My attempt at the FULL lyrics for the Garlean (stolen) anthem.

I managed to get my hand on a pretty clear music file of the Garlean Anthem. You can listen to it here.
We all know that Verse 1 is fully subtitled in game, but here is my attempt for all 3 verses, after 500+(not even joking) replays:

Beyond majestic mountains, across the emerald dale,
On march the ivory standard, united we prevail.
From distant shores of Othard, to lakes of Aldenard,
The light of mighty Garlemald, foer'er our guiding star.

Beneath the lofty meadows, inspired a path we fight on,
In might of good king Galvus, enlight us on our soils.
And every tireless summer, our land grew malm by malm,
To be the strongest sanctity, our spirits cannot fall.

Behold the mountains' aegis, the stitch defends us all,
Define the spark upon the land, until her the cause is lost.
By blessing of Lord Galvus! Fly high, beneath the stars!
Ultimate conquest, victory! For glory, Garlemald.

Any thoughts?

A for effort, as I haven't looked into this.

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Originally Posted by GhibliTheSW

By blessing of Lord Galvus!

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. . . For a supposedly determined atheistic Empire thaaaaat is a little worrying.

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Originally Posted by FJerome

. . . For a supposedly determined atheistic Empire thaaaaat is a little worrying.

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Not necessarily, I think- Having someone's 'blessing' can also just mean having their 'approval.' It's just more flowery speech, which this game has everywhere.

UPDATE 1: I made some slight adjustment over the first line of Verse 3, with this, the second line needed some adjustment too.

Behold the mountains' angel -> Behold the mountains' aegis

Her speech embraces our soul ->The stitch defends us all

Until her voice is lost -> Until the cause is lost

After many edits, my thoughts are as follows:

Second stanza:
"inspired a path we fight on" could be "inspired, hot we toil"
"and every tireless summer" could be "in every tireless summer"
"our land grew malm by malm" could be "unending malm by malm"
"to be the strongest sanctity" could be "to bring the strongest sanctity" (there seem to be a lot of phonetic liberties taken here)

Third stanza:
"mountains' aegis" could be "boundless aegis".
"the stitch" could be "as which".
"define the spark upon the land" could be "the fighters of our fatherland".
"until the cause is lost" could be "until the course is run".
"by blessing of Lord Galvus" could be "by mercy of Lord Galvus".
"fly high, beneath the stars" could be "the magni fi, our song"
"ultimate conquest" could be "unending conquest".

It would thus be:

Beyond majestic mountains, across the emerald dale
On march the ivory standard, united we prevail
From distant shores of Othard, to lakes of Aldenard
The light of mighty Garlemald, fore'er our guiding star

Beneath the lofty meadows, inspired, hot we toil
In might of good king Galvus, enlight us on our soils
In every tireless summer, unending malm by malm
To bring the strongest sanctity, our spirits cannot fall

Behold the boundless aegis, as which defends us all
The fighters of our fatherland, until the course is run
By mercy of Lord Galvus, the magni fi, our song
Unending conquest, victory, for glory, Garlemald

Listened to it on loop and slowed down for far longer than I'd recommend (SB credits on youtube, slowed to .5/.75), but here's my (slightly ominous) attempt. Sorry for the necro.
Slashes denote "or".

1st stanza
Beyond majestic mountains, across the emerald dale,
On march the ivory standard, united we prevail.
From distant shores of Othard, to lakes of Aldenard,
The light of mighty Garlemald, fore'er our guiding star.

2nd stanza
Beneath the lofty (banners/meadows), ("we strive and"/"inspired as") we toil
(In/The) light of good King Galvus, (allowed us all?) our souls
(And/Yet) every time I suffer, (and/yet) every time I fall
(To leave a storied sanctity?), our spirits cannot fall

3rd stanza
Beyond the (mountains'/boundless) aegis, whose peaks embrace the sun
(We fight, we "start"/"starve" and "hone"/"hold" the land?), until the course is run
(By/Thy/The) blessing of Lord Galvus, (and let "it"/"us" be as strong?)
Until we ("come with victory"/"conquer history"), for glory Garlemald

This is hard. I think there are still some things off

I'm pretty sure "meadows" should be "banners".

