Questions about Characters?

There are an overwhelming amount of mysteries in Captain SNES, such a large number of questions that have gone unanswered. There are, what, almost 800 strips? Some of them multiple pages and all of them dense with all sorts of information. Whilst I don't wish to catalogue all those mysteries (this is a forum, not a wiki), I do wish to... I'm not sure... encourage the act of shedding light on certain mysteries? After all, there's a lot of stuff that happens in Captain SNES, and one can easily miss it on their first, second and even third read through.
So this is a list of questions relating to characters original to the Captain SNES 'verse. Whilst there are mysteries surrounding characters from SNES games or the Captain N cartoon, it is these characters that have the most mysteries surrounding them and that are sometimes overlooked. If you have a suggestion for a question, feel free to add it; if you know whereabouts in the comic the answer to a question is given, I'd love to hear it.

What is the Sovereign of Sorrow?
A lot of questions surround this enigmatic entity and one could list them out in full, all the unanswered questions about her, but it suffices to say that we have very little information on her and the full truth will only likely come out near the climax to the tale.

Why is Alex the Gamemaster?
It's odd, in many ways, Alex has more mysteries surrounding himself than anyone else (apart from, perhaps, the Sovereign of Sorrow) and yet most of them go unnoticed. Cynicism has brought a couple of them up, and his conversations with Ryan have raised a few questions too. However, one question that has yet to be resolved is why Alex is the Gamemaster, and whether or not he was meant to be Gamemaster originally at all.

Who or what is Ryan?
Another riddle wrapped in an enigma (I swear, I come up with answers eventually), Ryan is our leading antagonist in the present. Much about his involvement with activities prior to trapping Alex are implied, and his exploits in the real world have some worrying holes. He might be a robot doppelganger, might be the Ryan from the real world, might just be there to act as a foil to Alex, or he might be something else altogether.

Schrodinger: WTF?!?
I'm not even going to touch this one. Seriously, that cat is trouble.

Who was the Shadow king? What were his motives? What was his connection to the Sovereign?
To my knowledge, no hint has been given to what the Shadow King's identity was, and no one considers it important now that he's dead. He seemed motivated by power and, unless I missed something, there was no hint at a greater plan. As for his connection to the Sovereign, that's also a mystery; she didn't start her reign of destruction until after he died. Also, some hypothesise that he was the one that gave Mother Brain the original information on Omega Energy.

What is the nature of Alex's Vices? What guise does Hypocrisy take? What guise does Apathy take?
I've found no information on what cause Alex's Vices to be given physical form, why they know so much, or why they feel the urge to protect him by killing him. Arrogance and Hatred have been taken care of, by Hypocrisy, Cynicism and Apathy remain. We know Cynicism takes the form of Alanis, but have no knowledge on the other two.

What are the voices in the Desert? Who was the first voice to get a body? Who is the voice "left in charge"? Who is the voice that wanted Alex's (and later Amon's) body?
The voices seem to be those that died defending the Great Palace. Of course, that doesn't answer the question of why they're bound there, why they are capable of taking bodies, and what other powers they possess, or really anything in the slightest for that matter. The voices speak of one who left, which is most likely Bob, but that doesn't tell us who the voice was in life. Also, to my knowledge, there's no clues as to who the other voices are.

Is there a connection between Real!Hope and Video!Hope?
The answer, for now, seems to be no. However, some have pointed out that Real!Hope may have indirectly been responsible for the naming of Video!Hope. Alex named many characters after people he knew (including Hope), which led to their names being popular in Videoland, which may have led to Hope's parents picking the name.

Who is the Queen of Videoland?
Zelda is queen at the present. If there's details on the queen's role, duties and powers, I can't find them.

What is Bob?
We know he's from Final Fantasy Legend, that it's implied that he comes from the desert, that he has two souls, the ability to consume the souls of others (which may lead to the former trait), that he has a limited ability to change how he manifests in games, and that he's aware of he real world to some extent. He also seems to have many connections throughout videoland, implying that he's been at large for a while now. Also, he might be connected to the Bob from the real world.

Who is the Watcher?
To my knowledge, the Watcher has only been mentioned in Cecil's confrontation with Spoony. Sealed inside a prison of glass (the mirror warp... thing?) since the Golden Age of Videoland, he seems to communicate with people only through mirrors. According to Spoony, he's on good terms with both Bob and Cecil. Worryingly, what little evidence there is, points to the Watcher being Kevin.

Who was the Herald?
Mentioned offhand, the Sovereign's Herald. She killed Megagirl before dying and making a proclamation about the Shadow King. There's no hint at who or what she might be, and it was brushed over so much that it seems as though it might not even matter.

Where did MonkeySpank come from?
Whilst Golbez was the one to download MonkeySpank, someone placed the download banner on the computer and actually created the virus. MonkeySpank's primary goal seems to be unifying the three aspects of the Sovereign.

