TWENTY ONE PILOTS
Lore
Master Doc
Welcome! In this carrd i will explain the whole Twenty One Pilots lore in the most understandable way i can.
To begin, start by clicking on each button starting from top to bottom
Congratulations, youve reached the end!I hope you now have a fuller understanding of the Twenty One Pilots lore and can now start theorising for yourself!Thankyou so much for taking the time to check out this carrd as it took me a lot of hard work and time, its very much appreciated and remember...Make sure you stay alive for your own Dema escape||-//
Characters
Tyler
Status: Protagonist
Currently: AliveTyler is the main protagonist in Trench lore. The universe itself was created in Tyler's head, meaning all aspects of it are metaphors for something he is experiencing. The story of Trench takes place in his point of view.
Josh
Status: Protagonist
Currently: AliveJosh is the leader of the Banditos. He wears yellow tape across his chest, said to protect his heart. He provides Tyler comfort and is theorised to be the only thing Tyler can remember outside the walls of Dema.
Artist: @LVL0FCNCRN on twitter
Clancy
Status: Protagonist
Currently: Dead???Clancy is a character neither Tyler nor Josh know of but his character has been used for storytelling on the dma.org website using letters. He is depicted by most fans to have glasses and curly hair however Clancy's gender or appearance has not been confirmed by the band itself.The name Clancy is an Irish name meaning "Son of the red/ruddy warrior" (Son of the red bishops perhaps)
The bishops (The Nine)
Status: Antagonist
Currently: Alive
The city of Dema is run by 9 bishops, each representing one of Tyler's insecurities. The bishop Nico although represented as a bishop IS Blurryface. The Bishops are the ones holding Dema's citizens captive and enforcing the religion known as "Vialism" within the city.The bishops have the ability to put people in a trance like state in which they are able to control them. They do this to Tyler by smearing black paint onto his neck which then slowly engulfs his throat and hands.Each bishops name corresponds to the Blurryface album cover and is pulled from the particular songs lyrics:
The Blurryface album cover contains dots with different patterns that represent certain songs on the album.
This image is taken from the map of Dema given to us. When turned so that east is up (clockwise), the names match up to lyrics on the corresponding song to the album cover
Nico
Stressed Out - No Correlating Lyric.
Insecurity: Success
Andre
Fairly Local: And repeat yesterdays dance.
Insecurity: Staying The Same/Never Changing.
Keons
HeavyDirtySoul: Choke On Smoke.
Insecurity: Repetition
Sarcarver
Tear In My Heart: She's A Carver
Insecurity: Fear Of Love.
Listo
Ride: List Of People
Insecurity: Abandonment and Overthinking.
Vetomo
Lane Boy: Will They Be Alive Tomorrow
Insecurity: Conformity.
Nills
Goner: ..And Broken Down, I'll Slip Away.
Insecurity: Defeat.
Lisden
Polarize: All I Feel Is Denial
Insecurity: What's Coming/Not Being Enough.
Reisdro
Doubt: Temperature Is Dropping.
Insecurity: Self Doubt
Ned
Neuro-Expansion Device
Status - Neutral
Currently: Missing
Making his first appearance in the music video "Chlorine" Ned represents Tyler's perception of creativity and having to take care of it, feed it, satisfy it. It's neither good nor bad.This is shown in the music video as Tyler and Josh have to repeatedly go out of their way in order to lure him out. When he is finally pleased with their work on the pool he grows and evolves.
Pet cheetah
Jason Statham
Status: Neutral
Currently: Alive
Jason the Cheetah is only mentioned once in the song "Pet Cheetah". He represents Tyler's battle with writers block whilst writing Trench. Jason is a metaphor for something that helps him get through the block to create something he's proud of.
Vultures
Status: Neutral
Vultures can be seen all over Dema, perching up on buildings and the perimeter walls. To the inhabitants of Dema, the vulture represents who they want to become. They're the only creature the people see come and go from Dema as they please.
It devours death, making it a symbol of hope and responsibility to turn death into life. "May we learn from what we've lost and commit to living".
Trash The Dragon
Status: Neutral
Currently: Alive
Trash the dragon made his appearance with the release of Scaled And Icy and has been in several music videos since.
In Dema, a "Trash Dragon" is slang for a vulture. Trash isn't just a dragon, he is a "morphed" vulture. Trash can pass through Dema and Trench with ease like a vulture and is powered by imagination. He is said to represent Tyler's passion and imagination, however this isn't yet confirmed.Trash being a vulture also correlates to the fact that the Trench and Scaled And Icy album covers are exactly the same, just flipped and "redecorated"
Blurryface
As well as being the title to twenty one pilots 5th album, "Blurryface" is also a character in twenty one pilots lore. He was introduced to us in 2015 and was present in many music videos and stage shows.
Blurryface is a physical manifestation of Tylers insecurities. He is the part of Tylers mind who ensues self doubt and negative feelings in general
During the Blurryface album cycle, Tyler Can be seen on stage and in music videos to be wearing black paint on his hands and neck to represent the characters control over him "I wear black paint on my hands and neck because it helps me to get in the character of Blurryface. I wore black paint on my hands because I‘m insecure of what I write, and on my neck because of the feeling of suffocation".
In music videos he can also be depicted with red eyes, signifying complete control over tyler. Blurryfaces deep voice can also be heard in many of the bands songs such as stressed out and fairly local.
Tyler uses blurryface to seperate himself from that side of himself however he IS Tyler. Blurryface, the album, is largely a narrative on Tyler's fears and insecurities and how he's battling them.
Blurryface also has a twitter account which was mainly active during the Blurryface era. He tweeted in all caps, with jumbled letters and in an aggressive manor.
After the Blurryface era ended, the twitter account deleted all their tweets and became inactive.
Trench
Trench is a place in between two places, the place you want to be which is currently unknown and the place you don't want to be, DEMA. This is mentioned in the song Bandito "This is the sound we make, When in between two places, Where are we used to bleed, And where're our blood needs to be"Trench is a hilly grass land, containing cliffs, rivers and caves, it is meant to be a place of uncertainty, ambiguity and cloudiness.Trench is a metaphor for the middle ground of becoming aware that where you are isn't benefiting you and using that to move forward to the next place.
Located in Trench are a group of people known as the Banditos. Banditos are people who have escaped Dema and aim to help other people do so by helping them realise Demas religion and way of life is wrong and that there is hope.The Banditos reside in camps throughout Trench, wielding torches and yellow tape. To the people of Dema, Banditos are thought of as just a myth, this is what their told by the bishops to erase their hope.The Banditos are a metaphor for Tyler's loved ones, friends and family who help drag him out of the dark parts of his mind, give him hope and a reason to live.
In trench, the colour yellow is considered to be a symbol of hope and rebellion against the bishops and the city of Dema.The Banditos sport green/camo clothing with yellow tape to show this rebellion and also as a way of camouflage because the bishops cannot see the colour yellow.
Dema
Dema is a city located in Trench ran by the 9 bishops.The city of Dema is shown in a map provided to us by Clancy on the dma.org website (shown below). It is split into 9 sections or districts, each having a bishop assigned to lead it. In the centre of the city are 9 towers of silence and around the outskirts are the neon gravestones before the tall perimeter walls, keeping the residents in and making them unaware of the outside world of trench.
The city of Dema represents mental illness, grief, loneliness, physical pain or any negative feeling/emotion.
When looking at Dema from an outside perspective, it looks monochrome, dark and boring. The residents all wear black, grey and white and have little to no facial expressions. The only colour in sight is the colour of the bishops cloaks, red.
