The Dancing and the Dreaming ~ a Viking love song

NOTICE: This post relies heavily on the story found within the movie How to Train Your Dragon 2, and no effort has been made to ensure its readability for those not familiar with HtTYD and HtTYD2. Those who have not seen both movies will not be able to fully appreciate the subject of this post, and those who read this post before watching HtTYD2 will lose a great deal of the impact of the featured scene when they do watch it. If you have not yet seen this excellent movie, it would be wise to do so before reading the remainder of this post. I highly recommend the movie. You need to see it. You will love it. Go watch it. Now. This post will still be here when you get back. :)

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Ah, hello again. Have you seen it? Good. You may now continue reading. :)

I recently had the opportunity to watch How to Train Your Dragon 2 at the theater. Contrary to my expectations, it was not a disgrace to the first, and (unlike so many sequels) it did not act as a pathetic parasite to the success of the original; in fact, it far exceeded the first movie in several regards! Though there were many excellent portions of the story, one of the most beautiful scenes is the one in which Stoick and Valka (Hiccup's father and mother) are finally reunited after a separation of nearly twenty years.

To give a bit of the background story: twenty years before the events depicted in HtTYD2, Valka had been carried away by a dragon, leaving her husband and baby boy in Berk to mourn her loss. She was taken to a far-off location where she lived among the dragons, rescued the injured, observed them, made friends with them, and learned to appreciate their incredible capabilities. In all this time, Valka did not return to her home and family. Apparently she believed Stoick and the people of Berk to be incapable of seeing a need for peace, and thought that they would all just be better off without her.

Meanwhile, Stoick continued in his role as chief of Berk and raised his son Hiccup. In the events portrayed in HtTYD, Stoick went through a change of view that resulted in the peaceful incorporation of dragons into everyday life. He never forgot his beloved wife Val; though he believed her to be dead and had no hope of meeting her again, he cherished her memory and remembered her fondly.


At the beginning of this particular scene in How to Train Your Dragon 2, Stoick has made his way to the dragon sanctuary in order to find his son and take him back home to Berk. He has no thought of finding anyone here except Hiccup, and perhaps a villain or two. Valka, on the other hand, knows that Stoick is alive and well; furthermore, she can hear him coming around the corner and is expecting to meet him momentarily.

Valka begins in a position of defensive isolation, standing aloof in the center of the frozen cavern. She knows that she has wronged her husband by staying away from him for all these years.  She realizes that she did not fulfill her role as a mother to their son. She expects Stoick to be bitter, angry, blustering, irate, questioning, resentful.

But what is Stoick's first action upon seeing his long-lost wife? He walks slowly towards her in amazement... gazes into her eyes with love and tenderness shining from his... gently touches her face, and whispers "you're as beautiful as on the day I lost you."
Val's face softens from defiance and fear to humility and peace, and a silent tear slides down her cheek as she realizes that she is finally where she belongs.

The next portion of the reunion scene takes place a few moments afterwards, in the warmer environment of a home-like room in which Valka is preparing a meal for her newly-arrived guests. Her cooking does not entirely succeed, as she is rather preoccupied by her happiness at suddenly being with Stoick again. He, meanwhile, is entirely oblivious to all but the sight of his beloved Val, so unexpectedly restored to him once more.

As though in a second courtship, Stoick softly whistles a tune for his bride. The melody is that of a Viking love song, one which they used to sing together many years before. Val pauses, stands still in recognition, and listens intently as her husband begins to sing their song to her.
"I'll swim and sail on savage seas/with ne'er a fear of drowning/And gladly ride the waves of life/if you will marry me.
No scorching sun nor freezing cold/will stop me on my journey/If you will promise me your heart -"
It is an enchanting tune and a beautiful song, complete with Viking-style expressions of love and devotion. Stoick's voice fades away; he is overcome by emotion, unable to continue. Valka completes the stanza in a tone of voice that seems to be remembering a distant dream, as she indicates that she still does and will "love him to eternity." Val continues the song with the maiden's reply to the declaration of love, now in a voice that is increasingly expressive of gladsome belonging:
"My dearest one, my darling dear/your mighty words astound me/But I've no need of mighty deeds/when I feel your arms around me."

Their mutual affection declared, Stoick and Val sing the next section of musical dialogue. Here, the man declares his desire to bestow beautiful things on his dear one and to protect her from all harm, while the maiden protests that she truly wants nothing more than to be with her love, always and forevermore.

