Analysis of "This Broken Soul". May contain Spoilers.

Scarabbug · Feb 22, 2008 11:51 PM

Hello, Iâ€™m new here (well, sort of, I have actually posted here before as a different user but the account was cancelled), and decided that I should probably start out my membership by making an actual contribution.

Before I begin, I would like to say hello to both lancer232 and abbey1053 who came to greet me in this guestbook thingy I seem to have before Iâ€™d even made my first post. It was very nice to be welcomed smile

* * *

I decided to make this my first post after reading this entry by Spyrofriend, in which they wondered exactly who or what the song This Broken Soul refered to: http://www.spyroforum.com/topic-3457-15.html

Iâ€™m always interested in breaking down songs like this, and judging their meanings based on what I find in each verse. (Yeah, Iâ€™m really over-analytical like that). This meant that I got to thinking really (too) hard about this question. I came up with the following ideas. I canâ€™t ascertain their accuracy (after all, I have no idea whether This Broken Soul was written with the story of the game in mind), but I do think theyâ€™re rather interesting points.

The beautiful song This Broken Soul is, truthfully, a piece of music which represented, to me, just how incredibly different this new Spyro series is to the original games of the late nineties. Never before has a Spyro game used such haunting melodies and lyrics, and never before has emphasis been placed on wording in such a way. Iâ€™m pretty sure that the lyrics of This Broken Soul are anything but coincidental.

If you wish me to repost this as a part of the original topic from which it was inspired, rather than as an individual topic, then by all means tell me to do so.

So then. Here is my personal theoretical breakdown of the meaning behind the song This Broken Soul. Warnings are made for upcoming melodrama.

O Holy Land Come ancient spirits
Take up my hand and guide me.

-Weâ€™ve been hearing about these â€œAncient Spiritsâ€ since A New Beginning. The spirits that Broken Soul now refers to are, I believe, the ancestors that Ignitus spoke of early in the first game. The source of the spirit gems, the root of Spyroâ€™s hidden powers, his identity as a dragon... it all lies within his ancient blood. It is this ancient legacy of power which Spyro turns to when he has need of aid â€œunlocking powers he never knew he hadâ€, as Ignitus put it. I believe that those two verses are probably meant to refer to Spyro (and possibly Cynder, too) asking for help from these ancestors once again.

Think about the way that the Eternal Night game ended: things were... pretty much screwed up. The Dark master has escaped, the mountain is collapsing all around them and who knows what has happened to the many people whom he loves. So he does what many people under pressure do â€“ he prays that thereâ€™s some greater power that can help him through it. The Holy Land could be one of two places â€“ either the dragon temple, or the well of souls (well itâ€™s holy in a very strange sense) and Iâ€™m leaning more towards it being the former.

Pull me to shore Rivers are rising
look in this heart and find me.

-Well, if thatâ€™s not obvious then I donâ€™t know what is. How did Spyro start out the first game? Floating as an egg down the Silver River, of course. This verse could very well be a reference to that beginning. Spyro ran aground and was rescued then, by the dragonflies who became his parents. Perhaps now the dragons feel as if they both need rescuing again, if from something far stronger than a riverâ€™s current (I could also point out that a â€œwellâ€ (as in â€œWell of Soulsâ€) can be connected to a â€œriverâ€.

The song then goes on to say look in this heart and find me. And isnâ€™t that exactly what Ignitus told Spyro to do, when he was teaching him how to fly?

The next few lines are fairly obvious, so Iâ€™ll skip them.

I'm by your side Ashes still burning
I proved my worth So tell me why
I've lost my way Your voice is silent
I need you here To remind me

This bit of the song really tugged at my heartstrings. I felt that this bit could refer to either Spyro R Cynder â€“ Cynder because she had fought between good and evil for so long, and had finally made her choice and proven her worth as a â€œgood guyâ€ â€“ and now sheâ€™s about to be blown up in an exploding mountain anyway, which just... sucks.

And then thereâ€™s the way in which these lines refer to Spyro. It seems that all the way through the game, Spyro may have sometimes not known where he was going, but he always had the sensation of being â€˜ledâ€™ somewhere. Of having guidance and help. But when he left for the Well of Souls after meeting with the Chronicler, he had no more guidance. He was entirely alone, with no voice in his head to offer him hints or clues, and no real certainty that they will come out of this situation alive. The voice is silent, and heâ€™s lost, with no guidance.

