User blog:AK151/"Die" Analysis and Lots of Speculation

Since no one's done it yet, and since I REALLY feel like talking about this song (probably because I've been listening to it on a loop for some ungodly amount of time), I'm going to do a lyric-by-lyric analysis of "Die", Jeff Williams and Casey Williams newest single (and my favorite of this volume, maybe even of both volumes). So let's get started, because we've got some interesting stuff. And a bit of a disclaimer, this could probably qualify as two blogs in one, as it's an analysis of the lyrics and predictions somewhat based on said lyrics.

As a bit of a preface, this song comes on when Yang goes berserk, so a lot of people think it's her theme. I'm inclined to disagree, which I'll get to. At the same time, I'm not sure who's theme it could be. I'll also get to that. Finally, this is only a snippet of the actual song. There may be some serious game-changers in terms of lyrics when the full version is released. But for now, let's jump into what we've got.

The Lyrics
It was just fine, 

we lived in peace,

looked to a happy ending.

First thing we notice: past tense. Isn't that just lovely? So even though we're hearing about sunshine and roses, it's all in past tense, which means the sun is now gone and all the roses are burnt to ash. Metaphorically, of course.

The days were bright, 

they shone like gold,

every step ascending.

One interesting to note is the use of "gold". There seem to be some recurring themes that Jeff sneaks into these songs. We've got "gold", "wings", and "moon". Not sure if it means anything, but it's interesting nonetheless. Also, it sounds like we've got an idyllic life here. Is this from the point of view of one of our characters, or is our "narrator" speaking for most of the people of Remnant (by "most", I mean the human population)?

Our dreams came true, 

our path was clear,

the moon watched safely from above.

Again, getting that sunshine and roses vibe, but it's all in past tense, which doesn't sound foreboding at all. We also see another reference to the "moon" that seems like it might be pretty important. I saw a theory that maybe when the moon is shattered, the Grimm return, or something along those lines. Well, the moon's starting to shatter, so if we go by that, we haven't got long before the Grimm come in and possibly roflstomp everything.

But every smile 

is not the same,

and every heart's not filled with...

Uh-oh. These lyrics are interesting, because they imply the villain that takes pleasure in the evil he/she causes; smiles express happiness, but not every source of happiness is the same. Sounds like our narrator came across someone who derives happiness from screwing people over. It also sounds like our narrator is getting a pretty massive wake-up call.

Love for mankind.

Look around, it's getting very hard to find.

Alright, here, I think we're talking about the White Fang. Our narrator has been established as human, I think it's safe to say (they're complaining about love for mankind being scarce, which is starting to sound about right with the rise of the White Fang. Also fits with Roman denouncing his own race, even if that was just to sway the tough crowd).

And since we're talking about the White Fang, I'm going to go back and perhaps point something out. Remember that flashback where Blake explained the rise and fall of the White Fang, and the last shot of the three leaders, with the center one smiling a sinister grin? Well, that fitrs with the lines above. "Every smile is not the same, and every heart's not filled with love for mankind". So maybe someone who perhaps sympathized with the faunus cause (or even someone who didn't) got screwed by the White Fang after they went violent?

Not every open wound is simply healed by time,

but revenge is always sweet, and chaos is the prize!

Some of my favorite lines in the song. Now, from the point of view of our narrator, it sounds like he/she is trying to rationalize the anger of the faunus and why they want to get violent. Sounds like our narrator understands that the treatment of the faunus isn't something that's going to go away with time, and that to the White Fang, vengeance is not only satisfying, but it brings down the establishment, causing chaos and allowing the faunus to assert themselves as more of a major power.

The other interpretation of this is that the narrator has become incredibly jaded by being screwed by the White Fang, and the first line is acting as a warning. Stay clear of me, because time doesn't heal every wound. The second line, I think refers to the narrator wanting to bring down the White Fang leadership, with the "prize" being the chaos and disarray caused by doing so.

<p style="text-align:center;">Feel it everywhere and you see it growing.

<p style="text-align:center;">Enemies arise and the hate is flowing,

<p style="text-align:center;">shattering the moon and bloodying the sky.

