Music can be deeply emotional. Just hearing a few notes or chords of a favorite tune can really tug at the heartstrings or extract memories from deep within. And in other times, the right tune played at the right moment can be exactly what a bleeding heart or broken soul needs to find solace and make sense of a chaotic world. It can allow the listener to begin sorting through those emotions and make sense of it all. Video game music has always been something I’ve connected with, but during these past few weeks, a particular song has been exactly what my soul has yearned for.
My wife and I had just completed the last few battles of Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity when I received a phone call from back home telling me my mother had passed away overnight. The news was a complete shock, not just for me but for everyone who had seen Mom over the past week. Mom and I had been extremely close, and my soul shattered at the thought of moving forward in life without her in it. And yet, as I went to bed that night, a song started playing in my head. That song was the last song I heard from Age of Calamity before hearing the news. “Overlooking Hyrule – After the Calamity” entered my head, and it refused to leave my head the entire week.
Without spoilers, this is the song that plays as Link overlooks Hyrule from atop the Sheikah Tower as you’re choosing the next level to play once you’ve completed the main storyline of the game. I love this song because it has such a bittersweet vibe to it. This final is in the major key, so it has a slight hint of levity. It just smells of positivity and hope. But unlike many songs, the tempo of this song is extremely slow, hovering somewhere around 68 beats per minute. The slow tempo puts a harsh damper on how upbeat the tune is, almost as if the world has suffered (as it were) this great calamity, and all that remains is hope for a better future. The song’s melody, while hopeful, sits atop long, calm, peaceful chords.
I hadn’t expected such a low-key tune to get stuck in my head after the news. But I think this very song was what I needed to get through the tragic, heart-wrenching days that followed. This song just spoke of the need for hope after great tragedy, a tentative and delicate peace as one tries to cope with a still-present trauma. Whenever I was on the verge of losing it in the days following the news, this song brought a small degree of sanity and clarity as time and reality continued to march along.
