Song Lyrics in FFXIV: Compilation, Discussion, and Interpretation

[Saikou]

"Thunder Rolls" is not necessarily so morbid. It is all thematic to Ramuh, of course. Who believes that he is just. There is the implication that the old man believes in original sin and probably does not hold that against all, certainly not his children (the sylphs). The refrain would imply that comfort should be taken in some of Ramuh's thematic aspects that aren't so pleasant. Storms, stinging rain, etc. I do not interpret the song as being entirely a righteous condemnation of man.

Seeing those lyrics brought this to mind:

Shining is the Land's light of justice (there are just primals, such as the old man)
Ever flows the Land's well of purpose (likely refers to aether)
Walk free, walk free, walk free, believe... (how hard must it be to walk free with the worm of sin spoiling us from within)
The Land is alive, so believe... (from the land we came, to the land we shall return - and that might not be the end)

And then, holy crap, the bridge of Answers...

War born of strife, these trials persuade us not (fighting the primals bring no enlightenment nor understanding of them nor their people)
(Feel what? Learn what?)
Words without sound, these lies betray our thoughts (The Echo)

Mired by a plague of doubt, the Land, she mourns (The Darkness within Man, described as the worm of corruption in Rolling Thunder)
(See what? Hear what?)
Judgement binds all we hold to a memory of scorn (The primals pass judgment on us all not just for present transgressions, but for reasons - memories - in the past that we do not know!)
Tell us why, given Life, we are meant to die, helpless in our cries? (If we have brought such chaos to what already existed, why were we created!?)

Musings on what Ramuh brings to the table regards Life, The Universe, And Everything.

[Mysteltain]

"Thunder Rolls" is not necessarily so morbid. It is all thematic to Ramuh, of course. Who believes that he is just. There is the implication that the old man believes in original sin and probably does not hold that against all, certainly not his children (the sylphs). The refrain would imply that comfort should be taken in some of Ramuh's thematic aspects that aren't so pleasant. Storms, stinging rain, etc. I do not interpret the song as being entirely a righteous condemnation of man.

...

Musings on what Ramuh brings to the table regards Life, The Universe, And Everything.

Nice Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy reference, or maybe it's not and I'm just imagining it because I saw the movie for the first time in around 5 years, heh. Anyway, I agree with how Thunder Rolls is essentially telling the Spoken races to not necessarily fear his judgment, but to instead face their sins with resolve:

Step into the storm, know its mercy (face Ramuh's judgment and know that he is just)
Let the wind and the rain crash down over thee (it will be difficult to face, but do not fear it)
Lightning bright, thunder bold
Guiding us forevermore (he's doing this to lead you down the right path)

...

Step in from the storm, praise its mercy (after facing his judgment you'll be thankful for it)
Let the sting of the rain ne'er stray far from thee (always remember what you've done in the past so as to not repeat it)
Lightning bright, thunder bold
Freeing us forevermore (you are freed from the sins of your past)

He does make it quite apparent that he feels that the Spoken races are the only ones who have darkness in them, or at the very least simply blames them for all the ill in the world.

Also, going by your interpretation of Answers, one line reminded me of Y'shtola's words during both the Titan, Leviathan, and Ramuh quests: "Judgement binds all we hold to a memory of scorn". We do, in fact, know a bit about why the Primals are passing judgment upon us: the Spoken races either betrayed, provoked, or simply fell into fighting with them. The Lominsan's had a deal with the Kobolds and broke it, and fought with the Sahagin instead of negotiating with them (although the fault lies in both parties here). With the Sylphs, it was largely because of Garlemald invading and attacking them that they summoned Ramuh, but it certainly didn't do the Gridanian's any favors.

[Teakwood]

It's funny, because in both 1.x and ARR, we see Ifrit and our first example of a Primal's personality, and that /really/ sets the tone. Ifrit is a bloodthirsty, warmongering, soul-hungry jerkface, and the Tempered Amal'jaa are basically the Orcs of FFXIV - kill on sight, no qualms, no regrets, consign it thus to the flames. But like, even Garuda and the Ixal have fairly reasonable motivations, even if they've been collectively driven mad by climate change and the need to find new territory even if that means coming into conflict with the Elementals. Admiral freakin' Merlwyb recognises Titan and Leviathan's right to exist and acknowledges them as effectively worthy foes, and Ramuh's basically on our side by any definition of the term (he's just a primal, so his continued existence is kind of suboptimal on the long term.)

You could make an argument, even, that the Spoken races aren't much more civilised than the beast tribes; certainly despite their /involvement/ in Umbral Eras on account of Ascian influence, we're 6-0 on them w.r.t. starting existential-threat catastrophes.

[Valerathon]

Fern, can we expect an answer on the conspicuously missing lyrics for Praetorium and Ultima in the upcoming chat?

[Mysteltain]

Just saw the Heavensward Trailer, and I felt compelled to post the lyrics for it as soon as I could, haha! Schoolwork can wait; nuggets of future lore must be mined!

Beneath the gazing stars...
Vales deep, and forest dark...
Between my loyal lands of blessed earth!
Out fast; and to your feet...
One path; one good and great...
Yet ever do alighting souls point Heavensward!
Memories and our song...

The only line I'm unsure of is the third line, and the first word of the fourth line. Outside of that, this was a pretty easy one to figure out =)

EDIT: Turns out the lyrics were released at the Fan Festival, and once again, I was pretty far off, haha! But I've updated the main post with the accurate lyrics, so check that out for the real stuff!

