The Boy Who Wanted to Be a Real Puppet

In teh sloosest. Most basic Sense. "Can I buy your puppet?" "no" "Please?" "No." "Then I'll Kill you." "How about I make you a puppet?" "Okay" poof. "Dude... what the hell... I'm a puppet." "I made you into a puppet, jsut like you wanted." puppet carves out it's own golden heart.

Am I the only one, who ever thought of casting shows, when he listened to the song.

Everyone seems to agree that the master is killed.

But what I believe what happens is the he says he's going to kill him for the puppet, and then the master realizes that he wants to be the puppet, so he turns him into the "Puppet with the heart of gold". He puts the puppet man on the shelf until the show, that's where the verse:

"So I have the golden heart Now only needing the voice of the master Never feel hunger, never grow older My dream was to be a star in a real puppet show"

Comes into play. he's waiting for the master to do the show. after awhile, the puppet man doesn't want to be constantly controlled by the master, so he asks to be a man again, but the master refuses. The master, then, uses a knife to mutilate the puppet man and never use him again.

As HighFlyer15 said, its sort of a reverse Pinocchio, only a lot more darker.

I have been listening to power metal and the like for several years now, this is one of the most lyrically interesting songs by this band. I'll try and explain it the way I see it without being too wordy.

Lyrics

(So many years ago, many more than I'd Even care to bear in my mind)

This is the man telling the story to the listener, I see it as a sort of Jekyll and Hyde type story. There's the man...and there's his greed.

(From the darkest of all places I found you)

Here's where the greed first enters the story.

(All the limbs in their right places And a heart made of real gold)

The man recounting how perfect this puppet was in his eyes.

(Sell me your little doll, oh sir, I ask you kind)

His first request to buy the doll from the puppet master.

(Every night I returned to watch them The master and the puppet in the show)

Pretty self evident, but this obviously shows this mans greedy...obsession...with this puppet.

(He said: "Oh, no, I cannot sell him... Priceless he is, masterpiece of mine")

Here is where is gets interesting, this is the puppet master not giving in to greed, be it his own or the mans.

(Please, sell me your puppet, sir Name your price, oh please, Whatever you may ask, Tenfold the price I pay)

His second plea this time trying his hardest to appeal to the puppet masters greed.

("Did I not make it clear? This debate is over I will never part from this puppet, my son...")

Again the puppet master shows his honor and his true love and will to perform in the show, even though he was just offered a lot of money to sell the puppet.

(With hungry eyes I followed them all night)

This is where the mans greed gets the best of him.

(The blind master and the puppet he had made)

This is the man expressing somewhat of a person hatred for the puppet master, calling him blind and stupid to have turned down his offer.

("No, sir, to sell is not my will!")

This is the mans greed, he telling the listener that he didn't just want this perfect doll so as to resell it and make a profit, but again, he truly was greedily obsessed with this doll.

(The doll is mine, even if I have to kill...)

(So it shall be... if this is what it takes)

He kills the puppet master.

("Greed is truly blinder than me...")

This is him being remorseful now in his later years and remembering how blind he thought the puppet master was, but now realizing that he himself and his greed were far blinder.

("Heart of gold is what you wish for?" "So, this little boy... wants to be... a puppet, for real...")

The puppet masters last words as some have said. Greed is the puppet master now, pulling the mans strings, making him act exactly as it wishes.

(So I have the golden heart Now only needing the voice of the master)

The man realizing that just having the "perfect puppet" isn't enough to be a skilled puppet master.

(Never feel hunger, never grow older My dream was to be a star in a real puppet show)

But his greed will never die, and thus he is bound by its will, to perform even though he may not be as good as the master he killed, he's done it now and is stuck with this life he chose for himself.

[SOLO]

Cool Solo.

(It's so hard to remember my life The times before the show)

Years down the road now and he's again reminiscing his choices and how he's stuck to the life he chose, he may be making good money doing what he's doing this many years down the road, but he still despises his choices, as do we all down the road.

(Can I ever cut off the strings? "Take a bow, now dance and sing...") (Sing!)

Him wondering about how he might be able to redeem himself if ever...but instantly his greed reaffirming that he's stuck to this life.

(Would you turn to a child again? "No, never, I am your Guide")

The "child" is representative of his innocence and the times before his greed ruled his life, but he is where he is because of his choices and apparently half of him likes it, the greedy half, and the other half hates it.

(You can see a small grin on the face Of the master, when the puppet's in his place)

The grin is representative of how greedily happy he is while doing the show, he has fulfilled his life dreams but at great cost to his personal innocence.

