Dead To The World

Tuomas, again, is lamenting the loss of his innocence. The elusive Century Child is his innocence, his inner child.

"The child gave thought to the poet's world Gave comfort to the Fallen," is saying that his innocence made his life make sense to him. It created a sense of wonder that let him discover and consider the world in his own way. He constantly refers to himself as 'a beast' in his lyrics, showing that he probably has a low opinion of himself. The 'Fallen' probably simply means himself.

"Remaining, yet still uninvited Those words scented my soul," isn't referring to the child: it's referring to him. He remains here, perhaps in his view unwanted, long after his innocence has disappeared.

"It's not the monsters under your bed... ...Makes you cry for the the child..." is saying that it isn't the unknown or imaginary that scares him so much as the cruelty of man. The next two lines could be referring to wars not fought with weapons ("Unarmed, unscarred") but with words and other not-physically-violent methods, i.e. discrimination.

He doesn't want to 'die scarless': to be one of those people. He wants to regain his innocence ("Tell me now what to do"), and says how he's been trying to regain it ("I studied silence....I joined the sinful...") through what he percieves now as the wrong methods.

He's giving up now and asks the "Heaven Queen" (open to individual perception) to embrace him. His innocence, his joy is dead and gone and so he asks for death as he is already metaphorically dead.

His 'favorite view of the world' is that it is a dead place. The land itself is silent. The cruelty of its inhabitants is constant. However, every day brings the opportunity for change, and, overtime, the world and it's inhabitants slowly evolve, if only to repeat the same patterns.

The last stanza ("As he died....Innocence reborn once more") clarifies that he is not speaking of Christ. His innocence will return to him, if only to die again, either when he physically dies or metaphorically dies. The child didn't die for the world: the child died for, or because of him. Now that child is being reborn with the return of his innocence.

The irony of the approximate time of his writing the song is that it was very near the new millenium and century: possibly he was looking forward to a new start in the next millenium/century and it means no more than that....Then again this is Tuomas we're talking about. I'm not sure how coherent this is (it's nearly 6:00 in the morning) but I'm pretty sure I've gotten down what this song has come to mean to me.

No comments? Blasphemous listeners of our age dare to ignore such a divine work? So disappointing.

Thi song is very energic, i listen t it all the time especially when i am very angry and this song helps me through my tough momnts

This song could have biblical meaning...I'm not religious, but I know that in the Revelation the bible says something about a Queen giving birth to a child, and the child is special in some way...

still can't figure out what it is about. yes, Century Child could be Jesus, and he gave comfort to the fallen - but the rest doesn't suit to this idea.

maybe it's about not being satisfied with your own life. Tuomas writes his lyrics as his most personal poems, therefore this is about desiring more from life, and yet feeling that this "more" is not the best... Dunno how to tell more clearly. It's like... When you feel you have to change something, but you know that if you do change, it will be still bad...

There is no innocence in this world any more. Take me away, Heaven queen.

It would make sense if Century Child was Jesus. But Marco said none of them are religious. But also, in Christianity, there's stuff about how you should be dead to this world. Coz this world's crap, and if it means nothing to you and you want something more, that's a good thing.

I love this song no matter what it means, its one of my faves :)

I know this was supposed to be a vocal duel between them and I don't really know more then that. It's a fantastic song. Should have more comments...

I love the call-and-answer type verses in this song... Reminds me a lot of Beauty and the Beast

Very cool, Satakiel! I also LOVE this song - it is my all-time favorite of Nightwish and I totally agree with your take on all of that. Throughout the Century Child album, the "child" is innocence personified. The only part I disagree with is that Toumas has a low opinion of himself because he refers to himself as the beast or the wolf. I think that he just feels that he is different than what "civilization" expects...