Magus
Magus
Magus, known in Japan as Maoh (魔王, Maō?, lit. Demon King or Dark Lord), is the Fiendlord who waged war against the Kingdom of Guardia in 600 A.D. Magus was originally Janus (ジャキ (Jaki, ジャキ?) in the Japanese version), the young prince of Zeal in 12,000 B.C. After an encounter with Lavos as a boy, he was sent through a time gate to the Middle Ages. Vindictive and vengeful against Lavos, and eternally concerned over the fate of his sister Schala, he is portrayed as brooding, potent, and gloomy. He fights using a scythe, as well as a combination of all magic types, including his own exclusive shadow element techs. His magic techs are strong, but he lacks the ability to use dual-techs. His shadow element makes him weak against lightning damage. Magus's life may be the one that was altered the most through the events of Chrono Trigger. After his expulsion to 600 AD by Lavos, Magus was to summon Lavos and be killed by him in the ensuing battle. Because Crono and Frog intervened, Magus was spared this fate. He was brought back to his home in the Dark Ages and lived as a prophet among the royal family, as he already knew the events to come.
The canon fate of Magus is often disputed. The player can choose to kill Magus after the fall of Zeal, or to spare him and use him as a playable character. Radical Dreamers and some hints in Chrono Cross suggest that he survived the events of Chrono Trigger, but the ending of the Playstation release shows Frog in his human form, which would only happen if Magus was to be killed. However, the DS remake explains Magus' fate, that he finds Schala at Time's Eclipse, a future where Lavos is no more, only to find her now integrated to the full-grown Dream Devourer. Though he attempted to save her, Schala regains control long enough to send her brother away for his own good, having him forget her so he can live and move on. Though he lost his memories, Magus feels that he must remember what he had desired to find.
Magus appears in Radical Dreamers as Gil, a shadowy and handsome member of the Radical Dreamers thieving group. He is depicted as masked and mysterious, though gentle and cultured. He has the ability to slip in and out of the shadows of the night at will. Magus as Gil was also 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. His character, renamed Guile (Alf in the Japanese version, possibly in reference to Magus' former pet cat Alfador), 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. Missing Piece includes a number of discarded character designs for Guile, including one which is more-or-less analogous to Magus' appearance in Chrono Trigger (cloak, pointed ears, etc.), as well as one in which he appears as a teenage boy. As it stands, 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. 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 referred to as "Magil".
Although he does not show it openly, it is hinted that he cared for Crono and the others, but felt that showing such emotion would make him weak. Magus is an optional character but is nonetheless an iconic cast member of Chrono Trigger with many fans, and he has appeared in three GameFAQs character battles.
