Döds Ände lyrics

Döds Ände – Death's End
First song on Svavelvinter's full-length-album Mörkrets Tid.
English lyrics translation and explanations below.
Album available at Dimout Production.
Link to video

Döds Ände is sung by the wizard Shagul, shouting out his defiance towards the gods – ”the storytellers” to him. He refuses to be a character in an already written story and has stolen his name, placing it in a magical book which makes him his own master and invisible to the gods.

Swedish lyrics
Var än jag är

förblir min tanke min

I världen härskar jag med egen håg

Jag lever hellre fri av dy och syra

än tjänar gudarna i höga himlar

Jag är han

Jag är ingen

Jag tar makt över tingen

Jag är han

skorpionen

Jag är utvald till tronen

Mörkerman ses mäktig stånda
gräsligt fram ur gravens grotta
Ve den stad där vaggan stod
Djupen må dess murar sluka

Låt fjättra var min lem i stumman länk

om smidd än av den hårdaste demant

mitt skratt ska flykta levande ur fängsel

som fjädern dansa bort med vårens vind

I boken skriver jag mitt eget liv

min hand med tålmod formar var versal

Låt rygg som saknar vilja träla slav
Mitt öga slukar rymd från höga berg

Berättarna må kräla i sitt guld

De läser mig, men ser mig ändå inte

De hör min röst, men ingen styr mitt öde

jag äger mod att knyta stolt min näve

Varje man

jag är Shagul,

bringar aska och tagel

English lyrics
Wherever I am

my thoughts remain my own

In all the world I rule by my own will

I’d rather live free in mud and acid

than serve the gods in high heavens

I am he

I am nobody

I claim power over matter

I am he

the scorpion

I am destined for the throne

The dark man rises with might
horribly from the cave of his tomb
Woe to the city where his cradle stood
May the deep swallow its walls

Let fetter each limb with rigid links

Be they forged of unyielding diamond

my laughter will still escape alive

like a feather in the winds of spring

In the book I write my own life

my hand patiently forms each letter

Let the spineless serve as slaves

My eye tastes the view from above

The storytellers may crawl in gold

They read me, but they see me not

They hear me, but don’t rule my destiny

I proudly dare to clench my fist

All men

I am Shagul,

bringing ash and whip

# # #

* Red text is a quote from the prophecy Vox Ranzina in the RPGs and novels. It spells doom for the city where Shagul was born.
* Lyrics paragraphs 1,4 and 6 were written in blank verse as a homage to John Milton. Somebody pointed out that Shagul has an agenda similar to Lucifer in Milton's Paradise Lost.
* Döds Ände – Death's End – is a concept from the novel Svavelvinter, where the wizard's disciples seek immortality. It doesn't end well for them.
* The name Shagul means ”scorpion” – this is incidently the scorpion on the Svavelvinter T-shirts and on the spine of the novels. You can see Shagul on the reddish book cover to the right, on the cover of the novel Slaktare små – All Little Butchers.
* ”Demant” is an older spelling of ”diamond” in Swedish. I used the older word to better suit the rythm.