Chrono Compendium

Enhasa Halls - Chrono Series Analysis => History, Locations, and Artifacts => Topic started by: Xshu on September 21, 2007, 04:28:20 am

Title: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: Xshu on September 21, 2007, 04:28:20 am
I never really thought about it, but how does everyone who comments on the Black Omen in 1000 and 600 AD know its name? I mean, it's understandable that they don't flip out about it, since it's been there for thousands of years, but how do they know what it's called?
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: Chrono'99 on September 21, 2007, 05:14:44 am
It's simple game mechanics. They call it by the same name because it would be unnecessarily complicated if they called it with all sorts of different names. It's like how everyone speaks the same language in all the timeline, with the only variations being in the prehistoric era.

But since Queen Zeal says "Black Omen" only once in the entire game, it could also be theorized that it was the people of the world who named that floating fortress "Black Omen", and Queen Zeal simply observed them and used that term when speaking to Crono's party so they would knew what she's talking about, regardless of what name she would really have in mind for the fortress.
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: Xshu on September 21, 2007, 05:51:52 am
That second one makes sense to me. Thanks.
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: V_Translanka on October 09, 2007, 07:52:20 pm
Maybe it's part of their folk-lore or something...But, I mean, "Black Omen" is a pretty vague name for something black and ominous floating in the sky, yeah?
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: maggiekarp on October 10, 2007, 12:09:57 am
I kinda have a theory that Lavos controlled the world a bit more than we'd like to think. The language, for example. Humans in the early ages didn't speak their own language, but a choppy version of what the Reptites had developed and spoke for years, and that was the language of the planet from then on (with the exception of Magus' spell chants). It's the Black Omen(Dream) because that's what they wanted us to call it.

The only major flaw in this theory that I see is that, with Lavos gone, languages would change and morph into completely different things like normal, and our poor heroes outside of the time stream would have no idea what people were saying to them all of a sudden.
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: Generality on October 10, 2007, 04:29:48 am
I don't really think we can take the fact that everyone speaks the same language regardless of country or time period as strictly canon, at least from a story point of view. It's one of those things that you do in a video game to avoid certain headaches. I think if the Dream Team bothered to come up with a reason (t.i. excuse) for why everyone speaks the same language, they'd have mentioned it somewhere in the game.
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: alpha on October 12, 2007, 01:22:03 pm
"Hey bob... whats that ominous black thing in the sky?" " I dunno bill. a black omen?"
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: justin3009 on October 12, 2007, 03:40:48 pm
I really don't know everyone knows about it.  Maybe when it rose, it kinda triggered a time altering thing that kinda made it seem like "it's been there since the world started."  But that still doesn't explain how it would alter time or anything.  Meh...weirdness.
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: Dark Serge on October 14, 2007, 09:52:33 am
Yeah, you're right, I remember people saying stuff like "The Black Omen sure is shining today" or something, after the Black Omen had risen.
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: justin3009 on October 16, 2007, 03:47:45 pm
Yea, I don't really get that.  Meh, just one of the minor flaws in CT.
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: Chrono'99 on October 17, 2007, 08:04:35 am
I don't get what's the problem?
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: Dark Serge on October 20, 2007, 04:25:01 pm
The problem is, before the Black Omen rises you don't hear anyone talking about it, but after it rises, everyone talks about it like it's always been there.
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: Kebrel on October 20, 2007, 05:24:59 pm
12000 b.c. Black omen rises and in 600A.D. people act like its always been there. Well It has always been there to them. 12600 years is a long time. If they don't remember Zeal then They wont remember The Black omen rising.
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: Dark Serge on October 20, 2007, 06:39:40 pm
Then what the hell happened with it BEFORE Crono and friends meddled with time? Apparently the Black Omen never rose, and the Ocean Palace never sank. So just what happened at the Ocean Palace? Did Lavos just destroy Zeal? Very weird.
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: V_Translanka on October 20, 2007, 08:26:25 pm
The Gurus interrupted, flung everyone in time so Q. Zeal never had any cause to raise the Black Omen. Maybe Lavos just absorbed her or something...*shrugs*
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: Romana on November 05, 2007, 05:05:01 pm
I remember people saying stuff like "The Black Omen sure is shining today" or something, after the Black Omen had risen.

I'm pretty sure Chrono's mother says that. I thought that it might be a throwback/reference to the beginning of the game when she said "Ah, Leene's Bell makes such beautiful music!", in a comical sense, since she really has no clue what's going on during the plot at any point anyway.

