New Year's Poem 2019

[Anonymoose]

Traditions traditions traditions.

English

Destinies ordained are not man's to change,

But history's chain may he yet disclaim.

As scion joins with stock of withered bark,

So we, defying doom, embrace the Dark.

– From an anachronistic journal, author unknown

Japanese

定められし運命　覆すは人に叶わずとも
A destiny decided　/　is not to be overturned by Man.

定められし歴史 　覆すは人の業と知れ
A history decided　/　can be overturned by Man and His knowledge.

枯れゆく大樹の枝葉　代えられゆく大樹に接ぎて
The foliage of a dying tree　/　grafted to the tree that replaces it.

我　闇を友として　今こそ運命に抗わん
For us　/　with Darkness as our companion　/　the time to meet our fate has come.

German

Des Schicksals Wurzeln reichen tief
Destiny's roots reach deep,

Unerreichbar für der Sterblichen Hand.
Unreachable to the Hands of Man.

Der Baum der Geschichte aber soll erblühen
But the tree of history shall bloom

im Dunkel, das uns wiederfand.
in the Darkness which has rediscovered us.

– Aus "Alte Legenden neu erzählt"
– From "Old Legends Newly Told"

French

Il n'appartient pas à l'Homme de change la destinee,
It does not belong to Man, the changing of destiny,

Mais les maillons de l'Histoire toujours il puet reforger.
But the links (as of a chain) of History can yet be reforged.

Telle la verte pousse naissant sur le tronc candamné,
Like green growth (unexpectedly) sprouting from a doomed trunk,

Nous embrassons les Ténebres pour mieux braver la fatalité.
We embrace the Darkness that we might better brave fate.

– Nouvelles chroniques des temps anciens
– New chronicles of ancient times

Guess at Consolidated Version:
There is no changing fated destiny.
But the reins of history can be guided by the hands of man.
As healthy growth is grafted to a dying tree,
We make an ally of Darkness to escape our fate.

Notes:
Notice that "new chronicles of ancient times" was also used last year.

Guess at meaning:
I assume the comparative words are a hint. As scion is grafted to stem, so we embrace the Dark. "Like a healthy branch grafted to a dying tree do we make an ally of Darkness." Grafting our power to Zodiark may allow us to push back a Light-based disaster, but does that systemically push the symptom to a higher order and force us to confront Zodiark's intentions beyond preventing the end of existence? And is it a double-meaning? Something something grafting a newborn branch of history onto a dying destiny? There's also the idea that this could refer to a deliberate Rejoining but that's super uncomfortable right now, lol.

I'll keep mulling it over and come back after 4.5 (Part 1)

Useless Afterthoughts:
If we really do end up using tree metaphors and time travel, I'm gonna need some help making the perfect "Future Trunks" pun.

[Keever]

The first, second and fourth lines are all fairly expected "defying destiny" stuff, but it's the "withered bark" that has me wondering. I'll admit that my mind first thought of Exdeath....

I've heard it suggested that "stock of withered bark" could refer to a disreputable branch of a family tree, i.e. disinherited offspring. Seems like a bit of a complicated metaphor, though.

EDIT: Ooohhhhhhhh a scion like a tree cutting!

[RicaRuin]

EDIT: Nevermind, 'moose Ninja-edited me.


German Translation:

Des Schicksals Wurzeln reichen tief
The roots of destiny are reaching deep

Unerreichbar für der Sterblichen Hand.
Unreachable for a mortal's hand

Der Baum der Geschichte aber soll erblühen
But the tree of history shall bloom

im Dunkel, das uns wiederfand.
In the Dark that found us again / recovered us



Please note that's in the middle of the night here and some sparkling wine may have been consumed, so no guarantees here.



EDIT 2: Well, I compared this one to last year's and it was quite interesting. Both are talking about how destiny is led by gods/cannot be changed, but history is the subject of mortals and can be changed. Well, wasn't there something in the Shadowbringers Trailer about 'let history be undone'...?


EDIT 3:

I've heard it suggested that "stock of withered bark" could refer to a disreputable branch of a family tree, i.e. disinherited offspring. Seems like a bit of a complicated metaphor, though.