What is the Shard of Tears's physical form?
Young!Rydia, it seems. She has generic Sovereign powers, though seems oblivious to them, as well as her effect on reality. The Shard of Tears is associated with the past, and so she has some degree of power over retconning stuff. Of course, whether this is her power, or the Sovereign working via her is... confusing.

Who is the Bearer of Tragedy's Mask?
Schala seems like the most likely candidate as Tragedy's Mask is known to have spent a lot of time in the world of Chrono Trigger, and the outline of the figure that the Sinistrals saw matched that of Schala. How being the Bearer has affected Schala in terms of temperment and powers has yet to be seen.

As I said above, if anyone has anything else they want added to this FAQ or, better yet, have answers, I'd like to hear them. Also, if anyone's noticed any mistakes in my post, I'd be more than happy to correct them. I'm going to, at some point, go about adding sources to my answers, to actually give support to my claims. Despite what it looks like, this is not just a specific section for wild speculation (though I'll condede to accussations of tame speculation, or extrapalation as I call it), and am willing to back up the claims made here and will listen to anyone who wishes to correct an error.
So... Thoughts? Feelings? This post is surprisingly long, but I hope that someone out there will be able to gleam some insight from this... unless there's already a section for this sort of stuff and I just didn't notice it, in which case I apologise.

This post has been edited by SNESlite on Sep 21 2012, 07:02 PM

I have comments/corrections/answers-or-at-least-firmly-grounded-speculation to tender! I feel compelled to warn of spoilers for Chrono Trigger, even if it does feel kinda silly on these forums!

Indeed, it hasn't been stated with certainty that Schala is the Bearer. To my understanding, though, the comic tying Lucca to the Mask helps this case, but the idea was formed (or at least did so firmly) much earlier. The instant we saw her appear before Daos. The outline is a dead-ringer for Schala's (I think someone made a comparison image, but I don't know where it is). Daos also comments that his nature means he isn't looking at a facsimile, like just about everyone else who's beheld (all or a part of) the Sovereign. It seems pretty significant and compelling.

But getting back to Lucca and the Mask, this bit's important, with this for context. That series of panels with the (incredibly cool) Mask/Masamune backdrop tells an important thing that happened to Lucca, without enough grounding to definitively say what it was. While pursuing Crono's Mom and (presumably) Schrodinger through time after the game ended, they found both at the End of Time.* As only three "beings" can travel to anywhen other than the End of Time, Lucca and the cat got to chill there while Crono and Marle took his Mom home. While waiting, she somehow encounters someone, apparently unconscious. Someone she clearly knows, but is just as clearly surprised to see. There are options, sure, but it's not a very long list, and Schala stands out as a strong candidate on it.

* I wonder if Gaspar had kept them company.

... So, uh. ^_^o Yeah. I apparently am also prone to babbling.

Also, where are you getting that Lucca ever had the Mask, much less gave it to its present Bearer? That snippet I just dissected is the only place I can think of to get anything like that idea, and -- while it's possible given the little vagueness -- even that'd require some pretty big assumptions. I mean, I guess you could look over the Eater of Dreams and Mistress of the Flame' chatter (and follow-up), but there's less of pertinent answers than I remembered (outside the obvious moments of WHAM, I mean).

This post has been edited by Gaius on Jul 19 2012, 01:08 AM

I was going to be flip, but here are my best theories.

The super secret alter ego of Queen Lana, touched by natural Sorrow when Duke died.

Hope Keene.

The brother of Kevin and Real World Hope Keene (for whom Princess Hope was named).

A perfectly ordinary housecat in Videoland. That is to say, a plot device.

A manifestation of the Omega Energy ripped from Kevin. Absorbed by the Sovereign before she went world-killing-y, and now embodied by the Shard of Tears.

Videoland doesn't understand subtlety. Alex came into Videoland corrupted by growing up. He now has to overcome his corruptions in the only way Videoland knows how. Fights to the death.

Hypocrisy probably looks like a politician. Apathy looks like Squall Leonhart.

Never really thought about this, but hey. There are three voices. Three people died in the final battle with Mother Brain. But that would mean one of the voices was Duke.

EDIT: There Is a compelling theory that Lyle is a Voice who possessed Bob.

See above.

You know this one. It's so Zelda.

A Touched mutant from FFL. Gameboy Videoland may be the Mirror World.

IT'S KEVIN. KEVIN KEENE. Look very closely at the person in the mirror Cecil is standing in front of in panel 7 here.

Pretty sure the Herald is Mega Girl, touched by natural Sorrow by Duke's death.

A teardrop. Um... yeah. A teardrop that has stolen Rydia's childhood and taken her child form.

SCHALA. PRINCESS SCHALA OF THE HOUSE ZEAL. This is her silhouette glowing purple here.

Alex used the Shadow King to segue into Final Fantasy VI, the point of which was that the SoS can retcon missing backstory, particularly when there is no Gamemaster or equivalent present.

My own present theory is that Kevin lost his Gamemaster powers with his Omega Energy.

In other words, I believe the Shadow King only exists via the SoS's own retcon, or at least that the retcon exaggerated his significance.