Here we go. Every single line of this chorus is absolutely incredible. We've obviously got a massive conflict, which I think we can compare to the escalation of the White Fang's power. Everyone who isn't completely unobservant notices that the White Fang are gaining more momentum and growing stronger. They make their move against their oppressors, and the hate and rage on both sides dictates what happens next, and the conflict ravages the world, shattering the moon and bloodying the sky (you know, Jeff said we would get some happy songs this volume. Still waiting for that day...). That's one potential scenario that could play out. The song is really vague on what it's actually describing, but at the same time, the idea it's trying to convey is clear: all of that oppression is going to come to a tipping point, and a massive conflict is going to break out, probably between the faunus and the humans, again.

<p style="text-align:center;">The machines of war will fuel both sides,

<p style="text-align:center;">and the greed will only grow more lies.

These two lines are REALLY interesting. They both establish that our narrator isn't one of the higher-ups, as the tone of the song makes it seem as if he/she is lamenting the above two facts and asserting that the higher-ups are the ones who will benefit from this battle. There was another theory I saw a while back about how Ironwood is working with Cinder and SDC to start a massive conflict, leading to more militarization, potential martial law, and for the SDC (the "greed" portion of the song) dust sales will be through the roof as people stock up for the coming war.

<p style="text-align:center;">Farewell to days of peace, 'cause now it's time to die.

Well, there we go. Everyone's been saying it's a time of peace. We the audience knew better, but here's the confirmation: something big is coming, and there's probably going to be A LOT of death.

The Narrator
Right, this is the interesting bit. Who is our narrator? Some probably say Yang, as this is sort of like her "second theme" (sort of like how Red Like Roses Part II was Ruby's second theme). However, I don't think it's her, as whoever is narrating is first off very jaded, which doesn't seem like Yang's personality (but then again, someone theorized that when she uses her semblance her mood becomes a lot more hostile, which does make sense, and would definitely make the first three lines of the chorus fit perfectly), and second off confident in predicting how the higher-ups will use the situation to their advantage to make as much profit as they can; Yang doesn't seem like one who would be a conspiracy theorist.

So our narrator is a human that had a good life, but had that all shattered, presumably by the White Fang or some other human-hating group (judging from the lines bemoaning the lack of love for mankind). Either our narrator is trying to justify the transgressions of the White Fang against he/she and the rest of the world (unlikely, given the aggressive nature of the rest of the song), or he/she wants revenge, with satisfaction being derived from the chaos caused by removing the White Fang's leadership. Finally, our narrator understands that with a massive conflict on the way, there will be people very high up that will try to turn this to their advantage. So our narrator is street-smart and knows how the world works. The question is, does he/she support or condemn this? Not sure. The tone of the song makes it seem like the narrator condemns it, but the final line seems to be acceptance either way that war and death is coming, so whoever the narrator is, he/she also believes that conflict is inevitable.

The question is, who fits this bill? Well, elephant in the room is Cinder, as because we know absolutely nothing about her, we can create so many theories and mold her character to whatever vision we have for her. So, operating under that assumption, let's put together another master theory to throw in the bin. '''For the next paragraph, I will be speaking as if these predictions are absolute. Just know that they aren't.'''

So, basically, Cinder's working to bring down the White Fang, but separate from Ironwood. Ironwood has an agenda to widen the power of the military, along with an alliance with SDC (credit for that portion of the theory goes not to me), and this involves arming the White Fang and giving them enough power to cause a lot of chaos. SDC profits both from military contracts and from panicked people buying dust-based weaponry for self-defense. Cinder finds out about this, starts assuming control of the White Fang and working to accelerate Ironwood's plans in order to coax the White Fang into open conflict where they can potentially be crushed in a single decisive blow. At the same time, Cinder is planning to bring down Ironwood and his cohorts, probably personally. She might even toss Ozpin and Qrow into the lot that need to be brought down, even though they aren't a part of it. She essentially hates the spreading corruption in the organizations that are supposed to protect Remnant (perhaps she has a personal stake that could lend credence to the "revenge" aspect of the song, either against the White Fang, Ironwood, or even both?). So, she basically has the White Fang launch an all-out (suicidal) invasion, where they clash with the Atlesian military. Meanwhile, Cinder takes some of her remaining elite forces (Emerald, Mercury, Torchwick, and some of the bigger White Fang lackeys. We could even see Adam in some commanding capacity in the invasion force against the Atlesian military) and they launch an attack directly on Beacon, with the intent of bringing down the major powers that she believes are corrupt. In this way, she both destroys the White Fang and weeds out the corruption in the Remnant military (albeit with a flamethrower). There's my master theory on the table. It fits into the song, as we've got our massive conflict, our corrupt war-profiteering, our revenge (maybe), and our chaos.



