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Caves of Narshe Forums > Chrono Trigger > Why did Frog spare Magus? *spoilers*

Posted by: MetroidMorphBall 19th January 2014 17:53

I'm playing through this game again, and just can't think of any justifiable reason other than it's cool if Magus joins your party (and it is cool - I usually spare him). But prior to the trigger event at the North Cape, Frog's entire existence is premised around searching for the Masamune so that he can avenge Cyrus. He lost his best friend, he was turned into a frog, and before the fight he has also lost his new friend Crono. But then on a whim he just decides "nah, it's not worth it!"

This game has an awesome story, possibly only matched in RPGs by FF6. But this part of it never felt right to me. I could believe it if there was a deeper reason given. But just suddenly deciding that revenge is pointless because "it won't bring back Cyrus," when that has pretty much been Frog's sole driving purpose up until that point, needed a better rationale. Especially since this is now considered the canon choice that Frog made.

Posted by: BlitzSage 20th January 2014 02:36

You should really change the title of this thread, because it gives away the spoiler right in the title.

Moderator Edit

Yeah, I more or less concur. Better to let us know, though, rather than taking the chance of derailing a thread.

-R51

Posted by: MogMaster 20th January 2014 04:57

Because it WON'T bring back Cyrus. Also, at the end of all things, the loss of Chrono, the destuction of Zeal, the end of the ice-age, it makes sense, that he, too, can move on.

Besides which, he already BEAT Magus.

Posted by: MetroidMorphBall 20th January 2014 18:29

Quote (BlitzSage @ 19th January 2014 18:36)

You should really change the title of this thread, because it gives away the spoiler right in the title.

Yeah, I thought about that but wasn't sure how spoilerish it was since you don't actually HAVE to spare Magus. I also wanted people to be more certain about the topic than the more vague "Frog and Magus" title it now has. Maybe I shouldn't have even put *spoilers* in the topic title to draw attention to it, but eh, whatever.

Posted by: Galsic 21st January 2014 00:35

I would say that Magus suffered and lost even more. Maybe on some level, Frog feels sorry for him. More than that, though, one could argue that Magus became the way he is because his own quest for revenge consumed him. Rather than go down that same road, Frog decides to let it go. Seems as good a reason as any to me, at least.

Also, now that you've edited the thread's title, your question's no longer clear.

Moderator Edit

Sigh, it was me who edited the title. Whatever, back to the original, you folks can sort it out as desired. -R51

Posted by: MetroidMorphBall 21st January 2014 05:23

Lol, sorry for all the trouble this caused R51.

In any event, I appreciate the context you guys are providing with respect to Cyrus. The one lingering unresolved issue for me is that Frog still has to live the rest of his life as a frog. Magus doesn't even lift the curse. The only way to do so is to slay him.

See, I've always approached the decision as a gamer. To me, it's more useful to have Magus in the party than not. But this time around I'm focusing more on the story, and I remember a friend of mine commented that it was stupid that Magus joined the party, and looking at it that way...you know what, it kinda is.

Posted by: Glenn Magus Harvey 21st January 2014 06:44

Doesn't Frog already realize by that point that Magus wants roughly the same goal as he does anyway?

Posted by: MogMaster 21st January 2014 10:52

Quote (MetroidMorphBall @ 21st January 2014 01:23)

Frog is a freaking Knight, and his lady is the Queen, who is undeniably married to the King. Chastity is kind of whatever for him, you'd imagine, so who cares if you're a frog? One can't argue that he certainly makes use of his abilities to be a better swordsman.

Also, he even says:

"I rather enjoy this form".

In a sense, he's turned what was meant to be a curse into a blessing, which, I think, makes sense for him as a character. Killing Magus never seemed right to me, and not from the position of a game player, because I've pretty much always saved him, from the age of 11 up, and I never used to play as him, favoring Lucca, Frog, Crono as my party, almost every game. Frog was, and is my favorite character in that game, and it's just because he's the kind of hero who wouldn't kill for just vengeance.

When he took Magus on in his castle it was a totally different story, what with the war going on with the mystics. Beyond vengeance for Cyrus, there was the matter of saving the realm. But on the North Cape? After pretty much the fall from the Garden of Eden, which Frog now understood to be the whole reason for Magus in the first place? The line: "Vanquishing thee will neither return Crono nor Cyrus." is just the kind of thing a character like Frog would say, what with him being a Knight, and a Hero, and all that.

I always found it to be in poor taste to kick Magus when he's down anyway. When you meet Magus up on the cape, to my mind, Frog doesn't kill him because he's already beaten. I can't imagine someone more beaten than Magus at that moment, and what kind of a Hero has no compassion? Besides which, he, much more sensibly, rewards the party with how to bring back Crono, rather than nonsensically muttering it on his death bed for absolutely no reason. That option makes less sense to me.

Posted by: MetroidMorphBall 27th January 2014 07:33

Well, I killed Magus this time anyway. Screw him! Lol.

Posted by: grimlock1972 28th April 2017 20:43

It won't change anything and Frog has grown accustomed to his form and likely appreciates it advantages over a normal human body. basically he has made peace with his past and is ready to move on and has bigger fish to fry.

By that point in the game he knows some what of magus' past and that Lavos being stopped is more important than vengeance.