[GAMES][IT COULDN'T LAST][EARTHBOUND 0/MOTHER][GIEGUE, MARIA AND GEORGE] Mama... Papa... And Me
Ever since the "It Couldn't Last" theme was announced, I knew I had to make an FST for Giegue, Maria and George of Earthbound 0/Mother fame. Before I begin, I want to give special thanks to blackjackrocket for listening to me babble about obscure NES titles and providing suggested tracks. If it weren't for her, this would've only been a Giegue & Maria FST. Fanart credits for the covers go to Morphine and the talented artist who drew the image for the back cover. (It may have been S'LABO since their sketch styles are similar, but I don't want to give credit to the wrong artist. If anyone can enlighten me, it'd heavily be appreciated!)
Three guesses what quote the FST is named for. The first two don't count.
In the early 1900's, a dark shadow covered a small country town in rural America. At that time, a young married couple vanished mysteriously from their home. The man's name was George, the woman's name was Maria. Two years later, as suddenly as he left, George returned. He never told anyone where he had been or what he had done. But, he began an odd study, all by himself. As for Maria, his wife... She never returned.
80 years have passed since then.
So begins the story of Mother and the most dysfunctional family to grace the NES/Famicon.
1. Alanis Morissette - Still
I am your joy and your regret
I am your fury and your elation
I am your yearning and your sweat
I am your faithless and your religion
I see you altering history
I see you abusing the land
I see you and your selective amnesia
And I love you still
And I love you still
Meet Maria, George, and their adopted alien child Giegue. George and Giegue would later move on to create monstrosities to shake the entire series in her name, but she forgives them and loves them as she always had.
2. Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall
Daddy's flown across the ocean
Leaving just a memory
Snapshot in the family album
Daddy what else did you leave for me?
Daddy, what'd'ja leave behind for me!?
Ninten never known his great-grandparents until he discovered his great-grandfather's diary in the basement, which contained nothing but faded text and a riddle: Who has lost his tail?
3. Delirium feat. Sarah McLachlan - Silence
Heaven holds a sense of wonder
and I wanted to believe
that I'd get caught up
when the rage in me subsides
In this white wave
I am sinking
In this silence
In this white wave
In this silence
I believe
Answer: The forgotten one of the ship that sails the cosmos. This teleports Ninten to the mysterious pink paradise of Magicant, where he is instructed by the beautiful Queen Mary to look for the 8 Melodies. Why could she not remember the tune?
4. Oingo Boingo - Mama
Mama... Come and take, come and take my hand
Mama... Try and see, try to understand
Mama... Looking through, looking through my eyes
Mama... Everywhere, always in disguise
I walk alone and see what boys should never see in their lifetime
I live in the world of spirits and I talk to the walls
Deliver me from this little hell
Deliver me from this little hell
Deliver me from--!
Mama... Please be good, please be good to me
"Oh! Giegue! I loved him... I loved him, as if he was my own child..."
Was Giegue as wicked as they say or had he been innocent once? Maybe if things hadn't turned out the way they did, Giegue would've grown up without ever becoming evil...
5. Neuroticfish - Ultrahymn
In the name of you
I'll do all I have to
In your name I'll go
Where only you and me will know
In your name I won't listen
In your name I will deny
In your name I will resist them
I do not ask you why
"MY NAME IS EVE. I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU. MY CREATOR WAS GEORGE... HE WAS TAKEN TO THE END OF THE UNIVERSE... THEN BROUGHT BACK LATER. I AM HERE TO PROTECT YOU. THAT IS MY PURPOSE."
"Ninten! I am grateful to your family. Your Great-Grandparents, George and Maria raised me. But, George stole vital information from our planet that can be used to betray my people..."
Ah, George. The cancer that messed up everybody's lives in the Mother series. It's easy to dismiss him as a villain, but George's motives are far grayer than that. Despite raising him as his son, George grew fearful of Giegue and what he would become, and kept with him secrets that he hoped would save his wife's life...
6. Jack Off Jill - Vivica
Oh Vivica I wish you well
I'll sit right here, I'll never tell
No tender scar, no twist of fate will save you now
He'll never change, he's just not there
He'll never say you're beautiful
Oh Vivica I wish you well, I really do
I really do
Giegue hesitates about betraying his people for his human family, especially for Maria whom he feels close. To be betrayed by his adoptive father is the nail to the coffin, and he plans to keep Maria for himself. The track that prompted me to make this FST.