There's also potential that these thoughts belong to Ironwood (actually, not really; he seems too reserved, and someone in charge of such a large military probably wouldn't place as much importance in vengeance as the song does. Still it gives me an opportunity to talk about him, and talk about him I will). It's conceivable that he could hold a grudge against the White Fang, and he certainly believes conflict is inevitable. He also probably understands the concept of war-profiteering. While everyone is of the belief that he's an evil mastermind trying to start wars left and right, I'm going to make another potential prediction to cover the other end of the morality spectrum (the previous one was at the far end of evil with regards to his character). '''Again, another theory, that is impossible to reconcile with the above theory. The two are separate predictions, and I will speaking again in absolutes. Just know that these are (inaccurate) predictions.''' Basically, Ironwood's not a bad guy. He's fully dedicated to protecting Remnant, and believes that war is coming, and that shows of force could act as a deterrent or warning for anyone wanting to make trouble. He is, however, battling rampant corruption in his own military, and is slowly losing control, shown by the fact that he lost some of his still-in-development Paladins. He's trying to fix it, but the corruption runs deep enough to be very hard for him to weed out. He has to hide this, of course, or risk looking weak. But people like Cinder see this and decide to exploit and take advantage of it, capitalizing on the opportunity and gaining Atlesian tech such as the Paladins from rogues on the inside that are betraying the military for various reasons. So Ironwood isn't corrupt or anything, he's just losing control of his military. And yeah, that's actually pretty bad, and a good indicator that one man isn't capable of controlling an entire military, which he may be trying to do. As I said before, this was basically just an excuse to get that theory out there, as I don't think the song would be narrated by someone like him. He seems to reserved, and with so much responsibility, I don't think he'd stoop so low as to take so much personal pleasure in revenge and the chaos that follows, unless he's really good at hiding it.

With regards to Yang, I suppose it's conceivable that she had a happy life that got ruined, but I doubt it, considering her happy-go-lucky attidute (yes, Ruby has the same attitude, despite apparently being haunted by the death of her mother, but it's implied that after that, both girls grew up in a stable and happy family). Also, if her life was ruined by the White Fang or another anti-human (and by extension, pro-faunus, more than likely) organization, she would certainly harbor resentment against said faction. I mean, take a look at Weiss. In fact, if it weren't for the style of the song and it's aggressive manner, there are bits that could possibly fit with her backstory. As it is, the powerful instrumentation doesn't fit with Weiss' character, given her main theme is composed mainly of piano, strings, and a bit of light drumming to maintain the beat. To address the other team members, Ruby's too naive to think like this, and Blake is a faunus, and a former member of the White Fang, so it doesn't really make much sense for her to bemoan the lack of love for humans.

There are also two final possibilities. The first is that the narrator is a character that (at the time of writing this) has not been introduced. The second is that the song is a blanket descriptor for the thoughts of people who have something against the White Fang, understand the concept of war profiteering, and believe war is inevitable.

I am fairly certain, however, that whoever is narrating the song is aggressive, powerful, and perhaps a bit threatening (that last line could be interpreted as a bit of a threat).

So there we go. Massive walls of text (this probably qualifies as two blogs), but hopefully some interesting points can be discovered within. Maybe I'm reading too much into things (and maybe this was an excuse to put more of my theories on the table), but I have fun with it, and I like to share. And of course, everyone's welcome to share their own thoughts in return. Please do.