Lloyd (The Legend of Dragoon)/Synopsis

The story of Lloyd from The Legend of Dragoon

The Start Of A Partnership
Much of Lloyd's background is a mystery that even Lloyd himself refuses to elaborate on. However, a few basic facts are known: as a Wingly, Lloyd was most likely born into a life of seclusion in one of the isolated settlements to which his people had retreated to in the aftermath of the Dragon Campaign, eleven thousand years beforehand.

Having once dominated the world and enslaved much of its populace, the Winglies had been defeated in a massive uprising after several human slaves had discovered the power inherent in the crystallized souls of dead Dragons: this power was not only great enough to arm the wielder with magical powers and enchanted armor, but destructive enough to send the Wingly's legendary flying cities plummeting from the sky. Following the death of Emperor Melbu Frahma, an accord was reached between the conquering humans and the surrendering Winglies, in which the remnants of the empire would be allowed to continue in peace so long as they surrendered their most powerful artifacts and agreed to a treaty of non-aggression. Reluctantly agreeing, the Winglies left humanity to their own devices and left for the safety of their hidden sanctuaries, where they stayed for the next eleven millennia. Only two such settlements are visited over the course of the game - the Forest of Winglies and Spring Breath Town Ulara - and its inhabitants have never encountered Lloyd before: with this in mind, it can be assumed that he was born in one of the more obscure villages of the fallen empire, unknown even to the scholars at Ulara.

Like most Winglies, Lloyd was born with many magical powers, including the gift of flight and the ability to cast spells; unlike others of his kind, however, his supernatural gifts showed no signs of the degeneration that had overtaken his people in the centuries since the Dragon Campaign, demonstrating not only magical potency sufficient to outmatch any of his peers, but also the ability to move and fight at superhuman speed.

A bright young man, Lloyd was puzzled by the waning of the Winglies' magic, and apparently devoted some time to investigate the root cause: as it happened, part of degeneration was due to the collapse of Melbu Frahma's eugenics program, for in the heyday of the empire, the Birth City had been established to prevent the births of Winglies without the magical strength demanded of the average citizen; inbreeding and stagnation also played a role in weakening the species. However, Lloyd was not satisfied with this answer: Winglies were a long-lived people, and survivors of the Dragon Campaign could still be found in the hidden settlements around the world; they, too, faced the waning of their magic, even though they'd been born at the height of the species' magical potency.

Three years prior to the events of the game, Lloyd was unexpectedly approached by a stranger who claimed to have the answers he sought; dressed in a heavy cloak and a face-concealing mask, this interloper identified himself as Emperor Diaz - the man who'd led the human forces to victory in the Dragon Campaign. Though skeptical of the Emperor's claims and hesitant to trust a human, Lloyd decided to give him the benefit of a doubt and allowed him to explain: over the course of their meeting, Diaz explained that the degeneration Lloyd had witnessed was not unique to the Winglies; indeed, all of Endiness was undergoing a slow collapse into decay.

The once-great Dragons and Gigantos were all but extinct, the savage beasts of the wilds had grown to dominate the forests and plains, and even the human kingdoms were slowly degenerating - either into civil war or stagnation; the world itself was beginning to rot, a process that could only end in an apocalypse. Nor was this a new phenomena: Diaz took Lloyd on a journey to the ancient Wingly capital of Kadessa, and showed him the signs of how the Winglies had undergone their own quiet slump into stagnation at the height of their empire; the only way to end the tyranny of Melbu Frahma had been through a revolution, and only way to avert the apocalypse would be a revolutionary act unlike any before it - the regeneration of the entire planet.

All life on Endiness had been born from the Divine Tree, its species descended from the 108 fruits that had formed on its branches; the Winglies had once been considered the most advanced of all the races, but in reality, they were really only the 107th species. The 108th species was the Virage Embryo, a creature of unimaginable power entrusted by Soa himself with the duty of purifying the world and cleansing it of all imperfection; unfortunately, the ancient Winglies feared losing their supremacy over Endiness, and had created a number of magical signet spheres to prevent the Final Species from emerging from dormancy, keeping its body suspended in space as the Moon That Never Sets.

