The Chaos Shrine is a location in Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin and serves as the game's first overall dungeon. It is a gigantic structure that lies in ruins located to the north of Cornelia. Jack and his party travel to this location to destroy Chaos, as they are compelled to despite the loss of their memories.
The Chaos Shrine is an enormous structure of mostly medieval design with notable signs of decay. Broken stairs and rubble adorn its interior, making travel within difficult. The shrine is composed of multiple buildings, interconnected by bridges and staircases, many of which lie broken, with a central tower serving as its main edifice, with a throne lying within.
History[]
The King of Cornelia allowed Jack and his party to travel to the Chaos Shrine to fulfill their mission to destroy Chaos, despite his skepticism as the prophecy foretold about four Warriors of Light, and Jack's party was only three members.
With the key to the shrine on hand, the party stumbled upon Princess Sarah who requested Jack to find Garland, a tall, imposing warrior clad in full armor whom nobody seemed to know except her, who disappeared in a mission 10 years ago, although she feels it was just recently.
Jack and his party traveled to the shrine and traversed its treacherous, decayed interior, fighting monsters along the way until they reached the central tower where they felt Chaos resided. Upon reaching the shrine's throne, they saw an armored figure sitting upon it. The party asked if he was Chaos, only for him to respond that he was to become it. As the knight resembled Garland, the party inquired further, but he denied being Garland, only someone who would become Chaos.
The party fought the imposing warrior and as they defeated him, his body dissipated in dark smoke, leaving behind a young woman called Neon who attacked the party, until their Crystals resonated with one another. Neon revealed that 10 years ago, she ventured on a quest to defeat Chaos with a party of her own, but her companions died and she alone survived. She came to the realization that Chaos was but a fairy tale, made up to give people hope: as the origin of all darkness, it could inspire people to believe defeating Chaos would solve the world's many woes. As such, Neon attempted to become Chaos to attract warriors into defeating her.
Jack did not believe Neon's words and the group decided to return to Cornelia to report to the King of Cornelia what had occurred.
Behind the scenes[]
The Chaos Shrine is based on the Chaos Shrine from the first Final Fantasy, equally serving as the game's first dungeon. Unlike the original Chaos Shrine upon the first visit, the shrine in Stranger of Paradise is larger and more complex. Furthermore, many segments of the shrine feature outdoor exposition, whereas the original was largely enclosed, and even underground.
The shrine's introduction cutscene has Jack and his party open a large door, followed by a swarm of bats. This is another reference to the original Chaos Shrine, which has bats flying about its interior.