With a change of key and increase of tempo, in a burst of joyous enthusiasm both Stoick and Val sing the final two verses in unison, smiling, spinning, laughing, and dancing all the while - "To love, to kiss, to sweetly hold/for the dancing and the dreaming/Through all life's toils and delights/I'll keep your love beside me. I'll swim and sail on savage seas/with ne'er a fear of drowning/And gladly ride the waves of life/if you will marry me!"

Upon the completion of their special song, Stoick asks Val to return to their home, to again be his bride, to share the remainder of their lives together. With her eyes full of joy (mingled somewhat with wonderment, her face expressing "can this indeed be true?"), she gladly accepts - and the reunited family begins their new life together!

I absolutely love this scene! It portrays the humbling of hearts, the healing of hurts, the rededication of a previously pledged commitment, and the restoration of a relationship that had been severed. It also depicts a beautiful romance between a husband and wife still thoroughly in love with and devoted to each other. It is not a scene to be commonly found in movies, which gives it all the more value.

I'm not even going to attempt to analyze the music itself. It defies description such as in my power.
How can a single melody be so gently beautiful and thrillingly enthusiastic? The melody is simply captivating,
and the instruments on which it is played are absolutely delightful. You'll just have to listen to this one for yourself!
(Though of course you already have - assuming you've watched the movie!)

The "video" above will play Track 11 from the How to Train Your Dragon 2 soundtrack by John Powell,
appropriately titled "The Dancing and the Dreaming".

Lyrics are included below (minus Gobber's interruptions, hee hee);
Stoick's parts are in red, Val's in blue, and the duo in purple.

I’ll swim and sail on savage seas

With ne’er a fear of drowning

And gladly ride the waves of life

If you will marry me 

No scorching sun nor freezing cold

Will stop me on my journey

If you will promise me your heart

And love me for eternity

My dearest one, my darling dear

Your mighty words astound me

But I’ve no need of mighty deeds

When I feel your arms around me

But I would bring you rings of gold
I’d even sing you poetry
And I would keep you from all harm
If you would stay beside me

I have no use for rings of gold

I care not for your poetry

I only want your hand to hold

I only want you near me

To love, to kiss, to sweetly hold

For the dancing and the dreaming

Through all life’s toils and delights

I’ll keep your love beside me

I’ll swim and sail on savage seas

With ne’er a fear of drowning
And gladly ride the waves of life
If you will marry me!

Reflections of Truth Part 2 ~ Discussing Discord

In continuation of the "reflections of truth" theme:

Towards the end of last week's post, in considering pieces of music that are severely discordant in tone, I asked whether such songs are capable of portraying reality, of reflecting truth, of glorifying God. My answer thus far to this is a qualified affirmative - by which I mean, yes, but only to a point and always within a specific context.


Let us take, for an example, the song From the Air by Laurie Anderson. This happens to be both the first and the only discordant song I can remember hearing. Though I have listened to it only once, it made a deep impression on me, such that if I had heard another of a similar style I surely would have remembered it.

This song had to do with the mechanical failure of an airplane, its rapid fall to the ground, and the impending doom of the passengers. It was strangely interesting in that it had two totally separate melody lines going on at the same time. Though the notes would line up quite nicely in vertical columns on a page of sheet music, anything like tonal harmony between the two was nonexistent. The clash of sounds is not easily describable. When layered with the disconnected, imperturbable voice of the narrator/captain, the effect was tremendous. The repeated conflicting notes got inside my head, impossible to be shut out, which was extremely tension producing; the relentless yet deathly calm voice was chilling, unnerving, and tied my stomach in knots; the mood of the piece was complete meaninglessness and despair; the entire song was thoroughly unsettling.

The really odd thing was just how mesmerizing this piece was, in spite of being so mentally disturbing. Listening to it was like being in a bad dream and groggily having to choose between waking in the early morning or settling back into sleep. On one hand, I wished for it to go away, wanted it to get out of my head, was going to skip to another song - anything to get the horrible noise to stop. On the other hand, there was a degree of fascination mixed with the fear. I wished to see the nightmare through in order to see the conclusion, thinking "surely it must make a turn for the better somewhere." I couldn't stand the song, but felt powerless to do anything about it. Thankfully, Dad switched the Pandora station, and for the remainder of the drive we listened to classical music with greatly renewed appreciation. :)

It is worth noting that From the Air had this unsettling effect on me even with the otherwise entirely cheerful environment. I was riding along in the car, on a beautiful sunny day, with my family in the car - how could anything be disturbing in a setting like that? Besides which, it wasn't as though I was a wee little one hearing it - I was eighteen years old, yet I was still about to implode or fall to pieces with the stress of listening to the thing! It really leaves me wondering... how in the world did it do that? Exactly what combination of musical intervals do you have to use for such an entirely unsettling sound? I really must find the sheet music for this song in order to analyze it effectively... then again, maybe not. :}


Now we come to the question. Can such discord accurately portray reality, reflect God's truth, and bring glory to Him?