In Dema, the bishops force the religion "vialism" upon all residents, forcing them to believe and conform to it. Part of the religion involves the bishops dancing around neon lights, encased in vials (as seen in the Nico And The Niners music video) as if they worship the artificial light.Inside Tyler's room in Dema there are the same neon lights. They're bright and blinding, perhaps used to help contain and control him along with the other residents.This is mentioned in several lyrics of Bandito "in city, i feel my spirit in contained, like neon, inside the glass they form my brain" and "I recently discovered its a heatless fire"
The main part of vialism however of of course is what they believe in. Vialism is the belief that your goal in life is to eventually take your own life and impact as many people with that as you possibly can. Your body would then be placed in the graveyard mentioned before which will be lit with neon light (Neon gravestones) . These neon lights soon became glorified in Dema and the Bishops began using them to get other residents of Dema to commit to vialism. The Neon Gravestones are in the shape of the upside down Blurryface era logo
A book on vialism found in the control room of the livestream experience
Tyler has mentioned that there is a secret to vialism that if you discover, its what makes you want to leave, it makes you see how wrong this belief really is.
The Bourbaki Group
The Bourbaki group was first introduced to us on the dmaorg website when the above image was posted to it by Clancy. The person pictured is Andre Weil (Notice the correlation with the bishop named Andre). Upon discovering who the person was, the clique soon discovered that he belonged to a group named "The bourbaki Group".
The Bourbaki Group was a secret society of French mathematicians in the 1930s. The actual name of the group is Nicolas Bourbaki (Notice the similarity to the bishop Nico) . There is no member of the group named this but for whatever reason, that's what they named it.Tyler has referenced this group several times like in the lyrics of Morph he says "He'll always try to stop me, that Nicolas Bourbaki, He's got no friends close, but those who know him most know, He goes by Nico, He told me I'm a copy"Through these lyrics we learn that the bishop Nico's full name is Nicolas Bourbaki.Tyler also tweeted a picture of his desktop back in 2018 and at the bottom of the open tab we can see his wallpaper which happens to be a picture of the Bourbaki group
With all these references made to this mathematician group we can safely assume that they're an important part to the trench storylineConnections to the group can be made from all the way back to 2015 when the band started slashing theirs O's in their logo.The Bourbaki group invented something called an empty set which is written as Ø
The band themselves have never mentioned the group however and have never proved any fan theories to be correct, the only time it was brung up was when an interviewer questioned Tyler on it which went as follows:
Interviewer: "How far are you into a Wikipedia wormhole when you come across this? (the Bourbaki group)"Tyler: "No, no THEY named their group after Nicolas Bourbaki"Interviewer: "but there is no Nicolas Bourbaki, right?"Tyler: They named their group after Blurryface."Interviewer: "Even though it was the 1930"s?"Tyler: "Yeah."Interviewer: "So how does it relate?"Tyler: "its EVERYTHING and at the same time, has nothing to do with it"Interviewer: "See I'm no good at math, this is difficult for me."Tyler: "Math?! *laughs* Math has nothing to do with it... and yet it has everything to do with it."
This doesn't really make much sense to us yet but a theory is that it correlates back to Tyler's idea of success
As we know, Nicolas Bourbaki (Nico) is the bishop with the insecurity of Fame and success.Tyler has always been open with the fact that success is a concept that he doesn't understand. What is success? and how do you know that you've reached it?Is it to do with how much money you make or if he gets in front of a certain amount of people or plays a certain amount of shows does that equal success? These are questions Tyler has admitted in previous interviews that he asks himself.These types of questions were even projected onto the big screens for their opening on the Tour De Columbus shows. Questions like "How many days does it take to start a band?" How many days does it take before people start showing up?" "How many days until you can play the big venue?
Notice how all the questions Tyler has about success involve numbers?
During one of the interviews where Tyler discusses this he specifically states "It's all about numbers" but then you can see him almost battling himself as he asks himself maybe its not about the numbers, maybe the most successful thing is the ONE person he's going impactSo he describes this number based idea of fame but then in the same breath questions that. Maybe he's valuing the wrong things? You can tell that this question eats away at him, its like he's trying to pull this thought out of his own head similarly like he has done with Blurryface.
In conclusion we don't know how this all relates to each other and this is only one of the theories out there but we know that both Dema and the Bourbaki group are secret society like organisations both with strict rules and cult like qualities.
Symbolism
Double bars logo
Committed in their rebellion against the teachings of vialism, the Banditos turn Dema's false beliefs on its head. The double lines making them protected more than ever, the double bars are a symbol of life and hope.
Compass E pitchfork
(East is up)
"East is up" is used as code for the Banditos to fool the bishops and to be able to escape Dema. Maps distributed by the Banditos only make sense when you turn them, so that east (and not north) is up. The phrase is also used to identify other Banditos and as a message of unity, truth and rebellion
Scaled and icy Logo
The SAI logo looks eerily similar to the east is up symbol which is used by the Banditos as a sign of rebellion. It is possible that the bishops took the symbol from them and made it their own as a way to take the Banditos message/hope out of Dema and morphing it to mean something else
The image above depicts an object named a sai sword which as you can probably tell is the exact same shape as the sai logo. Whether Tyler and Josh designed the logo based on the sword for a reason remains unknown.
Jumpsuit medalion
Along with the E pitchfork and several others, the jumpsuit medallion icon can be found on your copy of trench underneath the track listing.
The jumpsuit medallion is a birds eye view map of Trench. The Banditos use this to find their way as they trek through the trenches.
FPE
(The Few the Proud and the Emotional)
FPE was originally an acronym for the few the proud and the emotional during the blurryface era. This was how Tyler would refer to the Clique
The few: "we are such a relatively small group of people in the grand scheme of things, and whether we grow, shrink or stay the same, i love that about us."
The proud: "When you witness these individuals gather together in to one room they become one thinking organism, an organism that is proud of at least one thing, it is alive."
The emotional: "This is who we are. To suppress this would be one step closer to not existing. Music takes what little emotion we may have and cradles it, protects it, and nourishes it. Emotional. we are that. and that is good."
Since then, FPE has become an acronym for many things such as "Fine Pool Equipment" when referring to Ned or "Feature Performance Event" when referring to the Livestream Concert Experience and even "Food Petrol Ect." Which is a shop located in Dema
However the most relevant use of FPE in the Trench storyline is "Failed Perimeter Escape" coined by the bishops. Those who attempt to escape Dema but fail must wear an FPE badge as a way to shame them.They should however wear it with pride. For it doesn't only symbolise what the bishops intend it to, it is a symbol of the Bandito underground. The Few the Proud and the Emotional.
The statue
This statue can be found all over DEMA. It is what i believe to be a symbol of vialism. Just as Christians have the cross, the statue represents the religion in DEMA and is spread throughout the city. It can also be found in the building used to practice vialism and is seemingly worshipping the neon lights.
Smearing
Smearing is the process in which the bishops smear paint on the subjects neck. It is said to make the person forget about anything they may have seen outside the walls of Dema including the Banditos, put them in a trance and have the person lose hope therefore, making them easier to control
The colour yellow
In trench, the colour yellow represents hope and rebellion against the city of Dema. It is used as a form of protection as the bishops cannot see it.This is partly shown in the Jumpsuit music video in which the bishops smear black paint on Tyler's neck, putting him under their control. While in this Trance Tyler comes across 3 bright yellow flowers which almost snap him out of it. The Banditos then all throw yellow petals down onto Tyler, allowing him to completely break free of their control and run.Tyler also brings back one of these yellow flowers each time he is caught and brought back to Dema by the Bishops. This is shown in the Nico And The Niners music video.The Banditos also use this colour by wearing yellow tape on top of their camouflage clothing as a form of protection and hope.
The colour red
While yellow represents the good in trench, red represents bad.Red is the colour used to represent evil and danger. It is literally the colour of the bishops cloaks.Red is used in live performances to signify when Blurryface may be the one talking.For example in morph the lights flash red as Blurryfaces deep voice sings the line "Ones and Zeros" and throughout the whole of stressed out.
The Trench støryline
So by now you should be an expert on all the elements and symbolism in the trench universe, but what's the actual timeline? and how did the clique uncover all of this?
