chancebrewedstudios:Tales of the Abyss & The Circle of FifthsWhile the logo for Tales of the Aby
chancebrewedstudios:Tales of the Abyss & The Circle of FifthsWhile the logo for Tales of the Abyss only contains 10 points, the actual Circle of Fifths contains 12 points.“In music theory, the circle of fifths is the relationship among the 12 tones of the chromatic scale, their corresponding key signatures, and the associated major and minor keys. More specifically, it is a geometrical representation of relationships among the 12 pitch classes of the chromatic scale in pitch class space.“Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_fifthsI find it interesting that the main party is comprised of 6 characters, and they each have their own corresponding rival. 6 protagonists + 6 antagonists = 12 pitches of the Circle of Fifths. Each of the characters have similar overlapping end goals, but their methods of obtaining them are different. On a bigger world view, and not including the “recent discovery” of the 7th Fonon (Sound/Lorelei), there are 6 Fonons of “normal” elements (dropping Ice/Celcius and Lightning/Volt which had appeared in previous Tales titles).Each character in the world of Auldrant has what is known as a “Fonon Frequency” - a number that defines that individual’s being. If you take a person’s Fonon Frequency as their Sound Frequency or the Wavelength of their Frequency, then you can potentially convert each individual’s number into a specific note.Physics of Music: http://www.phy.mtu.edu/~suits/notefreqs.htmlFor Example, take Lorelei’s Fonon Frequency into account here. “3.14159265358979323846″ also known as Pi (π).Firstly, Pi (π) is “the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter”. Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PiThe diameter of a circle is the distance from one side to the other. The circumference is the distance of the circle. The circumference tends to be about 3.14159 (Pi) times larger than the diameter. Lorelei’s Frequency is basically the ratio between the 5ths and Tritones on the Circle of Fifths, which as the 7th Fonon, makes Lorelei either unable to be graphed or consisting of parts within the graph itself. Jade Curtiss mentions, in-game, that while Lorelei had been discovered, the existence of Lorelei was yet to be proved; both existing but not existing. This also ties into “The Grand Fonic Hymn”, which is a combination of the regular 6 Fonic Hymns that combine to form a large 7th Hymn. The Grand Fonic Hymn can be sung without knowing the meaning or symbolism as a whole, but the regular 6 Fonic Hymns can not be used if you don’t know their meaning or symbolism. The Grand Fonic Hymn both exists as long as the others exist, but doesn’t exist if the others are unknown. The Grand Fonic Hymn is the pact between Yulia Jue (the prophet of the Order of Lorelei) and Lorelei itself. Tying this all back together with the main characters, Luke fon Fabre and Asch the Bloody share Lorelei’s Fonon Frequency due to being Lorelei’s Scion; with Luke being a replica of the Scion. Removing Luke and Asch from the "1 vs 1″ rivalry equation, and you still have 6 protagonists with 6 antagonists: Tear/Legretta, Jade/Dist, Natalia/Largo, Anise/Arietta, Guy/Van, AND Ion/Sync. When doing it this way, Guy and Van match up more due to being Master and Servant, and Ion and Sync match up due to being replicas of the Fon Master. Furthermore, each pair has the potential to line up with the Aggregate Sentiences of the 6 Fonons (not including Lorelei). Following this path, each Character/Rival pair lines up in regards to the 12 Key Pitches of the Circle of Fifths, with the Sentiences being the individual 6 geometeric shapes that represent the relationships between each note. We can conclude that Luke and Asch’s actions (as Scions of Lorelei) encompass either everything or nothing at the same time – sadly similar to how in the Epilogue, Luke’s Coming of Age Ceremony was acknowledged, but Asch’s (Luke’s original) was not, despite both of their efforts.While the Circle of Fifths has 12 notes, the logo of Abyss does only contain 10 notes. This could be due to design reasons, for example, running out of space and not wanting the logo to look too cluttered when reduced down to a smaller size. However, the connecting lines and logo itself form the appearance of a compass as well. This is even more evident when you start translating the Fonic Alphabet present on the logo:Outer Ring, Clockwise:NorthWestSouthEastInner Ring, Clockwise, starting at “North”:OneTenNine (obscured, but a guess based on the others)EightSevenSi (Fonic Alphabet does not have an “X”)Five (obscured slightly, but 3 letters visible)Four (half obscured)ThreeTwoAnother object that is used like a compass is a clock, which is the compass used in the other Tales title that was being made at the same time as Abyss – Tales of Legendia (”Coming Up on 12 O’ Clock”, the overworld theme of Legendia, for Example). The logo design could have been changed to avoid similarities with Legendia’s system. The lore of Abyss is based heavily on the Tree of Life and Jewish Kabbalah (which will be a topic for a different day), to which, there are 10 Sephiroth names (and one hidden name: Daath)Choosing a number different from the 12 Pitch Classes of the Circle of Fifths, 10 points on the logo could have been chosen due to the Tree of Life, which also aligns with the number of Sephiroth Trees at the beginning of the game (Where 11 originally existed). -- source link
#music theory#translating fonic#sephiroth trees