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What’s the deal with these guys in Chrono Trigger?
I’m a big fan of Chrono Trigger. Solid nine star game. One of the lovely bits of esoterica from the world of Chrono Trigger are, well, these things. The Nu. Not much is revealed about these creatures, and the pieces of info we do get are very… interesting. The following post is my attempt to pull apart what we know about the enigmatic Nu, present theories from across the web, and also put together an analysis of my own.
I've been working on this post for three whole months so please give it some love.
NOTE: I will not be discussing Radical Dreamers, the reptite favor questline, Chrono Cross, or the 1996 OVA. I will only be discussing content in the original release of the game, and perhaps some retranslations from the later ports and remasters.
Obviously, there will be Chrono Trigger spoilers below.
Also, if you’re already familiar with the Nu and Chrono Trigger deeplore, feel free to skip straight to the “My Belief” section. Everything before that is me rambling in ways that are fairly repetitive. Seriously, I don't truly do any interesting analysis or discussion of themes until that point. Don't feel bad, you can really just skip all that other shit if you're familiar with CT.
Moving on. Here’s what we know:
Nu are round, blue creatures as seen above. In combat, they have the ability to immediately reduce you to 1 HP and have an attack that deals 1 damage. If you use the Charm tech to steal an item, they drop a Mop, a useless weapon for Crono. They are weak to Fire Sword but no other techs. No other fire spells, no other flaming weapon techs, only Fire Sword.
Nu can be found in all parts of the timeline. In prehistory, one can be found at the Hunting Grounds and one can be found at the Laruba Ruins. In Antiquity, Nu live among the Enlightened. In the Middle Ages, one can be found in the Cursed Woods. In the present one can be found in the Forest Ruins, and in the future there is a Nu that acts as Belthasar’s assistant.
Outside of combat, the Nu appear where you least expect them. They run a shop at the endgame with the most powerful consumables in the game. They live among the scholars of Antiquity where they speak to you in short, strange ways. One appears in a secluded forest to give you a choice between two powerful items.
Nu are much more passive and friendly than any other monster. They can speak and understand the human tongue, and love to play pranks.
In the original Japanese version of the game, they are called “Mu”. Additionally, in a tome can be found in antiquity that states “All life begins with Nu and ends with Nu… This is the truth! This is my belief! At least for now.”
And much more I will discuss below.
As you can see, there's not much that we know. The things that made me want to make this post are less the things we know and more the things we don't. They're an optional pseudo-boss monster with access to the most powerful items in the game, but they're also mostly used for jokes. The mop charm, the silly battle music, the expressions they make, they're just plain silly. All life begins and ends with Nu? What is the intent of putting that in the game?
These creatures appear whenever you least expect them, and it's a solid 50/50 on whether it will be a joke encounter or something profound. There's the Nu in the Cursed Woods that calls you a pervert if you talk to it, and then there's also the Nu in the future that shows you the wings of time and seems to have incredible knowledge of the world. It's almost a sagely creature. After completing its duty it enters eternal sleep. "This creature sleeps beyond the flow of time".
As you can see, it's maddening. I've spent about three months gathering all this information. Now let's dive in.
Slight Speculation: The Construct Theory
Before I completely jump off the deep end, I’d like to draw attention a theory that is less conjecture-based than ones in the next section. I don’t include all of this theory into my personal belief, but it’s still important to mention. I’m trying to compile all Nu theories into one spot after all.
Nu can be found all around the timeline, and there are many divergent theories as to why and how they’re everywhere. The most prominent theory as to why is that all of the Nu are from Antiquity and then used the time rifts that opened after the Ocean Palace Incident to get everywhere else. You know, the same ones that sent the Gurus through the timeline.
This may seem like a very odd set of mental gymnastics (what if they’ve just existed since the beginning of time?), but there are some other theories that fit into this one. Mainly, many believe that the Nu are artificial constructs.
