Why hello there! For those of you who know me well, I tend to hyperfixate on things what excite me. (I just recently found out that my mom has ADHD, so this is likely a trait that was passed down from her.) Anyway, lately that’s been Twenty One Pilots! There should be two more posts coming eventually about this; one containing my favorite lyrics and one that breaks down my feelings about the individual albums.
If you’re already a fan, please know that I have only been in the fandom for like a month now, so my theories may not be correct or even close. This is just insight from what I have drawn from other sources combined with my own personal theories. If there is anything I am missing or something you have reason to believe is incorrect, please let me know in the comments below. I’m here in the first place because I love to learn.
Furthermore, if you prefer audio/visual learning, I got a lot of information from a video I will link below. I tried not to copy it and I definitely put in my own commentary, but I would like to make it known that a lot of the information was from this video and I never would have gotten here without it. And honestly, I would recommend watching it even if you do make it to the end of this post because there’s definitely things I didn’t include. I will also link it at the bottom for easier access if you make it all the way through the article. 🙂

WARNING: This is going to be long.

So let’s start from the beginning. Blurryface: Origins

(Note: I am not including any albums before Blurryface since the general consensus says that’s where the lore started developing. Sorry.)
Before the band was famous, or even together, Tyler struggled with his mental health. I don’t think I’ve ever heard it explicitly said, but I’m guessing Josh has too. There’s definitely a fair share of anxiety in his life. And one of the best ways to cope with internal struggle is visualization. So what did Tyler do? He visualized his feelings. Those feelings eventually manifested themselves into creating a character named “Blurryface”. Now, I know a lot of people will seriously hate my guts for saying this, but I really like Blurryface. He is very close to my heart because I have dealt with a lot of the things that make him, him. I have a Blurryface of my own. So he’s very relatable in my life. And, an important thing to note; (for the people who know about the lore already) I see Blurryface as separate from Nicolas Bourbaki or Nico. Blurryface is the manifestation of anxiety, insecurity, and other hard feelings. He is more abstract and personal than Nico in my mind. Anyway, when Blurryface entered the music (either in the spirit of anxiety or the actual character) Tyler would show the transition live by painting his hands and neck black. This showed his two greatest fears: what he says, and what he creates. Both of those things have the power to influence people, and he’s scared more than anything that he will use those powers in the wrong way or accidentally take advantage. The paint also represents the feeling of suffocation by inner thoughts, and hesitation to create at all with fear of getting it wrong. But as the show goes on, the black paint begins to show ware, representing how the fans encourage Tyler that he isn’t alone and things will be okay. Blurryface has a deep voice that can be heard in some of the songs, such as “Fairly Local”. But before he had a voice, he was still with Tyler. I was just watching the music video for “Holding On To You” (a song from Vessel, my favorite album) and when people started touching his neck, Tyler looked right at Josh for support. He’s always had this anxiety with him, even before it had a face. And in that same music video, you can see him changing back and forth from Blurryface and himself. But he’s trying to hold on, singing “I’ll be holding onto you”. Whether this is directed at Josh, or God, or the fans, or one day Jenna, it’s hard to know. (Although I will note that at the timestamp 4.03 he points and looks up, as if talking to heaven.) But regardless, he’s finding something to hold onto. It’s the same reason that Tyler would walk through the pit; he’s “higher when he’s lower”. Confronting your demons is a very hard thing to do, especially when you share it with the world. BUT, when you do that, you find that you aren’t alone. That’s how you escape Dema; finding people who are like you, who will support you, and who will empathize with your struggles and validate you. Tyler was going where he knew he was loved and understood. I think that’s when Blurryface began to get more aggressive.

@Blurryface

So, Blurryface has/had (I don’t have twitter so I don’t know if it’s still current or not) a twitter account. He did a lot of sketchy weird stuff there; like teasing hints and scaring fans. But over time, he became unfortunately trustworthy. He liked and unliked tweets (never left them liked for more than a week), talked in jibber-jabber, and was just overall suspicious. He posted, made short videos and streams, and was even known to DM fans with cryptic creepy messages. The only thing he never did was follow people; although he did occasionally block/unblock them. His constant confusing updates finally became the leaking of an entire album; Blurryface, on May 9th 2015. Since he represents Tyler’s anxiety and insecurity, it’s fair to think that the leak was a way of showing his fear of not being accepted or liked. Then on March 28th, 2016, he tweeted a very odd message with a link to a site called FACESAREABLUR.COM, where an email was provided. If your email was timed right, you would get an automatic reply from “BLUR RYFA CE” saying “IT’ SN OTOVE R”.
Then on April 2nd, 2016, came a disturbing poem from the account. It read:

“U NEVER WEAR BLU, NEVER WEAR BLUE.
BLU IS A SIGN OF DEFEAT.
WEAR IT 1 TIME, ON STAGE AS A SIGN.
AND I’LL STOP TORMENTING UR TORMENTED FLEET.”

