What does 黎の軌跡 Kuro no kiseki mean anyway?

Someone asked me this a long while ago, before the official title dropped. As I am reposting this here, I shall change the question.

How did NISA come up with the title Trails through Daybreak?

Great question. Because this won't be a short answer. you know how Japanese is a linguistic pack rat? Every kanji has an approximated Chinese phonetic reading and a Japanese semantic reading. 黎 is read REI in every dictionary instance of it I can find. I suspect the only place where it is read kuro specifically outside of this game is in some Classical Chinese literature (“kanbun” prose or “kanshi” poetry), but I do not have the academic resources to go on that sort of a scavenger hunt. Furthermore, as a general note, semantics is a “wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey” kind of thing because the Sino-Tibetan language family only exists in morpheme hell.

A non-exhaustive list of potential meanings for 黎 as a stand alone morpheme include:

There are 30+ kanji that can be read as "dark/black", so let’s take a look at compounds instead. The first compound I find containing this character which is not a proper noun is 黎明 reimei “daybreak” or like “the grey sky at dawn”. You’d also use this one for the “dawn of a new era” (黎明期 reimeiki) kind of “dawn”. With a little extra digging you get 黎民 reimin, 黎元 reigen, 黎庶 reisho, 黎首 reishu which are all synonyms for “the common people”. It just feels very apt for what we know about Calvard in general.

Now wait a minute, what about that asia-exclusive game, 暁の軌跡 Akatsuki no kiseki? 暁 also means “dawn”, true. 暁 specifically refers to the darkest part of the night right before you see the sun poke through on the horizon. 黎 has an additional implication of “something is about to begin” that 暁 does not. So like 黎 at the start of something, and 暁 is more for your darkest hour.

EVERYTHING BELOW THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS.

I could have cut my suffering short if I had read this one interview with Kondo, but I didn't because what sort of Trails fan would I be if I took the word of God without any evidence?

NISA/Playstation’s English game trailer actually features the line before what I would consider the most important line in the entire game. (The cut scene from the middle of Chapter 1, but this audio itself comes from Chapter 1’s ending cut scene.)

俺は警察でも遊撃士でもない。あくまで自分の流儀を貫くだけだ。 You know full well I’m not like the cops or bracers. I do things my own way. (EN trailer, 0:50)

The line after that is:

黒でも白でも、灰色すらない、黎（あおぐろ）い狭間の領域で。 お前までに染まる必要はーー The way I deal with things isn’t black or white, it’s not even gray. It’s sort of in the realm of being bluish-black. I don’t really think there’s any need to dye yourself too– (trans from the infamous spreadsheet) It’s not black, or white, or even grey, but in the narrow livid area in between. There’s no need for you to be stained by– (trans by OP)

This line shows up verbatim 4 times–which says to me that the most important aspect of 黎 kuro is that IT IS A COLOR. And that the antecedent of this color is Van Arkride, ONLY. Sometimes it is used as a metaphor for his ethical alignment, but for the most part, it’s a metaphor for Van himself.

Note well that 黎 is not read kuro but aoguro, which jisho.org defines as “bluish black” (like Van’s hair), and proposes three different spellings:

There’s a different aoguro that shows up after the final dungeon but before the final boss.

黝（あおぐろ）き＂核＂の力を秘めた《漂泊の魔王》―― The blue and black Demon Lord of Vagabonds, who holds power over time itself– (translation via spreadsheet) The hidden power of the Vagrant Demon Lord’s stygian “core”– (translation by OP)

Side note: I have not read the entire spreadsheet someone graciously provided me with. Of what I have read, there are plenty of segments that seem to be well intentioned human’s writing as opposed to unedited machine translation output. The segment quoted above dropped a key word and added a relative clause which feels more speculative than factually based on the rest of Bergard’s paragraph.

Based on data I have pulled from trailsinthedatabase, this 黝 aoguro only shows up twice in the entire game script: here, and during the final boss cut scene, where Risette is parroting the aforementioned demon’s title.

The previous instance of the aoguroki kaku, “blue-black core” (Classical Japanese, my beloved) was at the very end of Chapter 5, where it was notably 黎, not 黝.

――それと申し訳ありません、件の＂黎（あおぐろ）き核＂については…… And I apologize, regarding that “blue-black core”… (translation via spreadsheet) Also, my apologies, regarding the matter of the “livid core”… (translation by OP)

OP, if you’re a fan translator worth your kibbled salt, where are you getting your crayon colors from?

Great question, because I’ve been agonizing over this for 150 game hours and literal months since I was first asked the question and gave a preliminary answer above the cut.

I did call in a favor from a friend who has a copy of the unabridged New Nelson Japanese-English Character Dictionary. Alas, New Nelson didn’t tell me anything Jisho.org hadn’t already.

