Just a thought about the TD effects on Schala

[Chrono'99]

mmhh well, don't you remember, in CT, Schala was very gentle, altruist and sympathizing for people's misery...
In RD, her reincarnation Kid felt very very guilty for what she did with the Mammon Machine, like she thought that she killed the gurus and all...

And in CC? I was a bit shocked to see that at the ending, Schala goes to seek Serge in many many timelines/dimensions (she searches for him at Square HQ in Tokyo!!), whereas Magus, her own (step-)brother was since the start looking   desesperatly  for her in -72000BC, all alone! and she doesn't go meet him!!

Plus, Kid looks very much like she married Serge, like she doesn't give a ... about Leena's love for him!

Schala, at he end of CC, seems very >selfish<, it appears that the Time Devourer has really changed her mind...

[ZeaLitY]

The only reasonable thing I can think of for this is that Magus might be dead, which is why she wouldn't search for him. Perhaps he is stuck in 12,000 B.C. Gloomy outlook.

Or, of course, Schala just might not care, but that is indeed very different from Trigger's Schala.

[Radical_Dreamer]

It's also possible that she's just being thourough...Trying to see the results of her actions, what that state of the merged time line is...

She also probably has a great amount of faith in Janus, he is the most powerful magic user there is...She has to know he'd be looking for her.

[V_Translanka]

1. How do you know Schala's looking for Serge? I thought she was looking for Janus.

2. What makes you think Kid hooked up with Serge? It looks more like she left him alone to me (she even ends up out to sea on a boat on her own)

3. Where else is Schala going to look? Perhaps she had no choice of which timeline she was thrown into after the destruction of the Devourer of Time.

and thusly, in the great words of both Black Mage and...Wakka...

Boo-ya!

[Chrono'99]

1. How do you know Schala's looking for Serge? I thought she was looking for Janus.

Schala might not be looking for Serge :
[Schala at the ending]The time for farewells has come... You will lose all memory of this whole adventure and return to your own time.  But this time you will be able to live your own life!

Schala might be looking for Serge :
[Schala at the ending, weirdly speaking like Kid]I guess now's the time to say, "see ya later, mate!" But... I'll find ya... Sometime... somewhere... I'm bloody sure of it! No matter the time period, no matter the world ya live in, I'll find ya! I'm sure... I am sure I will...
[Schala Kid Zeal's book]All that is left now is my memories, But i'm sure we'll meet again, someday you and I. Another place, another time although you may not know who I am. Let us open the door to the great unknown across another reality and live another today even when the story has been told.  We'll meet each other again (and just after this we see the photo of Serge with Schala or Kid)

2. What makes you think Kid hooked up with Serge? It looks more like she left him alone to me (she even ends up out to sea on a boat on her own)

She might not have hooked up with Serge like you said, or she might have (she or Schala) if you take the ending photograph for truth.

3. Where else is Schala going to look? Perhaps she had no choice of which timeline she was thrown into after the destruction of the Devourer of Time.

Perhaps, but during the credits and the last FMV, we see Schala with her white robe and Kid's purple pendant (dunno if it is the pendant though)walking in many different places like our world, a weird clock shop and a beach, and she says :
I will find you... Even if I have to search the world over... Sometime, somewhere... I'm sure...

So, mhh I guess Square must not really have wanted us to know for sure what happened?

[ZeaLitY]

I personally do not see why Schala would look across time for Serge if she knew exactly where he'd be -- 1020 A.D. In addition, she could probably simply hit up Belthasar for the information.

Interesting -- if Belthasar with the Neo-Epoch traveled to 2300 A.D., he could witness another Belthasar coming in from the Ocean Palace. Two Belthasars? Mind-boggling mental power.

[Chrono'99]

okay.

I think I know why won't Schala go look for Janus...
In fact, she never knew that Magus the Prophet was her brother!
In her mind, Janus was annihilated during the Mammon Machine accident, just like the 3 gurus!!

So, if I didn't make any mistake, Schala just thinks Janus is dead...

[chronotriggerfreak]

Which could explain why you seem to think she's not all that concerned.

I don't remember Magus ever actually telling her that it was him. However, I think that even if he didn't tell her, when he revealed himself to be Magus and not the prophet, somehow - in her heart - she would have known.

Besides, even if she doesn't know who Magus is, by now she knows about Time Gates, and therefore knows that none of the Gurus nor Janus are dead, but in fact lost in time. In that case, she would probably eventually arrive in 600 A.D. in her search and find the real Janus, which complicates things extremely.

But either way, I think she knew through some sibling connection that Magus was Janus, and she'd try to find him before she went and screwed up everything they had just fixed by undoing the actions of the Chrono Trigger gang.

...

Wait a second... Who says that Chrono Cross's timeline isn't continuing from one where the CT gang killed him at North Cape, rather than recruiting him? In which case, Magus is long dead... About 13,020 years dead.

[Chrono'99]

Wait a second... Who says that Chrono Cross's timeline isn't continuing from one where the CT gang killed him at North Cape, rather than recruiting him?

We know that CT's party didn't kill Magus because Lucca says in her letter to Kid that perhaps Janus would be there with her.

[chronotriggerfreak]

Ah, sorry - haven't exactly played CC all the way through. Stupid Garai... and Miguel...

Just going from stuff I've heard about it. Guess I can now add that little tidbit to the aforementioned stuff.