And that day, at the NCAA March Madness Music Festival, Tyler stepped on stage wearing a blue jumpsuit. Which was disturbing, because the band’s clothes were always kept within the album colors.
Later on FACESAREABLUR.COM, the website turned an empty, blank blue. And Blurryface left Twitter for a while. He eventually came back and kept up his fishy business, including leaking several things the band had been working on. And then, after everything… he disappeared in July 2017. He didn’t say another word for four years, only becoming active again in April 2021.

Blurryface – Nicolas Bourbaki transition

The album Blurryface seems to show the transition from “Blurryface, the anxiety squirrel” into “Blurryface, the angry squirrel”. (I’m just kidding, these are serious topics.) In my opinion, this is where Nico gets his start. But wait, who’s Nico? Nico is the nickname for Nicolas Bourbaki, the first bishop. Tyler’s bishop. (Does anybody know why they’re called bishops? Because I haven’t found anything on that yet.) It’s also the name of a group of french mathematicians, who happened to work on some aspects of topology. Which, as I understand it, is the study of objects that do not change no matter what you do to them. Like a rubber band; you can bend it, fold it, knot it, twist it, and crush it. But when you undo the action, it just goes back to being a rubber band. It is, essentially, the understanding that some things cannot change. (Obviously rubber bands break, etc but that was just an example.) Topology, in my mind, is the enemy of Dema (which we’ll get to in a minute). And (again I’m not great with math and these theories are very difficult for me to understand, even as a science nerd, so please forgive me if I completely miss the mark) I think the Nicolas Bourbaki group tried to state that all matter is subject to change, but once done it can always be traced back to its original form. So it would make sense for Nico, the head of the bishops, to be named after people who reject/don’t believe in “change” of a sort. It’s a bit of a stretch (get it? Stretch? I’m so funny) but would connect some dots that were previously left floating. Also, the Nicolas Bourbaki group is who created the “empty set” which appears as the O in the band’s name.
ANYWAY, I see Blurryface and Nico as different, but connected. To me Blurryface is more of a mindset or emotion, where Nico is the character symbolizing that feeling. So now that Nico has been developed, we can move onto the others.

The Nine

The other bishops’ names come from the Blurryface album cover. They’re really really tiny, one for each of the nine circles in the middle. And you can find their names again in the song lyrics; which is really cool, because you only see it when you move around the spaces like Blurryface’s handwriting. Here’s how it works:

Andre “And repeat yesterday’s dance” (Fairly Local)
Lisden “all I feeL is denial” (Polarize)
Keons “choKe on smoke” (Heavydirtysoul)
Reisdro “temperatuRe is dropping” (Doubt)
Sacarver “she’S a carver” (Tear in my Heart)
Nills “dowN i’ll slip away” (Goner)
Vetomo “Be aliVe tomorrow” (Lane Boy)
Listo “List of people” (Ride)

The only one whose name isn’t found in that way is Nico. His full name is mentioned in Morph, a song off of Trench. (Coincidentally, they do not call him by name until the Trench album; where Tyler is with his people and gathering strength. I’ll explain that once we get to that album 🙂 Another cool thing about the bishops is that they each represent something different. So it follows that everyone in Dema is assigned a bishop; their greatest fear in one billowing red cloak.

Andre – The fear of change. Both for good, and for bad. It leaves you standing still, too scared to act.
Lisden – The fear of not knowing yourself; never able to differentiate between the good and bad in yourself.
Keons – The fear of never having anything to call yours. Always under the foot of someone else, with no control.
Reisdro – The fear of no God, the fear that doubting God will be held against you, the fear of a violent God, etc.
Sacarver – The fear of love/loving, rejection, and betrayal of trust. It’s scary to trust people with your heart.
Nills – The fear of yourself. Losing to yourself, giving up on yourself, or the fear that you’re not worth saving.
Vetomo – The fear of conforming. Lack of control over what you do, say, or create.
Listo – The fear of life. So many things could go wrong, so many things to get done, etc.

