Alright, so, this is a half-assed attempt I made entirely out of boredom to explain certain aspects of Lufia: The Ruins of Lore's story, because the game itself is absolutely horrible at fleshing things out by itself. For how utterly mediocre this game is overall, this game DOES have a few genuinely interesting plot points, which, of course, aren't explained all that well. Obviously, there are plenty of spoilers past the break.
You
see, Goldiark, aka the Beast, is a dragon, an immeasurably powerful
juggernaut of permanent, uncontrollable rage and unbridled destruction
created as a result of a man named Odin, who desired ultimate power, and
carried out numerous horrific experiments involving countless monsters
devouring one another to become stronger. Eventually, it all culminated
in this monstrosity being created, which devoured even more monsters fed
to it as sacrifices. Specifics are unclear, but eventually, it grew too
powerful to be controlled, and then it broke free and went on a
horrific rampage and completely razed Eristol, the continent of its
origin, brutally slaughtering everybody on it. The Beast was so
dangerous and powerful that it required the ancients to sacrifice
themselves to split its body in two and separate its soul from its body
and seal the pieces in different parts of the world, with half of its
body being sealed in Nazare, the other half being sealed in Eristol, and
its soul being sealed in a temple in outer space. The continent of
Eristol sank into the sea, either by the Beast's hand, or by the will of
the ancients.
Ragule, Odin's descendant, also
searching for ultimate power, seeks to resurrect this terrifyingly
powerful monstrosity. He is extremely ugly, one of the ugliest
characters in any video game ever, with gray hair, red, bulging eyes,
and a Snidely Whiplash-style mustache, but I digress. About 10 years
before the events of the game, Ragule went into the Gratze Kingdom and
visited the King, and manipulated him into resurrecting the Beast,
promising that the Beast's power would make Gratze strong again. Soon
after, Ragule went into Eristol using the Royal Ring and revived the
half of the Beast that was sealed there, claiming its power for his own,
possibly resulting in that permanent, severe conjunctivitis he's got
going on there. Gratze then established a pure military state and struck
fear into the hearts of its enemies. Using the Beast's power, they
destroyed Gondarle, and several other neighboring lands who stood in
opposition to them. Eventually, Ragule assassinated the King of Gratze
and continued using the Gratzean army to search for the Beast's full
power.
When the heroes gathered the four stones and
shards, went to the Tower of Guidance and opened the gate to the holy
land, he effortlessly dispatched them, went through the portal, and took
the Beast's soul for his own. The heroes realized they were too weak to
stand a chance against Ragule and the Beast as they were, so at Rubius'
urging, they went to Nazare, where they found her sister, Irmis sealed
up with the Beast's other half. A tearful reunion between sisters
ensues, and then the Beast half awakens. Despite its map sprite explicitly only showing half a body, during the battle transition, the Beast half somehow magically acquires a full body. Eldin and friends emerged victorious against the
Beast half, and Eldin took its power. Cue another grueling trek through
the Tower of Guidance. After going through the portal, they trek through
the holy land. Ragule, in control of the Beast's Eristolian half and
its soul, waits for Eldin to bring the power of the Beast's Nazarean
half to him, and then tries to kill Eldin and his friends for it. He
fails, and then the Beast, Goldiark, manifests from his body, installed with its
creator, Odin, who returned to life through the body of his descendant.
He boasted about how even at half-power, he, through his creation, will
annihilate all who stand in defiance of him. You now fight the Beast's
Eristolian half merged with its soul. After a long, grueling battle, you
emerge victorious. The Beast tries to revive itself by installing
itself with Eldin, who has the power of the Beast's Nazarean half.
Rubius and Irmis sacrifice themselves, staying behind at the holy land
to ensure the Beast is sealed away forever. They order the stones and
shards destroyed so that no one may ever reach the holy land and
resurrect the Beast again. The Towers of Guidance and Lugwa collapse,
sealing the way to the holy land forever.
As for
why Odin is part of the Beast, and why the Beast is suddenly capable of
intelligent speech instead of speaking in inhuman screeches, monstrous
roars and acts of indescribable destruction and slaughter... Odin
installed himself into the Beast/Goldiark at some point for reasons
unknown. He might have tried taming the beast through normal means, only
to fail miserably, and this installation was a last-ditch effort to
control his rampaging creation, but the Beast's power proved too great,
and he ended up being corrupted in the process. Or, perhaps Odin was
simply a corrupt man from the very beginning, and simply installed
himself into the Beast, either as a means to save himself from its
wrath, or as an opportunity to seize for himself the ultimate power he
so desired. Either way, the installation was permanent, and whether or
not he was evil before, he is certainly evil when you meet him/Goldiark
during the events of the final battle.
The game
never really did make any of this clear, which is sad, because this is
really one of the few genuinely interesting plot points in it. All we really get from any of this is that Ragule is a dick that wants to revive the Beast to gain absolute power, Odin is a dick that created the Beast to gain absolute power, and that the Beast has a bit of a temper and kinda likes destroying things and killing people. All in all, I put
WAY too much fucking thought into the backstory of an incredibly
mediocre game that few people will ever play because the game itself is
shit at properly explaining things itself.
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