Well, the actual storyline is believed to begin at the end of the Blurryface album starting with the Heavydirtysoul music video. However, its completely possible that it could've started before that.In this music video, Tyler is in what seems to be an out of control car, the driver being a hooded figure... sound familiar? Although back then we knew nothing about the bishops we can now connect it back.
So basically the reason the bishops have taken Tyler out in a car is it is their plan to lure out the Banditos so they can then capture them.The Banditos however, have their own plan. Josh is sent out to rescue Tyler in his newly dyed yellow rebellion hair.
Josh uses his drums (a way in which he concentrates his passion and uses it as power I would assume) to slowly destroy the car whilst it repeatedly swerves past him, threatening to kill him.
Tyler sees Josh and manages to gain control over Blurryface, causing the hooded figure to disappear from the front of the car. Tyler jumps out the car before blowing it up and watching it burn.
Shortly after this music video was dropped, Tyler tweeted a photo of him washing the Blurryface paint off of his hands, signifying that he had escaped Dema and therefore had escaped the grip of Blurryface.Little did the clique know, this would be the last thing he would post in over a year.On July 6th 2017 The band account repeatedly changed their profile picture and header across all social medias. Each time they updated them, a red eye was shown to be closing little by little, along with lyrics taken from their previous albums until the eye was completely closed, leaving only a dash and a header that said "Silence" marking the start of their year long hiatus.
12 days after this happened, Josh made his final appearance for a year at the APMAs music awards to accept the bands award for "Most dedicated fanbase"Josh got up on stage to take the award and stated "Tyler wishes he could be here, he's actually off severing ties with Dema"
This was our first time we had ever heard that word... Dema and we had no idea what it meant. The clique just assumed it was a mistake and he had meant something else or maybe an inside joke he and Tyler had.For a whole year after that, we didn't hear from the band at all, they weren't active on any social media to our knowledge. That was it... or was it?In April 2018 the clique must've been feeling pretty bored, not hearing from their favourite band for 9 months because somehow someone found a hidden link which flashed on the screen for under a second within the video found on their merch website.
When typed into a search bar, the link brought you to a 404 error telling you that you're in violation and must not tell ANYONE about this website or that you were ever there along with a violation code at the bottom
There is also a hidden message, with all the capital letters in the message spelling "EAST IS UP"so that's it right? a dead end? nope.When typing in the same link into a search bar and adding the violation code onto the end, it brought you to a completely new website... dmaorg.
From April through to July the dmaorg website was regularly updated with cryptic photos and letters written by 'Clancy'. These letters and images were our main source used to build the Trench storyline.Before continuing on, click the button below to learn about the dmaorg updates, then come back here to learn about the rest of the timeline.
Now that you've learnt about dmaorg and Clancy's adventure in Trench, lets continue with the story
In the midst of the dmaorg updates the band ended the Hiatus on July 11th 2018, similarly to the way they started it. They repeatedly posted on all their social medias a video of an eye opening, this one looking slightly different, being yellow and having a distorted almost creepy sounding music over it.
The more the eye opened the less distorted the music became (it ended up being jumpsuit) and the more you could see inside the eye
The band then released Jumpsuit, Nico and the niners and announced the Bandito Tour.
The music video for Jumpsuit takes place right after the Heavydirtysoul one.
Tyler opens the trunk of the now destroyed, burnt up car and takes out a green jacket with yellow tape on the shoulders then heads East (east is up) to where the rebellion is located.
Tyler travels for a long time though Trench, you can tell this because his hair has grown back. He is clearly tired in the music video because of this fact. He has however, finally arrived. He is at the Trench.
The Banditos then emerge from up on the cliff tops and warn Tyler of what is coming
Tyler was being trailed by the bishop Nico who has swiftly caught up to him. Tyler becomes paralyzed at the sight of Nico who gets off his horse and approaches him before performing the smearing process on him, putting him under Nico's control
The black paint spreads until it engulfs Tyler's entire neck as he begins to follow Nico back to Dema in a trance.It is then he sees 3 yellow flowers which partly breaks him out of the spell, causing him to look up at the Banditos who start throwing yellow petals down at him in an attempt to save him
This allows Tyler to completely gain control back from Nico and make a run for it.
The rough terrain however soon makes Tyler lose his footing. He falls over and the bishop begins dragging him back to Dema. Tyler lays there lifeless, not fighting back and with a single yellow flower grasped in his hand. Josh stood at the top of the cliffs helpless to overpower the bishop he must wait for his next chance to strike.
The next music video of the trilogy, Nico and the niners gives us our first look into Dema itself
The shot zooms into Tyler who is inside his room in Dema. The room is dark with only one light source. The neon lights
Tyler can still be seen holding the yellow flower from before that he has brought back from trench. He walks over to a set of drawers and places it inside with all the other flowers he has collected, showing us he has had many Failed Perimeter Escapes in the past.Tyler then starts preparing for his next escape. He packs a backpack full of his things including his red beanie and white sunglasses from Blurryface era. It seems he cant leave behind this literal BAGGAGE from the past.Josh is then shown travelling through the tunnels along with his Bandito crew on their way to save TylerIt also cuts to the bishops who have gathered an assembly of residents to perform vialism and worship the neon lights
The Banditos arrive in Dema and remain undiscovered by the bishops as they walk through the city bearing their torches. Some residents see them though and appear almost scared of them, closing their windows. To them, the Banditos are just a group of people invading their home and threatening the things familiar to them.
Tyler grabs his bag and leaves his room to head for the tunnels where he is then greeted by the Banditos walking towards him.At first he seems unsure of them as if he cant remember who they are, he turns around to run but more Banditos approach him from behind. It isn't until Josh takes off his mask and reveals is identity that Tyler is instantly reassured and they perform their secret handshake.They perform the rap part of the song and Josh's drums start to make the black paint above ripple from the vibration, alerting the bishops of their presence, causing them to rush down below.Tyler, Josh and the Banditos are quick to leave though through the tunnels and escape back to Trench, the Banditos placing yellow tape on Tyler's shoulders as a form of protection.
The end of the video shows two kids who have discovered Tyler and Josh's belongings left behind in Dema with the intention of convincing others of the Banditos existence. Josh's yellow drums with the double banded logo and Tyler's jacket.
The final music video of the series is of course levitate which shows us more of trench and where the Banditos live.After escaping Dema, the Banditos take Tyler to where they reside, their camp. The camp seems warm, homey and safe. It is here that Tyler shaves his head, signifying new beginnings, he is quite literally, severing ties with Dema.
The rest of the video shows The Banditos travelling through Trench and dancing as Tyler sings in the Bandito camp.At the end however, Tyler is snatched away by Nico and dragged back to Dema again by his neck.
The Banditos don't seem to notice this, whether this be because they started their own diversion, maybe they were too distracted by the music to realise Tyler was whisked away or perhaps they just knew they were no match for the bishop. They just had to let Tyler go.
After the music videos, we didn't get many updates on the lore, fans kept making theories however, we kept this universe alive. More music videos were released but they however didn't have anything to do with the lore, they had separate meanings and storiesClancy posted his final letter on dmaorg on January 22nd 2019. In this letter he said he regretted ever leaving DEMA and that it was home and then went radio silent.
dmaorg
This letter was the first thing to appear on the dmaorg website, a letter from Clancy's journal.In this letter, Clancy describes his relationship with Dema and the bishop assigned to his district. Keons. He tells us that as a kid, he looked at Dema with wonder, captivated by its ways but now, in his 9th year of being there, he can see it for what it truly is and is frustrated by this. Note that when this letter was uploaded, Twenty One Pilots had been a band for 9 years.This letter was when we were first introduced to the bishops. Clancy tells us that the bishop Keons is thought of highly by the people and is a lot nicer than the others.When reading this letter you come across the line "There was a wonderful structure to the city that put my cares to rest" the same line you can hear spoken at the beginning of Redecorate.
This image depicts the badge that people are forced to wear in Dema if they try to escape and fail. It is meant to shame them.The "violist code of conduct" is the code followed by those who participate in the religion vialism.