P.s. if you watched the livestream, specifically the credits, you would know that Sacarver and Lisden were in it. Well… maybe. While the hosts “Dan” and “Sally” appear to deteriorate throughout the show, as if being in several fights, neither Tyler nor Josh show the same damage. Some have theorized that they were fighting Trash, but… well, I’ll show you Trash’s motives at the end. A theory I like is that the actual bishops are simply puppeteering two of the residents assigned to them. Because if you notice, the hosts always have very wide eyes. It is in part “sell, sell, sell!”, but also a hint of fear. As if they are being forced into submission. In the end, the credits named the hosts “Dan Lisden and Sally Sacarver”. They were always referred to on a first-name-basis in the actual show, however. As if this was supposed to be a hidden secret that the two bishops were present.
Okay. The last thing about the bishops… they create what’s called “The violation code” by their songs’ track numbers. When put together in order, it forms 15398642_14. Now… on April 20th 2018, a change was noticed on the merch website. It had a code which led to another website, dmaorg.info. But once you got there, it gave you a 404 error. Which just happened to give some hints of its own. For starters, when put together, all the capital letters in the statement spelled out “EAST IS UP”, which became almost like a mantra for those trying to escape Dema. (I’ll explain that later.) Secondly, it needed the violation code. Once you added the violation code into the website, it took you somewhere else. Somewhere special.

Who is Clancy?

When dmaorg.info and the violation code were put together, they took you to a place filled with letters from “Clancy”, a mysterious new character. Honestly, there’s a lot of debate about Clancy. Who he is, why he was important, and how he managed to get information within reach of the fans. Tyler said that Clancy was created to fill in some of the narrative that would have otherwise been missing from the story, all because of the fan theories and questions. He wanted to give answers to those who cared about the story the most. The letters showed experiences and stories from a life inside Dema, which explained a lot of things we were previously not aware of. A lot of nines, to start with. (I never got to read the letters myself, since I haven’t found a way to access them and I wasn’t part of the fanbase at this time. So forgive me if I’m off 🙂

Clancy started questioning Dema after 9 years of living there.
Clancy showed up in year 9 of Twenty One Pilots being a band, and the 9th month of the hiatus.
There were 9 updates on the website at the time.
There are 9 bishops.
There are 9 circles on the new album.
There are 9 towers in Dema.
The connection? I don’t know yet. But one thing is clear: they were very, very consistent.

So, more about Clancy. Clancy’s assigned bishop is Keons. Clancy lives in Keons’ sector of Dema. Oh, and guess what? Clancy’s name is Irish. And it means “son of the Red Warrior”. One of the things Clancy gave us was a picture of a boy. Cropped out in the background is a mathematician named Andre Weil, who was a member of the Nicolas Bourbaki group. The photo, when reverse-searched on google, is titled “se_lf.jpeg” so it’s fair to assume that it was a photo of Clancy. Then why was Andre Weil there? … “son of the red warrior”. Guess who Andre also is? A bishop. Bishops wear red. So… Clancy is probably Andre’s son. (I don’t know how that works, this is just a really cool fan theory I found on Reddit. Will link/credit at bottom of post. I don’t agree with the whole article but this part definitely made sense.) The only questions now are, why would the son of a bishop want to escape Dema? And how did he get his letters out in the semi-open?

What if it was all a trap? To make us want to get closer to Dema? So they could suck us in? What if Clancy wasn’t real, it was just Andre all along? Food for thought.

Dema

Okay so, I’ve mentioned Dema several times but never exactly explained what it is. But I’m going to need a picture for you to fully understand.

The big circle that surrounds all the rest is the walls of Dema. There’s notches on all four sides, but you can’t escape there. The only way to escape is “east is up”. (My favorite theory concerning that phrase is that you have to chase the sun when it’s setting so you aren’t left alone in the dark. And if you’ve listened to Vessel, you’ll hear that night time is the hardest part of the day for Tyler.) The three layers of rectangles inside the wall, which also encircle the city, are referred to as “neon gravestones”. These become very important later. Inside of those lays a smaller circle with two layers that fit together. Those, as far as I’ve figured out, are the city sectors. Each bishop has a sector, which are visually separated from each other but still very close. The “residents” of Dema reside there. (Again, this is just my guessing.) Then, the nine circles in the middle are towers. Again, there’s one for each bishop. This likely relates back to the towers of silence, which comes from the Zoroastrian culture. Essentially, those people believed that dead bodies were unclean, and keeping them around made the living unclean. According to Wikipedia, “A Tower of Silence is a circular, raised structure built by Zoroastrians for excarnation – that is, the exposure of human dead bodies to the elements for decay in order to avert contamination”, so it makes sense why a tower for the dead would show up in Dema. Now, a funny thing I noticed is the similarities between the tower of silence diagrams and the map of Dema. Do you see the similarities too or am I going crazy?

