The Flame (Is Gone)

The Flame (Is Gone)
I see you trembling like the Earth is falling from your feet
Like you’ve never felt the ground before
An indication that you’re over your head again
That you don’t know how to settle the score

I would be lying if I told you that I didn’t know
The way that you could fix it all
If you’re stacking your problems like a pile of bricks
You’ve gotta knock down the wall

Before someone, like you, breaks you and puts you in the ground

Do the heavens ever spare the crop when the winter falls?
Could we really hide if the reaper calls?
And so it goes, the lamb will be lead to the loam
And you will return

I see a hesitating grimace held above your chin
Like you haven’t thought of this before
And though the sentiment keeps you from letting go
You know it’s irresistible
To hear those voices hush, you must be cold
In times when peace of mind is bought and sold

Cause someone, like you, would break you and put you in the ground

Do the heavens ever spare the crop when the Winter falls?
Could we really hide if the reaper calls?
And so it goes, the lamb will be lead to the loam
And you won’t return

Don’t you want to see him fall apart
So you can pick the pieces up and put him back together?
Finally building up the perfect pawn
Another shadow lost in the dark, another shadow lost in the dark

🌲🌲🌲

What happens?
Having failed to manipulate Hunter, Mr. Usher focuses on TP&P instead. Knowing that TP&P is growing anxious about Hunter’s increasing confidence, Mr. Usher encourages TP&P to kill Ms Leading and make it look like an accident, so as to completely break and demoralise Hunter. Mr. Usher knows this killing will only inflame Hunter into vengeful reprisal, but his argument that Hunter will murder TP&P otherwise successfully scares TP&P, who kills Ms Leading.

What’s in a name?
‘The Flame (Is Gone)’ — iiiiit’s the whammy! The sequence from this song to A Beginning is what Hunter’s story has all been building up to, foreshadowed way back in Act II with The Blood of the Rose and in the acts’ very first song with Battesimo Del Fuoco. The plot threads, and ideas, that were laid with Hunter’s birth and Ms Terri’s failed burning of The Dime are finally being resolved.

So, going back to my read on Battesimo Del Fuoco, the central idea of the Flame is gone / Fire remains motif is that the ‘flame’ is a loving, nurturing, and creative force that can temporarily sever the link to corruption, but that, in itself, cannot destroy evil. However, what the flame nurtures is the ‘fire’, which is a destructive, vengeful, and escalating force that operates by love of the flame. Unlike the flame, the fire does have the power to uncompromisingly destroy evil. When the flame is gone, but the fire remains, it says that the impetus, or initial driver that resists evil can be killed, but those who were influenced by that driver will remain to take manyfold vengeance and destroy the evil.

The Flame (Is Gone) is used for this song, as this is the destruction of the impetus for the resistance of evil/the channel that severs the link to evil, or the flame, who is now represented by Ms Leading. It’s Ms Leading’s presence (as in Melpomene) more than anything else that draws Hunter out of the darkness of Cascade and lets him start rebuilding his confidence, and indeed begin to stabilise himself with a sense of purpose and personhood again. Of course, the Apparition is also contributing to that, but Ms Leading is the confirmation that the things he experiences while high actually do still apply to him in real life — he still adores Ms Leading, his core still operates on love, the things he has always valued and that mean something important to him truly have remained consistent.

In shorter terms, ‘Ms Leading Dies’, which will kick Hunter into action.

Whose viewpoint?
TP&P, being talked to by Mr. Usher.

🌲🌲🌲

>0:00 – 0:30 Instrumental
Man! Love this so much.

So, the scene here is that Mr. Usher and TP&P are having a conversation. I’m unsure where exactly (the Church? Some other meeting place?) but they sound to be alone. Dark and precarious, you can feel Mr. Usher stalking around TP&P like a shark circling a lost swimmer, letting TP&P get more and more anxious and sink deeper and deeper into his seat before coming in to slaughter him.

Because that is fundamentally what’s happening here — Mr. Usher is seeking to manipulate TP&P into doing something rash, that will kill him, while conveniently also taking out Hunter. Then, Mr. Usher will be free to fill the City’s power vacuum and put into action whatever plans he has (the industrialisation thing?). He doesn’t necessarily need to kill them both to achieve his ends, but as established, he’s a sadist, so having them kill each other is just more fun for him while also resolving things smoothly.

Guitar reminds me of something but can’t put my finger on what. Really emo though lol.

>I see you trembling like the Earth is falling from your feet / Like you’ve never felt the ground before
This is Mr. Usher speaking. Not a duet anymore, so there’s no need for distinct voices to differentiate speakers singing over each other, so no more Gavin as Mr. Usher.

