Serena and Veronica were split a soul at birth because Serenica was a Sage.
A Sage; a Prestige Class that combines combat magic and healing magic; with a few tweaks. However, no one is born a Sage. Therefore her combat magic went to one reincarnation; and her healing magic went to the other. The sliver of soul that was her Sage self stayed with the Keeper of Time.- This is why it was possible for Veronica's soul to fuse with Serena's after her death; their exploits; especially in the face of Yggdrasil itself; counted as the Sage Ceremony.
- This doesn't mean they have half-souls; they grew into individual wholes like starfish.
The Old Timeline still exists.
For the party; it looks as if the Luminary simply vanished.- The same way Serenica vanished to go save the original Luminary in the post-game ending. The timeline the Party was in stayed the same.
The Old Timeline still exists, and is in fact the prequel for the Zenithian Trilogy (IV, V, and VI)
- This is based on how the Sword of Light crafted by the party more closely resembles the Zenithian Sword/Sword of Ramias, particularly the tip of the blade, which remains intact and flies close to the screen as it is destroyed. (The Supreme Sword of Light has a similar tip, but is not a required part of the story). It is likely the Old Timeline party took the pieces they could salvage and made the Zenithian Sword, with the tip being the largest and requiring little reforging.
Alternatively, the old timeline was destroyed when the Luminary shattered the Orb of Time, and the different depictions of how it happens is important.
When the Luminary does it, it shatters the Orb to pieces and his Blade of Light is destroyed, which represents that timeline being torn apart to give place to the new one, however, when Serenica does it, it merely makes a dent on the Orb, and the Blade of Light remains whole, representing that there is a "flaw" in that timeline, that is, her absence as The Timekeeper, but otherwise the orb is still whole, this is caused by different intents behind the strike, when the Luminary did it, he did not only intent prevent Veronica's death, but also to prevent all the suffering and deaths that Mordegon caused, while Serenica knew that to destroy a timeline that had achieved true peace on its own would be wrong, and she was simply seeking personal resolution. This would explain why multiple characters besides the Luminary display subconscious memories of the original timeline. Alternatively, Serenica traveled to the future to meet the incarnation of Erdwin.
This explains why the orb and the sword didn't break. As well as tying Serenica to be the mother of the Dragon Quest III protagonist. The Luminary having Shypox is canon.
It explains his Heroic Mime status, and seeing as it's a disease that one can catch later in life, it doesn't interfere with him being talkative as a six year-old. The dog Sandy is a Legacy Character.
Sandy is shown as a puppy when the Luminary travels to the past and sees himself at the age of six, as explicitly stated by Amber, which should make Sandy over ten years old at the beginning of the game. That is very elderly for a large dog, yet Sandy does not act like it at all. Furthermore, having puppies at that age would be extremely dangerous, if it's even possible. It's much more likely that the Sandy seen in the past is the mother or grandmother of the current Sandy, and in each generation of puppies one is named after her mother. Erik's family is originally from Zwaardrust.
- Erik is the only major character besides Hendrik that has an unnatural hair color, his background is something of a mystery, and it's not entirely clear how old he and Mia are. It's possible that Erik's parents escaped from Zwaardrust during the attack, passed through Dundrasil and into Snifleheim where they fell to exposure or monsters, leaving Erik and Mia as orphans. They may also have lived in Dundrasil for a while but had to flee that too.
- Erik is 19, as stated in the character book, and having been turned to gold, time was frozen for her; Mia is 13. Corroborated in that that event took place five years before the game -making Erik 14 then- and a Party Talk comment from Sylv at the end of act two in the Viking Hideout saying he was around Mia's age when Hendrik went to Puerto Valor.
Sylvando is the reincarnation of the legendary Heliodorian knight who first owned the Shield of Heliodor, and whom was sent to Puerto Valor and became the first Don there.
- In Jasper's quarters, there's a red book Eleven can read about the story of the Shield of Heliodor. In it, it tells the tale of a legendary Heliodorian knight who saved the life of the first King of Zwaardsrust, which was Drustan - whom Hendrik is a probable reincarnation of. Said knight was the same knight who was sent to Puerto Valor to oversee the sea gates, as he is the direct ancestor of Don Rodrigo - thus, Sylvando as well.
- There's also the fact as well that Sylv receives the Coraza de Caballero from Servantes after the Kingsbarrow Trial; the info box says it once belonged to a knight known for his godlike skill with a sword. This suit may very well have been that Heliodorian knight's own suit, handed down through the generations until it ends-up (back) with Sylv. Additionally, it's often stated that Don Rodrigo is a knight unparalleled with his own skill with the sword; most likely inherited from the first Don and passed down to Sylv. This could explain why Sylv still retains a strong sense of justice and sticks to everything the knighthood stands for, even long-after becoming an entertainer; it's ingrained very deeply within him.
- As for why the Shield of Heliodor stayed in Heliodor... It's most likely the original knight simply didn't want to carry it all the way to Puerto Valor.
