"Arbiter of Fate" (運命の番人, Unmei no Bannin?, lit. Watchman of Fate) is a boss theme in Final Fantasy VII Remake, composed and arranged by Masashi Hamauzu. It is an expanded arrangement of "Whispers' Theme".
"Arbiter of Fate" has three movements:
- "Arbiter of Fate - Advent" (運命の番人 －降臨－, Unmei no Bannin -Kōrin-?, lit. Watchman of Fate -Advent-): It contains the introductory part of "Whispers' Theme".
- "Arbiter of Fate - Rebirth" (運命の番人 －輪廻－, Unmei no Bannin -Rinne-?, lit. Watchman of Fate -Saṃsāra-): It contains most of the motifs from "Whispers' Theme".
- "Arbiter of Fate - Singularity" (運命の番人 －特異－, Unmei no Bannin -Tokui-?, lit. Watchman of Fate -Singularity-): It also contains the Final Fantasy "Main Theme".
Game appearances[]
Final Fantasy VII Remake[]
Whisper Rubrum, Whisper Viridi and Whisper Croceo, with Whisper Harbinger in the background.
"Arbiter of Fate" plays during the penultimate boss battle against Whisper Harbinger and the Whisper entities it summons in the Singularity, fought by Cloud, Barret, Tifa and Aerith, with the help of Red XIII, during "The Turning Point" in Chapter 18, "Destiny's Crossroads".
"Arbiter of Fate - Advent" plays during the first part against Whisper Rubrum, Whisper Viridi and Whisper Croceo. "Arbiter of Fate - Rebirth" plays during the second part against Whisper Viridi and Whisper Croceo. "Arbiter of Fate - Singularity" plays during the third and final part against the three Whispers, their coalescence Whisper Bahamut, and Whisper Harbinger at the end.
"Arbiter of Fate - Advent", "Arbiter of Fate - Rebirth" and "Arbiter of Fate - Singularity" are tracks 6, 7 and 8 of disc 7 on the Final Fantasy VII Remake Original Soundtrack.
Arrangement album appearances[]
Final Fantasy VII Remake Orchestral Arrangement Album[]
An orchestral arrangement of "Arbiter of Fate - Singularity" orchestrated by Sachiko Miyano appears as track 9 on the album, conducted by Arnie Roth and performed by Shinra Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.
Live performances[]
Final Fantasy VII Remake Orchestra World Tour[]
The orchestral arrangement of "Arbiter of Fate - Singularity" was performed live during the orchestra world tour.
Behind the scenes[]
Composer Masashi Hamauzu said that the production of "Arbiter of Fate" was extremely challenging. He felt like he was fighting an impregnable enemy, because it was about a month before the end of development when he got the footage and started working on it, and because it was the biggest boss character he had ever seen, in terms of sheer size and length of musical composition. And in every project, he writes with the intention that "this will be my last battle theme", so that put extra pressure on him. But as if pulled by this so huge enemy, bright chord progressions and gradually increasing tempo structures were created.[1]