In the trailer for AO, there are few frames where we see lines of a poem. In order, they are as follows (everything bolded here was bolded in the trailer):
"Golden ichor of long past,
do your best to make it last,
Fire the furnace that burns still,
even if you have to inherit it’s will,
the sword of time pierces all,
brace yourself for it’s fall,
Those who sow the wind
shall reap the whirlwind"
I believe that this is meant to be a prophecy of some sort that may exist in the lore, and was put into the trailer so we could decipher it, so that’s what this topic is about.
In Greek Mythology, gods have golden ichor instead of blood. Presumably, this poem is meant to be directed at The AO Player. “those long past” is presumably referencing the gods, as they had golden ichor. So, this may be a stretch, but I think The AO Player is a demigod of some sort, and so they have golden ichor.
Yes, I know, visually you have red blood in the game, but that may not matter though. Things like this in the game can be wrong, like how you can die in the game because you got killed, but you didn’t actually die in the lore. It’s also possible that the golden ichor thing is a metaphor for the fact that The AO Player is a demigod. What I mean is, they may not actually have golden ichor, and using this wording is just the poem’s way of communicating that The AO Player is a demigod.
On to stanza two. This one is a bit trickier. “Fire the furnace” is bolded, so it means something, an action that we must do. Perhaps we are meant to destroy this furnace, and that is what this means. This furnace also “burns still” so this means this furnace has been burning for a long time and we need to destroy it soon. This furnace could be a metaphor for The Order, because that is what we are destroying.
“even if you have to inherit it’s will” could meant that we may have to use/absorb/become the power of this “furnace” in order to destroy it, because that would be the only way of doing so. We may have to become the very thing we are trying to destroy in order to destroy it.
Now for the third stanza. “The sword of time” is bolded, and I think it is supposed to be referencing Kronos. Afterall, Kronos is the Lord of Time, so this makes sense. We’ve never gotten any lore related to the titans, though there is mention of Mount Othrys in the patch notes. Mount Othrys is a real place in Greece, and in Greek Mythology, is the base of the titans, so we have evidence that the titans will be appearing.
Last, but certainly not least, the fourth stanza. “Those who sow the wind” is the first line. “Sow” means, according to Google, “plant (seed) by scattering it in or on the earth.” So basically, line five, if we translate the definition for “sow” is “Those who seed the wind.” Next, the second line is “shall reap the whirlwind.” According to Google, “reap” means “cut or gather (a crop or harvest).” So, the third stanza, as a whole, is “Those who plant the wind, / shall reap the whirlwind”
I believe that the fourth stanza is trying to say that those who start with small ambitions, will eventually rise to greatness, as this seems to be a reoccurring theme throughout the AU. This could be a reference to both us as the player, and The Order. You could also apply it to Prometheus, who planted the seeds of magic by teaching it to humans, and then later on gained power through convincing people to burn aureum. Basically, stanza four is explaining how people rise to greatness like this.
This is my theory for the AO Poem. I could be completely wrong, as a lot of this is a stretch. So, what do you guys think the poem/prophecy means? What do you think of my interpretation?