“My legions are the only thing standing between your precious Seven Heavens and the bottomless hunger of the Abyss. I did not fall into the clutches of evil. I rose to shoulder a cosmic burden.”
a playlist for Archduke Zariel of Avernus, from fall to redemption
Someone has to take a stand against evil / Why should it not be me?
This intro feels like Zariel talking, justifying what she did and why she made her choice.
From the nightmare we've created / I want to be awakened somehow
This is Idyllglen. This is Zariel losing people to Yeenoghu and facing demonic violence. She's an angel, she thinks everything will turn out alright. It doesn't.
I believed it would justify the means / It had a hold over me
Can you say 'celestial disillusionment'? It's so hard to pick one lyric because this whole song is Zariel's despair at ever being able to change anything, losing her faith in Celestia and all she stands for.
Judgement day for me has come / I ask myself was it right, was I wrong?
I imagine this sort of Zariel looking back, but also in the moment making the choice to go against Celestia and take the fight to the Hells, ultimately becoming the evil she hates. It's also Celestia mourning for her loss, because to lose even one angel is a tragedy for the Seven Heavens.
If even angels fall / There's no hope for us at all
It's the title of the playlist! This is what sparked this whole mix - because if even an angel like Zariel falls, what hope is there for anyone else?
Does it get to you? / Fury in your fingertips / Turning hands to angry fists / In rageful bliss
Zariel has a lot inside her: determination, pride, hatred, hubris, desire. I think all those emotions, all that drive to wipe out the demons and break the cycle - it took her over. She couldn't control it, and it consumed her.
So boundless I feel / And foundless all my fears
She thought she'd found where she needed to be, the form she needed to do what had to be done: destroy the demonic threat. The track also sounds very Mad Max (I used the soundtrack a lot in my Avernus game) and reminds me of the Descent into Avernus soundtrack Travis Savoie did. So for me it's got very strong Avernus vibes, and makes me picture Archduke Zariel in full glory.
I am what I am / I'm not heaven-sent
This is also Zariel the Archduke, convincing herself that she's right where she needs to be, doing what she needs to do. It also makes me think of her constantly fighting the inner self that's still there, the 'old' Zariel.
You can't live without the fire / It's the heat that makes you strong / You were born to live and fight it all the way
This is the follow up from the intro. This is Zariel at her best, on the battlefield, slaughtering demons in the hundreds. She knows who she is there, she knows her purpose. She doesn't know how to be anything else.
I will not bow down / I'll rise through the sun
One for General Zariel. It's also on here because it's the Blood War, and Zariel has legions of devils, so it felt very fitting.
You're fighting an endless war / Hunting a miracle / Is it worth dying for? / Or are you blinded by, blinded by it all?
THIS SONG. THIS FUCKING SONG. This is peak Zariel. Because her war is endless, the miracle she's hunting is her own salvation and also her sword. She's running from her memories, and hiding from all the pain that brought her here. She's blinded by her own pride and without outside help, she's never going to escape the horror she's become.
You can't stop yourself / Don't want to feel / Don't want to see what you've become
A plea for Zariel to find the parts of her that are lost. To find the spark of light that remains.
Pay no mind to the battles you've won / It'll take a lot more than rage and muscle
Zariel doesn't feel she deserves redemption. Doesn't know how to get there, how to become what she was. She's lost. She's done so much - thinks she was right - and yet she's alone. She's trapped.
Redemption awaits / My soul is at stake / Will I find a stairway to the skies / In the end?
Zariel on her way to redemption, for me. This is the players in Descent into Avernus redeeming her, pulling her back to herself. Finding that she can change, but still not quite believing it to be real.
And I've fallen from grace now / Like too many times before
This is the sad, feelsy Zariel Redeemed song.