(Be careful what you wish for Wishes might come alive)

This is a great epilogue, back to real time now, and this is the man cautioning the listener using his own tale as an example.

(The twines are pulling me every day and night...)

Even this late in his life, he can't give it up, his greed is still his master.

(The show, the glitter and all the fame I'd give away for a life)

This is the man saying that if he could ever get free from his greed he would give it all away to get his normal life back.

(Some things can end with a word, they say This only ends with a sharp knife) (Knife!)

This is really the only set of lines that I can't really see much of a hidden lyrical meaning to. simply said perhaps the man kills himself out of sheer depression and self hate, but I dislike taking such great songs like this at face value, so I will refrain from trying to dig for a deeper meaning for this set of lyrics.

Overall, this story can be summed up in a very simple few words, and it's not a new story or one that's never been told before.

Be careful what you wish for and put your time into searching for, you just might get your wish and years later find that it was all a worthless victory, because it has only gained you sorrow and loneliness. Be it through greed or just simple self drive, we as humans rarely are impressed with the choices we have made in our lives, and when it is our turn to tell stories to others, this is the last kind of story that we really want to tell to others.

Just my thoughts, tell me what you think.

I had to create an account to this website because i had to set the record straight with what is, in my opinion, a very inaccurate interpretation of the song that is shared by the consensus here.

Too many are either interpreting the story wrong or trying to insert a hidden meaning behind it, when quite simply its a dark fairytale. And this is consistent with Sonata Arctica and a lot of power metal bands, because bands like them love tales and stories and retelling them or telling their own. Sure there may be some symbolism or meanings, which I'll get into with my interpretation, but it's pretty straightforward a fairytale, and I wonder if it's based on an actual fairytale or its just an original story by the band as a reverse-Pinocchio.

Heres the summary of the story:

A BOY (not a man, no idea why people refused to look at this literally), probably an urchin or in a poorer house, is obsessed with a street puppet show and a particular puppet and watches every night. He's probably been earning and finding money whenever he can and saving up to try to buy the puppet. One night he finally has enough money in his mind and he works up the courage to ask to buy the puppet. Of course the puppet master refuses, no matter how much the child assures him he can pay. Having been turned away, and being a child, he can't accept no for an answer, so he plans to follow the puppet master to his home to kill him. However, before he can do the deed, he is caught (not sure how people assumed the puppet master was successfully killed), and the puppet master reveals himself to be a magician/warlock/wizard/witch (whatever you wanna call it). It's then that the puppet master, in his own mind, sees the greed of the boy and gives him just punishment, using witchcraft to construct a new doll with the boy's soul, killing the boy and trapping him in the new puppet. So the boy is essentially a golem/thrall and is forced to follow the puppet master's command. We're lead to think this is the boy getting what he deserves, but as the boy goes on performing show after show for a length of time, he begs the puppet master to free his soul of these shackles so he can either be resurrected or pass on to the afterlife. This is where the twist happens: the puppet master denies this wish, and smiles as he pushes the boy on to perform more and more. That's the moment where the boy and you realize that the puppet master has done this throughout, kidnapping boys and turning them into puppets, and the boy is just the latest one, the previous puppet being another unfortunate boy killed and trapped inside a puppet, the golden heart being the focus of the magic (or the fetish if we talk voodoo terms).

The evidence is in the lyrics:

"So many years ago, many more than I'd Even care to bear in my mind From the darkest of all places I found you

All the limbs in their right places And a heart made of real gold Sell me your little doll, oh sir, I ask you kind

Every night I returned to watch them The master and the puppet in the show He said: 'Oh, no, I cannot sell him... Priceless he is, masterpiece of mine'"

-The timing that's mentioned here is a bit difficult to interpret, true, but in context it makes sense if the boy saw the puppet show first and became a fan and made sure to watch the performance every night in the street. I'm pretty sure this wasn't a one-time occurrence finding the puppet in a store window

"Please, sell me your puppet, sir Name your price, oh please, Whatever you may ask, Tenfold the price I pay

'Did I not make it clear? This debate is over I will never part from this puppet, my son...'"

-Pretty straightforward, but note that this is a boy who probably doesn't have that money. His offer for tenfold whatever the puppet master asks is a desperate bid to get the puppet regardless whether he'll pay later or not. Of course the puppet master refuses (for the reasons I listed above with what the puppet master truly is

"'No, sir, to sell is not my will!' The doll is mine, even if I have to kill..."