7. Orgy - Fetisha
Tell them all she won't be back
'Cause she needed a change
Turned away from her fears
She's been falling down
Tell them all she's gonna be gone, gone, gone
Just listen to me
"Perish with the rest of the ugly Earth People."
This is when things get violent. Giegue takes the married couple to space and snatches Maria away, likely imposing unspeakable things to George, leaving the man permanently traumatized before his return to Earth.
8. Pink Floyd - Mother
Hush now baby, baby, don't you cry
Mother's gonna make all your nightmares come true
Mother's gonna put all her fears into you
Mother's gonna keep you right here under her wing
She won't let you fly, but she might let you sing
Mama will keep baby cozy and warm
Oooh baby... Oooh baby... Oooh baby...
Of course Mama'll help to build the wall
"[Giegue] was always wagging his tail, just like a pup... Except for when I tried to sing him lullabies..."
Maria is Giegue's last connection with Earth and his innocent side, including whatever trace of his conscience is left.
9. Tori Amos - Cloud on my Tongue
Got a cloud slipping on my tongue
He goes, then it goes and
Kiss the violets as they're waking up
Leave me with your Borneo
I said leave me the way I was before, but
You're already in there
I'll be wearing your tattoo, yes
I'm already in circles and circles and circles again
"As if scolding a naughty child, she cries out, "I am scared! I am scared!" And then she starts to sing... just a little bit. Then she forgets the tune, and wakes in a sweat."
Nestled in Magicant, the back of her subconscious, Queen Mary is alone. She has died and arrived in Paradise, only to find there's nothing for her here, if ever at all. She is trapped in a cycle of bad dreams without understanding what they are, and relives the experience over and over and over again...
10. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - Johanna (Reprise)
And though I'll think of you, I guess, until the day I die
I think I miss you less and less as everyday goes by
Johanna
And you'd be beautiful and pale and look too much like her
If only angels could prevail, we'd be the way we were
Johanna
While George fumbles helplessly for his lost wife and Queen Mary screams from her nightmares, Giegue makes the decision to cut off all ties with his relationships to become the ultimate evil. I used the movie version with Johnny Depp because I couldn't see where I could fit Johanna's "I'll marry Anthony Sunday"s in the context of EB0 and it adds an unnecessary fourth person anyway. XDDD;;;
11. Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall [Part 3]
I don't need no arms around me
And I don't need no drugs to calm me
I have seen the writing on the wall
Don't think I need anything at all
No! Don't think I'll need anything at all
All in all it was all just bricks in the wall
All in all you were all just bricks in the wall
All three family members lock themselves from the outside world. For our own good and our downfall. ("We don't need no education" didn't fit right in terms of the FST, so let's say "Mother" is the Another Brick in the Wall [Part 2] of the FST. *nod*)
12. Patrick Wolf - Magpie
Little boy, little boy, lost and blue
Listen now, let me tell you what to do
You can run on, run along, alone or home between the knees of her
All among her bracken and her ferns and the boy will have a name
We will sing, and we will sing:
One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a girl
Four for a boy
Five for silver
Six for gold
Seven for a secret, never to be told
"Ninten, welcome... I always believed you would find your way here. Your Great-Grand Mother Maria's love was scattered, scattered in the form of melodies. I have a melody for you. Listen and remember..." ~George
"Giegue cannot be defeated with force... You cannot defeat Giegue with a weapon of any kind. You must sing my lullaby, with all your feelings... Sing my lullaby with all your heart." ~Queen Mary/Maria
The 8 Melodies were a lullaby Maria used to sing long ago. When Ninten and his friends sing it before her, Queen Mary remembers her past life, causing Magicant and herself to vanish. She speaks to Ninten during the final confrontation with Giegue, and as the children sing, Giegue is flooded with memories of Maria and promptly leaves Earth, presumably forever...
13. Evanescence - Ascension of the Spirit
(Instrumental)
"Ahhh... George! This is your wife, Maria. I'm coming to join you, my purpose is complete..."
