Are the people part of the seal? (spoilers for PSI-IV)

[Fredde]

I was thinking a bit about Dark Force's appearances through the four games, and it made me wonder about something. Consider this:

The Profound Darkness' plan was to use his/her/its Dark Forces to destroy the seal (the Algo system) and escape. However, it's only in Phantasy Star II that it actually manages to destroy one of the planets. However, could it be that it's not just the planets that are part of the seal, but the inhabitants as well? For instance, Phantasy Star III is about the ships that escaped Parma's destruction, but for some reason, a Dark Force decided to tag along and cause trouble. Why? If it's just the planets that The Profound Darkness wants to destroy, then a few refugees should be of no concern. But if the people themselves were a part of the seal, then it could weaken the seal even more by killing the survivors of Parma's destruction.

And in Phantasy Star IV, one Dark Force is holed up in a tower on Dezolis, causing a blizzard. From what I understand, that wouldn't actually destroy Dezolis. However, it might be able to kill the people inhabiting it. And let's not forget Zio, who apparently didn't intend to destroy Motavia, just kill all the people and rule in the ruins (of course, Zio was manipulated by Dark Force, so maybe he didn't realize what the true goal was).

What do you think? Would killing all the people in the Algo system have been enough to allow The Profound Darkness to escape, or would it still have to go after the planets as well?

[BenoitRen]

That's an intriguing thought. Part of the reason that Dark Force causes such chaos, though, is that it feeds on negative emotions.

[Fredde]

Hm, I kinda forgot about that. It makes me wonder what "range" the Profound Darkness has. How far away from the Algo system were the refugee ships in Phantasy Star III when the Dark Force started to cause trouble? If they were still close, the Profound Darkness could feed of the negative emotions, but if they'd already travelled a bunch of lightyears (consider that in two of the endings to the game, the ship ends up near Earth, so it might have travelled a long way), it might be "out of range"? Also, maybe it would need the Dark Force to act as a "conduit" of sorts that could transport the negative emotions back to it?

And maybe if it had managed to escape its seal, it would no longer have had any range limit, and could feed on the negative emotions of the entire universe?! Scary thought...

[ThugsRook]

the people of algo are protectors of the seal.

dark force is a "dog", so to speak.

i dont think profound darkness needs to "feed", its just sending out dark forces to keep the people occupied and cause problems.


i always had a thought that the great light... became human.

[Fredde]

the people of algo are protectors of the seal.

Isn't that just the few chosen ones (like Alis, Rolf and Chaz)?

[BenoitRen]

The PSIII worldships had at least 1000 years to get where they are at the start of the game. So it must be quite some distance away from the Algol solar system.

[Mono]

I always believed that people (specially palmans, but maybe all the scentient races) were part of the seal. That's the only reason for the PD to send a Dark Force after the spaceships, and not to Dezoris or Motavia to finish the job, if it was all about planets.

[paladinrpg]

Well you could think of it in this light: the living souls upon the surface of a planet are just components of the whole planet's life force in total, perhaps all fragments of the great light in each planet and its children. So that means that destroying the mother planet is a major event, but if the lifeforms that lived there escape to continue on somewhere else they are in effect the planet's life in exile... and in a sense of the "seals" that means it is not entirely destroyed, not until all fragments are annihilated. Obviously then why you'd have to hunt the remaining Palmans down to totally negate the seal of that planet, and why it would appear weakened in PSIV but not entirely able to emerge (Palmans were not dead, just far away and dealing with problems).

It also would make sense why people are protectors, as a few can become manifestations/representations/avatars of the planet's will and power (with a sword or a ring for instance in PSIV) to take on the role of the seal itself to bind and/or destroy the darkness.

[Zucca]

Part of Paul's translation:

[Invisible:]
The Great Light, fearing a revival of
The Profound Darkness, applied a seal.
[Thray:]
A seal?
[Invisible:]
Yes… An enormous seal --
a star with three planets.
[Thray:]
Y, you don’t mean…?
[Invisible:]
[Show picture $1D]
[Wait $59]
Yes,
The planets of the Algol solar system.
[Invisible:]
Next, as “Protectors” of that seal,
The Great Light [created] three races,
Palmans, Motavians, and Dezorians,
and placed each race [on its own planet].
However, the effect of the seal has a cycle.
You see, once every thousand years, its power
deteriorates remarkably.
So, the planet Ryukros and… I, LeRoof,
were created, returning to Algol
once a millennium to serve as a warning.

It sounds like the people are somehow a part of the Great Light's big plan.

[Paul Jensen]

Le Roof's speech pretty much spells it all out. He says (as does a previous poster) that Algol and its planets are a seal to keep TPD from escaping. All of the people of Algol were created in order to protect the seal, but only a few of them are/were actually able to stand up to the task. Dark Force(s?) are a manifestation of TPD's hatred for TGL. It's actually unclear whether TPD sends out DFs on purpose, but it probably does. Basically though, all the people in Algol could die, and TPD would still be contained. That is, until the end of the next millennium rolled around, at which point there would be no Protectors there to stop TPD, so TPD would win by default.

As for the PSIII connection, it's PSIII. It's never gonna fit in neatly with the rest of the series.