Tyriant is King Arnout of Zwaardsrust, reanimated to do Mordegon's bidding.
- Tyriant is clearly based on a knight, which King Arnout certainly was, and when looking at his character model there are two very notable things; the first is that he's wearing a tattered purple cape over his armour, and his right eye is the Purple Orb. The Purple Orb was from Zwaardsrust, so it can be assumed that that was their royal family's colour, so to speak. In addition (in the English version, at least), he talks like how other Zwaardsrustian characters (Dave and Noah, for example) talk.
- Perhaps the cruelest piece of evidence is that he fights Hendrik - or rather, Jasper seems to summon him to fight. If Tyriant really is King Arnout, then what better way to wound Hendrik than to have him unknowingly fight (and possibly re-kill, if you allow the AI-controlled Hendrik to deal the final blow) his beloved late King, whom he probably looked up to in his youth?
Father Benedictus never has his eyes open because he has the gift of visions from Yggdrasil; he was born without sight.
- All throughout the game, Father Benedictus has his eyes closed; initially it may seem like a design choice, him being an elderly man. However, it's revealed by both himself and an NPC that he receives visions from Yggdrasil. When Veronica and Serena arrive in Arboria act one, and Serena again in act two, he seems to sense their presence rather than outright look at them. Since he receives dreams of future events, in one sense he can see. Perhaps, assuming he was born with such a gift, Yggdrasil deemed it unnecessary that he'd need his actual eyesight.
Chalky was one of Rab's older brothers, and Yggdrasil knew this. That's why She sent the Luminary all the way to Cobblestone.
- It's stated in a loading screen box that Chalky first found his way to Cobblestone "some decades ago", meaning he's not a native Cobblestonian. This could also explain why he no longer has a Drasilian brogue, instead sounding like everyone else from the village. "Chalky" is also most likely a nickname, one he picked when he must have realised that people in the Heliodor region have gems and rocks for name - that's why he named his daughter Amber. Much like how "Rab" is short for "Robert", "Chalky" might be a nickname for "Charles" (a common royal name). There's also the fact Rab and Chalky look very similar; two short, old men, with bushy eyebrows, brown eyes, and big mustaches (coincidentally, Amber has the same eyes -both colour and style- as Queen Eleanor).
- Chalky (and Amber) are the only people in Cobblestone to wear a darker shade of green - the very same colour as used with the royal family of Dundrasil (there are also hints of orange in some Drasilian attire, such as Irwin's knight outfit; Chalky and Amber wear orange, too). There's also the fact he went on a very long journey for the Rainbough, as chronicled in the Sudo Nim books scattered around Erdrea. This may have been why he was overlooked for the throne in favour of Rab.
- Yggdrasil still knew who Chalky was though, and so when the time came, She sent the Luminary floating all the way from Dundrasil to Cobblestone Falls at just the right time, when Chalky had gone fishing. This would potentially make Chalky the Luminary's great-uncle, and Amber his first cousin once removed.
- Furthermore, when Chalky lifted the Luminary out of his bassinet, he seemed to recognise the style of envelope that Eleanor had put her letter in; he'd only do that if he'd seen that style before (from when he lived in the castle). Moreover, he told Amber that the baby was the reincarnation of the Luminary; it's possible he kept abreast of news while on his travels and was able to put two and two together.
Puerto Valor's casino was once a mansion, a birthday gift from Don Rodrigo to Norberto.
- It's very out of place for a casino to belong in a city renowned for its knights, so... Why is it even there? An NPC in the casino hotel says that it's owned and operated by l'Académie de Notre Maître des Médailles, which seems a very odd choice - until you consider that Sylv loves mini medals. In a party talk in act two, he confesses he's obsessed with them, and that he loved the shiny little things.
- Another NPC in Puerto Valor act one mentions how it's a recent addition to the city, which indicates it was something else before. Given the still-grand interior of the casino, and how big the building is (both casino and hotel combined), it could have been a mansion at one point - a birthday present for Norberto. However, he ran away either before it was completed or not long after.
- So, not wanting to leave an empty building sitting there, and knowing his son loved mini medals -the aforementioned Sylv party talk also tells of how Rodrigo threw his medal collection away- the Don enlisted the help of l'Académie, which luckily sits in the neighbouring Champs Sauvage. The Don most likely had the casino tokens look like mini medals from a distance, and he may well have had his knights go out and disperse them around Erdrea in hopes that Norberto -or Sylvando- would find them, get curious and want to find-out where they came from. Another party talk reveals Sylv had heard rumours of the casino being built, so he might well have put two and two together on his own and stayed away from Puerto Valor for even longer.
Just as the Luminary is the eleventh Dragon Quest hero, perhaps he's also the eleventh Drasilian monarch.
- Furthermore, maybe Sylvando is the eleventh Don of Puerto Valor, and Jade the eleventh Heliodorian monarch.
- It's not much to go off of, but one loading screen box mentions that the current headmaster of L'Académie is the eleventh such one - and he's around at the same time as the Luminary...