-The first quote in separate quotations makes this intriguing. This verse can have two meanings. Either the boy is acknowledging to the puppet master who he is confronting that he won't resell the puppet and just wants to have it by any means necessary, or... This take: the boy hasn't reached the puppetmaster yet and the first quote is the boy mocking the puppetmaster's unwillingness to make a profit, and then saying to himself that he's willing to do whatever it takes to get the puppet.

-both interpretations have merit, but this song is so poetic in dialogue, and the timeline from the boy stalking to what is supposed to be the attempted murder is so hidden in ambiguity that I think it lends a more sinister tone if the boy is going insane over his obsession as he's envisioning what he'll do.

"So it shall be... if this is what it takes 'Greed is truly blinder than me...' 'Heart of gold is what you wish for?' 'So, this little boy... wants to be... a puppet, for real...'"

-the alternating quotations and lack of quotation in the first line of the verse are all meant to misdirect. While others interpreted this as the "man" aka the boy being successful in the kill, in actually, without all the details, this is where the puppetmaster catches the boy in the attempt, and the quotations are the puppetmaster alternating between talking to the boy and his internal thoughts.

-The "so it shall be... If this is what it takes" line means "if this is what I have to do to stop you, then it'll be done". The puppetmaster realizes he's gonna have to kill this boy to get privacy and to prevent anyone from learning his secret

-The line "greed is truly blinder than me" just doesn't make sense coming from the boy. There's no literary reason for him to say it in the context. It stands to reason, then, that this line is to be an ironic line. The puppetmaster is expressing the irony of how the greed has made the boy blinder than a literal blind man

-"heart of gold is what you wish for" is the puppetmaster basically saying either "are you wanting the puppet or the gold heart" emphasizing the true power of the golden heart and questioning the boy's intention, or is saying "so you want the puppet so bad, huh? Fine, I'll MAKE a puppet just as valuable for you" with a sinister hint of what is to come.

-the last line, "so this little boy, wants to be a puppet, for real" is the puppetmaster reveling in the punishment he's about to give to the boy. He's realized he can make the boy suffer a fate worse than just death. In the quote, you could say the puppetmaster is going a little mad himself. This is the first line of evidence of his evil

"So I have the golden heart Now only needing the voice of the master Never feel hunger, never grow older My dream was to be a star in a real puppet show"

-this is the witchcraft and alchemy/transmutation process narrated. The puppetmaster, showing his true power, transfers the boy's soul into the new vessel, the new puppet. The golden heart either carries the soul or fuels the magic that binds the soul to the puppet. After the heart is transferred, the puppetmaster only needs to say the spell/incantation to bring the new puppet to life. With the boy (as the puppet), saying how he'll never hunger or age, and how he feels he's always wanted to be in a puppet show... This is the spell taking effect and the boy becoming a thrall, forced to obey the puppetmaster's commands

"It's so hard to remember my life The times before the show Can I ever cut off the strings?"

-this indicates that it's been a long time since that fateful night, and the boy is growing wearing and despairing over his current situation, and wonders if he can ever be freed.

"Would you turn to a child again? 'No, never, I am your Guide' You can see a small grin on the face Of the master, when the puppet's in his place"

-this is where the twist in the story happens. First the boy begs to be released from this prison and to be a boy again, or at least to be able for his soul to cross over. The puppetmaster refuses, saying that this is how things are, that he's the boy's master and that's how it will be. The line "You can see a small grin on the face Of the master, when the puppet's in his place" describes malevolent glee, the puppetmaster revealing his true nature and goal. He has his perfect puppet at his command, just as he's always had with other children. The boy is just the latest victim, and one day he'll destroy the boy completely when he creates a new puppet out of another child, like he did before.

"Be careful what you wish for Wishes might come alive The twines are pulling me every day and night... The show, the glitter and all the fame I'd give away for a life"

-the boy is obviously regretting the greed that took over his heart and got him to this point. And he got more than he bargained for in the worst way. The twines represents the hold the puppetmaster has on his soul constantly, and he wishes he could have his life back and would give up all his previous aspirations if he could have that life back. He's telling us not to do what he did.

"Some things can end with a word, they say This only ends with a sharp knife (Knife!)"

-the first line, of things ending with a word according to some, is probably a symbolic meaning for the puppetmaster or other magicians the boy knew of saying that only the puppetmaster can will the boy's soul free with a spell. But the boy knows now the puppetmaster will never let him go, so now the boy knows to be free he has to break his new body, and the way to do it, as hinted by all the mentions of the puppet strings, is to cut the strings and his soul will be free. This song ends there as does the story, with us wondering if the boy is able to do this or not

So in conclusion, this is a dark reverse-Pinocchio story, but has influences of Grimm's Fairytales, especially stories like Hansel and Gretel, where children are tricked or trapped into being killed or enslaved by witches, and the puppetmaster is one such witch (or whatever you wanna call him). I would have to guess this story would take place in Italy or another region of southern Europe, based on the popularity of street puppet shows in those regions. It also makes sense its Italy or another Southern European country because the puppetmaster seems to present himself as a traveling showman and a gypsy. The fact that he's blind adds to that mystique. Oftentimes gypsies were associated with black magic during late medieval and early Renaissance periods, so there's another connection.

