“I think it will be a shame if we won’t be able to cry as we play our own game.”-
Nobuo Uematsu
Finally, the black sheep gets a little love.
I might not be the biggest Final Fantasy VIII fan out there, but I can respect a lot of things in it, one of which is yet another stellar soundtrack by the man, the myth, the legend, Nobuo Uematsu. As his work with the soundscape of Final Fantasy developed, he began to experiment with the new technology that made itself available to him, namely, the PlayStation One. What he began in Final Fantasy VII, he continued in VIII, setting choral and orchestra front and center for the opening cinematic, and a resonant and haunting theme called “Liberi Fatali”.
You might be surprised to know that there’s a lot of faux-Latin in what otherwise sounds like a Catholic mass turned action set piece. “Liberi Fatali” roughly means “Fated Children”, but it’s not proper Latin; evidently it ought to be Liberi Fatales in order to be correct.
So too, the female choir which chants the opening lyrics of the track, “Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec”, aren’t actually saying any real Latin, either. Sure sounds like Latin, right? Turns out “Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec” is just an anagram (words formed by rearranging the letters) of “Succession of Witches” and the word “Love”. Pretty genius if you ask me! Uematsu, or more specifically Taro Yamashita and Kazushige Nojima who penned the lyrics to this track, captured the general “sound flavor” of Latin with what are essentially gibberish or nonsense words, or more properly riddles masking the themes of the game.
Here’s the full translation of the song’s lyrics, including the actual Latin. I endeavored to find the most accurate and literal translation I could.
Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec
Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec
Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec
Excitate vos e somno, liberi mei
(Wake from your sleep, my children)
Cunae sunt non
(Your cradles are gone)
Excitate vos e somno, liberi fatali
(Wake from your sleep, fated children)
Somnus est non
(Your rest is gone)
Surgite
(Arise)
Invenite
(Search)
Veni hortum veritatis
(Discover the true garden)
Horti verna veritatis
(The garden of vernal truth)
Ardente veritate
(Fiery truth)
Urite mala mundi
(Burn the evil of the world)
Ardente veritate
(Fiery truth)
Incendite tenebras mundi
(Light the darkness of the world)
Valete liberi
(Prevail, children)
Diebus fatalibus
(In the fated days)
Fithos lusec wecos vinosec
Fithos lusec wecos vinosec
Fithos lusec wecos vinosec
Fithos lusec wecos vinosec
Red formerly ran The Well-Red Mage and now serves The Pixels as founder, writer, editor, and podcaster. He has undertaken a seemingly endless crusade to talk about the games themselves in the midst of a culture obsessed with the latest controversy, scandal, and news cycle about harassment, toxicity, and negativity. Pick out his feathered cap on Twitter @thewellredmage, Mage Cast, or Story Mode.
Oddly enough it still counts as Ominous Latin Chanting even if it is “dog Latin” or something of the like. OLC is valid for things that sound “Latin-like” or have an ominous tone to them :p I do love the opening to FFVIII. I used to have LIberi Fatali right after One Winged Angel on my mix CD, which is totally dating myself.
Ominous Latin Chanting is, I sense, something significant from that tropes site, given it’s all capitalized? I’m reminded of the final boss theme in Mario Galaxy where it sounds like they’re singing in Latin but it’s really just nonsense. Is this so frequent that there’s a trope for it?
MIX CDS!! I miss that.
Ooooh yes, it’s quite frequent. There are too many examples to really name, but while I guess it could be considered cliched, it’s also great musical shorthand for those moments without being required to use a leitmotiv, though of course your leitmotif can be OLC.
Bravo! There’s a lot to dig into here with the lyrics of the songs, the language and translation issues, the accompanying music and visuals… Every summer, I get to thinking about the Chrono Cross opening. Though I know that’s not Uematsu/Final Fantasy, I feel like it’s in the same conversation here somewhere
Absolutely! I found that there are quite a few different translations out there for Liberi Fatali, but you can really trace some accuracy differences between them, for instance, some are more notably literal while others paraphrase but the problem is they aren’t explicit about it most of the time.
The Chrono Cross opening is one of my favorites across all the PS1!
I might have some problems with the Final Fantasy series, but the music has never been one of them. Uematsu is a master.
I couldn’t agree more! Even I have problems with the series. The music however is pure gold. Any all time favorite tracks from the series?
FF8 has my favorite battle theme, “Force Your Way”, which I love partly because it sounds so much like an old ELP song. I’ll also throw in “One-Winged Angel” for nostalgic reasons. Hearing it takes me right back to my childhood, and I still don’t know if that’s weird.
Best opening in the series IMO. Song and FMV work so well together to get players hyped up.
Now there’s an interesting thought! I don’t think I’ve ever thought about comparing the intros across the various FFs… Now I’ll be up all night thinking about it hahaha!