Well, if we think about it like a branch of a tree... Withered... Aren't the Shards like 'branches' of the Source? Withered... a Shard that has some problems?

[Cilia]

Sounds more and more like time travel...

Ahem.

Approximate interpretation: destiny's course cannot be swayed (*Master Xehanort fingers*), but by taking up the power of Darkness it may yet be rewritten.

[ObsidianFire]

Well, if we think about it like a branch of a tree... Withered... Aren't the Shards like 'branches' of the Source? Withered... a Shard that has some problems?

We've had seven Shards be Rejoined to the Source already. One Shard has been Flooded with Darkness. An eighth Shard is on the cusp of being Rejoined. I'd say we've got a bunch of sickly or even non-existent Shards to pick from here.

[Nestama]

Wasn't it said at a lore panel or something that...

there only needs to be one more Calamity or something for the Rejoining to be complete?

Or have I been subjected to the Telephone game?

[Iscah]

Destinies ordained are not man's to change

Still, unless we know exactly what our destiny is, it's possibly that rebelling against our apparent destiny is a foretold part of our actual destiny!

Self-fulfilling prophecies and all that. You can't fight fate, you just do as much good as you can and if the prophecy is unbreakable, it'll come true sooner or later.

Wasn't it said at a lore panel or something that...

there only needs to be one more Calamity or something for the Rejoining to be complete?

Or have I been subjected to the Telephone game?

I don't have the quote either, but I think it was that the next Calamity will be the last, but the reasons for that are unknown (and because of that I'm not regarding it as a spoiler - it doesn't tell us enough). Will Zodiark be resummoned? Do we put an end to the entire cycle before the Ascians can drive their plan any further?

Essentially, we're heading for the climax and ultimate resolution of this conflict, one way or another.

[Enkidoh]

Well, as luck would have it I was just reflecting on the last line of 2017's poem (which Urianger made a point of also mentioning outright in game during SB's story), and the conclusion I came from that in light (ha!) of the recent developments and the Shadowbringers teaser, left me feeling very omninous for the future, and this year's poem only is making that ominiousness worse. Really, it's pretty easy to see everything goes Doomsday, and we are swept up in it ('azure lost admist the storm'), and now this year's one further drives that apocalyptic feeling home. And I don't like it one bit.

I know desperate times call for desperate measures, but I still can't shake the feeling that despite the idea of 'taking darkness to escape utter destruction' is in fact still playing into the Ascians' hands and makes the whole thing nothing more than 'heads we win, tails you lose', that no matter what we do, it will still work in the Ascians' favour. I just hope FF precedent does prevail and a third option is presented, but I hope 'becoming the WoD' is not that third option. But we'll see (it will be interesting to look back at this a year from now to see how this went in any case.).

[Anonymoose]

Popping back in quickly to mention that it was the 5.0 keynote that referred to struggling to prevent "The Eighth and Final Umbral Calamity," which might be a reference to that 8 of 14 total worlds is Zodiark's "majority share" of strength He had when He was banished ... or it might just be a double-meaning. "I'm not going to stop the wheel. I'm going to break the wheel."

[Belhi]

Sounds more and more like time travel...

Ahem.

Approximate interpretation: destiny's course cannot be swayed (*Master Xehanort fingers*), but by taking up the power of Darkness it may yet be rewritten.

This is what I keep thinking. It seems to suggest we cant change the course that past events are leading us to unless we can change past events. There has been a lot of talking about history recently in the story and the doom the future holds.

I am also somewhat reminded that in 1.0, unless I am remembering things wrong, some of the echo visions had players actually involved in events of the past such as when Minfilia's dad died. Now 1.0 was a bit of a narrative mess and I could be completely wrong but the Scion's souls have been pulled somewhere and if we could use the echo to travel between past events where the Scions now are and current day, it would explain how we would get involved in past events while still being involved in the war against Garlemald.

My suspicions are still that we will become the Warrior of Darkness to effectively usurp the position from the Ascians and thus remove them from the balancing equation.