黎 7049 | J7355 | M47994 REI dark, black; many 黝 7058 | J735b | M48082 YŪ. YU. aoguro blue-black; black; black soil.

My first thought was looking up “黎 color” with Japanese sources. When in doubt, kimono swatch websites usually have my back. Turns out that was a much longer shot than I hoped. I got nothing. Dawn/Daybreak colors also turned out to be a dead end. Looking that up returned purples, pinks, and oranges, but NOT blues or grays! Or, some very abstract strings of words adjacent to mood boards themes, candy, and makeup. I went through a bunch of paint chips as well. I didn’t get anything I liked in either the blue section or the black section. The blues all had too much chroma and not enough shade; the blacks had very little value differentiation.

Then it hit me like a brick: what if I look up synonyms for “black and blue” like a bruise. Between Oxford, Merriam-Webster, and a thesaurus, I landed on “livid”, hex color #6699C (I haven't figured out how to upload my own images yet). And I decided to run with it. Apparently, “livid” used to mean “blue in the face” exasperation before it became a flavor of “anger”. But it is a dark blue-grey—and that’s what I need!

Meanwhile 黝 via Kotobank tossed me in the deep end with genuine Chinese. * 黝黝 yuuyuu or you3you3, うす黒色。a blackish color * 黝黯・黝暗 (no Japanese reading) you3an4, 暗い．少しの光もない．Dark. Without even the slightest bit of light. * 黝黑 you3hei1 (no Japanese reading) どす黒い．黒ずんでいる；暗い．Dusky. To darken; Dark. * 黑黝黝 hei1you3you3 (no Japanese reading) 黒光りしているさま to have a black luster. 暗くてよく見えないさま Too dark to see.

Lin Yutang’s Chinese-English Dictionary of Modern Usage Via The Chinese University of Hong Kong (extremely handy in times of need) said:

So what this is says to me is that 黝 is a special kind of dark. I’m looking for a neighbor of pitch black or jet black. Just for funzies, let’s see what Trails in the Database has to say.

“Pitch black” returned 真っ暗 makkura (Sky games), 真っ黒 makkuro (Zero/Azure), 黒 kuro, 漆黒 shikkoku, 暗黒 ankoku, 暗がりkuragari (Cold Steel 3-4).

“Jet black” is exclusively 漆黒 shikkoku except when it refers to Rean’s physical appearance, which is just normal black 黒 kuro.

To the thesaurus I returned. I wanted something Atramentous. Sunless. Unlit. In total absence of light. I wasn’t totally sold on “stygian” as it has a secondary meaning of gloomy like a harbor in fog until I fell face first on Stygian Blue:

one such impossible colour, and is a chimerical type. It is said to be so dark and rich that it can only be perceived in complete darkness. Source

And you know what? That’s perfect.

But then if that’s all the case, then why did NISA call it "Trails through Daybreak” instead of something riffing on the color “black”? AO3 still has fics tagged under “trails in the dark” that need to be wrangled. The rationale for this choice didn’t hit me until one of Agnès’ lines right before the final boss.

でも、そんな貴方を支えて寄り添うことは出来ると思うんです。 まだまだ半人前ですけどあくまで私ならではの”色”で。 黒でもない、白でもない！ましてや灰色ですらないーー 夜明け前の優しい暗がりみたいに寄り添ってくれる貴方だけの色がーー どうしようもなく愛おしくて何があっても失いかくないから！！ However, I do think that I can support you while you do all those things, and comfort you. I’m still very half-baked, but I have my very own “color”. It’s not black, or white, or any share of gray in between! You’re the gentle color of the night, just before the dawn breaks through the darkness– No matter what it takes, I refuse to lose someone I love so much! (translation via spreadsheet) But, I think I’m able to support and hold fast to you. I may not be fully qualified yet, but ultimately with my own “color”. I can’t help cherishing your unique color holding fast to me—it’s not black or white! Least of all grey—like a gentle darkness before daybreak, because, no matter what happens, I don’t want to lose it!! (Translation by OP)

黎明 reimei and 夜明け yoake are synonymous. One-sided crushes on an adult who gives them any positive attention at all and being the unfortunate victim of Falcom's age-gap prone shipping tendencies aside, this section really encapsulates how not only Agnès but everyone feels about having Van in their lives, I think that’s beautiful.

Get adopted, Idiot

Post script: I’d also like to mention another shade of black does come up in the game, but it’s not in the game’s body script. It’s in one of Melchior’s crafts. 涅色 kuriiro something. I didn’t catch the whole thing, and it seems Kiseki wiki hasn't gotten that far either. A kimono swatch site tracked this color down with little effort: the color of “dirt at the bottom of a river.” If I needed to pull this out of a crayon box, I’d go with an “umber”.