Starchild

to me, this sounds like it could be autobiographal. Maybe about Jari's tuberculosis, but probably about having to leave Ensiferum, or maybe a combination of the two. The first part is describing his mind, and how he makes such great music,and then he loses everything ("I fall like a burning star"). At the end of the song, when he says that there is no end to creation, that could be a reference to Wintersun, and how he can start to use his creativity again.

I feel that this song is about being a creative person, similar to LEAmaryllis' interpretation. The titular "Starchild" is the protagonist, who can "create worlds" (imagine and create ideas), though he is struggling with personal problems that cause him to not be able to flex his creative muscle, as Jari claimed to be during his time with Ensiferum (yes, i know the "its about Ensiferum" reason is overplayed, but it might well play into this song), and suffering from mental illnesses such as depression, feeling worthless "I fall like a burning star" and generally undergoing issues in his personal life, which cause him to be inable to "create worlds" like he is supposed to.

Of course, Jari could come out and say that i am wildly wrong at any moment, but i believe that this is what he meant in these lyrics. Either way, its a fucking baller song!

I feel like this song is talking about being a writer, or artist, or basically a "creator" of any (artistic) sort, and the loneliness/emptiness it can potentially cause. In that sense, it is likely quite autobiographical, since Jari definitely goes above and beyond the creative effort of most musical artists, and has likely 'created his own universe' out of it, both lyrically (all those space metaphors, lol), and in terms of style (although you could simplify Wintersun to 'melodeath with power metal elements,' he himself refers to their genre as something that no band besides Wintersun will ever conceivably inhabit). This may seem completely crazy at first, but bear with me. The song has a constant theme regarding creating universes, and unless Jari was just tripping balls the whole time and mad libbing his lyrics, there's not a whole lot else that this can mean, except in regards to imagination. The problem with the other theories (a homage to 2001 or H.P. Lovecraft, or his break-up with Ensiferum).

It's a lot harder to articulate this with words than it is in my head. It feels like I'm obfuscating the hell out of a pretty simple thought. But let me try to break it down with lyrics.

First verse refers to the mind of the artist. "So mysterious is your world, concealed beyond the stars." The world of imagination. Considering that I aspire to be a novelist someday, this is a metaphor that fits very easily for me (you create your own worlds when you write), but I think it works for anything; painting, poetry, music, anything you can create from nothingness and potentially lose yourself into.Your imagination has no limits ('forming universes without walls').

Next verse:

"Let go! of the stars, the stars that fell into the sea

Let go of the [ideas] that fell by the wayside, lost inspiration, lost viability, etc. Don't get stuck on things that can never exist. The sea metaphor gets revisited later in a pretty melancholy way, so this fits with this, even if it looks like I'm talking out my ass right now.

"Let go of your thoughts and dreams, what can you see now?"

If you let go of all your ideas, what does your world look like without them? Based on the tone of the lyrics, the unspoken question is 'would you be happy with it?'

"You cannot save them anymore Wanderer of time It's too late now Creator of Dimensions Destroy the walls of time Hands of the blind are holding your fate Tides of life will take you away, will take you away"

Coming from the above, most of this verse seems obvious. The narrative constantly has this dichotomy of talking about imagination and switching up and talking about life. It's all a little easier to swallow if you follow the progression of the album (in my experience, Wintersun is infinitely better if you listen to entire albums at once), where this song is sandwiched between the cathartic song about death and rebirth (Death and the Healing), and the depressed song about escapism (Beautiful Death), which incidentally also has dream and 'world inside' imagery like this song.

Anyhow, running with the theme I'm on, most of that verse is pretty clear. The end however, references that, as much power as you have in your imagination, you're still getting older, and life is passing you by (this WILL be referenced again as well).

"Starchild! Visions are born from the unknown force It dominates the way of time The dream only ends, when the worlds come to an end Starchild! You cannot escape to the dark streams of the sea, to suppress your dreams Nothing can keep you away from the need to create 'cause your path is free..."

Visions are what you create. The unknown force is whatever you think gives them to you (muses, god, whatever). You can't stop creating, even if you want to. It's like an addiction (which anyone with a relevant hobby of this sort will probably be able to attest). Following, the Starchild is, functionally, 'you.'

Oh snap. Hard mood switch.

"I've hold the fire within myself Years I've walked in the coldest winds Through the deserts of sand and snow"

'You' hold the fire of creation within yourself. You've spent years traveling through worlds of your own making.

Now here's where this whole song sort of came together for me. This was the part that really got to me, where before I never put much thought into this song. Continuing directly, we have:

"The time is passing and I know that I'm wasting my life, destroying my dreams"

Just because you have an active imagination and create a lot doesn't mean you're doing anything with it. You might be wasting your life procrastinating, whatever. Wasting your life and destroying your dreams. Life is passing you by, mention #2.

"I'm diving into the bottomless sea"

Remember the sea from earlier? That metaphor with the same meaning fits just as well here as it did there. You're lost in the unnavigable vastness of everything.

"From sorrow and pain I find my strength the more pain I feel, the more I see"

Nothing inspires you artistically like things that make you feel shitty. Both the escapism aspect of doing it, and the appeal of 'getting it out' make the perfect mixture, such that, even if my idea of this song's meaning is totally off, this area of the song could mean literally nothing else.

"Now I'm watching my life flowing in the dark like streams of fear running through my heart And it's wearing me down until I'm gone Soon I'll join the endless whirls of stars And I fall deeper into the unknown voids"

Thinking about your life passing you by and being depressed. This metaphor works for both depression and outright death.

"Something is dying, yet something is born And I fall into infinity like a burning star When will I find my silent dawn I fall like a burning star!"

You can take this to mean 'the worlds inside,' or being about how life (all life) goes on, even as you age and eventually die.

The rest of the song basically continues this theme. if you're on this wavelength, then you probably won't have trouble relating it. If you think I'm totally nuts, you probably haven't gotten this far anyway.

Suffice it to say that this song is very special to me. :) Even if I'm totally wrong, I think this has a lot of merit, and I enjoy thinking of it this way. If it's not autobiographical to him, it's definitely reasonably accurate with me, haha. Either way, you've got to give mad props to Jari for coming up with a song you could dive this deep into the meaning of.

Cheers.

Very good song. I especially like Part II.

I completely agree with Toadonpa on this song. I heard this song a while back and recently got the album. Listening to this song was like a blast from the past..

Reminds me to Flight of the Migrator by Ayreon.

this song kicks ass, I use it as my gaming music, ever since I found it I do way better, this song never gets old ;) Heck the whole CD never gets old

Taken in context with the rest of the album, this song is highly spiritual and mystical. There may be connection to Finnish mythology, but at any rate, the protagonist has chosen a life of mysticism which allows him to create worlds, but disconnects him from the human experience.

Taken on its own, the song COULD be viewed as the memoirs of someone who uses very powerful drugs that allow him to create things in his mind, but of course, are also a waste of his life.

I just watched 2001: A Space Odyssey... let's leave my opinion of the film out of this.

At any rate, the ending of that movie reminded m a lot of this song. spoilers The end of the movie seemed to refer to a universal power, an energy that has the power to do amazing things. The character at the end of this movie is put on his deathbed by this power, and then he becomes what many fans of the film have referred to as a "star child." This, coupled especially with the lines "Millions shapes and colors are storming inside your mind/Creating information/Forming universes without walls" seems to describe the latter portion of the movie and the power of this force well. Honestly, who know what the hell that movie's really about, but it definitely seems to be about life, death, and creation, like this song.

The guitars on this song are exactly like Iron-era Ensiferum, but the synth is completely new and spacey. Fuckin awesome.