There is one Nu that can be found in the future. When spoken to, this Nu says he is a creation of Belthasar. Or, at least, he is a creature with Belthasar's memories and programming imprinted onto it. Depends on the translation, and also your own interpretation of the vague cryptic ways these creatures speak.
(NOTE: In the 1996 OVA, one of the main characters is a Nu, and at one point a Kilwala plugs an NES controller into said Nu. This is another thing that is used to support this theory. I know I said I wouldn't discuss the OVA, but it felt important to mention.)
Many use this one artificial Nu to extrapolate that all Nu are constructs built by the Enlightened Ones of Zeal. Over time, many Nu stole magic tabs, which they then took with them throughout time after the Ocean Palace Incident.
Wait, where does this magic tab theory come from? Well, there is a man in Kajar that if spoken to, says he invented the Magic Tab consumables that can be found all throughout the game. He also mentions that lately his inventions have been going missing, and he blames the pesky prank-loving Nu.
So, that's the theory. All Nu are constructs built in Zeal, they stole the magic tabs, then went everywhere else after the Ocean Palace Incident, scattering the tabs. Before moving on, here are a few bullet points on things that contradict this theory:
The main pillar of this theory relies on an odd interpretation of a line the Nu in Keeper's Dome. The Nu simply states Belthasar programmed/implanted memories onto it, not that it was built by Belthasar. There is nowhere else in the game that suggests the Nu are synthetic, so even if this one Nu was built by Belthasar, it could indeed just be this one Nu that is a construct.
Despite the correlation between Nu and nearby hidden magic tabs, there is no correlation between Nu and other kinds of tabs, which are presumably also synthetic items made by an artisan. Perhaps they took these as well, but it also seems these tabs have existed since the beginning of time (as they are found even in prehistory. Maybe the reptites made those? Maybe that technology had been known forever. After all, humans knew of strength and speed before magic).
Once again, this is the most grounded theory, so there is very little to disprove. However, this theory also has very little interesting symbolism to talk about. Let’s move on to some more out-there stuff.
Stranger theories I’ve heard but don’t personally subscribe to
A common theory I see floating around is the idea that Nu are representative of water. Although I like parts of this idea thematically, I wouldn't go as far to call them "water elementals". Here's the idea:
The Greek letter Nu is often associated with water.
Nu are weak to the Fire Sword tech.
The water smidge in the Arena of Ages looks a lot like a baby Nu. Sorry for mentioning content from the remaster. It will not happen again.
Thematically, there's quite a bit of merit to this theory. Once again, I will bring attention to the phrase found within the book found in what is presumably Belthasar's hidden room: "All life begins and ends with Nu." Water is what all life flows from. The Nu are fickle and easygoing, like water. They are everywhere there is life, it could even be said they "give" life with the way they tend to protect and give items. I'm not a diehard follower of this theory, so for more in-depth analysis of this, try checking the "additional reading" section at the bottom of this post.
Alright, next: The Nu immortality theory. I'm on the fence about this one. Every time I think I've finally got all the pieces, another wild bit of trivia flies into my vision and I have to start all over. This single theory has been driving me up the walls. To understand this theory, first we have to look at all of the Nu combat encounters.
It is entirely possible, even likely, that a casual player plays through Chrono Trigger without fighting a Nu even once. There are three Nu combat encounters in the game, and they're all fairly out of the way. The one that most players are familiar with is the one in the Hunting Grounds at 65,000,000 BC. In this area, occasionally it will start raining and the music will stop. When this happens, a Nu will appear in one of four random locations, all fairly out of the way. So out of the way that most of the time you'll only see a smidge of them in the corner of your screen. If you do happen to catch one, however, a fight begins. After dealing 1234 damage to it, the Nu says "You strong! Here, take!" and it gives you 3 Horns, 3 Petals, 3 Fangs, 3 Feathers, and if it's your first time defeating it, a Third Eye. And then the Nu runs away. There is no death animation; it runs away.
