Maybe Abadd is Azel after her disgust with the “filth and destruction” of the world, and losing her two friends, and her daughter being imprisoned has corrupted her.
(S)he might be trying to rescuscitate Edge and Craymen, (though I can’t explain the “ancient” in “ancient masters”). It would also explain the “something in his eyes” that leads Orta to Abadd, and the “awakened prematurely” he talks about (at least I think Azel was awakened prematurely), as well as him appearing in Sestren as a weird spirit just after you talk to Azel’s weird spirit. His apparant malfunction after he kills those baby monsters could also be explained by this. And the hair. Don’t forget the hair.
I must admit, that upon seeing this original artwork of Abadd (a link to The Art of Panzer Dragoon) prior to the release of PDO, I did have similar thoughts. My first impression was that “he” was a damaged and mutilated Azel, with the external human “shell” scorched away. (She did say in Saga that she was internally more like a pure-type monster than a human, after all.) Though you have a very interesting point, I’m quite convinced that they are different entities, though.
I’m pretty sure that by ancient masters he just means the Ancients, i.e. the ten-thousand-years-dead forerunners of the present human race. Also, I suspect that the “premature awakening” Abadd refers to is the fact that the dragon has just blasted him out of his growth sequence inside the Cradle; hence why he is still in that “egg” thing for the first part of the final battle.
Perhaps all Drones had that funky ponytail (or in Abadd’s case, bonytail)? Who knows…
If you watch the ending of Panzer Dragoon Orta there is an art picture that shows the Empire chipping Abadd out of a huge slab of rock. They probably damaged him in the process which would explain the huge hole in his body. Since it was the Empire who dug Abadd up… that is, he was unearthed due to an unnatural cause, it likely that this is was why he claimed to have been ‘awakened prematurely’.
When Abadd is talking to Orta after Azel’s message in Forbidden Memories, doesn’t he say to her, ‘You were created from her genes’? I think this confirms that Azel and Abadd are indeed separate entities.
If you watch the ending of Panzer Dragoon Orta there is an art picture that shows the Empire chipping Abadd out of a huge slab of rock. They probably damaged him in the process which would explain the huge hole in his body. Since it was the Empire who dug Abadd up… that is, he was unearthed due to an unnatural cause, it likely that this is was why he claimed to have been ‘awakened prematurely’.[/quote]
I don’t think they did anything to the “rock” that contained Abadd. Abadd was stored that way in the Ancient Age.
I think it’s possible that the ones that kidnapped Azel from her creators didn’t alter her programming at all. The fact that she wasn’t finished was enough to let her break free from her original programming. The scientists that created her speak of a device that they wanted to implement into their latest drones. However, Azel was already kidnapped so she was never equipped with that device. These high-level drones were intelligent enough to become self-aware, but that’s something the Ancients could not allow. This device may have been a system that didn’t allow them to question their master’s will. However, as the scientists stated, there was “a serious defect”. This defect may explain Abadd’s strange behaviour when Orta asks him a simple question: “why do you kill?”. Apparently, this causes a conflict with the drones own will and their original programming. The device seemed to prevent him from answering that question.
Abadd looks a lot less human than Azel and I always thought that this was caused because something went wrong during his creation. The level of intelligence Abadd seemed to have indicates that he was a high-level drone, just like Azel, but why didn’t he look human then? I think it’s possible he was never really “finished”; the scientists left him like that because he malfunctioned. They probably didn’t have time to correct this problem, leaving malfunctioning drones behind to resuscitate their masters.
That’s not a bad theory though, MaxPower. There’s always the possibility that Azel physically changed herself to Orta by merging with Edge’s DNA, leaving Abadd behind as a leftover from the process. Her free will could have been transferred to Orta, and her original programming to Abadd.
Yes, this picture of Abadd from the credits sequcence (more The Art of Panzer Dragoon linkage) is intriguing, as it shows us a scene that is effectively “outside” the known story. On close inspection, though, Abadd’s body already appears to be disproportionate, and to have that hole in it already.
My theory is that the Ancients simply made Azel look more aesthetically pleasing because her original task (whatever it was) would have involved more interation with people. As Abadd was designed for what was presumably a more behind-the-scenes purpose, they didn’t bother to make him look as pleasant.
Also, the “rock” that Abadd is merged with appears on examination to be an integrated part of the ruins. Though I suspect that this was his intended means of suspended animation, similar to that cavity that Azel slept in, it looks like it would have been far more difficult to get him out of it. Maybe this was to ensure that he came to no physical harm down the ages, while he waited to fulfill his vital mission of resurrection?
Yeah, on second thoughts, the picture shows that Abadd was tightly compressed inside rock. Perhaps the Ancients created his original shape so distorted so as to make sure he fitted tightly into the rock without room to move around inside.
Remember that not all Drones were designed to ride dragons. What we know of them and of the Ancient Age seems to suggest that they would have had a variety of different tasks and purposes, most of them physically strenuous or involved with battle in some way. It makes sense that the Ancients covered the drones with that strange, stone-like white substance that protects all of their artefacts and creations.
