105 Dios.

160 Shouldn't he be looking at the ground... ?

195 I wanted Corwin's Rune Knight armor to reflect the styling of his soon-to-be-revealed Rune God, but also his heritage, yet not look too outrageously unlike the other Knights'. Phil came through admirably when he drew it in his illustration of a scene from later in this movement.

231 One of the variant spellings of "orichalcum", a reputedly mystic metal that figures in the Atlantis legend (and is, in UF's cosmology, one of the "immortal metals" of the celestial realms, commonly used in currency and ceremonial weapons and armor). In UF, Big O's coppery helmet is made of this material (the rest of him is uru).

250 Big O's expression is almost exactly the same as Giant Robo's. In UF, we can assume that the one was inspired by the other.

279 And so the reference, first pulled from The Big O for use as the Valkyrie weapons creed, comes full circle.

287 On The Big O, Roger Smith actually says this when he summons Big O, but what the hell.

297 Because it wouldn't be an Evangelion without a Progressive Knife.

302 This line reveals beyond doubt that it's EVA-02 (Grendel), last seen being destroyed near the end of NXE season two.

331 Sucks to be Grendel and Asuka for that scene. PJM

Nah, it's all special effects. ("We added the 'splodey head in post.") --G.

374 No, he and Utena hardly wear the same ring size; it's magic. (Why didn't that happen for Anthy? She's not a Duelist, she's the Rose Bride. But Corwin is a Duelist. Utena said so.)

405 The Triforce is an artifact of great significance in Hyelian history.

414 Presleyterian for "God help us."

416 Nice to see that Corwin's not so far gone into the maelstrom that he can't rise to a perfectly good Ghostbusters straight line.

443 Ah, the elevator. Only unveiled for the last of Revolutionary Girl Utena's three arcs, once Utena was well-established as the frontrunner in the tournament. I was always hoping for her to turn to Anthy and say, "You couldn't have mentioned this, oh, months ago?", but she never did.

467 Thankyou. Thankyouverymuch.

478 If I recall correctly, we hadn't planned on this, but as soon as we got to this moment it Suddenly Made Perfect Sense.

483 Corwin's warstaff Stick was carved from a cast-off branch of Yggdrasil, making it the elemental equivalent of Gungnir or Mjolnir; it's made of True Wood, as opposed to True Iron. (Or, well, both, since its ferrules are made from uru.)

487 Frey, being one of the Vanir by birth, is not actually Corwin's uncle, but, as in Midgard, it's a common form of address for adult friends-of-the-family, as it were.

498 Well, if we're being honest, more than slightly.

509 The Symphony standard "something creepy and/or dreamlike is happening" music, often used to the same effect in The Big O.

538 The smoke is an artifact of a previous version of this scene, in which Corwin was armed with a flintlock pistol. (It dated from a draft in which Cephiro was a pure fantasy world devoid of high technology.) I left it, despite its being anachronistic, because I liked the mental image of the wind blowing away the smoke cloud.

545 This is a very weird thing for Akio to do, but I like it in its way; it demonstrates his utter contempt for her at this point.

557 Echoes a scene near the end of Brandon Lee's last movie, The Crow.

622 A gift from Herlod Thunderfall, the Valkyrie artillerist and demolitionist, who maintains that one should never go out in public without explosives.

651 Umi's original fencing instructor was none other than Yz'mr'yl'da, Duchess Kyn'o'bi - Emmy's mother. Traditionally, Hyelian women as well as men are taught to fight with sword and bow from childhood. The women are expected to be able to defend their homes and children when the men are away. Umi's training was halted not because her grandparents thought it unseemly, but because they deemed what skill she had "adequate". (Give a girl too much training and she might decide to become an adventurer, after all.)

695 Unusually, Shiori can speak while under the influence of the End of the World. It's possible she partially resisted the treatment, or that it's partly worn off - she was "processed" rather a while ago by this point - but the trauma has left her still unable to think rationally.

I chalk it up to equal parts of both - plus, the situation's similarity to the Black Rose incident she was involved in way back in RGU's second story arc caused some buried memories to surface, contributing to the confusion factor.

