Crono

"What are you hanging around here for? I thought you guys said something about a nice little slide show."

Crono
Official artwork of Crono by Akira Toriyama.
Home Time	Present
Home Area	Truce
Age	17
Weapon Type	Katana
Magic Element	Lighting
Family	* Marle (wife) Crono's Mother (mother) King Guardia XXXIII (father in-law) Queen Aliza (mother in-law) Doan (disant)
Gender	Male

Crono (クロノ, Kurono^?, "Chrono" in Japanese media) is the silent protagonist in Chrono Trigger. He lives with his mother in the town of Truce under the rule of the Guardia Kingdom.

In 12000 BC when the party is confronted with Lavos in the Ocean Palace of the Kingdom of Zeal, he sacrifices himself to save his friends, though he can be revived. While the other six playable characters have many lines of dialogue, Crono's responses to events are usually implied only through reaction and gesture, often for comedic effect. Crono speaks once in one of the endings to Chrono Trigger, saying just a few lines of dialogue. He uses a katana as a weapon and once he obtains magical ability, his Techs become lightning-oriented. In the original Japanese version of the game, Crono's element was Ten (天, Ten^?), which means "heaven". In the DS version of Chrono Trigger, Crono's element is translated to Light, which is more in line with the original Japanese translation.

Although Chrono is silent protagonist, there are some points where he's shown to have romantic feelings for Marle. At one point where he's knocked out, he has a dream where Marle is his wife. The PlayStation and DS versions of Chrono Trigger include an FMV scene at the end that shows Crono and Marle getting married. While a second FMV depicts the fall of Guardia Kingdom in 1005 AD, it is unknown what happened to Crono during this event. In the sequel, Chrono Cross, Crono makes an appearance alongside Marle and Lucca as apparitions of themselves as ghost children.

Crono seen in game

Biography

The Millennial Fair

In Present, Crono's Mother wakes Crono up and mentions that Lucca is waiting for him at Leene Square where the Millennial Fair is taking place. Crono heads over there where he bumps into a girl named Marle. He helps her up and gives her back her pendant, where they then participate in some of the fair's activities. Soon, it is announced that Lucca's invention is complete, so they go to see what it is.

Taban, Lucca's father, explains to a small crowd what Lucca's invention is – the Telepod, a "hyperdimensional transporter" where you step into a pod and be transported into another pod a few feet away. Lucca asks Crono to demonstrate what it can do. He steps in one of the pods, Lucca and Taban activate the Telepod, and then he is transported to the other pod. Seeing this, Marle says she wants to try. She steps into one of the pods, Lucca and Taban activate the Telepod, but then something goes wrong. Her pendant reacts to the transporter, and a portal opens which draws in Marle and then closes, with only her pendant left behind. Crono picks up the pendant and steps into the pod to go after her. Lucca and her father activate the Telepod, a portal appears, and Crono is drawn into it.

The Queen Returns

Crono comes out of the portal and appears in Truce Canyon and confronts a variety of enemies. He eventually comes out of the canyon and finds himself in Truce with different residents and buildings. He makes his way to Guardia Forest and reaches Guardia Castle. At the castle, he is confronted by some soldiers who tease him about his clothes and build, though they are stopped by Queen Leene who says Crono is her friend. She goes to the top of the castle where Crono meets her and finds out that "Queen Leene" is actually Marle. She says that she is glad Crono came for her, but then something happens to her. She feels as though she's being "torn apart" and that it is like she is dying. As Crono tries to save her, she disappears.

Crono heads downstairs where he meets Lucca. Crono tells her Marle disappeared, at which Lucca explains what she believes is happening. She says that they are in Guardia, though it looks a lot older than the Guardia they are from as they are in 600 AD. Marle was mistaken for her ancestor, as Marle is actually Princess Nadia from the present and that Marle is a descendant of Queen Leene. Queen Leene was kidnapped and someone was supposed to save her. But now history has been changed. Marle looks so similar to Queen Leene that when Marle was found, she was presumed to be the queen and the search was called off. However, if the real queen is killed, then Marle may cease to exist. So Lucca and Crono decide that they must find and save the Queen to save Marle's life.

