Music for Mourning and Remembrance
This Bardic Inspiration is brought to you by our last TTRPG game and is fit for sad and emotional times. The moments when battles are lost and allies are slain or when a character has a focused moment on them that doesn’t end in their favor. It’s the song that plays during movies when the heroes find themselves defeated and are losing hope. Songs like these can be sad but they help drive and stir emotion and can even increase role-play.
One of the most melancholy and mournful songs we liked to use is from Thor: The Dark World. Into Eternity composed by Brian Tyler is one of the most listened to songs on its Spotify soundtrack. It’s played during the funeral of Thor’s mother Frigga. While it can be used as a funeral based song for your tabletop game, it also works best for when a character loses to a familiar or recurring foe.
One of our favorite Bardic Inspiration tracks to use during forlorn moments is Farewell, Old Friend from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt by Marcin Przybyłowicz. It too is played during a funeral scene but for your game can be used elsewhere including during an emotional speech, a wake, or a gathering of close friends to discuss a difficult subject.
All Gods from Pillars of Eternity II by Justin E. Bell holds a special place in our hearts. It’s moving and melodic and can be used during a number of scenes. We think it makes a good song for character resurrections, touching moments between characters and players, and interacting with gods. It’s both soothing and eerie in the way it’s composed.
Whereas Pillars of Eternity’s Burial Isle is pretty set on what it wants to be. While it can be used for burial scenes it won’t be out of place while used when characters are walking through a desolate battlefield or in the aftermath of a siege.
We hope you enjoyed this round of Bardic Inspiration!
We’ll leave you with the Elder Scrolls series. It’s full of incredible lore and Moons of Evening Star is a reference to the final month in the calendar year. Composed by Brad Derrick, the song feels like an ending and a beginning like the calendar itself. The year may be ending but a new one is starting fresh. This is a great song for character rebirth or a shift in character growth.
Themes around death or sadness can be difficult to play out yet they can be beautiful and lead to amazing and remarkable role-playing and story moments. They are moments to be remembered and a defeat or loss can reveal greater things about a character or result in new life and light.
you can’t appreciate how high the highs are if you don’t experience how low the lows can get. Victory is made sweeter if you once tasted defeat.
