Fool's Missives Analysis

The following passages expand upon the information available in the Fool's Missives. Each related missive is indicated by number.

The Chaos Shrine in this world
Fool's Missive I, III
Most of the dungeons in this game were reconstructed by the Lufenians from those in other dimensions, but the Lufenians played no part in the appearance of the Chaos Shrine. The Chaos Shrine is a facility for Chaos from the future that appeared in Cornelia. In other words, one could say that the fact that Jack and his friends gave in to Chaos by the end of the game, is a result of their influence from the past.

Bikke and Astos' relationship
Fool's Missive IV
Astos contacted Bikke in advance and gave him a share of his abilities and knowledge in exchange for Bikke guiding the one chasing Chaos -- Jack -- to him. Incidentally, during the battle [with Bikke] at the pirates' hideout, Bikke says things such as, "This is a Dark Elf weapon. Great, isn't it?" and "Don't destroy the ship, it was a gift!"* indicating his axe and ship were given to him by Astos.

* Translation note - I haven't cross-referenced the lines from the English version of the game, so they may be different than the straight translation of the Japanese lines.

The __th dimension
Fool's Missive V, VI, etc.
The dungeons that exist in this game were created by the Lufenians based off of the terrain and facilities of other dimensions, but each of those dimensions are based on the previous numbered titles of the Final Fantasy series. The phrasing "Dimension __" that appears in the Fool's Missives represents the number of the game from which the location was based on. (For example, "Dimension 2" refers to the world of Final Fantasy II.)

The Strangers' memory erasure
Fool's Missive VII
As the Strangers come and go from Station 19, their memories are by and large erased. This is because retaining vast data in the form of memories during interdimensional travel can cause problems, and so the dark crystals function to store memories. Additionally, Sophia, who was reset in Cornelia rather than at a Station, has had her memories erased fewer times than the others, making it more likely for her to retain hers.

* Translator's note - the Lufenian Reports & Analysis make clear that Sophia was abandoned in Cornelia on cycle 18, and the game's timeline is cycle 19, meaning Sophia would retain at least some of her memories from cycle 18 plus any that she recovered during cycle 18 from previous cycles.

What the crystals brought
Fool's Missive VIII
The four crystals were placed around the world by the Lufenians to maintain order and to stabilize the elements of earth, fire, water, and wind. However, the people of Cornelia began to look to the crystals for hope and believe in their power, which increased the total light throughout the world. To create balance after this, the Lufenians added darkness, and now the people are so influenced by it that they've begun to fear an imaginary monster known as Chaos.

Neon's move after the reset
Fool's Missive IX
Neon became Chaos Advent when she received the dark crystal, but when the world is reset she is revived as a citizen of Cornelia. Every time the world is reset, she repeats the same process of receiving the dark crystal from Astos, becoming Chaos Advent, and joining the ranks of Jack and his companions after fighting them.

Memory loss and retention
Fool's Missive X
Near the beginning of the story, Jack hears about a "soldier named Garland" from Sarah, and doesn't realize that he is that soldier. This is because he's lost even the memory of his full name. On the other hand, Jack's other companions and Sarah retain some small amount of memory of the past, and their memories are hazy. The phrase "maybe 10 years ago, maybe yesterday" appears.*

* Translation note - I haven't cross-referenced the line from the English version of the game, so it's probably phrased differently.

The secret to Jack's power
Fool's Missive X
Not only do the dark crystals absorb memories, as a secondary effect, they considerably raise the combat power of the bearer. Among them, Jack has an excellent disposition for combat power enhancement, and so the Lufenians gave him a specially-made dark crystal. Although this results in his memories being more easily forgotten, it has led to his attaining unique abilities, such as Soul Burst. (For more information see the Lufenian Report titled "Dark Crystals.")

The Mirage Tower
Fool's Missive XII
The Mirage Tower is a dungeon that also appears in Final Fantasy I. It looms over the vast desert to the northeast of Cornelia, and in Final Fantasy I, using the warp cube on the highest floor takes you to the Flying Fortress. The Crystal Mirage in this game is said to have been built as a prototype for the Mirage Tower. That the party warps from the top floor to the Flying Fortress, and that the items the party use to move about inside the tower are called proto cubes, originate from its relation to the Mirage Tower.

The emergence of Chaos in form*
Fool's Missive XIV
Among the repeated resets and Stranger deployments by the Lufenians, the first Fiend taken form was Tiamat, born of a combination of Sophia's hatred and darkness. Chaos had taken form--until this point in time simply a doomsday theory concept of negativity--and not only did the balance between light and darkness tip heavily towards darkness, but it turned out that even if the world was reset, Chaos would persist.

Translation note about this passage in general: The Four Fiends are referred to in Japanese as the Four Chaos, and so Chaos first took form in this game as Tiamat. The idea is that strong negative emotion + darkness = Chaos, and so the Chaos that Jack embraces is not the only Chaos.

