Lavos (in Japanese: ラヴォス Ravosu) is Chrono Trigger's main antagonist and final boss, an alien parasite which crash landed in the year 65,000,000 B.C.
It was named "Lavos" by Ayla, a word she made up from the root words "La" meaning "fire" and "Vos" "big" in the Iokan language. Lavos' true name (if it even had one) is unknown.
Lavos has three different forms. The first form is the outer shell, which resembles the Peluda, a mythical beast in French mythology. The second form consists of a large humanoid form with two arms. The third and final form is Lavos Core, consisting of three parts: a humanoid center, and two floating 'bits'. Apparently, the absolute core of Lavos is one of these bits, since it can revive its other parts and destroying it defeats Lavos.
Story
Lavos felt on Earth in the year 65,000,000 B.C., quickly digging its way through Earth's subsoil. There it resided in order to store power, until in 1999 A.D., it raised to the surface and released all of his power, destroying the planet completely. Then it started spawning its offspring, who would continue the cycle.
Lavos came to Earth with the intention of draining its energy so that it could produce genetically enhanced spawn, which would then continue the cycle on other planets. In the North American version of the game, it is claimed once in the series that Lavos directly influenced all technology and life on the planet, evolving the planet's life forms to cultivate it, and make itself stronger. However, the line is absent in the Japanese version. In the original timeline, Lavos slept for millions of years, gaining power until 1999 AD, when it emerged and put the world into an apocalyptic state. However, because of the interference of many of the characters, he was summoned at two other points in time—12000 BC and 600 AD. While traveling in 2300 AD, Chrono, Marle and Lucca see a video of the Day of Lavos which occurred in 1999 AD, and decide to prevent it somehow. Magus is also after Lavos for destroying his home era of 12000 BC.
Overview
Lavos has an outer shell that resembles a cross between an ant and a sea urchin. This shell is incredibly tough, and considerable force must be used to crack it open. The shell is capable of projecting plasma beams, and can store enough energy to cause a nuclear winter. In the middle of the shell is an eye, where Inside the shell is a cave-like structure that emits faint green light. At the core, there is a creature resembling an astronaut at a desk, which presumably is spawned along with the rest of the body and lives its entire life within the outer shell; this is the true Lavos. Despite its appearance, it is incredibly potent in combat, capable of projecting potent laser beams from turrets in the ceiling as a defense mechanism.
Lavos burrows into the core of a world once it lands on it. It continues to absorb the planet's energy and direct evolution to the point where the inhabitants can create massive power plants, such as nuclear reactors. With this jump-start, it kills all or most of the inhabitants by making the world uninhabitable. It then moves to a point on the surface closest to space, and churns out babies, much like a female rabbit or gerbil (only asexually). These young Lavos can move through space without any mechanical assistance; although the species appears to already be biomechanical by nature. Lavos is referred to with male pronouns, but it has more female/ asexual traits.
But ... The Future Refused To Change
If Chrono's party loses to Lavos at any of its three forms, Lavos destroys the world, leaving a screen with destroyed Earth and the line But... The future refused to change.
Trivia
- Early in the game, the characters believe that Lavos created the Time Gates. However, they come to a different realization in one of the sidequests, in Fiona's Forest: due to the timing of when the gates appeared and their significance, the gates may have been created by some other entity reliving its life cycle, flashing back over important memories in its past, which were tied to Lavos.