Trailer Song Lyrics

[Michelaar]

Reach for my hand
 I'll soar away
Into the dawn
Oh I wish I could stay
Here cherished heart
In peaceful days
I fear the edge of dawn
Knowing time betrays
Daylight's passed through coloured glass
In this beloved place
Silver shines the world dines
A smile on each face
It's choice arounds
Come out of bounds
And I can feel I'm breaking free
For just this moment lost in time
I am finally me
Yet still I hide
Behind this mask that I have become
My blackened heart
Scorched by flames a force I can't run from
I look to you
Like a red rose
Seeking the sun
No matter where it goes
I long to stay
Where the light dwells
To guard against the cold
That I know so well

 

@VincentASM I think this is it :D

[Enduin]

Best I could manage with the shitty headphones I have at my disposal right now, most of it's pretty clear save for a couple spots.

Reach for my hand, I'll soar away
Into the dawn, oh I wish I could stay
Here in cherished halls, in peaceful days
I fear the edge of dawn, knowing time betrays
Faint lights pass through colored glass, in this beloved place
Silver shines, the world dines, a smile on each face
As choice abounds/arounds(?) compared to bounds, and I can feel I'm breaking free
For just this moment lost in time, I am finally me
Yet still I hide, behind this mask that I have become
My blackened heart, scorched by flames of force I can't run from
I look to you like a red rose seeking the sun, no matter where it goes
I long to stay where the light dwells, to guard against the cold I know so well

Edited March 12, 2019 by Enduin

[SageOfAnys]

Whelp, I'll just link what I posted on Reddit about the lyrics: https://old.reddit.com/r/fireemblem/comments/b0a90a/main_theme_to_three_houses_in_english/eid7vzp/

I definitely couldn't decipher the middle well, but I'm confident in the beginning and end.

 

Edited March 12, 2019 by SageOfAnys

[VincentASM]

Thanks all! I'll double check everyone's attempts and then start on the article ^^

[Thane]

29 minutes ago, Enduin said:

Reach for my hand, I'll soar away
Into the dawn, oh I wish I could stay
Here in cherished halls, in peaceful days
I fear the edge of dawn, knowing time betrays

Happy school days, things go south.

29 minutes ago, Enduin said:

Faint lights pass through colored glass, in this beloved place
Silver shines, the world dines, a smile on each face

Memories of the school, eating together. (Unless it's "the world dies" but uh, I don't think it fits here)

29 minutes ago, Enduin said:

As choice abounds/arounds(?) compared to bounds, and I can feel I'm breaking free
For just this moment lost in time, I am finally me
Yet still I hide, behind this mask that I have become
My blackened heart, scorched by flames of force I can't run from

Something to do with Byleth's choice, perhaps? I wonder who's singing though; who's got stuff to hide?

29 minutes ago, Enduin said:

I look to you like a red rose seeking the sun, no matter where it goes
I long to stay where the light dwells, to guard against the cold I know so well

Looking to Byleth for sure. Can this be Sothis? She's locked up and alone, isn't she? Well, presumably. Pretty sure she's not a student though so that's probably out the window.

Edited March 12, 2019 by Thane

[VincentASM]

My blackened heart, scorched by flames of force I can't run from

This line is pretty telling, I think.

In the Japanese version, she says she's scorched by the "mark of power". Mark is synonymous with crest/emblem and they replaced it with flames in the English version, so it's probably referencing the Fire Emblem.

Thinking about it, I wonder if it just means she has a Brand.

[Thane]

4 minutes ago, VincentASM said:

This line is pretty telling, I think.

In the Japanese version, she says she's scorched by the "mark of power". Mark is synonymous with crest/emblem and they replaced it with flames in the English version, so it's probably referencing the Fire Emblem.

Thinking about it, I wonder if it just means she has a Brand.

But who? Seiros? Sothis? Edelgard? ...Dorothea?

I wonder if the Fire Emblem will be the Crest of Crests in this game, then.

[Chitsuuki]

Personally i think that this is about Edelgard but that's just my thoughts.