What the phantoms leave behind
Fool's Missive XV
Memories and emotions remain in the place where a Stranger has died, and so remain even after the world is reset. Not only are these human phantoms such as that of Sophia that Jack and the others saw in the Flying Fortress, but the memory mementos and spheres scattered through the dungeons; phantom of the strangers in a broad sense. To help Jack and his companions in the present and make up for their failings, via sub-missions, the phantoms can open up jobs for Jack's companions and offer equipment left in the past.

Concealing information about Chaos
Fool's Missive XVIII
Even though Astos realizes that Chaos will manifest when negative emotions merge with a dark crystal, he doesn't report this to the Lufenians. Because of this, the Lufenians continued to have the Strangers carry the dark crystals that can trigger the appearance of Chaos, despite trying to avoid just that.

Astos' manipulation of the data
Fool's Missive XXI
When Marilith, Lich, and Kraken first appeared, Astos only reported to the Lufenians that more forms of Chaos had appeared, but didn't say who was involved. Astos intentionally manipulated the information he provided so that Ash, Jed, and the others could continue journeying as Strangers after Sophia was abandoned for becoming Tiamat.

Sarah, the key to the plot
Fool's Missive XXV, XXVI, XXVII, XVIII
According to Astos, Jack passing his dark crystal to Sarah in a past iteration was part of the plan for Jack to become Chaos. Astos' aim was for Jack to acquire the power of the "great chaos" that would be born of the balance between light and dark breaking down. To lay the foundation for this, Sarah, the very symbol of hope and light, was given a dark crystal which gathers darkness, in order to turn her into a being of perfect harmony between light and dark.

Furthermore, when Jack gave Sarah the dark crystal, he was unaware of the details of Astos' plan, or that the crystal would be a key in the genesis of Chaos. And so it seems that Jack boldly took the plunge on Astos' proposal.

Jack's reason for fighting
Fool's Missive XXIX, XXX
The Lufenians instilled a hatred of Chaos in the Strangers, and at first, Jack was motivated to fight by that feeling. That sense of purpose did not disappear even after defeating the four Fiends, as he subconsciously understood that he had a different "true purpose." Upon visiting Vigilia Court afterwards, Jack's hunger-like sense of purpose disappeared as a result of his realization that his true purpose was not to kill Chaos.

A chance for a concept to become reality
Fool's Missive XXXII
In the world of Cornelia, the Warriors of Light are nothing more than a fairytale. The people of Cornelia referring to Jack and his companions as the Warriors of Light is simply their imposition of fictitious ideas, and their selfish clinging to hope. However, just as Chaos took form in this world despite not originally existing, there is a possibility that the Warriors of Light can also come into existence somehow. After the final battle with Darkness Manifest Jack argued with the Lufenians that the Warriors of Light did not exist. But upon realizing that Warriors of Light could possibly be created in the same way that Chaos could, Jack mutters that he and his companions really could have been candidates for the roles. Then, they hatch the plan to bring about the Warriors of Light themselves.

Resisting the artificial darkness
Fool's Missive XXXIII, XXXIV, XXXV
These fool's missives at roughly the same time Jack was visiting the Ancients' Tower, Vigilia Court, and Terra Tortura during the game's story. Astos' feelings are evident as he resists the Lufenians' actions of increasing the amount of darkness in the world.
In addition, Astos was separated from Jack and the others in the relatively recently reset world. Until then, Astos had guided the group acting in solidarity as a companion on their journey but was unable to change the situation. Astos struggled, distressed, to chance the world in his own way while the failures piled up. As a result, he decided to play the role of the king of the dark elves leading Jack with his words.*

Translation note: This can easily be interpreted in English to mean that Astos isn't really the king of the dark elves, but in Japanese it isn't clear one way or the other. I haven't seen anything that explicitly says he wasn't really the king of the dark elves yet, but if I do I'll come back to this.

Jack and Astos' Plans
Fool's Missive XXIX, XD
In the past, Jack learned that not only were the Lufenians using the world as an experiment, but that they also saw no value in the lives of the Cornelian people, and he resented this truth. He embraced a new sense of duty: that he must free Cornelian from the control of the Lufenians. And so he thought that if he became this uncontrollable "chaos," he could separate the world from the grasp of the Lufenians. He turned to Astos, who is able to retain his memories even when the world resets, for cooperation, to guide them in the worlds that followed.

Afterwards, because Jack remembered nothing, Astos instead took the lead on the plan to liberate Cornelia. Through actions such as sharing information with Bikke and giving Neon and Sarah dark crystals, he advanced preparations for Jack to become Chaos, little by little.

Translator's note: This is the only time I've seen anything that says Astos gave Sarah a crystal, which answers the question as to why Sarah "still" has the crystal Jack gave her after each reset, when Neon has to get hers from Astos each time. According to this passage she didn't keep it; Astos just kept giving her one.

translated by Jai from Confidential Files - Secret Chapters -