Cracking out who exactly is Zoah?

[ForTex]

Hi, I've been think a lot about who Zoah is/was supposed to be. Here I'll try to compile some info about him, and try to connect the dots.

As a starter, here is the infamous quote about Zoah from the developers:

"We might not be able to talk about the official game now, but there's a secret under Zoah's iron mask. It's said that his face was once injured in war and now he hides the wound with an iron mask, but in reality he's wearing it so as not to reveal his identity. Zoah's role was to be that of the prince of a certain country, secretly watching over the protagonists' doings from the beginning. If you had chosen the forest route (Slash Route) when it came time to infiltrate the Viper Room, you ought to have been able to see an event shedding light on Zoah's true identity."



And here is his character sheet info:
Full Name: Zoah
Occupation: One of the 4 Devas
Origin: El Nido
Age: 28
Species: Human
Home Time: 1020 A.D.
Home Area: Viper Manor
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 203 lbs.
Build: Mammoth
Hand: Right-Handed
Weapon Type: Glove
Innate Element: Yellow

Some speculations about him is here: https://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Zoah_(Planned_Identity_of).html, which includes information about connection to Guardia, and pondering whether Magus and Crono could be candidates of who he is.

If we assume that he has not done any time travelling, he would have been born in 992 AD. This means he'd be 8 years old during Chrono Trigger, and 13 years old when Porre invaded Guardia. Since he is possibly connected to Guardia and being a prince of some sort, that would mean he would be a brother or cousin of Marle somehow? Queen Aliza's death is approximated to be around 988 AD, but it could be a possibility that Queen Aliza died during childbirth? This would mean that he lived his childhood somewhere else, or was just not shown during Trigger. He would've come back to Guardia during the war in 1005 AD, and would've fought in the war (as a 13-year old) and got injured. Possibly he could've been the last defender using Masamune. This whole ordeal could have traumatized him, leading to his berserker angry loud voice, and making him use his fists instead of a weapon like a sword, since he failed with Masamune.

Another choice would be that he was an illegimate son of King Guardia XXXIII. He would've been sent to live in El Nido (or his mother being from there) because of the illegimitacy. Maybe he heard that his father is from Guardia (or even that he is the king!), and went to protect Guardia and gotten injured. From there on he'd decided that "AS FOR ME, I CHOOSE TO LIVE IN BATTLE AND ONE DAY TO DIE IN BATTLE.".

Another idea could be that he has somehow time travelled from 600 AD, got injured in the war there and got sent to the 1000 AD era somehow. His age leads me to think, that maybe he is somehow Cyrus? Maybe the statement that "Zoah's role was to be that of the prince of a certain country" means that maybe in some timeline the King at 600AD would've died and the Queen would have remarried with Cyrus, making him a prince somehow (similar to how the husband of Queen Elizabeth is a prince)? Cyrus got injured, got sent through time to El Nido sometime before 1020AD, and decided that he'd use his fists since he failed as a swordsman.

The idea that Zoah is Crono would work, if Crono was indeed the "last defender" in 1005AD when he was 23, got sent through time to 1015AD, where he decided to take the identity of Zoah and be one of the 4 Devas, while also similarly being traumatized and deciding he'd use his fists instead of a sword because of his failure (and also leading to pump iron and using growth hormones). Yellow innate could match Crono because of his lightning attacks. A similar scenario could work with Frog (=Glenn version) somehow (he was a frog prince in some timeline in the endings!).

Any other leads? Does anyone have skills to look at the Japanese original texts if there is some translation differences there or other clues?

[Acacia Sgt]

Hmm, I wonder then if Zoah's bio was any different. Even something like his age, was it always 28 or changed at some point to 28? Specially since, if the "secretly a prince" bit was dropped, he's open for further tweaking.

By the way, Crono matches better being a White innate. While he has lightning magic, do remember that his Element is Light. Or Heaven in the Japanese versions. Which for Cross it would be White innate, as the White elements are light based attacks, or "heavenly" attacks (like the meteor ones). Luminaire, Crono's ultimate magic, is even White elemental in Cross. Even if it's technically not the same kind of Luminaire.

[CptOvaltine]

That's very interesting!

I could see most of these being true, though I like the scenarios without time travel the best, simply because I have to ask: why?

Why would he be sent through time? (Accident or otherwise)  The other question I have with all of these scenarios is why is he watching Serge?  It could lead to some really interesting backstory/spin off plot.

[ForTex]

I also keep wondering if there's some connection to prehistory for him? His outfit, his choice of fist usage and the manner of speech is similar to Ayla, Kino etc, maybe a bit more modern. His name's similarity to Leah is also interesting. Maybe he is Ayla and Kino's son (and Leah's grandson)? Could he be the "prince" of their tribe? Zoah's special attack involves him riding a dragon, which supports this connection.

I have no idea why he'd be watching Serge though, unless he is Crono and is aware of his remarkability through Lucca? Maybe he is somehow connected to the Panther attack or the drowning event?