In the years since the fall of the Wingly Empire, the Virage Embryo's spirit had been incarnated on Endiness as the Moon Child, a messiah born once every 108 years; over the course of its time among the living, the Moon Child would gather followers through preaching and miracles, eventually setting out on a pilgrimage to reclaim its original body - a process that would lead to the world being purified in holy bliss. However, the messiah had never yet succeeded in its assigned duties: over the last 11,000 years, every single one of the Moon Child's incarnations had been hunted down and murdered by a creature known only the Black Monster, dooming the world to neverending chaos.

However, Diaz informed Lloyd that there might be a way to complete the Moon Child's mission: traitors within the ranks of the Winglies had created three Divine Moon Objects to disable the signets, and these objects had been given to the newly-established human kingdoms following the end of the Dragon Campaign. If they could obtain these objects, disable to signets and place the Moon Child under their protection, the purification of the world might yet be possible. However, Diaz was weak from his revival and needed someone to act in his stead; enthralled by the vision of an earthly utopia, Lloyd agreed to work for the Emperor, gladly pledging his strength to Diaz's cause.

Into The Corridors Of Power
Given that the Divine Moon Objects were now considered sacred heirlooms of the human dynasties that had acquired them, the two conspirators could not easily access the three through the layers of security protecting them. However, Diaz had access to artifacts that might allow them to buy their way closer to their goals: scouring the ruins of Kadessa, Lloyd was able to uncover a number of ancient artifacts that would benefit his cause, including the Violet, Jade and Sea Blue Dragoon Spirits; after some investigation, he also tracked down the vassal dragons that the spirits' previous owners had once commanded, including the Green Tusked Dragon Feyrbrand and the Sea Dragon Regole. He was even able to arm himself with Melbu Frahma's infamous Dragon Buster Sword, a powerful magical weapon created to slay Dragons and those who drew their power from them - namely Dragoons. With all these powerful magical items ready to be bartered, Lloyd set out to find a means of acquiring the Divine Moon Objects.

The first of the objects was the Moon Gem, currently a national treasure of the southern kingdom of Serdio: by Serdian tradition, the reigning monarch was to have the Gem physically implanted in their body on the day of their coronation, making it effectively impossible to acquire without either capturing or killing the king. Doubly unfortunately, Serdio was in the midst of a civil war, having divided itself into two opposing nations: Basil, currently ruled by King Albert, rightful heir to the throne of Serdio; and Sandora, currently ruled by Emperor Doel, Albert's uncle and the murderer of the late King Carlo.

With Albert's personal guard on alert at all times, an assassination attempt would have been difficult verging on impossible, to say nothing of the problems inherent in removing the Moon Gem from his corpse and escaping unharmed; the only way to safely obtain the prize would be to literally kill everyone between him and Albert - an unlikely prospect even for someone as powerful as him. Instead, Lloyd offered his services to Imperial Sandora, promising Doel a means of destroying his enemies in on the condition that the empire provides him with the Moon Gem as a reward for his assistance once Basil had fallen. Eager for any advantage over his enemies, Doel agreed.

Over the course of their partnership, Lloyd provided Doel with the Violet Dragoon Spirit, the Jade Dragoon Spirit, ownership of Feyrbrand, and apparently the ownership of an unnamed violet dragon as well. A patron of the sciences, the Sandoran Emperor had his researchers dissect the violet dragon, eventually utilizing it as a magical power source for his increasingly mechanized palace: over time, the study of draconic magic also paved the way for powerful healing and destructive magics, providing considerable aid to the Sandoran war effort. However, Doel was surprised to discover that the Violet Dragoon spirit responded to him, allowing him to transform into one of the legendary Dragoons; awed by the power he wielded when transformed, he sought out a possible wielder for the Jade Dragoon spirit, and eventually found it in the form of Greham, a former knight of Basil who'd defected to Sandora after a disastrous falling-out with his friend and commanding officer. With Greham now serving as the Jade Dragoon, he could command Feyrbrand in battle, conferring a significant military advantage to Sandora. However, Lloyd and Doel did not make their move for some time yet, preferring to wait and allow their forces to accumulate, mollifying King Albert with claims of a truce.

