Captain Mac has quite a confusing story for a character that has, until recently, existed entirely offscreen. The reason for this is likely because our main source of information relating to him is Magic Cid, who, when we meet him, says pretty much nothing.
In this chapter, we're going to recap everything we know about Captain Mac, before talking to the man himself and finally learning what the hell is going on.
Let's get started.
The first mention of Mac was in Chapter 1 in Foresta. Just after Kaeli joined our party, we could talk to her mother. She told us that her husband, Mac, had left his Captain Cap behind.
In Chapter 3, just after entering the Focus Tower for the first time, Magic Cid told us that Captain Mac would be crucial to our quest. He gave us absolutely no details whatsoever.
In Chapter 5, Spencer told us actually quite a lot about Captain Mac. First off, we learned that Captain Mac found a shield, which he then hid in the Focus Tower. Because why not hide something in the building which is the only route between the four areas of the world? No-one's ever going to go there...
He told us that Mac was studying a Prophecy.
Clever people will remember that The Prophecy was pretty much the first piece of exposition we were given, way back on the Hill of Destiny:
"The Prophecy" wrote:
The vile 4 will steal the Power, and divide the World behind 4 doors. At that time the Knight will appear!
Now, in my honest opinion, there isn't much there to study. If Mac was studying it, there must be more to it than this. Perhaps this is why he's "crucial to [our] quest"?
Spencer told us that Mac's Ship was stranded on a rock ledge when a lake suddenly dried up.
Back in Chapter 3, after getting the Wakewater from Magic Cid in the Life Temple, you could leave the Life Temple by the front door. If you did, you couldn't go anywhere, but you could see a ship stuck on a rock ledge. Now we know that it's Mac's.
The final thing we were told is that Spencer was digging a tunnel to the ship in an attempt to save Mac.
Inside the Focus Tower, on our way to Fireburg at the beginning of Chapter 6, Magic Cid informed us that some awful news made Captain Mac race from his home. This probably explains why he left his Captain Cap behind in Foresta.
Almost immediately afterwards, we would get the shield that Spencer was talking about from a nearby chest.
It wasn't actually hidden that well.
We didn't hear any more about Mac until the beginning of Chapter 9. Inside the Focus Tower, on our way to Windia, Magic Cid returned to tell us to keep an eye out for Captain Mac's ship on our way to Windia. Nothing important then, just the hint that we'll be able to see the ship from the new area.
Before we made it to Windia, we had to go back to see Spencer. He given up on the tunnel, and informed us that we would need the help of Otto in Windia.
Which just happened to be where we were going anyway...
In Chapter 10, inside the Kaidge Temple and still en route to Windia, Magic Cid appeared once again to tell us that Captain Mac would tell us about the Prophecy. The fact that Magic Cid himself was the one who told us the Prophecy in the first place, this basically confirms that there is something about the Prophecy that we don't know yet.
At the very end of Chapter 11, just outside Pazuzu's Tower, Mac's Ship came back into view. Pazuzu himself made a passing remark about Mac before our battle against him in Chapter 12.
In Chapter 13, we returned to Spencer's Place using the Rainbow Road, and refilled the lake, allowing Mac's Ship dock on land.
Before leaving to board the ship, Kaeli gave us the very Captain Cap that Mac himself had left behind, so that Mac himself would know Kaeli was coming.
We should have realised back in Foresta that the Captain Cap even being mentioned meant it would be making a dramatic appearance later on, what with this game's plot having less subtlety than William Shatner.
Or, if you don't like Family Guy, Family Guy.
After fighting our way through the ship, we finally met up with Mac, who seemed to be in very bad shape.
Perhaps this is the same bad news that caused him to race from his home?
We haven't encountered anything to do with any Dark King so far in the game, but he mentions it and the Prophecy together, so they must be related.
But before Mac can say any more, Kaeli steps in and takes him to Windia to treat his injuries.
Or to delay the reveal for as long as possible. It's hard to tell which, really.
Back in Windia, Phoebe tells us that Mac has bad news. Clever people would have already worked that out by this point.
So let's piece all this together and try to work out what happened before the game started.
The facts were these:
At some point, Mac found a shield (the Venus Shield), which he determined to have been used by a Knight a long time ago. He then hid it in the Focus Tower, and gave the key to Spencer so that, when the Knight returned, Spencer could give him the key and allow him to (re)claim his shield.
Later, Mac was researching the Prophecy at his home, when he discovered something terrible related to the Prophecy and a Dark King. He rushed to his Ship, leaving his Captain Cap behind, and sailed out, presumably in an attempt to find out more. However, the lake dried up and he and his ship were stranded on a rock ledge and overrun by monsters.
When Spencer found out about Mac being stranded, he started digging a tunnel from Aquaria, in an attempt to save him. Whilst he was doing this, the Vile Four seized control of the four Crystals, throwing the environment into chaos. This caused, among other things, Spencer to become trapped underground and unable to continue digging, as well as the sinking of Benjamin's home town. The sinking of Benjamin's home town was immediately followed by events known collectively as "Chapter 1".
The consequences of Chapter 1 led to more events, which in turn led to more consequences, and so on and so forth, until they eventually led us to the end of Chapter 13, henceforth referred to as "now".
So what now?
Now we find out just what the hell's going on.
When we last saw Benjamin, he had just met up with Phoebe in the Windia Inn.
Upstairs, Kaeli waits, with both Mac and Reuben in bed. Different beds, thankfully.
Oh, good for him, I guess.
Woah, calm down Benjamin! He's an old man who's been through a lot lately and is likely suffering from both serious and minor injuries! Give the guy a break!
Benjamin goes ??
Mac: "The one behind the 4 is darker than the night, and rises midst the land!" You've saved the Crystals, but our real enemy is the Dark King. He's in the Focus Tower. Reach the Tower with my ship. Stand by the steering wheel and press the A button.
So the big revelation is, "The Dark King is actually the Big Bad"?
Yes, I can accept that this. It ties up all of the foreshadowing's unresolved loose ends in a neat little package, and is actually a fairly well executed piece of plot. The only problem I have with it is that the idea of a Dark King was introduced a bit too late, and so suddenly that it could, really, have been anything else. You could replace "Dark King" with "Displeased Accountant" or "Malformed Shoe" and the overall effect would have been the same because the identity of the Big Bad has had absolutely no impact on anything thus far, only his existence has.
But hey, this bit of plot is head and shoulders above the cliché riddled and, at times, blatantly nonsensical stuff that is the rest of the plot, so it feels wrong for me to criticise it.
And now we know what we have to do, let's go do it.
The steering wheel on Mac's Ship is one of those strange things that don't work until you're told how to work them.
IIIIIIII'M SAILIIIIING AWAAAAAAAAAAAAY
SET AN OPEN COOOURSE... FOR THE VIIIIRGIN SEEEEAS
AAAAAND NOW THEEEEEE FOCUS TOW'RRRRRR