Initially I thought it to be "heavens".

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Originally Posted by Yenrz

I'm pretty sure "meadows" should be "banners".

Initially I thought it to be "heavens".

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Yeah, I heard meadows initially, but then I had the notion to wonder why the heck meadows would be considered lofty. Pretty sure it's banners, but figured I'd leave meadows up in case I was wrong.

And Koji has given us official lyrics!
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachmen...56/unknown.png

Man, wasn't even close.

The fourth paragraph is particularly interesting. That Garleans mourn their fallen very seriously is mentioned in the lore book as well - so it'd be great if we saw more of it in-game. Zenos showed very little regard for the lives of his people - but we also know that he wasn't particularly concerned with Garlemald to begin with. It's a side of Garlemald I really want to see more of - especially where Regula is concerned. An Echo vision showing how Varis reacted to the news of his best friend's demise would do wonders for the story, I feel.

Hmm, some of the new lyrics have a very sinister edge, all but boasting of airship fleets blasting the land from above! It's clearly meant to rouse their subjects and intimidate their enemies.

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Hmm, some of the new lyrics have a very sinister edge, all but boasting of airship fleets blasting the land from above! It's clearly meant to rouse their subjects and intimidate their enemies.

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To be fair, that's pretty standard for national anthems. Or least it's the case with my own country's glorious national anthem - the British.

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Hmm, some of the new lyrics have a very sinister edge, all but boasting of airship fleets blasting the land from above!

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War and the State (as a concept) are inextricable, nigh universally the source of their founding and fall.
When a cause is seen as righteous and vulnerable, the songs tend to get... Well...

Aaand where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country, should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the braaave.

Or the more temporary...

When our land is illumined with Liberty's smile,
If a foe from within strike a blow at her glory,
Down, down with the traitor that dares to defile
The flag of her stars and the page of her story!
By the millions unchained who our birthright have gained,
We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained!
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
While the land of the free is the home of the brave.

Oh you're right, nothing gets patriotism running hotter than a patriotic anthem which is a thinly veiled call to arms, especially if said nation is born in war or surrounded by antagonistic neighbours. I guess just coming from a country whose own national anthem is the exception to that rather than the rule (I'm Australian, and our national anthem goes on more about the land's bounty and riches for the taking if you're willing to work for it than anything, making it look rather like an odd amalgam of Gridanian and Ul'dahan ideologies from a FFXIV point of view :p - and it was written by a Scotsman to boot, go figure. ;)) I looked at it from a different angle, with a sense of unease and disquiet.

And for that matter, the Ala Mhigan anthem's extended verses also have an uneasy feeling to them, more religious than anything, encouraging Ala Mhigans to remain true to each other and that traitors are heretics in the eyes of Rhalgr. So the Empire's butchering of it to turn it into Imperial propaganda really did not need much change when you think about it.

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

(I'm Australian, and our national anthem goes on more about the land's bounty and riches for the taking if you're willing to work for it than anything, making it look rather like an odd amalgam of Gridanian and Ul'dahan ideologies from a FFXIV point of view :p - and it was written by a Scotsman to boot, go figure. ;)).

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As an Australian myself I understand this would mostly be due to the fact Australia's founding was simply not built on war, at least conventionally speaking. Many countries have a history of warfare which in many cases could of ended in their downfall and in USA's case they had to earn their sovereignty through it.

There's quite a lot of boasts in there, as Enkidoh said, but one particularly caught my eye.
I've been pondering this ever since SB finished, but wanted to see if we'd find out more before I posted this. My wider premise (that this is the new Garlean anthem) has been shot down somewhat by Koji calling it the territorial anthem; there is an official Garlean anthem out there, but we haven't heard it (yet).
Still, this boast I am interested in is still a cool little observation, I think.

