To understand where I am coming from, you have to understand how one properly follows Islam. I am not here to preach, but I will give you the context of how, on paper, one is expected to follow their religion.

If you are a Muslim, you see all other Muslims as family. You are forbidden to go to bed at night if you know your neighbor would be going to bed hungry. You are supposed to look out for your neighbor, if possible. Or work on a solution together if you have no means of providing one.

Layla is in a family that is strongly implied to be diverse. With a Christian mother, and a Muslim father. The bonds in Christianity aren't nearly as binding or strong as in Islam; while a Christian is expected to be a good person, they aren't exactly obligated to view everyone as family and are forced to go out of their way for them. Even if the whole Adam and Eve thing is in the Bible (and also in Iberia), people aren't given the game expectations.


The use of the word أخ  (Akh) is actually a very powerful word that literally means "my brother", and is used to refer to your fellow man. I'm not attempting to gender my own translations, and I think from an outside context, it is important to differentiate. Layla feels betrayed, but she still refers to these people as her family.

If we consider that at the end of Iberia, Tsadi's narrations imply that the forces of Christendom come out on top, where does that leave Layla's decision? Well, she could have wished for the war to end, and for her pet demon to kill everyone, a very popular assessment. She also could have wished for her family to come out on top, which didn't happen. I think we can safely rule this option out. The only other option is that she wished for Christianity to prevail.

Wait, what? I just went on a huge speech about brotherhood and acceptance within Islam. Let's look at why this last option might actually be the strongest interpretation, though... If a stranger betrays you, or harms you, it is awfully deplorable, but it doesn't even come close to if it were a member of your family.

Layla potentially can not come to forgive the idea that the people who are supposed to be her family betrayed her. If she didn't follow this belief, this personal mindset, she wouldn't have referred to these people as her brothers. She was raised under the notion that these people would feed her when she was hungry, that they were all in things together. But she was betrayed by her own kin.

While it is still very possible that the war ended in a stalemate, with reinforcements happening to come by, just the usage of a culturally significant word could have significant ramifications in future life. Even though Layla is implied to have a diverse background, or even be an atheist, she still has that same cultural acceptance and expectations, and they let her down. Not only did they let her down, they went against their own religion of peace and killed her mother.

The Gitano sister "chorus" only kicks in when she talks about the ones who took her mother. Is that a clue, or just a coincidence? They stop just as soon as she concludes her point, too. On top of this, the English narrations of her "scales" being influenced by "Moors and Iberians" is also written in the booklets as contrasting her father and mother's beliefs. Together it sort of adds up, with things always being presented in the same exact order.

But let's look even further.



Even though this is obviously a call-back to the idea of Cain and Abel, mentioned as a part of "The Old Testament's Story", this suddenly has a lot more interesting implications, don't you think? Is this a reference to the idea of brotherhood being sullied from the start in Christendom, but not in Islam? Did this kind of atrocity not come as a surprise to her, from the followers of the book that showed as one of the first stories one brother killing the other?

What do you think of these implications? Do you think I got it wrong, or that Revo just coincidentally used such a powerful word in association with a religion, a life-style that prides itself on brotherhood? Please share your own thoughts on these ideas!

Personally I never at all considered that, but looking at it now it works brilliantly. Not only when you consider what you said, but also the fact that in reality Christianity did fare better, in Iberia.

I suppose that there might be a chance it is all a coincidence, but at the same Revo has proven himself to be a huge nerd put a ton of research into every subject he utilizes in Sound Horizon. Even if it was mostly just referenced in this one single, I can see him doing the same for Islam.