Castle Of Glass

While I think the various metaphorical interpretations are more or less correct, I'd like to point out the clever use of hominem. The song's meaning is both metaphorical (a castle of glass IS an illusion of safety and this song is likely dealing with issues of a personal nature in many ways) but it's also a reference to the atomic bombing of Japan in WWII.

"Take me down to the river bend" Likely a reference to ground zero, where the 15 kiloton city-buster bomb "Little Boy" was detonated 2,000 feet above a river bend

"Take me down to the fighting end" This can be two things. I could be a reference to the ending of the war that was largely due to these two bombings. It can also be a reference to the Japanese vowing to "fight to the bitter end" after realizing Nazi Germany had fallen.

"Wash the poison from off my skin" This is easily a reference to the radioactive dust known as fallout. Fallout emitting alpha and beta radiation must be quickly washed off of skin and clothes to prevent illness. Gamma radiation was a much more serious issue because it could not simply be washed off and it caused many people to complete loose their skin in some parts of the body. This killed most of those who survived the initial blast.

"Show me how to be whole again" Likely an impossibility for those that actually managed to live through these bombings.

"Fly me up on a silver wing" A reference to the silver "Enola Gay" B-29 bomber that actually delivered the bomb over Hiroshima.

"Past the black where the sirens sing" "Warm me up in a nova's glow" A likely reference plane's journey to Hiroshima followed by the nuclear detonation.

"And drop me down to the dream below" Dropping "Little Boy" onto a relative paradise below.

"Bring me home in a blinding dream" Deliverance to death by the blinding flash of the atomic explosion.

"Through the secrets that I have seen" The world's first public display of the atomic bomb that had been developed in absolute secrecy as the "Manhattan Project" in Los Alamos, a completely secret city.

"Wash the sorrow from off my skin" "Show me how to be whole again" This could be a reference to the tremendous loss and trauma experienced by the survivors and the rest of Japan. It could also be a reference to the guilt and regret experienced by many involved in the bombing as many with enlisted men involved had no idea what the bombs were actually going to do and many in government and scientist on the Manhattan Project didn't agree with decision to deploy the weapons.

"'Cause I'm only a crack in this castle of glass" "Hardly anything else I need to be" These two bombings were enough to scare the Japanese government into surrendering. While the atomic bombings were terrible, it prevented a ground offensive that would've cost more than 1 million lives by intelligence estimates. It also prevented the Japanese from "fighting to the bitter end" which could've led to the complete destruction of the Japanese. It's regrettable that the atomic bombs were needed, but their deployment was likely better than either of those alternative outcomes.

Like I said, this song likely has a more personal meaning, but it's very interesting that it was delivered in such a way. I don't think this double meaning was accidental either. After all, this isn't the first Linkin Park song to be written about disaster ("The Little Things Give You Away" being about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina comes to mind). I just didn't see anyone else put this out there, so I thought I would share.