So... Why is it called "Trails In The Sky"?

[Admir]

As pointed out by my SO, I haven't figured this one yet lol! Is it because of airships? Orbment tech?

[Letari]

The airships leave contrails(I think that's what those are called) in the sky and airships are an important part of the world and its story. It may not have a deeper meaning than that.

[SchwartZero]

SC is more ''Trails in the Sky'' than FC is.

If that makes any sense.

And The 3rd... I don't know.

[Admir]

Hmm.. good point on that one. I missed the fact that the two games are supposed to be a single title.

[Sunder]

Olivier sings a song in Chapter One that does the name drop.

Olivier's song at Haken Gate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-91MxXKgyqo&list=PL222455AF5CAD6AC0&index=16

The text Olivier says:
Brightly shooting stars, leaving trails in the skies...
Like a guiding light, they show me the way to your eyes...
This yearning passion, tears my heart in twain...
And the cruel moon mocks my pain...
If this fleeting dream shall never be...
A single wound will remain in my heart for all to see...
Our passionate first and final kiss...
Your tears to me are an amber bliss...
Let us immure this eternal love...

[Erpy]

It takes at least one playthrough for the player to realize that Olivier sings a song about the game's final moments from Joshua's point of view.

Anyway, yes, Trails in the Sky is something that plays a role in the second chapter.

[You Can Call Me V]

^^^^ I never realized that! Wow..

[Admir]

Thanks for the insights guys hehe

[Letari]

It's such a nice song too, take away the lyrics and it almost sounds like a folk song depicting an ancient legend you'd hear from...actually Olivier is a bard, he even hangs out at bars like the rest of his fellow bardsmen!

[Missilepom]

Just a fun fact:
The original Japanese title "Sora no Kiseki（空の軌跡）" meant "Trails in the Sky" literally, but "Kiseki" in Japanese also has the homophone 奇跡, giving the title another layer of meaning. Thus, the title of this game can also be interpreted as "Miracle in the Sky". I heard that the lyrics for SC's opening song plays extensively with this pun. It's a shame this layer of meaning had to be discarded in translation (you can't have two titles for one game lol). It was always something I thought was really cool about this game and this series.

Following that line of thought, the following titles in the series can also be translated as

Zero no Kiseki: Miracle of Zero
Ao no Kiseki: Miracle of Azure
Sen no Kiseki: Miracle of Sen (Cold Steel?)

Anyways, now you guys know why fans of this series prefer to call it the Kiseki series rather than the Trails series ;)

[omgfloofy]

This is something you'll learn in Second Chapter. actually. ;D

Originally posted by jl260:

Just a fun fact:
The original Japanese title "Sora no Kiseki（空の軌跡）" meant "Trails in the Sky" literally, but "Kiseki" in Japanese also has the homophone 奇跡, giving the title another layer of meaning. Thus, the title of this game can also be interpreted as "Miracle in the Sky". I heard that the lyrics for SC's opening song plays extensively with this pun. It's a shame this layer of meaning had to be discarded in translation (you can't have two titles for one game lol). It was always something I thought was really cool about this game and this series.

Following that line of thought, the following titles in the series can also be translated as

Zero no Kiseki: Miracle of Zero
Ao no Kiseki: Miracle of Azure
Sen no Kiseki: Miracle of Sen (Cold Steel?)

This is the wrong Kiseki, actually. Kiseki, as in "miracle" is written like this: 奇跡
Whereas in the series titles: 軌跡

It literally means like a path or a trail. A Japanese speaker translated the title like this for me.
'When you take two points- point A and point B... drawing the line between them is 軌跡."

'Sen' being used is 閃 - which is a root kanji, but Toshihiro Kondo, Falcom's president, describes the meaning as the 'glint of light when a weapon is quickly drawn.'

[Admir]

Oh that's pretty neat!

[Eclair]

being that all 3 chapters together make 1 game i would say that in the first chapter we arn't supposed to understand the title yet. also I think the answer maybe something that will b e hard to pick up on. I do not believe it is simply refering to airships. cause that would be .........lame.

[Missilepom]

Originally posted by omgfloofy:

This is the wrong Kiseki, actually. Kiseki, as in "miracle" is written like this: 奇跡
Whereas in the series titles: 軌跡

Yeah, I'm aware of that. Though I think Falcom intentionally picked this title so that the name of the series would have a double meaning when you pronounce it.

(Series spoilers)
I think that a long running theme of this series is "supernatural miracles" and how human beings deal with them,which fits the series' title

[omgfloofy]

Originally posted by jl260:

(Series spoilers) I think that a long running theme of this series is "supernatural miracles" and how human beings deal with them,which fits the series' title

I don't think they really started playing around with that 'play on words' until Ao no Kiseki, however...

[Robin]

I know this thread is like 7 years old, but nobody mentioned this. Like others said, the Japanese name for the game is Sora no Kiseki. Sora doesn't just mean sky, it can also refer to the skies- or, space, and the universe. The key takeaway here is space. To me it's pretty clear that the Sora in the title is a nod to the Sept-Terrion of Space, the Aureole which is integral to the game's plot and basically a symbol for all of Liberl. Like Missile said, you can interpret all of the other games' titles as "Miracle of _", which in this case would be "Miracle of Space" which is exactly what the Aureole is, a Miracle(treasure) bestowed by Aidios which holds dominion over the element of Space.