Vialism

If the neon gravestones is an itch you can’t scratch, let me help you. They are symbols, essentially, of Vialism. They represent the people who committed to it completely. Vialism “signifies the feelings of hopelessness and isolation that can accompany depression” (according to google). So when you give into Vialism completely, you kill yourself. Which is what the bishops want. They glorify death and giving up. So when someone commits suicide, their deaths are kept as spectacles in the Dema Necropolis.
Suicide is seen as a respected way to die in Dema; almost as if to say, “they had the courage to save themselves from all the trouble and trauma of our lives”. Death by old age is looked down upon.
It’s kinda a nod to society and the media in real life, when you think about it. People become even more famous when they’re dead than they ever were when they were alive. For example, almost everybody knows Kurt Cobain’s name. They know that he was famous, he was with Nirvana, and he killed himself. But how many of us started listening to Nirvana after hearing about the tragedy? I know I did. Not because I applaud death, but because that act brought a lot of attention, which is what introduced me to the band. That’s what the bishops want. Glory in death, and death in pursuit of peace. They want you to think that suicide is the only way to escape; things will never get better, they will only get worse, and there’s only one way out. This is where Trench kicks in. 😉

Trench

Whew! Now that we’re past the Blurryface lore, let’s look into Trench. Honestly I feel like the rest of the lore after Blurryface is a lot easier to understand and not quite as heavy, now that people understand the basics of the world Tyler created. But… what happens if you do actually get out of Dema?
This question was posed when, after receiving the “most dedicated fanbase” award in 2017 at the APMAs, Josh Dun explained his bandmate’s absence simply by saying, “Tyler can’t be here right now, he’s busy severing ties with Dema.” Now, before I move on, I would like to say that I think it was incredible that Josh didn’t make Tyler come to the event. I guess it could be an intended intrigue to make everyone extremely curious and therefore drawing attention, but honestly that seems disingenuous and very out of character. They’ve always been more or less upfront about things, so I don’t think this is merely propaganda. I think Tyler was just having a really bad time and his friend let him stay home. And I think that’s sweet. Anyway, back to the storyline. So Dema has been publicly deemed “thumbs down” by the band. Furthermore, Tyler is officially trying to escape. Now we get a little more information. So, somewhere outside Dema is Trench. (I don’t know if that’s the actual name of the place or if they just call it that because he was literally, physically inside a trench.) In Trench, we discover that there is one color the bishops can’t see; true yellow. It’s also called “safety yellow”, because it’s the same color as caution tape. Which I think is pretty cool because the whole basis of Trench is that you’re out of Dema, but not out of the woods. So you still have to be cautious. This yellow is brought to the viewers’ attention because the Banditos (people who have escaped; not to be confused with Doritos) wear yellow tape on their clothes. They are past the bishops’ reach. In fact, in the Heavydirtysoul music video, two things clearly bring attention to the fact about yellow: the driver, Nico, drives horribly because he cannot see the yellow lines on the road, and he never manages to hit Josh for the same reason. Josh has yellow hair in this era, and therefore cannot be seen by the bishops. Just a cool little nugget I found by “bi_aced” on Reddit. Anyway, when Tyler escapes Dema, he runs to the trench. But… he was faced with another problem. He has to get out of the trench, too. And nobody can do it for him. It’s something he has to do himself. But they do offer as much help as they can give, throwing yellow petals to remind him of who he wants to be and applying yellow tape to his jumpsuit. (By the way, I think that’s really cool symbolism. Tyler never applies the tape himself; it’s always another Bandito. Almost like they’re saying, “We’re here for you. You’re going to get through this. Just keep fighting.“) We are also introduced to a new character, Ned, in this album. I don’t know if he has an exact definition, so to speak, but to me he represents the creative process and a friend even in dark times. After all, Tyler finds comfort in music. Ok, moving on. The first song on the album is called “Jumpsuit” and in it Tyler is singing/screaming “jumpsuit, jumpsuit, cover me“. This, to me, symbolizes how it feels trying to escape from a bad depressive episode. You know you have to fight, and keep doing your best, but you’re so exhausted and all you want to do is collapse. It’s screaming, “carry me, don’t make me walk anymore!” he wants the jumpsuit to keep him safe when Dema comes calling, but that’s not the reality of life. You can’t only rely on things to get you through – you have to get yourself through. That’s why so many people commit to “Vialism”. It’s scary to have only yourself in the face of trouble. Or in the face of your personal bishop. Others will help you, but when it comes down to it, you have to put in the work to get better. So to me, Trench is about the in-between of cutting off what hurts you, and trying to make your way to what heals you. It’s the place between who you were and who you want to be.

