Magus (Chrono Trigger)

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Magus
Official artwork from PlayStation re-release
Game series	Chrono series
First game	Chrono Trigger
Designed by	Akira Toriyama
In-Universe Information
Given name	Janus Zeal
Native time period	12,000 B.C.
Weapon	Scythe
Magic element	Shadow

Magus is a fictional character playable in Squaresoft's 1995 console role-playing game Chrono Trigger. Depicted as a brooding and powerful villain, he challenges the game's heroes with advanced magic and plays an integral role in the story. He is an optional or hidden character, but is nonetheless an iconic cast member of Chrono Trigger with many fans, and has appeared in three GameFAQs character battles.^[1][2][3] In Japan, Magus is known as Maō (魔王, Maō^?), which translates roughly to "demon king" (a title, rather than a name).^[4]

[edit] Chrono Trigger

Magus was born Janus (Jyaki in the Japanese version), heir to the Kingdom of Zeal and brother to Schala. Often seen broodingly pacing Zeal's cities, Janus was known to the kingdom's citizens as introverted and unhappy.^[5][6] He kept a purple cat named Alfador as a pet, named "his only friend" by one citizen.^[7] Though believed to be inept by many,^[8] Janus possessed magic power exceeding all others.^[9] Upon the completion of the Mammon Machine and the transformation of Queen Zeal,^[10] Janus hid away his power to avoid suffering in the same manner as Schala and his mother.^[9] Before Crono intervened in time to save the world, Janus attended the Ocean Palace christening and was swept up in a temporal distortion caused by Lavos. In the new timelines, Janus can be seen confiding in Schala concerning his dislike of his mother.^[10] She consoled him by giving him her amulet, which he would later wear around his hip as an adult. Janus also warned Crono that one in his group would soon die.^[11] As Crono descended to the Ocean Palace, Melchior watched over Janus, though the two soon disappeared into a black portal at the time of their original departure.^[12]

Janus emerged from the distortion in the Middle Ages of the Chrono Trigger world, where a creature named Ozzie seized him and carried him away. Ozzie commanded the Mystics,^[13] a race of non-human, sentient beings capable of using magic. The boy grew up to become the leader of the Mystics. Janus erstwhile lamented the loss of Schala and vowed to survive his predicament and exact revenge upon Lavos.^[14][15] To gain power necessary to summon and confront Lavos, Janus fully subscribed to the training given to him.^[16] His appearance and name changed, he led the Mystics in war with humanity,^[17] achieving a deified status among them.^[18] His three top warriors were Ozzie, Slash, and Flea. Ten years before 600 A.D., he slew the head knight of Guardia, Cyrus, and changed his squire Glenn to a frog. The two were attempting to acquire the Masamune, a legendary sword thought to be the only weapon that could defeat Magus. ^[19] In 600 A.D., Magus completed his preparations and attempted to summon Lavos.^[20] Crono and Frog, believing he created Lavos in the Middle Ages, interrupted him at his lair and battled him at length. Magus revealed that he was merely summoning Lavos.^[21] The incomplete spell activated, causing a temporal distortion that sent Crono's group to 65,000,000 B.C. and Magus to his original time period.^[21]

Magus attempts to kill Lavos

At home in Zeal, Magus surmised that with the nearing activation of the Ocean Palace, he would once again have the chance to seek vengeance upon Lavos. To gain access, he appeared to Queen Zeal as a prophet from a mysterious land, using his childhood knowledge to predict future events.^[22] He was instated as director of the Ocean Palace's completion, and warned Queen Zeal and Dalton of Crono and his group.^[23][24] He also had the Gurus of Zeal banished, presumably for fear of his true identity being discovered. He first met Crono's group since the disaster at his lair in Zeal Palace, where he confirmed that "they are the evildoers [he] warned [her] of."^[25] Once Crono and his friends were subjugated, Magus threatened to kill them. Schala and Janus pleaded, and Magus compromised by having her lock them out of the time period by sealing a time gate.^[26] He then attended the christening of the Ocean Palace, awaiting the moment of Lavos's emergence. Once the creature arrived, he threw off his disguise in full view of Crono's group. He then attempted to kill Lavos, only to be beaten back to helplessly watch Crono die.^[14][27] Powerless and prostrate, he was saved with Crono's remaining friends by Schala, who used her pendant's powers to transport them to land.^[28]Having washed up on shore much later than the crew, he then went to the North Cape to reflect on past events.^[29] When confronted by Crono's friends, he revealed his identity as Janus and warned them of Lavos power, ridiculing Crono's death. ^[30][31]

Enraged, the characters drew their weapons and debated whether to challenge Magus to a fight or not. Knowing that killing Magus would not solve anything or bring back any loved ones, they withdrew. (The player can opt to kill Magus upon the North cape for a different ending.)

