Ashes of Dreams

Ashes of Dreams (Un rêve en cendres) est le thème principal de NieR. Elle est composée et arrangée par les membres du studio MoNACA, avec des paroles écrites et interprétées par Emi Evans. La version ~New~ est la seule chanson à être dans un langage contemporain et compréhensible, l'Anglais.

Les versions ~Nouveau~, ~Nuadhaich~ et ~Aratanaru~ utilisent respectivement des formes érodées du Français (comme "Grandma"), du Gaélique (comme "Kainé"), ou du Japonais. Les différentes versions de "Yonah" et "Dance of the Evanescent" sont des variations de ce thème.

Dans Drakengard 3, une version réarrangée de cette chanson figure dans un set de contenus téléchargeables.

Paroles[]

Once there were trees full of birds.

Meadowlands vibrant with flowers.

Carefree the songs our children once sang

Gilding our minutes and hours

Clouds came and covered the sun,

The breath of the baleful unease

Turning to ashes flowers in their fields

Silenced the birds in their trees

Hidden so deep in veils of deceit,

Imprisoned in twisting spells-

Are we the plaything of fiends, or merely the dreams

That we're telling ourselves, telling ourselves?

Strive till the phantoms are broken,

Fight till the battle is done;

The squadrons of night

Can't conquer the day,

Nor shadows extinguish the sun.

Stories of danger, fearless attack,

Specters of plague and pain.

All of these ghosts of our own delusions come back

And we'll be haunted again, haunted again.

For tho the storms are over and past,

Though the thunder's rage is quieted at last

Well this nightmare's laid me down in the rags here to mourn,

Here to mourn.

The night has left us crippled with grief

As we strive to keep alive our belief,

But a loss so great, it clouds all our hopes for the dawn.