All heroes reach a point at which they leave behind their â€œmentorsâ€ and guides (such as in spyroâ€™s case, Ignitus and the Chronicler) and must head out to do battle entirely alone, with forces they have never faced before single handedly. But it is possible that for Spyro, this time came too soon, before he was ready to deal with it, and that is why The Eternal Night had such a depressing ending. The End of the World waits for no hero, huh?

Show me now How to find my home
All I am Surrender

I... think I might be grasping at straws with this one, but when I read the words â€˜all that I am, surrenderâ€™ it makes me think of how sometimes, when people have no hope remaining, they turn to some omnipotent figure or symbol of hope to guide them through. They surrender utterly to this power (or god or whatever) because thereâ€™s nothing else they can do. In Spyroâ€™s case, at the end of Eternal Night he surrendered entirely to his own powers, and is trusting them to keep he, Sparx and Cynder alive.

Tell me that you can forgive
Bring me peace that I may live

-Peace, huh? What peace might Spyro look for? The peace of knowing that he is his own person, despite being a purple dragon, just as the Dark Master was (the good olâ€™ Luke Skywalker syndrome, eh?) the peace of knowing that he has succeeded? Saved the world? Saved Cynder? Kept them all alive? perhaps all of those things. There is no peace for Spyro or Cynder (or Sparx for that matter) at the end of Eternal Night. And they know there can only be more hardships to come. The innocent days of playing Hide-and-Tag in the swamps are long gone. Spyro will never be a child again, and childhood is something we all have to lose eventually (I just turned 21, can you tell? tongue )

No peace for these lilâ€™ dragons just yet, no siree. sad

And of course, forgiveness can also refer to Cynder and her struggle with her own personal demons. Cynder I always liked. Having been freed from a dark destiny she now struggles to find her own, living in a world where some people no doubt hate her guts and she is wracked with guilt. She seeks forgiveness, yet at the end of A new beginning Ignitus sounded like he was apologising to her, rather than the other way around. Confused, much? o_O

Let the water Flow right through this broken soul.

This line puzzled me slightly, as itâ€™s wording felt a bit whimsical. Water is after all, symbolic of cleansing (though I have to say Spyroâ€™s latest â€œbathâ€ wasnâ€™t exactly in anything... well, pure. Yeek). But it doesnâ€™t really fix things that are broken, does it? If anything, water erodes things all the more. But I ifugre it was probably talking about the darkness that now resides within Spyroâ€™s soul as well as Cynderâ€™s.

Well thatâ€™s... pretty much it, I think. I canâ€™t analyse the song anymore, but I hope this might be itneretsing to you.

I also created an AMV that I thought would be attributable to the song, and featuring the song itself. If youâ€™d like to see it, itâ€™s here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFaj838CJe8

Spyrorocks · Feb 23, 2008 2:22 AM

Thats very informative. Nice job.

What was your previous user account?

Scarabbug · Feb 23, 2008 7:53 PM

Thanks smile

I can't remember exactly, but it was certainly something with a "Scarab" in the title... I usually name myself something surrounding that.

shade105 · Feb 23, 2008 11:10 PM

Nice, but i was thinking that this song was more refferring to Cynder then Spyro, i mean if ytou break it up and take it less logisticly and see it i a metaforical way, you would see it.....

O Holy Land Come ancient spirits
Take up my hand and guide me.

I think it is more like Cynder, i mean she is lost in between the abiss, of staying with Spyro and such, or finding her own path, i think its like a prayer to ask for help...

Pull me to shore Rivers are rising
look in this heart and find me.

once again, looking for help from being lost, this part might be dirrected towards Spyro or to the prayer to the ancestors...

I'm by your side Ashes still burning
I proved my worth So tell me why
I've lost my way Your voice is silent
I need you here To remind me

In this part, Cynder is pretty much saying, "I picked the path to stay with you, but i still feel lost, its like i dont feel the home" you know (I said that in a bit of slang) but yeah....