The Gurus interrupted, flung everyone in time so Q. Zeal never had any cause to raise the Black Omen. Maybe Lavos just absorbed her or something...*shrugs*

My guess is that Lavos got pissed and sank them all.

12000 b.c. Black omen rises and in 600A.D. people act like its always been there. Well It has always been there to them. 12600 years is a long time. If they don't remember Zeal then They wont remember The Black omen rising.

Which explains the casual mood. The Black Omen may as well be a sun or a star to them.
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: maggiekarp on November 05, 2007, 10:27:35 pm
Huh, just thought of something. Remember how there were strange airplanes in the original screens of 1000AD CT? I know they probably took them out just for this reason, but I'm really curious if the timeline would have been affected at all by the ability to go up to the Black Omen.

But it was taken out pretty early. Sigh...
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: FaustWolf on November 06, 2007, 12:59:54 pm
Hopefully I'm not changing the topic too much, but something's been bugging me about the Black Omen recently, so I'll ask here.

So we've got the Black Omen in multiple time periods. If Chrono & Co. enter the Black Omen and eliminate Lavos in, say, 1000AD, does that destroy the Black Omen in 12,000BC and 600AD? I think the Compendium's official timeline assumes Chrono & Co. enter the Black Omen in 12,000BC and wipe out Lavos that way, which naturally takes care of the Omen in all later time periods.

I suppose the answer depends on where exactly the Black Omen draws its power from. Does it draw power from the Pocket Dimension, i.e., directly from Lavos? In that case, no matter when Lavos is defeated, the Omen would lose its power source and crash in 12,000BC.

Regarding how the Black Omen works temporally, I think you can fight all the bosses and Queen Zeal up to four times if you enter the Omen in 2300AD, 1000AD, 600AD, and 12,000BC in that order. Can anyone confirm this offhand? And I think if you defeat Lavos' shell through the Omen in 2300AD and go through the Black Omen in 1000AD, etc., the shell will already be destroyed for you, which is consistent with the Pocket Dimension having its own linear timeline separate from the world timeline.
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: Generality on November 06, 2007, 05:00:13 pm
You can't enter the Black Omen in 2300. As for the bosses, I'm pretty sure they stay dead no matter what time you're coming from, but I'm not sure of that.

Anyway, there's no way to tell what time period the Black Omen crashes in, because the only way to destroy the Black Omen is to take out Lavos, and once you do that, the game ends.

Y'know, logically, destroying Lavos from the Black Omen should take him out of all time periods (well, since the creation of the PD), which would drastically alter the history of Zeal and thus the rest of the world. That's a bit problematic...
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: Chrono'99 on November 06, 2007, 06:45:17 pm
http://www.chronocompendium.com/Forums/index.php/topic,4655.0.html
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: FaustWolf on November 06, 2007, 07:22:07 pm
Thanks for addressing my question, Chrono'99 and Generality! Wow, I hadn't even thought of some of the Pocket Dimension Theory's deeper implications, and how it can conflict with the game's events if interpreted in certain ways. Is the theory expected to undergo some sort of major overhaul then?
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: ZeaLitY on November 07, 2007, 03:57:22 am
Yeah, I think it is, come next analysis review. Which probably should be this month...

...
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: MagilsugaM on March 20, 2008, 09:58:05 am
It could be like Chronopolis it stay on all time periods?
Title: Re: The Black Omen: How does everyone know?
Post by: curufeanor on June 21, 2008, 11:50:52 am
Then what the hell happened with it BEFORE Crono and friends meddled with time? Apparently the Black Omen never rose, and the Ocean Palace never sank. So just what happened at the Ocean Palace? Did Lavos just destroy Zeal? Very weird.
Besides what V_Translanka said, another possibility is that in the original timeline, Schala used the last charge of her pendant for some other purpose.  Like, warping herself out, or even killing Queen Zeal.  That sort of action could cause some massive change even if by themselves Crono and Magus accomplished jack-squat.

RE:  V_Translanka:  I think the Guru intervention happened in both timelines.  It must happen after Mt. Woe falls but before Crono gets to the Mammon Machine.  I don't have the English readily available so I dunno if this is even there.  In the Japanese version, when the earthbound elder wakes up Marle in the hut after Zeal falls, he says...

Quote
大災害の時、黒いゆがみのようなものが現れての……吸い込まれそうになったジャキ様を助けようとボッシュも……

This translates loosely as...  "When the great disaster occurred, a black vortex-like thing appeared, sucking in and therefore saving Janus and Melchoir"  (Janus and Melchoir are names Jacky and Bosshu, respectively, in the Japanese)

If the elder knew that, it must have happened in the game timeline.