Captioned: death_eatE_rz
This Image shows the vultures perched on top of one of the towers located in the centre of Dema, otherwise known as the towers of silence. The tower of silence is connected to the Zoroastrian culture. Within said culture, they laid out the dead for the vultures to feast on atop these towers.
As explained before this is a photo of Andre Weil, the founder of the Bourbaki Group. This was our introduction to Nicolas Bourbaki, also known as Blurryface.On the day this was posted, the hiatus ended with the release of Jumpsuit and Nico and the niners.
The next image given to us by Clancy was the birds eye view map of Dema.
This next image on its own makes no sense, however when paired with a future update, it highlights a secret message.
In this letter, Clancy explains his idea of 'home' and how Dema has fit that description to him. He dreams of seeing what's beyond Dema's walls despite this and prays it will become a reality.The missing spaces in this letter spell out a secret message stating "You are still sleeping."
This is an update we got when the clique thought Nico's name was Nigo because of the lyric in stressed out "When i got older"It was probably given to us to clear up the fake rumour. Letters at the top of the GIF spell out "YOU STILL DONT KNOW HIS REAL NAME DO U. NICO NICO." with a cheetah underneath, foreshadowing the song "Pet cheetah".
Caption: not myonlyfri_en d
An image of the Banditos peering down from the cliff above.
This photo was taken from the Jumpsuit music video which was the Cliques first introduction to the Banditos, we still barely knew anything about them.The Banditos are merely a myth in Dema meaning Clancy had started to believe in them at this point or maybe even just looked up to them in some way, even if not real.
A GIF of a vulture, alluding to the trench album cover and they way they ended hiatus, by opening another yellow eye. a vultures eye.In Zorastrian culture, their religion died due to their being a lack of vultures to feed what they believed in. Tyler thought it was interesting how something out of their control could have a huge impact on their religion.
In this letter, Clancy tells us he has discovered the Neon Gravestones are a product of vialism and how wrong the religion really is. He questions if he's the only one who realises this and if so, how? Clancy now realises that he shouldn't glorify those dying to vialism, but rather the ones who fight against it.When putting the highlighter image from before on top of this letter it highlights the phrase "We are Banditos" and circles the words "Ned, End, Den". Ned in correlation to Neds bayou, Den to the lyrics "lions den" from my blood and End referring to the end of the Hiatus.
The opening shot to the music video for Nico and the niners.
In this letter, Clancy explains he is planning to escape DEMA that night. He tells us the preparation he has made for this moment. He explains that there will be a 'spectacle' big enough to distract the bishops for them to escape.This escape was made possible by us. The clique. We were the ones who started the "Complete diversion" in order for Clancy to escape by being so active on social media and being so focused on how excited we were for the album.
A GIF signalling to us that Clancy has now escaped Dema through the tunnels that run underneath the city.
Clancy writes us a letter from outside the walls of Dema for the first time. He explains that he knew Dema restricted him but he never knew how free he would feel in Trench.He is now completely sure that this is where he belongs and always has and he never wants to go back.He's now questioning if there's anyone else in Trench. Anyone else like him. were the Banditos real? Or merely a myth like the bishops had said all along.It was time for him to find out.
An image Clancy took of Tyler laying on the ground, exhausted from walking through Trench for days.
In this letter we learn that Clancy was there when the events in the Jumpsuit music video occurred. He explains he was hiding in the bushes when he sees a man walking down the middle of Trench. This man is of course, Tyler. He tells us about how he finally sees the Banditos who are looking down at Tyler, warning him before he sees the bishop on his white horse.Clancy was so sure he was alone in Trench but now he knows he isn't. He questions if leaving Dema was a mistake and that Trench is beginning to feel like an abyss, at least Dema was familiar to him and he found comfort in that. He decides to keep travelling on though, despite feeling more alone than ever. He ends the passage with "Cover me"
The last ever update made to the dmaorg website. Clancy again questions if leaving Dema was a mistake going as far as to call the city "home"He states that Trench is far to treacherous for him and he cant bare it for much longer.The bishop Keons finds Clancy and manipulates him using his kind manor. He embraces Clancy with open arms and tells him to "come home" in which Clancy agreesAt the time of writing the letter Clancy had been back in Dema for 3 weeks and was still questioning what was home to him, he's torn between these two places.it is said that after Clancy was taken back to DEMA he underwent the smearing process (black paint smeared on his neck) as everything he had once said about trench, he takes back. Once again Clancy is brainwashed.
On Mrch 16th 2022, dma org was finally updated again
A map showing more of the world of trench
This letter explains Clancys experience in Dema after dmaorg was terminated. Clancy was put to work by the bishops and was the one who created the livestream experience as per the bishops request. He worked for months on the show whilst still being kept prisoner as a punishment for running away and creating dmaorg.After the livestream experience, the bishops weren't done with Clancy yet. They wanted him to be entertainment for the citizens on a "performance at sea" (Saturday music video) he talks about trash destroying the submarine and also writes "i knew those weren't the real bishops on that ship". Clancy then gets washed up on the island called Voldsoy.
Level Of Concern
On the 10th of April 2020, Twenty One Pilots dropped their new song "Level of concern" just a cute song about quarantining with your family during COVID 19 right? Well yes. The song itself is about that but that didn't stop the band from using this song to start up the storyline again.
On June 10th 2020, the band account posted a video on twitter with a code to decifer
LOC - level of concern
061-220-20 = 06-12-2020 - June 12th 2020
12p - 12:00PM ET
And so, on that date at that time Twenty One Pilots went live on YouTube.The livestream was of a TV. At the start there was a voice speaking to us
It then flashed images and noises for 24 hours straight. The livestream was unnerving, it just didn't seem right... even the camera recording us in the background made me feel weird.
This livestream however kicked off a scavenger hunt that took the Clique days to finishThe fanbase had to scour the internet looking for codes to input into a website found in the livestreams description. There were 20 codes to find in total and each one unlocked a file containing old photos/videos of Tyler and Josh and cryptic images.There's a recap video on their YouTube if you are interested in finding out exactly how the codes were found.
Once the 20th code was found, the first few people to input it were put on a list to receive a gift and a link to a new website was unlocked. On this site, fans could upload their own footage and be apart of the Level Of Concern never ending music video, a livestream that went on for 178 days with level of concern playing on a loop and the fans footage playing over it.Little did we know at the time that uploading footage to the never ending video was actually you indoctrinating yourself to Dema.
It was us, offering ourselves up to Dema and unbeknownst to us, Tyler and possibly Josh were already captured and under the control of Dema.Some time past and the selected people finally received their gifts, a Level Of Concern USB drive containing old demo tracks and 2 videos.The first video was of Josh congratulating you for completing the game. He seems to be very self deprecating in this video however. He talks about how you probably clicked on Tyler's video first because he's more important as he's the lead singer. Looking back, this is probably Josh's Blurryface talking, expanding on an insecurity Josh already has.
The second video was of Tyler also thanking you for participating. He records this video in an empty basement like area and acts completely robotic throughout it before also stating that Josh's video is probably "cooler" than his. There's a TV in the background of his video which flashes characters on the screen throughout the video which fans later deciphered to say "Clancy is dead"
Clancy is dead? Does this mean he had committed to vialism or had the Bishops found dmaorg and killed him because of it? The Clique had so many questions
On April 3rd 2021 Blurryface broke his 4 year twitter hiatus to like this tweet
So that verifies it then. Blurryface liked this tweet to confirm Clancy died to vialism. But why should we believe Blurryface?The clique mostly agree that Clancy probably isn't really dead and that Dema just wants us to believe that he is to show the consequences of rebelling against them. Dema is doing everything they can to make us believe he is dead but truly, we cant believe a word that comes out of their mouth.If what was said in this tweet is true however, it would mean that Keons took Clancy back to DEMA and tried to smear him, Clancy however protested, he regretted going back to DEMA, he wanted to leave again. After interrogating and pressuring Clancy more, they found out about the website and forged one last letter to put on there before wiping the whole website completely
After this Clancy would've felt like he had lost everything and commit to vialism and ultimately, he died.Again this is still unknown. The Clique still has no inkling on whether Clancy is alive or not, so for now, you'll have to decide for yourself what to believe.
