The Line

The Line
Heartache buried down below
With your hands tied tight around it
Have a hard time letting go
Like it never even happened

It’s the end of the line for you and I
Don’t make believe we even tried
It’s the end of the line for you and I

Spring had gone and clipped your wings
And the summer led astray
Autumn left a bitter sting
But the winter froze away

It’s the end of the line for you and I
Don’t make believe we even tried
It’s the end of the line for you and I

Now we dream
Of bigger things
Now we sing
To set us free
(Now we dream)
Was lost in limbo long enough for two
(Of bigger things)
But my identity was wasted on you
(Now we sing)
Cast out the past like demons ritually removed
(To set us free)
Make way for the awakening, so long overdue

It’s the end of the line
It’s the end of the line
It’s the end of the line for you and I

🌲🌲🌲

What happens?
Having become Mayor, and given a purpose, Hunter decides it time to fully discard his old identity and commit to being the Son. He releases the last of his attachments to his former life, supplanting his self with the Son persona.

What’s in a name?
‘The Line’ — makes you automatically think of ‘you went far too close to the line this time’ from Bitter Suite V, but not sure of what the significance of that here would be. I think it’s more just saying the line as it appears in this song, so, ‘Goodbye Old Hunter’.

Whose viewpoint?
Hunter.

🌲🌲🌲

>Heartache buried down below / With your hands tied tight around it / Have a hard time letting go / Like it never even happened
So, this is a Hunter introspection song, kinda like Remembered, where there aren’t many events or actions going on (that I can figure) so much as Hunter getting himself in the mindset to part with foundational aspects of his being. Lots of reminiscing and treading over ideas Hunter has already voiced in regards to his identity, with this being the culmination of those thoughts as he finally commits to not being Hunter anymore.

The first and most important Hunter Sentiment he zeroes in on is his love for Ms Leading. Most of his actions since Red Hands have been a consequence of him running from the pain of losing his relationship with Ms Leading, that being both in the sense of them actually breaking up and in the sense of… you know, how they were so so close to getting what the happy life they both wanted, but Hunter is just so overwhelmingly bad at confronting pain that he hasn’t been able to even try and reconcile, it just scares him too much. And though he’s tried to escape this pain by taking the identity of the Son, he’s still been swayed back into feeling at the sight of her (A Night On The Town), which has led him to question whether the Son persona itself is just another weak and stupid patented Hunter Coping Mechanism borne out of pain (Is There Anybody Here?). He feels the aftermath of her has still been influencing his behaviour in his ‘new’ life, compromising it or tempting him away from it, and is admitting that he still hasn’t really got over her.

Also, more than just the pain, is the aspect of him still loving Ms Leading. His heart still wants to hook up with Ms Leading and it’s frustrating him (complicating this new life) that he can’t just move on from her already.

>It’s the end of the line for you and I
This is Hunter as ‘Son-Hunter’ talking to ‘Hunter-Hunter’. He resolves to discard his love for Ms Leading, alongside all the annoying aspects of the old Hunter that still linger and jeopardise everything Son-Hunter has built. All the pain and suffering that Hunter-Hunter has endured, and his desires in life, are irrelevant to Son-Hunter. The position he has now as Mayor and the purpose he has in cleansing and protecting the City, plus the relationship he has with the Fiance and the Mother and whoever else, has given Son-Hunter a strong enough foundation/identity that the prospect of bothering to maintain attachment to Hunter-Hunter life appears detrimental and worthless.

That is, he has finally become that ‘better person’ he wanted to be in The Old Haunt, so he doesn’t need or want to be Hunter anymore in any capacity. He is resolved to be the Son for the rest of his life and leave his dumb, immature, volatile, dependant old self behind.

>Don’t make believe we even tried
Son-Hunter accuses Hunter-Hunter of having never done anything with his life.

>Spring had gone and clipped your wings / And the summer led astray / Autumn left a bitter sting / But the winter froze away
Similar to how Remembered is largely Hunter reminiscing on past events as a lead-up to relinquishing his attachment to Ms Terri, spending time with her memory before letting her go, this is Hunter doing the same thing but with himself (he did it at the end of The Old Haunt, too, though he hadn’t built anything as the Son yet that would let him properly supplant Hunter. Less like he was reflecting on what his life specifically was either so much as zeroing in on the ways things had gone wrong that he could avoid and needed to avoid if he stopped being himself; he’s more neutral here).

‘Spring had gone and clipped your wings’ -> In reference to Act I, ‘clipped your wings’ being how he was sheltered by Ms Terri and could not get the self-agency he wanted in 1878 or HHMHT.
‘Summer led astray’ -> Referencing Act II, his relationship with Ms Leading. Son-Hunter’s conclusion on her seems to the relationship was an error distracting him from what he could’ve done.
‘Autumn left a bitter sting’ -> Just following pattern would make this Act III, though the phrasing of ‘bitter’ twigs me to think of the actual breakup between Hunter and Ms Leading.
‘Winter froze away’ -> Again, pattern makes this Act IV, though you could read it as him becoming cold and cynical during the war as well…

>Now we dream / Of bigger things
Hunter grows happier as he looks to the hopeful future he’ll have as the Mayor. This time he didn’t just bumble into things or cross his fingers to have fate hand him prosperity on a platter — he actively worked towards a goal, and towards securing a good position, that allows him to do positive and meaningful things as a positive and meaningful person.

‘We fall beneath the sea of dreams’ — Hunter is caught up in the fantasy of all the good he’ll be able to bring and people he’ll be able to save, aside from the benefits of living a personal life that isn’t just founded on trauma for once. Wonder if he’s even thinking of one day going for President after getting the City all spic and span lol.

>Now we sing / To set us free
Hunter wants to get to the business he can do as Mayor already. He’s satiated with what he’s become as the Son and eager to leave behind Hunter, so he can finally start living a good life with that agency he always wanted and under the ideals he desired.

>Was lost in limbo long enough for two
Hunter has spent enough time being purposeless and aimless — he is blitzed to finally have a purpose and know what he wants to do/where to go with his life.

>But my identity was wasted on you
Pretty spiteful (and really nice) line. Hunter saying that all the time he spent up to the point of becoming the Son, and solidifying this purpose, was pointless and a waste of life. Nothing Hunter did was something he could ever be proud of, or that garnered results he should be proud of — casting that idiot aside was the critical step he needed to become the person he actually wanted to be, and is finding himself able to be, as the Son.

>Cast out the past like demons ritually removed
Self-explanatory, just really like it and like how Hunter has come to regard his past as such a malevolent force that needs to be exorcised.

>Make way for the awakening, so long overdue
Hearkening to The Old Haunt again (’but now we wake up’). It’s taken Hunter a long time to get to this point, but finally he’s able to move past his pain and be the self-assured person he wants to be.

…or is he?

If All Goes Well | Act IV | Wait