Time Devourer (Possibility of)

Inquiry[edit]

Was the Time Devourer an intentional creation from the original Lavos's perspective? In Chrono Cross, the Frozen Flame is stated to be a splinter of Lavos' shell which separated when Lavos crashed into the earth. Around 3 million BC, it was responsible for the evolution of human intelligence. Though Lavos may have effectively used it as a backup plan in combining with Schala (and possibly Serge, if the "lost storyline" of Cross is true), the Time Devourer will still a being bent on revenge and desirous of destroying the entire universe, a plan contradicting its original role of procreation. Was the Frozen Flame a purposeful splinter?

The fission of the Flame was an accident which may or may not have benefited Lavos.[edit]

We know that human intelligence resulted directly from contact with the Frozen Flame. If one considers Lavos's plan to absorb species' DNA rather than inject them with his own for fear of retribution or "biological contamination", this scenario is attractive. If the Flame were not part of Lavos' plan, then the evolution of human intelligence was accidental and perhaps even opposed to Lavos' plan. This makes sense because the Zeal Kingdom -- the direct result of human intelligence and supremacy -- posed enough of a threat to Lavos that it had to be destroyed. If this is the case, the existence of the Flame may have been one of the factors which allowed Lavos to be defeated and the Time Devourer to be created, as opposed to all the other planets infested by Lavoids. Given the extreme nature of the Time Devourer's power (it was on the verge of consuming all space-time), and the causes of the Time Devourer related to the Frozen Flame, the accident may explain why the Time Devourer's menace is so unique. Its creation was caused by pure chance with this concept; there is otherwise no risk of a Time Devourer forming on every planet of the universe that is occupied by Lavoid parasites.

Lavos deliberately created the Flame as part of its plan.[edit]

The Frozen Flame was the instrument by which Lavos manipulated humans. Since humans who who develop magic traits are more likely to have useful DNA, perhaps giving them magic was part of the original plan. Lavos, a being of tremendous magic power, might benefit more from magic evolution than the evolution of normal cave apes. Still, this stance does not explain why Lavos did not take the liberty of evolving several other creatures to increase chances of favorable DNA harvesting. One can also argue that the use of the Frozen Flame by an Arbiter might ultimately allow Lavos to achieve a higher life form, like the Time Devourer. Given the Time Devourer's chaotic nature, however, this is questionable; it is bent on revenge and wants to destroy the space-time continuum.

Lavos suffered from self-realization and emotion after binding with Schala.[edit]

Odd Water

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.

Misconceptions[edit]

The situation with the Time Devourer cannot really be applied to the above discussion; here is why. The Frozen Flame conveniently also may exist as a backup plan utensil. The "lost" overarching plotline of Chrono Cross suggests that those who contact the Flame as Arbiters were susceptible to merging with Lavos as the Time Devourer or stopping the process. Following this idea, which suggests Schala was an Arbiter, the Frozen Flame could allow an eliminated Lavos to exact revenge by merging with Arbiters to become the Time Devourer. This is probably a very unique case, however, which negates its ability to be considered in the above inquiry. It is truly unknown whether Lavos's eventual plan is to evolve into something capable of devouring space-time, and whether the Time Devourer was its grand plan after all, merely realized through a shortcut through binding with Schala at the Darkness Beyond Time. For more on this, see Lavos (Envoy of).

From: Theory (Objects)
From: Theory (People)