That, and she was probably trading 'Effective Combat Madness' tips with Saionji in the Green Room, and got a little too into character. PJM

756 The younger two of Hikaru's three elder brothers have something of an unhealthy fixation on her, true, but not in that way.

772 Wait, they didn't have to climb the staircase. ... Oh, bother.

806 It's just possible that Touga learned this trick from Caldina, or at least from a book about the art she practices.

836 Oddly, Touga never seems to have learned that most women don't particularly like being called "baby". Or maybe the ones he succeeds with don't mind.

862 Umi and Nall performing an impromptu combo spell is a very console-RPG kind of moment, but I love it for all that. It's another great illustration of the fact that they're pretty much made for each other, whether they know it or not.

927 I'm not sure why, but I've always thought this moment was very... significant somehow. Perhaps because it echoes the moment in Hunted Rose when Amanda scars Devlin in an attempt to save him from the Psi Corps. I'm not into ritual disfigurement myself, but as a dramatic tool it has its uses, especially in a magical context.

931 I confess to an unseemly pride in this simile. As I recall, Anne didn't like it so much, though.

942 I still don't think it's Nanami's impending death she's expressing horror over here, so much as her suddenly clear understanding of everything that's happened to her leading up to it.

991 "Wind of Absolution" remains one of my favorite spell names.

1003 And here's "Stoning" again.

1027 The Pillar platform is a Symphony invention. I needed a place apart from the dueling floor, but connected with it, to properly stage the imagery I had in mind for the finale - and for reasons which will become apparent shortly, I needed it to be above, not beside, the dueling platform.

1027: One of these days, I'm going to have to go into Bryce 5 and make an updated version of the Dueling Platform layout with the additional Symphony features, like the Pillar Platform and the Rose Gate. PJM

1037 In retrospect, the interval is really too short here for my repeated-phrase trick to work.

1073 It seems not to have crossed Akio's mind that his opponent might be an Aes who hasn't completed his Trial.

1082 Utena's failure to complete her Investiture caused her to be thrown out of Cephiro and sealed the Rose Gate behind her, though calling it a result of "her own stupidity" is Akio putting his usual spin on things; she failed because he forced Anthy to betray her at the last moment, not because she screwed up.

1089 Literally.

1098 I deliberately set out to set specific limits on references to Amber in materials involving Corwin, so as to reinforce rather than obscure the fact that he isn't actually supposed to be a UF importation of Prince Corwin of Amber. This part, however, fit too well not to use. Princes of Amber have the power to curse those they despise (a power they traditionally employ on the point of death to curse those responsible) - why not Æsir as well?

1138 Another moment in which my cinematic imagination gets the better of me. I always picture the aftermath of this moment as one of those shots where the camera is suspended directly above the subject (Corwin), pulled back far enough that the whole floor is visible, and slowly rotated while the Sad Music plays.

1166 This sequence deliberately mirrors a bit of the final episode of Revolutionary Girl Utena - the part that always makes me identify Utena with the bit of "In a Big Country" that goes, "Pull up your head off the floor, come up screaming."

1189 Also a dreadfully powerful (and long-forbidden) spell in the Slayers universe. Some translations insist that it's "Laguna Blade", but that's just stupid. I mean, think about it for half a second.

1231 It's a countercharm, though, as is usually the case when Utena does something sorcerous, not a deliberate one. Utena is a paladin; her mere presence can inspire greatness, and as captain of the Rune Knights, her effect on the others of that august little corps is much amplified.

1265 Here's that faithful trope from The Dark Knight Returns again.

1320 The image that cemented the direction of this scene - and most of what followed it, including Corwin's subsequent actions - is in one of the RGU artbooks I have, and can be examined on the Symphony reference image page.

1340 Dies iræ! Dies illa
Solvet sæclum in favilla
Teste David cum Sibylla.
Quantus tremor est futurus
Quando Iudex est venturus
Cuncta stricte discussurus!

Day of rage! That day
That will dissolve the world in ashes
as David and Sibyl foretold.
What trembling is to come
When the Judge comes forth
To weigh all things strictly!

