How 'Embers' become a 'Wildfire' [Honkai: Star Rail]

"Wildfire" is mind-blowing for more reasons than you think! Let's take a look at the hidden details just below the surface of the Jarilo VI soundtrack.

 
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.srt format with time stamps preferred, but I'll accept anything as long as I know what lines should show at what time.

The Honkai Star Rail Soundtrack is written by HOYO-MIX and
many associated composers and musicians.
Honkai Star Rail is owned by Hoyoverse.

Music featured, in order:
"Thick Haze" by Yifan Lin
"Take the Journey" by Yifan Lin
"Hearthfire" by Qi Gong
"Embers" by Yifan Lin
"Streets Abuzz" by Yifan Lin
"Faded Sun" by Yifan Lin
"Kindling" by Qi Gong
"Braving the Cold" by Yifan Lin
"Lingering Heat" by Yujue Wang
"Sinking Hoarfrost" by Yifan Lin
"Everwinter" by Yifan Lin
"Conflict Undraped" by Qi Gong
"Frozen March" by Yifan Lin
"Fate" by Yifan Lin
"Wildfire" by Qi Gong
"A Trap With No Return" by Qi Gong

0:00 How Do I Talk About This
1:23 "Hearthfire"
4:30 The People's Motif
5:11 "Embers"
6:09 "Streets Abuzz" and "Faded Sun"
7:25 Plucked Strings
9:19 "Lingering Heat"
12:04 "Everwinter"
13:52 Pre-rendered Problems
16:15 "Frozen March"
18:10 "Wildfire" Part I
20:41 "A Trap With No Return"
21:58 "Wildfire" Part II
24:51 The Payoff

Corrections:
5:50 The bowed string solo is on cello, not violin.
9:16 "Lingering Heat" also plays when Bronya and Seele talk at the orphanage later. That scene has similar themes.

[rosejohnston]

Bro tricked me into learning music theory by making it about star rail

[the_.little._lily]

27:34 “There is a reason the crew of the Astral Express is called The Nameless. This story was never about you. It’s about them.” I think about this line a lot.

[FrostTwig]

Another interesting point about the use of the Electric Guitar for Wildfire is that its tightly linked to the relationship between Serval and Cocolia. It was an instrument that they worked on together, but as the Steleron's influence corrupter Cocolia, and made her push Serval out of her life, Serval took the instrument with her, and is still symbolized by it. This comes across as a literal story representation of how the strings represent the people, and how the Steleron's influence drives us away from that.

[Clmrn]

the other reason the song hype the moments SO MUCH, is because the in game voice line that definitely help, especially the Cocolia line saying " You are but cinders of the Old World soon to become ashes! ", followed by the song saying " WE MADE A CHOICE GO FIGHT AGAINTS OUR FATE ", with her throwing a massive meteor, shivers go through my spine the first time i experience that

[momsaccount]

I love that you don’t obnoxiously praise the music and construction of the game’s scenes the entire time. You delve pretty deep into how the music works in accompanying a specific scene and you appreciate what the scene accomplishes while being critical when necessary. You’re one of the smarter people on this platform. Keep making stuff like this, this video is fucking phenomenal

[anristellariza]

An extremely fun note to add to the theme of "This story isn't about you, its about them" btw, is that Seele and Bronya are extremely powerful OFFENSIVE units, and the form you get is a powerful Defensive unit. It's actually really cool to have the same kind of thematic in a game where characters are gacha-dependent, even if the message can be very easily lost by the nature of not having said units.

The idea of being given the will of the Preservation, and using it to protect and watch over the people who change the outcome of the fight(both in and out of gameplay) is stellar, and makes me wish for the possibility of a non-gacha title from Mihoyo. If they can do THIS with arguably one of the least inspired game archetypes to exist, what the hell can they pull off with no holds barred game?

[Marcopolo_]

i honestly dont know why this doesnt have more views, its really well made

[kingcrowbro]

You know, its funny. There's a part of me that always knew that this song was the *it* factor for me, but having not only Wildfire broken down, but coming to realize just HOW much build up and work was put into Jarilo's soundtrack just to make sure it landed with maximum effect? Yeah, I can confidently declare from the roof tops that Wildfire is the reason I'm in love with this game. Hoyoverse truly, simply, does not miss.

[hayond]

Omg, the "It's about them" at 27:38 with the Fire TrailBlazer's Ult hit me hard

[cjcjcj]

I loved how you delivered the line at 27:43 while showing the splash art of the trailblazer’s ult, with everyone in Jarilo 6 on it. Excellent video that should have more than the (at the time of writing this) 1900 views it has.