Mr. Usher observes that TP&P is losing control. Specifically, over Hunter, but the idea of losing control over Hunter feeds into TP&P’s fundamental fear of being unmasked or contested, as Hunter is one of the very few who is in a position and would have a desire to seriously hurt TP&P if he stops caring about the blackmail. And as we’ve heard from Melpomene to Gloria, Hunter is indeed starting not to care about the blackmail. He’s getting stronger, more confident, more willing to manoeuvre in devious and ruthless ways. TP&P hates that and is freaking out. (We could already hear him wanting to batter Hunter down by telling that gambler story in TMCOH, but Hunter’s only grown more confident since then, so he also knows just demoralising him isn’t working anymore).

We can hear in Mr. Usher’s smooth intonation how he’s aggravating these anxieties further. He’s remaining extremely matter-of-fact, extremely calm, remarking like TP&P’s unease is the most obvious thing in the world and he’s not fooling anyone, his dismissive composure in itself contrasting and exacerbating the discomfort inside TP&P. Mr. Usher feels very in control of the situation — TP&P does not. He is also being subtly demeaning by implying TP&P ought be stronger than this, as he knows what control feels like, should be able to figure out the solution himself, and that he’s lost it and become so desperate is disgustingly pathetic.

‘But it wasn’t long before I felt nothing below me / And all of the ground I thought I’d gained, taken away’ — TP&P is actually so unnerved by Hunter’s recent actions that he’s experiencing fear and a loss of control near to the same level as Hunter in Ouroboros. Crazy, huh. Probably also reflecting how the power dynamic of Ouroboros feels to be flipping — TP&P feeling himself at Hunter’s mercy, and everything he’s built on the precipice of crumbling.

>An indication that you’re over your head again / That you don’t know how to settle the score
Love the intonation of ‘over your head again’, like Mr. Usher is rolling his eyes while reminiscing on a silly old escapade they’ve had and again lowkey insulting TP&P. And on that point — Mr. Usher and TP&P must have some kind of history and already know each other somehow, probably as collaborators or allies, as Mr. Usher is aware of the scummy side of TP&P.

What this also means is that TP&P has gotten himself into serious trouble before, and Mr. Usher was there probably to help him out of it. I mean, by whatever definition of ‘help’, but, ‘help’. This helps explain why Mr. Usher is so familiar with TP&P and able to read him so well, and why TP&P would confide his worries to Mr. Usher and trust his word in this desperate moment. It worked out before. (And there’s nobody else).

Hearkens If All Goes Well: ‘I’ll give them a kick when I learn to lead / (You’re getting over your head once again)’ — Suggesting TP&P’s approach towards and treatment of Hunter has been as rash and reckless as Hunter’s single-minded, aggressive approach to getting that Mayor position; that TP&P ought to have been more careful and respectful of Hunter from the outset, maybe not tried to antagonise him as aggressively as he did.

Hearkens Cauda: ‘With ideals, we’re idle as they lust for more / Whoa, if we settle the score’ — frames the conflict between Hunter and TP&P to be on the level of a war, with the correct way to ‘settle the score’ being death. Mr. Usher is subtly demeaning TP&P for having entered this power conflict with Hunter without being resolved to kill him if he became a problem, because killing people when they become problems is Mr. Usher’s bread and butter, hence a very obvious solution to him, and the level of escalation Mr. Usher is implying must be taken before Hunter starts being obedient.

>I would be lying if I told you that I didn’t know / The way that you could fix it all
Now that Mr. Usher has established that TP&P has a problem, that is, Hunter stands to ruin everything TP&P has, and TP&P doesn’t know how to deal with it, he does the classic manipulator technique of presenting a path out of that problem.

Mr. Usher is lying. He knows full well that the solution he’s going to present will not fix things for TP&P, only make them worse, but TP&P is desperate enough to listen (even though he himself is a manipulator who is experienced in doing exactly this pattern of persuasion himself! He’s too off-balance to see how disastrous this could be, or Mr. Usher’s calmer technique compared to his own theatrical conning is working to not set off massive alarm bells).

I actually believe Mr. Usher when he says he knows how TP&P could get Hunter back in check, but that he just refrains from telling this to TP&P and gives him bad advice instead.

>If you’re stacking your problems like a pile of bricks / You’ve gotta knock down the wall
‘You have to kill the obstacle, undo the whole thing at its foundation.’

Hearkens Melpomene with the reference to walls; while Hunter’s emotional walls are coming down as he reignites his relationship with Ms Leading, you can also view that as him building up an emotional wall that fortifies him against TP&P’s cruel shaming and moral terrorism. Probably just meant to prime you to think about Melpomene though.

