This is my first true Fandom Soundtrack in many years(The Berserk FST is nothing but an ever changing playlist). TBH, I am a bit nervous because this is the first FST that isn’t video game/anime related and it’s part of a fandom that I am still very much new to. Fandom Soundtracks can be a bit “iffy” because everyone has different tastes/opinions, but people are free to make their own. TBH, I’d be interested.

That being said, this one is for Itkovian, my current overall favorite in the Malazan series and I don’t see this changing anytime soon! Enjoy!

Assemblage 23–Let me be your armour (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgRHBk1K4ks)

This first song might have some people scratching their heads. I mean, the first few verses practically SCREAM him, but the last one…welp. See, much as I LOVE Itkovian(I suspect that he will remain the top favorite for me), I know that there is a side to him that is more than capable of being a horrendous tyrant if the right buttons are pushed. That may have been what certain people in Toll the Hounds were trying to do.

“Let me be your armour

Let me be your shield

Let me take away the pain you feel (your armour)

Let me be the light

That guides your way through darkest night

Let me be your armor”

The Prime Movers–Strong as I am (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5H9QGm74fs)

He doesn’t say much of his parents at all. His father is described as someone “hard, but just” and his mother never smiled until he left to join the Grey Swords. He says something about “prison” and how he made one for himself. I suspect that this was likely due to being followers of Fener rather than abusers, but who knows?

Lyrics: https://genius.com/The-prime-movers-strong-as-i-am-lyrics

David Guetta feat.sia - Titanium (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsrnGyRS6l4)

There is a reason why I consider him the ONLY Shield Anvil.

“I’m bulletproof nothing to lose

Fire away, fire away

Ricochet, you take your aim

Fire away, fire away

You shoot me down but I won’t fall, I am titanium”

VNV Nation–Everything(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KoNpXuylcs)

When I first read about Itkovian and his watching the Pannion Domin from the tower, this song kept popping up in my head. This did not change at the siege of Coral either. I really think this song could easily fit all of Malazan. I really don’t view Malazan as grimdark.

“Embracing with all of your heart

Give me your body and your soul

In greatness take all in your stride

Lend your courage to the task, to the masses hope and pride

Don’t tell me it’s the end of everything

It always seems the darkest before the light”

Them are Us Too–Floor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE54FjyAUz0)

I actually consider this song fitting battle music. Also, Itkovian is clearly hard on himself. I think this song reflects that.

“There is no cure in someone else, someone else

My only keeper is myself, is myself”

Them are Us Too–Could Deepen (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bYKdxNerfc)

His sacrifice for the T'Lan Imass is quite controversial among the fanbase.

“A million ghosts, I hid them

I hope you don’t despise me”

The Cruxshadows–Winterborne(celtic version) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK8flUJRYEk)

More like compassion, but still…

“Within this moment I am for you

Though better men have failed

I will give my life for love

For I am winterborn

And in my dying, I’m more alive

Than I have ever been

I will make this sacrifice

For I am winterborn”

VNV Nation–Resolution (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQO0gpcBwGQ)

“The rage you feel will consume you and destroy you

Let this rage inside you die

One day, you’ll find the signs in every motion

Close your eyes so you might see

I will hold you still, every second of every hour

Let your actions speak your will”

https://genius.com/Vnv-nation-resolution-lyrics

Starbound–Jupiter (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8RQROS6VWQ)

One of the sad, beautiful songs in the OST of Starbound. Instrumental. One of the songs I considered for Itkovian’s funeral and/or for when he is being introspective, something he does very often.

SRSQ–The Martyr (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6SJxI2QX4U)

When I first heard this song, Itkovian was the first person to come to mind. While the song sounds more suitable to Midnight Tides, I still think of Itkovian when I hear this song.

“The rain falls around me, and from beyond a distant fog

Come shadows that could render us asunder

The waves crash around me, pulling towards a deepest dark

I struggle just to keep from going under”

VNV Nation–Guiding (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HP3EVSLH9Pk)

One of the most beautiful instrumentals ever! If MOI becomes a TV show, this song had better be playing during the “Great Embrace”.

“We humans do not understand compassion. In each moment of our lives, we betray it. Aye, we know of its worth, yet in knowing we then attach to it a value, we guard the giving of it, believing it must be earned. Compassion is priceless in the truest sense of the word. It must be given freely. In abundance.”

“Because. I was the Shield Anvil. But now … I am done.”

Bette Midler–The Rose (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxSTzSEiZ2c)

When he fell and died, this song was the first to come up because his collapse reminded me of how the Rose herself collapsed. They’re obviously two very different people and they fell for two different reasons(then again, you could always count the amount of souls as an ‘overdose’/exhaustion), but somehow, it just fit, especially at the very end of the movie.

https://genius.com/Bette-midler-the-rose-lyrics

Starbound–Large Magellanic Cloud (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3H8SwLKh6Bw)

“Sorry, Treach. Learn to live with the loss. We do.”

Only One–SRSQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaeUQDSKcnw)

Closing out this FST is this gorgeous dreamscape of a song. When he walks through Capustan, when he is at the parley, when he is with Gruntle and Stonny, when he embraces the T'Lan Imass, when he becomes the Redeemer, and when he defeats the Dying God.

“When the world falls apart, it breaks my heart

I wouldn’t wish it on anyone”

Full Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLzvr4fkBdPjiwIvetaug2_VD0r8vKz1FY