On December 8th 2020 the bands twitter posted a video in which Josh accidentally pulled the Never ending video plug to plug in his Christmas tree, in turn ending the livestream.
Although Josh said it was accidental many questioned if it was and that's when we realisedDema had been watching all of us this whole time. The cameras in the level of concern music videos were used to watch Tyler and Josh
Then the level of concern game had a camera pointing towards us
Many pictures unlocked from the game alluded to Dema watching us
And finally the never ending music video was used to indoctrinate and watch us
Maybe Josh knew this and pulled the plug on purpose in order to protect us but had to act as if it was accidental in order to not face punishment from the Dema council.
Christmas Saves The Year
In December 2020, Tyler and Josh hosted a Christmas livestream in which they hung out, ate snacks, played Fortnite and then unexpectedly released their very own Christmas song... Christmas Saves The Year.
The album art for the song seems normal at first right? Just little Tyler and Josh on Christmas opening presents but at closer glance there is a secret message on a present behind them
Its hard to make out at first, but it reads "Sai is propaganda"
The tag on the present shows us that this present is from Clancy.. the message is from Clancy. So he's alive? But what is Sai? what is he trying to warn us of?
A few months later, April 2nd 2021 to be exact the dmaorg website was finally updated with... a termination bar
As you can see, someone was in the process of deleting all the files off of dmaorg foreverOver the course of 4 days, The Clique waited as the progress bar slowly went up until it finally hit 100% and the site was updated for the last time:
So it was confirmed, the bishops had found the website and shut it down due to it being deemed "contraband material". It also states that disciplinary action has been taken upon Clancy, again leading th cliquw to believe maybe it was the bishops who had killed him...
On the same day dmaorg was terminated, Blurryface broke his silence on twitter and tweeted this
Scaled and Icy
On January 8th the band account updated their twitter to a red photo of them with the yellow trench logo
Over the course of the next 83 days, they continuously updated the header every week, each time the saturation of it was brought down by 21% with the logo slowly fading. This lead to The Clique calling Wednesdays "Desaturation day"
Once the header was completely black and white and the logo was completely gone, the Trench era was officially over.
On April 6th 2021 Twenty One Pilots announced the release of their new album "Scaled And Icy" along with a livestream experience
These promotional posters were our first look into the SAI (Scaled And Icy) era.Both the posters have the FPE symbol with a new meaning,
a production of DMA ORG stamp,
and a disclaimer at the bottom that states:"Scaled And Icy and Twenty One Pilots - Livestream Experience is presented in association with DMA ORG and Good Day Dema. The views and opinions expressed on this program are those of the sacred municipality of Dema and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the artist. Any content provided during this filmed performance event is property of DMA ORG."On one of the posters a Good Day Dema logo can also be seen.
From all of this, its very clear that Tyler and Josh are both in and under the influence of Dema. Dema seems to have full control of this album, livestream event and the promotion of the record.The posters were also our first look at the album cover
It seems that the bishops have taken the Trench album cover (an album filled with treason against Dema and hope) and tried to recreate it. Considering that the dragon is actually a vulture, the two covers are almost identical, just flipped around.
So what does the actual album name mean? Well Tyler has said it stands for Scaled back and isolated which is the way he felt whilst writing the album during lockdown. It is also however a literal anagram for "Clancy is dead"
Not long after the first single of the album was released, Shy Away along with a music video.Its very clear while watching this video that Tyler in Josh are in Dema due to their dark surrounds and bright neon lights constantly surrounding them
The music video itself is confusing and we don't have any strong verified theories on what could be going on but we have some ideas.
Tyler seems frustrated in some of the scenes, this could signify that he perhaps wasn't under the complete control of Dema at this point and was angry that he was being forced to create this propaganda and was under the supervision of the bishops. This could explain why he looks off to the side occasionally for the bishops instruction.
In the second scene, Tyler can be seen alone in a gas station called "Neds last stop" There's also a diner named "Saturdays". The only yellow that can be seen in this scene is the glow of the phone which many believe he uses to call Josh for help. Others think he could be calling Ned who is missing, he's calling upon is creativity for help.
There is also 2 weirdly floating objects in this scene, a tire and a traffic cone . This was obviously done on purpose but we still don't know why.
In the next gas station scene, after using the phone, josh has appeared. This could be because Tyler had called him or because after called Ned, he sent Josh who helps him channel his creativity.
The clones with ripped ski masks could be a reference to the lyrics in morph "He goes by Nico, he told me I'm a copy"
The bishops could've cloned them to show they're replaceable?Ski masks in the band have always been something they can hide themselves with, to take the identity out of their music and allow them to say what they want to say without their identity influencing others thoughts so maybe this scene symbolises that they're ready to not shy away anymore, to rip the masks apart and say what they want to say without fear. They are literally shedding their modesty
After the first song was released, the Scaled And Icy eras photoshoot was dropped
Fans quickly realised that in all these photos, Tyler and Josh were both stood on the wrong sideThroughout all the years of Twenty One pilots in all photoshoots and at the shows, Josh is always on the right and Tyler on the left, but not here.Knowing Tyler and Josh, this wouldn't of been a coincidence or accident. They did this for a reason.
We can assume this reason is because they're in DEMA, being controlled.
Along with the new album, the band had also announced a livestream experience in which you could buy tickets in order to watch it.After buying a ticket you could access a website called the control room where you could also purchase exclusive merch.Promotion of the upcoming album was plastered throughout the control room in an overly excessive way. Many think this is a way the bishops promote their propaganda.
This excessive promotion has been consistent through the start of the era. Every award/ TV show the band played at Tyler would always be sure to tell the audience to buy and stream Scaled And Icy which he has NEVER done throughout previous eras. The bishops want their message spread to as many people as possible so they use Tyler as a way to promote the album.
On the 30th of April the song Choker was released as a single along with a music video.Like the Shy Away video, fans are still not completely sure of the meaning behind the video
Some believe that it is a parallel to the Jumpsuit music video due to the similarities both videos have:
The bishops may be trying to wipe any memory Tyler and Josh have of trench and are taking their memories of the events in Jumpsuit, replacing them with those shown in the Choker video.
It is possible that the toy dragon in the video represents Tyler's creativity and imagination, maybe even his true memories. When Josh takes it out of the cabinet, Tyler sees his chance and runs off with it, he quite literally takes the idea and runs with it.A now completely brainwashed or maybe even cloned Josh, chases Tyler down, takes away his creativity once again and drags him back to the toy store (Dema?)
Some people think that Jim (the golden retreiver) is the real josh whilst the actual josh is just a clone.It is also important to note that "josh" is reading a book in the video titled IF by Nicolas Bourbaki...
At Midnight local time on the 21st of May, the album Scaled and Icy was dropped with Several of the songs being lore related. (Song meanings explained on next page)
Later the same day, the livestream experience was streamed.It began with Tyler starring on a talk show called Good Day Dema, hosted by a man and a lady who we later discovered to be the bishops Sarcarver and Lisden, their full names therefore being Sally Sarcarver and Dan Lisden.They ask Tyler an overwhelming amount of questions to which he doesn't reply to any, instead he sits looking scared. They then ask where Josh is stating "Josh are you hiding? Come here you little moron" to which Tyler's face instantly drops. Sally also requests that Tyler and Josh play stressed out because "its her favourite" This is likely because the song is literally about Blurryface (Nico) and because its one of their biggest hits.
The livestream gave us our first look into Dema from the perspective of someone who's inside.Compare to the perspective we got in the Nico And The Niners video (an outsiders perspective) Dema appears to be so much more bright, colourful and inviting but that isn't the true reality, its just what the bishops want you to see.