>Before someone, like you, breaks you and puts you in the ground
Love this! So dark, so nasty! It’s like a horrible wormy corpse rising up behind TP&P and clutching his shoulders, whispering in his ear just exactly where he’s going to wind up if he doesn’t do something.

Mr. Usher twists the knife deep into TP&P. Playing on TP&P’s conception of himself and Hunter being alike, which we saw in TMCOH, Mr. Usher implies that Hunter is an immoral, hateful, and ambitious enough person to straight-out murder TP&P.

And truthfully — there is basis for why TP&P should fear that. He has seen how aggressive Hunter can be during his Mayoral run, he knows that Hunter himself is actually quite competent as a manipulator when he chooses to be, he knows that Hunter has served as a soldier so he’s experienced with military tactics and weapons, he knows how much Hunter hates him and wants to kill him from Ouroboros, feels that Hunter is fundamentally destined to oppose him, and though he may not specifically know this, Hunter actually has murdered people he hated for his own benefit before. It’s not totally unreasonable to say he could kill TP&P, but Mr. Usher is driving that terror further by insisting that he will kill TP&P.

This intimidation works. It is imperative that TP&P assert his power over Hunter before Hunter gets confident enough to bring knives to Church. This first iteration might not specifically be the threat of Hunter literally murdering TP&P, but more like rising up to be strong enough to defeat TP&P so hard he can never recover and dies powerless, with the second iteration absolutely being Hunter literally murdering TP&P.

>Do the heavens ever spare the crop when the winter falls? / Could we really hide if the reaper calls? / And so it goes, the lamb will be lead to the loam
Love the singing on this! Mr. Usher reveals his solution in straight terms: TP&P should kill Ms Leading and make it look like an accident.

First two lines are rhetorical questions that are basically saying, ‘everyone has to die sometime and misfortunes happen, inevitably’, this is Mr. Usher advising TP&P to make it seem like the death was just an accident or an unfortunate happening that nobody could’ve done anything about.

‘Lamb will be lead to the loam’ -> really nice phrasing, lamb denoting Ms Leading for her being an innocent party in this and a ‘sacrificial lamb’, led to the loam denoting buried six feet under, dead.

>And you will return
Mr. Usher assures that killing Ms Leading will work to restore TP&P’s influence over Hunter.

>2:04 – 2:08 Instrumental
Never noticed this little transition before lol. It’s like Mr. Usher is basking in his brilliant idea then notices that TP&P isn’t totally on board so, twigged, he immediately goes back to putting on pressure.

>I see a hesitating grimace held above your chin
TP&P is hesitant towards the idea of murdering Ms Leading. Actually he seems deeply uncomfortable with it. Again, TP&P may be a manipulator and a con artist, but he’s not a killer. Such an idea is not familiar ground for him and does feel to be going too far.

Wonder what aspect of this proposed murder exactly is bothering him? The aspect that it’s unfamiliar, that Ms Leading is actually totally innocent and isn’t contesting him/getting into this because she has some desire TP&P can twist, that it elevates his misdeeds into something more serious and indefensibly punishable than tricking people into bad deals? Perhaps even a gut feeling of caution that Hunter wouldn’t respond to this how Mr. Usher says?

>Like you haven’t thought of this before
Mr. Usher criticises TP&P for his awkwardness towards the idea, because the thought has definitely crossed TP&P’s mind to escalate to murder, though he hasn’t acted upon it.

>And though the sentiment keeps you from letting go / You know it’s irresistible
Interesting. What sentiment is Mr. Usher referring to that is preventing TP&P from ‘indulging’ in this perfect plan of murder?

Fear, anxiety, but maybe…

…Guilt?

>To hear those voices hush, you must be cold / In times when peace of mind is bought and sold
Crazy interesting intonations here too.

‘To hear those voices hush, you must be cold’ -> Reprising ‘sacrifice another life’ from Where The Road Parts on ‘cold’. Wow, no idea what that’s pointing to exactly but it’s fascinating. If it’s evoking the ‘sacrifice another life’ aspect it could be Mr. Usher nudging TP&P to shed his present self-concept as a guy who doesn’t commit totally cold-blooded murders into a guy that does? Maybe even some kind of vaguely fond or familiar sentiment towards Ms Leading where he’s actually glad she got this good relationship and kinda doesn’t want to ruin it? Probably not that, but. Yeah it probably is moreso for the idea of Mr. Usher urging, like an empathetic mentor, that TP&P needs to become more heartless, utilitarian, and unaffected by emotion like him — but the flipside of that, which implies TP&P does have sentimental attachments to certain things or would feel guilt about offing Ms Leading, is like, huh.