A Vanished Princess

Crono and Lucca exit the castle and head through Guardia Forest and make their way to Manolia Cathedral. Nuns are praying in the cathedral. Crono finds a hairpin one the floor, which Lucca recognizes as Guardia's royal crest. The nuns then turn into Nagas and fight Crono and Lucca, which the duo defeat. However, another Naga appears and attacks Lucca, at which a frog appears out of nowhere and slays the Naga. The frog explains that the fiends' lair is ahead and that he would like them to accompany him to save the Queen. They decide to go with the frog, and when Lucca asks his name, he says Frog will suffice.

The three look for a secret passage. Crono plays on the organ at which a secret door opens. The three enter it where they enter a large room of fiends. They defeat them all and eventually reach the end of the room. Here they see the Chancellor talking to Queen Leene. Forg tells the Queen that they will defeat the Chancellor, at which he reveals his true form – the fiend Yakra. The three fight and defeat Yakra. After defeating him, Queen Leene is now free and thanks Frog for saving her. Frog thanks Crono and Lucca for their aid, and the Queen suggests they go to Guardia Castle. Before they do that, they open a nearby chest which contained the real Chancellor. They then leave for the castle.

At Guardia Castle, King Guardia XXI is pleased at the Queen's return and the Chancellor suggests instituting a stricter criminal justice system to ensure fiends such as Yakra never threaten the royal family's safety again. Frog feels disgraced that he failed to protect the Queen and leaves the group. Crono and Lucca head upstairs, where Marle reappears. Marle explains that she could not see or feel anything, but that she knew she was someplace cold. Lucca calls her "highness", to which Marle realizes they found out she's a princess. She explains that she did not mean to trick Crono for not saying she is a member of royalty. She goes on to say that she is Princess Nadia and that her father is King Guardia XXXIII. She just wanted to go to the fair to have fun. As they leave the castle, the meet Frog at the entrance where he says his presence that endangered the Queen and that he can no longer remain at the castle. He notices Marle's resemblance to the Queen and comments on how uncanny it is. He tells Crono that he would make a great swordsman and leaves the castle.

The three leave the castle and head to where the portal had dropped them at Truce Canyon. Marle asks how they get home, to which Lucca reveals the Gate Key. She explains that she calls the portals "Gates" and are basically portals to the same location in a different time. However, these Gates are unstable, which is why they appear and disappear all the time. So she used the principle behind the Telepod to create the Gate Key, which locks the Gates in place. Lucca suggests that either the Telepod or something else made the Gate. They enter the gate and head back to 1000 AD.

Homecoming

They come out of the gate at Leene Square. Marle asks if they want to come to Guardia Castle, though Lucca wants to find out why the Gate appeared in the first place. Crono and Marle leave without Lucca and head through Guardia Forest and then arrive at the castle.

The Trial

At the castle, the Chancellor rushes to Marle and says the castle thought she was abducted and that soldiers were combing the entire kingdom for her. The Chancellor sees Crono and believes him to be her captor. Soldiers surround Crono and knock him out.

Some time later, Crono is put on trial in the castle's courtroom. The Chancellor serves as prosecutor, while Pierre represents the defense. Crono is charged with the abduction of Princess Nadia. People are brought in from the fair who interacted with Crono and Marle as well as people hired by the Chancellor to falsely testify against Crono. Eventually, Crono is guilty or not guilty depending on what he did at the fair, though if he is found not guilty he is sentenced three days of solitary confinement as punishment for aiding Marle in her flight from the castle.

Marle then enters the courtroom asking them to stop, though the King then enters and says what is done is done. Crono is then taken away to his prison cell.

The Chancellor brings Crono to the Warden of the Prison Towers and tells him Crono will be executed in three days. Royal Guards enter and knock Crono out. He then wakes up in his prison cell. Once his three days are up, an Officer and some Royal Guards take Crono to the guillotine. Just as Crono is about to be executed Lucca knocks out the Officer and his guards and saves Crono. As they escape, they free a man named Fritz who says his father runs the market in Truce and asks them to stop by if they are ever in the area. As they are near the exit of the Prison Towers, the Chancellor stops them and summons the Dragon Tank. They defeat the Dragon Tank and head into the castle. Soldiers surround them and as they are about to exit the castle, Marle says that they are her friends and that they must treat them as such. King Guardia XXXIII then enters and argues with Marle. Marle leaves the castle with Crono and Lucca and the Chancellor sends soldiers after them.

They head into Guardia Forest, though the soldiers corner them at a dead end. However, a Gate is nearby, which the three enter and are transported away, leaving the Chancellor confused at what happened.

