30-sec preview
2026 · From the album Masters of the Universe (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Eternia
by Daniel Pemberton & Brian May
The reading
A heavy-metal battle hymn for the Masters of the Universe film, rallying Eternia's defenders against Skeletor with the iconography of sword, sorceress and Castle Greyskull
02 · Interpretation
Eternia: Brian May's Battle Hymn for a New Masters of the Universe
The song is a call-to-arms anthem written for the 2026 Masters of the Universe film, framing Eternia not as a cartoon setting but as a homeland whose freedom is worth a war.
From the opening line, the track plants itself in epic-fantasy soil. The forces of good are "forged in the fires" of war and ride out against "the hordes of evil Skeletor." That is the entire moral architecture of He-Man stated in two couplets: there is a villain, there is an army, and the song is the music that plays as the army moves. Daniel Pemberton, who scores the film, and Brian May, whose guitar vocabulary built much of what arena rock sounds like, lean into the genre this material has always belonged to: heavy metal as mythology.
A character sketch in verse
The second verse functions as a quick origin recap. The sorceress chooses a champion, the falcon imagery (Zoar, in the lore) gives him flight, and a prince is summoned to Castle Greyskull "to join the epic fight." The song does not name Prince Adam or He-Man, but anyone who has touched the franchise can map the lines. Calling him "warrior divine" and "wielder of the power" lifts him out of children's-TV register and into something closer to Arthurian hymn.
The pre-chorus stakes the cosmic argument plainly: darkness would consume the world if light retreated. There is no ambivalence here, and the song is better for refusing it. Anthems do not equivocate.
The chorus as flag
The two-part chorus does the heaviest lifting. "Eternia arise" treats the planet as a nation being summoned to its feet, with "land of our freedom, our great endeavour" borrowing the cadence of national hymns. "Eternia alight" then pivots to the franchise's most quoted phrase, "we all have the power," and widens the scope from Masters of the Universe to "Masters of the Multiverse," a tell that the film is thinking in bigger cosmological terms than the 1980s cartoon did.
The middle verses keep the militarised optimism going. The battle still rages but "the dawn of victory" is already visible; "the cosmic keys will open the gates of destiny"; "the circle is unbroken" and souls will be free. These are stock images of fantasy war poetry, and they are used without irony. The song is not winking at the genre; it is committing to it.
A short bridge frames the soldiers as singers, "hymns of power" and "songs of might," which is the song commenting on itself. The masters of the night, it promises, will not subdue "the force of light." It is the Manichean center of every He-Man story turned into a chant.
Why heavy metal, specifically
The penultimate section is the giveaway. After invoking the sword, "tales from long ago," and Castle Greyskull's gates thrown open, the lyric lands on the line that makes the whole project legible: "darkness won't devour where Heavy Metal reigns." This is the song telling you, out loud, which musical tradition it considers the rightful soundtrack to swords and sorcery. Brian May's involvement is not incidental; the He-Man universe has always sat closer to Dio, Manowar and early Queen than to children's pop. The film seems to know this and lets the score say so.
Whether 'Eternia' endures will depend on the film around it, but as a standalone artifact it does something interesting: it treats a toy franchise with the seriousness of a national anthem and dares the listener to find that ridiculous. Played loud enough, it isn't. Anthems work when they refuse to apologise for themselves, and this one refuses.
Themes catalogued
03 · Lyrics
"Eternia"
Forged in the fires
And the darkest depths of war
We're riding out to fight the hordes
Of evil Skeletor
Chosen by the sorceress
Wings of falcon, soaring flight
A prince called to the castle
To join the epic fight
Wielder of the power
Warrior divine
And darkness would devour
Where light refused to shine
Eternia arise!
Your glory is forever
Land of our freedom
Our great endeavour
Eternia alight!
For we all have the power
The Masters of the Multiverse
Are rising up to fight
The battle is still raging
Yet the dawn of victory
In the wars that we are waging
Is clear for us to see
The cosmic keys will open
The gates of destiny
The circle is unbroken
Our souls will yet be free
Joining our forces
With all that's good and right
History and its courses
Are ours now to write
Eternia arise!
Your glory is forever
Land of our freedom
Our great endeavour
Eternia alight!
For we all have the power
The Masters of the Multiverse
Are rising up to fight
Hear us singing the hymns of power
The songs of might and all that is true
And the masters of the night
They will never subdue
The force of light
The sword holds magic mysteries
Of tales from long ago
Of heroes and their histories
And of legends that we know
Raise it high to heaven
Let the power shine our light
Let the gates of Castle Greyskull
Be ever open wide
See the magic Power
Coursing through our veins
Darkness won't devour
Where Heavy Metal reigns!
Eternia arise!
Your glory is forever
Land of our freedom
Our great endeavour
Eternia arise!
Your glory is forever
Land of our freedom
Our great endeavour
Eternia alight!
For we all have the power
The Masters of the Multiverse
Are rising up to fight
Lyrics via Google. Copyright belongs to rights holders.
04 · FAQ