This post has been edited by HeroicJay on Jul 19 2012, 08:55 PM

Heh, no worries, I'm in no position to judge.

Hmm... you could be right, I had subconsciously assumed that Lucca was involved in the releasing of the Mask, but now I see that I was likely me being stupidly literal with the Eater o' Dreams's smacktalk. However, I'm sure I remember SOMETHING to do with the Mask and its influence on the world of Chrono Trigger. I'll have to look it up when I'm less tired.

The specifics were that the mask was on the CT world for an extended period of time, and might have had some sort of long lasting or wide-reaching effect on the world at large.

Never really thought about this, but hey. There are three voices. Three people died in the final battle with Mother Brain. But that would mean one of the voices was Duke.

EDIT: There Is a compelling theory that Lyle is a Voice who possessed Bob.

[...]

IT'S KEVIN. KEVIN KEENE. Look very closely at the person in the mirror Cecil is standing in front of in panel 7 here.

Dude, you are exciteable.

Hmm... with regards to the three voices (let's call the one that left "A", the one that calls dibs on bodies "B", and the one left in charge "C"), "A" being Lyle would make sense. I mean, "A" left "C" in charge, which points towards "A" being in a position of authority, which does kind of narrow it down to Kevin or Lyle. "B" also seems like a bit of a dick which, based on nothing else, makes me think he's Simone. As for "C", he comes across as older and wiser, but I have no clue about him. In truth, the reason I haven't put these theories in the bulk of my text above, is that there's no hard evidence for any of them.

As for the Watcher, thankyou for pointing that out; I'm surprised I didn't notice that. Of course, there's the small issue of Kevin being dead. That puts a serious damper on that theory, though I do hear tell of mirrorselves, though someone really is going to have to explain to me how this mirror stuff worked in the cartoon.

No one saw him die. That was also during Proto's flashback, which I think was established to be not completely truthful.

A manifestation of the Omega Energy ripped from Kevin. Absorbed by the Sovereign before she went world-killing-y, and now embodied by the Shard of Tears.

This has a very good chance to be true. Kevin made the choice (mistake...?) to actually use the Omega Energy on Mother Brain. Lana tried to stop him. It's quite possible his interacting with the energy in such a form was a two-way interaction - he took something from it, it took something from him. That something ended up giving the Energy shape, form, and purpose. Hmmm... Mirror!Kevin brought back to VideoLand without having to pass through the Mirror, perhaps?

If he had, then he would've noted the Mask's presence earlier and possibly warned Lucca.

Also,remember what caused the team to go to the EoT the first time: A 4 member party crossing a time gate. They were never in the EoT prior to this.

Essentially, if 4 or more beings jump the timestream anywhen, they go to the EoT. They could've found them in prehistory for all we know.

If he had, then he would've noted the Mask's presence earlier and possibly warned Lucca.

Possibly. Guy had a bit of a dozing problem, remember.

Ah, I see your point. Hadn't thought of that. I shall henceforth change my belief of what happened from "the party found Schrodinger and Crono's Mom at the End of Time" to "it is implied by the first 'panel' that the party found Schrodinger and Crono's Mom at the End of Time."

Despair, the personification of Kevin's grief at Duke's death. The prophecy of the Power Glove strongly implies that the Sovereign is Despair as well as Sorrow, as hope counters both.

Probably because Videoland wants him to be the Gamemaster.

My guess is that he's an echo of the real Ryan.

Duke also had some unusual powers. It's just that he normally got upstaged by the N-Team.

Deception, also identified by the Power Glove. It talks about "illuminating" the Shadow King. You can also illuminate a deception. It's possible that the Shadow King was retconned into existence by the Sovereign in order to give her a way to build up her own power.

I think they represent the things that effectively dominate Alex's psyche, given tangible form by the Omega energy in Videoland, similar to the Sovereign and the Shadow King. I don't have a clue about what guises the unidentified evils take. However, I strongly suspect that the evils want Alex to focus on their traits so that they can become their own selves rather than a reflection of Alex.

I think the voices are the heroes and villains who died fighting the Sovereign, but because of Hope's sacrifice, they were never released into death.

I believe so. However, I don't know any specifics.

A very bizarre entity who seems to have lots of answers but is very loath to give any straight ones.

Almost certainly, he's Kevin in some way. He appears almost identical to a shrunken version of Kevin's sprite during the one time we see him. I don't know if he's the real Kevin, who got snapped back to the Mirror World after being defeated by the Sovereign, or if when the real Kevin was killed by the Sovereign, Mirror Kevin took on his traits.

Probably another retcon by the Sovereign.

The virus only appears on the Lunarian Moon. My guess is that it was created by the corrupting influence of the Sovereign's body.

It doesn't have one in the sense you mean. Child Rydia is a special case, a doppleganger created by Bob's mistake in FFIV.

There's no way to tell for sure, though circumstantial evidence points to Schala. I have a slight suspicion that she might actually be Hope. The sacrifice Hope performed doesn't need to have required her to actually die, but we don't have enough information. Yet.