After playing choker, they then move on to play some of their older songs such as migraine, morph and finally holding onto you in which the bishops cut off, not allowing them to play the whole song.This is believed to be because Tyler and Josh weren't meant to play these older, songs about hope etc.. They're playing these songs as a form of rebellion and to give viewers a sense of hope which the bishops don't want.On the stage they play the older songs, you will notice several vials of neon lights behind them which only light up during stressed out.
They cut holding onto you off and it switches to Sally and Dan promoting the Scaled And Icy album. They describe it as being jammed packed with hits before adding "Dema is bringing you this collection filled with vibrant hits that are dripping with saturation" and "Dema wants you to enjoy this collection". They are in fact overly promoting their propaganda once again, making it seem as appealing as they possibly can.
The camera then cuts back to the next song they play, Mulberry Street. The visuals of course showcase this street, confirming it is in fact a street located in Dema.
They then transition to lane boy.During the intro it shows Sally and Dan with black paint over their nose and mouth, an iconic trait of the bishops.
After playing lane boy and chlorine, they walk to the next snowy set of Shy Away.After Shy Away, Sally and Dan cut back in however, they don't interrupt the song this time. They now look different though... Dan seems to have a slightly bruised face and bloody nose while sallys makeup is all smeared
They talk about how perfect the album and collection are and say we will all feel trapped if we don't get our hands on the collection. At one point Dan seems like he's almost malfunctioning, he becomes robotic and seems delirious.The reason for all this is believed to be due to Tyler and Josh who keep rebelling, playing their old songs. The bishops seem negatively affected by this and as if their fake appearance is being slowly peeled away, their true form slowly being revealed.They try to continue on like nothing has happened trying to sell their propaganda to gain back their strength but its obvious they aren't acting right.Back on Mulberry Street, Tyler and Josh perform The Outside before transitioning into Tyler singing a stripped back version on Heathens and Trees under the stars.I believe he chose to play these two specifically in this way because these are two songs that relate to the fans and the clique, they both make Tyler think of us.Some people pointed out that the stars could represent The Clique.
After the stripped down medley, it switches to Josh, dressed in his full Bandito gear, Yellow bandana and tape and everything. He carries his torch to stage where Tyler is waiting, also wearing yellow tape. They play Jumpsuit/Heavydirtysoul before the bishops interrupt once again.This time, they look even worse, with blood and makeup spread all over their faces and their eyes which are bloodshot. With Tyler and Josh getting stronger using their music, the bishops only grow even weaker.
They again repeat how perfect and saturated the Sai collection is. Sally then says how sometimes she closes her eyes to escape before Dan replies "you know you cant escape Sally" to which she said "yes i know!... Listen we're coming for you" Dan adds "we've got people on the way, no chances" Referencing the song, further confirming that No Chances is sung from the bishops perspective.It then reveals Tyler who was watching all this play out on a TV. They're threatening him, telling him that his attempt at rebellion WILL fail.Tyler and Josh then proceed to play Saturday, Level of concern and Ride before transitioning to their last older song they play, Car Radio. The bishops of course, cut them off near the end of the song with the sound of sirens, painting all their surroundings red. The sirens announcing an emergency upon Dema, perhaps the bands rebellion in an attempt to escape?For their last song they play Never Take It. After the song everyone exits the set, leaving only Tyler who places his guitar down next to a Blue toy dragon and walks away in a trance like state. He's leaving behind his creativity and being lured back to the bishops
He ends right back where he started, on the set of Good Day where he ends the experience by stating "nobody's coming for me". It's a cycle. A cycle that he cant escape unless he can learn to "break the cycle in half"
On July 9th we got the music video for Saturday. Tyler and Josh are on a submarine which is being driven and guarded by the Bishops.
They move down into the submarine and have a party down there with people dancing to the song. This helps Tyler to attract his creativity back, so much that it physically manifests itself in the form of Trash who slowly approaches. Tyler notices this and continues to channel his creativity until it eventually collides into the submarine and smashes the glass.i believe this represents the illusion that dema has created being destroyed.
This sends the bishops into a frenzy of panic, the same red sirens as the livestream sounding in their control room.Tyler, Josh and the others manage to escape the submarine and swim up to the surface. As they emerge from the water, the illusion of dema is gone and they finally have control of themselves back again. When under water, things can seem blurry and cloudy, explaining why water may have been used to represent Demas control on Tyler and Josh in this video.The boys swimming ti the surface represents them leaving behind the toxic beliefs of Dema and escaping the control of the bishops who are camping out in the control room of the submarine. The bishops are the ones driving the ideas and beliefs of the city.In the last shot you can supposedly see the clones of Tyler and Josh from the shy away video who had also escaped
I believe that after this music video was released, Tyler and Josh may be able to see things clearer and as how they truely are, however they’re still being held captive in the city due to several clues given to us..The main thing being their live shows.Tyler began wearing the Blurryface paint on his hands and neck again at their lives shows and josh wears red sunglasses, almost like his old red eyeshadow he used to wear in Blurryface era.
During the song message man, Tyler brings out a bowl full of black paint which looks eeriely similar to the bowl that the bishops use to practice vialism in Dema
He then proceeds to dip his hands into the bowl, covering them in the black and then raising them up in the air whilst everyone in the crowd screams, this is almost like a ritual hes performing. A blurrification ritual.
It could be important to note that he's doing the same pose as the statues spread throughout Dema
Tyler then takes the wet paint dripping down his hands and flings it across people in the crowd... he is literally indoctrinating people.
Although it could be a coincidence it could be important to note the fact that their sunglasses worn at the beginning of the shows seem similar to the map of Dema.
Tyler and josh still wear the "yellow tape" On their clothes except its not yellow at all... its just bleached into their clothing. This could be because the bishops cant see yellow, resulting in a fake yellow or maybe its just all the hope slowly draining out of the shows or the saturation fading which seems to be a big theme this era. Tyler's pink hair did the same thing, josh has started bleaching his bucket hat and bandanas along with the disappearance of the yellow confetti, leaving only pink and blue.
They also have a literal symbol of vialism at the front and centre of their show, a neon light in the shape of the SAI. Tyler can be seen kneeling down in front of this light throughout the show, worshiping it.
The addition of the outside to the setlist (a song I believe to be about the recruitment of people to Vialism and Dema) further proves that they never escaped the city itself but perhaps managed to escape the grip it had on them.They now also stand on the correct sides during photoshoots and at the live shows, further proving my theory that they broke out of their trance during the saturday music video
On the 30th of October 2021 Alternative Press released 4 different Twenty One Pilots magazine covers
Fans pointed out that each cover represents different eras. From left to right it goes Scaled and icy era, vessel era, Blurryface era and then trench era.People theorised that it could be Dema trying to recreate each era. They didn't get the yellow accurately because they literally can't see it... but the red is the most prominent.
On the 9th on december 2021, the music video for csty was released.My theory on this video is that the santa represents blurryface and the snowmen are the people of Dema.This video is Dema propaganda which explains why the santa character is portrayed as the protagonist almost.
In the video, santa’s objective is to build a device (the christmas tree) which he can use to subdue the snowmen into submission.To build the device he needs to collect an energy beacon (the star), orb emitters (the boul bouls), glow pearls (the lights) and adhesives (the hooks for the boul bouls). Once he puts all of this together, the device will emit “cosmic rays” to subdue the snowmen. All this is illustrated in the illustrated pictures on the cabin walls
Santa then changes from his green jacket into his Santa clothes which are lined with black fur instead of the traditional white, maybe representing blurryface?
Santa’s first stop is at a kiosk run by 2 skeleton guys who are selling the boul bouls along with the hooks to hang them on the trees with. Some people theorise that these skeleton guys could be fans creating clique art. When looking closely at them u can see a zipper going down their face just like the skeleton hoodies Tyler and Josh wear
Santa robs the kiosk, threatening them with an axe and takes only the hooks from the kiosk, he’s taking only the dangerous negative thing they’re selling instead of the more creative boul bouls.Santa then comes across a pink machine like object with cogs attached to it (all the cogs got together, start a renaissance -the outside) and this is when ned arrives after being missing for so long. Ned is the one that starts the cogs turning again before running away from Santa, he’s trying to start a renaissance.
