Shadow Magic--A theory of technological advancement in Chrono Trigger

Those familiar with the game Chrono Trigger (who have at least played through once) will recall that most of the main characters are able to utilize magic. This is not to say that all playable characters can, but only that most can. The essential characters who do utilize magic are Chrono, Lucca, Marle and Frog. Ayla cannot use magic. Robo cannot, though Spekio says that he can do "shadow type damage."
The reader might now object, "What about Magus?" Ah, yes, I failed to mention him only because he is not an essential playable character--one can get through the game without adding him to his party or can even kill Magus instead. But I also left Magus out because he is the crux of my thesis here--in the world of Chrono Trigger, shadow magic is the pinnacle of technological advancement, while lower forms of magic, or even the absence of magic, demonstrate primitive natures.
Arthur C Clarke has famously said that "any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic." In Crono's world, this is nearly the case. While Robo is potentially the most technologically advanced creature Crono comes across, it is plainly stated that he does not possess magic. However, in the profiles in the options menu, where the other characters have their magic specialty listed (such as lightning, fire, water), Robo has "shadow," the same as Magus' listing. Furthermore, whereas Ayla, the only other character to not possess magic, utilizes mostly brute force in her techniques, Robo often performs attacks that are similar to the other characters (read: proximity bomb, shock, healing ray, etc).
Furthermore, if we consider Magus' move lists, we realize that his magic is far more advanced and powerful than any other character's. When the player first encounters Magus, it takes three characters to take him on, and each has to have a different type of magic. Even still, instead of finishing him off outright, they only distract him long enough for Lavos to appear. When Magus finally joins the party later in the game, he is significantly weaker in power to when the player fought him, but he still possesses advanced versions of each of the other character's magic abilities (lightning 2, fire 2, ice 2, water 2). What this tells us is that somehow shadow magic incorporates the other types of magic. Whereas Crono, Marle, Lucca and Frog are only able to learn one type of magic, Magus, the shadow mage, is able to learn all of their types of magic, but chooses to specialize in shadow, which is more powerful.
In fact, Magus has more powerful magic attacks than perhaps Crono (Luminaire is a very powerful attack, but that's the only one). Crono is automatically a better character because he is the main character, but Magus is much more magically proficient than any other character.
What is also worth noticing is that the other magic attacks are very elemental while shadow attacks tend to be more scientifically based. The other characters use the basic elements: fire, water, and lightning and usually do not deviate from this style. Granted, they learn new tricks that sometimes include bombs or healing, but for the most part, they are focused on the basic. Shadow magic, on the other hand, has techniques with names such as "dark matter" and "black hole," terms which specifically belong to the scientific realm (more specifically astronomy). Conjuring lightning may be a neat trick, but summoning a black hole to swallow up your enemies is even greater.
But even more than this, magic in the Chrono Trigger world represents basic technological advancement. The opposite of this is brute force. The more technologically advanced characters, I will argue, are Magus, Robo and Lucca. Lucca does not possess shadow magic, but she does have many powerful techniques (flare, for one) and her weapons are generally pretty useless. On the other hand, the more primal characters are Ayla, Frog and Crono. Ayla and Frog are both more ancient. Crono, though contemporary, utilizes more primitive tactics. For one thing, all three of these characters have the most powerful attacks in the game. Furthermore, Ayla has no magic abilities, and Frog's tend to be weaker. Crono has fairly powerful abilities, but that might have to do with his status as a modern character as well as his status as the main character. But they also all utilize primitive weapons. Ayla uses her fists while Frog and Chrono use swords (though Lucca uses a gun and Marle uses a crossbow). These characters rely more on their physical strength than they do on their intellectual ability.
For the three most advanced characters, the argument is still fairly easy to see. Lucca is an inventor and is so technologically savvy that she is able to repair a robot from 1300 years in the future. Robo is the most futuristic character, hailing from 1300 years later than any other character. "But what about Magus?" the reader might be asking, "He is from 600 AD, the same time as Frog!! No way he is more technologically advanced!!" Well my naive hypothetical reader, you have to remember that Magus ended up in 600 AD. Originally he was from 12000 BC. "But that should make him more primitive!!" Here is where you are patently wrong.