Magus joined Crono's friends, informing them that there was, in fact, a way to revive Crono^[32]. He then continued traveling with them for the duration of their quest. Along the way, he met the Guru of Time, Gaspar, who recognized him as Janus.^[33] While traveling, he encountered Ozzie, Slash, and Flea, who criticized him for merely using the Mystics as a tool to gain personal power.^[16] Magus defeated them and retrieved his best armor and weapons at their fort to prepare for the final battle. Atop the Black Omen, Magus decisively defeated his mother, calling her a "pitiful woman duped by Lavos."^[34] With Crono and his friends, he surmised that Lavos had been controlling evolution for his own purposes and challenged the creature in a battle to the death.^[35] After killing Lavos, he returned to Leene square in 1,000 A.D. with the other heroes and silently departed to 12,000 B.C. to search for Schala.^[36] If the player opted to kill Magus, his curse on Frog is broken at the game's end.^[37] In the PlayStation version of the game, the curse is lifted regardless of whether he dies. It can be assumed that in the original timeline of the story, Magus succeeds in summoning Lavos and brings about his own death, ending the war with the humans. Crono's interference in the process saved him from this fate.

If the player chooses to recruit Magus rather than kill him, he will join your party and lend you the power of the same spells he used on your party during your battle with him in his castle. Initially he starts out with the all-target elemental spells of Crono, Marle and Lucca but as he levels up and gains ability points, he learns Shadow spells, which are a combination of ice, fire, and lightning magic. He is an extremely capibile warrior and the strongest spellcaster in the game, with his ultimate, "DarkMatter" inflicting about 1.5 times the damage of Lucca's "flare" or Chrono's "luminare". He actually tops his Magic rating earlier than Marle and Lucca if leveled up alongside them. Among the three mages (himself, Marle and Lucca), he is also versatile as a fighter to some degree and inflicts decent damage with his scythe. His only disadvantage comes from the fact that he has no Dual Techs with any of the other characters (most likely due to the fact that Magus has no intention of being "good friends" with Crono's party despite joining them), and it is difficult to acquire his Triple Techs, requiring use of the mysterious "Stone" accessories the player may come across.

[edit] Appearances in other media

Magus appears in Radical Dreamers, a sidestory to Chrono Trigger released in 1996, as Gil, a shadowy and handsome member of the Radical Dreamers thieving group. He is depicted as masked and mysterious, though genteel and cultured.^[38] He has the ability to slip in and out of the shadows of the night at will.^[39] In Radical Dreamers, it is explained that after Zeal fell, Schala's guilt caused the Frozen Flame—a legendary artifact in proximity—to reduce her age and send her to the modern era as an infant.^[40] Raised by Lucca as Kid, she remained unaware of her origin. The aristocrat Lynx killed Lucca, causing the child Kid to seek revenge. Gil appeared to save her from death, and traveled with her for a few years. One night, Serge, Kid, and Gil sneak into Viper Manor to acquire the Frozen Flame. The mission ended in failure, though through the Chrono Trigger, Kid learned of her heritage. Gil subsequently escaped with her into the night as the Porre army pursued. Though Serge attempted to follow, Gil reluctantly held him back as they made their escape.^[41]

Magus as Gil was slated to appear in Chrono Cross. However, as development of the game progressed, designers decided it would be too difficult to integrate his complex story into the plot.^[42] His character, Guile, was thus altered to remove his Magus identity and was left in with no back-story, existing merely as a competent magician seeking enigma in the islands of El Nido. Magus is only mentioned in a letter to Kid from Lucca, in which she assures Kid not to worry as "Janus" is probably watching over her.^[43] Gil appears in Chrono Cross only in an easter egg designating the events of Radical Dreamers as having taken place in an alternate dimension. In the English version of this easter egg, Gil is refered to as "Magil". The whereabouts of Magus are still unknown and fans have speculated that this would be a likely topic to explore in further sequels.

[edit] Trivia

• In the American localization of the game, one NPC claims that Janus is Schala's "step-brother." However, this is either a translation error or an addition of the translator, and is not mentioned in the original Japanese release.

[edit] References