Next, Santa comes across a small deer who is being attacked my more snowmen. Some people theorise the deer could represent Clancy which would mean the bishops are betrayed the Banditos (snowmen) to be bad. Santa throws axes at the snowmen and puts the deer in his sleigh (to take him back to Dema)Once they get to this so called Dema, the environment turns red with there being 9 red trees just like the 9 bishops. Santa drops the deer off and leaves it with other red deer before going and collecting his final component for the device.
On the way home he makes a stop where we can see the skeleton keys that represent Tyler and Josh with a sai logo in the centre. This scene looks eerily similar to one of their live shows except…. tyler and josh are placed on the wrong sides.. again.
Santa then goes home with the deer and puts together the tree before turning it on which causes the snowmen to become “happy” again. The device is putting them under control, making them believe that Santa is good.
The illustration on the wall shows the cosmic rays coming off of the tree and then sai logos coming off of the snowmen.
This could be showing us that the sai symbol is a sign of control and represents the hypnosis state the bishops put upon the citizens of Dema.
There you have it, this is everything we know so far apart from some other unverified theories The Clique come up with.
Tracklists
On this page i will be going through each song that could connect back to the lore of Twenty One Pilots. Please note that these are just interpretations of the songs and feel free to create your own meanings to songs too!
A Car A Torch A Death
The lyrics of this song don't necessarily relate back to the storyline but the title just might. A car, meaning the car they burnt in Heavydirtysoul and appears in jumpsuit and at the Bandito tour shows, a torch meaning the Banditos torches and a death, Clancy's death.This song is very old however, but its possible the band is referencing it.
Stressed Out
Our first introduction to the character of Blurryface.A song about being insecure of what other people think and wishing he could go back in time to before Blurryface existed. Blurryface speaks his first words to us in this song "My name's Blurryface and I care what you think"
Fairly Local
Verse 1 and verse 2 of this song are complete opposites. For example, the first verse states "They say I'm emotional, what I want to save I'll kill
Is that who I truly am? I truly don't have a chance" Whilst the second states "I know I'm emotional, what I wanna save I will try
I know who I truly am, I truly do have a chance"It is clear that the first verse was spoken by Tyler's insecure side, Blurryface whilst in the second he is fighting Blurryface.Blurryface also states that the song will never be on the radio.
The Judge
The Judge is a song about Tyler begging "the judge" (god?) for mercy, asking him not to grow impatient while Tyler struggles to conquer Blurryface."I know my soul's freezing, Hell's hot for good reason, So please, take me" Tyler knows that his soul is “freezing” (dark, cold, sinful) and knows that Hell is unbearably hot to compensate for that,
He pleads for the Judge to take him to Heaven, even if he’s too sinful.
Polarize
The definition of polarize is to separate 2 things. This song is about Tyler's struggle to remove/separate himself from Blurryface "Polarize is taking your disguises, Separating 'em, splitting 'em up from wrong and right"“Domingo en fuego” directly translates to “Sunday on fire.” In the Bible, Sunday is the day that God rests after creating the Earth and is also the day most worshipers attend church. Fire is religious imagery typically associated with Hell.
Tyler has expressed his discontent for Sundays on other songs such as “Migraine”:
Thank God it’s Friday cause Fridays will always be better than Sundays
‘Cause Sundays are my suicide days
Not Today
This song shows a conversation of sorts that is taking place between “Blurryface” and Tyler. The chorus is Tyler defying Blurryface, telling him he's wasting his time and in the bridge he does the same "Oh, don't you test me, no, Just because I play the piano, Doesn't mean I, I'm not willin' to take you down" before quickly growing afraid of him again stating "I'm sorry"It appears that by the end of the song, Tyler has achieved a small victory against Blurryface which leads us to Goner.
Goner
Goner takes the album full circle and represents Tyler defeating Blurryface.Tyler pleads for someone to help rid himself of this darkness inside him before ridding himself of the character at the end of the song which is also shown in the live shows visuals which depict a red caged bird until the ending screams of the song in which they all escape, turning white and flying away freely.This leads into Trench
Jumpsuit
In jumpsuit, Tyler calls upon something that he refers to as a "Jumpsuit" to protect him or "Cover him" from Blurryface or the bishops. Many believe the jumpsuit to be a metaphor for his faith, his family, friends or anything he uses to to protect himself and cope.He states that "pressures of a new place roll his way" life is constantly changing and you're always dropped into new situations and you must learn to deal with this.In the bridge Tyler talks directly to the bishops stating "you'll have to grab my throat and lift me in the air
If you need anyone, I'll stop my plans, But you'll have to tie me down and then break both my hands" This makes reference to his 2 places he uses to create, his hands and throat. He tells Blurryface he'll have to break his hands and grab his throat in order to stop Tyler from rebelling and leaving/going back to Dema
Levitate
In this song, Tyler states that ever since 7th grade he learnt to fire breathe. I believe this relates to trash the dragon who represents Tyler's creativity. Ever since 7th grade, Tyler has created music and used it as a tool.The song makes several references to Dema and also to car radio. "I got back what I once bought back, In that slot, I won't need to replace" perhaps signifying his personal growth he's made since Car Radio was released.I believe that the word Levitate in this song means having a realisation about Dema and leaving which is what this song is primarily about.
Morph
In this song, Tyler discusses his struggle with his faith "There's no above, or under, or around it
For "above" is blind belief and "under" is sword to sleeve
And "around" is scientific miracle, let's pick "above" and see"This is also the first time we hear Tyler refer to Nico as Nicolas Bourbaki. He discusses how he understands he and Nico are one of the same as Nico is after all a part of Tyler and that he accepts that he will forever be hunted by him.Tyler’s defense mechanism is to ‘morph’ himself as a form of disassociating; perhaps into different personalities (e.g. the character of Blurryface), or animal forms such as a vulture or lion. By doing this he manages to avoid threats but cannot truly be who he is“lights they blink to me transmitting things to me” i believe is a reference to the neon lights used in vialism.
Neon gravestones
Tyler uses the bishops religion vialism to discuss suicidal awareness in the real world. He talks about how glorified suicide is in the media and that if a celebrity loses their life to it, they get more attention than ever and its almost celebrated which he obviously thinks is so wrong and doesn't agree with it which is why he says "Promise me this, If I lose to myself, You won't mourn a day, And you'll move onto someone else" he doesn't want us to glorify him if anything were to happen.He does however at the end of the song reassure us that the Neon gravestones will never get his bones, no matter how hard it gets.He talks about how some people use suicide as a "weapon" meaning out of anger or wanting people to feel bad for wronging you. This is of course so morally wrongAs we know, neon gravestones are what people are buried under in Dema if they commit to vialism and are celebrated in almost the same way it seems.
Nico And The Niners
Nico And The Niners is an extremly lore heavy song.It starts off with Josh saying something in reverse. When reversed however you hear him saying "We denounce Vialism
You will leave Dema and head true east, We are banditos"In the chorus, Tyler explains that the statment "East Is Up" makes him fearless and that he feels careless when he wears his "rebel clothes" his trench coat and yellow tape. He also says "I'm lighter when I'm lower, I'm higher when I'm heavy, oh, I'm so high, my Jumpsuit takes me so high" He is saying that when hes heavier (meaning when hes wearing his "Jumpsuit", his form of protection he feels higher as opposed to when hes lighter (not wearing the jumpsuit) in which he feels lower.In verse one, Tyler sings "They want to make you forget" this backs up the theory that the smearing process wipes all previous memory of Trench and the Banditos to erase hope or a higher meaning of life.The rap of the song is Tyler talking about escaping Dema and his plan on doing this. He states he'll need a diversion and a race horse.
