You don't think..?

[V_Translanka]

It's not that it's unlikely, it's that it's just grasping at straws (and even that might be pushing it). Don't all of the summoned Golems come from a black circle? The fact that he was summoning something that wasn't there is probably what caused his summon to fail...Perhaps the summoning of the nothing in wherever the Golems come from caused a vacuum-like effect. The Lavos scenario is just overly elaborate (I also never thought this was a serious theory like apparently Shadow did). Occam's razor, aye?

He had this rare and powerful ability to summon Golem's from wherever they come from (I say it is rare because we don't see anyone else in the Chronoverse who can do so), and they came at his whim.

Well, there's Steena (and I'd assume Direa?) as well as anyone who had a Summon Element in Chrono Cross...But, yeah, still a fairly rare & powerful ability.

[Fireseal]

I used to also think that because of the lack of monster coming out of the black hole, that Dalton was sucked in.

I've watched videos from the snes and ds versions and Dalton says  "Go...Golem Boss/Overlord...???" before the gate appears.

In other words, he is confused 'before the gate even opens'.  

Then I noticed that he was indeed wondering what was going on, maybe he sensed something that interrupted him before actually summoning the Golem Overlord. But I suppose it's difficult to say, since this game was made back in the SNES and the graphics were primitive, and could not show every little detail going on.

[Shadow D. Darkman]

It's possible he did not witness what went on in that room. He might have been in Zeal (not the Ocean Palace) when it all went down.

Highly unlikely, to be honest.

...you said "highly unlikely" and I wonder why.

I am interested to hear your detailed counterargument to this theory.    I've watched videos from the snes and ds versions and Dalton says  "Go...Golem Boss/Overlord...???" before the gate appears.

In other words, he is confused before the gate even opens.  

It's possible that the confusion is while he is actually saying the words, which may have been when the Gate opens.

"Go..."

*Gate opens*

"Golem Overlord/Boss?" (When the "?" appears over his head)

So we are to assume Dalton also disappeared in the Lavos Timeline? If so, he shouldn't remember the party, as the Dalton that did remember would cease to exist due to Time Bastard.

You.... answered your own question. lol

I know. I was stating what we would also have to assume if we were to assume what I was asking about.

[chrono eric]

So we are to assume Dalton also disappeared in the Lavos Timeline? If so, he shouldn't remember the party, as the Dalton that did remember would cease to exist due to Time Bastard.

This quote is a little confusing to me. Are you talking about the Dalton inside the Dimensional Vortex? If so, then you are correct.

[Shadow D. Darkman]

I was referring to Keystone Dalton. He would be erased by Time Bastard if Lavos Timeline Dalton disappeared as well, as there was already a Dalton in the DV.

[chrono eric]

That's what was confusing me about it - if you thought that. Dalton presumably exits the timeline in Keystone because Marle and co. interfere with things. Why would he disappear in the Lavos Timeline? If he did disappear, it would certainly not be in the same way or for the same reasons. Moreover, if he disappeared in the Lavos Timeline sometime after he disappears in the Keystone timeline then you would not see the effects of the Time Bastard.

And if he disappeared in the Lavos Timeline and still went to the Dimensional Vortex, then TTI would ensure that the Dalton there wouldn't remember Crono and co. anyways. So I don't really see your point.

[Shadow D. Darkman]

And if he disappeared in the Lavos Timeline and still went to the Dimensional Vortex, then TTI would ensure that the Dalton there wouldn't remember Crono and co. anyways. So I don't really see your point.

Probably because in what you said (quoted above), you just repeated what I said.

[V_Translanka]

Perhaps it was the faulty summoning that pulled Crono & Co.'s Dalton into the Lavos timeline...Perhaps it was something akin to when Serge is sent to Another World...in the Lavos timeline at the time in which Dalton uses the summoning (the summoning of a dead/missing monster from some unknown place), after the Fall of Zeal and the Ocean Palace disaster, he probably would have been dead...

[tripehound]

As far as I can see it, the only thing that needs to be explained are the physics of why the portal sucked Dalton in. Here are the events that lead to his appearance in the DV.

• Party arrives on the wing of the Blackbird, after escaping their prison cells and reclaiming all of their possessions.
• Party finds way to the wingtip, where Golem Boss appears out of a "summoning" portal, seemingly of its own accord. Battle ensues.
• Party either defeats Golem Boss or he chickens out, depending on player's actions.
• Dalton scrambles from the Blackbird in the upgraded Epoch.
• Party leaps from Blackbird onto Epoch. Battle with Dalton commences.
• Party defeats Dalton. Dalton attempts to summon the already defeated Golem Boss.
• Summoning portal appears, but with no Golem available to bring forth, claims Dalton and whisks him away to another dimension. Later ends up in the DV through yet unproven means.

I'll leave the why and how aspects of this to someone a bit more, um, dedicated?, to the Chronoverse. But that's the skinny on Dalton's mishap.

To answer the original post, Lavos had little to do with Dalton on this one.