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.
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.