It's definitely one of my favorite songs by the band because of the dark nature of it and the emotion it draws from it through the boy's journey

I don't believe this song is too hard (w00t first comment) But let's see.

It's basically about greed. Theres a puppet master. And some person wants to buy his puppet. The master keeps on refusing saying hes priceless, but the man is consumed by greed, and so kills the master

"The doll is mine, even if I have to kill..."

This is where it kind of brances. I believe that the masters last words are "So this little boy... wants to be... a puppet, for real..."

And so the man gets the golden heart of the puppet from him. However it's cursed or something. And, it takes control of him. And instead, he is no longer the master of the puppet. But the puppet is the master of him.

Would you turn to a child again? "No, never, I am your Guide" You can see a small grin on the face Of the master, when the puppet's in his place

I believe the rest is pretty much self explanatory...

"Greed is truly blinder that me"

That sentence is genious. It's pretty much like what CaptainEmo said. About greed.

"Greed is truly blinder that me"

That sentence is genious. It's pretty much like what CaptainEmo said. About greed.

The Master Finds the puppet, or rather, the stalker finds the Master, and sees the puppet.

Driven by greed, the man (first) politely asks the Master if he could buy the Puppet With a Heart of Gold.

When the Master refuses to sell the "perfect puppet", the stalker still sits at every show, waiting for a chance to ask again.

The stalker (narrator) catches up with the Master, and tells him that if the Master would just fork over the puppet, that he'd pay ten times as much as the puppet is actually worth. (A tidbit of Gollum-esque obsession with this puppet's brewing.)

The Master sees selling the puppet (which appears to be unfathomably special to him), like selling his son, and would never for all of the money in the universe. (seeming to become a little peeved that this "stalker" is following him around, prodding at him for the puppet).

After being turned down again, the "stalker" will not stop there, and continues to follow the puppet and the Master into the night. The Master shouts back that he would not sell the puppet, and it is not his will and heart ever to. This infuriates the "stalker" and tests, what appears, to be his very limited patience, and devises a plan to kill the Master if he doesn't get what he wants.

As CaptainEmo stated, I do believe (since this is a Power Metal band/song), that the heart of gold born within the puppet was indeed cursed, and showed the true greed of the stalker for what it was. The Master understood this, and finally gave up the puppet, understanding that the "stalker" would realize his truths in time with the curse set upon him. "So this little boy... wants to be... a puppet, for real..."

So now the "stalker/narrator" switches places with the puppet, and has HIS heart of gold, at the price of his freedom and -really-, his life as a man. And now, that greed is for naught, because instead of money and gold, all he needs and craves is the voice of the master. As the puppet, he'd never grow older or hungry, and he's empty, his only goal to be in a puppet show.

Now the "stalker/puppet" can no longer seem to recall his life before becoming a puppet, but asks himself if he could ever be free again (secretly craves freedom again), but all that is his reply is commands to "Bow, dance... and sing."

He now wishes to be a child again, and swooning over that heart of gold wasn't worth it. But all that is his reply is the voice of the master suspending this greedy man (obviously the puppet seemed to have switched places with the "stalker/narrator"), and you can tell that the master's enjoying toying with the "stalker", just as the "stalker" toyed with it.

Then there's the "be careful what you wish for", where it blatantly explains that he should've thought it over before pursuing that heart of gold so eagerly, and now all day long for all of his life, he's just performing in a puppet show, suspended by restraining strings. The "stalker" decides that he'd give away any fame as a puppet, and stabs himself to death (through the heart, I suppose, which is the relevance of destroying the greed that bound him to the 'curse') to relieve himself of the pain, and that's the end...

OoC:: That's what I got out of this song. As far as songs go, they can be interpreted in as many ways as poems, sometimes.

I totally agree with TheTonJudge, except for one thing: It would seem indeed logical if he would stik the knife trough his heart. But I think he cuts of the strings, an thus, be come lifeless. Since he stated: "Can I ever cut off the strings?" And on the back sleave and booklet of the album there is a doll with some lose strings on his body, lying lifeless on the ground. I love the song, on of my faves of Reckoning Night.