Megalith -Agnus Dei-

"Megalith -Agnus Dei-" (or "Megalith - Agnus Dei -") is a song from the Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies Original Soundtrack, featured as the 13th track on Disc 2. It was composed and arranged by Keiki Kobayashi for the final mission of Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies, "Megalith". It was later featured in the Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown Original Soundtrack as the 9th track on Disc 5; it has a chance to play as the background music during multiplayer in the Anchorhead Bay map.

The lyrics for "Megalith -Agnus Dei-" and its precursor, "Rex Tremendae", come from the Requiem, a Mass in the Catholic Church for the deceased. The song is regarded as one of the most popular from Ace Combat and has featured outside of the games in various ways, including official live performances, other video games, and internet memes.

Lyrics

Flying inside one of Megalith's tunnels

Text

The Latin lyrics were drawn from the music for the Requiem Mass, specifically the texts Agnus Dei and lux æterna. These and other texts in the Requiem have been used many times in musical arrangements. The phrase "Agnus Dei" is Latin for "Lamb of God", a title given to Jesus as attested in the Gospel of John, specifically John 1:29: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world".

Original Latin

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi (×3)

dona eis requiem

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi

dona eis requiem

lux æterna luceat eis, Domine

Domine, cum Sanctis tuis in æternam

quia pius es

Agnus Dei, dona eis requiem

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi

dona eis requiem

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi

requiem (æternam dona) dona (eis, Domine)

et lux (perpetua) luceat eis

English translation

The Latin lyrics translate to the following English text:

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, (×3)

grant them rest.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,

grant them rest.

May light eternal shine upon them, O Lord,

O Lord, with Thy Saints for evermore,

for Thou art gracious.

Lamb of God, grant them rest.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,

grant them rest.

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world,

grant them eternal rest, O Lord,

and let perpetual light shine upon them.

Allegories

"Rex Tremendae" plays in the cutscene immediately preceding the mission; its lyrics are the eighth stanza of "Dies irae", another Latin sequence used in Requiem Masses. The next track in the soundtrack, "Heaven's Gate", interrupts "Megalith -Agnus Dei-" during the Mission Update where Megalith's central heat vent opens up. The mission itself is referred to in-universe by the Independent State Allied Forces as Operation Judgement Day, referencing the belief in Judgment Day and the Second Coming of Jesus. The music that plays when the player crashes, gets shot down, or fails a mission, is itself titled "Requiem".

These connections to Christian mythology present the player character, Mobius 1, as an allegory for Jesus Christ, the sacrificial Lamb of God sent to eliminate the sins of the world. Megalith, a weapon of mass destruction and the epitome of Erusea's "sins", represents the megalith upon which Mobius 1 is to be sacrificed. The allegory is completed as Mobius 1 is "buried" by flying inside Megalith and then "raised" as he flies out of the open hatch at the top, akin to the burial and resurrection of Christ.

Legacy

Live performances

On February 4, 2017, Bandai Namco hosted the first Orchestral Memories concert in Paris, where "Megalith -Agnus Dei-" was performed live for the first time.

On August 7, 2021, Bandai Namco hosted the second ACE COMBAT/S THE SYMPHONY in celebration of the franchise's 25th anniversary in June 2020. "Rex Tremendae" and "Megalith -Agnus Dei-" were performed live alongside many other popular Ace Combat tracks. The performance was later released in the Ace Combat/s the Symphony 25th Anniversary Concert Album.

In other games

The final boss fight against Solgryn in I Wanna Be The Boshy—a fan-made game based on I Wanna Be the Guy—uses "Megalith -Agnus Dei-" as the background music.

Internet memes

In 2020, a mashup of the songs "Somebody That I Used To Know" and "wokeuplikethis*" began circulating online in X Lore vs. Y Lore internet meme videos. On April 24, 2021, YouTuber CrabsJohnson uploaded a mashup of "Somebody That I Used To Know" with "Megalith -Agnus Dei-" and comparing the lore of Ace Combat to that of Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. Within a year, the original video gained over 1.3 million views; extended versions by YouTubers Zurr and Dan Loeb also received over 1.3 million combined views during the same timeframe.