The other Nu encounter to note here is the one in Enhasa. There are several secret rooms in Antiquity that can be opened by solving a spellbook puzzle. One of these rooms is empty, sole for a Nu and a book on a desk. The book famously reads “ All life begins and ends with Nu… This is the truth! This is my belief! At least for now…”. Talking to the Nu in the center will prompt it to say "The Guru of Reason is gone. Care to fight?" Then, six Nus will appear seemingly out of thin air and combat is initiated. Upon defeating one of these Nu, it will dissipate into white energy and vanish, crying “Nu…” Once again, no death animation.
Using these two secret bossfights, one can gather that A.) Nu are either immortal or so powerful one cannot kill them, and B.) Nu have a deep, innate connection to the magic of this world and the powerful relics that it holds (See also the Nu shop in the Black Omen). It can also be inferred (albeit unsoundly) that Nu are in some way connected to all life on the planet and represent some life-giving force, but I'll get to that later.
Anyways, there is one very solid rebuttal to this immortality theory that may be obvious to some: The Nu fight in the Cursed Woods. It's a very rare chance it's so easy to miss, but upon entering the Cursed Woods there is a small chance that a Nu will spawn among the other monsters. If you run into it to talk, it will say "Stop it you dog!", and if you enter combat with the nearby Edible Frogs, it joins the combat. Upon dealing 1234 damage to this Nu, the typical death animation plays. It could be argued that this only happens because of the aforementioned curse on the woods, but I think that's a bit of a stretch.
If you are a chrono trigger Christian allegory truther I think you're really stupid. I won't even do a section for this theory. The writers have said they had no intention for this at all, and every piece of evidence to this theory is only present within the English localization.
My personal belief:
Alright. The main course. The part where we actually talk about the themes. The part where we analyze the subtext. The part where I present my belief, backed up not only by textual evidence but also metaphor and allegories within the narrative.
First, my thesis: Nu are representative of the absurd nature of existence, and are also both literally and symbolically the beginning and end of life.
So you as a reader can understand my reasoning, I will bring attention to the name of this creature in the original Japanese version of the game: Mu. Mu is also a concept within many Asian religions and philosophical traditions, and I think the Nu are meant to represent this concept.
Mu literally means “nothing" or "to lack", but when used as a response to a question it can translate to "the answer is irrelevant" or "un-ask the question". A common example is if you are asked "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?" Well, if you were never beating your wife to begin with, neither yes or no would be an accurate answer, so you could say "Mu".
The most obvious connection between this meaning of Mu and the creature known as the Nu is the book seen in the hidden room of Enhasa. "All life begins and ends with Nu." This could either be interpreted as "All life begins and ends in nothingness", or "The beginning and end of all life is... Irrelevant." In this same room, there is another minute detail that I think adds to this metaphor, and it's that before the Nu you fight in this room dissipate, their last words are "Nu..." They are returning to nothingness. Mu.
We can also see that Nu are literally the end of life on this planet from the interaction the party has with Belthasar's assistant in the far future. Being either artificial or immortal, it will inevitably be the last thing on this planet. It spent a long time in the lab, and now that its final quest is complete, it "sleeps beyond the flow of time".
The other meaning of Mu I think is also relevant here. "Irrelevant". The Nu are joke enemies, this is absolutely true. They are in the game purely to show us the absurdity of life. The irrelevant mop, the irrelevant combats and inane dialogue, the Nu represent the sweet nothings of life. All life begins and ends with nothing. The Nu is absurdism in its purest form. Nothing matters. Who cares?
Additional Reading
This chrono compendium page has links to several lore pages I found quite helpful.
These two gamefaqs threads have some interesting conversations.
These conversations on the chrono compendium forums are actually really cool. I loved reading these. Gave me lots to think about.
On the article: The secret of nu.