Beyond the Ruins

The three come out of the Gate in an steel room, which Lucca comments the civilization they are in seems pretty advanced. They exit the room and are outside in a destroyed world with a fierce wind always blowing in the year 2300 AD. They explore the nearby Trann Dome which hosts a small community of humans. They then go north through Site 16 fighting various monsters and eventually reach the Arris Dome.

At the Arris Dome, they meet an old man surprised to hear they went through Site 16, who says his name is Doan. The three enter the dome's basement, which Doan says they have tried previously but have always met with failure. In the basement, a large machine known as Guardian and two Pods. They defeat the machine and find a room full of rotten food due to a failure in the refrigeration. They find a dead body holding a seed, which they take. They go back a room and catch a rat that tells them how to activate a swtich. They activate the switch and enter a new passageway that opened. Inside is a supercomputer which Lucca activates. A map appears which points to the next destination, the Proto Dome. Marle presses a button nearby which shows brief footage of the "Day of Lavos" in 1999 AD. In the video, a large creature comes out of the ground, resulting in destruction raining all across the world.

Upon seeing the video, they realize that Lavos destroyed the world in 1999 AD and what they see in 2300 AD is what remains of it. Marle, Lucca, and Crono vow to change history and prevent the world from being destroyed.

When they come up from the basement, they give the seed they found to Doan. He says that they are a strange bunch, to which Marle says it is because they have not lost hope. Doan says he will try his best to grow the seed and gives the three the Jetbike Key, which they can use to drive a jetbike at Site 32. Doan mentions that more powerful robots lie ahead and that they should not give up hope.

The three exit and head over to Site 32. There, they meet a robot named Johnny who challenges them to a race in the jetbike. They race against him and beat him. They then leave Site 32 and head into Proto Dome.

Inside Proto Dome, they find an inactive robot. Lucca says she will fix it and program it so that it won't attack them like the other robots they've encountered. When Lucca finishes fixing it, it activates and says its name is R-66Y. Marle tells Crono to give him a better name, so they name him Robo. Robo asks what happened to the dome as there were many humans and others like him before, to which Lucca explains something bad happened while he was inactive. Marle mentions a nearby door is sealed shut, and when Robo tries opening it, he finds that the power has been shut off. He says that the factory to the north contains an emergency power generator for the dome and that he can bypass security to activate it. However, he also says that the generator will produce power for only a short time and that someone must remain at the dome to open the door as soon as power is restored. Lucca or Marle stays behind and Crono, Robo, and Marle or Lucca head for the Derelict Factory.

The Derelict Factory

The three enter the Derelict Factory and confront a variety of evil robots. Eventually, Robo confronts six robots in similar appearance to him. He greets three of them, R-64Y, R-67Y, and R-69Y. However, one of them punches Robo and says he is defective and malfunctioning. R-69Y reveals that their assigned task is to eliminate all intruders. The six robots pummel Robo while Crono and Marle/Lucca can only watch. Robo tells them to stop, though they keep attacking and eventually make him go offline. One of the robots pushes him down a chute and then fight Crono and Marle/Lucca. The two defeat the robots and pick up Robo from the chute. They bring him back to the Proto Dome where Lucca fixes him. Robo asks Lucca if they are trying to change the world, which Lucca says that is what they plan to do. Lucca asks Robo what he wants to do after fixing him, though Robo says nobody has ever asked him that before. When Lucca is finished fixing Robo, he says that he wants to go with the three of them as there is nothing left for him in 2300 AD and that he wants to give the life on the planet a chance. They then enter a nearby Gate, though it acts strangely as they are teleported to another time.

The End of Time

The four arrive at odd location, standing on top of a pillar of light. They walk through it and find an old man. Lucca asks where they are, to which the old man says that it is not a question of where so much as when. He says that they are at the End of Time where Travelers lost in time's flow turn up. He goes on to say that when four or more entities of varying origins enter a temporal rift together, the torsion exerted on time's flow pushes them to the point of least resistance, which is the End of Time. He says that there have been a number of folks turning up here unintended recently like yourselves and fears that something is having a powerful effect on the very fabric of time. He goes on to say that there are roads at the End of Time to any time they could ever wish to visit, allowing them to call upon their friends at any time. However, they cannot travel in groups of more than three. So Crono leaves behind either Robo, Marle, or Lucca and carries on with the other two.