1362 This little moment, unimportant as it is in the grander scheme of things, was so very satisfying for me and Corwin.

1413 In a lot of ways, this moment completed the evolution and self-completion that Corwin began back in Wounded Rose. He understood a few lines back; now he makes it absolutely plain that he's putting that understanding into practice.

1427 I like this touch, too - one little moment for the essence of Corwin's personality to slip out before being subsumed again in the huge, cosmic events that have overtaken him. Might also be an unconscious Quantum Leap reference, primed by the fact that I knew I was going to turn a bit of Corwin's hair white shortly.

1460 I didn't understand it yet - I don't think she understood it yet - but in retrospect it's plain to me that in this instant, Anthy has resolved herself not to let things stand as Corwin, at this point, fully expects them to unfold.

1471 That the gods' brands do this when they are in possession of their full power is a design feature taken straight from Ah! My Goddess. When Belldandy casts off her limiter, her normal forehead mark, a narrow vertical diamond, becomes a pair of thin arrows pointing up and down from a large central dot. Her hair turns white as well, which may have inspired the change to Corwin's forelock (though I decided to leave it that way all the time, as a permanent mark of what he endured to complete his Trial).

1483 Corwin's last remark echoes something from, of all things, the old Transformers cartoon: "I am Vector Sigma. Before Cybertron was, I was."

1517 Trust Utena to look at the practical side of things.

1539 "Pray to Dios" is the music cue that always accompanied the drawing of the sword Utena used in the Lost Tournament (at first Dios's, which Anthy had within her; later, Utena's own, which was identical).

1546 A little bit of business I still can't help but love - it's so small, and yet it means so much.

1560 Utena's black armor appeared in several artbook illustrations, but never on screen.

1563 Someday, I kind of hope we end up with a Rune Knight of the Forest, so we can have the last of the six "I am" poems come out. ALC

1577 Only in UF does Utena's heartsword have a proper name; in the TV series it didn't have one. The first one, drawn from Anthy, was called simply the Sword of Dios; later, the incantation changes to "power of Dios that sleeps... "

1612 We wondered for a while what we were going to do about Utena's broken heartsword when the time came to complete the Lost Tournament at last. The solution that eventually presented itself pleased me very much, since it plays perfectly on Corwin's abilities as a weaponsmith and the fact that he has been, whether he knows it or not, diligently mending Utena's heart since he met her. Plus, it parallels the binding of the Thorn, which is nice - and the fact that it's Corwin's blood that seals the fractures and reawakens the blade is very interesting, considered in light of the Thorn scene.

1619 Corwin very consciously quotes a traditional line often used by the celebrant in church weddings. He intends it as a barb for Akio - saying not only that he has reforged the Heart of the Rose, but also, "I have reunited Utena and Anthy despite your best efforts to stop me, and there's nothing you can do about it."

1624 The line that started every duel in the Lost Tournament. Why change something that's been working?

1692 The Priest may be trying to kill the Prince, but the one who was intended to be the next Priestess, at least, is holding Corwin up. This bodes well. ALC

1696 In the temple of love you hide together
Believing pain and fear outside
But someone near you rides the weather
And the tears he cried will rain
On walls as wide as lovers' eyes

In the temple of love
Shine like thunder
In the temple of love
Cry like rain
In the temple of love
Hear the calling
And the temple of love
Is falling down

1724 Kaitlyn's influence at work, here and in the previous paragraph. Good to see.

1744 Here we see that Utena and Anthy haven't taken long to get back onto the same page, either. I initially wanted Anthy to take a much more active role in this duel than she does, more like she was in the last third of the canonical Tournament, but I eventually decided that this was something Utena had to do by herself, at least up until the very end.

1767 The Thorn of the Rose cannot be lost - only mislaid until it is truly needed.

1780 I'm not sure I would really describe the runes of the Elder Futhark as "script" if I were writing this today, but...

1830 Excerpt from the thousand-year-old (more like 1500 by the story's time) epic poem Beowulf, author unknown. We saw Hikaru studying Beowulf in her literature class back in If You Can Make It There.