During this time, Lloyd also approached King Albert and (while disguised in a face-concealing hood and cloak) offered his services as a military adviser; as his dealings with Sandora had been conducted in secret, nobody had any reason to distrust him once he was able to prove his worth and his (false) loyalty. In reality, Lloyd had taken this position to serve as a double agent, allowing him to feed Albert misleading information and provide Doel with advance knowledge of Basil's battle plans; more importantly, his position of authority also allowed him to search the records of both countries for any information that might lead him to the Moon Child.

However, Lloyd's efforts were not restricted to Serdio. Six months prior to the start of the game, he also investigated the neighboring kingdom of Tiberoa and sought out a means of acquiring its Divine Moon Object, the Moon Dagger. just as it had in Serdio, ritual formalities stood in his way: the Moon Dagger was kept hidden deep within the palace of Fletz until it was bequeathed to the eldest child of the reigning monarch on his or her 20th birthday. Obtaining the artifact would once again be difficult, as would the process of escaping with it unharmed.

So, Lloyd again found that the best way to proceed was by acting through pawns: making the acquaintance of a fellow Wingly by the name of Lenus, he recruited her to his cause, using her infatuation with him as a motivating factor. Lenus was able to ally herself with a bandit group known as the Gehrich Gang, offering them wealth and influence throughout the country in exchange for their help: with their aid, she was able to ambush Princess Emille, the eldest daughter of the King of Tiberoa, and imprison her within an enchanted portrait.

Using her magical powers, Lenus was able to disguise herself as Emille and effectively replace her within the court without anyone knowing otherwise - though the Wingly brigand's foul temper did raise some suspicions from the Princess's sister, Lisa. With Emille turning twenty in a matter of months, the acquisition of the Moon Dagger was almost assured; however, in order to insulate herself from any adverse attention, Lenus replaced several palace guards with disguised members of the Gehrich Gang, ensuring that the enchanted portrait in her bedchamber would remain undiscovered by snooping palace staff. The rest of the gang was set to work on a massive crime wave throughout the kingdom, hoping that it would be enough to draw any prying eyes away from "Emille's" odd behavior. With this in mind, Lloyd also provided Lenus with the Blue Sea Dragoon Spirit, allowing her to command the Sea Dragon Regole - continuing the distracting crime wave by having the sea monster wreak havoc on Tiberoan shipping.

Unfortunately, Lloyd's attempts to seek out the Moon Mirror in the northernmost kingdom of Mille Seseau were met with limited success: the Divine Moon Object was not kept anywhere in the palace nor anywhere on the reigning monarch's person, nor was there any ritual in place to bequeath the artifact to the current owner's heirs. After much study, Lloyd eventually discovered that the Moon Mirror's location was a best-kept secret of Queen Theresa, the current ruler of Mille Seseau, and the security surrounding her was tighter than any other monarch in Endiness, in part because she ruled from Deningrad's legendary Crystal Palace - previously known as the Birth City of the Wingly Empire. Disappointed but not discouraged, Lloyd decided to wait until an opportunity presented itself.

Just before the start of the game, Lloyd was able to uncover the identity and location of the current Moon Child: a young woman by the name of Shana, she now resided in the small village of Seles, a settlement loyal to Basil. Anxious to secure the greatest of his current mission objective, he was able to convince Doel to break the truce and mount an offensive on Seles as the first move in the next stage of the war against Basil: as such, the Emperor Doel sent out a platoon of men accompanied by auxiliaries from the nearby Sandoran prison at Hellena and ordered them to capture Shana by any means necessary; for good measure, he also sent Feyrbrand into the forests as an instrument of shock and awe. Meanwhile, bored with the triviality of the order, Hellena's chief warden Fruegel ordered his soldiers to burn Seles to the ground.