Whether it's Giegue's spaceship rising from Mt. Itoi and away, Maria & George finally resting in peace... despite the game ending on a happy note, it's rather ambiguous. Not so much for Giegue though, considering the sequel and that he would become the Universal Cosmic Destroyer. It is said he eradicated the "good" parts of his subconscious to become Giygas, so maybe those "innocent" pieces have made their way to look for Maria? The Mother series continues to pose questions and interesting theories to come.
Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd the ZIP!
Happy New Year! :D
Three guesses what quote the FST is named for. The first two don't count.
In the early 1900's, a dark shadow covered a small country town in rural America. At that time, a young married couple vanished mysteriously from their home. The man's name was George, the woman's name was Maria. Two years later, as suddenly as he left, George returned. He never told anyone where he had been or what he had done. But, he began an odd study, all by himself. As for Maria, his wife... She never returned.
80 years have passed since then.
So begins the story of Mother and the most dysfunctional family to grace the NES/Famicon.
1. Alanis Morissette - Still
I am your joy and your regret
I am your fury and your elation
I am your yearning and your sweat
I am your faithless and your religion
I see you altering history
I see you abusing the land
I see you and your selective amnesia
And I love you still
And I love you still
Meet Maria, George, and their adopted alien child Giegue. George and Giegue would later move on to create monstrosities to shake the entire series in her name, but she forgives them and loves them as she always had.
2. Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall
Daddy's flown across the ocean
Leaving just a memory
Snapshot in the family album
Daddy what else did you leave for me?
Daddy, what'd'ja leave behind for me!?
Ninten never known his great-grandparents until he discovered his great-grandfather's diary in the basement, which contained nothing but faded text and a riddle: Who has lost his tail?
3. Delirium feat. Sarah McLachlan - Silence
Heaven holds a sense of wonder
and I wanted to believe
that I'd get caught up
when the rage in me subsides
In this white wave
I am sinking
In this silence
In this white wave
In this silence
I believe
Answer: The forgotten one of the ship that sails the cosmos. This teleports Ninten to the mysterious pink paradise of Magicant, where he is instructed by the beautiful Queen Mary to look for the 8 Melodies. Why could she not remember the tune?
4. Oingo Boingo - Mama
Mama... Come and take, come and take my hand
Mama... Try and see, try to understand
Mama... Looking through, looking through my eyes
Mama... Everywhere, always in disguise
I walk alone and see what boys should never see in their lifetime
I live in the world of spirits and I talk to the walls
Deliver me from this little hell
Deliver me from this little hell
Deliver me from--!
Mama... Please be good, please be good to me
"Oh! Giegue! I loved him... I loved him, as if he was my own child..."
Was Giegue as wicked as they say or had he been innocent once? Maybe if things hadn't turned out the way they did, Giegue would've grown up without ever becoming evil...
5. Neuroticfish - Ultrahymn
In the name of you
I'll do all I have to
In your name I'll go
Where only you and me will know
In your name I won't listen
In your name I will deny
In your name I will resist them
I do not ask you why
"MY NAME IS EVE. I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU. MY CREATOR WAS GEORGE... HE WAS TAKEN TO THE END OF THE UNIVERSE... THEN BROUGHT BACK LATER. I AM HERE TO PROTECT YOU. THAT IS MY PURPOSE."
"Ninten! I am grateful to your family. Your Great-Grandparents, George and Maria raised me. But, George stole vital information from our planet that can be used to betray my people..."
Ah, George. The cancer that messed up everybody's lives in the Mother series. It's easy to dismiss him as a villain, but George's motives are far grayer than that. Despite raising him as his son, George grew fearful of Giegue and what he would become, and kept with him secrets that he hoped would save his wife's life...
6. Jack Off Jill - Vivica
Oh Vivica I wish you well
I'll sit right here, I'll never tell
No tender scar, no twist of fate will save you now
He'll never change, he's just not there
He'll never say you're beautiful
Oh Vivica I wish you well, I really do
I really do
Giegue hesitates about betraying his people for his human family, especially for Maria whom he feels close. To be betrayed by his adoptive father is the nail to the coffin, and he plans to keep Maria for himself. The track that prompted me to make this FST.
7. Orgy - Fetisha
Tell them all she won't be back
'Cause she needed a change
Turned away from her fears
She's been falling down
Tell them all she's gonna be gone, gone, gone
Just listen to me
"Perish with the rest of the ugly Earth People."