What happened to Clancy?

January 22nd, 2019. Clancy’s last update on dmaorg.info was his final letter. He said he regretted leaving Dema, his home. And after that, Clancy completely disappeared. I personally think that Clancy got caught and was returned to Dema at this point (he was already labeled a failed parimeter escape, after all) because Dema was all he’d known and Trench was terrifying. The thing about Keons, Clancy’s bishop, is he likes to give things in trade. So while Clancy gave Keons loyalty, Keons fed him a sense of home. A place where he belonged. If you recall from above, the fear that Keons represents is never having anything to call yours. Nothing to claim, nothing to claim you. And if Clancy was given this bishop, it means that was his greatest fear. So what tempted him to go back was a sense of having something, even if it was toxic.

Smearing (sub category)

So, smearing is an almost ritualistic practice for the bishops to control the FPEs (Failed Parimeter Escapes). If you try to leave and you get caught, they bring you back and try to make you forget everything that you saw. The color, the vibrancy, the people, the help, and, essentially, the hope. So they practice smearing. As far as I understand it, smearing is what happens to Tyler in some of the music videos. The black paint that serves as a reminder of forced surrender and hopelessness. It represents the bishops stealing your memories; specifically the good ones, but in general just all life outside of Dema. It’s supposed to make you an outcast; a shame. BUT it is actually worn as a badge of honor among the residents. It’s a sign of restlessness and a refusal to give up; which is likely somewhat uncommon in the oppressive city of Dema. So when Keons found Clancy and brought him back, we can safely assume that they tried to smear him. But it actually worked counterproductively. Because Keons gave Clancy a sense of home and safety, and even made him tempted to return on his own, this act felt like a betrayal. Family should accept family, not shame them. So when Clancy returned only to be greeted as an outcast, he started to re-realize the toxicity of what he’d left. He even said that he regretted “going home” again. Because of this, the bishops pressured him more than customary, and Clancy finally revealed the letters and website.

After the “Level of Concern” single was dropped, there was an alternate reality game that came with it. And whoever solved the game first won a USB drive containing information. One of the biggest drops from that information was a video, starring Tyler Joseph. Unassuming at first glance, the fans soon discovered a TV in the background that was spelling out “CLANCY IS DEAD” in Twenty One Pilots’ language. Then on April 2nd, 2021, the website became active again; this time, with a termination bar. A fan theory from Twitter stated that Clancy had been caught, and the bishops were now in control. With the loss of his communication, and all contact with the outside world, Clancy finally committed to Vialism completely. And the website was leaked. This theory was confirmed when @Blurryface liked the tweet, in so doing breaking his 4 year long hiatus. And the tweet was only up for about 17 minutes before it was liked, suggesting that the fan account had been watched as a top priority for new theories. (Fun fact: if you watch the video I linked up at the top of this post, you’ll see that the lore can be a very firsthand kind of deal, and is very personal with dedicated fans. Such as Kars and Chey, the hosts. Again, no pressure to watch. But I do highly recommend it.)

Scaled and Icy

Oo boy, do I enjoy this part. This is the first album where I’ve been paying attention to the band at the time of its release. I wasn’t that interested, but Drummer Boy loves Twenty One Pilots so I payed half-attention for him. I still didn’t get it from a lore point of view, because I’ve only been doing this research for the past couple of weeks. But even from the start I could tell this one was different. So let’s get into it!

