I am translating an epic to English. In the original, it has the phrase
He wields his godly lance, the lance full of souls of people who died of injustice.
"He" is the protagonist. He is described as the strongest, the most handsome, the bravest man in the world. He would overcome many obstacles and achieve wonders.
The phrase "souls of people who died of injustice" in the original language has only 2 words. As it is repeated a few times in the epic, I would hope that the wording I use would also be concise.
More than shortness/utility, this phrase reflect an important point of their moral view of wars, justice. This view is consistent with other philosophies in the epic about human, humanity, human rights. So I hope it would be concise and memorable.
Words I don't think iscan be a good fit:
These words have been discussed in comment section and then moved here by a moderator. I believe some suggestion are excellent by its own right, none of them are "bad" or "wrong". However I considered them to be not a good fit into the story as a whole. Future readers should also consider these words in their particular case.
"Martyr" seems to assume some kind of posthumous validation/recognition. I don't think any positive implication is appropriate in this case. Also "Martyr" have a strong link to religious belief. These souls are simply victims of war, also no religions are identified in the epic.
I feel "souls of the oppressed" is a little bit specific in a direction that introduce new meaning. The epic does not have any significant oppression angle. Being oppressed is a consistent state of rights-stripping actions, usually within a directional policy. Injustice could refer to one or many unrelated/related actions that are unjust. You could live your whole life as a privileged person and still died of injustice like a robbery or being framed.
I don't feel "Souls of the slain" is clear enough of the judgement aspect. Injustice means it's judged to be wrong. This epic often made it clear what's right and wrong