Lavos underrated

[SwordFighter_Dago]

Seriously, Lavos is one of my most favourite villains BY FAR! I can't believe why he is so easily forgotten and not popular at all. He is creepy, scary, all-powerful, possesses an intellect FAR above any other living being and generally does as it pleases, to the point it can even bend time itself. So why is there so little love for this aw-inspiring being?

And how come topics with the word 'Lavos' in them are totally ignored? (Like this one?)

[blackmage_nuke]

I think its because to see all the endings you have to fight lavos over a dozen times and you dont have to play through the whole game to get to him as he is accessable at any time so the build up is sorta disregarded as you'd normally have to play through a whole game to get to the final boss. After owning this guy for the fifth time he begins to become far less threatening and becomes more of an annoyance. Not to mention you dont have to worry about burning up all your mega elixers when you fight him which makes the battle even less fear inducing.

[NeoCracker]

Lavos is kind of a lame villian over all. He's all "IMMA GONNA EAT YOUR WORLD NEWBS!"

It's the aftermath of his arrival on the planet that makes the game awesome. From the destruction of the Reptites, the crazy queen of Zeal trying to summon him, Magus seeking revenge, and the destruction of the future world adn the chaos left behind.

LAvos himself just kind of seems to be kicking back and chilling.

[blackmage_nuke]

Abit like Jenova really

[Bahamut2000X]

Really I wouldn't call Lavos a villain. He's more of just the main conflict or a really powerful monster honestly. He doesn't plot, and he doesn't do anything evil, he just flies around and looks for food like any living thing would, it just so happens he eats planets.


possesses an intellect FAR above any other living being

I don't seem to recall them ever showing or implying that Lavos was more then a mere animal working on surviving.

[Flying Mullet]

possesses an intellect FAR above any other living being

I don't seem to recall them ever showing or implying that Lavos was more then a mere animal working on surviving.
Exactly. Lavos is a parasite that is driven by it's basic animal instincts feeds on planets.

[SwordFighter_Dago]

possesses an intellect FAR above any other living being

I don't seem to recall them ever showing or implying that Lavos was more then a mere animal working on surviving.
Exactly. Lavos is a parasite that is driven by it's basic animal instincts feeds on planets.

You haven't played Chrono Trigger much, did you? Throughout its course, Lavos actually managed to corrupt Queen Zeal. It takes far more than just basic instinct and power to accomplish something like that. And no, it wasn't just because Zeal was mad. Lavos gave her power and immortality in exchange for her guarding the Black Omen.

Furthermore, Chrono Cross makes it clear that the Planet/Entity is capable of defending itself, so it would take tremendous knowledge to actually outsmart it. If you want some more info, take a look here:

Chrono Compendium (http://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/The_Ethics_of_Lavos.html)

[The Crystal]

So why is there so little love for this aw-inspiring being?

Because he have no personality, or quotes during the story.

[blackmage_nuke]

So why is there so little love for this aw-inspiring being?

Because he have no personality, or quotes during the story.

But he does get to have a voice-
KRAWWWRRUUU!!!!

[Goldenboko]

So why is there so little love for this aw-inspiring being?

Because he have no personality, or quotes during the story.

Lavos is a parasite, feeding and manipulating Planet Earth as it needs. Last time I checked Parasites don't have Personalities.

[The Crystal]

Lavos is a parasite, feeding and manipulating Planet Earth as it needs. Last time I checked Parasites don't have Personalities.

And this is why he is "underrated", genius.

[Heath]

Lavos is a parasite, feeding and manipulating Planet Earth as it needs. Last time I checked Parasites don't have Personalities.

And this is why he is "underrated", genius.

But there's very little to rate as far as I was concerned. Lavos was simply a very basic being who was fulfilling its own parasitic instincts to feed and sustain itself. In all honesty, throughout CT I always saw Lavos as being a plot device more than a character because there's very little (if any) character there at all. Ask me to think of a villain from CT and I'll think of Ozzie, Magus, Queen Zeal or Azala. Lavos always simply seemed like a plot device or an object for the villains to utilise. More like a weapon than anything else.

[Skyblade]

Lavos is a parasite, feeding and manipulating Planet Earth as it needs. Last time I checked Parasites don't have Personalities.

And this is why he is "underrated", genius.

But there's very little to rate as far as I was concerned. Lavos was simply a very basic being who was fulfilling its own parasitic instincts to feed and sustain itself. In all honesty, throughout CT I always saw Lavos as being a plot device more than a character because there's very little (if any) character there at all. Ask me to think of a villain from CT and I'll think of Ozzie, Magus, Queen Zeal or Azala. Lavos always simply seemed like a plot device or an object for the villains to utilise. More like a weapon than anything else.

You're assuming it was driven by instinct. As you said, we know little of Lavos, and have no idea what truly motivates it. Just because it doesn't have some tragic backstory that we know about, it's a poor villain? Lavos is manipulating the entire world to suit its own purposes, but we have no way of knowing what those purposes are. Given that as you cut through its shell and reveal its inner cores, its appearance is more and more humanoid, I think believing that it was a simple parasite motivated by instinct is not the best conclusion to come to.

Also, even if he is a simple parasitic beast, so what? Jenova was also a massive parasite with untold power and no motivation. For that matter, so was Sin (it had some rationale for why it existed, but none for why Yu-Yevon's "armor" became an instrument of eternal death). Yet no one complains that those are poor villains.

[NeoCracker]

Actually people do complain they are poor villains, and give the good villain credit to the likes of Seymore, Sephiroth, and Hojo. :p

[Flying Mullet]

I think part of the reason people aren't as keen on Lavos is that it's not really visible for much of the game. It's a vague nemesis that's hinted at and you never really interact with it until the end of the game. A perfect analogy would be Final Fantasy IV. When speaking of villains, most people would pick Golbez as their favorite over Zeromus, since you interact with him quite a bit through the game. People tend to prefer "in your face visibly impeding/stopping/attacking you" villains as opposed to vague entities your party rarely come across. That's not to say that these vague entities can't be great villains, it's just that most people prefer more visible/interactive ones.

[Roogle]

The forms of Lavos vary in the final battle.

Why was the final form of Lavos a humanoid being in a space suit? Was this the intelligent essence of Lavos referenced in earlier posts?

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s227/rooremy/Central20Bit20Front.gif

[Flying Mullet]

I always had the impression that the image you're showing is Lavos, while the large beast is actually an organic spaceship which sucks the energy from the planet and feeds the being inside. I also assumed that people in-game refer to the shell as Lavos because they have no clue that there's anyone/anything inside.

[black orb]

>>> Toriyama likes to draw humanoids and space suits..

[Roogle]

I also assumed that people in-game refer to the shell as Lavos because they have no clue that there's anyone/anything inside.

They do not explain nor question those intricacies of Lavos in any games in the Chrono series. Maybe Zeality (http://forums.eyesonff.com/members/zeality.html) or the Chrono Compendium (http://www.chronocompendium.com/) could shed some light on this subject?

[Bahamut2000X]

I thought that Lavos ultimate true final form was the little core thing that floated off to the right of the screen, since that was the one that you had to kill to win the battle anyways.