Lute

The Lute may refer to the string instrument to which Octavian carries and uses in his travels, playing songs along his way. It may also speak of any string or string-like instrument or tool that is shaped and functions similarly to the Bard's weapon.

Lute may also be referencing the Golden Lute, an enhanced or enchanted gold-colored lute instrument that grants the user the ability to heal as well as resurrect. When it is played, its songs bring about unnatural forces that bring the world life, even in places it should not.

Investigating the nearby Crypt, Nocturna learns that the dead have been disturbed and seeks answers on the cause. She deepens into the halls and finds the Conductor amplifying a gold lute. Disgusted, the two sparred in the Chamber, Nocturna disabling the Conductor's instruments and machinery, while the Conductor summons more undead creatures at her side. The battle continues to get intense until Nocturna manages to overpower her. Though she began to smash the Conductor's equipment in a fit of rage, Nocturna paused before leaving, leaving the fate of the lute to be unknown.

The lute became legendary for its abilities; Aria sought the Golden Lute for its power to heal. Due to the rising greed of the villagers, she ventured for the deceased bard Octavian on how to destroy the powerful treasure. Instead, she was killed, leaving the Golden Lute in the possession of the now ascending NecroDancer. When Cadence and Dorian defeated him momentarily, they managed to utilize the Lute to revive Melody; in doing so, however, her body and soul were cursed to the strummings of its songs. Ultimately, though, she faces the NecroDancer too and, upon a chase through the Crypt, Melody reawakened her mother Aria. Aria kills the NecroDancer and takes the Golden Lute from her daughter, proclaiming that her return was to properly destroy the Lute for good.

Backtracking to an altar, Aria makes an attempt to let the Lute burn into ashes; unaware, the Golden Lute transformed into a monsterous, dragon-like beast and attacks her in a Chamber of Fire. The two danced amongst each other and trotted around, quaking the Crypt. Though the beast strived to kill her, it had been slain by her and destroyed properly in the Crypt's flames.