Choosing the next Lutz...

When Rune's past is revealed in PSIV, he is called the Fifth Generation Lutz and we're told that he has inherited the memories of the original Lutz. "Fifth" implies that there were at least three others that inherited Lutz's legacy before Rune. How do you think each of these people, including Rune himself, was selected? Are there special criteria or trials that each new Lutz must undergo to prove themselves?

An excellent question, and something I"ll really have to think about for my original game. I would guess it has more to do with unusual ability than leadership qualities considering Rune doesn't even live in the mansion.

Though... maybe his roaming is because he's on a trial of sorts. I would favor that argument more than any other explanation for Rune being on Motavia. It's definitely an interesting issue. Perhaps Rune climbing the Ladea Tower is a trial, since the Frade Mantle is in there. Perhaps it is proof of passage?

The Komrade wrote:

Though... maybe his roaming is because he's on a trial of sorts. I would favor that argument more than any other explanation for Rune being on Motavia. It's definitely an interesting issue. Perhaps Rune climbing the Ladea Tower is a trial, since the Frade Mantle is in there. Perhaps it is proof of passage?

I thought he climbed the tower for the Psycho Wand... o:

I've wondered if Phantasy Star has anything like "reincarnations" since Rune does have some physical resemblance to Lutz, and he does gain his memory as well...but I'm just throwing that out there.

Yep, the Psycho Wand was up there. He had said earlier that he left an item with Dorin, which must be either the wand or a key to the tower. I can't imagine why Rune would leave the wand there himself, though. I would expect that to have been done by a previous Lutz, as with the aero-prism.

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I would guess it has more to do with unusual ability than leadership qualities considering Rune doesn't even live in the mansion.

I'd agree, though not for the same reason. There's one cutscene that shows Rune posing as Lutz for some ceremony or something in the mansion. I think he does, or at least did, call it home at one time, but left it to prepare for DF's arrival.

But anyway, I think other people would have to handle most of the leadership issues in the name of Lutz. The masquerade of the original Lutz still being alive wouldn't last very long if one Lutz was giving orders one day, then a few months later a much younger Lutz was giving them.

One other interesting thing... I think I saw the Telepathy Ball in Generation 1, when Lutz is introduced. That got me thinking... there's a Sphere item in PSI that works like Noah/Lutz's TELE spell. Sphere = ball and TELE = telepathy... so is the Telepathy Ball a PSI Sphere?

Thoul wrote:

But anyway, I think other people would have to handle most of the leadership issues in the name of Lutz. The masquerade of the original Lutz still being alive wouldn't last very long if one Lutz was giving orders one day, then a few months later a much younger Lutz was giving them.

Yeah, I'd agree with that. This talk of preparing for the next DF has me thinking: how much do the Espers know about the 1,000 year appearance of DF, and how did they come to know it? Noah/Lutz in PSI is highly secretive about his motivations, (what is he training for?) but something in the letter from the Governor changes him from aloof to joining the party. Even if that Lutz didn't know about a recurring problem in Algo, then why did he or the other Lutzs start hibernating? How did they know they'd be needed in the future, unless they knew DF recurred? I think this might be further elucidated by:

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One other interesting thing... I think I saw the Telepathy Ball in Generation 1, when Lutz is introduced. That got me thinking... there's a Sphere item in PSI that works like Noah/Lutz's TELE spell. Sphere = ball and TELE = telepathy... so is the Telepathy Ball a PSI Sphere?

This is a connection suggesting that the Espers have know about DF, and know that DF will continue to revive, as the telepathy ball may already exist in PSI. Thoul, I think you really have something there!

I think that Lutz definitely knows something about DF's return. At the very least, it seems like he learns about it after PSI. He definitely knows by the end of PSII, and I have a feeling he might have been aware of the DFs that sneaked aboard the Palma escape ships.

Here is the scene I was thinking of in G1:

Lutz seems to be using that glowing ball on the stick for some kind of meditation or something. Maybe it is the telepathy ball.

That's very interesting, indeed! It makes me think of some prequel fan game premises...

Rune became Lutz at 15 (or when he was a teenager -> he was also a teenager when he met Alys). Maybe he passed some trials with help of Alys and Dorin and then became Lutz (who knows? Maybe he was already Lutz before he knew them). Anyway in PS4 Rune is already Lutz and is not doing any Esper trials – he’s just preparing himself to fight dark force or similar threats.

I don't think he is always in Motabia because, he said "I must watch over all Algol". He must have some kind of power or he already knew Wren and Demi before, which allow him to travel between planets (or maybe there's a spaceship in Tonoe’s trash with that robot-pilot).

The item he left with Dorin doesn’t seem to be the wand because it's magical sealed and if it was the key to the tower he would just asked for that. I think it was the weapon Gryz has at the end - odin's laconian axe.

Lutz himself lived just over a thousand years. How come there were 3 successors in the almost thousand year gap between Lutz's death and Rune? My guess is that they probably weren't anywhere near as powerful as Lutz or Rune. Oh yeah and if the successors all become Lutz at 15, that means the second one was born around the time of Phantasy Star 2.

I think Lutz lifespan was largely reliant on the cryogenic tube he had. Maybe it failed with the fall of technology, or perhaps the successors didn't use it as much.

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Oh yeah and if the successors all become Lutz at 15, that means the second one was born around the time of Phantasy Star 2.

How do you get that? I'm not disagreeing, but I'm not sure what your basis for this is.