I mean, for how nasty TP&P is, you can see the method in him where he’ll blame his victims for being sinful or accepting sin upon themselves, and he usually has a lot of fun judging people while doing it, but he’ll also involve himself with them. He likes the atmosphere of the Dime, he bothers to bully Hunter and let him attend the Dime’s reopening, he probably enjoyed being part of that Mayoral run. All the debauchery, exploitation, scamming, corruption and so on has the ancillary effect of letting TP&P socialise while being open about how awful he is (’it’s so good to be so bad’). It’s like… I wouldn’t quite call him lonely, since he does purposefully position himself at a distance from others, (so that he can grind them into the dirt), but my impression is that he’s an extrovert, and does relate to others in this really backwards and messed up way. Knowing himself as a murderer might stain his self-image just enough that he can’t play with people anymore, only scare them off.

I guess the fundamental difference is that TP&P seems full of this genuine glee, even if that’s a hedonistic glee that comes from deceiving and manipulating others, while Mr. Usher is a no-nonsense reptile. He’s telling TP&P to shelve his toys and commit to a colder, joyless, purely mercenary lifestyle of coolly eliminating threats and securing profits. The soullessness of this prospect appears to intimidate even TP&P with an ego death, or at least mark the end of him actually enjoying the place he has in the City.

But he is this desperate, and he is looking up to Mr. Usher, so he ultimately does hear something in the rhetoric. (Mr. Usher is being pretty reassuring about it too).

Then again I could be reading this way too sympathetically and ‘the sentiment’ isn’t guilt so much as fear, and ‘those voices’ aren’t the last shreds of what you might call his conscience so much as his self-preservation and paranoia about being unmasked, (ie, he’s terrified envisioning being caught or punished for murder, way more than for anything else he’s done), but.

‘In times when peace of mind is bought and sold’ -> Mr. Usher invokes TP&P’s own dealings as proof that the world is a mercenary place, devoid of real sentiment.

>Cause someone, like you, would break you and put you in the ground
Escalates the previous sentiment that Hunter would kill TP&P by extending it to an axiom; Hunter is going to kill TP&P because it’s what weak scum like him deserves, and Hunter will probably enjoy it. Playing on TP&P’s own worldview by dredging up these anxieties that TP&P is already thinking — if he were in Hunter’s position, he would be slavering to kill TP&P.

>And you won’t return
Under his breath, Mr. Usher voices his real intentions, though not to TP&P. Mr. Usher knows killing Ms Leading will provoke Hunter into proper violence toward TP&P, and lead to escalating reprisals upon reprisals until they destroy each other, which is perfect for him, since Mr. Usher wants both of them gone.

>Don’t you want to see him fall apart / So you can pick the pieces up and put him back together? / Finally building up the perfect pawn
Mr. Usher finally sells TP&P on the idea of killing Ms Leading by making the argument that, by taking away the last thing Hunter has that gives him happiness, strength, or pleasure, it will finally break his spirit for good and he will have no foundations left and nothing to cling to except for TP&P. The way I phrased that implies TP&P would substitute himself in a Ms Leading-ish position (LOOLLLllllllllllll) but I think it’s more like, Hunter would be so totally broken that TP&P could do whatever he wanted with him or demand whatever he wanted of him and train him to enjoy that as if training a dog, like he wouldn’t know what else to do.

‘I’m the only one left who knows the real you’ would be pretty strong leverage, theoretically, on Hunter. You know?

>Another shadow lost in the dark, another shadow lost in the dark
Amazing lines. Love these, how it’s sung, everything. Evokes the image of this countless mass of people trapped in this dark void of misery, confusion, corruption, deception (take me to the river!), and for Hunter personally Cascade, which is where TP&P wants him to be again (or even lower), with this thick confusion of one’s self and utter hopelessness on how to escape it; ego destruction, enslavement and dependence beyond any light or salvation (also makes false lights like TP&P effective). Also gives TP&P a frend 🙂

>4:34 – 4:49 Red Hands Intro Drums
I think that’s what these are? Arrangement of a meeting between Ms Leading and TP&P. (At Ms Leading’s place?)

>4:50 – 5:40 Sad Melpomene
TP&P kills Ms Leading. Envision this one as like, Ms Leading at the meeting spot and waiting, or hearing a knock upon her door, uncertain and unaware of what’s going to happen, and at the end, TP&P’s silhouette appearing menacingly in her doorway, coming in to kill her — and fade to black.

Gloria | Act V | The Fire (Remains)