"Answers" Answered!

[Catapult]

Oh, I love this song. And I've always had this mental picture that it was being sung by an actual entity in the game rather than just being a theme song. After all, as Nobuo Uematsu tells us, the lyrics were handed to him by the lore team first, which is not what they normally do.

Excuse me while I analyse...

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?

I imagined this introduction as being a plea for help and guidance by the denizens of Eorzea. The choir of voices certainly gives it that earthly feeling as well.

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

This sounds like a goddess of sorts, voiced by Susan Calloway. Personally, I like to think it's Azeyma, the Warden on the basis that she would be the one to first hear a plea for protection, but who knows?

At the very least, note how "Life" and "Death" have been capitalised. This makes them personal pronouns and (unless Ferne made a boo boo in the grammar, which happens to the best of us) it suggests the singer is referring to the two aspects of the Traders, Nald and Thal.

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...

Here, Azeyma would be reassuring us that not all is lost and that the strength to prevail is something we already have.

Again, "Land" is capitalised to make it a personal pronoun, making me think to Nophica, the Matron.

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

This section (and its reprise later) are a little more complicated. Firstly, the parts in brackets (sung by Susan) are very much like the "Hear, Feel, Think" we get just before witnessing the first starshower in our first experience of the echo.
I interpret this sequence as a chorus of the varying trials Eorzeas describe (the choir) and the consistent messages given to us by Azeyma.

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

Under the context I've been suggesting, this entire section takes on an entire new meaning. If it is indeed Azeyma or another of the Twelve singing, they are possibly telling us the following:

• Use your heads and pay attention to what is going on around you in the big picture.
• There is a way, but we can't help you unless you summon us.
• We are a shadow of what we once were, unsummoned beings in the aether.
• When we first sealed Bahamut, we resigned ourselves to this helplessness? (The twelve could be remenants of Allagan Sages who sacrificed themselves into the aether to seal Bahamut, became revered and after an age or two perceived as gods... I'm speculating a little more than I probably have liberty to on this one.)

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?)
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?

The parts in brackets, sung by the choir, arguably represent our lack of understanding about the echo. What are we meant to feel, hear and think?
As for Azeyma, it sounds like she is lamenting the stupidly racist and selfish state of affairs. The last line, I'm still thinking about the best way to fit that in.

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

This time it is the other way around. I believe it is no coincidence that in the End of an Era Trailer, this part plays during the prayer/summon/seal component. We now finally understand what to do (hear, feel, think). As for the Twelve...

• Witness: Halone, the Fury
• Suffer: Rhalgr, the Destroyer
• Borrow: Nald'thal, the Traders
• Reason: Thaliak, the Scholar
• Follow: Nophica, the Matron
• Stumble: Llymlaen, the Navigator
• Wander: Oschon, the Wanderer
• Listen: Menphina, the Lover
• Whisper: Nymeia, the Spinner
• Shoulder: Byregot, the Builder
• Ponder: Azeyma, the Warden
• Weather: Althyk, the Keeper

(I used the introductions to each of the guardians as read during character creation to help me assign them. Of course, I might be drawing a long bow on this.)

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

We lost, but the realm will be reborn.