Unnoticed by the rest of the men, Lloyd secretly followed.

Chapter I: Serdian War
The game begins with Seles being attacked and incinerated by Sandoran forces, who proceed to capture Shana alive - though not before confirming her identity as the Moon Child. It is here that Lloyd first appears in the game, still in his disguise as a Serdian military adviser: over the course of the opening cutscene, the Sandoran military's Great Commander expresses distaste for the needless slaughter and the kidnapping of a civilian, but Lloyd curtly informs him that it was all conducted on the orders of Emperor Doel; any questions as to Shana's identity and true nature are immediately rebuffed. Soon after, he and the invaders leave, taking the Moon Child with them.

Shana is immediately incarcerated at Hellena Prison, and her jailers are told to keep her under heavy guard until such time as Lloyd and Diaz are ready to begin the final stage of their plan; when Fruegel questions this order, Lloyd goes so far as to put a sword to the pugnacious warden's throat, warning him that harming Shana in any way will cost him his life. Scant hours later, however, Helena experiences an unprecedented breach in security: Dart Feld, a former resident of Seles and Shana's childhood sweetheart, breaks into the prison in an attempt to rescue the captive Moon Child; along the way, he also rescues Lavitz Slambert, a knight of Basil. Together, the three warriors break out of Helena and escape into the grasslands to the north. Lloyd watches them go, unperturbed despite the loss of his prize: after all, everything is going to plan.

His confidence is soon further justified when the three escapees travel north into Basil, eventually finding sanctuary in the capital city of Bale - where Lloyd is still working as King Albert's adviser. Throughout Lavitz's meeting with Albert, Lloyd is standing in the background, keeping a close eye on Shana and listening to every bit of classified information exchanged between the two; as such, when Dart and Lavitz are dispatched to the fortified town of Hoax in an attempt to cut off a possible Sandoran offensive, it's not long before the information reaches Emperor Doel. On the evening that Dart and his allies arrive in Hoax, the town is besieged by a massive Sandoran army equipped with prototype magical weapons and led by Doel's personal champion, the Giganto Kongol. However, in an unexpected twist, the day is saved when Rose the Darkness Dragoon arrives on the scene, awakening Dart's own Dragoon spirit in the process. With Rose as his mentor, Dart and his allies are eventually able to slay both Feybrand and Greham, depriving Sandora of their most precious military resource so far. As if to add insult to injury, Lavitz inherits the Jade Dragoon Spirit, adding a third Dragoon to their ranks - and a fourth when Shana eventually obtains the White-Silver Dragoon Spirit as a cure for Feybrand's poison.

However, despite these substantial setbacks, Lloyd remains untroubled. Indeed, while preparing the next stage of the plan, he decides to let off some steam by signing up for the annual Hero Competition in the market town of Lohan; by chance, both Dart and his old friend Haschel are also participating in the tournament - a perfect opportunity to study a potential threat to his plans. Chronologically speaking, this is the first point in the game in which Lloyd is seen out of his disguise, though his secret identity as Albert's adviser remains unknown to the protagonists.

After defeating Haschel in the semifinals, Lloyd is pitted against Dart in the final round of the competition, setting the stage for an effectively unwinnable boss battle: Lloyd is able to dodge every single one of his opponent's attacks, and replies with devastating sword-combos conducted at superhuman speed; should the player manage to keep Dart alive long enough, Lloyd will simply deal Dart a disabling but non-lethal wound in a cutscene, ending the match in a KO. After recovering, a thoroughly humbled Dart offers his congratulations to the victor, but Lloyd assures the Dragoon that he hasn't yet reached the limits of his capabilities, and that one day, he will be stronger - and indeed, he'll have to be; though he politely refuses the offer of a private sparring contest with Lavitz, he concedes that one day the knight will be stronger, too, and promises to give it some thought before promptly departing.

