darkSpyro

Words cannot explain how incredibly elated I am right now. For context, please read through this piece of darkSpyro history, this short thread is over 6 years old and had no conclusion... until today.
https://forum.darkspyro.net/sp...php?topic=97776

Ok, are you back? Good, because this story doesn't end on a cliffhanger anymore! The story starts with a random reddit question asking about what the choir is singing in the final boss music- yes I know, it's not the theme music, hold on, I'm getting there. Anyway, thanks to a random YouTube comment on a video of the final boss music, we now know the Latin lyrics are this:
Quote:

omnia perdidimus; tantummodo uita relicta est,
praebeat ut sensum materiamque mali.
quid iuuat extinctos ferrum demittere in artus?
non habet in nobis iam noua plaga locum

To my surprise, there is actually more than one YouTube comment writing out these lyrics. Copying, pasting, and Googling the Latin text above will bring you to this video of the final boss music, where we find this translation listed (after searching around, I found that this is an accurate translation):
Quote:

We have lost everything, and to the extent that life is left,
it offers just the sense and substance of evil.
What is the use of plunging a sword into a body already dead?
There is no longer any room in me for a fresh wound.

Which is cool and all, but that's not where the story ends. I promised you that I'd find the chant from the title theme, which is just a shortened version of the Celestial Caves theme. This is where everything comes together. The reddit question was asking specifically about the final boss music. The first reply says that some lyrics come from the poem Carmen 66 by Catullus, but that didn't answer the question about the final boss music. Anyway, I looked up the poem, and there it was: the first four lines of the poem are what the choir chants in the Celestial Caves track. Here are the Latin lyrics:
Quote:

Omnia qui magni dispexit lumina mundi,
qui stellarum ortus comperit atque obitus,
flammeus ut rapidi solis nitor obscuretur,
ut cedant certis sidera temporibus

And here is what the translation is:
Quote:

Conon searched the heavenly bodies of the vast sky and saw
the risings and settings of the stars, how the fiery
brightness of the scorching sun is darkened, how heavenly
bodies depart at certain times

So anyway, this has been one wild ride. Dragon Love, HIR, SamXala, Shrazer320, cowpowa23, Razz, and Darchangel- we did it. I don't even care if other people have figured this out in the 6 years since the topic was first started. I finally have the answers I've been looking for and it is such a sweet moment. Goodnight, all. After all of this, I can finally sleep at night.

this is actually pretty cool

That's a really big find and seems like it took some digging, amazing!

Since I forgot to put it in my original post, here is an excerpt from an ebook explaining the context of the poem from the Gaul music. https://books.google.com/books...a%20est&f=false

nice job digging this up!

i always wanted to know what the choir was saying in those songs. i'm not sure if their meanings connect to the rest of the game outside of references to battle and celestial bodies, but it's cool to finally know what the vocals mean

do you know any other songs?

Quote: sans

do you know any other songs?

In the comments for this video of the Grove action music, someone has commented the lyrics, which comes from the Ovid poem Ibis starting at line 139:
Quote:

Tecum bella geram; nec mors mihi finiet iras,
Saeva sed in manes manibus arma dabit.
Tum quoque, cum fuero vacuas dilapsus in auras,
Exsanguis mores oderit umbra tuos,

Which translates to:
Quote:

I’ll wage war on you: death will not end my anger, rather
among the shades it will set a cruel weapon in my hands.
Then, too, when I shall be dissolved in empty air,
my bloodless ghost will still revile all your ways,

The same user also listed out the lyrics for the Arborik music, which comes from line 225 of the same poem, and they link timestamps where the choir is singing. I'd recommend reading their comment.

The track Mountain Fortress contains lyrics from another poem, Trista, starting on line 27.

This track Black Powers contains lyrics from Dies Irae, starting at the line "Iuste iudex ultionis." This is not an Ovid poem, and music history or choir buffs will recognize this as being used in masses. Basically dies irae means day of wrath, very fitting for the end of the game.

This user, pszemeg_double-u, is amazing and accomplished what I tried to do so many years ago. According to another comment of theirs I found on the Celestial Caves video,
Quote: pszemeg_double-u

Patience is crucial. I repeatedly listen to these tracks and try to catch a phrase or a single word (such as "ardorem", "magni", "vobis male") and search for it in Google or in thelatinlibrary.com.
The fact that most of those lyrics are fragments of Ovid poems (or other Roman poets, excluding "Dies irae") is really helpful. On the other hand mispronounced or unintelligible words can lead to nowhere.

If you guys are interested in browsing the tracks with Latin lyrics I made this playlist. While you're there, be sure to give pszemeg_double-u a thumbs up so their comment stays at the top, and maybe leave them a thank you as well!

Wow this is cool! Thanks for taking all this time to find out the lyrics. :)

Absolutely amazing! I've wondered for years (: Thank you! I love the darkness of the Latin poetry; it makes me wish the game had turned out edgier than its current incarnation, lol