Show me now How to find my home
All I am Surrender

I think in this part, Cynder is asking for someone to lead her, and pretty much saying she is humble to that person in the "All i am Surrender"

Tell me that you can forgive
Bring me peace that I may live

I agree with the Cynder thing you put, Cynder is at a stage where she thinks all hate her (and sparx isn't helping) like in the begining where Sparx said "I do, think for yourself," Cynder agreed with him......

Let the water Flow right through this broken soul

In this part... Its hard to explain but let me try.... She knows that she is broken (metaphoricly) and has a messed up past, so she is pretty much surrendering....

I could explain it better, but that is what ill do for know, if there is any questions, ill answer....

Scarabbug · Feb 24, 2008 12:53 AM

Nice, but i was thinking that this song was more refferring to Cynder then Spyro, i mean if ytou break it up and take it less logisticly and see it i a metaforical way, you would see it...

But I was seeing it metaphorically too. I just phrased it differently to how you did.

I'm by your side Ashes still burning
I proved my worth So tell me why
I've lost my way Your voice is silent
I need you here To remind me
In this part, Cynder is pretty much saying, "I picked the path to stay with you, but i still feel lost, its like i dont feel the home" you know (I said that in a bit of slang) but yeah....

Yeah, that bit really made me think of Cynder, too. Especially the bit about â€œproving my worthâ€. Cynder seems to have so much to prove to herself and others. After all sheâ€™s trying to break away from her supposed â€œdestinyâ€ while Spyro is trying to adhere to his. We only follow our destinies if we really like what we see, and there can be nothing worse than thinking your destiny has only pain and hate in store.

agree with the Cynder thing you put, Cynder is at a stage where she thinks all hate her (and sparx isn't helping) like in the begining where Sparx said "I do, think for yourself," Cynder agreed with him....

Well I guess itâ€™s like what I was saying before. Destiny is a fickle thing â€“ to Spyro his destiny is hard, dangerous and may well kill him, but itâ€™s [i[positive[/i] and will allow him to help others, and himself. So he has no real reason to go against it.

But all Cynder was ever able to do with her destiny was destroy and maim. She doesnâ€™t want to b the person that everyone, even the ancient and wise chronicler, sees her becoming. The only person who has faith in her is Spyro. Why is that, I wonder?

Another thing which seemed funny to me was when Spyro said â€œYou keep talking about choosing a path, but what about Cynder? She was never given a choice.â€ But I wonder, was Spyro really given a choice, or is he simply happier to go along with the paths that â€œdestinyâ€ has laid out for him? o_O

If you ask me, theyâ€™re both pretty screwed up right now. Spyro was just lucky enough to have a nicer childhood than Cynder did... I dunno, maybe that means he has more to lose.

Some bits of the song are apt enough to Cynder, certainly, but I think itâ€™s mostly quite ga eneral song for them both anyway, and it feels unlikely to me, logically, that they would make the ending credits about a supporting character, rather than the main character. (Kinda a shame because Cynder SO couldâ€™ve done with a better role in the game, not that she didnâ€™t do brilliantly with what little screen time she had, overall she's plot-wise, not quite as important. So why give her the ending theme?)

I reckon it was probably either meant to be about Spyro, or possibly about both of them. Plotwise, Cynder wouldnâ€™t have been appropriate.

shade105 · Feb 24, 2008 1:12 AM

Yeah yeah, well you know, about Spyro picking a path, he did klinda, in ANB he chose to go find out what he was, and from then it roled on, I thought that Cynder was a main Char tho, i mean she is a growing charecter, because you get to know more about her as you proceed in the game, i think she wil have a large role in the next game, i at least hope so...

Scarabbug · Feb 24, 2008 1:48 AM

A main protagonist? Yes, she was, but when you get down to it, the game isn't really so much about her, so why would they dedicate the ending theme to her? And what I mean is... would spyro have chosen his path were it not a good one?

How come we're all up and happy for spyro to go off saving the world because he was "destined to put his stamp on this age", but not happy for cynder to go to the side of the dark master? Aren't they BOTH supposed to be "destinies"?

And spyro seems to have decided to follow his anyway. Though perhaps he'll be a little more inquisitive about this "prophecy" of his in the future.