 

[Enduin]

28 minutes ago, Thane said:

Happy school days, things go south.

Memories of the school, eating together. (Unless it's "the world dies" but uh, I don't think it fits here)

Something to do with Byleth's choice, perhaps? I wonder who's singing though; who's got stuff to hide?

Looking to Byleth for sure. Can this be Sothis? She's locked up and alone, isn't she? Well, presumably. Pretty sure she's not a student though so that's probably out the window.

Kind of feel like it's about Sothis and not Edelgard. 

While I wish Edelgard was the clear lead everything we know about the game and choosing the houses etc kind of makes all three Lords equal, so having the theme song focus on her would be a bit odd. And as you point out a lot of the song segments don't really make sense for her and seems more appropriate for Sothis. 

While not a student or participant in the school life, she does appear within Byleth's mind according to the trailer so she might see and experience everything Byleth does and that connection however removed from her might mean a lot if she's been trapped for so long and this is the most interactions she's had with others in ages.

Still a lot of the tone at the end does feel more like a student's admiration/adoration for a teacher, which feels out of place with how Sothis so far has been presented.

I really don't know at this point. Could go either way I guess. 

[SushiCat]

Perhaps is about the students in general, since all of them appear to have family crests.

[Thane]

33 minutes ago, Enduin said:

she does appear within Byleth's mind according to the trailer so she might see and experience everything Byleth does and that connection however removed from her might mean a lot if she's been trapped for so long and this is the most interactions she's had with others in ages.

That's a good point, I didn't even consider that. I'm kind of hoping Sothis will be evil or at the very least have her own agenda and not become another young Tiki, but this is a cool take on it if they pull it of well.

"Like a red rose" kind of sounds like Edelgard though, and her line in the first trailer about promising to come back and for Byleth not to forget about her fits too.

Edit: Here's GameXplain's video with lyrics:

 

Edited March 12, 2019 by Thane

[Chitsuuki]

The red rose is maybe the crest from Edelgard family 

And it makes think of the japenese title

[Lord_Grima]

Quote

For just this moment lost in time, I am finally me
Yet still I hide, behind this mask that I have become
My blackened heart, scorched by flames of force I can’t run from
I look to you like a red rose seeking the sun no matter where it goes
I long to stay where the light dwells, to guard against the cold that I know so well

These verses sound so much like Sothis and from what we have seen, it kind of fits.

We have seen Sothis with this symbol on her, but it also is the symbol on the "evil" old man in the e3 trailer. And some people have compared Sothis' attire to ropes/chains. So, my theory is that Sothis was captured by the evil group, a group hiding within the church. Sothis has been in captivity so long that it has affected her. "My blackened heart, scorched by flames of force I can’t run from" Sothis can't escape from this group. "For just this moment lost in time, I am finally me""I look to you like a red rose seeking the sun no matter where it goes" So, when Byleth is attacked/killed and their power is awoken, a moment lost in time happens and Sothis is given hope. "I long to stay where the light dwells, to guard against the cold that I know so well" Sothis wants this evil group destroyed because she is surrounded by it or a part of it.

This would add an interesting bit because Sothis would be guiding us to uncover the true evil within the church. 

[Chitsuuki]

But all the first part with "cherished halls" and all are still trigerring me..

But without that i would clearly think that this is about sothis

[Enduin]

It's entirely possible the singer is not meant to be/represent anyone character like in Fates w/ Azura, but instead just be a theme that is in fact referencing multiple characters. 

[Thane]

30 minutes ago, Enduin said:

It's entirely possible the singer is not meant to be/represent anyone character like in Fates w/ Azura

The Revelation part is sung from Anankos' perspective though, at least in English, if memory serves.

[HappyHawlucha.]

Yeah I agree I don't think that this song is from one perspective or another, rather something like Echoes' credits song.

[Alastor15243]

Sigh

They almost did it.

Fire Emblem almost went a whole song without mangling syllable rhythm. But they just had to pronounce “betrays” as “bee trays”, didn’t they?

Why is this so hard for lyric translators to do?

