I just read an interesting post on the Reploid Research Lavatory about the Four Guardians of the Megaman Zero series. Kobun #20 translated three different interviews with the game’s creators about the fates of the four and why they didn’t appear in Zero 4. Red it here: http://kobun20.interordi.com/2013/02/10/fate-of-the-four-guardians

Now I knew about the first two already. The first, from 2005, says that it’s up in the air and although they were great characters and loved by the dev team, it wouldn’t make sense to fight them in the fourth game with such a big threat looming and they couldn’t fit them in in any other capacity. They speculated (without confirming) that the Guardians (sans Phantom of course, although he could have done Elfy things with them) were elsewhere fighting for the sake of humans against other enemies or Weil’s schemes. They do desire justice and to honour the memory of X, so that makes sense. They also mentioned the possibility of exploring their adventures in some other form. That never happened.

The second dashed those hopes by stating plainly that they had all died in the final battle with Omega in Zero 3. Shielding Zero from the explosion when Omega was defeated (shown) apparently caused them fatal injuries (not shown). The game’s ending suggests nothing of the sort, and the way it was expressed seemed like a cop-out. They mention then the piece of art in the Rockman Zero 4 Physis Soundtrack, depicting all 4 in robes, watching the game’s ending with X. Whether this is non-canon or their Cyber-Elf forms made perfect by X is up to you, I suppose.

So we have three sources here: two developer statements, and the artwork (which I am taking as canon because it’s too cool not to). I believe they can all be reconciled, and the third interview, coming from the recently released R20+5 art book, retcons both statements into one in a different way than I thought of. It states that the Guardians were considered dead according to Neo Arcadia’s records because they dropped off the map and went missing. They were presumed dead, and it is further stated that their continued fighting to help humans is not impossible.

Now, my theory: the Guardians (Harpuia, Leviathan, and Fefnir) did shield Zero from X’s explosion. In the Zero 3 soundtrack (Telos) there is an an audio drama track with Cyber-X and Cyber-Phantom visiting an injured Fefnir and Leviathan during the events of the game. I envisage a similar scene occurring to all three in hospital again after the final battle, but with X and Phantom telling them of other problems that need their attention elsewhere. This accounts for their absence in Zero 4, as previously speculated.

However, I also believe they died fighting Omega, as stated in the second interview, but not in the same battle at the end of Zero 3. Slightly different to the explanation offered there, but it is also partially fulfilled by the third interview, so I feel more comfortable with it now. You see, it makes more sense to the subsequent ZX series if all the heroes who were made into Biometals are at the same place. So I propose that Cyber-X alerted them to the fact that Omega had lived on in the dimensionally warped region of his defeat (Weil’s old laboratory, where Zero was originally found by Ciel). Of course, at this point they have had the opportunity to have some other adventures in the meantime. The Four Guardians go there and battle Omega again, trying to keep him down and out. They previously stated that they still feel the need to fight Zero, and this gives them that chance too. Presumably Omega has manifested some new physical presence.

During this new battle, the Four Guardians and X succeed in stopping Omega rising again, but at the cost of their lives. They all lived on as Cyber-Elves, even Omega, and similar to how X’s body remained to seal the Dark Elf, the Guardians and X remained to seal Omega. Later, Weil attempts to crash his satellite Ragnarok into Area Zero. Zero manages to crash it somewhere else—we see in ZX that the Ragnarok Core (the basis for Model W, and thus all Biometal) is right near where Omega’s corrupted data form can be fought. This is because Zero crashed Ragnarok right onto the same lab. The influence of the Ragnarok core affected the Cyber-Elves in the area, and when Ciel explored the crash site (with Serpent and others), they were able to recover the Elves of the Guardians, X, and Zero by converting them into pure Biometals. Taking them away, they were able to do good in the world again. However, this left the Ragnarok Core (what would later become Biometal Model W) alone with the Omega Elf, who was then able to partially recover and form a Biometal of its own, spontaneously and with the help of the Core.

The Ragnarok Core being near Omega is canon, but my theory of the Guardians being there explains how Ciel was able to make the Biometals as a result of that trip. In ZX, Vent or Aile (or both) find Omega mostly recreated, and take the Biometal for themselves when they defeat him. And during the game the Core is removed, so that accounts for everyone. The death of the Guardians at that time, well after the end of Zero 3 but before the end of Zero 4, explains why their Elves were watching the fall of Ragnarok, but allows them to fight for the humans in the meantime. It also explains them dying in a fight against Omega, and ties into ZX.

I hope I explained that the way my mind understands it. Now the only thing left unexplained is why Model A in ZX Advent is so much like Axl, and who actually created it (I don’t believe Master Albert did). Until further X games say otherwise, let’s say Weil was able to get ahold of Axl’s body and stored it in his lab (presuming he died in the Elf Wars, and his own Elf stayed with his body). It was then subjected to the same processes that led to the creation of the other Biometals, so with Zero and X’s help Ciel must have made Model A as well (since they both knew Axl in life). It’s fine for Albert then to take that Biometal and corrupt it, but the similarity is too close to be ignored. Unless he means that Model W, speaking as Albert, indirectly caused the creation of all Biometals because they were made by studying the Ragnarok Core and through its influence on the Cyber-Elves, including Model A.

Oh, speaking of which, I have to say another thing about Weil. I found out since my other Rockman posts that according to Inafune, Wily was alive in X5 and helping Sigma. Huh-what?!? So now I’m thinking that Weil really is just Wily with an altered appearance and his own custom cybernetic enhancements to allow long life. He stayed secret for ages, and makes his comeback in the Elf Wars. It explains why there are two guys so evil and with a similar name. Ah, Wily. Stay classy.