Megalith -Agnus Dei-

Flying inside one of Megalith's tunnels

"Megalith -Agnus Dei-" is a song from the Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies Original Soundtrack, featured as the 13th track on Disc 2. It was composed and arranged by Keiki Kobayashi for the final mission of Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies, "Megalith".

The song is regarded as one of the most popular from Ace Combat and has featured outside of the games in various ways, including official live performances, other video games, and internet memes.

Lyrics

Text

"Megalith -Agnus Dei-"'s lyrics have never been officially released. Auditory analysis indicates the lyrics were drawn from the Requiem Mass, a religious service for the souls of those who have died. The Latin text commonly sung during a Requiem Mass, including Agnus Dei itself, has been used many times in musical arrangements.

The phrase "Agnus Dei" is Latin for "Lamb of God", a title given to Jesus as attested in the Gospel of John (specifically John 1:29: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world").

The specific text used in "Megalith -Agnus Dei-" is as follows:

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona eis requiem.

Lux æterna luceat eis, Domine:

Cum Sanctis tuis in æternum:

quia pius es.

The above Latin text translates to the following English text:

Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant them rest.

May eternal light shine upon them, O Lord:

With Thy Saints forevermore:

for Thou art gracious.

Allegories

"Rex Tremendae" plays in the cutscene immediately preceding the mission; its lyrics are the eighth stanza of "Dies irae", another Latin sequence used in Requiem Masses. "Heaven's Gate" plays in the Mission Update where Megalith's central heat vent opens up. The mission itself is referred to in-universe by the Independent State Allied Forces as Operation Judgement Day, referencing the belief in Judgment Day and the Second Coming of Jesus.

These connections to Christian mythology present the player character, Mobius 1, as an allegory for Jesus Christ, the sacrificial Lamb of God sent to eliminate the sins of the world. Megalith, the weapon of mass destruction and the epitome of Erusea's "sins," represents the megalith upon which Mobius 1 is to be sacrificed. The allegory is completed as Mobius 1 is "buried" by flying inside Megalith and then "raised" as he flies out of the open hatch at the top, akin to the burial and resurrection of Christ.

Legacy

Live performances

On February 4, 2017, Bandai Namco hosted the first Orchestral Memories concert in Paris. "Megalith -Agnus Dei-" and "FIRES OF LIBERATION" from Ace Combat 6 were both performed live for the first time (alongside "Zero" and "The Unsung War", which had been previously performed).

On August 7, 2021, Bandai Namco hosted the second ACE COMBAT/S THE SYMPHONY in celebration of the franchise's 25th anniversary in June 2020. "Rex Tremendae" and "Megalith -Agnus Dei-" were performed live alongside many other popular Ace Combat tracks.

In other games

Among other select Ace Combat tracks, "Megalith -Agnus Dei-" appeared in the Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown Original Soundtrack as the 9th track on Disc 5. It has a chance to play as the background music during Battle Royal and Team Deathmatch on the Anchorhead Bay map.

The final boss fight against Solgryn in I Wanna Be The Boshy—a difficult fan-made game based on I Wanna Be The Guy—uses "Megalith -Agnus Dei-" as the background music.

Internet memes

In 2020, a mashup of the songs "Somebody That I Used To Know" and "wokeuplikethis*" began circulating online in X Lore vs. Y Lore internet meme videos. On April 24, 2021, YouTuber richard hertz uploaded a mashup of "Somebody That I Used To Know" with "Megalith -Agnus Dei-" and comparing the lore of Ace Combat to that of Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. Within a year, the original video gained over 1.3 million views; extended versions by YouTubers Zurr and Dan Loeb also received over 1.3 million combined views during the same timeframe.