[Kiran_]

1 hour ago, Alastor15243 said:

Sigh

They almost did it.

Fire Emblem almost went a whole song without mangling syllable rhythm. But they just had to pronounce “betrays” as “bee trays”, didn’t they?

Why is this so hard for lyric translators to do?

How do you pronounce it? I say it as "Buh-trays" but it still rhymes with "days". What's mangled about it? The main pronunciation is /bəˈtrā/ with the long A sound.

I also think it's definitely from SOMEBODY's perspective, but it's very unclear without character bios to determine who it's referring too. Though I wouldn't mind a more general piece that speaks to the tone and theme rather than a person's perspective. 

 

[Sentinel07]

Really liking the song. :)

I wonder if the singer will also be someone who voice acts in the game, as was the case with both Fates and Echoes.

[Alastor15243]

13 minutes ago, Kiran_ said:

How do you pronounce it? I say it as "Buh-trays" but it still rhymes with "days". What's mangled about it? The main pronunciation is /bəˈtrā/ with the long A sound.

I also think it's definitely from SOMEBODY's perspective, but it's very unclear without character bios to determine who it's referring too. Though I wouldn't mind a more general piece that speaks to the tone and theme rather than a person's perspective. 

 

The problem is that the word is supposed to be said as “beTRAYS”, but she said “BEEtrays” because of the rhythm of the song. It’s less the sounds made and more which ones are being emphasized. The word “betrays” can’t be used there, because it’s a word that goes duhDAH, but the song goes DAHduh.The same as when in “Lost in thoughts all alone”, Azura sang “yet the watERS ever change” and “a douBLE edged-blade cuts your heart in two”.

It’s a rookie mistake usually done by amateurs and European metal bands who don’t speak English as their first language.

Edited March 13, 2019 by Alastor15243

[LuxSpes]

One thing to note is that the version we hear in the trailer seems to be different than the one we got today. The singer has a different tone and I'm 100% sure that she's not singing "Knowing time betrays" after the "I fear the edge of dawn" line in the trailer. It clearly sounds like a word that starts with a "b" (pretty sure it's "born" in fact). 

No idea if that means there's more to the song and the part we here in the trailer and the one that was released today are 2 different sections of the same song or if they changed the lyrics between E3 and now. Though it would make sense for the song to be longer since 1:45 is pretty short, especially when looking at "Lost in Thoughts all Alone" and "Heritors of Arcadia" which are around 6 and 4 minutes respectively.

[Enduin]

OK I'm like 98% certain this is the correct lyrics:

Reach for my hand, I'll soar away

Into the dawn, Oh I wish I could stay

Here in cherished halls, in peaceful days

I fear the edge of dawn, knowing time betrays

Faint lights pass through colored glass, in this beloved place

Silver shines, the world dines, a smile on each face 

As joy surrounds comfort abounds, and I can feel them breaking free

For just this moment lost in time, I am finally me

Yet still I hide, behind this mask, that I have become

My blackened heart scorched by flames, a force I can't run from

I look to you, like a red rose 

Seeking the sun, no matter where it goes

I long to stay, where the light dwells

To guard against the cold, that I know so well

I see a lot of people have Daylights instead of Faint lights, but I just cannot hear it at all no matter how hard I try and Daylights just sounds really awkward to me besides. I can't really think of any time people say Daylights outside of the idiom "The living daylights." Otherwise it's always just Daylight, cause there's just one source.

[ZeManaphy]

Love the song. Any idea who the singer might be?

[LuxSpes]

Regarding the last line of the E3 trailer version, re-listening to it, I think the line is "Born as time betrays", which would make it very similar to the line in the recently released version, just with "Knowing" replaced with "Born as".

@EnduinI agree with you that it sounds more like "Faint lights" than "Daylights". I can definitely hear a "t" sound. Not sure if it's "As joy surrounds" or "As choice surrounds", I can definitely hear both. For the following line, I'm really not sure. It's clear its starts with a "Come" syllable and ends with "bounds", but I can't make out what's between both, though I feel like I hear a "b" syllable right after the "come".