To get back to an era, the old man explains that the pillars of light they saw when they arrived at the End of Time connect the place to a different era. Once they have been through a Gate, they can use it to return to the End of Time whenever they wish. However, he cautions them about the Gate connected to a nearby bucket. The bucket contains a Gate to 1999 AD, the Day of Lavos. Before Crono and the two he chose to come along with him leave, the old man tells them to enter a nearby door where they meet Spekkio, the Master of War.

Spekkio notices that Crono and his friends have something in them, which is why the old man let them through. He explains that a long time ago there was a kingdom where magic flourished. However, the people abused their powers, and ended up destroying the place. After that, there was not anyone left who could use magic except for fiends. Spekkio notices that they have inner strength as magic needs power of the rectum. He goes on to say that there are four types of magic: Fire, Water, Light, and Shadow, though not everyone has the same type. He says Crono has Light, Marle has Water, Lucca has fire, and Robo cannot learn magic because he is not a living thing. He makes them run around the room three times and gives them their magic. As Crono and the other two exit Spekkio's room, the old man asks for them.

The old man tells them they should visit 1000 AD and that they can come and see him whenever they need advice. The party go to the pillars of light and go to 1000 AD.

Fiendish Folk

Crono's group ends up in Medina village in a house with a Green imp and a Blue imp, both are friendly. They inform the group that they are in a village of fiends. the other Fiends are hateful towards humans over Magus' defeat 400 years ago, and the group discovers he is the fiendlord who tried to summon Lavos. the group then tries to escape to the mainland and end up fighting many cave dwelling fiends who worship Magus. The group escapes to the millenial fair and goes to the middle ages to stop Magus.

Chrono Cross

Crono's fate is implied to in Radius's statement about the Kingdom of Guardia no longer being peaceful. Like Marle, he is very likely alive as referenced in Lucca's letter about her friends. A version of him appears as one of the Ghost Children three times. The first time, he states that the future in which Earth is ruined by Lavos is going to be brought back into being due to the interference of Serge, who caused the Home World and Another World split. The second time is in an illusory space at Terra Tower, in which Belthasar enlightens Serge's party about some of the affairs of the Dragons. Crono's final appearance in Chrono Cross comes immediately before the final battle of the game. Crono tells Serge that Wazuki was turned into Lynx by FATE, and along with his fellow "Ghosts," the other two members of the original time-traveling group, implores Serge to destroy Lavos once and for all.

Abilities

Typical among RPG protagonists, Crono is a well balanced character with no major weakness. His physical damage is respectable, along with his speed, health, and defense. Because he can equip some very strong weapons (including the Rainbow, the strongest weapon in the game overall, Lucca's Wondershot can do more damage but the damage it inflicts varying makes it less reliable), he's one of the main damage dealers. Crono possesses a variety of techs, which include offensive and support techs. Though he isn't as effective a healer as Marle is (she has a greater variety of healing techs), he can still heal for good amount of health, and he can cast Life on allies to revive them. For offensive techs, he can inflict both physical damage and magical damage, and his higher level magic techs hit all enemies. His highest level spell, Luminaire, is, along with Magus's Dark Matter, the strongest spell in the game.

As Crono's element is Lighting/Heaven/Light, he takes extra damage from Shadow element attacks

Single Techs

Tech (PS Name / SNES Name)	MP Cost	TP	Target	Description
Cyclone	2	5	Circle of enemies	Whirl about enemy, striking others nearby.
Wind Slash (Slash)	2	90	Line of enemies	Hit all enemies in a line with a wave of energy. (Light)
Lightning	2	N/A	One enemy	Attack an enemy with lightning. (Light)
Cleave (Spincut)	4	200	One enemy	Deals double damage to an enemy.
Lightning II (Lightning 2)	8	500	All enemies	Attack all enemies with lightning. (Light)
Raise (Life)	10	400	One ally	Revive KO'd ally.
Frenzy (Confuse)	12	800	One enemy	Strike enemy 4 times in succession.
Luminaire	20	1,000	All enemies	Attack all enemies with holy light. (Light)

Trivia

• Crono's Luminaire spell is very reminiscent of the Ultima spell from the Final Fantasy series. In the FF games Ultima is one of the most powerful moves. Luminaire is arguably the most powerful spell in Chrono Trigger as well.
• In the FMVs for the Chrono Trigger remake on the Playstation, Crono is noted by fans to resemble Goku from Dragon Ball Z. This is because Crono is designed by Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragonball Z.
• Crono is the only character totally confirmed to be left handed.
• Crono has no dialogue in the game (although in one ending he has a few lines of dialogue).