Soon after, Lloyd's confidence once again bears fruit: despite the loss of Feyrbrand and one of their two Dragoons, Sandora still possesses military strength sufficient to mount an all-out attack on Bale; in the aftermath of the dragon's death, most of Basil has grown complacent in the belief that the enemy will soon be defeated, and this - combined with Lloyd's campaign of misinformation behind the scenes - allows Emperor Doel to easily overwhelm the capital.

In a desperate attempt to protect his subjects, King Albert offers his personal surrender to the invading army and gives himself up as a prisoner of war; while Bale is left under military occupation, the deposed monarch is taken to Helena Prison to be executed - though Doel leaves strict instructions for Fruegel to wait until Lloyd has extracted the Moon Gem from his body before delivering the killing blow. Naturally, the Head Warden chooses to disregard these orders, deciding to kill Albert out of sheer boredom. Fortunately, Dart is once again able to stage a break-in: with Lavitz leading the way, he, Rose, Shana and Haschel kill their way through the wardens and slay Fruegel before he can begin the execution.

However, while Dart and his allies are distracted by the boss battle, Lloyd is able to sneak in and begin the extraction process, magically phasing his hand through Albert's body and retrieving the Moon Gem. Seeing his King and his best friend in agony, Lavitz transforms into a Dragoon and charges Lloyd in a fit of rage; but at the last minute, Lloyd runs him through with the Dragon Buster Sword, fatally wounding him. However, the Wingly's hood is dislodged in the clash, revealing his face to the rest of the group; now unmasked as the traitor behind Sandora's victory, Lloyd flees with the Moon Gem, easily outrunning the rest of the group. Following Lavitz's death, his Dragoon spirit passes to Albert.

Making a brief stopover in the Imperial capital of Kazas, Lloyd confers with Emperor Doel over the fall of Helena and the continued survival of Basil's rightful monarch: while Doel is confident that he will soon rule the land unopposed, Lloyd warns him that the Dragoons will almost certainly target him next. However, he shows no overwhelming desire to stay and protect his asset; with his goals in Serdio completed and no further use for the Emperor, he swiftly departs for Tiberoa - leaving Doel to face Albert and Dart alone. Sure enough, Emperor Doel is soon killed in battle with his fellow Dragoons, though not before revealing Lloyd's current whereabouts.

Chapter II: Platinum Shadow
Lloyd spends much of the second disc remaining two steps ahead of Dart and the others, making only two appearances in the early segments of the game before vanishing for much of the chapter. In the opening title of this disc, he teleports as far as Fletz, pausing time in the crowded city just long enough to get his bearings before restarting time and teleporting away. Moments later, Dart and his allies arrive in Fletz, totally unaware of how close they came to catching him.

Needless to say, Lloyd has no interest in remaining within the capital city, nor does he have any need to: with Lenus still impersonating Princess Emille and her inheritance of the Moon Dagger scant weeks away, all he needs to do is remain out of sight until the Dagger is passed on. Unfortunately, though the Gehrich Gang prove useful in distracting attention from Lenus and her activities within the palace, they end up inadvertently getting Dart and co involved with Lloyd's schemes in Tiberoa when gang lieutenant Mappi steals Dart's Dragoon Spirit. Anxious to retrieve the Spirit, the Dragoons quickly begin investigating the bandits' activities throughout the land, eventually sending them north to Donau, a town almost completely dominated by the gang.

Ironically, Lloyd's deliberate self-isolation from Lenus's activities leads to him briefly clashing with Gehrich Gang when he arrives in Donau - once again two steps ahead of Dart and the others: here, Lloyd walks in on a trio of gang members menacing Wink, one of Queen Therese's adopted daughters, and in an unprecedented act of chivalry, Lloyd frightens off the bandits and saves the young woman's life - before promptly departing, leaving Wink completely smitten with her rescuer. Much later, Lloyd freely admits that this act had nothing to do with his plans, and was committed on a spur-of-the-moment decision.