It's the line;

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From distant shores of Othard to lakes of Aldenard

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Not much to go on? Well, I think it implies a lot.
Possibly, this is the anthem used throughout the subjugated territories? It certainly speaks of a coast-to-coast overview. It's certainly a big boast, but it also hides a painful truth for Garlemald; lakes - plural. They weren't fussed with the rivers, or the mountains (though mountains are mentioned in the preceding stanza, so they couldn't use that again :D ) They focused on Eorzea's lakes.
Now I doubt, when this was written, they saw themselves just being content with Loch Seld. No, though there are many bodies of water in Aldenard, Silvertear Lake is the only one they cared to really own. Possibly this was written just after the occupation began, and they fully expected to lay claim to all of Eorzea. I mean, at that time, Middy was unknown to them.

Now, it could just be that the lyrics were never corrected in light of the setback at Silvertear, or they were deliberately retained as a sort of "don't you dirty Eorzeans get any silly ideas about complacency, ya'hear?" sort of thing. They are saying they'll be back (and, in fairness, they have tried a bunch of times). I'm pretty confident it is the latter; they see Eorzea as theirs, they just haven't been been allowed to pick up the keys, yet.

Anyway, that's my observations - not massively earth-shattering, I'm sure, but it leads me on to wondering what the flow of information is like in the empire? How aware is the ordinary citizen of just how badly things have been going on the Eorzean front? And the Othard front, too? They speak about owning the "lakes of Aldenard", but do the men and women on the street really know how badly beaten they were at Silvertear? Do they know how spectacularly both van Darnus and van Baelsar failed? Do they know anything about Dalamud? Presume they will have been able to see getting closer. What have they heard about the Warrior of Light?

How does the Garlean propaganda machine spin all this? Suppress or play down as much as they like, but some of those captured in Ala Mhigo and Doma will have had family back in the empire and word will spread. From the quest lines up in the Peaks (I think I'm right in saying) we learn that prisoners fear immediate execution by the Eorzean Alliance, so we have that to work with in terms of the propaganda messages.

I realise this is all rather rambling, but little details usually get me wandering like this. And I also think that lyrics for things like this are going to have been very deliberately chosen. They are used to steer thoughts and emotions, after all.

I'd say it's pretty obvious the people are kept complacent in some provinces simply through propaganda. We even see this in the army with how soldiers are told that the enemy is known to horribly torment their captors, essentially stopping them from just surrendering to the alliance. My current theory on how provinces are treated is simply the closer to the capitol the higher the QoL.

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Originally Posted by Mieck

Not much to go on? Well, I think it implies a lot.
Possibly, this is the anthem used throughout the subjugated territories? It certainly speaks of a coast-to-coast overview. It's certainly a big boast, but it also hides a painful truth for Garlemald; lakes - plural. They weren't fussed with the rivers, or the mountains (though mountains are mentioned in the preceding stanza, so they couldn't use that again :D ) They focused on Eorzea's lakes.
Now I doubt, when this was written, they saw themselves just being content with Loch Seld. No, though there are many bodies of water in Aldenard, Silvertear Lake is the only one they cared to really own. Possibly this was written just after the occupation began, and they fully expected to lay claim to all of Eorzea. I mean, at that time, Middy was unknown to them.

Now, it could just be that the lyrics were never corrected in light of the setback at Silvertear, or they were deliberately retained as a sort of "don't you dirty Eorzeans get any silly ideas about complacency, ya'hear?" sort of thing. They are saying they'll be back (and, in fairness, they have tried a bunch of times). I'm pretty confident it is the latter; they see Eorzea as theirs, they just haven't been been allowed to pick up the keys, yet.

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Well, when you think about it it is true to a certain point, there is a Garlean facility next to Lake Silvertear even before the Calamity (originally Castrum Novus, later Castrum Centri), so they can easily claim "Silvertear is part of Garlean territory!" simply because there is a Castrum there (not that any citizen could or would probably challenge that accuracy openly anyway even if they knew otherwise - the Frumentari would probably see to that quick smart.).

Also I think the use of lake in the plural was simply for dramatic effect, which for propaganda is all important, and is especially here, driving home the Empire's holier-than-thou attitude that all lands potentially belong to them and are simply waiting for the time for Garlemald to arrive and "show them the way".