Cut My Lip
A song about Tyler's internal struggles with leaving Dema.He knows he wants to leave but knows he's only going to be hurting himself when he gets beaten down and taken back to Dema once again but he'll never stop going back "Though I am bruised, face of contusions (contusions meaning bruises), Know I’ll keep movin', I'll keep on going back, Even though its me I abuse."
Bandito
This song describes their escape from the city of Dema and its representation of leaving behind the negativity that the city symbolizes.
In the chorus Tyler explains that to escape Dema he must not take the high road but "go low" through the tunnels and self identifies himself as a Bandito."This is the sound we make, When in between two places, Where we used to bleed, And where our blood needs to be" Here, Tyler is explaining what the phrase "Sahlo Folina" means. Its something the Banditos call out in trench when they need help or assurance.Verse 2 is Tyler explaining how trapped "contained" Dema makes him feel and that the softest echo of the crowd could be enough for him to "make it through" softest echo being the words "Sahlo Folina" being echoed through the crowd.He also discusses how he created the world of trench to feel some control over his emotions and how he could destroy it all if he wanted.
Pet Cheetah
Whilst this song isn't really about the storyline it does make one reference "“My house is the one where the vultures are perched on the roof”
Leave The City
Leave The City closes the album with a declaration to escape Dema. He talks about how tired he is of tending to the "fire" the extreme beliefs of the city. He has made his final decision. He's gonna leave the city and plans on never coming back.Tyler knows that his time in Dema is coming to an end stating "They know that its almost over" Referring to us, himself and the Banditos. Its time for Tyler to know why people who leave never come back with details from beyond the walls, because its better out there.Throughout the song Tyler finds hope in what else there could be outside he knows, in the clique and in himself."In time, I will leave the city, For now, I will stay alive" This lyric explains that it can take time to leave the city (The city being mental illness) but until he finds a way he (and you) must stay alive and keep hopeIt could also be important to note that the live visuals of this song also includes birds flying freely just like Goner.
Good Day
This song is based on a thought experiment Tyler had where he wondered how he’d react if he suddenly lost everyone he held dear to him (denial). There is however lore references in this song.The first line on the whole album is "I can feel my saturation, Leaving me slowly" this is especially significant when looking back to how the bishops describe Scaled and Icy to be "dripping with saturation" and also the fact that yellow in the lives shows has been slowly desaturating.Tyler makes reference to the neon lights throughout Dema "My sunshine, Is a buzz and a light"
Choker
Choker, a song believed to be about the smearing process, making Tyler feel a choking, suffocating feeling.The song discusses Tyler's loss in hope of ever getting out "Nobody's comin' for me" and how he needs to realise there still is a way to move forward.In the bridge Tyler states "I see no volunteers to cosign on my fears" A co-signer is someone who bears a burden (usually a financial one) with you. Tyler is saying that he doesn’t feel like anyone is there to support him or help him.The ending rap describing taking the hurt and pain and using it to drive you forward until you eventually escape " the sun moves behind you, You get taller, bolder, stronger and the rear-view only blinds you"
The Outside
The outside, a song i believe discusses the recruitment/indoctrination of people to Dema.The takeover tour is said to be an indoctrination process. In the shows, Tyler smears black paint over his hands and splatters it onto the crowd almost like a ritual of recruitment. Knowing this, the chorus makes a lot more sense "Up and down, They're nodding, Heads are, moving up and down, You got it, Everybody stand in line, One by one, take a hit, join the club" It describes one of their shows, everyone stood inline, our heads nodding to the music as we agree to "join the club"In the rap Tyler is comparing himself to the large shark/robot in the context of leading a live concert. All eyes are on him as the crowd looks to him to set the mood and level of energy for the moment. Because of this, Tyler feels more in control of the space, so much so that it seems like a small pond to him instead of a large ocean."Meteoric rise in prehistoric times
Now that meteor is comin', comin'" Could be referring to when Blurryface first appeared in Tyler's head (the meteoric rise) which i'm assuming was at a young age. In the trench story line this would be considered a prehistoric time as the timeline wasn't even created yet. Tyler tells us that the meteor is now coming back again to haunt him
Never Take It
Never take it, a song about the toxicity of modern media but could however have a double lore related meaning.Tyler talks about the bishops lying about certain things whether it be about Clancy or just Dema in general "'Cause they keep lying through their fake teeth"The second verse discusses how the bishops benefit off of the residents of Dema being confused "Why cure disease of confusion, When you're the treatment facility?" as well as benefitting off us, the fans not sticking together "They profit from a great divide, You and I will never take it". Another definition for a great divide is "the boundary between life and death."The chorus talks about the bishops feeding us information to try and turn us against eachother/make Dema seem appealing but we must however, never take it "they're trying hard to weaponize, You and I, we'll nеver take it, they'rе asking for a second try, You and I will never take it"
Mulberry Street
As we know, Mulberry Street is a street located in Dema which we learnt from the livestream experience but what does this street symbolise?Well Tyler told interviewer Zane Lowe “Mulberry Street for me… there was a street in New York City where Little Italy is, and the first time that I ever kind of left Ohio, my manager took Josh and I, to Little Italy and it was just like this, ‘I’ve never felt more out of place in my life being in New York City.’ you know, like we’re gonna go get some pizza. ‘This isn’t the pizza I’m used to.’ You know, just something that simple, kind of really reminding you that you’re not home anymore. And so, this song to me was like, very, I wanted to imagine that feeling again."From this we can assume that Mulberry street is a metaphor for feeling strange, out of place, as if nothing is right and not at home, perhaps the way Tyler feels being in Dema.
Bounce Man
In 2021 Tyler told an interviewer that the character Ned has gone missing. i and many others believe that in this song, Tyler tells Ned to leave and head towards Mexico where he will be safe, presumably from the nine bishops of Dema. Interestingly enough, the Location Session for “Chlorine” included the coordinates for Mexico City, further connecting Ned to the song.
This makes sense if Ned represents Tylers perception of creativity, he wants to protect it from the grasps of the bishops.
No Chances
The song No Chances is sung in the perspective of the Bishops, explaining the meaning of "We come for you, no chances""In this house, we got feng shui" In Chinese, “feng” means wind and “shui” means water. The “bagua” is the feng shui energy map. There are eight areas connected to certain aspects of life. this map looks awfully similar to the blurryface cover and the centre of the Dema map.
"Notorious in the octagon, now" The octogon could be referring to Dema as a source found in the Bagua map states "The Feng Shui Bagua map is an octogon shape""We got people on the way, We want you home in one piece now (Run away, run away)" The bishops want you to believe they have your best interests at heart and that they aren't really the enemy and are asking you to come home whilst the faint whisper of the Banditos can be heard telling you to run away."Surveillances outside, we see when you arrive, Ride or die, my son" Here, the bishops are telling Tyler he has no where to hide in trench as they have surveillances they can use to locate him. "ride or die" is a term used to imply extreme loyalty to someone or something, the bishops are telling Tyler that they should be his ride or die.
Redecorate
Tyler shared that “Redecorate” was inspired by an actual scenario where a friend of his preserved the room for their son who passed away, and that its message is important to him.Although this song doesn't relate to the storyline, it opens with "There was a wonderful structure to the city
And it put my cares to rest" a quote taken from one of Clancy's letters in which he describes Dema to be comforting as it is familiar.While the majority of Scaled And Icy is meant to be “more colourful” than their previous music, “Redecorate” brings listeners back to the story of life and the problems people face.
Unverified fan theories
I will update this page when i come across any interesting fan theoies!!For a chance for your theory to appear here, DM @chlorinejoshua on Instagram or @jumpsuithds on Twitter with your theories
Timeline theory
Wednesday theory
Credits
This carrd was created with a compilment of lots of different theories from others combined to create my own ideas.If one of these theories belongs to you please feel free to drop me a message on Insta or Twitter and i'll be sure to do so!
I got many of these theories from my old Instagram posts, Nalbis on Youtube and @shlofolina on twitter who is so smart and comes up with such amazing theories so credits to them for a lot of this!!