One-Winged Angel (theme)

"One-Winged Angel" is a musical theme from Final Fantasy VII, and it is notable for the final boss theme and for being the first theme in the series to feature vocal lyrics. It was composed by Nobuo Uematsu.

"One-Winged Angel" is one of the most popular tracks of the Final Fantasy series. The song's name refers to Safer∙Sephiroth, who has six white wings where his legs should be and a grotesque black wing where his right arm should be, but since its original appearance, this title is commonly used to refer to Sephiroth himself and serves as a motif for the character (Sephiroth's original character theme from Final Fantasy VII is "Those Chosen by the Planet"). With Sephiroth's popularity, "One-Winged Angel" has received several arrangements and had several appearances outside Final Fantasy VII, never far from the presence of the villain it is associated with.

Development
"One-Winged Angel" broke new ground in the Final Fantasy series by being the first song in a Final Fantasy game with lyrics. The developers experimented with the song and took the recording of it and reduced it in a way it would fit the game; Uematsu has mentioned that "One-Winged Angel" is a good example of an experimental song, or a result that they didn't expect from the beginning. Having composed many battle themes for the series before, Uematsu wanted to create something new and unique for "One-Winged Angel".

Nobuo Uematsu apparently got his inspiration for "One-Winged Angel" through Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho theme. Nobuo himself states it so in the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children special feature, "The Distance: Making of Featurette" on Disc Two of the Two-Disc Special Edition. Nobuo Uematsu has also said he had wanted to fuse "musical styles of Russian composer Igor Stravinsky and rock musician Jimi Hendrix" with the song. Specifically, "One-Winged Angel" appears to be based on Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" in terms of form and orchestration, using the "augur chord", one of the most famous motifs Stravinsky came up with. Uematsu has also said he wanted to create something that would sound like '60s or '70s rock music performed by a full orchestra, and for the piece to have the same destructive impact as rock music.

"One-Winged Angel" is the only composition Uematsu has done with the "puzzle piece" method.

Uematsu had not been trained or been in an orchestra prior to composing "One-Winged Angel", but he wanted to keep the orchestral music atmosphere and be able to "rock it" and have a thick orchestral feel to it. He had samples of stuff he had prepared for the orchestra, but in the end he ended up just giving it over to them and seeing how they could perform it.

During the VOICES: Music from Final Fantasy concert, the encore piece was "One-Winged Angel" performed by both The Black Mages and the orchestra. Afterward Uematsu has stated: "At that moment, I knew that was the complete "One-Winged Angel". So I still think "One-Winged Angel" is a rock piece".

Final Fantasy VII
"One-Winged Angel" first appeared as the background theme for the final battle against Safer∙Sephiroth. It was released as the sixteenth track of the game's original soundtrack's fourth disc.

Lyrics
Several verses were taken from the medieval poetry compilation Carmina Burana.

Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
"One-Winged Angel" was rearranged for the movie, to play during the final battle between Cloud Strife and Sephiroth. This arrangement is titled "Advent: One-Winged Angel", and was meant to be the main focus of the film's soundtrack. Notable from any past iteration of the piece, this new version features an orchestral performance accompanied by The Black Mages, arranged by Shiro Hamaguchi and Kenichiro Fukui, and new lyrics by Tetsuya Nomura. This theme was released as the ninth track from the second disc of the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Original Soundtrack.

For the movie's extended cut, Advent Children Complete, the song was again redone and titled "Advent: One-Winged Angel - ACC Long Version", and features new orchestration. Since the scene during which the song plays had been lengthened, a new passage was added toward the end. It repeats the song as heard from 1:29-2:15, without the Latin chorus and metal band accompaniment. This new arrangement of "One-Winged Angel" was released as the twelfth track of the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete Reunion Tracks album.

In the commentary for Advent Children, Nobuo Uematsu comments that the previous orchestration never really quite felt right to him and, by contrast, the combination of orchestra and metal sounds seemed to be what the piece really required all along. Uematsu also noted various rock bands that had performed their songs with an orchestra, and failed, and stated that because "One-Winged Angel" was written for neither an orchestra or a rock band, the two styles ended up meshing together well for the song's remix.

There is a dispute concerning the official translation of the Latin lyrics and another, more literal translation of the first and last stanzas. Whether or not the official translation of the song conveys the same message as its literal translation is entirely a matter of opinion.