From this point on, Lloyd mysteriously vanishes into hiding and is not seen until much later in the disc. However, his schemes remain in the spotlight as Dart and the others begin investigating the Gehrich Gang's activities throughout Tiberoa: already intent on retrieving Dart's Dragoon Spirit, they soon discover that the gang have taken the Mayor of Donau's son hostage, and soon set out to acquire royal permission to venture into their territory beyond the Valley of Corrupted Gravity. Along the way, Princess Lisa contacts the group and tasks them with finding a possible explanation for "Emille's" unusual behavior. After venturing through the Valley of Corrupted Gravity, defeating Gehrich and Mappi in an all-out brawl, retrieving both the hostage and the Dragoon Spirit, Dart and co soon discover the truth behind the Impostor Princess from a dying Gehrich. Immediately hurrying back to Fletz, they arrive in the capital city just in time for the ceremony and are able to rescue the real Princess Emille from the magical portrait that Lenus has imprisoned her in. However, though they are able to stop the ceremony, they are unable to prevent Lenus from stealing the Moon Dagger, and after a devastating magical battle in the throne room, the Wingly bandit is able to escape by air - apparently en route to Fueno.

After a long and disrupted voyage across Iisa Bay - during which the party's ship ends up colliding with the ghost-infested wreck of the Princess Louvia - the party manage to follow Lenus all the way to the Prison Island, where the infamous sea dragon is said to reside. As it happens, this is also where Lloyd has been in hiding for most of the disc. Immediately after arriving, Lenus begins insisting that Lloyd return her feelings, even attempting to kiss him before being interrupted by the arrival of Dart and the others.

Now with the Moon Dagger in his possession, Lloyd once again has no interest in remaining in Tiberoa a second longer and teleports himself away, but not before tauntingly inviting his pursuers to follow him to his next port of call - Mille Seseau (presumably because keeping Dart and the others on his tail will allow him to keep Shana close by as well). Lenus, meanwhile, remains behind to buy time for the target of her affections, transforming into a Dragoon and summoning the sea dragon Regole into battle for good measure: however, though both of them prove formidable foes, they are ultimately overwhelmed and slain - Lenus's Dragoon Spirit passing to Meru after her death.

Chapter III: Fate and Soul
Once again, Lloyd ends up remaining out of Dart's reach for much of the disc, in part because the location of the final Divine Moon Object still eludes him. In the end, the player characters are forced to guess at what he's been up to for most of this story arc, as Lloyd himself refuses to admit to any involvement in the crisis that follows the group's arrival in Mille Seseau.

Assuming that their basic conclusions are correct: Lloyd begins looking for other sources of power to claim for his agenda, and unexpectedly stumbles across the long-imprisoned Divine Dragon: fascinated by the beast's magical might, he impulsively tries to seize control of it, believing that might prove useful to his plan; unfortunately, the Divine Dragon was too strong for even the ancient Winglies to control or kill, and Lloyd's attempt at following in his ancestors' footsteps quickly goes horribly wrong. Not only does the Divine Dragon casually shrug off his attempts at taming it, but the struggle proves too much for the already-weakened seal placed around the dragon's prison, allowing the legendary monster to shatter its chains and escape.

The escaped King of the Dragons is immediately free to vent its rage, both at humanity (who once tamed its fellow dragons through the power of dragoons) and at Winglies (who imprisoned it). As such, Lloyd is left to watch helplessly as the Divine Dragon begins circling Deningrad with violence in mind; fortunately, Dart and the other Dragoons have already been alerted to the ancient beast's awakening, and immediately petition Queen Theresa for permission to negotiate with the residents of the Forest of Winglies to obtain the Dragon Block Staff - the only artifact capable of nullifying the Divine Dragon's power. However, while visiting the Crystal Palace, a visit to the ancient Wingly city's signet sphere results in Shana being abruptly rejected by her Dragoon Spirit, which promptly passes to Miranda; weakened by the ordeal, she is left behind in the palace while the other Dragoons set off to obtain the Dragon Block Staff - leaving her right in the firing line when the Divine Dragon returns for a direct attack on Deningrad.

