The Christology of Chrono Trigger

The orthodox reader is probably absolutely upset at the title of this post. It is my hope, though, to show the reader that the character Crono in the game Chrono Trigger is a Christ-figure, and, though this is not Christology per se, an allegorical understanding of the story of Chrono Trigger reveals a deeper theological message than the skeptical critic might admit.
The character of Chrono is like many other main characters within role playing games (RPGs). He starts out as being a mere nobody and eventually becomes the magnificent hero of the world. Game designers utilize this technique for two reasons: 1) it makes a decent set-up for a moving story line. Stories are much better when the hero of the tale is the underdog. Think of Lord of the Rings with Frodo or Star Wars with Luke. Though both characters have legendary destinies, they begin the story as rural peasants. 2) It allows the player to identify more with the character. For this reason, many games leave the protagonist silent so that the player can imagine providing his own dialogue. This tactic works so well that it has been used from the very earliest Zelda games until even recently in the Fallout games.
The rest of the game follows a fairly systemic RPG pattern with the story being revealed along the way of battling minions, henchmen and bosses and eventually the world-destroying final boss. Chrono Trigger is unique among RPGs because of its heavy usage of time traveling. Fans of the game, however, enjoy the nuanced plot which develops each and every (playable) character so that we feel as if we know them. The exception, of course, is Crono.
Without further ado, then I shall make my case for why this silent, seemingly stock-copied protagonist is a Christ figure. I shall do so in the first place in a Thomistic fashion by addressing contrary arguments and then following these up with my own arguments for my case.
In the first place, Crono, is a silent character. As the theologically-minded reader will no-doubt contend, we know Jesus primarily through his words. How, then, can a figure who says nothing at all throughout the game, save one line in one of the secondary endings, be a Christ figure?
To address this question, I respond that, in the first place, leaving Chrono silent allows the reader to make the connection to Jesus. Were Crono a wise-talking character like Gex or even a mostly silent character like Cloud, the reader would no doubt have formed a concrete understanding of the character of Crono. Leaving Crono silent allows the player some interpretive license, which allows the player to understand Crono in many different ways, much as Jesus is in contemporary theological thought.
Furthermore, Crono most often communicates through his actions. Many of the main missions involve feeding the poor (in 2300 AD), saving others (600 AD) and fighting evil. Many of the side missions in the future also are focused on good works, such as reforesting the desert in 600 AD, exorcising troubled ghosts in 600 AD, restoring families and even healing the crippled ~1000 AD. There are also many moral options available throughout the game that include uniting a little girl with her cat, freeing a wrongly-imprisoned young man and healing the relationship between two feuding brothers. 10 years before games started implementing morality as an essential feature of play, Chrono Trigger was allowing players to make moral decisions that had no Karma effects (but did often have some sort of reward attached to them). In other words, the character of Crono opposes the wicked, heals the wounded, feeds the hungry, and liberates the oppressed.
Secondly, Crono is not ever given divine status. He is, after all, just a regular child at the beginning of the game whose mother lectures him for being lazy. At no point is he ever defined as some great son of a god or even a messiah prophesied eons ago.
This, at first seems true. However, I should contend that, in the first place, we have no idea what Crono's lineage is. We only ever see his mother, and never his father (though both Lucca and Marle's parentage is explained). We are not even given some sort of stock answer such as "Crono's father is dead" or "Crono's father moved away." The mystery of Crono's father is just as mysterious as that of the protagonist of Pokemon.
Furthermore, as I shall explain below in my contentions for Crono's representation as a Christ figure, he does exhibit many features of a messianic character. But chief among these is how overpowered he is. Crono's attack is stronger than Frog's and his best technique (Luminare) is more powerful than anything Magus possesses. He also has high speed, high defense and the best weapon (the Rainbow). Furthermore, while Marle has the power to restore life, only Crono wields the ability to restore life with all hitpoints. That's correct, Crono has the power to resurrect his friends as well as deal more damage to enemies than any other character. Nearly every triple tech involves Crono and most double techs do as well. In short, Crono is the closest thing to a god in the game.