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Originally Posted by Enkidoh

Also I think the use of lake in the plural was simply for dramatic effect, which for propaganda is all important, and is especially here, driving home the Empire's holier-than-thou attitude that all lands potentially belong to them and are simply waiting for the time for Garlemald to arrive and "show them the way".

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I think so too. Also, even if someone challenged the literal meaning, there are several smaller bodies of water in Gyr Abania that people apparently count as lakes as well; Grimm and Enid was mentioned in the Lore Panel.

And if we were to continue being literal, the anthem only talks about Aldenard, so Vylbrand (and La Noscea and Limsa Lominsa) is completely safe from Garlean aggression. (Again, the lore panel notes that the Garleans have no interest in annexing Hingashi, since they care about the mainland continents, not the islands.) And yet Castrum Occidens (near Wineport) is a thing.

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Originally Posted by YianKutku

[I]f we were to continue being literal, the anthem only talks about Aldenard, so Vylbrand (and La Noscea and Limsa Lominsa) is completely safe from Garlean aggression. (Again, the lore panel notes that the Garleans have no interest in annexing Hingashi, since they care about the mainland continents, not the islands.) And yet Castrum Occidens (near Wineport) is a thing.

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It's important to remember that most of the Castra built in Eorzea were built by the Rogue XIVth; I'd need a Legacy player to verify but I don't think Castrum Occidens was around during 1.x.

While Vylbrand may be safe from Imperial aggression if the Lore panel is to be taken completely literally, the fact that Limsans have pirated engaged Garlean vessels in "spice trade" for quite some time could easily make them susceptible to it. Even if they didn't, looking at how things were for the Confederacy prior to our intervention their way of life would be greatly impacted, so it's not as if the Limsans would be unaffected by Aldenard falling completely under Imperial control.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

I'd need a Legacy player to verify but I don't think Castrum Occidens was around during 1.x.

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A bit of a build-up: Between Ilsabard and Eorzea is a land bridge that makes invasion difficult. Air superiority is a massive advantage, but you can't hold anything without infantry. This is why Ala Mhigo as a foothold on Aldenard was so important in the first place. Knowing how costly fighting primals would be, and putting 2 and 2 together about the mythology of Mor Dhona, the Empire tried to secure the heart of the continent and failed so hard (shout-out to the Father of Dragons) that they just went back to Ala Mhigo and hid behind their wall, unwilling to see a repeat of the eastern theatre just yet.

While Gaius was able to maintain a tenuous hold on Mor Dhona with supply camps and infantry, no Garlean fortifications were established beyond Ala Mhigo until just before the Calamity. When the VIIth Legion was combined with the XIVth, airships observing blackout brought in a massive amount of supplies in a short period and Castrum Novum was raised in Mor Dhona, the only such fortress in the (free) realm.

Why is all of this important? The invasion of the VIIth (supplemented by the XIVth) spurred the re-establishment of the Grand Companies and Eorzean Alliance. Even if Garlemald has little interest in holding outlying islands, Limsa Lominsa was one-third of the Alliance. When Gaius resurrected Castrum Novum as Castrum Centri and established peripheral castra radiating out from it, Vylbrand couldn't be ignored.

After Eorzea had been completely subdued, Vylbrand probably would have suffered the same fate as Doma, being left on the fringes with a puppet government and little attention. Until such a time, however, the Maelstrom needed to be kept in check.

What about the song? If the whole point of Garlemald co-opting the anthem was to adjust and assimilate an existing culture, why would they bring that new song to other territories? I assume Garlemald has simply changed many anthems. What then of the "lakes of Aldenard"? A declaration of intent and reminder of the Empire's purpose, I suppose. If everything went according to plan, the anthem wouldn't have been not-entirely-accurate for very long.

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Originally Posted by Cilia

It's important to remember that most of the Castra built in Eorzea were built by the Rogue XIVth; I'd need a Legacy player to verify but I don't think Castrum Occidens was around during 1.x.