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

Thread revival for a 14-year old thread. The oldest thread in the Chrono Trigger Analysis - Characters, Plots, and Themes section.

Perhaps this is worth another view in the light of Chrono Trigger DS and the Dream Devourer ending. Shall we?

First off, before responding to this post, I recommend reading this thread. It essentially discussed how the very kind-hearted and altruistic Schala of Chrono Trigger may have resulted in a different personality that we see as Kid/Schala in Chrono Cross.

So why *does* Schala go looking for Serge (or does she?) at the end of Chrono Cross, instead of going to look for her own brother, Janus?

There are a few things to consider, as mentioned:
1.) Perhaps Schala didn't know that the prophet was her brother and didn't know that he was, quite literally, in front of her the entire time.
2.) Perhaps Schala thought that Janus was killed or destroyed at the Ocean Palace disaster (when he was sucked into the massive time gate.

I'd like to debunk #2 right here -- Schala, as 1/2 of the Time Devourer, obviously had the ability to monitor time and space. The Time Devourer itself existed in the Darkness Beyond Time, a place of discarded timelines that quite literally defies space-time by its very existence. She had the ability to observe the events in ~1010AD, when young Serge was attacked by the Panther-Demon and arrived at Chronopolis. It was this moment that she created a storm that knocked out the power at Chronopolis, allowing Serge to inadvertently become the new Arbiter to the Frozen Flame... and it was also when she created Kid (if my memory serves me correctly). The same Kid who, after the events of Chrono Cross, would travel back in time and save young Serge.

But what else is there?

The Dream Devourer ending of Chrono Trigger DS.

In this ending, Magus willfully gives up his memories of Schala in despair, knowing he cannot save her from the Time Devourer, only to end up an amnesiac in some random forest, where he still recognizes his need to do something.

Based on this ending, Schala knows that Janus is still alive *before* she becomes part of the Time Devourer. So then why doesn't she go looking for him after the events of the game?

Or is this something that occurs and we simply do not see?

[skylark]

Well, to answer that, we have to remember Masato Kato's creed from that one interview.

The past doesn't matter.

While one could argue that Kato thinks it means to let the pain of the past go and move forward into the future, it kind of rings incredibly hollow when you consider how he treated characters from the last game.

In laymen's terms, the reality we've seen of his idea of moving forward involves throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Needless to say, I personally take issue with this, but it does leave ideas for a third game/story. *cough*SHAMELESSPLUG*cough*

[Kodokami]

I think Schala purposely decides not to look for Magus, for his own good.

Imagine history from her point of view, in the timeline we, the players, can experience. It's at the Ocean Palace that the Prophet reveals himself to be Magus and recites this vow:

Magus: I swore long ago... that I'd
   destroy you!
   No matter what the price!

   It is time to fulfill that vow.
   Feel my wrath, Lavos!!

Schala realizes here that her baby brother, against all imagination, survives the Ocean Palace Incident (and she probably realizes here that Lavos will destroy them all) and even conquers time to return to this event and have his revenge. And he's now this incredible wizard with fierce powers. That's gotta be pretty unfathomable, right? And yet even so, Magus is powerless against Lavos. So knowing what's about to happen, Schala saves him, and the others, and perishes.

Or so she thinks. Lavos has control of her now, and is using her power to become the Dream Devourer. And again, against all odds, Magus reveals himself once more, this time at a place beyond time. And he is still dead-set on saving Schala. She knows that her brother cannot save her, and she knows that his determination is so great, that he will never stop trying.

So she does the one thing she can do to save him: break his spirit, tell him his quest is hopeless, that he cannot ever save her. Schala is giving him a chance at his own life that isn't tethered to her or Lavos, something he never had. And Magus actually listens. Whether she ultimately foresaw this or not, Magus willingly gives up his memories. His determination would destroy him otherwise, and I'd like to think his pride is still too great to ever allow that to happen.

As Guile, he does live his own life. He becomes his own person, not tied to Schala or Lavos or Zeal. He becomes accomplished, rising to the top of a magical guild. He makes friends. As Guile, Magus is happy. And I don't think Schala, at the end of Cross, wants to ruin that life she gifted him.

[Boo the Gentleman Caller]

... As Guile, Magus is happy. And I don't think Schala, at the end of Cross, wants to ruin that life she gifted him.

Ya know, as much I hate it, this is the most logically sound explanation. After breaking his spirit, she gives him a newfound freedom and simply opts to stay away from him so he can have his own life.

This next bit isn't directed directly as you Kodokami, but feel free to speak on it further if you'd like --

...But what about Serge? Serge had a quiet, peaceful life in Arni before the events of Chrono Cross. Despite the death of his father, the scarring attack of the panther-demon, he had a simple life and likely would have settled down with Leena and been a fisherman like Wazuki. A simple life, but a full one.

So why does Schala "Kid" Zeal, now freed from the Time Devourer, vow to track Serge down? A Serge who wouldn't even know her, as the events of Chrono Cross end up never happening. Why break up the serenity of his life? Kid sort of came crashing into his life and definitely turned it upside down, even from a romantic place, but that was essentially undone.

So why Serge but not Magus?

[PrincessNadia78]

Just some musings on the Serge question...

Maybe because Serge wasn't her brother and a tormented soul? Perhaps the planet chose Serge and not one person, aka Schala. I could be completely wrong on this though, I haven't played Cross in AGES.