Yay, finally! I've been waiting for this since I posted this.
...though, tragically I'm feeling really groggy today, and I'm not as hyper as I was this Friday. So I'll only try replying to only a few of these.
So... From the Begining of Time till Year 1999, time passed normally as Lavos was dormant, and in Year 1999, Lavos ate time... wait, then how does future after the Day of Lavos exist? My answer: Future doesn't exist. Future has not happened yet, because time can't get there. The future the Heroes of Time and playes see are consequences prepared by time. Remember, with my stupid and unfounded pseudotheory, time is stuck at 1999. And Year 2300 is after Year 1999. This is a reason why the Heroes of Time could change the future. All they had to do is change the present event - Lavos.
Again, this is just blatantly wrong. Time cannot be stuck at 1999 A.D. - we know this for a fact since time actually passes in 2300 A.D. What you are proposing would not lead to a timeline but a type of time freeze similar to what we see in Chrono Cross' Dead Sea. More evidence against your argument is that there is evidence of Lavos' activities after 1999 A.D. - namely, its spawn and its presence. Furthermore, the fact that the Mother Brain computer talks about Lavos' children leaving one day to "seek new planets and prey." If Lavos consumed time at that point and effectively became the endpoint of time, it would not have has spawn in 2300 A.D. nor reigned atop Death Peak.
Maybe I should have worded these better. Or I should keep a constant tone. Or I was wrong about what I've said all the time.
When I said that Lavos ate time, I didn't mean it literally. (Lavos eating time would mean that a fundamental mechanism of the universe is destroyed, thus everything within it would break. It'd be kinda like pushing a ball into a slit with zero thickness... I guess.) Things would try to fall toward the End of Time, but Lavos wouldn't let them go. It's moving, but toward a wrong target. Or something. The reason I said that was because, according to what I uttered, future shouldn't be accesible. But in CT the Heroes of Time even visits it, learns something from it and even brings a robot from there. So future gotta exist.
And it does. It's just not as real as past or present. The universe knows what happened in the beginning of universe, because it has happened. It would also know what happened ten minutes after the beginning, too. Or fifty billion years later. And it would know what happened ten minutes ago from now. And it would know what happened one ksana ago, because regardless of period, it happened. What about
now? Well, the universe is looking at it. Alright. What about ten minutes later from now? Well, since it hasn't happened yet, the universe couldn't look at the record of all things/itself and tell what happened. Instead, it could guess what's going to happen, judging from what has happened and what is happening. What about fifty billion years later? Hmm... The universe might try guessing it, but chances are too low.
But, oh wait, what about the end of time? The univese knows - it's going to end. Pracitcally, the End of Time has happened.
So time know what is going to happen... With two certain points in time, the universe could try reverse-engineering the events between them. And the result would be the future as we see it. It's still mutable, because something in the present could change. But again, the final consequence needs to be met and the past events are immutable.
So, in CT, the universe guessed that, after Lavos erupted, it'd nuke the Earth. Then do something bad. And some more. Then, it'd make little Lavoslets and reign atop the Death Peak. The universe thinks it's the most likely. So that's why when you go to future, it's like that.
But when something in present changes--when timeline makes a radical turn--the guessed future wouldn't exist. Because, without Lavos to nuke the Earth, do bad stuffs to Earth and spawn Lavoslets, the guessed future would not make much sense. So the universe guesses a new future without Lavos.
Ehh... in short: The future both exists and doesn't exist. I tried ot show this with the diagrams, with the future part being sorta gray. The future's not there, but it's likely it'll be there.
Before Year 1999, there is no moment of being sucked into an exact temporal point. Why? Because he doesn't exist outside Year 1999. Even if Lavos has transcended time, it seems to be bound by time most of the time. Maybe he only exerts so much temporal gravity only when he is attacking a planet. Proof? The Ocean Palace Incident and Magus' summoning of Lavos in Year 600. Lavos showed up, but time flowed fine. What the hell? I believe this is because Lavos was summoned, not ascended.
This is blatantly wrong. Lavos does exist outside of 1999 A.D. We know this to be true because Lavos fell to the planet in 65,000,000 B.C. Furthermore, Lavos showed up at the Ocean Palace disaster in 12,000 B.C. of its own will - Lavos was not summoned. In 600 A.D., it was summoned, but not in 12,000 B.C. Also, in-game evidence tells us that Lavos reigned atop Death Peak (although it's not completely clear what "atop" means by looking at Death Peak) after it ascended to the planet's surface.
Yep. That's the initial reaction I got when I showed to someone else. My point, put clearer: Lavos time is the present.
Think of it like this: Let's pretend I ate a rock this morning. Am I eating a rock right now? No. The event is not here. I will eat a chemistry book for lunch tomorrow. Am I eating a chemistry book now? No. The event is not here. I am pissed at the humid weather. Am I pissed at the humid weather? Yes. I am pissed at the humid weather. The event is here. Me being pissed at humid weather
now did not exist or will exist, beside right now. Year 1999 being the point where time is held in standard peaceful timeline, the event of Lavos existing in 1999 would be the only event
here. Lavos descending to Earth is a record, and Lavos ruling atop the Death Peak is a guess. (And honestly this is getting convoluted. Give me another day, and I'll come up with a better explanation. Or admit to kicking my own ass.)
And about Ocean Palace - I think of it as Lavos swatting a horsefly on its bum. Lavos was sitting deep within Earth, minding its own business, and some things poke at it. First he didn't really mind, but when these things lost control and poked Lavos too hard, Lavos swung its tail and slapped Zeal real hard. Might be its instict-ish thing rather than pushing its agenda.
Briefly, halfassed response - I should think more about Time Error. I swear I thought how Time Error (or at least something analogous to it) would work with the system I came up with...
And Gates - Lavos may not be as powerful, but it might be the only temporal gravity source beside the End of Time... and I think that's significant enough.
