The purpose of this page is to show the result of a minutious research made by a teacher of History and Phylosophy about the logic that' s behind Liberi Fatali: in fact, this song has a number-based pattern perfectly combined with its overall meaning, and a clear reference to the Kabbalistic mythology which is very familiar to Final Fantasy VII ( see the section " Story and Mythology " in Memories of an existence for a full explaination ) . The keys to discover the logic are the four, repeated words which this song begins and ends with, and below the teacher herself will try to realize what they truly signify.

So, let' s start with the lyrics of the song: on the left you will find the number of verses the strophes include, and on the right of each verse you will see the value given according to its position or to the number of words which it is composed by.

Main Table

End of Main Table

The main problem is to uncode the four terms at the beginning and at the end of the song, i.e. the four words listed below, the keys to understand the whole hymn:

FITH-OS LU-SEC WEC-OS VINO-SEC

1) The first uncoding is originated by considering the terminations of the words: we match the same terminations giving a number to the terms containing them:

FITH-OS = 1

WEC-OS = 2

LU-SEC= 3

VINO-SEC= 4

So the order becomes the following:

1 - 3 - 2 - 4
( FITHOS - LUSEC - WECOS - VINOSEC )

2) The second uncoding is obtained by considering the prefixes of the four terms: the numbers are now given according to how many letters appear in such prefixes:

FITH-OS = 4

LU-SEC= 2

WEC-OS = 3

VINO-SEC= 4

Thus, the order is:

4 - 2 - 3 - 4
( FITHOS - LUSEC - WECOS - VINOSEC )

3) The third step in order to find the key is by adding the two previous numerical orders:

1 - 3 - 2 - 4
+ - + - + - +
4 - 2 - 3 - 4
= - = - = - =

5 - 5 - 5 - 8

Since the first three follow a logical order ( they all give 5 as result ) the key must be the irregular one, that corresponds to the fourth term VINOSEC. In fact, the number of words contained in the song is 64, that is 8 x 8. This way, we have now realized that the fourth term VINOSEC is the key we were looking for, and its corresponding numer, that' s 4, must be used to discover the Message this song wants to communicate. So, we have to look again to the Main Table and consider the verses identified by the number 4:

SOMNUS EST NON
( the first 4 we notice in the first quatrain )

DIEBUS FATALIBUS
( the 4 at the end of the second quatrain, this one composed by the 2+2 couples of verses )

INCENDITE TENEBRAS MUNDI
( the 4 which closes the third quatrain of the song )

The result is obviously the First Conclusion:

Edea Kramer' s Message to her Children:

Somnus est non = The slumber does not ( or no longer ) exist
Diebus Fatalibus = In the days of fate
Incendite tenebras mundi = Set on fire the darkness of the world

In other words, here are being summarized the main concepts Edea dared to express:

1) Childhood is ended ( no more slumber )
2) When the dates chosen by Fate will come... ( the days of fate )
3) ... you shall fulfil your mission to eliminate the evil ( darkness ) from the world

Ok, now we have understood the message by utilizing the fourth term as a key, but we haven' t analysed the inner meaning of the four words Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec. Let' s figure it out then from the first to the last:

FITHOS

From the Greek word Phithos ( fiqos ), it means " Plant " , and it contains the letter H that we only see in the term " Hortum " and in no other word of the song. Hortum ( Garden ) is in fact the location where plants lie and grow;

LUSEC

This word doesn' t mean anything by itself, but the prefix Lus- can be reconnected to the latin term Lux, " Light " , thus we can intend LUSEC as the concept of light, the light of the awakening, the light of the Flaming Truth;

WECOS

This word has not a meaning on its own, so to understand it we must concentrate on the pronounciation of its prefix Wec-: Vic ( v-e-e-c ) , the prefix of the latin term Victoria, " Victory " . WECOS is in this sense related to the concept of victory, victory against the evil and the darkness of the world;

VINOSEC

The only term that this word reminds of is the latin Vinus, " Wine " . The Latin Civilization used to say: In vino Veritas, i. e. " The Truth is in the wine " , so VINOSEC can be reconducted to the truth this song speaks about, as a flaming energy that must be found in a proper Garden and that has the power to set ablaze the wickednesses of the planet.