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While Anonymoose is working on his edit, I'll just mention that this is an excellent point. I have no idea what Legacy was like, but based on the Lorebook, it implies that up until the Calamity, the only Castrums on Eorzean territory were Castrum Novum and maybe Castrum Abania. No idea if Castrum Oriens was actually built back then (I recall this topic having been brought up before).

Of course, maybe the truth will be much deeper and more confusing.

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While Vylbrand may be safe from Imperial aggression if the Lore panel is to be taken completely literally, the fact that Limsans have pirated engaged Garlean vessels in "spice trade" for quite some time could easily make them susceptible to it. Even if they didn't, looking at how things were for the Confederacy prior to our intervention their way of life would be greatly impacted, so it's not as if the Limsans would be unaffected by Aldenard falling completely under Imperial control.

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Entirely true. If nothing else, the Garleans would probably want control of the artificial Allagan island/testing ground that is Seal Rock, so I can't see the Garleans ignoring Vylbrand like they do for Hingashi (Confederacy notwithstanding).

Old Sharlayan may be spared, though. At least until they develop something the Garleans decide they want.

EDIT to add:

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

Even if Garlemald has little interest in holding outlying islands, Limsa Lominsa was one-third of the Alliance. When Gaius resurrected Castrum Novum as Castrum Centri and established peripheral castra radiating out from it, Vylbrand couldn't be ignored.

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Which does bring up speculation on what Gaius's plans for Ishgard would have been. Ishgard used to be part of the Eorzean Alliance (and Ala Mhigo would probably have plenty of histories about that), but then holed up in Coerthas to continue their Dragonsong War, ignoring the Empire.

But then the XIVth tried building Castrum Aquilonis in Coerthas anyway.

But then they abandoned Castrum Aquilonis half-built after complaining about the climate.

I can't imagine Gaius to be the sort of commander to leave a potentially hostile force unchecked, especially when one side of the Dragonsong War consists of, well, dragons, ie the beings that so decisively stopped the Empire's advance into Silvertear Lake.

So would Castrum Aquilonis have been resurrected and completed? If so, why abandon it in the first place, when the XIVth managed to construct castra everywhere else, including Castrum Marinum in the Rhotano (ie well within territorial range of the Lominsan Navy)?

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Originally Posted by YianKutku

Which does bring up speculation on what Gaius's plans for Ishgard would have been. Ishgard used to be part of the Eorzean Alliance (and Ala Mhigo would probably have plenty of histories about that), but then holed up in Coerthas to continue their Dragonsong War, ignoring the Empire.

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I'd been wondering about that too lately in terms of the better overall understanding we have of how Garlean Imperialism works. Their modus operandi of leaving the native power structures more or less in place as puppet rulers works pretty well *except* somewhere like Isghard. One of the biggest things that Garlemald does impose on a conquered territory is mandatory atheism, when the government you're dealing with is a theocracy that means massive upheaval and a lot more structural overhaul than you wanted to do.

TL DR - Maybe Gaius just decided to leave it for last because he didn't want the headache.

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Originally Posted by YianKutku

Which does bring up speculation on what Gaius's plans for Ishgard would have been.

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There's a whole lot of speculation to figure out that one ... Guess we better get started!

Gaius had castra raised along the entire north-east / south-west axis opposite Dravania (Gyr Abania, Black Shroud, Mor Dhona, La Noscea). He controlled all of the land up to the start of the mountain range that provides Ishgard natural defenses from hypothetical attack from the lower realm. Yet from those mountains, 100% of their attention and resources were focused on the dragons in the opposite direction ... and they were losing that battle.

When Castrum Aquilonis started becoming a miserable resource pit, it held little strategic value, anyway. Ishgard wasn't opposing him, and by the time he'd taken Gridania, Ul'dah, and Limsa Lominsa, there's a good chance that Dravania would have already razed Ishgard to nothing and went home, allowing Gaius to just waltz in and set up shop.