Lyrics

 * Literal translation
 * Don't remain, remain in memory
 * Don't remain, remain in memory
 * Sephiroth, Sephiroth


 * Fierce anger, anger and pain
 * Fierce anger, anger and pain
 * Sephiroth, Sephiroth


 * Wild, terrible fate


 * Don't remain, remain in memory
 * Don't remain, remain in memory
 * Sephiroth, Sephiroth


 * Come, my son. Come my son
 * Come here, give me death once more
 * Come, my son. Come my son
 * Come here, give me...


 * Don't
 * Remain
 * In memory
 * Fierce
 * Anger
 * And pain
 * Wild
 * Terrible
 * Fate
 * That [Man]
 * Once again
 * Will come


 * My son, come, come, come, my son
 * My son, come, come, come, my son
 * My son, come, come, come, my son
 * My son, come, come, come, my son


 * My son, come, come, come, my son
 * He who invited death
 * My son, come, come, come, my son
 * [Was] born with an ill-fated punishment
 * My son, come, come, come, my son
 * Don't call his name
 * My son, come, come, come, my son
 * The second advent
 * Sephiroth
 * Sephiroth

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-
An orchestral arrangement of "One-Winged Angel" by Kazuhiko Toyama titled "Vengeance on the World (from FFVII "One-Winged Angel")", is present and plays during a flashback sequence where Sephiroth battles Genesis Rhapsodos, and the Sephiroth boss battle at Nibelheim along with "Controlling the Iron Beast". This new version is half the length of the original version, and features a shorter introduction leading into the vocals much earlier.

This remix focuses on the song's orchestral elements, providing a contrast between it and Genesis's themes, "Flapping Black Wing" and "SOLDIER Battle", which focuses on rock elements.

Dissidia Final Fantasy (2008)
The orchestral arrangement of "One-Winged Angel" from Final Fantasy VII: Reunion Tracks was included as "One-Winged Angel -orchestra version- from FINAL FANTASY VII" and appears as one of the two default Final Fantasy VII battle themes. It is the second track of the Dissidia Final Fantasy Original Soundtrack second disc.

"One-Winged Angel" can be automatically selected for battles including Sephiroth or Cloud, or taking place at Planet's Core.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
As with all tracks present in the original game, "One-Winged Angel -orchestra version- from FINAL FANTASY VII" returns in the prequel to Dissidia Final Fantasy. It is given the same appearances as in the aforementioned game, but can also be automatically selected for battles including the newcomer Tifa Lockhart.

Dissidia Final Fantasy (2015)
The arranged track from Dissidia Final Fantasy and the original PlayStation version can be bought from the in-game shop for 3,600 gil.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
The original version of "One-Winged Angel" was selected as the Battle Music Sequence for the Final Fantasy Series play. The game's director, Ichiro Hazama, has noted that "One-Winged Angel" was one of the two main songs the team was told to include when the development on the game was started. The other song was "Clash on the Big Bridge".

"Advent: One Winged Angel" appears in the iOS release as a BMS. It is notably the longest song in the game, with 973 triggers and lasting approximately six minutes.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call
The original "One-Winged Angel" returns as a BMS. "Advent: One-Winged Angel" appears as both the Event Music Sequence for Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children and as a stand-alone DLC BMS track, the latter having fewer notes than the original Theatrhythm but still being one of the longest songs in the game.

Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring
The original version of "One-Winged Angel" plays in the cinematic ending for all of the playable characters from Final Fantasy VII (Cloud, Sephiroth, Tifa, Vincent, Yuffie and Zack). The ending is a montage of FMV scenes from Final Fantasy VII.

Final Fantasy VII: Reunion Tracks
An orchestrated arrangement of "One-Winged Angel" by Shiro Hamaguchi was included in the Final Fantasy VII best-of music album. Some versions of the album contain a hidden pregap track accessed by rewinding from the start of the album. This track is an instrumental version of "One-Winged Angel".

Piano Collections: Final Fantasy VII
A piano arrangement of the theme by Shiro Hamaguchi and performed by Seiji Honda is included on the Final Fantasy VII iteration of Piano Collections as the eleventh track.

Final Fantasy Orchestra Album
"One-Winged Angel" appears on this Final Fantasy 25th Anniversary arrangement album.

Final Fantasy S Generation: Official Best Collection
The orchestral version of "One-Winged Angel" from the Final Fantasy VII: Reunion Tracks was included on this album as the eight track.

