Hallelujah
(There are no Veilguard spoilers in this content, it was all created in early September, I’m only posting it now).
So I found this old Bioware article from 2014…
Its about what the writers listened to when they wrote their characters.
I was immediately struck by Weekes’ (writer of Bull, Cole, & Solas) comment that he wrote whole swaths of Solas dialogue listening to K.D. Langs cover of Hallelujah.
Because when I was playing Origins, way back in 2009, as soon as I heard the words “The Chant of Andraste” I thought of Hallelujah.
No better parallel could exist for me. Hallelujah, if you listen to the lyrics, is not really church related, yet it got absorbed into the church as a hymn. Its fucking sad, and yet we’re praising god or some shit?
Kinda like how I feel The Chantry has changed their religion, their original purpose, Andraste and the Maker and all that, into something horrible (subjugation/lobotomization of mages, feeding templars crack, you know, nOrMal StUfF).
I love the parallels there. And I love that Weekes used this sad-ass fucking dirge for our sad-ass fucking egg, especially considering what KD Lang said about it:
Canadian singer k.d. lang said in an interview shortly after Cohen's death that she considered the song to be about "the struggle between having human desire and searching for spiritual wisdom. It's being caught between those two places." (Be still, my heart.)
And I thought about how Legends Shouldn’t Be Given The Weight of History, and how The Chantry’s purpose has been twisted, and how Hallelujah’s purpose has been twisted, and at the time, I was completing The Temple of the Emerald Knights in DA:I. I was thinking about how the Elvhen temple is littered with statues of Andraste and Mythal (dragon), how there’s a Knight, Andale (which is so obviously Andraste, prob Flemythal reincarnate of some sort).
The blending and melding and mushing of cultures and religions as time drags on, how originally good or pure purposes are changed or shifted, or corrupted.
And I thought of Andraste again.
I have been unhealthily obsessed with this artist named Aly, who is a Bard in Thedas and sings at The Dread Halla Tavern (you can find them on spotify here);
(for clarification, this human is not me, I am not a singer, she is very good, you should go listen to all her songs-after you read this).
Anyways, I got to thinking…
What would Andraste’s Hallelujah sound like?
I had to write it.
Its sad and beautiful and tells the story of a woman flighting against forces she has no hope of defeating (But we still have to try).
[Andraste’s Lament]
And I got immediately transported to a smoky, dimly lit tavern in Southern Thedas. Aly has just sung Andraste’s Lament, and is approached by Neria, a lone Dalish Elf who clutches a scrap of paper tightly in her hand.
Aly listens to this elf tell her a story of a sad song her mother used to sing her when she was young, before she got killed by bandits. And could she sing this song for her, please, she even has a few coppers.
And Aly sits down, scans the paper, and realizes it’s a different version of Andraste’s Hallelujah.
Written in small looping script at the top, in Common, is Dirge of the Dread Wolf.
And she sings it softly to Neria, a strange story of mothers and gods and tricksters and wolves, and Neria’s eyes well.
[Dirge of the Dread Wolf]
She ends the song, the last beautiful Hallelujah trembling through the thickness of the tavern air.
Neria sniffs once, and then begins a new story. Aly listens to this Elf speak of a crumbling Dalish temple deep in the middle of nowhere, where she found a piece of paper beside a four legged statue that has since eroded to expressionless guardianship, of words crossed out and changed and smudged.
Then she shakily hands Aly a different piece of paper.
This velumm is significantly older than the first, thicker, almost crumbling around the edges.
And its Hallelujah again, but its spelled wrong, and some strange name with too many n’s in it is written at the top.
And Neria asks Aly if she can sing this.
But it’s written in Elvhen, and Aly shakes her head, she doesn’t think she can stumble through all the strange Dalish a’s and ash’s and am’s (there's so many damn vowels in Dalish…).
But, Aly halts the elfs falling face, she is more than willing to sing this in Common, if Neria will stay to act as translator.
So the two bend their heads close over the bar, and Aly pulls out her small precious notebook where she writes down the lyrics to her own tunes, and they quickly make work of the Elvhen words, Aly humming and hawing as she changes some words to better match the pattern of the song.
And soon they have a brand-new Hallelujah, and Aly asks Neria to pronounce the name at the top.
Ghil-an’nain, Neria says, and make sure you spell the hallelujah right.
H, a, l, l, a, l, i, e, u, y, a.
What does that mean in Dalish? Aly asks the elf.
And Neria shrugs. Halla is like a halla, she assumes. But this word lieu, she doesn’t know.
Aly assumes in the context of this song it must mean birth, but Neria shakes her head. Shena is the verb for born.
Well, what about victory? But Neria shakes her head again. Ena’sal’in is the word for victory, or triumph.
Aly blows out a breath. She’s a lyricist. What would make this poetic.
What about truth?
The elf thinks, and a small smile grows on her lips.
She can’t think of a Dalish word for truth.
Ghilan’nain’s Truth of the Halla?
Aly’s beautiful soprano soon fills the room, and her eyes widen when a soft Alto joins her, singing along in the original Elvhen.
[Ghilan’nain’s Truth of the Halla]
A haunting melody, completely changed by the understanding of the root of halla lieu’ya, not a praise to The Maker, or the curse of a trickster, but the story of a young god, beaten and battered and blinded, and her creations, and her destruction of them.
[Ghilan’nan’es Halla’lieu’ya]
The tavern erupts when they finish, and poor Neria blushes furiously as her back is slapped, and her hair is tousled, by the patrons of the establishment.
Aly and her new friend make their way to the bar, where foaming tankards await them.
They cheers, and as they tip the beer back, a city elf approaches them, dressed like a Dalish, but he has no vallaslin. He pushes his cowl down to reveal a bald head and shocking purple eyes. His voice is quiet, with a deep, romantic lilt.
“Where did you find that song?”
…
Please be gentle with any constructive criticism on my voice, I am absolutely NOT a singer, I know I don’t have a superstar voice but I’m also not tone deaf, so just… don’t be shitty to me, internet. Listen to the lyrics, not the delivery.
If anyone’s actually interested, I'll message you the lyrics. I also did record all four songs (Andraste, Dread Wolf, Ghilly (English), and Ghilly (Elvhen),) but can only put one video per post. Maybe I'll link them later if people are interested.
*It did not even occur to me until after writing Andraste’s Hallalujah that someone might have had this idea already. I did a little googling afterwards, and someone has put solas’ dialogue to the tune of Hallalujah, but no ones “re-written” it yet in this context (that I could find). My query to you is, why would Solas speak in Leonard Cohen's hallelujah/iambic pentameter if he had never heard it before?
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Obviously, this can never be turned into a real song, because Sony owns the rights to the OG Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. But the romanticism of this song, changing through the ages, was too good to pass up. I hope you enjoy it, sincerely, and if you are a better singer than I, by all means, use my lyrics and record it, and please send me the link so that I can listen to it!
Thanks to Weekes, Leonard Cohen, & The Dread Halla Tavern for inspiring this.
Bare your blade, and raise it high.
