When Dream and Day Unite - The Killing Hand

The Killing Hand

The lyrics of the song describe a man who wakes up unaware of where he is. He looks around to see walls covered in names of people who have died. He wants to find out why, and travels back in time to find out. This time travel is represented by travelling to the bottom of the sea.

When he arrives, he sees that a tyrant is killing all of the people, referred to as "The Killing Hand". In an effort to stop The Killing Hand from continuing this, he destroys him. Shortly after, he gets called back into the present.

When he arrives however, he is overcome by a strange feeling. He rushes back to the wall and sees that his name has been added to the list - in an example of something similar to a predestination paradox. He was The Killing Hand, and when he went back through time he killed himself.

The story of the song's lyrics is explained by John Petrucci on the "When Dream and Day Reunite" DVD.

The story is itself loosely based on a story about the writing on the wall from the biblical Book of Daniel in which a hand appears and writes something on the wall of the palace of the king of Babylon. Daniel, summoned to interpret the text, says that the message is from God and means that he intended the king and his kingdom to fall. According to the story, the king was slain that night.