Answers and the 12

This has always been obvious to me, and the best part of Answers.

"Thy life is a riddle to bear rapture and sorrow
To listen, to suffer, to entrust unto tomorrow
In one fleeting moment from the land doth life flow
Yet in one fleeting moment for anew it doth grow
In the same fleeting moment thou must live, die and know"

life, riddle, rapture, sorrow, listen, suffer, entrust, flow, grow
live, die, know

12

Azeyma is keeper of the sun and goddess of inquiry. (Riddle)
Nophica, tender of soils and harvests and goddess of abundance (grow)
Thaliak, ruler of rivers and wisdom and god of knowledge (Know)
Llymlaen, watcher of the seas and goddess of navigation (Flow)
Halone, mover of glaciers and goddess of war (Suffer)
Byregot is the purveyor of architecture and industry and god of the arts (Live)
Nald'thal is the overseer of transactions and the underworld and god of commerce (Entrust)
Althyk is the surveyor of change and space and god of time. (Die)
Nymeia is the watcher of celestial bodies and goddess of fate. (Listen)
Oschon is ruler of the mountains and god of vagrants. (Sorrow)
Menphina is keeper of the twin moons and the goddess of love (Life)
Rhalgr, breaker of worlds, is the god of destruction (Rapture)

:-) Of course some of those are open to interpretation but pretty neat!

wow nice, hadn't thought about it that way

That's quite interesting! Maybe just coincidental, though? I like it lots!

You didn't assign 'Suffer' to anyone though.

I love the lore about The Twelve, it's weirdly calming =) Seeing the prayers being 'answered' during the ending (in my sig) made me cry so much D=

Nice, I hadn't thought of this, awesome idea.

I have also had my idea about something related to this. The second verse or:

To all of my children in whom life flows abundant
To all of my children to whom death hath passed his judgment
The soul yearns for honor and the flesh the hereafter
Look to those who've walked before to lead those who walk after

Could this mean the song is from the point of view of the twelve, possibly Menphina, and the choir is the other 11? Maybe I'm reading into it too much.

Don't forget, Nald'thal, is really two bothers, but there viewed as one. So maybe one is to "Suffer" as the other is to "Entrust". *Shrugs*

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Originally Posted by Vyrion

Don't forget, Nald'thal, is really two bothers, but there viewed as one. So maybe one is to "Suffer" as the other is to "Entrust". *Shrugs*

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I would say spot on, god of commerce, selling things or entrusting something to another, and the god of the underworld, or hell, and in hell you face an eternity of suffering.

I wonder if it's one of the twelve who's actually singing, Nymeia maybe?

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Originally Posted by Nahaara

I wonder if it's one of the twelve who's actually singing, Nymeia maybe?

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Hey I said that, post 4, stealing my ideas.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Delsus

Hey I said that, post 4, stealing my ideas.

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D: sorry!

/10char

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nahaara

D: sorry!

/10char

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Your appology is accepted, because you have the best archon in your sig :p

I know her from the alpha and beta story, was just sick of the LL story after seeing it so many time, so started in Ul'dah for once :D

I think to look at it that way actually dilutes the meaning. In the plain sense, the lyrics serve as a reference to the astral/umbral eras; a continuous cycle of death and life, and the inherent futility in that, and also the restriction on finding meaning - or "answers" - in such a futile and vicious cycle, a cycle which nobody really can know and understand, at least with only a "fleeting moment" in which to understand it.

Whereas, if you look at it as a collection of nouns, each one representing one of the Twelve, it's not very meaningful. Really. But I suppose it's coincidental all the same. And I guess it ties everything together.

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Originally Posted by Delsus

Nice, I hadn't thought of this, awesome idea.

I have also had my idea about something related to this. The second verse or:

To all of my children in whom life flows abundant
To all of my children to whom death hath passed his judgment
The soul yearns for honor and the flesh the hereafter
Look to those who've walked before to lead those who walk after

Could this mean the song is from the point of view of the twelve, possibly Menphina, and the choir is the other 11? Maybe I'm reading into it too much.

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I Edited: I realized after I left the house I forgot to assign (suffer) but actually it makes more sense now to put (die) with Time since in Tarot death often means change.
I also noticed other parts of the song where verses could be assigned, good job noticing! There is more analyzing to be done!

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Originally Posted by bobbygunz

I think to look at it that way actually dilutes the meaning. In the plain sense, the lyrics serve as a reference to the astral/umbral eras; a continuous cycle of death and life, and the inherent futility in that, and also the restriction on finding meaning - or "answers" - in such a futile and vicious cycle, a cycle which nobody really can know and understand, at least with only a "fleeting moment" in which to understand it.

Whereas, if you look at it as a collection of nouns, each one representing one of the Twelve, it's not very meaningful. Really. But I suppose it's coincidental all the same. And I guess it ties everything together.

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I don't think it dilutes, I think it's both Lyrical and has a hidden subtext. The reason I started thinking about the 12 is how unusual the lyrics are with "to listen, to suffer.." it reminded me of conjugating verbs in a foreign language, and thinking about the base meaning. For me It just makes the song deeper.

I was just singing this to myself in the shower (as you do) and noticed something that might fit into your 'hidden meaning' thingy.

During the scene when the pillars of light start radiating from The Twelve's "stones" while they're being prayed to, my favourite verse starts:

Witness (Azeyma is keeper of the sun and goddess of inquiry)
Suffer (Rhalgr, breaker of worlds, is the god of destruction)
Grovel (Nald'thal is the overseer of transactions and the underworld and god of commerce)
Reason (Thaliak, ruler of rivers and wisdom and god of knowledge)

Follow (Llymlaen, watcher of the seas and goddess of navigation)
Struggle (Halone, mover of glaciers and goddess of war)
Wander (Oschon is ruler of the mountains and god of vagrants)
Listen (Byregot is the purveyor of architecture and industry and god of the arts)

Whisper (Menphina is keeper of the twin moons and the goddess of love)
Show them (Nymeia is the watcher of celestial bodies and goddess of fate)
Addle (Althyk is the surveyor of change and space and god of time)
Weather (Nophica, tender of soils and harvests and goddess of abundance)

Answer
Answer
Answer together

(I'm aware some don't fit exactly, but some fell into multiple definitions so I did the best I could =$ Some people might be able to switch some around and make 'em fit better)

The fact that there are 12 words, followed by "Answer (together)" might relate to The Twelve individually? And in the last video "Answer Together" is sung at the time when The Twelve's marks are rising up to recapture Bahamut, so it's symbolic of The Twelve 'answering together'.
You know, before Bahamut blows everything up...

Just a thought ^^

Nice theory :) never thought of it!