Combining the four words we obtain the Second Conclusion:

Plant - Light - Victory - Truth

that' s to say the primary concepts which characterize the entire story of Final Fantasy VIII:

1) Plant: the SeeD, the elite team that has been given the most important mission, the one concerning the ultimate annihilation of the evil sorceresses infesting the world
2) Light: the one making bright the chosen people' s path and future, the light which defeats the darkness where every ill hides from who is guided by the good
3) Victory: the goal the SeeD members have the duty to achieve, against the opponents they will be destined to face during their existence
4) Truth: the greatest discovery the SeeD members must perform inside themselves, in order to use its flaming energy as the resolutive weapon exterminating the evil once and for all

However, there' s the chance to differently interpretate the four terms we spoke about. Let' s check again the primary numerical order we have associated to them:

FITH-OS = 1

WEC-OS = 2

LU-SEC= 3

VINO-SEC= 4

If we analyse in the Main Table the verses corresponding to such numbers, we can find out an interesting thing:

1) The verses matched with the numbers 1 and 3 are characterized by affirmations, nouns, adjectives or verbal forms related to the Good;

2) The verses matched with the numbers 2 and 4 are characterized by affirmations, nouns, adjectives or verbal forms related to the Evil;

So, the eternal dualism between Good and Evil can be recognized between the two couples of words:

FITHOS LUSEC = Good

WECOS VINOSEC = Evil

Bearing in mind that FITHOS LUSEC WECOS VINOSEC are somehow related to the sorceresses, because they are indeed a sort of magic formulation ( they contain 1-3-2-4, the first two odd numbers and the first two even numbers ) , we realize which of the characters in Final Fantasy VIII can correspond to those four terms:

FITHOS - LUSEC = Good = Rinoa - Edea

WECOS - VINOSEC = Evil = Adel - Ultimecia

Here' s then the Third Conclusion:

1) Rinoa is compared to the other children who are actually SeeD members, for she has to fulfil their mission too ( she' s a plant - FITHOS - too )

2) Edea is the light ( LUSEC ) that can guide the chosen ones to their ultimate goal, the elimination of the evil sorceresses

3) Adel had a victory ( WECOS ) to achieve too, but hers was about ruling the entire world and taking over the human race

4) Ultimecia is the last hindrance to fully understand the truth ( VINOSEC ) the SeeD is looking for, and as VINOSEC is the key of the song' s structure so Ultimecia is the one who is behind the stage of the adventure, controlling the minds and the body belonging to many characters that participate in the story

Now we have all the required knowledge about the song Nobuo Uematsu composed, but there' s one final step to perfectly appreciate his masterpiece, and that is the relation of Liberi Fatali to the Kabbalistic mythology. The Kabbalah, strictly bound to the jewish religion, is based on a structure called " The Tree of Life ", composed by ten spheres - the Sephiroth ( does this name remind you anything? If so, check the page " Story - Mythology " in Memories of an existence ) representing the angelic hierarchy and the basic values of the jewish religion. Well, the metric structure Liberi Fatali is based on has been created according to the Tree of Life. Here' s a brief explaination of how it works:

Checking for the last time the Main Table, let' s pay a particular attention to the song' s main body, beginning with " Excitate vos e somno, liberi mei... " and ending with " Incendite tenebras mundi " . Pratically, we have two quartains ( 4 and 4 ) and between them a couple of verses ( 2 ) : adding these numbers we have 10, i. e. the number of the Sephiroth spheres included in the Tree of Life, so it is the perfect number. If you look to the diagram beside this text, you will see that the eight external spheres are just the 4 and 4 verses, and the two internal spheres are the 2 verses of the main body. Nonetheless, considering the remaining strophes 3 ( " Fithos... " ) , 2 ( " Valete, liberi... " ) and 4 ( " Fithos... " ) we obtain: 3 x 2 = 6, i.e. the right and the left terns of spheres, and 6 + 4 = 10 , so that the Tree of Life could be completed. This reasoning shows how Liberi Fatali has been structured the same way as the Tree of Life, demonstrating once again that Nobuo Uematsu is strongly influenced by the jewish Kabbalah.

Just another, most important thing to know about Liberi Fatali that Crane Paladin, one of the visitors of this site, has pointed out: aside the various and uncountable meanings of the four magic words, Fithos Lusec Wecos Vinosec, which I' ve already spoken about above, if we consider their anagram in the English language we get, by rearranging the words, " Succession of Witches " and with the spare letters " Love " ... and that could lead to other interesting interpretations and insights that I won' t discuss here, leaving instead the task to the reader' s wit. Thanks Crane Paladin for this meaningful suggestion!

Well, that covers it all! Huff, if you have read it so far and you are still awake or your mind is not too confused yet, you can now claim to know EVERYTHING about Liberi Fatali, another extraordinary composition made by Nobuo Uematsu and the Square staff. You earned this satisfation for sure!

SPECIAL THANKS to Gabriella Beretta, the teacher who has elaborated this interpretation making possible the creation of this page. I must really thank her from the depth of my heart!

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