Beyond Cloudfall: End Notes

End Notes

Beyond Cloudfall is everything I could have hoped for in a Sylus myth, and I am so blown away by the incredibly gorgeous writing and the expert way in which Infold weaved Chinese and Western mythologies to create a stunningly heartbreaking story that is as much about love as it is about defying fate and fighting Heaven’s Will.

Given Infold’s dragon video, I was expecting this myth to be equally split between Western and Chinese mythology, and was very shocked when I discovered the sheer amount of classic Chinese mythology, tropes, and genre-specific language that can be found throughout the entirety of the source material.

As a result, I wrote a Chinese cultural guide to help everyone better understand the Chinese cultural nuances and have also included many examples from a number of different well-known xianxia shows as well to further help with understanding!

In terms of the translation, I actually found Infold’s original translation to be quite good for the most part! However, there are a few notable translation mistakes and areas where more nuance could have helped with deeper understanding.

Here are a few nuances:

• This story does not take place before humans arrive on Philos; it takes place before humans rule Philos.

• Sylus actually gifts MC the rarest treasures in his collection. He doesn’t hypothetically talk about gifting them to her.

• The EN translation regarding their soulbond has caused some people to mistakenly say that if one dies, the other does as well—this is incorrect. The reality is that they are bound “through” life and death, in every lifetime, and every death. It means that their souls are bound together for an eternity; it does not mean that their lives and deaths are contingent upon the other.

• While the final EN line is absolutely gorgeous and romantic, it did create a little bit of confusion, as some seemed to think that MC absorbed Sylus and became “one with him.” In reality, she just became the same type of being as him.

Thank you so much for reading this translation. I hope that it’s helped to enrich and deepen your understanding of the myth. If you have any questions, feel free to DM me on X. Also, don’t forget to follow the LADS Translation Project!

subtextually December 16, 2024