Reinterpreting Answers after Shadowbringers

[FaerieAura]

So, Answers has always seemed like a pretty song with hidden meanings that we could never quite grasp. Now that we have an understanding of the nature of Hydaelyn and Zodiark, however, it starts to make a lot more sense, and I thought I would take a crack at interpreting the true meaning of the words of the song, the 'speakers' of various passages in the song. It's definitely open to debate, but once it came up to my YouTube autoplay and I realized what the song was actually saying in light of everything learned in Shadowbringers, I couldn't stop myself!

I close my eyes, tell us why must we suffer
Release your hands, for your will drags us under
My legs grow tired, tell us where must we wander
How can we carry on if redemption's beyond us?

Interpretation: The unsevered Ascians are questioning Hydaelyn - how can we carry on in this world where we are being forced to submit to your will? Why should we accept a shattered, broken world where our God has been forced under your will? We cannot be redeemed, our people cannot be made whole so long as your will drags our people under.

To all of my children in whom Life flows abundant
To all of my children to whom Death hath passed his judgement
The soul yearns for honor, and the flesh the hereafter
Look to those who walked before to lead those who walk after

Shining is the Land's light of justice
Ever flows the Land's well of purpose
Walk free, walk free, walk free, believe...
The Land is alive, so believe…

Suffer (Feel) Promise (Think) Witness (Teach) Reason
(Hear) Follow (Feel) Wander (Think) Stumble (Teach) Listen
(Speak) Honor (Speak) Value (Tell) Whisper (Tell) Mention
(Hope) Ponder (Hope) Warrant (Wish) Cherish (Wish) Welcome
(Roam) Witness (Roam) Listen (Roam) Suffer (Roam) Sanction
(Sleep) Weather (Sleep) Wander (Sleep) Answer Sleep on

Interpretation: Hydaelyn’s first answer: Life continues to exist. Zodiark was going to continue to demand more and more, and his judgement was going to cost you more and more until there was nothing left. The past you remember may be gone, but your people remain - in a different form, perhaps, but you can lead them to a brighter future. (Maybe Hydaelyn intentionally left some Ascians unsevered for that very purpose?) The land remains alive, you are free - please, believe. You can still experience life - with the next paragraph being a list of things that the beings that remain in this new world are free to do without Zodiark’s influence forcing them to submit to His will.

Now open your eyes while our plight is repeated
Still deaf to our cries, lost in hope we lie defeated
Our souls have been torn, and our bodies forsaken
Bearing sins of the past, for our future is taken

War born of strife, these trials persuade us not
(Feel what? Learn what?)
Words without sound, these lies betray our thoughts
(See what? Hear what?)

Interpretation: The Ascians did not accept Hydaelyn’s first answer, and so they continued to work against Her will for their future. They continued to cry out for Zodiark, for the restoration of their people and for their torn souls. They want their future back - just as Emet-Selch demanded. So they create chaos - what can they feel, learn, see, or hear in this broken and destroyed world? Hydaelyn is giving them nothing but empty words, lies, and they will not accept them. So they will stop at nothing to bring the one True God back, despite Hydaelyn’s best efforts to answer them before.

Mired by a plague of doubt, the Land, she mourns
Judgement binds all we hold to a memory of scorn
Tell us why, given Life, we are meant to die, helpless in our cries?

Witness (Feel) Suffer (Think) Borrow (Teach) Reason
(Hear) Follow (Feel) Stumble (Think) Wander (Teach) Listen
(Blink) Whisper (Blink) Shoulder (Blink) Ponder (Blink) Weather
(Hear) Answer (Look) Answer (Think) Answer together

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

Interpretation: To me, this is the final answer: the answer that Hydaelyn that is giving to the children of these new worlds. The Ascians, unable to accept that this new world is the only way to maintain a semblance of meaning in the face of Zodiark’s dominion over all life, continue to enforce His will over creation, creating strife. She mourns the constant chaos and conflict this causes, as Her children - the children of the Shards - question why they must be made to endure constant pain and sorrow and death.

She gives the same answer she gave to the Ascians, with one caveat - they must labor to find the answers together. Hydaelyn cannot give the beings of these new worlds the answers to life; to do so would make her no better than Zodiark, the creature she was created to oppose. Life must find its own way, chart its own course. But life has the ability to hear, to feel, to think. To entrust unto tomorrow. To look to those who walked before, to lead those who come after. And to continue to grow and learn. To drag the planet to the past, to sacrifice everything to Zodiark? That would be the ultimate tragedy, and that must never be allowed to happen.