I was trying to dig this video up to show a friend and it occurred to me that holy shit, it's become almost impossible to find this video that Square Enix only showed once at a conference in January 2011, and we're lacking in a proper English translation for it.
So I'm going to put it here for archival purposes and hope tumblr doesn't take it down, along with a translated transcript. I'll be working off Lissar's and FFWorld's translations of the video, using the canon names for the various entities (yes I know "soul" is technically a mistranslation of 心 heart but it is the canon one so hush).
Since I had extra time on my hands, I also put it up on Vimeo with subtitles on. I can provide the srt file (the syncing isn't super tight but since there's a lot of blank space around each line I decided to leave each subtitle for longer than necessary), if anyone's willing to work on translations, you can DM me.
The full transcript is under the cut:
Fabula Nova Crystallis, the new tale of the crystal
Once upon a time, the god Bhunivelze ruled the world.
Bhunivelze defeated his mother, the goddess Mwynn, and took control of the world for himself.
Mwynn disappeared into the unseen realm.
Bhunivelze was troubled: the world he now ruled over was destined to die.
He believed this was a curse laid on the world by his mother Mwynn.
He knew he had to destroy her to lift the curse.
To do this, he set out to search for the door to the unseen realm where his mother waited.
Using his will alone, he created the first fal’Cie.
First, he created the fal’Cie Pulse.
The Focus he gave him was to clear out the world, and search for the door to Mwynn.
Next, he created the fal’Cie Etro.
But it was a mistake. Unknowingly, he created her exactly in the image of Mwynn.
Bhunivelze feared her, and gave Etro no power of her own.
Instead, he created the fal’Cie Lindzei.
The Focus he gave him was to protect Bhunivelze from all who might seek to destroy him.
Bhunivelze gave Lindzei one special duty. To wake him once the time came.
Then he turned to crystal, and fell into an endless sleep.
Pulse wished to expand the world, so he created many fal’Cie and l’Cie.
Lindzei wished to protect the world, so he created many fal’Cie and l’Cie.
But Etro was powerless, and could make nothing of her own.
Lonely, she thought of her mother, who she so resembled.
Etro tore her own body apart, letting her blood flow to the earth, and disappeared from the visible world.
From that blood, torn from her body, sprang humankind.
Creatures that were born only to die.
The destruction of the visible world was no curse, only fate.
The world was divided into two halves, the visible and the invisible.
If the balance between these two were destroyed, the world itself would be destroyed.
The goddess Mwynn could do nothing to stop this fate.
She was being swallowed into the chaos of the unseen realm.
Just before her last moment, Etro came to her side.
Mwynn told Etro that she must protect the balance of the world, before slipping into the chaos forever.
But Etro was ignorant of the meaning behind Mwynn’s words.
Etro was lonely, but she felt affection for those humans who live only to die.
As they died, she smiled, and gave them chaos.
The chaos Etro gave them, the humans named “souls”.
Their hearts would become their power, but the humans did not yet know this.
Soon, they called Pulse the all powerful ruler. Lindzei they named their protector, and Etro they named their goddess of death.
The humans lived on the world, hold chaos inside their hearts.
Because they held chaos so close, the world once again was in balance.
And Bhunivelze still sleeps in crystal stasis. Until the end of days, awaiting the right time.
I finally did it. A breakdown of my beloved Caius's Theme, covering music theory, lyrics, general significance, and a lot of vibing and pseudo conducting.
This is Yeul of 200 AF who met Noel and Serah in Oerba and she is distinguished by her love of flowers.
I'm really happy that we can see things from the Yeuls perspective even if just a little in the novel!! We don't really see much about their own feelings and opinions in the game.
This Yeul didn’t show much interest for Noel and Serah in this scene but she shows a lot of interest and feelings in the novel for both of them, She even went to Oerba just to meet them herself!