Lore thread

[Haruka]

Right, as I thought.

Another thing I spotted when replaying the game was Jano's arms. Originally Jano has got skeleton-like arms and hands, but on the GBA his arms have flesh and skin. Design error or lazyness of the artists?

[Jewish Candy]

Well, it was a new, Rayman-3-style render. Maybe they decided to make him fit in more with the rest of the cast?

[spiraldoor]

Has anyone ever wondered what those big grabbing arms that come out of the walls in the Cave of Bad Dreams are attached to? They’re about the same size as Jano’s arms. Are there oversized mini-Janos in the walls or something?

Also, you can see some Jano-ish eyes looking at you out of the cracks in the tree-trunks in the Fairy Council.

[Jewish Candy]

Wouldn't oversized mini-Janos be, uh, normal Fire Crabs?

Hmm, I always thought they were like the arms of doom that grabbed you in the Tomb of the Ancients, which are implied to belong to zombehs or at least people who sleep in coffins. Since it's the Cave of Bad Dreams (and, according to some of the R2 ports, all taking place in Rayman's rather suggestible imagination), perhaps they're just scary, undead arms? Maybe Rayman has a fear of being grabbed by bad guys?

I'm speculating way too much.

EDIT: those TOTA arms could easily be fire crab arms, I've realised.

[spiraldoor]

Wouldn't oversized mini-Janos be, uh, normal Fire Crabs?

‘Fire Crab’ isn’t their official name, as far as I know. We just call them ‘mini-Janos’ because that’s pretty much what they are. Oversized mini-Janos would be... normal Janos.

those TOTA arms could easily be fire crab arms, I've realised.

If you look into the crypts, you’ll see that they actually have two eyes each. The mini-Janos are cyclopean, so I’m not sure how that would work. Or how it fits together with the dead Razorbeards and Gorilla Pirates and Red Rums...

[Jewish Candy]

Ah yes. I grew up callin' em Fire Crabs, but yeah, mini-Janos will a-do. It lacks the panache, though.

You're right about the eyes, I didn't notice. I don't think the arms of doom actually have anything to do with the Robo-Pirates themselves - although the area is an enemy area, it appears to have been 'occupied', as with other places like the Fairy Glade. The arms could belong to the said 'Ancients'... I've always wondered who they might be. Us?

There are buried Robo-Pirates, specifically Razorpeople, but I get the feeling those are more recent then the grabby arms. It was an already existing burial ground, so the Pirates made the most of it. Seems rather... well, 'living' though. Surely robots think more practically? Why bury your 'dead' when you can melt them down and make new copies?

Huge tangent, here.

[spiraldoor]

There are buried Robo-Pirates, specifically Razorpeople, but I get the feeling those are more recent then the grabby arms. It was an already existing burial ground, so the Pirates made the most of it. Seems rather... well, 'living' though. Surely robots think more practically? Why bury your 'dead' when you can melt them down and make new copies?

But can they? I sometimes wonder just how robotic the Robo-Pirates are. They appear to breathe... perhaps they are organic in some way? And the dead Robo-Pirates in the Tomb of the Ancients look to me as if they were fossilised, which wouldn’t happen to any kind of robot I’ve ever heard of.

[Jewish Candy]

That's a good point. And Collosus (I spelt that wrong, didn't I? ) mentioned something about 'deciphering their auras'. Metal has some kind of spiritual aura? Hmm...
I did wonder if they were like Cybermen at one point. Perhaps they were beings who decided to put their brains into robot shells in order to live forever, or something. Nowadays I think more along the line of them being mechanical life-forms; instead of skin they developed metal hides, instead of emotion used to regulate actions they used pure logic, etc. As metal comes from the earth (and therefore nature) too, perhaps a 'spirit' like Polukus et al gives the Robo-Pirates a semblance of free will, or some kind of soul?

Regarding the breathing, though, that could've been a programmed function to give the appearance of life.