The Secret of Nu - by RabidTurtle
Anyways, if you’ve made it to the end of this post and genuinely read all of it, thank you. I appreciate you. This is perhaps the rambliest post on my blog. I give the Nu from Chrono Trigger seven out of ten stars. Despite my love for them, they’ve caused me so much mental strain trying to gather all of their lore into one place. They’re so, so vaguely symbolic. And I spent a hell of a lot of time on this forsaken post. Fuck me dead. Seven stars.
I was gonna self rb for like the nth time but then I remembered I had a post in my drafts that I may as well get out even though it's been a long while.
I think at the core of the whole Janus of Guardia AU is how our habits and patterns of thinking can doom us if we're not careful. Janus gets picked up by the humans instead of the Mystics, and he gets to make a lot of friends early on, he's even happy for a while, but still ends up as the Fiendlord because of how his trauma and tunnel vision stay the same.
This kind of theme is pretty prominent in the Dark Glenn AU.
"This will all be worth it." / "And then what?"
The main difference between Janus and Glenn here is that Janus is very goal-oriented, while Glenn is very feelings-oriented, and they both take these traits to a fault.
Even in better circumstances, Janus doesn't let go of his experience in Zeal. He grows up happy in this AU, but significant events (isolation due to war, the King's death, Leene's pendant) launch him back into obsessive thinking and once he gets in that mode, nothing can stop him from reaching his goal. He doesn't think about the well-being of others at that point.
As for Glenn, he's very much aware of how his actions affect others, but can get overwhelmed by thoughts/emotions and freeze. In canon, he isolates himself for years after Cyrus's death, and it takes Crono and friends to snap him out of it. In the Dark Glenn AU, he's torn between his love/loyalty for Janus, and his morals/sense of duty. Now, Janus gives him a chance to walk away, but Glenn finds himself frozen. And like in canon, he hides for years, choosing to avoid both his situation and making a choice by "guarding Denadoro".
Reaaaallly messy notes for myself mainly & also that nobody asked for. I do think about as intensely about every redesign I do I just love it. If you ask me about the way I draw basically any character I could go on forever
Seeing you @darksideofthemamon rebloging this old thing gave me so much nostalgia !! So I redrew this little thing in a couple of hours, since I love this AU so much ! It's not my best work but I hope you'll like it ;D
(Also I don't know what happened but I messed up with my recording of the process so the drawing is upside down for half the speedpaint, so I'm not sure if I'll share it-)
It’s funny to me to this day that fanfic keeps depicting Magus from Chrono Trigger as this complex, tormented anti-hero, when all textual evidence suggests that he’s basically Vegeta’s Dungeons & Dragons character.
(And, like, he doesn’t even have the excuses of youth. Though his age is unspecified in the game proper, based on the supplementary material we can estimate that he’s likely in his mid 30s by the time you run into him in 600 AD. He’s like a 35-year-old dude who still goes by DarkDeathEvilMan666 online.)
To be fair, he had like a whole country of people following him specifically because they liked the DarkDeathEvilMan666 aesthetic. If he’d dropped it before he got involved in more time shit, he might have been usurped or something.
As for after, I mean, you can’t just turn that shit off in a few days. Although fuck, now I wanna see a fanfic where he tries.
Gods, can you imagine? A thirtysomething man who never had the means or the opportunity to outgrow his adolescent gloomcookie phase trying to put himself together as a functioning adult, and his only available points of reference on how real people behave are a cave woman, a robot, three teenage nerds and a furry who hates his guts.
I always assumed Magus’ appearance in-game was just magic — I mean if he can turn Glenn into a frog why wouldn’t he be able to make himself look less human?
And ofc going by that line of thinking I had to come up with what he would look like if he hadn’t done anything to his appearance. No I am not sorry for cursing him like this (making him look similar to Queen Zeal).
Wanted to try and do this fancy and nice, but it was getting to be too intimidating. So instead I did it very simple looking so that I would actually finish it.
