Editing Nightwish (section)

===Lyrical themes===
In the beginning, Holopainen mainly wrote about mythological and fantasy themes,<ref>{{cite web |author=lancelot |url=http://www.yopi.de/rev/206437|title=Nightwish: Oceanborn --> einfach genial!!!'' |website=Yopi.de |date=May 11, 2005 |language=de |access-date=August 3, 2007}}</ref> and often used references to "metaphysics and nature".<ref>Matthias Mineur: ''Nightwish. Suomi Superstars'' in ''EMP 4/99'', p. 26</ref> Fantasy novels especially are a big influence on Nightwish's lyrics. Songs such as "Wishmaster," "Elvenpath," and "Wanderlust" make fairly clear references to fantasy novels, in this case the ''[[Dragonlance]]'' series and [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''.<ref name="u-empire/holo" /> "FantasMic" from ''Wishmaster'' is a direct tribute to Walt Disney and Disney animated films, which Holopainen has said are among his influences.<ref name="powermetal/00">{{cite web |first=Georg |last=Weihrauch |url=http://power-metal.de/interview/interview-27.html |title=Interview Nightwish – Tuomas Holopainen |work=Power-Metal.de |date=November 12, 2000 |language=de |access-date=August 15, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928020413/http://power-metal.de/interview/interview-27.html |archive-date=September 28, 2007 }}</ref> ''Dark Passion Play'' featured the return to the fantasy theme with songs such as "Sahara", "Whoever Brings the Night" and "7 Days to the Wolves", which is loosely based on [[Stephen King]]'s novel ''[[The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla|Wolves of the Calla]]'', the fifth book in the [[The Dark Tower (series)|Dark Tower]] series.<ref name="u-empire/holo" /><ref name="pm 7/07">{{cite web |first=Ricarda |last=Schwoebel |url=http://powermetal.de/interview/interview-1325.html |title=Interview Nightwish – Anette, Tuomas |website=Powermetal.de |date=August 3, 2007 |language=de |access-date=November 4, 2007}}</ref> The song "The Poet and the Pendulum's" first section is called "The White Lands of Empathica", which is a reference to [[The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower|the seventh book]] in the Dark Tower series.<ref name="tuomasholopainen.net"/>

Over the years, the lyrics became more personal.<ref name="powermetal/00"/> "Dead Boy's Poem" from ''Wishmaster'' is an emotional piece, which Holopainen calls his "legacy and [...] testament for the whole world. [...] I wanted to do this song before I die because I wanted to tell the whole world what I think and feel. It expresses a lot of myself."<ref name="powermetal/00" /> The personal development became even more obvious on the ''Wishmaster'' successor ''[[Century Child]]''. Turunen thinks that the lyrics no longer deal "with the dreamland we were used to, but with the brutal reality of life."<ref>{{Cite web |first=Tom |last=Klaner |url=http://www.bright-eyes.de/baseportal/Stories/interviewdetail&Id==386 |title=Nightwish |work=Bright-Eyes.de |language=de |access-date=August 3, 2007}}</ref>

"Kuolema Tekee Taiteilijan" (in English, "Death Makes an Artist") from ''Once'' describes the experience of loss and its impact on art, "[[Nemo (song)|Nemo]]" deals with the feeling of being lost,<ref name="u-empire/holo">{{Cite web |first=Klaudia |last=Weber |url=http://www.underground-empire.com/article.php?idx=611 |title=Nightwish Interview |work=Underground-Empire.com |language=de |access-date=August 3, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930081918/http://www.underground-empire.com/article.php?idx=611 |archive-date=September 30, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and "Dead Gardens" deals with a bout of [[writer's block]] Holopainen suffered.<ref name="u-empire/holo" /> "Creek Mary's Blood" is based on [[Dee Brown (writer)|Dee Brown]]'s story of the same name, which presents the situation of Native Americans at the end of the 19th century.<ref name="u-empire/holo" />

