Author Topic: Theory on Time Devourer  (Read 2354 times)

Odd Water

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Theory on Time Devourer
« on: January 28, 2012, 01:35:01 am »
First let it be known I only joined this site hours before this post, but I've spent the last week reading up on EVERY topic in Chrono Compendium's Articles and Analysis page. Like many of you, I am a long time fan of the series and find the mysteries and ideas within the games to be quite enthralling. That is a lot of go through in a short time. Thankfully, most of the concepts were things I understood very well or already assumed about the series, just perhaps not in as much deep thinking detail. In the course of reading all of that, it started my own mind thinking about ideas and theories I once had long ago or recently developed. I wanted to list them here together as they all tie in strongly with the being Lavos. I did not see these ideas in either of the topic pages pertaining to Lavos (The Ethics of Lavos or Lavos - Points of Interest). Honestly, if these ideas are already in someone else's thread topic, I am sorry. While I did spend most of the week reading up on most of the Compendium site, I don't think I'll be doing the same for every topic on the forums as well. So, here we are with my third Lavos Theory.

Theory #3: Time Devourer

Once more, the concept in and around the Dream/Time Devourer is already well covered already on the Chrono Compendium site. I did notice that one idea seemed to stand out to me the most to me and got me thinking on this idea. If Lavos is just a creature trying to survive, why would it want to devour all of time and space thus killing itself and stopping what seemed to be its natural way. The idea seems to go against everything else it had done or been trying to accomplish before its defeat by Crono and Company. We get the idea from Schala that once bonded with Lavos, she can feel its hate, sadness, and want for revenge, clearly thoughts of a free thinking being and mind, not a parasite or animal.

   Filled with the hatred and
   sadness of Lavos, half of
   Schala's mind became set on
   destroying all of existence.


Now until Lavos and Schala had both gone to the Darkness Beyond Time, there was no mention or suggestion that Lavos had ever bonded with any other being or creature in such a way. It had only absorbed DNA to help further improve itself and/or it's spawn. I believe the reason behind all this that explains things lies in the uniqueness of the circumstances.

Lavos, and as far as we know the Lavos Species, survive by absorbing energy from planets and absorbing DNA from living things over millions of years in order to better improve on itself and/or offspring to better ensure the survival of its kind. Being tossed into the Darkness Beyond Time was a unique situation for Lavos that left it without the very things it needed in order to carry out its natural cycle. But then Schala was there as well and Lavos wasn't alone. Now Lavos couldn't just absorb her DNA alone as it would surely require more then that of one person, not to mention it was likely to already have the DNA of magic using Zeal time living humans. Lavos was also very likely depleted of a good portion of its energy having spent it in the final battles against Crono and Company. So under the uniqueness of the situation, perhaps Lavos' only option was to try to bind to Schala to get as much as it could. Now as stated before, it was never implied that Lavos had done such with another human or creature before, and perhaps the vastly powerful, yet basic instinct driven Lavos, was unable to handle or process the new data. In binding with Schala, perhaps it got the first taste of emotion and self realization ever. Now in Chrono Cross it says,

   Filled with the hatred and
   sadness of Lavos, half of
   Schala's mind became set on
   destroying all of existence.


Now as much as I'd hate to pull this out I think it might be a good example for many to relate the concept to, but it strongly reminds me of the situation when the Phoenix entity was bonded with Jean Gray in the X-Men comics/cartoons (not the movie crap version where it was all just a split personality) . A being of immense power and ability, but no emotion getting its first taste of having real feelings. It can't fully comprehend or understand. With Lavos and Schala bonded together, who's to say where one ends and the other begins, as the game says, "half of Schala's mind," . Lavos may not have actually had true hate and sorrow, but perhaps from Schala's human mind and point of view it was the only way the concept could be translated. Lavos was a creature, trying to live out its life, survive, and procreate as any species does, when it is attacked aggressively over and over and thrown out of it's own home where it and it's spawn can't finish its natural way of life. Perhaps with its first taste of emotion and feelings, this is what Schala viewed as Lavos' hate and sadness and its motive for revenge. Keeping with the mixing of the two, some of Lavos would mess with Schala's mind as well. The Dream/Time Devourer's desire to destroy all of space and time goes against its very being and way of life. But keep in mind, this is now a Lavos different from before, with emotions and feelings. Its very way of thinking has been drastically shifted, and in the chaos of the merged minds of Lavos and Schala, simply does not know what it is doing and is just lashing out with pure emotional turmoil. 

Manly Man

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Re: Theory on Time Devourer
« Reply #1 on: January 28, 2012, 02:06:57 am »
After having read through what you said, I must say that I commend you for doing such a good job analytically. Honestly, I've believed what is essentially the same thing. Lavos, a creature so advanced in evolution and so high on the food chain that it considers us little more than ants, or perhaps even some kind of... well, something along the lines of how we experiment with microscopic organisms so as to develop ways to improve our own health. Its species would have evolved beyond the very concept of evolution, and, as far as we know, would have been so for possibly billions of years. To be introduced to something so, from its own point of view, alien and primitive, yet so powerful, it would have driven it mad by its own mind's standards. You've confirmed my thinking in that, yes, this might just be true.

ZeaLitY

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Re: Theory on Time Devourer
« Reply #2 on: March 16, 2012, 11:53:51 pm »
Badass theory. Thanks so much for the contributions.

Chrono45

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Re: Theory on Time Devourer
« Reply #3 on: March 18, 2012, 06:51:14 am »
well as far as self-realization goes, I believe it was definitely conscious of itself. This is a term psychologists like to refer to as meta-cognition, being an advanced species, I think it is a fair assessment to assume it is conscious of itself. As far as being emotionless, that is also a stretch. I think their is a decent chance that lavos had emotion before Schala. Without any direct evidence of emotion, the evidence that lavos is an advanced species would support the idea of emotion. Second, your statment their "filled with the hatred and sadness of lavos" kinda implies that he at least feels hatred and sadness. But, I do agree devoid of a worlds worth of resources, the absorption of a entire Schala would make sense since he would have nothing else to concentrate his "absorption powers" on.
« Last Edit: March 19, 2012, 10:48:25 pm by Chrono45 »