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Llinos · **05-26-2016, 03:57 AM**

And TOR Wemrys' song is finished, just in time for his birthday! Next up will be Shay's and featuring live violin performance!

Ah, this was an experience. Mat and I have delved into a new style for our orchestral pieces, sticking to a cohesive sound rather than having the song change up mid-piece. We've improved on our writing for the music, a lot more complex techniques to make the most out of a more intimate sound. We didn't use a full orchestra - that is, we used strings, percussion, woodwinds and the like but for the brass? Only one. French horn. This is done to kind of make it into an inner voice or feeling for the character and to give a sense of loneliness, longing, nobility...

The song was for the character I originally met Wem's RPer on, his Star Wars version of Wemrys. And as such I wanted the song to sound very Star Warsy. Here's an excerpt from my Enjin wall explaining that process:

Quote:This song has been a long time coming. This was the first character I ran into this RPer on by chance in the Promanade. My character was rescued by Book but Book got herself captured in the process and so Llinos went out to find help...the first person she runs into (by happy accident) was her former padawan, Wemrys. What were the odds? It's great when stories start out like that. I got to know this character and as RPers we got to develop our characters in ways we might never have. It's great when you find writers who just get your writing style and want to develop with you.

Making this song was...at first difficult. When I thought of Wemrys, I thought of Star Warsy things. It HAD to sound Star Wars. This RPer helped encourage me to get into the lore and when we first RPed we did a lot of Jedi related stuff - our two characters had their own views on the Code and the Force and bonded over their equal conviction to their cause. Binary Sunset keeps playing in my head when I think about those past RPs of Llinos asking Wemrys for advice on what a Jedi Knight does when they feel hesitation, when it becomes hard to 'know what's best' when everyone has their own ideas and experiences. The character revealed himself to be akin in philosophy to Qui-Gon, and so of course that theme, Qui-Gon's Funeral, from Episode One (which has a FANTASTIC soundtrack) lingers too. As does the Dantooine theme from KOTOR, because that's where the character is from. Jedi Steps, Finn's Confession...ugh. I had, at first, just wanted to make a medley of sorts and weave these themes.

So we bought the sheet music for The Force Awakens. For weeks we arranged our orchestral template so we might be able to improve our efficiency and structure our sound to have more of that 'classic Hollywood feel.' To make it Star Wars. We then followed the sheet music, learning how John Williams layers his lines of music, how he leaves certain parts bare for intimate woodwind solos or for celesta or piano. We performed the Jedi Steps with the intention of layering other themes over it later. It taught us sooooo much about how to write like John Williams. But then we finished and we thought....

It got away from us. The point of Wemrys Quintus. Wemrys wasn't a medley of moments in Star Wars nor was he this big and grandiose thing. We scraped it. Well, we kept the recording we made (because it was awesome) but we opened up a new project to start over, reading over the material he sent us again. All of the entries and Wemrys stories are small, personal moments where he masks the raw thoughts that might bubble to the surface without that control. He's a lone sentinel, but he doesn't crave that loneliness, he yearns to know what it is he's fighting for.

But the Jedi Steps project we worked on helped us to change our style, make our style more complex yet intimate (we really, really do improve with every song), and it did help us find our ideal orchestral template so future projects will go smoother. It helped us find that good blend of John Williams-ish sound while melding it with our own. So it is Star Wars but it is also Wemrys Quintus. And KeKo.

That was when posting the WIP, which you can hear right here: https://app.box.com/s/adg7j9p9ykleqgv0mttmuckmp11mjkky

But here's the full, complete deal and a detailed analysis of the process/thoughts/inspirations.

Happy birthday, Wem!

Show Content

Song Info:Only Hope (Wemrys's Theme, SWTOR)
Patron: Wemrys
Styles: Orchestral
Featured instruments: french horn, flute, clarinet, strings, glockenspiel, celeste

'Only Hope' is a title we chose to represent a recurring theme of Wemrys' story (as well as give a nice little nod to that famous quote 'Help me, Obi-Wan...' for that final Star Wars touch). Wemrys is a multi-faceted character whose been on many harrowing adventures that have shaped and changed him. It was hard at first to pick just one aspect to focus on that really encompassed the experience of RPing with the character because of how much I've seen of his story (how much he's let me have a hand in it). He's gone through dark times and moments of self-discovery and coming to his own as knight and as a person. While peeling back the layers of his personality and life lessons, I'd say a constant in Wemrys is that idealism that first made him an eager young knight and then later kept him going when the galaxy plunged further into turmoil. Idealism or hope helped him become a strong and devoted knight, but it also helped him find acceptance and peace outside of duty. The source of his hopes have changed through his experiences, teaching him greater meaning in what he does.

