The Origin of Magnet Hill
Magnet hill sits inside the megalopolis that is Fourside. This makes it the sanctuary location that is near the greatest number of people. With so many people near this power spot, there are many potential sources for the power.
We know for a fact that the Mani-Mani statue was in Fourside. After all, Mr. Monotoli kept it in a warehouse behind Jackie's Cafe. Also, it is the origin of the illusions that created Moonside, the psychedelic version of Fourside where every day is Opposite Day. But there are other things that suggest that the Mani-Mani is not the exclusive source of the Sanctuary's power.
One such clue is the gift kept at the sanctuary. This, of course, contains the Carrot key, which is later used in Dalaam. Now, Dalaam obviously has some great power of its own as evidenced by its blatant disregard for gravity, so if this key is an artifact from Dalaam, it could also be a catalyst for the formation of a Sanctuary.
Because so many weird things go on in the city, though, it seems that this Sanctuary is somewhat more powerful than the previous Sanctuaries. Why should this one be more potent? If we assume that the Mani-Mani gave it its power, it should be less powerful, as the Mani-Mani was in the Cafe and the sanctuary was behind the department store, which is on the other side of town. The other locations created by the power of the Mani-Mani were in much closer proximity to the statue.
It seems more likely that the power of the Mani-Mani was amplified by the power of the Carrot key. Combined, they should be able to have the effect on certain key citizens of Fourside that they are observed to have. Specifically, they were powerful enough to influence Monotoli and his security force, and to attract the sewer enemies to guard the Sanctuary.
This does, however, bring up the issue of why the Carrot key was in Fourside in the first place. Although we don't know an exact location of Dalaam, we can assume that it's not hovering directly above Fourside simply because Fourside actually gets sunlight. So it is not likely that the Carrot key just fell off of Dalaam.
Now, Dalaam is not easy to get to; in fact, the only known way of entering or leaving Dalaam is teleportation. This is known to the Four and perhaps the Starmen, although it seems that the Starmen can only teleport very short distances. So the only other way someone could have gone to Dalaam to get the Carrot key would be some sort of flying vehicle. First, there is the Sky Runner, but this is not likely because at all points of the game since its first flight, it is either currently in use or broken. There is, however, another flying vehicle: Mr. Monotoli's helicopter.
It has always seemed surprising that a kid that used to live next door to Ness somehow knew how to pilot a helicopter; but Pokey flew it reasonably well when Ness tried to use it after his second rescue of Paula, so it would seem that Pokey had flown it before. It then seems entirely possible that Giygas had found Pink Cloud to be a critical place to protect, and thus sent his personal assistant to do the job. By this time Giygas had already arranged for the Mani-Mani to arrive in Fourside, and Mr. Monotoli had already been put under its spell, so convincing him to let Pokey borrow the helicopter was easy. Pokey then set up the rabbit statues in front of the entrance to Pink Cloud, and returned to Fourside, where he flushed the key down the toilet in the Monotoli Building and it ended up in the Fourside sewers. A rat living in the sewers noticed the shiny key and took it up into the junkyard behind the Department Store, where he left it. After a while, the power of the nearby Mani-Mani combined with the power of Dalaam in the Carrot key, and created a great deal of power at that location. Over time, the power had caused the rat to grow to enormous proportions, and thus the Plague Rat of Doom came to be.
Tune in next time, where our topic will be "Pink Cloud: How was it created, and why the heck is this Giygas fellow so interested in it anyway?"
Magnet hill sits inside the megalopolis that is Fourside. This makes it the sanctuary location that is near the greatest number of people. With so many people near this power spot, there are many potential sources for the power.
We know for a fact that the Mani-Mani statue was in Fourside. After all, Mr. Monotoli kept it in a warehouse behind Jackie's Cafe. Also, it is the origin of the illusions that created Moonside, the psychedelic version of Fourside where every day is Opposite Day. But there are other things that suggest that the Mani-Mani is not the exclusive source of the Sanctuary's power.
One such clue is the gift kept at the sanctuary. This, of course, contains the Carrot key, which is later used in Dalaam. Now, Dalaam obviously has some great power of its own as evidenced by its blatant disregard for gravity, so if this key is an artifact from Dalaam, it could also be a catalyst for the formation of a Sanctuary.
Because so many weird things go on in the city, though, it seems that this Sanctuary is somewhat more powerful than the previous Sanctuaries. Why should this one be more potent? If we assume that the Mani-Mani gave it its power, it should be less powerful, as the Mani-Mani was in the Cafe and the sanctuary was behind the department store, which is on the other side of town. The other locations created by the power of the Mani-Mani were in much closer proximity to the statue.
It seems more likely that the power of the Mani-Mani was amplified by the power of the Carrot key. Combined, they should be able to have the effect on certain key citizens of Fourside that they are observed to have. Specifically, they were powerful enough to influence Monotoli and his security force, and to attract the sewer enemies to guard the Sanctuary.
This does, however, bring up the issue of why the Carrot key was in Fourside in the first place. Although we don't know an exact location of Dalaam, we can assume that it's not hovering directly above Fourside simply because Fourside actually gets sunlight. So it is not likely that the Carrot key just fell off of Dalaam.
Now, Dalaam is not easy to get to; in fact, the only known way of entering or leaving Dalaam is teleportation. This is known to the Four and perhaps the Starmen, although it seems that the Starmen can only teleport very short distances. So the only other way someone could have gone to Dalaam to get the Carrot key would be some sort of flying vehicle. First, there is the Sky Runner, but this is not likely because at all points of the game since its first flight, it is either currently in use or broken. There is, however, another flying vehicle: Mr. Monotoli's helicopter.
It has always seemed surprising that a kid that used to live next door to Ness somehow knew how to pilot a helicopter; but Pokey flew it reasonably well when Ness tried to use it after his second rescue of Paula, so it would seem that Pokey had flown it before. It then seems entirely possible that Giygas had found Pink Cloud to be a critical place to protect, and thus sent his personal assistant to do the job. By this time Giygas had already arranged for the Mani-Mani to arrive in Fourside, and Mr. Monotoli had already been put under its spell, so convincing him to let Pokey borrow the helicopter was easy. Pokey then set up the rabbit statues in front of the entrance to Pink Cloud, and returned to Fourside, where he flushed the key down the toilet in the Monotoli Building and it ended up in the Fourside sewers. A rat living in the sewers noticed the shiny key and took it up into the junkyard behind the Department Store, where he left it. After a while, the power of the nearby Mani-Mani combined with the power of Dalaam in the Carrot key, and created a great deal of power at that location. Over time, the power had caused the rat to grow to enormous proportions, and thus the Plague Rat of Doom came to be.
Tune in next time, where our topic will be "Pink Cloud: How was it created, and why the heck is this Giygas fellow so interested in it anyway?"
