Elpis Night Theme "Stars Long Dead" - FFXIV OST

It sounds so sad :(
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[@amsaa91]

The man I was would weep at what I have become. The all consuming contempt

[@Xoediac]

I cannot help but imagine this line being delivered to a morbidly obese guy stuck in a Pizza Hut booth.

[@thecatboy7494]

I can only associate this with the post Zodiark cutscene. Such a powerful moment.

[@cnkclark]

"The story of Hermes, the man who knew so much yet understood so little, ends here."

[@SubTonic]

Same. It's what forever stands out in my mind about Endwalker. The first real boss of the story utters a lamentation of the end upon his death, setting up not the ending, but the beginning of that story. This piano came out of nowhere, but it thoroughly messed with my head.

[@jaeusa160]

I really love appreciating in retrospect that this thence-unheard track is like a pre-tease for Elpis later. Yes this is Elpis' music, but our first hearing is when Zodiark-Fandaniel dies.

[@HCSR2]

Whispers, falling silently, drift on the wind But I hear you ♪

[@kaseigunsou]

I love the musical story behind the story. Having the Elpis at night theme turned into the musical splendor that is Ultima Thule is yet another genius move. Here at the end of all things, the things keeping us all together is that moment frozen in time when Ancients and WOL met and settled for what would ultimately become the future of the whole Universe. On that defining day Meteion lost most of her hope, Hermes settled on a path leading him into becoming Fandaniel and Amon, with all the consequences we know about it, Venat started walking on her own path as Hythlo and Emet began playing their part in their own tragedy. Also, the name "stars long dead" seems to be carrying such a weight. The song is named like that because, I like to believe, Hermes and Meteion looking at the stars at night in Elpis were seeing merely reflections of stars long dead in the distance. Ultimately, these stars are what Hermes thinks of when he stares at the night sky. Long dead civilizations, remnants of what could have been but never will. But as you reach Ultima Thule, you actually contemplate stars long dead... Only this time, with the help of your friends, you slowly turn this melancholic tune into a song of Hope. The game soundtrack is filled with such hidden nods to the story. Actually, most of the foreshadowing comes from what musical themes are being used and weaved together. And the subtle subtext of the game relies so much on its soundtrack. That's what happens I guess when every genius on your team is completely dedicated to storytelling.

[@tacitidesong]

I love how this song fades out after Hermes/Zodiark fades away, and we're left with our Warrior of Light closing their eyes, as if to just... breathe out. For so long, Zodiark has been the goal. The mission. The target. And just like that, he's gone. Our quest might not be over, but man is it an enormous feeling to just... be done with it. And it shows it, in such a simple, subtle way.

[@JasonBeo]

That moment at 3:00 where it rolls back into the normal Elpis theme as the camera pans above Zordiak's now empty prison in the moon was just fantastic...

[@Sharion5498]

I'm a grown ass fucking man and whenever I hear this song I just break down into happiest form of weeping imaginable, we are spoiled to have Soken doing the OST for this game, and we are spoiled to have these night themes for every location, they are just out of this world.

[@themightyzodiark9909]

How quickly strength fades and blood cools.

[@segafan1316]

Aa very ominous title for such a calm song

[@zelohendricks51]

Fitting considering it's used for Fandaniel/Hermes death scene

[@silvergrove8517]

Not to mention, the stars you can see in the night sky of Elpis are 12,000 years older than the time you come from...

[@tribble608]

And the fact that Meteion confirms that all life on these stars is indeed dead...

[@jacobteague635]

​@@tribble608 CHILLSSSS

[@cnkclark]

Yeah the surface level thought was for how far removed we were from our present time here... and then the deeper implications of what Hermes and Meteion set in motion here settled in. Chilling.

[@googlemademedoit806]

This song will always remind me of when I first got to Elpis. Elpis it put into context the tragedy of the Paradise that was lost. The song has a sense of glory once held and now gone. That nostalgic feeling that is just beyond grasp as if my character could feel the subtle tug of who he once was. Some form of deep misty melancholy just at the edges of consciousness. I was fortunate It was a clear night when I got to Elpis and I'll never forget it.

[@annalisa32]

Same went for me 🥲

[@zombiesxaliens]

Gorgeous. ❤ that's exactly it.

[@Sidneyallenwaterman]

😢

[@metallicolor]

first time to be here, hearing the music, seeing the clear night sky, peaceful grass and floating island, My immediate thought is that this is the place I can die peacefully to.

[@Senriam]

Yes. And that peaceful melancholy is exacerbated by knowing that everyone and everything in Ellis is long gone and you’re really only seeing a memory of it.

[@trustytrest]

Isn't that how the last people of The Dead Ends felt?

[@TCChavez]

Even here, even now

[@ferrestist1678]

The rising notes starting from 1:14 are just.. wow

[@artuno1207]

Especially in the post 83 Trial, when you see that weird swirly thing, the music combined with that imagery just made me think "Oh gods, what have we done..?"

[@MaskedBishop]

A glimpse of paradise.

[@toastee5421]

what a beautiful mount...

[@villaniousmustache4898]

You guys ever wonder how much better things would have maybe been if we had stopped Hermes?

[@uvi-]

If we stopped Hermes, then the future we come from wouldn't happen, meaning we couldn't go back to stop him, meaning we would once again exist and could go back to stop him, but then the future we come from wouldn't exist, so we couldn't stop him, but then... Ugh... Time travel...

[@justinlee790]

@@uvi- I used to think the time travel was more convoluted, but after thinking on it and rereading some stuff, it became clearer. We know you _can_ diverge a timeline if you have too much of an impact on the past. After all, that's what G'raha did in Shadowbringers. Paradoxes are avoided here since the timeline isn't singular: G'raha's timeline and our new timeline remain separate, and in fact a side story reveals his old timeline kept going without him. However, we also know closed time loops are possible, as per Endwalker and Alexander. Effectively, Venat has been working all this time to ensure that the time loop remained closed. She purposely spared Emet-Selch, Elidibus, and Lahabrea from the Sundering, she purposely allowed the 7 Rejoinings, and she was intentionally vague when speaking to us despite having known us already. When we finally meet again and she realizes that we have been to Elpis, she's relieved because the loop is now closed. Basically nothing was predetermined, everything only seems that way because both we and Venat took care to avoid any alterations that would have split the timeline into a new direction. That being said, if we had actually stopped the Final Days somehow in the past, then that would have done the same thing as happened in Shadowbringers. The timeline would veer into a completely different direction, and like G'raha, we likely could not return to our original time.

[@cnkclark]

@@uvi- Not to mention, if we stopped Hermes then the Ancients were on track to become like that very similar society from Meteion's report and the Dead Ends dungeon, where they eliminated all want and strife and lost the will to live. The implications were strong and clear throughout Elpis that they were beginning to stagnate. Hermes may have ironically set in motion the events that would save Etheirys from becoming another dead civilization.

[@elkofdeath]

Venat let him play out his universal apocalypse survival test or it would have been reauthored by someone else. Only peoples who recognize that life is terminally unfair for all and can keep on will do so.

[@TheGabriel1351]

@@justinlee790 What side quests says graha world continued without him? The dungeon one or a class quesxt?