Interpreting the Rising Poem

[Anonymoose]

We always have threads for these on New Years, so why not, right?

As always, translations are amateur and unpolished.
Please suggest better translations if you spot anything that seems amiss. It can only help the final interpretations.

ENGLISH

Neath pillars of whorling strife,
founders the dross of despair.
O'er pillars of eddying life,
surge high the gales of prayer.
Flux and flow do the gyres,
joined by the crystal in thy keep.
Thy adamant spear bores steeps entire,
thy argent blade cleaves oceans deep.

JAPANESE

『渦巻く意思の円環の　底に積もるは　嘆きの澱
Swirling Ring of Will / Pooling at the Nether / The Dregs of Sorrow

逆巻く命の円環の　天に上るは　祈りの風』
Surging Ring Life / Rising up to Heaven / The Winds of Prayer

『流転する螺旋を繋ぐは　汝の水晶
Binding their Spiraling Flux / Thy Crystal

巌を穿つ金剛の槍　海原切り裂く白金の剣』
Piercing the Rock, the Adamantine Spear / Cleaving the ocean, the Silver Sword

GERMAN

Der Zweifel lähmt die schäumende Lebenskraft
The doubt paralyzes the frothing vital force

Er sinkt auf den Grund der Seele und lastet schwer
He sinks to the foundations of the soul and is weighed down

Die Hoffnung beflügelt die tosende Lebenskraft
Hope inspires thunderous vitality

Sie fliegt wie Gebete zum Himmel und tanzt umher
She flies like prayer to the skies and dances

Des Schicksals unabsehbare Windungen,
The destiny unforeseeably wanders

sie alle vereint bereits dein Kristall
already united within thy crystal

Er ist der felsdurchbohrende Speer,
He is the spear pierced into the stone

das Lichterschwert im hier und überall
the Blade of Light in here and everywhere

FRENCH

Au fin fond du cercle de la volonté,
In the depths of the circle of volition,

Les âmes déchaînées envoient leurs complaintes.
the souls unchained send their laments.

Au sommet du cercle de la vitalité,
At the summit of the circle of vitality,

Le souffle des prières arrive en terre sainte.
the breath of prayer arrives in the holy land.

La spirale des émotions et de la fatalité
The spiral of emotions and fate

Est contenue dans ton cristal de lumière.
Is contained within your crystal of light.

Solide comme la lance plantée dans un rocher,
Solid as the spear planted within the stone

Tranchant comme l'épée qui fend les vagues et l'air.
Sharp as the sword that cleaves the waves and the air.

Moose's First Guess at a Combination
Swirling vortex of will, at the bottom He laments in the descent of soul.
Spiraling vortex of life, at the summit She dances in the rise of prayer.
Emotions and fates in flux are as ever united within thy crystal(s of Light).
His is the spear that pierces the stone. Hers is the blade that divides the sea.



Now, if you've been following Hydaelyn and Zodiark very closely, this is almost entirely a recap and combination of all things previously associated with them. Zodiark is the Darkness, the moon, the force of Soul. Hydaelyn is the Light, the planet, the force of Life. The two are ever entwined and inseparable, their conflict embedded into time itself. Light & Shadow and Astral & Umbral are in all things.

The spear (of Darkness?) that pierces the stone..
The blade (of Light) that cuts the sea...

Who wants to take a stab at the deeper, more accurate meaning?

[Nalien]

Hmm... I took the pillars thing an entirely different way, granted I only had the one translation to work off and these things usually have multiple meanings anyway...

I took the Pillar of Strife to be Garlemald, with Ala Mhigo despairing underneath their heel...
Then I took the Pillar of Eddying Life (The Circle of Life?) to reference the rise of Primals... Specifically Garuda, given the mention of gales and the upcoming new dungeons... Basically, we live to die, and thus we struggle (tying back to strife) and ultimately pray for some form of salvation, allowing Primals to rise from that faith...

I still very much see the story going down the "Ascians want a world without death!" route (with that also likely being how things once were), and that bias is definitely showing with this interpretation... The Circle of Life makes bad things?! Gasp! If only we could have a world without conflict and death! Everything would be better, right? Right?!

[Fenral]

I still very much see the story going down the "Ascians want a world without death!" route (with that also likely being how things once were), and that bias is definitely showing with this interpretation... The Circle of Life makes bad things?! Gasp! If only we could have a world without conflict and death! Everything would be better, right? Right?!

I'm going to say you have it backwards, and that the Ascians simply want to end all mortal life. There's nothing to indicate the Ascians give a single flying [kupo] about us, neither individually nor as a whole, so why give us immortality when, already, the only thing that can kill them is fighting us to accomplish their objective? Eldibus is not that noble, and Lahabrea certainly wasn't.

I think it'll be more like, "You're all going to die anyway, so should you not die willingly so the original order can be restored?" It's the logical extreme of Louisoix and the Scions' ideology, and would present a conflict that someone might actually have to think about for more than two minutes.

Not that a world without suffering and death can't become some other faction's objective down the line. My money's on the Allagans.
(Also, Bleach ended last week, and, uh, yeah. We can now say that Tite Kubo did it. That's not a good thing.)