See, Magus was born in the Kingdom of Zeal. And though the Kingdom of Zeal exists 13000 years previous to our contemporary characters, it exists nearly 65,000,000 years after Ayla's time. Remember, in Ayla's time period humans became the dominant species on the planet (according to Chrono Cross, Lavos made us evolve). Given that Ayla's people had already mastered using fire and some husbandry (taming the dactyl), one can only imagine how much they could achieve in a few million years. By the time we arrive in the Kingdom of Zeal, we get an idea of how much they evolved. Every denizen of Zeal possesses the ability to use magic. The kingdom itself floats in the sky. They have great airplanes and what looks like transporter beams. They build a fortress under the sea. These people are incredibly advanced. In fact, the people of Zeal are so technologically advanced that Queen Zeal builds a machine in order to harvest the energy of Lavos, an alien creature that has been buried under the earth for nearly 65,000,000 years.
Then, of course, the reader will recall that the hybris of the queen led to the ultimate demise of the Kingdom of Zeal and the entire world had to suffer through a terrible ice age. Most of the scientific knowledge of the time was lost, though the tree gurus (Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar) ended up being transported into different times. That's right, the Kingdom of Zeal had sufficient technology to completely screw with the time flow. Thus, Magus ends up in 600 AD, Melchior ends up in 1000 AD, Balthazar ends up in 2300 AD and Gaspar (the time guru) ends up in...the end of time? More apocryphal sources (Chrono Trigger on PSX or Chrono Cross) will suggest that additionally, Schala ends up in some weird time paradox situation where she somehow both delivers a clone of herself to 1000 AD and ends up fuzed with Lavos to become the destroyer of time. Regardless, all this is to say that Zeal was an incredibly advanced civilization that suffered a terrible downfall.
Of course, some of the denizens of Zeal survived and because of this, the world did not have to slog through a few million years of scientific endeavors to become more advanced. By 600 AD the people were using armor and battling wizards, by 1000 AD they had guns and crossbows and by 2300 they had fully sentient androids and biodomes. However, shadow magic had all but disappeared. But we can see that as time goes by, the people are getting closer and closer to realizing it once again. The equippable item "blue rock," for example, allows the triple tech "Omega Flare" to be used, a technique which requires Magus, Robo and Lucca to accomplish.

This item is obtained from a Gnu, a strange species of creature that is often seen within the boundaries of Zeal. Though speculation on the exact nature of the Gnu and their scientific capabilities would be a fascinating study, it shall not be the focus of this examination. Suffice it to say that the "blue stone" is, perhaps, a relic of the former advanced technology of Zeal and requires highly advanced persons to utilize it. Magus and Robo, as I have explained, are clearly the most advanced, but perhaps Lucca is close to being able to use shadow magic. If the reader has played the sequel to Chrono Trigger, "Chrono Cross," he might recall that there are a few clones within the game. Guile is clearly somehow related to Magus in CT, and Luccia is clearly related to Lucca (though, to be fair, Lucca does appear in CC, as both a character in Kid's background story as well as one of the spirits of the CT characters who speak to Serge). In CC, though, Luccia has "black" type elements, the rough equivalent of "shadow magic" in CT. Perhaps this is a hint that Lucca eventually achieves the ability to utilize shadow magic for herself, not only with the use of the blue rock.
If my understanding of Shadow Magic and technological advancement is correct, a further examination of the other "lesser" magics would prove interesting as well. Is fire the most advanced of the elemental magics? Is ice somehow more advanced than simple water? Where does lightning fit in? It is the hope of this author that other scholars will take up these questions as well as questions about the use of elements in the Chrono Cross world.
To conclude, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to pose a question. Where are we on our technological journey? Have we even come close to realizing shadow magic yet?