[Endemerrin]

So, after hearing that snippit of the Shiva theme, some people have thrown together rough ideas of what is being sung. The following is how I interpreted it. It certainly got my brain rolling over various ideas as to the meaning of the lyrics. Right now, I have a bit of a crazy theory, but I'm gonna roll with it.

Either Iceheart is Shiva, or she's a vessel for Shiva to control. We've been told that Shiva is going to be radically different from any primal we've seen so far. Who's to say that Iceheart hasn't found a way to basically turn herself into a primal? Now, we know Iceheart has ties with the heretics, or rather some group of heretics. Heresy, as we know, is the concept of having strong beliefs that go against what is established in a religion. In this case, the heretics go against the worship of Halone.

I feel like this song is sung from Iceheart's perspective. Maybe she lived in one of the hamlets around Coerthas, one that was hit hard by the calamity and the winter that it brought to the mountains. Could be Falcon's nest, as that would give a greater tie to snowcloak. Her people started dying, and Ishgard sent them next to no help since they couldn't get past Snowcloak. This left them to freeze and starve to death.

Now, I'm going to bring up a quote from the 2.4 trailer spoken by Iceheart.

"We, who gods and men have forsaken, will be the instruments of our own deliverance."

To me, this ties into the song. Maybe she feels that men (Ishgard) and gods (Halone) have forsaken her and her people. She decides that in order to save them, she's going to find another power. This power winds up being the ability to transform herself into Shiva, and subsequently have control over the winter that has been killing her people. Maybe she has regrets about it, as it basically means giving up her humanity to become this powerful god-like being with the power to save her kin.

All that being said, let's take a look at what sounds like the lyrics. They might be wrong, of course.

Staring at death
I take a breath
There's nothing left

This first stanza maybe refers to the calamity, and the ensuing winter that came with it that destroyed the Falcon's Nest and her people.

I close my eyes
For one last time
And say goodbye

Iceheart being on the verge of death from freezing/starvation.

Lying naked while the snow falls all around me
Drifting closer to the edge but she won't help me

She has her first transformation into Shiva. Comes out of her primal form naked, lying in the snow, and close to death. Realizes that Halone has truly forsaken her.

Wake up in sweat
Full of regret
Try to forget

She wakes up after having transformed into Shiva for the first time. Has regrets about doing it, possibly about losing some of her humanity. Maybe she committed some horrible act while transformed as she wasn't able to control herself.

These memories
Lurking beneath
Lost in the dream

She has basically lost her humanity, and only has faint memories of her life before becoming Iceheart/Shiva.


Huge stretch? Probably. Fun to think about, regardless.

[Lethorian]

Lying naked while the snow falls all around me
Drifting closer to the edge but she won't help me
Wake up in sweat
Full of regret
Try to forget

At the begining of these lines, I don't think she has begun her transformation yet, but is right there at the final step and if she takes that last step there will be no turning back. She wants Halone to step in and help her people, but Halone does nothing and Iceheart goes over the edge.

The last of these 3 lines Iceheart has become Shiva, she wakes up in sweat signifying that even the bitter cold of Coerthas isn't enough to chill The Ice Queen, confirming her transformation. Her regret, I am thinking maybe her people had sacrificed themselves, or maybe even tempered themselves, in order to summon shiva through Iceheart and now that Iceheart can't turn back she doesn't feel the sacrifice was worth it. Trying to forget, This might signify that she can't control the embodiment of Shiva, this may also tie in with her regret, if she can't control the manifestation of Shiva then she will surely regret having summoned her. I think the last 3 lines confirm the fact that Shiva was just too much for her to control and she has lost herself entirely.

A lot if this is basically along the lines of what you have stated, just with a little tweaking or clarification. Again that's if these are the correct lyrics to the song, but I have very little to go on and these interpretations are all we have to go off for now, We don't have much longer to learn the truth though! Until then it is fun to speculate.

[Deli]

I <3 Ferne

For Under the Weight, I think ferne added in "rock on titan" at his concert

[lololink]

Her regret, I am thinking maybe her people had sacrificed themselves, or maybe even tempered themselves, in order to summon shiva through Iceheart and now that Iceheart can't turn back she doesn't feel the sacrifice was worth it. Trying to forget, This might signify that she can't control the embodiment of Shiva, this may also tie in with her regret, if she can't control the manifestation of Shiva then she will surely regret having summoned her. I think the last 3 lines confirm the fact that Shiva was just too much for her to control and she has lost herself entirely.

Also the name of the song is Oblivion ( or "going to oblivion" for the japanese name direct translation ) so that might be a good point.

[Anonymoose]

For Under the Weight, I think ferne added in "rock on titan" at his concert

Indeed, though I think they may have deviated from that script a bit in London... LOL.

If "loregasm" made Matt nervous, I can only imagine him standing backstage like, "OH, GODS, NOOO."

Anyway, after hearing the lyrics clearly in the new Garuda, I listened to the original more closely and it was the first time I've ever clearly made out the "Falling to far from the light," etc. hidden under singing. Koji's intro is the only new part (as far as I can tell). I've got a bunch of recordings, so I tried my best to transcribe, but keep in mind that I've been way off before, lol.

The sun sets and dark wings embrace the bloody moon
The screams of a thousand-thousand souls, on their knees pleading for pleasure, for pain
Down from the mountains of madness, and into the heart of an endless storm
An ill wind blows and ancient evil rises...HAHAHAHAAAAAAA
NOW FALL!

Falling too far from the light
Deeper into the night
Lost here inside my own hell
I am a broken angel

Ten points for the Lovecraft reference.