#If anyone can tell me what the Ironblood one MIGHT mean I'd be very happy to edit that in

[crossroadsdimension]

FF16 Song Title Translations (into English)

I find the choices for some of the song titles in FF16's soundtrack interesting. Especially the ones that are clearly Greek.

For example -- take "Tonitrua ex Machina." It's the song that plays when we first meet Cid, as he's walking out of a lightning-created dust cloud after sending all those Ironblood to the afterlife.

The more common, well-known version of the phrase is "Deux ex Machina," which means "the god in the machine." In Greek plays, this was usually the term used for divine intervention to get the protagonist back on track towards victory, rather than a continued downward spiral. It's basically the ancient version of a maguffin.

But here, in FF16, the name is different. And if you run "Tonitrua" through google translate or other translation software, it comes out as various synonyms for thunder.

So, instead of "the god in the machine," it's "the thunder in the machine." Very fitting play on the phrase, considering what Cid does when he shows up!

I'll keep the rest under the cut because we'll start to get into spoiler territory for...well, the whole game, really. Forgive any incorrect guesses as to when these songs play -- it's been a couple weeks since I completed the game and I'm working off the soundtrack list!

The next song in the soundtrack is "Catacecaumene," which is Greek, and it plays during the fight with Typhon. According to translation software means "burnt land" or "burnt country." This one took a little bit of digging to find because it's actually the name of a region in ancient Turkey, once called Lydia...and they spell it "Katakekeaumene." So, replace the C's with K's and you've got an old name for a region.

It's definitely an interesting choice, considering that the fight is against Typhon, who mostly uses unaspected magic, but as I'm writing this and chewing it over...the Blight makes the entire land look like it's been scorched in a raging wildfire, doesn't it? Covered in black ash, nothing grows or lives in its silence...and considering how alien it sounds, it's really starting to make me think of the Blighted world Ultima left behind. The world he gave up on trying to "wake up" and remind it of what it used to be, as Cid was attempting in the Hideaway.

Except now, something blooms in fire here. Clive -- Mythos -- has made an appearance.

The third song, "Màtham Sanomh," doesn't come up as anything I'm familiar with, other than some name sites trying to tell me what "Màtham" means. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say this song was named using the Ironblood language that was invented for the game, rather than any we're familiar with. Especially since it plays when Jill and Clive are approaching the worshipping Ironblood priests at their altar with their human sacrifices in front of the Mothercrystal.

A couple songs later, we get "Hamartia." How many Percy Jackson fans just perked up at that one? Because it's Greek for "fatal flaw." Considering that Ultima believes Clive to be flawed, and this plays during the Typhon and Liquid Flame fights, I believe Ultima is looking for Clive's -- Mythos' -- flaws here, and is preparing to burn them out as necessary.

"Fenris Kindir" comes a few songs later -- I'm reading Scandinavian vibes right off the bat with this name, rather than the Greek of other ones. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and guess this means "kin of Fenrir." As this is the song that plays when Torgal first transforms while rescuing Jill, it's not hard to see why!

"Vive l'Empire" and "Fanfarrado de Chocobo" are easy enough to figure out -- one is a theme for Sanbreque ("long live the empire" or something similar), and the other is a brief fanfare for getting on Ambrosia.

Later on, we get "Miséricorde," which plays in the cutscenes following the fight against Bahamut, means "mercy" or "forgiveness." I forget who this one plays for, but considering how extremely tense it is, and how it comes right after "Kinslayer," this is either the moment that Dion lets his emotions get the better of him...or when Anabella slits her own throat, thinking to wake up from a dream.

"Furor," which is probably what plays during the fight with Sleipnir or the cutscene following with Barnabas, just means "rage." Considering the entire city of Kanver's fallen to Waloed's Akashic horde, Clive's feeling pretty mad right now. Fitting!

"Eschaton" is another Greek word -- dictionary software implies it's the last part of a divine plan, usually referring to an "end-of-the-world" scenario. I believe this is what plays when Origin is pulled up from under Twinside and Ultima starts to put his final phase into motion. Again, very fitting.

The last two songs that pull from Greek are "Logos" and "Holos." The first of these, "Logos," essentially means "logic." If you're using it in a communicative setting, it's "the appeal to another's sense of reason," which is a definition I'm familiar with after having taken a Speech class in college. Appeal to Logos, Pathos, and Ethos -- which are logic, emotion, and ethics, respectively. Clive has seen reason, but Ultima has not, and Clive is going to force Ultima to see the truth of things whether the so-called god likes it or not.

"Holos," on the other hand, is not short form for "hologram" no matter what the internet is trying to tell me. In Greek, it means "entire" or "whole," which...considering it plays in the cutscene after Clive defeats Ultima and when he casts that final spell? It signifies that Mythos is complete. He is whole. Clive has all the power he could ever gain (minus Leviathan, if we ever get any DLC for that), and he has everything he needs to change the world as he sees fit.

How ironic, then, that his body couldn't actually hold all the power Ultima gave him, or handle the aftermath of the spell cast. Then again, maybe the vessel was never intended to live past its intended purpose...

(To be clear, I'm in the "Clive survives but loses a hand" camp, but I could certainly see Ultima casting the vessel aside when he was done with it.)

I wouldn't be surprised if there are other songs on the bonus disc that have other names that might need a little translation work, but I'm not getting my copy until September. Still, this was pretty fun and interesting to look into!