Virage Embryo

The Virage Embryo, or the God of Destruction, is the 108th species to come from the Divine Tree planted by Soa. Its sole purpose is to destroy the entire world and creation, and to give birth to a new world afterwards.

Story[]

WARNING: Section contains major spoilers.

Background[]

During the ancient reign of the Winglies, their dictator Melbu Frahma separated the God of Destruction's soul from its body in an effort to prevent the destruction of the world and tap into the God's power himself. Melbu Frahma personally kept its soul in a Crystal Sphere, and drew almost unlimited magic power from it to maintain undisputed rule over all life on Endiness. Melbu's sister Charle Frahma created five Signet Spheres to seal its body in the sky, becoming the Moon That Never Sets. Melbu in turn created the Divine Moon Objects to break the Signets, should anyone challenge his control.

After the Crystal Sphere was destroyed during the Dragon Campaign, the God of Destruction's soul wandered the Earth possessing a Human child, the Moon Child, every 108 years in an effort to return to its body. The mission to kill the Moon Child and prevent the birth of the God of Destruction was taken up by Rose, who has thwarted the attempts to rejoin the body and soul of the God of Destruction for the past 11,000 years. Rose's task has evolved into the legend of the Black Monster.

Moon That Never Sets[]

Main article: Moon That Never Sets

Moon on the divine tree — The Moon That Never Sets falling onto the Divine Tree and connecting itself with it.

In a way, the Virage Embryo is synonymous with the Moon; the Moon is the outer shell to guard and nourish the egg within. But the Moon is, for most of the story, high in the sky over Endiness, until the destruction of all Signet Spheres and its subsequent fall onto the Endiness continent at the location of the Divine Tree.

After the body and soul, the latter using the Moon Child as a vessel, are to be unified inside the Moon, Dart and his group seek out to stop Zieg Feld in his quest to realize the birth of the God of Destruction.

Birth of the God of Destruction[]

After the group overcomes Zieg in battle, the real mastermind behind the plan to give birth to the God of Destruction is revealed: Melbu Frahma, the ancient dictator of the Winglies, was slain in his duel with Zieg during the Dragon Campaign, however, he cast a petrification spell on Zieg and sealed his own soul inside of Zieg's Red-Eye Dragoon Spirit.

After 11,000 years, during the tragic events of the Black Monster attacking Neet, Zieg Feld used his Dragoon Spirit in a likely attempt to fight the Black Monster and save the people of the village, but in doing so, he unintentionally released the spirit of Melbu Frahma who subsequently gained control over Zieg. Posing as a reborn Emperor Diaz, he manipulated Lloyd into gathering the Divine Moon Objects, tricking him with the idea of creating an utopia and a world full of bliss.

After the soul and body of the Virage Embryo are merged in the core of the moon before the eyes of Dart and the group, Melbu Frahma's spirit himself enters the body of the God of Destruction, subsequently becoming the God himself, while Shana, who as the Moon Child was the vessel for the soul of the God of Destruction, is subsequently expelled and set free from the core. In the final battle of The Legend of Dragoon, the seven Dragoons face off against Melbu Frahma in the body of the God of Destruction.

The Generations[]

The God of Destruction is intended to bring about the end of the world, but during the battle, it is providing a brief synopsis of the world in some way. To this end, the world around Melbu Frahma and the Dragoons changes to demonstrate various stages throughout the timeline of the world and, arguably, Soa's plan. These are the Seven Generations. Throughout the battle with Melbu Frahma, the seven generations are witnessed as the player overcomes each form of the boss. Of these seven, Melbu Frahma shall be fought in three of them. An interesting fact is that these generations show an inspiration from aspects of religious stories. The developers appear to have been using the creation described in Genesis as a role model.

First Generation[]

The battle with Melbu's second form takes place here. It is simply a void of relative nothingness, asides from streams of light and energy. It's somewhat reminiscent of the Big Bang, the volatile beginnings of the universe and time itself.
This appears to reference the first day of Genesis, as quoted here: "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light."