Final Fantasy Vinyls
"One-Winged Angel" is included on the fifth disc of this collector's edition set.

Final Fantasy VII Vinyl Limited Edition
"One-Winged Angel" is included on the fourth disc of this collectors' edition.

Live performances
"One-Winged Angel" is typically performed as an encore on the Final Fantasy concerts.

20020220 music from Final Fantasy
"One-Winged Angel", performed live by Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, is included on this concert record album.

More Friends - Music from Final Fantasy
"Advent: One-Winged Angel" was included on this concert, preformed by The World Festival Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arnie Rothand The Black Mages, at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, California on May 16th, 2005.

Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy
"One-Winged Angel" was performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra in this live orchestra concert recording.

Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy Returning Home
"One-Winged Angel" is included on this live recording of an orchestral concert, performed by the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Arnie Roth held in Tokyo, in November 2010. Instead of being the encore, "One-Winged Angel" opens the concert.

Vanafest 2012
"Advent: One-Winged Angel" was performed by the Earthbound Papas at the 2012 edition of Vanafest, the Final Fantasy XI Festival.

A New World: intimate music from Final Fantasy
A live recording of "One-Winged Angel" from at the London premiere of the concert of the same name on February 15, 2014, conducted by Arnie Roth, is included on this album.

Final Symphony
"FINAL FANTASY VII Symphony in Three Movements" is a symphony arranged and orchestrated by Jonne Valtonen for the Final Symphony concert series. The first movement of the symphony, titled "Nibelheim Incident", is based on Sephiroth. The 3-note motif of Sephiroth is used throughout the first movement as an element of structural integrity. In the final phase "The One-Winged Angel" emerges before gradually distorting as all of the earlier themes are gradually built on top of each other. This distortion is a reflection of Sephiroth's internal chaos as he becomes aware of his past. In the end of the movement things slow down. As Sephiroth is reborn, the familiar pulse is heard "in almost spiritual context".

Kingdom Hearts
"One-Winged Angel" was remixed by Yoko Shimomura twice for the series, playing in superboss battles with Sephiroth in both ' and ', as well as playing during his fights with Cloud in cutscenes. The remixes of the theme feature shorter intros, leading almost immediately into the Latin vocals, and the vocals as a whole are more prominent than in the original version. The HD ReMIX versions of both games for the PS3 each remix the two versions with enhanced vocals and instrumentation.

Etymology
The name of the theme refers to Sephiroth's appearance in the final battle, as well as his role in the story.

Sephiroth's "One-Winged Angel" incarnation and its six white wings nod to the angelic description of Seraphim in Isaiah 6:2: "Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two they veiled their faces, with two they veiled their feet, and with two they hovered aloft". However, the name and title "One-Winged Angel" owe themselves not to these six white wings, but to the seventh single black wing.

Trivia

 * In ', ' and , "One-Winged Angel" appears as a for  known as the . It is one of the more powerful Keyblades that can be obtained, and is modeled after Sephiroth's Masamune. In Final Mix, it is obtained by defeating Sephiroth, while in Chain of Memories and its remake, it can be found in the Room of Rewards.
 * Defeating Sephiroth in Kingdom Hearts Final Mix included in ' unlocks the "One-Winged Angel" trophy. In ', players will receive a PSN trophy titled the "One-Winged Angel" after defeating Sephiroth.
 * The melody of the lyrics "Sors immanis, et inanis" is derived from Sephiroth's theme, "Those Chosen by the Planet". The melody of "Veni, veni, venias, Ne me mori facias" near the conclusion of the piece may also be derived of the accompanying instrumentation that follows the signature motif in Sephiroth's theme.
 * The source of these same lyrics is derived from Carl Orff's "O Furtuna".
 * The theme is featured in a Robot Chicken skit that parodies Final Fantasy VII. Here, the only lyrics featured is the word "Hamburger" played comically when Sephiroth appears in the skit.
 * Due to difficulties hearing the exact lyrics, various listeners have composed a myriad of misinterpreted lyrics of the song, some of which can be viewed on YouTube.
 * Motomu Toriyama said that "Caius's Theme" from Final Fantasy XIII-2 was meant to surpass even "One-Winged Angel".
 * In the video game Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory, "One-winged angel" is the name of a quest client.
 * Aggrotech band Reaper uses samples from "One-Winged Angel" in their song "Daemon" on their 2005 Angst EP.