This is when things get violent. Giegue takes the married couple to space and snatches Maria away, likely imposing unspeakable things to George, leaving the man permanently traumatized before his return to Earth.
8. Pink Floyd - Mother
Hush now baby, baby, don't you cry
Mother's gonna make all your nightmares come true
Mother's gonna put all her fears into you
Mother's gonna keep you right here under her wing
She won't let you fly, but she might let you sing
Mama will keep baby cozy and warm
Oooh baby... Oooh baby... Oooh baby...
Of course Mama'll help to build the wall
"[Giegue] was always wagging his tail, just like a pup... Except for when I tried to sing him lullabies..."
Maria is Giegue's last connection with Earth and his innocent side, including whatever trace of his conscience is left.
9. Tori Amos - Cloud on my Tongue
Got a cloud slipping on my tongue
He goes, then it goes and
Kiss the violets as they're waking up
Leave me with your Borneo
I said leave me the way I was before, but
You're already in there
I'll be wearing your tattoo, yes
I'm already in circles and circles and circles again
"As if scolding a naughty child, she cries out, "I am scared! I am scared!" And then she starts to sing... just a little bit. Then she forgets the tune, and wakes in a sweat."
Nestled in Magicant, the back of her subconscious, Queen Mary is alone. She has died and arrived in Paradise, only to find there's nothing for her here, if ever at all. She is trapped in a cycle of bad dreams without understanding what they are, and relives the experience over and over and over again...
10. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - Johanna (Reprise)
And though I'll think of you, I guess, until the day I die
I think I miss you less and less as everyday goes by
Johanna
And you'd be beautiful and pale and look too much like her
If only angels could prevail, we'd be the way we were
Johanna
While George fumbles helplessly for his lost wife and Queen Mary screams from her nightmares, Giegue makes the decision to cut off all ties with his relationships to become the ultimate evil. I used the movie version with Johnny Depp because I couldn't see where I could fit Johanna's "I'll marry Anthony Sunday"s in the context of EB0 and it adds an unnecessary fourth person anyway. XDDD;;;
11. Pink Floyd - Another Brick in the Wall [Part 3]
I don't need no arms around me
And I don't need no drugs to calm me
I have seen the writing on the wall
Don't think I need anything at all
No! Don't think I'll need anything at all
All in all it was all just bricks in the wall
All in all you were all just bricks in the wall
All three family members lock themselves from the outside world. For our own good and our downfall. ("We don't need no education" didn't fit right in terms of the FST, so let's say "Mother" is the Another Brick in the Wall [Part 2] of the FST. *nod*)
12. Patrick Wolf - Magpie
Little boy, little boy, lost and blue
Listen now, let me tell you what to do
You can run on, run along, alone or home between the knees of her
All among her bracken and her ferns and the boy will have a name
We will sing, and we will sing:
One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a girl
Four for a boy
Five for silver
Six for gold
Seven for a secret, never to be told
"Ninten, welcome... I always believed you would find your way here. Your Great-Grand Mother Maria's love was scattered, scattered in the form of melodies. I have a melody for you. Listen and remember..." ~George
"Giegue cannot be defeated with force... You cannot defeat Giegue with a weapon of any kind. You must sing my lullaby, with all your feelings... Sing my lullaby with all your heart." ~Queen Mary/Maria
The 8 Melodies were a lullaby Maria used to sing long ago. When Ninten and his friends sing it before her, Queen Mary remembers her past life, causing Magicant and herself to vanish. She speaks to Ninten during the final confrontation with Giegue, and as the children sing, Giegue is flooded with memories of Maria and promptly leaves Earth, presumably forever...
13. Evanescence - Ascension of the Spirit
(Instrumental)
"Ahhh... George! This is your wife, Maria. I'm coming to join you, my purpose is complete..."
Whether it's Giegue's spaceship rising from Mt. Itoi and away, Maria & George finally resting in peace... despite the game ending on a happy note, it's rather ambiguous. Not so much for Giegue though, considering the sequel and that he would become the Universal Cosmic Destroyer. It is said he eradicated the "good" parts of his subconscious to become Giygas, so maybe those "innocent" pieces have made their way to look for Maria? The Mother series continues to pose questions and interesting theories to come.
Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd the ZIP!
Happy New Year! :D