Noah and Lutz

Here's a theory we used to talk about on another board I visited, back in the day. There was a person who believed that Noah and Lutz are two separate people. As you may know, the Japan release of Phantasy Star I has a character named Lutz, with the name being changed to Noah in the English release. Lutz returns in PSII and is mentioned in PSIV.

So, do you think Noah and Lutz are the same or different people, and why? Why do you think the name was changed?

I have my own thoughts on the matter, but I'll post that later.

Hmmm, thinking about the evidence, I'd have to say that they'd have to be the same. For one, the Esper Mansion didn't really have any hiding places for the Telepathy Ball in PS2.

Another reason is the fact that since Noah/Lutz new of Mother Brain's existance and control over Algo, and was in hiding, it'd be reasonable to assume an alias for a number of practical reasons.

The final point is that after Rune Walsh took upon the memories of Lutz, he never stopped identifying himself as Rune Walsh.

I agree, they're the same. It's clearly what the creators intended when scripting PS2 and PS4, or they would have used another name even in the Japan version.

Lutz may not directly reveal that he's the same guy from PS1 during PS2, but Rune does that in PS4. He says the first Lutz fought Lashiec, but there's no evidence to suggest anyone but Noah & company did that. That, plus Rune's comment about the first Lutz storing the Aero-prism, shows what it was meant to be pretty strongly.

I also think the are the same, for the reasons you two have already stated.

Recently, I had a new thought on why they might have changed the name back in PSI. The letters L and R, as you might be aware, are represented by the same character in Japanese and can be translated to English using either letter. That's why we have name differences like Palma and Parma in the games. I noticed that PSI and PSIV tend to use opposite translations. In PSI, we have Palma and Dezoris, in PSIV it's Parma and Dezolis, among other examples. I figure the same happened to Lutz. When working on PSI, the translators probably read it as "Rutz." Since it sounds a lot like ruts, the mating season for deer, it would have caused a lot of problems if they used that name in a game back then.

Thoul wrote:

I figure the same happened to Lutz. When working on PSI, the translators probably read it as "Rutz." Since it sounds a lot like ruts, the mating season for deer, it would have caused a lot of problems if they used that name in a game back then.

Now there's an explanation I haven't heard before!

As for the whole "Noah is not Lutz" thing- I never bought into the whole "separate continuities/universes" theory that seemed to be prevalent around the ps boards a few years back. Personally, I think it makes the games much more intriguing to have someone live a thousand years just to protect Algol.
(Besides, doesn't Lutz specifically state he "fought with Alis"? Or was that only in the PS2 retranslation ROM? )

Just my

That "Rutz" thing is a weird explanation... but I can see what you mean. You could be right. Back in the 80's, "Rutz" could have caused a real stir among parents.

Lamanai wrote:

(Besides, doesn't Lutz specifically state he "fought with Alis"? Or was that only in the PS2 retranslation ROM? )

That must have been in the retranslation. One of the things used to support "Noah is not Lutz" is that in the original English PS2, Lutz didn't mention that he personally knew Alis. He says something like "beautiful Alis, who saved Algo" but completely leaves out that he was part of that.

I'm with you, on the separate universes, Lamanai. It doesn't make sense to me to look at the games like that... so there are a few name changes and date errors. That doesn't mean everything was totally changed around to make a second story.

Yeah, the Rutz idea just popped into my head the other day when I was writing something for the Profiles section. It was a strange thought at first, but it started to make sense after I pondered it for a minute. We may never know for sure why the name was changed, but I think this idea is more plausible than some I've heard.

I like the idea of separate universes, but I don't take it to the extreme like some people have done. To me, some things are just mistakes or translation differences. The only things I really consider as creating the possibility of separate universes are the time since leaving Palma thing in PSIII, Le Roof's different story in PSIV, and Lassic's differing backstory prior to PSI. Those are the biggies. IMO, the rest of the story, including Lutz, is the same even if a few names get shuffled around.

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Another reason is the fact that since Noah/Lutz new of Mother Brain's existance and control over Algo, and was in hiding, it'd be reasonable to assume an alias for a number of practical reasons.

I always liked that idea. He's a smart guy, so I can't see him announcing to the world, "Hey, I'm Noah, let's go overthrow Mother Brain!"

If you go by "canon", meaning exactly what is said in games, then the simple solution is that Noah and Lutz are two different people.

But when you hear that in PSI that Noah's name in Japan was Lutz, I think it's pretty clear that the creators intended Noah and Lutz to be the same person.

If we go by US translation that could mean "silver fang" is not "silver tusk" and so on. The spaceship Noah would be noah's spaceship (and not Lutz spaceship) like Arisa and Landeel spaceship, right? No. (I know "Noah" spaceship meant to be the second Noah's Ark or "Ship").

But the true is that Phantasy Star creators wanted Lutz to be... Lutz! (Simple as that). (Translation differences shouldn’t be enough to exchange games history/universe... everything would become very confusing). That's what I think.

The $ Avenger wrote:

If you go by "canon", meaning exactly what is said in games, then the simple solution is that Noah and Lutz are two different people.

QFT