[ParadoxJuice]

When do they ever breath?

[Jewish Candy]

Sometimes, in their idle poses.

[ParadoxJuice]

I think I know what you're talking about. But I've never perceived it as breathing. I always just thought it was a hum of their engines.

[Jewish Candy]

Hmm? Oh, not just the sounds. Their bodies move that way too, I reckon.

[spiraldoor]

The pirate leader; he is famous throughout the galaxy for reducing over one hundred peaceful planets to cosmic dust. Don’t be fooled by his pathetic and silly appearance – his ferocity is unmatched. His dream? Overrun Rayman’s world and reduce its inhabitants to slavery...

Think about this for a moment. Razorbeard has destroyed over a hundred peaceful planets already, but his dream is merely to do to the Glade of Dreams what he’s already done a hundred times over?

I think this official description of Razorbeard lends credence to my ‘geocentric’ model of Rayman’s universe; my belief that the Heart of the World really is the origin of all that exists, that it is the single most important place in the universe, that there really are only one thousand Yellow Lums in existence, and that to conquer the Heart of the World would truly be the quintessential victory of any evil being...

[bunnieblaster]

Something else:

anyone noted that the tomb of razorbeard and the henchmen looks like razorbeards private cabin a bit? There are two guards at the beginning, and the room is about the same size.

[Jewish Candy]

The tomb of Razorbeard? He's got his own personal tomb?! WHERE?!!!! I WANT ONE!!
@Spiral, if I was a somewhat robotic evil maniac who took over peaceful worlds for a living, I know that I'd be eagerly anticipating the next planet I could harvest, especially if I was 'programmed' to seek domination. Also, perhaps Rayman's world is proving harder to take over than the others?

[spiraldoor]

If he’s already conquered a hundred planets, I should think that his dream would be to conquer the universe or something. Not just one more planet.

I don’t think the Glade of Dreams is just another world.

[Haruka]

Then the Glade of Dreams can be considered as the "cradle" of the universe.

[Hunchman801]

On the “invincibility” of all Knaaren but Reflux:

I have a very simple answer to this: his sceptre gives him more power, but makes him vulnerable too, unlike the other Knaaren.

The fact that Reflux is always hurt through his sceptre only gives this theory more sense. As much as I enjoyed reading those speculations about Knaaren's sensibility to heat, it seems way too far-fetched when such a simple answer gives sense to the whole thing.

I’m not sure what Creole or Creolischer mean, but I assume they’re French.

Créole (with an acute accent) is French, Creolischer is German.

Ah yes. I grew up callin' em Fire Crabs, but yeah, mini-Janos will a-do. It lacks the panache, though.

I have always wondered where that grotesque appellation came from: how on Earth do they bear any resemblance to crabs?!?

And Collosus (I spelt that wrong, didn't I? ) mentioned something about 'deciphering their auras'.

Colossus

[Holy Crap]

On the “invincibility” of all Knaaren but Reflux:

I have a very simple answer to this: his sceptre gives him more power, but makes him vulnerable too, unlike the other Knaaren.

The fact that Reflux is always hurt through his sceptre only gives this theory more sense. As much as I enjoyed reading those speculations about Knaaren's sensibility to heat, it seems way too far-fetched when such a simple answer gives sense to the whole thing.

The problem I have with this though is that Reflux is supposed to be the Knaaren champion, implying that he can outmatch the others. How could he do that if they are all invincible and he has a glaring weakness?

[Jewish Candy]

Ah yes. I grew up callin' em Fire Crabs, but yeah, mini-Janos will a-do. It lacks the panache, though.

I have always wondered where that grotesque appellation came from: how on Earth do they bear any resemblance to crabs?!?

Grotesque?! That's a bit mean. They breathe fire and rarely move in a direct line forward; instead they bounce around you till you defeat them.
I agree it makes little sense, but then the name Globox makes absolutely NO sense at all.


As an aside, I had to spell check this post about 5 times. What am I like~