1897 This is a promise Anthy takes very much to heart, as we will see.

1927 The classic Revolutionary Girl Utena end-of-duel image...

1936 .... with a twist.

For the first time, in the act of taking the rose, Utena has also harmed her opponent physically. ALC

1954 Always beware when a witch says something worded like this.

1960 I can't remember who, but someone in the studio plotzed utterly when this line came out in the draft.

1988 A triumphant piece that contains the musical statement I adopted as Corwin's personal theme.

2002 The converse to Utena's Seal breaking, and a moment I'm similarly pleased with.

2017 Utena doesn't have this crusader's-salute mannerism, which she's used several times in the Symphonies now, in the source material (though she does something close to it in the opening titles, as Phil points out). I think it's such a... such a paladinish gesture that it suits her utterly.

2032 Grant me the power to bring the world revolution.

2046 With Utena's investiture complete and Anthy having claimed the mantle of High Priestess, they are the Trinity now, separate but linked, complete unto themselves but parts of a larger whole as well. It's not for nothing that Cephireans refer to them as the Three-who-are-One. Neither Corwin nor Utena will fully understand this for some time to come, but at least Corwin grasps what the rings are for.

2067 Life could be a dream
If I could take you up to Paradise up above
If you would tell me I'm the only one that you love
Life could be a dream, sweetheart

2069 The others are presumably back in Valhalla minding the store, and sorely annoyed that they didn't get picked to go.

2204 If I regret anything about the way the Fourth Symphony came out - and that's debatable in the extreme - it's that the final outcome of this arc does tend to retroactively blunt this scene somewhat. When I wrote it, I fully believed, along with Corwin and more than a few readers, that it was all over here. I thought he had sacrificed - for good - any chance of he and Utena ever being together. The phrase I used when outlining the Pillar Circle scene to the others in the studio was, "He loves her so much, he'd give her up forever."

I agonized about all this for an unseemly length of time, unwilling to believe that fate could be so cruel to one of my protagonists (and one of my favorite characters) after I'd put so much time and sweat and blood into making him a right and proper hero. I even (very, very briefly) considered killing him off to save him the trouble of spending the rest of his life alone. That notion didn't last long - I'm not that kind of writer - but still, I felt terrible for the poor guy. I mean, here he's just affirmed the one great love of his life with an act of staggering heroism, and it costs him the only prize he really wants? That's like a Hideaki Anno plot. It's not the way I want my worlds to work.

Fortunately, Anthy is wiser than I am, and it wasn't long before I began to realize that this wasn't the end at all. Indeed, with her finally back on the stage and able to contribute, it was, in a way, only the beginning.

And I'm happy about that, because the ultimate outcome is much more in line with what I want out of my world here... but I have to admit to at least a mild pang of wistfulness at the fact that it does rather take the teeth out of "He loves her so much, he'd give her up forever."

On the other hand, as Phil points out, Corwin had no way of knowing that the situation would eventually resolve itself as it did. He genuinely believed, as I did, that he was closing that door forever - and he was still willing to do it. That should be kept in mind when weighing this piece in retrospect... and, as Phil further notes, the first-time reader is just as much in the dark as Corwin about what his future holds. So perhaps it's not so bad after all.

2275 I fully admit I've always been a Shiori booster (hell, I played her for several years in a variant Amber game). Yet, I'm also a card-carrying Juriologist. Personally, I don't see the conflict in being both, and I think their character development arcs through the Symphonies have been very satisfying, giving both chances to grow and mature on their own terms. PJM

2284 I wrote a big chunk of the finale at my grandparents' place up north.

2286 Every writer has certain lines he regrets ever writing. This is one of mine. It was meant as a mild barb at certain readers who lamented the multi-part nature of Knights as a terrible tease and gave the impression of wanting me to just tell them what was going to happen instead of making a proper story out of it, and wound up being the forum catchphrase that wouldn't die. Four years later it's still in some users' sigblocks, to say nothing of the T-shirts.

2286: At least the weasel on the T-shirt's an anime weasel. As I recall, the original one was a really badly done photo of one. But yes, the patience level of the Forum around the time this was released was awful. ALC