[Uyhn]

I love that you not only analyzed why the music in HSR is good with layers of themes back-and-forth in a musical perspective, but also you managed to capture some of the spirits of the storytelling in this game; their ambition, their love, their norm and their soul. It makes the music all the more enjoyable when you fully understand the story they want to tell; the music, after-all, is there to enrich the story, and tell us things that cannot be expressed by words alone.

[vapeannigama]

This is a great video, the way that music can influence a story is insane.




Also, when you said "You know what my favorite part of a video game is? When everything stops happening" my youtube showed an ad, and proceeded to crash. I had to top myself from dying of laughter

[elena]

you may not be a chef, but we let you cook and you delivered A FIVE COURSE FUCKIN MEAL
let me preface this by saying that I only listened to wildfire once before this video, and it was three months ago during your karaoke livestream. We listened to your whole video during a lengthy car trip on speakers to enjoy everything, and we both got CHILLS. This is such a carefully crafted video, beautifully paced and with a good amount of lore and insight on the story of HSR for the uninitiated - just like us-.
boy oh boy, approaching this track the way you did was such a smart idea. it's like looking at an exponential curve, which sllooowly picks up (with the examples of Jarilo's tracks) and then fckin SKYROCKETS when you unleash wildfire in its unpredictable strength. I swear when 26:35 kicked in our jaws dropped, chills ran, car took off in the sky to do a triple pike jump to then crash back in the highway (slightly hyperbolic)
this is to say you did this track justice, and this video is incredibly well balanced in terms of lore to technicalities to pacing to emotional buildup. the time you invested in it *shows* and I'm so glad to see how well this turned out.
SOOOO BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR MR BAROUCH👏👏👏👏

ps I love the definition of "Inception BWAAAH". also, your fine humor is always much appreciated. also also, holy FCK your editing is so good

[aa-yyoc]

Dude, I don’t know crap about music and I had no idea what the technical music terms meant. Yet I was hooked from start to finish. You were able to convey the messages and intricacies behind each track so flawlessly, my jaw literally dropped at some of your conclusions (“It was never about you…it’s about them”) I view Jarilo VIs music so much differently after realizing the extent of how much the music progressed over time. The way you explained the significance of each instrument was also super super cool.

[freedragoons]

"This story was never about you, it's about them." I've never thought about how both Jarilo and the Xianzhou pan out. In both places, the people that do the most and make the biggest sacrifices are the citizens that are affected by what's going on, and we're just there to help. The names that will go into the history books are the people from the locale that are involved, while we are just called the Astral Express Crew, the Nameless. That's so poetic and brings a whole new meaning to how I'm gonna view this game. Also, loved the deep dive into the motifs that build into that climax. I had noticed throughout Jarilo that the "people's theme" was heard so much, but never put together the whys and hows that make it so impactful.

[eXian]

Why did my tears started to well on Wildfire Part 1!? The way you presented the "story" of the OST of Jarilo VI is amazing

[raeoverhere]

"Wildfire" goes so hard; there's a reason even after leaving Jarilo VI and going through an entirely different story arc, people still reference it. HOYO-MIX seriously never disappoints, and if you haven't looked into some of their work in Honkai Impact 3rd, I'd highly recommend it! I know you've covered the Mondstadt tracks in Genshin, but I'd love to hear some of your takes on the music in some of the animated shorts from HI3rd. The two that come to mind (that make me cry literally every time) are "Rubia" in the short "Shattered Samsara", and "TruE" in the short "Because of You", but every one of the animated shorts they've put out for that game are phenomenal.

Star Rail has been a long-time dream for MiHoYo, it's a passion project through and through, and I'll keep looking for more anlayses to come as the game continues and evolves. <3

[Arylith]

I really like the way you visualise the motif. I've been looking for alternatives to traditional music notation and yours is nice

[makotoyuki]

You seriously need to do a video on either Sumeru or Fontaine’s music in Genshin. The usage of different arrangements of Fontaine’s main theme heard throughout Act V and correlating with the story was *chef’s kiss.* It would make a great video, for sure.

[MissPinkLady]

You know the song is SO good when the first beats alone, from watching the Trailblazer struggle, yet determined, to pull the lance out of where it's plunged. The song beginning with uncertainty, if the Trailblazer's determination is worthy of Qliphoth's recognition or not, makes me shed tears I had to stop doing what I was doing to gather myself because it was such a powerful moment. The moment that lance was in their hands, the flames of Preservation has been lit and until the end of that fight the flames just grew brighter.

For the surface, for the underground, for Jarilo VI. Carry their will, and melt the Frozen March. You said it so well. This is their story.

I'm glad I found this vid on my feed, it's so good!