Here, Lloyd's mistake ends up benefiting him at long last: once the dragon is finished leveling the city, it turns its attention to the Crystal Palace and opens fire on it with its built-in cannon, obliterating the upper towers of the old Birth City and completely destroying the signet sphere within - a feat once believed to only be possible with the aid of a Divine Moon Object.

However, Shana and Queen Theresa are in the throne room at the time, and only the Moon Child's unique powers are able to save them; had Shana been unconscious at the time of the attack, the bombardment would have killed them both. Perhaps realizing just how close the Divine Dragon had come to ruin his plans, Lloyd sets off to end the threat of the Dragon King once and for all, attacking the beast and drawing it into a one-on-one battle in its lair atop the Mountain of the Mortal Dragon.

However, even with his own impressive magical powers and the Dragon Buster Sword by his side, Lloyd still spends much of the battle struggling to keep his opponent in check; though he is able to deal several vicious injuries to the monster, it's not until Dart and the Dragoons arrive with the Dragon Block Staff that the tide finally begins to turn against the Divine Dragon. Ultimately, the suppressing power of the staff, the combined strength of the seven Dragoons, and the crippling injuries left by Lloyd are enough to slay the King of Dragons at long last.

As if to add insult to injuries, Lloyd carves his way through the largest of the fallen dragon's eyes, through which he draws out the Divine Dragon's crystallized soul - a trophy to commemorate the battle. However, as Lloyd expected, the resulting Dragoon Spirit does not accept him as its master and does not allow him to transform; nonetheless satisfied with having removed the biggest obstacle to his plans thus far, he teleports himself away - but not before delaying Dart's pursuit by blasting him and Rose off a cliff.

It is at this point that Lloyd unexpectedly discovers the perfect means of discovering the Moon Mirror's location: on his way back from the mountain, he happens upon Wink once again being set upon by aggressors, this time in the form of the younger of the two Bardel Brothers; a committed Wingly supremacist, Bardel is determined to take revenge on humanity for his people's fall from grace and believes that killing one of Queen Theresa's adopted daughters will be the perfect means of beginning his "war of liberation." Disgusted with his fellow Wingly's hidebound ideals, Lloyd intervenes at the last minute, teleporting himself between Bardel and Wink and easily absorbing the magical blast flung in her direction. Bardel quickly finds himself outmatched: not only is Lloyd able to shrug off every single attack flung at him until he's close enough to impale his opponent on the Dragon Buster, but Bardel's final suicidal explosion scarcely leaves a dent in his defenses. However, he's able to use the blast as an opportunity to feign injuries, allowing a grateful Wink to lead him back to Deningrad for medical attention.

Upon arriving at the Crystal Palace, Lloyd is presented to the Queen as the hero who saved Wink twice in a row; though Luanna is able to psychically detect his true intentions, the palace's defenses are ruined and the royal guard are still in shambles, allowing Lloyd the perfect opportunity to strike. Easily learning the Moon Mirror's location by reading Theresa's mind, he holds the queen hostage and departs for the traditional resting place of the final Divine Moon Object - the ancient Tower of Flanvel.

By the time Dart and the Dragoons catch up with Lloyd, he has already obtained the Moon Mirror; though cornered in the Tower's command center, he has donned a powerful suit of ancient Wingly armor and is fully prepared to fight to the death for the sake of his utopia. Though the heavy armor prevents him from making use of his impressive speed and agility, it also allows him resilience he has not previously possessed: until now, Lloyd has spent much of the game in the shadows, engaging in combat only when absolutely necessary and even then only through surprise attacks and quick melees, likely in order to keep his enemies from learning his true power; now, Lloyd has no further reason to hide the full scope of his abilities, allowing him to bombard his opponents with unbridled magical power. However, even with the Dragon Buster and his library of destructive spells on hand, Lloyd ultimately finds himself losing in a battle of endurance to the Dragoons, ultimately collapsing in exhaustion, unable to continue fighting.

