like the (my) idea that Lavos waits as long as possible before he decides he must ravage the population in order to carry out the next step before he can be stopped. So, when he deems humans almost technologically advanced enough to stop him, he calls it good, destroys the planet, and then moves on to creating and sending out Lavos Spawn.

Or maybe he waits until he's discovered, and that's when he calls it. Maybe some research scientists found him and he said okay, time to call it... boom, Day of Lavos. He did something similar to Zeal (kingdom) when he noticed they were messing with him. Lavos wasn't having any of that, so he destroyed the place. Only in 1999, they're living in domes, all across the planet, probably have the internet... so Lavos decides it's time.

Because remember: billions of years of work would be lost if he doesn't successfully send his spawn out. It's pretty safe to assume that he wouldn't risk failure.


Alternate theory for fun: maybe he waited for the top species (humans) to stop evolving. He wanted every last bit of natural selection... and when they became so technologically advanced, survival of the fittest truly didn't apply anymore. With humanity no longer evolving, no need to keep collecting that DNA... boom, Day of Lavos.

[EgyLynx]

I like the (my) idea that Lavos waits as long as possible before he decides he must ravage the population in order to carry out the next step before he can be stopped. So, when he deems humans almost technologically advanced enough to stop him, he calls it good, destroys the planet, and then moves on to creating and sending out Lavos Spawn.

Or maybe he waits until he's discovered, and that's when he calls it. Maybe some research scientists found him and he said okay, time to call it... boom, Day of Lavos. He did something similar to Zeal (kingdom) when he noticed they were messing with him. Lavos wasn't having any of that, so he destroyed the place. Only in 1999, they're living in domes, all across the planet, probably have the internet... so Lavos decides it's time.

Because remember: billions of years of work would be lost if he doesn't successfully send his spawn out. It's pretty safe to assume that he wouldn't risk failure.


Alternate theory for fun: maybe he waited for the top species (humans) to stop evolving. He wanted every last bit of natural selection... and when they became so technologically advanced, survival of the fittest truly didn't apply anymore. With humanity no longer evolving, no need to keep collecting that DNA... boom, Day of Lavos.

Oh my... what ... Youre say that is selfdefence at first... next one sounds... it was it fate...

[PrincessNadia78]

I like the (my) idea that Lavos waits as long as possible before he decides he must ravage the population in order to carry out the next step before he can be stopped. So, when he deems humans almost technologically advanced enough to stop him, he calls it good, destroys the planet, and then moves on to creating and sending out Lavos Spawn.

Or maybe he waits until he's discovered, and that's when he calls it. Maybe some research scientists found him and he said okay, time to call it... boom, Day of Lavos. He did something similar to Zeal (kingdom) when he noticed they were messing with him. Lavos wasn't having any of that, so he destroyed the place. Only in 1999, they're living in domes, all across the planet, probably have the internet... so Lavos decides it's time.

Because remember: billions of years of work would be lost if he doesn't successfully send his spawn out. It's pretty safe to assume that he wouldn't risk failure.


Alternate theory for fun: maybe he waited for the top species (humans) to stop evolving. He wanted every last bit of natural selection... and when they became so technologically advanced, survival of the fittest truly didn't apply anymore. With humanity no longer evolving, no need to keep collecting that DNA... boom, Day of Lavos.

I absolutely love this theory and I think it makes the most sense. I figured he absorbed it telepathically to be honest.

[ThatGuy]

Which one?

(There were three.)