2007's ''[[Dark Passion Play]]'' included an unusual number of personal songs, including "The Poet and the Pendulum", which has been described as Holopainen's life story, and about being a composer and musician.<ref name="tuomasholopainen.net"/> "Meadows of Heaven" is a depiction of Holopainen's childhood and the feeling that it'll never return. "[[Bye Bye Beautiful]]" and "Master Passion Greed" are about ex-member [[Tarja Turunen]] and her husband Marcelo Cabuli.<ref name="tuomasholopainen.net"/> "Cadence of Her Last Breath" is a "very personal song" about running away.<ref name="tuomasholopainen.net">{{cite web |url=http://tuomasholopainen.net/darkpassionplay.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724114248/http://tuomasholopainen.net/darkpassionplay.html |archive-date=July 24, 2011 |title=Tuomas about the DPP tracks |work=Tuomasholopainen.net |access-date=October 23, 2011}}</ref> The album also contains many references to authors such as [[Edgar Allan Poe]] and [[Walt Whitman]].<ref name="tuomasholopainen.net"/>

''[[Imaginaerum]]'' has different lyrical themes. For example, the song "Ghost River" is about "a duel between the [[Devil]] and Mother Gaia", while "Scaretale" concerns "childhood nightmares and monsters".
<ref name="about">{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoAfwVaniac | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/qoAfwVaniac| archive-date=2021-10-30|title=Imaginaerum track by track |date=November 10, 2011 |via=YouTube |access-date=June 24, 2015}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

On ''[[Endless Forms Most Beautiful (album)|Endless Forms Most Beautiful]]'', lyrical themes included the beauty of the world and everything it has to offer ("Shudder Before The Beautiful"),<ref name=spaziorock>{{cite web|title=Nightwish: track by track di "Endless Forms Most Beautiful"!|url=http://www.spaziorock.it/speciale.php?&id=nightwish-esclusivo-track-by-track-di-endless-forms-most-beautiful|website=SpazioRock.it|access-date=June 24, 2015|date=March 17, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150704195744/http://www.spaziorock.it/speciale.php?&id=nightwish-esclusivo-track-by-track-di-endless-forms-most-beautiful|archive-date=July 4, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> criticism about how some religions restrict people's lives ("Weak Fantasy"),<ref name=FCMH1>{{cite web|title=Nightwish interview – Marco (part 1) |url=http://faceculture.nl/nightwish-interview-marco-part-1 |website=FaceCulture.nl |access-date=June 24, 2015 |date=February 23, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150415174949/http://faceculture.nl/nightwish-interview-marco-part-1 |archive-date=April 15, 2015 }}</ref> and the meaning of life, which can be something different for all of us ("[[Élan (song)|Élan]]").

The first disc of ''[[Human. :II: Nature.]]'' continues the theme of Nightwish's previous album, with the album's theme being based on human nature and how they are as a species, with songs about modern society ("[[Noise (Nightwish song)|Noise]]"),<ref>{{cite web |title=NIGHTWISH's TUOMAS HOLOPAINEN Says 'Noise' Video Is 'Not A Criticism About Technology Or Cell Phones' |url=https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/nightwishs-tuomas-holopainen-says-noise-video-is-not-a-criticism-about-technology-or-cell-phones/ |website=Blabbermouth |access-date=December 22, 2020 |date=8 March 2020}}</ref> life ("Harvest"),<ref>{{cite web |title=NIGHTWISH's TROY DONOCKLEY Talks "Harvest" Single In New Countdown Video|url=https://bravewords.com/news/nightwish-s-troy-donockley-talks-harvest-single-in-new-countdown-video|website=BraveWords|access-date=December 22, 2020|date=April 5, 2020|language=en}}</ref> the human imagination ("Pan"), and an ode to human empathy ("How's the Heart?").<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/nightwishs-tuomas-holopainen-on-human-ii-nature-its-a-concept-album-without-intending-it-to-be/|title=NIGHTWISH's TUOMAS HOLOPAINEN On 'Human. :II: Nature': 'It's A Concept Album Without Intending It To Be'|work=Blabbermouth|date=February 4, 2020|access-date=August 9, 2020}}</ref>

''[[Yesterwynde]]'', the tenth studio album, continues the themes on the previous two studio albums: time, humanism and history.<ref>{{Cite web |date=30 April 2024 |title=Nightwish: "The whole theme of the album is time, history, humanism,... |url=https://www.kerrang.com/nightwish-album-yesterwynde-interview-tuomas-holopainen-first-look/ |access-date=1 May 2024 |website=Kerrang! |language=en}}</ref>

Although the lyrics of Nightwish generally are serious with dark meanings, they have also produced several less serious songs, including the bonus track "Nightquest", which talks about the band members' (the three original members as well as [[Jukka Nevalainen|Nevalainen]]) connection as musicians, and the "quest" of Nightwish.<ref name="tuomasholopainen.net"/>