Greetings, everyone!

We're a week into November and we're already hard at work planning for the end of the year, and getting set for the Tokyo and Frankfurt Fan Festivals!

Speaking of Fan Festival, during the Lore & Localization panel at the Fan Festival 2016 in Las Vegas we revealed the lyrics for the Sophia battle. Since there have been a lot of requests to share them beyond the show, we decided we'd introduce them here as well!

Equilibrium
The sigh of the shifting sea
The kiss of the salt-sweet breeze
The white of her silken dress stained in red

A memory fading fast,
Her mother sits, eyes downcast
A torn uniform in hand, farewells unsaid

That once a certainty, lost in grief
A daughter's desperate cries, unheard pleas
Forsaken, beaten, tried, on her knees
A prayer passes from her lips
Into her soul the Goddess whispers:

"A heartbeat without harmony
Is moonlight without dark
The heart beat seeketh equilibrium
With balance will your worry part,

"So still this broken melody
And therewith shoulder thee
One last step only leaving
An empty hearth dawn by the sea
An empty hearth dawn by the sea"

During the Lore & Localization panel Michael-Christopher Koji Fox, who wrote the lyrics for Equilibrium, explained a bit of the meaning behind the song.

A long time ago, there was a family made up of a father, mother and daughter that lived on the southern continent of Meracydia. Sadly, the father was killed in battle during the war between the Meracydians and the invading Allagan forces. The mother received her husband's tattered uniform but was wrought with grief over his death.

There was a sudden change with the mother from this point forward and she became very violent towards her daughter. The daughter suffered through this, when finally her prayers for help reached the ears of the Goddess.

The Goddess spoke to her and told her that balance has been lost with the death of your father. You need to restore this delicate balance in life. If you want to restore balance you'll need to... kill your mother.

Of course, once she did that, the Goddess told her that her life was still unbalanced. The Goddess suggested that to restore the equilibrium she should kill herself. Pretty harsh!

Despite Sophia being all about balance and equilibrium, she sounds kind of extreme, no? Koji did mention that Sophia herself is neither good nor bad, and instead places balance above all else. If there's too much evil in the world, then she may act benevolent to tip the balance towards good. But, if there's too much good in the world...then she may act against it as well.

- Bayohne