Cynder is a great chatacer - I like her, and, like many "secondary protagonists", she is basically more interesting than the main lead.

shade105 · Feb 24, 2008 1:52 AM

Yes true, but i think she will have a large role in the next game, dont you think?

Scarabbug · Feb 24, 2008 2:04 AM

Oh yes, it's likely that she will since the dark master is free now (preusmably) and he is such a huge oart of Cynder's past - cynder's idneitty and role will probably be massively questioned throughout the game, and I hope she is explored a lot further.

(It's also possible that she won't but... that would be kinda sil and dissapointing, given how her character has been built up so much in the last two games... You can't free the dark master and then not have him engge in even the slightest converstaion with his one-time loyal servant) XD

shade105 · Feb 24, 2008 11:45 PM

Yeah, i bet that she will have alot of self conflict.....

Scarabbug · Feb 25, 2008 9:45 PM

I think "self conflict" is the least of the poor girl's problems sad

EricChristianOlsenFanatic · Feb 26, 2008 11:49 PM

Hey can anyone possibly send me an mp3 of This Broken Soul? If you can I really appreciate it!

- Justin Long Fanatic smile

shade105 · Feb 27, 2008 12:17 AM

i have it, dont remember who gave it to me tho... yeah, i bet the DM would want to kill the "traidor"

EricChristianOlsenFanatic · Feb 27, 2008 3:12 AM

Could you possibly send me an MP3 or any member on this forum send me an MP3? I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks,
Justin Long Fanatic

O:)

Scarabbug · Mar 01, 2008 12:42 AM

Sure I can smile just toss me an email at Tsarah989@aol.com and I'll be happy to send you a copy, though it's perhapsd not perfect quality, it sounds nice enough.

ratchet · Mar 01, 2008 8:55 AM

When Neal sent an email to the composers of TLOS music, they said it was about Spyro's relationship to ignitus. Not Cynder to Spyro.

Scarabbug · Mar 02, 2008 12:09 AM

Oh, awesome smile I'm cool with that interpretation too. Ignitus rocks, and when I think about it more I cn see the link.

shade105 · Mar 03, 2008 1:26 AM

I heard of that, man that is a turn off to me, i always thought it went way better the other way, then again that is why it is music, as they say, music is not just giving one story.....

Scarabbug · Mar 04, 2008 5:18 PM

*Shrugs* They say a good composure doesn't force the listener to see things "their" way, but instead, creates a piece of music that everyone feels they can relate to in some way.

shade105 · Mar 04, 2008 10:26 PM

exactly, and this song thoes that well, i mean look how hard it was to analize this.....

Scarabbug · Mar 06, 2008 5:54 PM

Was fun to analyse though big_smile

Rurikredwolf · Mar 06, 2008 8:51 PM

While it does mean about Ignitus and Spyro, I agree with your anasis (I forgot how to spell that -.-). It could be a second meaning, and I have a few other things for this song. Sometimes, songs have different meanings dispite what the maker's said, and can very well be interpetated as something completely different. (I've done it a few times for a few songs that I like: Such as use them for something different.)

I may have repeated myself...and I'm sorry for that. I lose track of what I do/say very often.

ratchet · Mar 07, 2008 3:51 AM

I agree with Ruriredwolf, may songs i have though aboutwhat they mean but when i research them i turn out to be totally wrong

Scarabbug · Mar 07, 2008 7:37 PM

I may have repeated myself...and I'm sorry for that. I lose track of what I do/say very often.

Heh. No stress, me too. (Personally I blame my dyslexia :-P)

I agree with Ruriredwolf, may songs i have though aboutwhat they mean but when i research them i turn out to be totally wrong

Yeah, but you were only wrong about what the composers thought the song was about. The song still had it's own unique meaning to you and you alone, even if it didn't match what the composers (or anyone else, for that matter) thought, right? That's what makes these songs special, I think smile

Rurikredwolf · Mar 07, 2008 8:23 PM

Thats true. I mean, it sounds lke someone who is suffering calling out for help.

#1 Feb 22, 2008 11:51 PM

Analysis of "This Broken Soul". May contain Spoilers.

#2 Feb 23, 2008 2:22 AM

Re: Analysis of "This Broken Soul". May contain Spoilers.

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