We sought to paint the picture of a young knight who starts off as all young heroes of their story do, yearning and hoping he does good someday...and then as the song progresses we explore where that goes. We delve into the duality of his feelings - duality caused by a clash of training and experience - of both wanting to extend his reach, but also having fond memories of his home; of feeling doubt and panic, then determination; of seeking solitude, then companionship, and of feeling robotic, then human. The character treads the middle path, seldom falling into one extreme or the other as taught to him by his training, but the things Wemrys feels are very raw and sincere, perhaps because he keeps them so close to the chest. To establish this, the orchestra is kept small and intimate with many moments where at times only a few instruments may play as if uttering their thoughts only to themselves. To each somber or dark moment, though, there is that hope, leading him out with bright, warm intimate strings. It keeps him seeking out that growth and discovery, to learn what it is he's fighting for. Hope always moves him forward, hope that comes from his own self-determination as well as given to him from others.

So to introduce the character first, Wemrys is a character who is at once isolated and connected to others. With that in mind, Mat chose the french horn to represent Wemrys as noble yet lonely. You'll notice that the french horn is a constant that returns repeatedly throughout the song. It has a sort of solidarity and dependability, yet it's soloistic nature is always rather brief as it blends into other elements of his character.

One notable instance of this at 1:32. The french horn's nobility is quickly replaced by sinister low strings, only to return to a sort of suspended, contemplative "middle ground" at 1:48. This was done to signify the questioning and conflicted nature of Wemrys, a Jedi who has not only seen the dark side but been subjected to it and survived it, but not unscathed. In fact, much of the song was deliberately constructed around the idea of a "pivot", settling into harmonies that can quickly transition to dark or warm and back again while remaining continuous and flowing; without sounding disjointed or like a completely different song. The aforementioned "dark" segment is an example of such a pivot.

The song then returns to a suspended state of "soft conflict", for lack of a better phrase; a limbo of questioning and ambiguity that personifies not so much a confusion in Wemrys, as his convictions are strong, but the tenuous doubt he has for the Jedi's methods and capability in times of war and the struggle he encounters with his emotional development in the face of duty. A young Knight like Wemrys, although staunch in his sense of duty, often struggles with what that duty means. He knows how to fight, but he's yet to learn the true meaning of what he's fighting for. As stated before, there are times the character expresses feeling almost robotic in his sense of duty, stifled in emotion, particularly after certain incidents that left him reliant on cybernetics. And yet there is yearning to be more than that, to understand better, to know just like every youth yearns for that full understanding. His is just a much as story of a youthful journey as it is that of Jedi. He is disciplined, but the emotions he represses are still very raw and new. His emotional connections to his home and how that's affected his view of things, to the people he meets become something he begins to let fill the gaps and show him the meaning of his fight for peace, but also how to have hope when all else fails.

His connection to his parents and their hope for his future, as a Jedi, motivated him to start on the path, then his own hope in the Jedi's work, and later the hope of others, namely a reassigned Jedi who called herself Llinos (heyyy). As composers we debated whether or not Llinos' presence in the song was necessary - after all, for my part, I always feel awkward inserting myself into other people's themes. But considering how long I'd RPed with the character, there was no getting around NOT doing so.

Wemrys grew to respect Llinos' own determination and conviction and formed a deep appreciation for the solace she gave him for his thoughts as she too struggled with the same complexities of being young and a Jedi in wartime. His feelings for her (and her feelings for him) grew into something deeper. While that, at times, added some tension and question as to where their paths ought to lead, the pair aided each other as reminders of the importance of hope when all seemed hopeless and remained unwavering in their duty. That is, until Llinos stopped being stubborn and acknowledged the Force's hand in constantly bringing them together and vowed to see where the Force was taking them. All the more important when the Zakuul attacked and the Jedi were scattered (and all before they could approach the Council!). It would be their equal and constant belief in the Force and each other that would bring them together again and on a new path to continue their duty to restore peace in the Order's absence. The Force's path isn't always clear, but the Force seemed to deem it one they would walk together. After all that, I think adding a hint of Llinos' presence was warranted.

So that aforementioned inner struggle, which begins at 1:48 as a contemplative, almost meditative passage, comes to a peak at 2:51, where Wemrys's feelings for his loved ones breaks through at last. Specifically, his feelings for Llinos are personified by the sentimentality of the celeste, an music-box quality surrounded by softly strained violins (this feeling of hope differentiated from the rest). Warmth is introduced by a pastoral-sounding clarinet and low strings at 3:07, bearing Wemrys's Dantooine home and family in mind (a sound of the familiar, where his hope began), and the "warm" pivot is complete. Wemrys joins his family as the french horn is reintroduced, only to stand alone once more at 3:22. After the horn fades, there is a moment of silence where perhaps we're not sure what this means. But when the horn returns at 3:24, it is strong and triumphant, though not without a touch of melancholy. As the strings return one last time, and the celeste thoughtfully evokes Wemrys's melody, the tone returns once more to the suspended, contemplative middle ground as we leave Wemrys's story with a touch of mystery and uncertainty; perhaps a bit of questioning that forbids us ultimate closure.

Hope is a journey, not a destination, something one cultivates and works on continuously. Wemrys may face yet more trials ahead, but he has what he needs to face it and grow more from it.

[youtube]7vrFvSbEP3s[/youtube]

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RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes