the hag by vane lily is SO ridiculously four crowns coded oh my god.
Ascension, suspension, redemption
A gambit's lesson in desperate obsession
Reflection, confession, regression
A foolish message to question progression
ascension as the scandinavians’ first raising of a fractured andolont to their equal, suspension as the post mudflood second andolonsk empire + eventual reunion in the gaia wins ending where andolont’s conservatism and nationalism makes their sisters slower to warm to them again than they’d always imagined, redemption they get their shit together eventually. second andolonsk empire is borne out of a desperate obsession to make their “dead” sisters proud and to live up to the legacy they think their father left. last two lines sound like andolont responding to everyone going hey maybe it’s not a great idea to conquer everyone with any number of norgri exchangees while also being completely friendless.
Darling, hold my hand tight
Beneath the fading moonlight
Don't fear, for when you wake I'll be there waiting, dear
So, darling, hold my hand tight
andolont to ny norgrimark.
It's sick
How sympathetic values / Stain on the skin (Timelines demystify systematic suicide)
Yet your win is martyred as a / Poor man's attempt at sin
(Timelines demystify systematic suicide)
I'll rewrite my plight tonight
We seem to meet on those snowy, winter days As the summer slumbers in a solar-still malaise Reside in twilight, I know our souls are tied
I'll blight the night
the first half sounds like andolont confused as to why people think imperialism is bad. rewriting their plight is about all the lies or just misbeliefs their modus operandi is based on which i have already said and also the general propensity of states (and humans) to cast themselves as the heroes no matter what they’re actually doing. obviously scandinavia is associated with winter, i half remember hearing something about magical associations with twilight, or this could be that andolont’s dreaming about them, which would fit with blighting the night.
And as the vagaries of life / Pass through our transitory eyes
I see you there and eulogize
If our fates are bound by my past mistakes
I'll forsake every memory / And damn us to never wake
Betray the angel's frame
again andolont’s behavior is basically an incredibly unhealthy coping mechanism for their grief, they think about their sisters all the time. past mistakes i think is about their fractured state when they first saw each other because andolont wouldn’t admit to having screwed up more recently, and i will also say forsaking every memory and never waking is about their desire to go back to a past where all their family members weren’t estranged. last line is vaguely about the fact that andolont was very abusive to their sisters’ children.
Redemption, obsession, regression, progression Through cycles and trials, could I still atone?
Come say you hate me, berate me / That you're not worth saving
But what of the blood gently staining the snow?
Just tell me / Tell me why you have to go How could you know? / How could you ever know
(How would you even know?)
Stay with me / Sinking into the unknown
How could you know? / Just tell me how you know
sisters reunited, andolont crashing out, maybe they even feel shame when they realize they’ve disappointed them. probably incredible clinginess driven by fear that they’ll lose them again.
May the L.O.R.D. be my light
May he guide this spineless spite
As the flow of fate refrains
I'll embrace your cold remains
andolont’s christian, their grief manifests as anger, flow of fate is the ice wall, cold remains is because they think the earth is frozen.
Human ascension is a belligerent game (And on that day we split that latte)
The tides of time are set to restless shame
Oh, Nalin, Calla, Zahir, Hana / No matter the shape
(We saw our fate) (In refrain) (Wilting away)
I'll find a way to break the frame
once again trying to justify imperialism, reminiscing, restless shame for losing their empire, calling out their sisters’ names, lamenting the warning signs of the mudflood, the frame is the wall, and andolont is a member of the zerzuran alliance.
The frame of us remains in my head
A collage of all the ways you ve seen me dead
I lay awake in phantom embrace
As these memories caress my frigid face
And the song that you wrote / As the snow graced the oak
Left an old haggard crow / On an endless plateau
I'll lament my descent / But l'll never repent Watch this heartache transcend / Begging,
a picture the four of them took together, a reference to the fracturing, again andolont’s dreaming about them and reminiscing. they’re the haggard crow and the plateau is their general emptiness at the loss of all their family. they are very upset about losing their empire but don’t see anything they did as wrong, the heartache is transformed into anger.
"Don't you wilt away!" / The H.A.G. cries out in vain
As forty-two cicadas laugh in his face
"The past can't be negotiated," / Father Time declared
But I'm stuck here still, my daffodil / Tell me why you've lost your will
The gods are ever cruel / For even in this life I am but a fool
My tears create a burning shame / To bring this world to flames
andolont is the hag. the cicadas are the 18 something strong anti andolont coalition (which is a normal thing countries would form a coalition for but an incredible thing to name it tbh). can’t change the past, stuck on the second globe, they’re confused their norgri family members aren’t happy under their rule, and the shame is of course empire loss related but i also think they have some kind of complex about being the youngest sister. when empires are upset it always ends up being someone else’s problem.
Oh, your feeble face is / Rotting upon the rust (Dios, te odio) (Ay, te odio) (Gasté siglos buscando absolución)
The charred remains of this place / Will be nothing but scattered dust
(Hace años que me abandonaste) (Tres milenios de pura aversión)
andolont to varholt and religious guilt.