One thing you guys missed out on was the mistranslation of Ranni’s motives. Both her doll’s secret speech (you get this if you return to her tower’s Site of Grace after her questline ends; she will expound on her motives a bit) and her ending speech were rather badly translated into English and have different meanings in Japanese.
Mistranslated doll’s speech:
“Mine will be an order not of gold, but the stars and moon of the chill night.
I would keep them far from the earth beneath our feet.
As it is now, life, and souls, and order are bound tightly together, but I would have them at a great remove.
And have the certainties of sight, emotion, faith, and touch…
All become impossibilities.”
Real translation:
“My order will not be of gold, but of the stars and moon, and chill night.
I want to keep it far away from this land.
Even if life and souls are one with the order, it [the order] could be kept far away.
If it was not possible to clearly see, feel, believe in, or touch the order… That would be better.”
Both original speeches kind of make it sound like she just wants to buzz off and fly away with you. What I think the real lines imply is that Ranni is quite interested in building a new order in the Lands Between with the help of the Lunar God, but her aesthetic vision is one where the symbols of the order don’t play as much of a role in the lives of the creatures there. There wouldn’t be a lunar version of a giant golden tree and everyone wouldn’t be expected to live in a permanent state of raptured homage to the order in power and its god. It’s kind of the “independent” flavored ending, but of course it still represents enforcing an individual’s aesthetic preference as with the other endings.
What a great podcast. Can’t wait for part 2.
One thing you guys missed out on was the mistranslation of Ranni’s motives. Both her doll’s secret speech (you get this if you return to her tower’s Site of Grace after her questline ends; she will expound on her motives a bit) and her ending speech were rather badly translated into English and have different meanings in Japanese.
Mistranslated doll’s speech:
“Mine will be an order not of gold, but the stars and moon of the chill night.
I would keep them far from the earth beneath our feet.
As it is now, life, and souls, and order are bound tightly together, but I would have them at a great remove.
And have the certainties of sight, emotion, faith, and touch…
All become impossibilities.”
Real translation:
“My order will not be of gold, but of the stars and moon, and chill night.
I want to keep it far away from this land.
Even if life and souls are one with the order, it [the order] could be kept far away.
If it was not possible to clearly see, feel, believe in, or touch the order… That would be better.”
Both original speeches kind of make it sound like she just wants to buzz off and fly away with you. What I think the real lines imply is that Ranni is quite interested in building a new order in the Lands Between with the help of the Lunar God, but her aesthetic vision is one where the symbols of the order don’t play as much of a role in the lives of the creatures there. There wouldn’t be a lunar version of a giant golden tree and everyone wouldn’t be expected to live in a permanent state of raptured homage to the order in power and its god. It’s kind of the “independent” flavored ending, but of course it still represents enforcing an individual’s aesthetic preference as with the other endings.