Higher Than Hope

The fan that Tuomas wrote the lyrics about was Marc Brueland. You can hear him in the track, speaking. ("I would just like to think that....Not why did it happen to me, but why was I saved...What else can I do now?" "Being in the dark about something, I can't even tell you how scary it is. You don't know what's inside, you don't know what's going to happen to you. The best way to put somebody at ease is to inform them...Even if it's the grim truth...") Marc was a close friend of Tuomas and a huge fan of the band, they had him onstage at one point and dedicated 'Walking in the Air' to him. So it really wasn't just about 'somebody dying of cancer', it was about a close friend struggling with the knowledge that he would be dead soon, although it seems to me that part of it is Tuomas' own feelings about the situation.

it'a about a close friend of the band, that was suffering from cancer (or some another terminal disease) sadly, he didn't live to hear the song...

I think it's very beautiful, and touching, and the metaphores in it are great

Woah that makes the song so much more beautiful. I had always assumed it was about someone dying...I'm not sure but I'd be guessing that the part with the man talking in the middle is him talking. this song is very powerful

It was written in memory of a Nightwish fan who died of cancer. I love this song, Marco can write some good music (Marco and Tuomas both wrote the song, but Marco did the majority of the music and Tuomas did the lyrics).-Hayley

I didn't know that it was about a specific person. That makes the song so powerful (especially if the diseased was a Nightwish fan), it's amazing. Thanks for the info.

it was about a dying fan? that's really sweet , and pretty cool... i kinda thought this song had something to do with Jesus or something religious like that...

this song to me seems to be more about someone who knows he's dying physically (or maybe he isn't, could go both ways), and feels like he has a deeper sickness. he knows there's a cure for his sickness ("...chest of remedy", "...my cure lies", "deliver my soul from the sword"), but for some unexplained reason he believes that the cure is unattainable ("left me with no key to unlock the chest of remedy", "no Christ to end this war", "higher than hope my cure lies"). and so giving up hope of being cured, he relenquishes himself to death.

the lyrics seem way too deep to only be about someone dying of cancer

The fan that Tuomas wrote the lyrics about was Marc Brueland. You can hear him in the track, speaking. ("I would just like to think that....Not why did it happen to me, but why was I saved...What else can I do now?" "Being in the dark about something, I can't even tell you how scary it is. You don't know what's inside, you don't know what's going to happen to you. The best way to put somebody at ease is to inform them...Even if it's the grim truth...") Marc was a close friend of Tuomas and a huge fan of the band, they had him onstage at one point and dedicated 'Walking in the Air' to him. So it really wasn't just about 'somebody dying of cancer', it was about a close friend struggling with the knowledge that he would be dead soon, although it seems to me that part of it is Tuomas' own feelings about the situation.

@stratquitarist:

You want something more deeper than unavoidable and sure death, that's still days, weeks or even months away?

I think no song could be to deep to be "just" about that.