[CptOvaltine]

They're interesting theories non-the-less.  It could have been cool to see these kinds of connections explored further in game.  It would have helped draw people into a larger story.  Maybe they had plans with Chrono Break to further explore connections and characters between Cross and Trigger.

[Acacia Sgt]

I suppose it's one of things where it's a shame they opted for a big cast. Perhaps they could've expaned on that otherwise.

[Kodokami]

To me, Zoah has too many things connecting him to Crono to simply be coincidence.

1) His signature tech, Gyronimo, is very similar to Crono's signature tech, Cyclone.
2) He's Yellow innate and thus uses Lightning attacks (see Gyronimo in action). I agree with Acacia Sgt that Crono could also be White innate, but no other Trigger character could also be Yellow, except maybe Ayla.
3) Crono, after marrying Marle, is one of only two characters who I could see being called a "prince". The other being Janus.
4) Zoah owns a cat.

Alright, so the cat one is very loosely connected. So does this mean I think Zoah is Crono? Not really. There's just more evidence suggesting some sort of Crono connection than any other theory.

I do kinda like the idea you put forth of Zoah being related to Marle.

[Acacia Sgt]

I also wonder if Zoah was really a Yellow innate during development. Him being Yellow in the final product doesn't quite say much, perhaps.

Anyway, I would like to bring up a possible alternative: Choras. First of all, some NPC's at Choras talk about Guardia in the third person sense. Its encyclopedia entry here in the compendium states Choras is like a protectorate, though I wasn't able to find that in the scripts. Probably missing somewhere to search. Anyway, there's also the nature of the Northern Ruins. Most telling, it used to house a throne in the prerelease verision of Trigger. Seen here:

https://www.chronocompendium.com/images/wiki/thumb/b/b3/Northern_Ruins_1_%28CTP%29.png/485px-Northern_Ruins_1_%28CTP%29.png

I don't know if Choras really had it's own kingdom at some point or not, but perhaps it can't be ruled out as a possibility? I could accept it's likely they were just referring to Guardia, though.

[ForTex]

If he would be Crono, the fact that Zoah is ALWAYS SHOUTING could be a funny way to emphasize that Crono is now talking, opposed to his silence in CT. 😛

[ForTex]

BTW, here is the "inside of Zoah's mask (from here https://storage.googleapis.com/utunnels1.appspot.com/ccmodelviewer/index.html#battle/zoah):


It's a long shot, but could the pixels above the eyes indicate a headband? It would be very silly thing to have under a mask though. One thing to note, is that the pixels in the face are symmetrical, indicating that there would not be a non-symmetrical scar or similar in his face around the eyes. It could however be, that the pixels present are just reflections from the helmet.

Another thing is that the Chrono Cross models for Zoah and Crono (https://storage.googleapis.com/utunnels1.appspot.com/ccmodelviewer/index.html#room/crono) are both wearing sandals (and bracer-type things).

Is there any significance of the pattern on Zoah's loincloth-thingy? Is it observable anywhere else?

[CptOvaltine]

Honestly it's all a stretch, but still fun to speculate about.

I do kinda like the idea you put forth of Zoah being related to Marle.

I second this.  The idea of being an illegitimate son is intriguing, and makes the most sense to me story wise.  It could also explain why he is in El Nido. Guardia's king may have had some sort of relationship with the Viper Clan and thus sent his illegitimate son there to be raised in a "noble court" without really having any ties to Guradia's throne.

[ThatGuy]

If Zoah is Crono, Crono's been taking a lot of dbol...

[ForTex]

If Zoah is Crono, Crono's been taking a lot of dbol...

I dunno, Crono is quite buff, although clothed in loose clothes:



Look at those arms!

[ForTex]

Fortune teller to Zoah:

I sense deep sadness
beneath that mask of
yours...
In the near future,
you, too, shall find
your sanctuary of peace...

I'm getting more convinced that Zoah could be meant to be Crono, who lost Marle in the war. Or their son, who lost his parents. This dialogue hints that he indeed lost someone:

"Zoah: HMPH! WHAT MEANING IS THERE TO A LIFE OF STRIVING AFTER WEALTH AND POWER...? IT IS NO USE TO YOU ONCE YOU DIE! AS FOR ME, I CHOOSE TO LIVE IN BATTLE AND ONE DAY TO DIE IN BATTLE."

I wonder if his name has any etymological meaning in English or Japanese? In English the closer I can find is:

Zoa, (plural of zoon (n.))

"animal form containing all elements of a typical organism of its group," 1864, from Greek zōon "animal," from PIE root *gwei- "to live."

The root, "to live", could match that he lived after all (even after the injury)..

There's also this:

zoanthropy (n.)

form of insanity in which a man imagines himself to be another type of beast, 1845, from French zoanthrope or directly from Modern Latin zoanthropia, from Greek zoion "animal" (from PIE root *gwei- "to live") + anthrōpos "man" (see anthropo-).

Anyone know any Japanese to analyse the Japanese name, ゾア ?

Edit: Zoah also seems to like sleeping a lot. Sounds similar to a certain sleepy head at the start of CT..