I think that discordant songs do indeed portray a certain aspect of reality. For example, in From the Air, the mood being conveyed to the listener is one of anxiety, stress, and feeling "on edge". The message of the lyrics is one of hopelessness, meaninglessness, dispassionate fatalistic emptiness. These moods and messages are indeed a part of reality - many people feel and believe them their whole lives. However, people who are living in a world of despair and emptiness are doing so only because they do not know the freedom of a renewed life in Christ.

The thing is that we, as humans created in the image of God, were simply not made to live in despair. All people will go through periods of darkness in their lives, but those who know God will be set free by His light. Anxiety, fear, death, and severe tragedy do indeed exist in our world; yet, in the end, there is life after death, joy after mourning, healing after brokenness, restoration after desolation, rebuilding of relationship after separation. To present only the fallen side of things is to forget that there is a God who is mighty to save. To cut God out of the picture is to cut out the fullness and completion of reality. It is not a portrayal of the truth.

I do think that discordant songs can be used to effectively demonstrate the contrast between the earthly and the heavenly perspectives - to illustrate the dire situation of fallen people in their desperate condition of emptiness, then to look again to the fulfillment of a joyous life in a restored relationship with God. However, to remain in a world of darkness is neither edifying to one's self nor glorifying to God. Don't linger in the low places, don't wallow in sin, don't become enslaved to despair - always end with a return to God, who is the ultimate source of meaning, hope, life, truth, and beauty.

"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just,

whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable,

if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things."

- Philippians 4:8

Final note: typically I would include the lyrics to a song at the end of its post. However, in this case I found them too distressing to include on my blog. Actually, there is nothing particularly wrong about the lyrics... it's not as though they contain profanity or inappropriate themes... it is just that I find them rather eerie, all things considered, and don't want to re-read them on my own page. A quick Google search should pull up the lyrics and song for you if you're interested.

Reflections of Truth

Wow. It's already been 367 days since the historic evening on which I first published a blog post. Time does fly!
At least I have something to show for it... six followers (including me), nine comments (including mine),
and sixteen posts (including this one and those in the draft stage). Whoo-hoo! ;)

Well, guess it's about time I started churning out some worthwhile material to fill this corner of the internet... here goes!



Recently I was wondering, "what exactly is the value of music? of dancing? of any art form at all? Sure, they're highly enjoyable, and I certainly love them - but aren't they pretty pointless, except as a form of entertainment? Is there any real value to be found in either?"

This question may seem superfluous to some, viewing it as an unnecessary philosophical discussion without any real bearing on the subject at hand; however, I think it is an important question worthy of consideration, as the answer is essential to how we create, appreciate, and think about art of any kind. It is so essential, in fact, that since beginning to think about this subject, I have been unable to get any of my other posts out of draft without touching on this topic at least briefly.


In an attempt to answer the underlying question of "what is the value of art," I scribbled down a train of thought consisting of a series of statements, queries, and responses, shown in part as follows:

Art conveys emotion, thought, and meaning - it is an expression of a worldview.
The expression of a right worldview is a reflection of the truth.
Knowledge of the truth comes from and through God, who is the Author and Source of all truth.
Reflecting and spreading God's truth is glorifying to Him.
Therefore, art which expresses and shares God's truth is glorifying to Him.
Such art is indeed important!


Having convinced myself of the value of God-honoring art, I continued the train of thought into the specific field of music:
Is all music capable of reflecting truth? For example, can instrumentals present a given worldview, or do they require the addition of the written, the spoken, and/or the seen?

Songs are poetry and melody combined - two art forms together. Thus, it seems that music with words can convey meaning and reflect truth more directly, more pointedly, and more fully than that without.
However, music without words can still reflect truth by presenting order, design, intentionality, complexity, and beauty - in other words, by presenting reality from a right perspective.


Now, some pieces of music are written with a haphazard, disorganized style of sound - can these pieces accurately portray reality?
Others pieces are severely discordant in tone - can they reflect truth?
Many songs have magnificent melodies with excellently-orchestrated harmonies, yet the lyrics are expressive of worldviews that are in direct opposition to the truth of the Lord. Can a Christian gain anything from such songs?

While I do not claim to have the definitive authoritative answers to any of these questions, I do have many thoughts on them, and will be devoting the next several posts to more detailed investigations along these lines.


Have a joyous day!
~Zoë