I personally believe that the beginning of the song starts off in an orphanage or a foster home or something to that effect as Tony stated this song has nothing to do with wolves or animals. The second line of the song "Rotten apples, all the way" suggests that all 'eleven little littermates' are (if I can invoke another SA song) - raised from a broken seed.
The song sort of parallels a Japanese movie 'Azumi' that I remember hearing Tony liked. I never saw it, but I guess the premise is that there were 10 orphans raised to become assassins for the sake of keeping peace in the country, so him writing a song about this scenario isn't too far a reach. The song could also be about the mafia, as I've heard some interpretations that way.
So what happens here is that 'Number Nine' ends up being 'the best, the primus' and the tutor/father/whatever he is becomes afraid of how powerful Number Nine has become ("feeling almighty is after my throne") and the fact that #9 is potentially going to take over his ruling place (sort of like the wolf becoming the heir in 'It Won't Fade').
Then at 1:11 in the song, Number Nine becomes the narrator - as mentioned above. He "leaves the base" and goes on to find his own life, except that he can never live as a normal person because he was brought up to be evil. Sort of like an 'apple doesn't fall far from the tree' scenario.
I'm still trying to figure out the very end of the song, any other interpretations?
All right, might as well start things off.
I personally believe that the beginning of the song starts off in an orphanage or a foster home or something to that effect as Tony stated this song has nothing to do with wolves or animals. The second line of the song "Rotten apples, all the way" suggests that all 'eleven little littermates' are (if I can invoke another SA song) - raised from a broken seed.
The song sort of parallels a Japanese movie 'Azumi' that I remember hearing Tony liked. I never saw it, but I guess the premise is that there were 10 orphans raised to become assassins for the sake of keeping peace in the country, so him writing a song about this scenario isn't too far a reach. The song could also be about the mafia, as I've heard some interpretations that way.
So what happens here is that 'Number Nine' ends up being 'the best, the primus' and the tutor/father/whatever he is becomes afraid of how powerful Number Nine has become ("feeling almighty is after my throne") and the fact that #9 is potentially going to take over his ruling place (sort of like the wolf becoming the heir in 'It Won't Fade').
Then at 1:11 in the song, Number Nine becomes the narrator - as mentioned above. He "leaves the base" and goes on to find his own life, except that he can never live as a normal person because he was brought up to be evil. Sort of like an 'apple doesn't fall far from the tree' scenario.
I'm still trying to figure out the very end of the song, any other interpretations?