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Father of Death Lyrics

[Thomas Light]
What have I done?
Though I did not pull the trigger
I built the gun that he holds in his hand
Last night I dreamed I climbed
To the top of a mountain of metal
And for miles I could see the destruction of man

I will not be the father of death

Darling Emily
Everything that I have done
I have done for you
But it's turned out all wrong
Can I take it back?
Can I turn off this machine
Before it destroys everything that I've loved?
I will find a way to make this right
I will find a way, Emily

I will not be the father of death

[Emily Stanton] What are you doing here?
[Albert Wily] Let me take you away
Emily: I'm not going anywhere
Albert: He will be nothing, when this runs its course
Emily: He will be everything that a man is supposed to be

Emily: If a shadow blocks out the sun...
The Choir: There will be light

Emily: If it stays 'til the sun is set...
The Choir: There will be light

Emily: If the sun never shows its face again...
The Choir: There will be light

Emily: No matter how dark this city gets...
The Choir: There will be...
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Cover art for Father of Death lyrics by Protomen, The

I'm surprised no one has posted anything on this. Its a great song and one of the first I heard that should be on Act II (though they came out with a single for it recently).

If I'm not mistaken, Emily Stanton is the love interest of both Light and Wily right? But she falls for Light and Wily rebukes them both. The last few lines of dialogue between Emily and Wily show her feelings and confidence for Dr. Light even though Wily insists that his future is grim.

I dont wanna give more away than that in part because I'm not completely sure of the entire story myself...

I cant wait for Act II. I believe the release date is August 8th but I may be mistaken.

Song Meaning

Well, the album is out, and I suspect that the only ones who come here will be interested in deeper interpretation, so here I go!

I think after the choir responds with their final line, that Wily kills Emily for rejecting him. After Light's second insistence that he will not be the father of Death, the narrative jumps into the past to explain the event alluded to and expounded upon in Light's first and second verses (respectively).

Less obviously, and in context with the rest of the rock opera, I think that Wily kills Emily for rejecting him. This...

Wily uses (reprograms) Joe, a robot originally created by Dr. Light, to murder Emily. In doing so, Wily frames Light for the murder. This is reiterated in 'The Hounds,' when Wily asks "What kind of man builds a machine to kill a girl?"

Cover art for Father of Death lyrics by Protomen, The

Spoiling away! My thoughts:

If you've heard of The Protomen, then the general context of the song should be obvious; for those who have not, in fifteen words or less: Dr. Light is bemoaning the fact that his work has gone wrong.

As for the last part, the vision I have in my head is that Wily is trying to convince Emily to rule the world with him, since Light refuses to do things Wily's way. She says no, and so he kills her, ultimately pinning the crime on Dr. Light, thus removing the last obstacle to his plan for world conquest. I imagine that the killing blow is struck when the Choir cuts out at the end.

On their first album, the liner notes included additional narrative that was not sung. Reading it in my head, I noticed that the pacing for most (if not all) of it fit really well as I read it in my head, and so I imagine that here, too, there is action to fill up the instrumental parts, and it's not just musical masturbation (groovy though that is). OK, so, from the killing blow as described above, I imagine that Wily is lit with rage as he strikes Emily down, then regrets his decision when the music box chimes back in, since he loved her as well. As the music box slows down, the grief on Wily's face turns to a manic grin as he forms a plan: when the horns and drums resume, he begins staging the scene so as to frame Dr. Light for the murder.

Everything else is pretty straightforward, to my mind.

Cover art for Father of Death lyrics by Protomen, The

For the most part "TheLetterD" got it right. One thing that needs to be set straight is that Wily has one of Light's robots kill Emily and leaves. During the musical masturbation the police arrive, find the robot who flees to Light's lab. That's the big way the blame is pinned, though in the next song "Hounds" Wily spreads the tale by word of mouth to a mob.

 
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