Second Generation[]

The environment from the previous generation leads to the next stage of the world's creation as energy starts to coalesce into matter - creating a landscape which will form the medium for Soa's Divine Tree, and life altogether.

Third Generation[]

This phase shows mountains thrusting up into the sky, the gathering of stormy clouds and rain. The introduction of water is obviously important as it is essential for life to thrive and sustain itself. As time passes, it will carve the landscape to suit the purposes and niches for all life, while the clouds point towards the creation of a stable atmosphere.

Fourth Generation[]

This depicts the formation of stars and galaxies, as the world is fully formed, albeit without life.
The fourth day of Genesis once again sums up the generation quite well: "Let there be luminaries in the expanse of the heavens, to distinguish between the day and the night."
Melbu's third form is fought here, which has rotating orbs that resemble a spheroid in orbit around a larger celestial body.

Fifth Generation[]

Presumably, the Divine Tree finally sprouts in this generation as the land becomes inhabited by flora and fauna, replete with life. Soa's plan starts to move fleetingly as more species start to thrive on the lush world. Per Genesis, day 5 depicts it as this "And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl [that] may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven."

Sixth Generation[]

A slideshow shows events that take place as mankind inhabits the world, through photos of civilization camaraderie, innovation, sorrow and death. This depicts the growth, the thriving and their end as the Virage Embryo is soon born.
The sixth day is described by Genesis as being the day mankind was created: "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so."

Seventh Generation[]

ImagesCALF4BSH — Seventh Generation: The fourth form of the God of Destruction

The finishing of Soa's creation and plan, after which Soa finally went to rest, along with the rest of life. The environment shows a dark barren world ravaged by apparent destruction. All that remains of life now are their bones and skeletons piled up in mountains, making up the very ground itself. The once nourishing bodies of water forever replaced by oceans of blood and lava. It can be assumed that this what the world was destined to become had Soa's plan gone through without interruption, allowing the 108th species to be born. The clash with Melbu's fourth form takes place here.
If one assumes that this world is the end result of Soa's plan, then it can arguably be found to line up with the seventh day described in Genesis: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made."

The Folklore of the God of Destruction[]

“	The flesh of the god, the flesh of the Virage Embryo was taken away from the Winglies as the Moon That Never Sets that glows in the sky. And the soul of the god was captured in the Crystal Sphere and Melbu Frahma kept it. Yes, to withdraw unlimited magic power from that, and to conquer the other creatures... Silly humans destroyed the Crystal Sphere, which was the container of the soul along with the royal capital Kadessa. The Virage Embryo, the God of Destruction was exultant. It could now be born. The free soul released from the Crystal Sphere started to wander. In order to go back to the body left in the Moon That Never Sets, to be born as the last god, and to destroy the world. The soul without a body possesses a human body and heads for the Moon That Never Sets, by repeating the transmigration every 108 years. However, even with unlimited magic power, the domination was not eternal. Humans arose with Dragoons in front. Nothing was their match because they obtained the power of the dragon. And finally, they drove Melbu Frahma into a corner. I felt certain of human... my victory. And it was in the next moment, the spell of petrification cast by Melbu captured me. I have waited for 11,000 years. Time, almost eternal, dissolved the spell of Melbu. And I was released from captivity. Days spent with Rose became the eternal past. And I lived as the father of Dart in this age. Until the tragic day in Neet. You now know. The soul of the God of Destruction is the Moon Child. The truth of the Moon Child in the legend. 'Count 108 years and when the Moon That Never Sets glares in red, the Moon Child descends to the earth and shall give a holy blessing to the world.' The 'Holy blessing' is the destruction. The destruction is Soa's will. This is...the fate that rules the future of the world. But, there was one Dragoon who found out about it. In order to deter the birth of the God of Destruction, she has had to kill the Moon Children. By stopping her own time. She was even called a demon. That is the true self of Rose...The Black Monster!! ...All is the will of the god Soa...My hands start the world, and my hands end the world. Yes! Fate desires it."	”
-Melbu Frahma, controlling the body of Zieg Feld, addressing Dart and his companions in the city of Vellweb.