This leads to our third argument. Jesus advocated peace and worked through preaching and performing miracles to bring peace. Crono, on the other hand, seems to mostly slice his way to justice, leaving behind him a trail of (well, enemies disappear when they're defeated in Chrono Trigger so it's inappropriate to say a trail of bodies).
This is actually a good argument. However, very few gamers would play a game where the main character goes around casting demons out of enemies instead of attacking them. Here I would once again mention Crono's "Life 2" ability as well as other techniques such as "Aura whirl" wherein he heals rather than attacks, but I think it's safe to say that, for the most part, we should not be confusing Crono with a pacifist anytime soon. My one response is to say that as an RPG, fighting enemies is a necessary condition of the game and, the defeat of evil enemies is metaphorical for the defeat of evil.
Now, for my arguments for Crono's status as a Christ figure. In the first place, Crono is wrongly sentenced to death. After rescuing Princess Marle from 600 AD and restoring the timeline, Crono is tried for kidnapping and treason and imprisoned and, afterward, wrongly sentenced to die in three days. The player can affect the voting of the jury before hand by committing only good deeds in the fairgrounds in which case the king will put Crono in jail simply in order to hold him there for a few days. If the player does everything wrongly, Crono will be convicted of kidnapping, though at no point does he ever actually kidnap the Princess. Anybody who has read the Gospels will recall that Jesus is wrongly tried, and though the ruling politician finds no fault in him, is sentenced to die.
Secondly, Crono exhibits many messianic qualities. For one thing, he is able to seemingly unite peoples from many different times and lands to rally them against evil. For another thing, though there is no prediction of Crono's involvement in history, the game subtly suggests that history could not have happened without Crono. The Massamune, for example, the legendary sword, is created by Crono thrusting a red knife into the Mammon Machine. The evolution of humanity as well depends on Crono helping Ayla defeat the Reptites. Even the defeat of Magus depends upon Crono. Though some events, such as defeating Lavos and rescuing Marle, seem to be altered according to Crono's involvement with the time stream, many of the other story events of the game suggest that Crono had to be involved otherwise they would not have happened. Thus, though there are no "prophecies" or predictions of Crono's messianic role, his meddling is a necessary function of the history of the planet in Chrono Trigger.
Third, Crono dies and is resurrected. That's right, just like Aeris in Final Fantasy VII, one of the main story events is Crono's death. The player, of course, has the option to leave Crono dead and finish the game, but the storyline of the game directs the player to complete the mission wherein Crono will be resurrected. And, of course, as if Crono's messianic role was not yet clear enough, Gaspar, the guru of time, when explaining how Crono will be brought back from the dead informs the player that Crono must be necessary for the flow of time. That's right, not only does the game encourage you to revive your dead leader, but suggests that his role is necessary in the game. Then, to top this all off, when Crono is resurrected, the scene presented is one of apocalyptic and Biblical significance. The sun becomes darkened and Crono appears, arm stretched out cruciform. If this is not evidence for Crono's Christological semblance, I don't know what is.
But, to finish this all off, there is the plain fact of the metaphor of the battle against Lavos. Lavos clearly represents sin. Lavos falls to the earth when humans begin to become dominant (in fact, in the very moment that the Reptites are defeated). Lavos threatens to destroy the planet and his arrival is the arrival of original sin in the human condition. Throughout time, the evil have ties to Lavos (the Hechran, Queen Zeal and mistakenly Magus) and when the world is destroyed, it is because of Lavos. Furthermore, Chrono Cross corroborates this interpretation by explaining that humanity's evolution was caused by Lavos and that we are the spawn of Lavos (original sin taints us). Crono's entire mission, however, is to do battle against Lavos. Crono dies at the hand of Lavos (as Christ dies because of sin) but is resurrected and defeats Lavos, liberating humanity from its awful threat. When Lavos is destroyed, the screen turns white and Crono's silhouette can be seen, once again cruciform. Crono is the one who overcomes death and sin (read Lavos) and saves humanity.
There are other interesting parallels to be drawn between the person of Jesus and Crono (the recruitment of disiciples for one) and other interesting theological parallels to be drawn from other characters in Chrono Trigger (might Magus be a Pauline figure?). Suffice it to say for now, however, that the figure of Crono represents the figure of Christ and the story of Chrono Trigger is therefore an allegory for the story of salvation history.

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?