[PArcher]

I'm going to say you have it backwards, and that the Ascians simply want to end all mortal life

Well, its also possible that, to them, these are the same. Death exists because mortals do, so eliminating mortals = no more death! Is that the truth? Can't say at this point (I mean, Ramuh mused about Light and Dark splitting when man was created...he was wrong, but still)

[Alaltus]

I'm going to say you have it backwards, and that the Ascians simply want to end all mortal life. There's nothing to indicate the Ascians give a single flying [kupo] about us, neither individually nor as a whole, so why give us immortality when, already, the only thing that can kill them is fighting us to accomplish their objective? Eldibus is not that noble, and Lahabrea certainly wasn't.[/SIZE]

I think the Ascians have the same plan as FFIX Garland and Zodiark is Hydaelyn's counterpart like Terra was Gaia's. They pretty much spend all their time starting wars and trying to wipe out every living thing. So long as Hydaelyn and it's inhabitants thrive Zodiark will never be more than a husk of it's former self. Hydaelyn took Zodiark's souls/life so they are justified in any and all means. Or something like that.

[Cilia]

I think the Ascians have the same plan as FFIX Garland and Zodiark is Hydaelyn's counterpart like Terra was Gaia's. They pretty much spend all their time starting wars and trying to wipe out every living thing. So long as Hydaelyn and it's inhabitants thrive Zodiark will never be more than a husk of it's former self. Hydaelyn took Zodiark's souls/life so they are justified in any and all means. Or something like that.

That's... actually not dissimilar to my current hypothesis on the matter, which is that Zodiark (the moon) was once its own thriving world full of life and splendor until He became power-hungry and Hydaelyn banished Him.

Actually a bit supported by the ruined Zodiark statue up there and the Word of the Mother outright saying that Zodiark is the moon. Makes quite a bit of sense if you follow a certain logical pathway. (Hydaelyn = Goddess = Crystal = Celestial Body (Planet). Zodiark = [Dead] God = Crystal = [Dead] Celestial Body (Moon?). Yes, this is how I figured it out like a year and a half ago, long before Minfilia the Word of the Mother told us so.)

[Nalien]

I'm going to say you have it backwards, and that the Ascians simply want to end all mortal life.

Same thing, that's kinda what I meant. I'm not saying the Ascians want to make everyone immortal, I'm saying mortality is a error Hydaelyn created and they'd very much like to undo it to get back to the good old days... I'm sure I've explained this much better in the past, summer heat is not the best time for braining though... Hydaelyn created a cycle of death, thus facilitating life as we know it. Like you touched on, it perhaps explains why they can justify the Calamities/Rejoinings; "You're all going to die anyway, so why not die in a way that furthers our goals?"

Where it gets interesting is whether we're mortal or not... Since 2.2 it's seemed clear to me that the end point of the Echo (or at least a significant milestone in developing it) is immortality... I would expect Derplander to be here to go into that... They could be the Warriors of Light from Hydaelyn Dimension C-137, where sh*t hit the fan... Everyone died but them, and now Hydaelyn seems stupid while Elidibus seems compelling...

I'm certain I've likened this to Final Fantasy VIs ultimate plot in the past... Kefka went on a small rant about how stupid it is to live and rebuild, only knowing we'd die eventually... I expect something very similar out of Elidibus and Derplander... Not sure who'd give the cheesy "Death is OK because... Love!" rebuttal though... The cast we have all pretty much struggled with death at this point, but I'm not sure any have come to terms with it as a concept... They seem more likely to lean towards Elidibus' narrative IMO... I kind of hope they all do... Then we can have Garlemald steps in with "HERPDERP CONFLICT IS GREAT! MAKES US STRONGER! WE ACTUALLY LEARNED SOMETHING FROM THE ALLAGAN FALLING AND DON'T WANT TO LIVE FOREVER!", and then we nod with a meta "MMOs without conflict are boring!", and then Alphinaud is like "WTF is a MMO? Nevermind, you're right! If there was no conflict we'd never even have met Ysayle!", and then we friendship-punch Elidibus back to the moon...

[Zohar_Lahar]

Now, if you've been following Hydaelyn and Zodiark very closely, this is almost entirely a recap and combination of all things previously associated with them. Zodiark is the Darkness, the moon, the force of Soul. Hydaelyn is the Light, the planet, the force of Life. The two are ever entwined and inseparable, their conflict embedded into time itself.

The spear (of Darkness) that pierces the stone..
The blade (of Light) that cuts the sea...

Who wants to take a stab at the deeper, more accurate meaning?

Wait, so does that mean Sephirot = Hydaelyn and Sophia = Zodiark?

Well, that aside, the only thing I take from this is that we're gonna cut up the ocean.

[Zeno_McDohl]

Wait, so does that mean Sephirot = Hydaelyn and Sophia = Zodiark?

Well, that aside, the only thing I take from this is that we're gonna cut up the ocean.

Probably not? There's the 3rd Warring Triad, so a set of 2 doesn't make a ton of sense unless it was 3.

[Zohar_Lahar]

Probably not? There's the 3rd Warring Triad, so a set of 2 doesn't make a ton of sense unless it was 3.

Zurvan represents time, I think. Maybe instead of being based on the twelve or heroic epics, the Warring Triad were allegory for the mothercrystals.