Marle (Chrono Trigger)

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Marle
Official artwork from PlayStation re-release
Game series	Chrono series
First game	Chrono Trigger
Character designer(s)	Akira Toriyama
In-Universe Information
Given name	Princess Nadia Guardia
Native time period	1000 A.D.
Weapon	Crossbow
Magic element	Water (in the form of ice)

Marle is a playable character in Squaresoft's Chrono Trigger. Her real name is "Princess Nadia" or (Marledia, in Japan).

[edit] Characteristics

Marle (Maure in Japanese) is the second character the player meets in the game. Crono and Marle meet by accidentally slamming into each other in the public square. Marle blacks out for a short time and also loses her pendant, which Crono finds and returns to her. Marle insists that she follow Crono around, as she claims to be from out of town. It turns out later that she is actually the Princess Nadia (Muardia in Japanese) of the Kingdom of Guardia, in which the game initially takes place. Despite the revelation of her true name, she still insists to be called Marle. She had been upset with her father, the king, and ran away temporarily to attend the Millennial Fair, which is where she ran into Crono in the first place. Marle and Crono walk around the fair together, and after a while Crono takes Marle to see an invention his friend Lucca has made. As it turns out, Marle's pendant is actually magical, having belonged previously to Schala, a powerful spellcaster from the ancient Kingdom of Zeal. The pendant interacts with Lucca's invention, a teleport pod, and she is sent backward in time to 600 A.D., thus setting into motion all the following events in the game.

After Marle arrives in 600 A.D., she is eventually spotted by guards from Guardia Castle, who mistake her for the missing Queen Leene and take her to the castle. When Crono arrives shortly afterwards, he reunites with the so-called queen, only to watch her vanish before her eyes. When Lucca catches up with him, she informs Crono of Marle's royal status, as well as reveals that Marle's disappearance was due to the real queen being killed and destroying her existence. Together with a cursed warrior named Frog, Crono and Lucca manage to save Queen Leene before Yakra, a demon disguised as the palace Chancellor, can kill her. With the queen (and the real Chancellor, who was also captured) safe, Marle is restored into existence.

After the ordeal, Crono and Marle return to Guardia Castle in 1000 A.D., only for Crono to be captured, tried, and locked up, under the current Chancellor's claims of kidnapping Marle. Crono, however, escapes with help from Lucca and run into Marle on the way out. Marle tries to convince her father, the King, to let Crono go, but he refuses due to the Chancellor's encouragement and that "even royalty must obey laws". Now fed up with him, Marle runs away with the two escapees out of anger.

During the escape, the three enter a Gate leading to 2300 A.D., a barren, desolate era due to the apocalyptic Day of Lavos that occurred in 1999 A.D. When the three friends learn of such an event, Marle suggests that they try to prevent such an event by destroying Lavos in the past, a lofty goal that becomes the core of the entire game.

Throughout the game, facts pertaining to the Guardia royal line are revealed by several optional conversations with the King and Chancellor. According to the Chancellor, Marle's father supposedly put his kingdom above all else, even his late wife, Queen Aliza. The queen died when Marle was very young, and, back then, she had no comprehension of the fact that her mother was dying. The King, however, was apparently too wrapped up in his work to pay her any heed in her final moments, and she died all alone. During a later sidequest, however, it's revealed that the Chancellor is, in fact, the 13th generation decendant of Yakra, who tried to have Crono killed and cause a rift between the royal family out of revenge for his ancestor. What really happened was that the King was present during Aliza's death, and, seeing that Marle was happy being surrounded by the castle guests, the queen died happily, knowing that her daughter was happy as well. With the truth revealed, Marle makes up with her father.

For the first part of the game, before the party learns to use magic from Spekkio, the God of War, her physical attacks are somewhat weak. Later, she becomes a powerful force, as what she lacks in physical attacks she more than makes up for with her high magic attack capability, healing and support magic and Dual or Triple Tech combinations. She uses a crossbow as her physical weapon (like Lucca, her attack changes if the enemy is too close to shoot; she hits the enemy with the butt of her crossbow), and her magical attacks are manifested in the form of ice and healing.

In the sequel, Chrono Cross, Marle and Crono, now married, are missing.

[edit] Trivia

• In Japan, Chrono Trigger has a special code where Marle's real name would remove the last letter of the previous name and simply have a -dia suffix added to it.^{[citation needed]} For example, if the character names Marle Nadia, then the real name would come out Nadidia, regardless of the ridiculousness of such a name.^{[citation needed]}