So let's assume that Ishgard held out until the next time Nidhogg attacked and managed to take him down somehow, and now they're still capable of resisting Baelsar. I guess we'll also assume that the Warrior of Light never returned and the attack on the Waking Sands was the end of that. Let's assume that Iceheart's dead, and Frumentarium was unable to set off the internal struggles they had in Ala Mhigo. Ishgard is unified in its victory and more confident than ever that Halone will see them through anything. Let's assume it'll take a protracted siege.

Would he have completed Aquilonis first? Would it have benefited him to?

As 3.0 (Falcon's Nest arc) and 3.4 (Xelphatol arc) showed us, the western and eastern highlands (respectively) had been given up for lost. Would it really be worth the cost and delay to focus so far southwest of Ishgard when he already possessed Mor Dhona and the Black Shroud? How valuable is the elevated terrain? (Better surveillance, advantages with low-velocity projectiles, less stamina depleted in battle.) Garlemald has airships, machina, and guns. Unless Cid Garlond escaped to Ishgard in the fall of Eorzea and has been ceaselessly upgrading their military capabilities, it'd probably be unnecessary. Their ballistae and cannons also likely can't match the airships' range.

It might have been more prudent to push from the Shroud and Mor Dhona into the eastern and central lowlands, converting the bridge at Griffin Crossing and the mountain pass at the Hall of the Seven Echoes into castella. We've seen that airships from Gyr Abania can make it to Mor Dhona and still be battle-ready. Castrums Centri, Marinum, Meridianum, and Occidens should be more than enough to destroy both highland crossings and isolate central airspace.

This would require one uphill battle from each castellum to take Whitebrim and Dragonhead. You could blow Boulder Downs and force Whitebrim to reinforce Dragonhead, but bottlenecking everything into Skyfire Locks would be ... messier. Supported by airships, infantry (with reapers, vanguards, and colossi) would break through the stone walls and pincer the Gates of Judgement. From there, Ishgard is completely besieged. Strike their cannon towers and they have nothing.

What then? Let a little chaos take root. Rain propaganda linkperals on Foundation while the wealth and food go missing. How long before they're starved out? Has anyone sued for peace? What kind of resistance can you expect if you land dropships on the Pillars' docks?

And then suddenly God-King Thordan and the Knights of the Round take to the field! Curse you, Ascian! Does the army of Halone defeat the XIVth and take their war to Varis? Or does the Ultima Weapon prevail against Ascalon, giving its core more than enough power for Lahabrea to wield the Heart of Sabik like nethicite? Either way, congratulations, you've just ushered in the Eighth Umbral Era.

I'm gonna say:

Beyond majestic mountains, across the emerald dale,
On march the ivory standard, united we prevail.
From distant shores of Othard, to lakes of Aldenard,
The light of mighty Garlemald, foer'er our guiding star.

Beneath the lofty heavens, with pride at* heart* we toil,

*Not sure about these.

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Originally Posted by Anonymoose

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Yeah, I figured Oriens was built by the Rogue XIVth. Novum was the first built beyond Gyr Abania, and the others weren't constructed until the Calamity destabilized Eorzea enough that van Baelsar could get them built largely under the nose of the Alliance (since it had more pressing matters). While the song only mentions going to "the lakes of Aldenard," based purely on Limsan resistance I have a hard time believing they'd leave Vylbrand alone. There's also the Kobolds, Sahagin, and their respective Primals that would need to be kept in check.

Hingashi is given a free pass because it has not shown violent resistance against Imperial interests, and no primals are known to be extant within the region. Had Hingashi lent Doma military aid during the Garlean conquest, I can't help but feel the nation would have fared much worse.

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Originally Posted by YianKutku

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Castrum Abania was more than likely built prior to the Calamity. It was within Imperial-held territory; I don't see why they wouldn't build a military fortification within their own area. Oriens is part of Baelsar's Wall, so... whether it was built prior to the Calamity is kind of immaterial, as it was also within Imperial-held territory.

If the Imperial goal is control over all the continents, I don't see why they'd leave Sharlayan alone. It's part of Aldenard, yeah?

EDIT

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Originally Posted by Kohdo

I'm gonna say:

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The full lyrics to the song are on the previous page.