Just as Dart is about to execute Lloyd, Wink suddenly arrives in the tower and shields him with her body, sustaining a devastating wound to her back. Startled and confused, Lloyd demands to know why Wink would ever forgive him for his actions, let alone defend him, but the Sacred Sister insists that she still owes him her life - and more to the point, killing him would solve nothing. She reveals that Emperor Diaz has finally emerged from the shadows and kidnapped Shana, demanding that the three Divine Moon Objects be delivered to him in the ruined city of Vellweb - the command center of the human resistance movement during the Dragon Campaign.

Believing that his work is done and that Diaz will be able to make his utopia a reality, Lloyd decides to pay for his actions with his life, allowing Dart to take his revenge for Lavitz at long last - only for Dart to sucker-punch him in the jaw, angrily conceding that killing the Wingly won't bring Lavitz back. Instead, he insists that Lloyd see his plan through to the end.

After a long journey across the Kashua Snowfields, Lloyd is finally able to lead the Dragoons into the ruins of Vellweb, where they finally meet Diaz in his throne room at the very base of the imperial palace. However, after being presented with all three Divine Moon Objects, Diaz finally reveals exactly how the Moon Child will be able to purify the world: namely, by destroying it entirely and building a new world in its place.

Needless to say, Lloyd is shocked and enraged at the depths of the Emperor's deception and refuses to countenance the idea of a utopia built on the ashes of Endiness, going so far as to attack his mentor in an attempt to stop him once and for all. Unfortunately, his heavy armor and the still-healing injuries from his earlier battle leave him too slow to react to his opponent's riposte, and Diaz is able to capture him in a sphere of magic, slamming him clean through the stone floor and leaving him to plummet helplessly into the ruins of the city below.

Chapter IV: Moon And Fate
Lloyd is believed to be dead for much of game's final disc, and does not appear until the very end; as such, he is not privy to much of the revelations that occur in the previous disc's finale or the following chapter: he is absent for the revelation of Rose's true identity as the Black Monster, the unmasking of Diaz as the ex-Dragoon Zieg Feld (Dart's father) and the discovery of Lavitz's final fate.

However, by the time Zieg has finished destroying the signet spheres, Lloyd has recovered enough to journey to Moon That Never Sets, arriving long after it has descended to the branches of the Divine Tree. Though both Zieg and his Dragoon pursuers reach the heart of the Virage Embryo ahead of him, he is nonetheless able to traverse the obstacles of the Moon's core much quicker than Dart and his allies, and ultimately arrives just in time to discover the truth behind "Zieg's" plan.

As it happens, Diaz/Zieg is really being possessed by the ancient spirit of Melbu Frahma, who has hit upon the Virage Embryo as the perfect means of obtaining ultimate power, allowing him to rise higher than he ever had in life by obtaining godhood. Forcing Shana out of the Virage Embryo's heart, he takes her place, swiftly transforming himself into the God of Destruction - and prepares to destroy all of Endiness.

At this point, however, Lloyd emerges from the shadows: once again enraged at the possibility of an earthly utopia being undone by a relic of the ancient world, he attacks Frahma once again - this time in a mock boss battle. Here, he is much more alert to his old mentor's tricks, and is able to dodge the God of Destruction's attacks long enough to deal several vicious injuries to its body and pummel it with one of his most powerful magical attacks.

However, Melbu Frahma is still too powerful to be defeated alone, and Lloyd is eventually pierced through the heart with a blast of magical energy, knocking him out of the sky. Mortally wounded, he begs Dart to make his dream of utopia a reality and stop Frahma once and for all, entrusting him with the Dragon Buster and the Divine Dragoon Spirit before finally bleeding to death. Ultimately, these two weapons give the Dragoons the edge they need against the God of Destruction: with Rose wielding the Dragon Buster and Dart capable of transforming into the Divine Dragoon, they are ultimately able to defeat Melbu Frahma and destroy the Virage Embryo's body once and for all.

As such, though his ultimate goal of an earthly utopia with all species restored to their former glory remains unfulfilled, Lloyd is vindicated in death, his final aid to the Dragoons allowing them to save Endiness from Frahma's deranged ambitions and ultimately pave the way for a better, more peaceful world.