Lady of Sorrows
By Dallas Ross Hicks
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Cover art by Oskarna.
Released 8/27/2017.
Duration: 4:58.
Listen on Bandcamp or YouTube.
Read artist commentary.
Artist commentary:
Of all the Homestuck pieces I've done, this was one of the most challenging! Not because of the technical difficulty but because of the subject matter: Dolorosa is a tragic figure and her sad fate was entirely undeserved.
This song opens shortly after the passing of the signless; the four chimes signal his loss and the sad flute her grief. This continues into the arrival of Marquise Spinneret Mindfang: someone Dolorosa may have initially hoped would provide a safer refuge but Mindfang had her own plans for the political prisoner. While the potential for a red relationship between the two was hinted at, it certainly began with empathetic possession which is explored in the second movement of the song: Dolorosa struggles but eventually falls under Mindfang's spell. Darker sounds speak of that despair and when Mindfang finally lets her be, she feels more alone and empty than ever, wishing for someone to come and set her free. Unfortunately, she gets her wish - at the hands of Orphaner Dualscar who frees her of her very existence, solely to spite his soon-to-be former kismesis. The six bell chiems as she passes away echo the beginning of the song and the end of her son.
Like many of my songs, it is in 6/8 time: Maryams being the sixth troll on the hemospectrum, Serkets the eighth while the snare drum at the end makes eleven hits to represent Ampora. It's a "dark mirror" to Dear Heart but follows the sad canon story told by Mindfang's journal. I hope you found I did this unfortunate chapter of the Ancestors' story justice.
The death of the Signless marks the beginning of a very different chapter of the Dolorosa's story, and this song does a wonderful job setting the tone for it. I wanted to focus on her initial emptiness - the instigator of this chapter of the Ancestral tale.