On April 5th, 2021, the website was terminated. All that was left was a message: “dmaorg.info is in violation of Infraction No. 3.12.1.14.3.25 9.19 4.5.1.4.” which, if you number the letters in the alphabet, spells out “Clancy is Dead”. Blurryface later tweeted that the album was called “SCALED AND ICY”. Which, if you’re also a Harry Potter fan, you might have figured out is also an anagram for “CLANCY IS DEAD”. (I’ll put a picture below for how this works if you don’t understand; I know it was very difficult for me.) Tyler Joseph has commented in interviews that the name also means “Scaled Back and Isolated”, which was how it felt making music in quarantine, and the anagram was simply a coincidence. (Of course, he’s been known to dodge or downright ignore questions regarding the lore when being asked by someone who doesn’t really care. The world he’s created is meant only for those who need it, know it and relate to it. It was never meant for mainstream publicity for just anybody to access, because it’s a very personal thing for those who actually deal with it, Tyler and myself included. It’s a way to explain and work through what we feel inside – not for money, fame, and recognition from people who don’t care. This is again made clear in Message Man, a song off the Blurryface album. “Please use discretion when you’re messing with the message man, these lyrics aren’t for everyone, only few understand“.)

Now, if you go back to Vialism and the neon gravestones, some connections start to make themselves known. (Hehehe this is so exciting to me) The colors of the new album are bright and cheery; in fact, it’s the very same shade of blue as the neon gravestone being made in the “Fairly Local” music video. Oh yeah- and BLUE. The sign of defeat, remember? For a while, people thought that blue was Blurryface’s defeat. Now we know that it’s actually Tyler’s defeat. And the new album is extremely popular, despite all of the anagrams and symbols showing “CLANCY IS DEAD”. So this, in turn, is a glorification of death. The new album in itself IS a neon gravestone. We are all participating in Vialism at this point; exactly what the bishops want. Which makes it very clear that they are now in control, spreading their practices into the real world symbolically.
Essentially; in past albums, we went to Dema. In Scaled and Icy… Dema is coming to us.

Color Scheme and Propaganda

You’ve probably heard it said before: people aren’t products. But… what if we treated them like they were? That seems to be what’s happening in Scaled and Icy. The bishops have caught Tyler and Josh, and they’re using them to feed the audience exactly what they want them to hear. The color scheme is bright, cheery, and comfortable. Inviting. But behind the scenes lies a very dark, dreary reality. (It reminds me of the story about Hansel and Gretel. Two kids stuck in a house made of candy, obeying the witch who gives them temporary safety in exchange for their lives. Food for thought.)
And this propaganda has been hinted at since before the album even released. In the “Christmas Saves the Year” single cover, somewhat unnoticed in the background behind a young Tyler and Josh, lies a gift box wrapped in red wrapping paper. And who’s it from? Clancy. Even more disturbing, on the wrapping paper is a nearly invisible scrawled message. “SAI is propaganda”. We always knew that Clancy was the messenger. It’s his character. But this is spooky. Almost like his way of signing off before he died. One last warning. And it makes sense, really. All the new songs are happier, more peppy and almost whimsical in some ways. Even if they pass the vibe check at first glance, there’s something off. It feels disconnected, almost like it isn’t really Tyler and Josh anymore. Everything is sugarcoated. Like we don’t know them at all. Their music, aesthetic, and even behavior has completely changed. And the shift isn’t a new thing for the band, as they’ve changed things every era. But this just feels wrong. It’s too comfortable. Twenty One Pilots is a band that calls you out. It reaches into your soul and says, “I know how you feel.” But they’ve gone from real and brutally honest to happy and artificial. And I think what’s so off-putting to me about the new stuff. There’s no connection from artist to listener. It’s just noise. Just static. Just words. I’m sure there’s meanings I haven’t found yet but it just feels wrong. Because now that Clancy’s gone, Dema has stepped up to the plate as our new messenger. In fact, way back in Vessel, there’s a song called Migraine. In it, he says, “Let me paint a mental picture portrait” while making a rectangle with his finger. And in Shy Away, he makes the same rectangle shape saying, “When you get home, you barely recognize the pictures they put in a frame”. As much of a stretch this might seem, it makes sense. Dema is trying to paint a NEW picture portrait in our minds. Another cool thing a superfan noticed: The lyrics in Shy Away also spell out SAI. Which we know is propaganda.
“Shed your modesty
And the only thing to leave behind
Is your own skin on the floor”.
The band is seen frequently looking off camera, even nodding, as if they are being directed by the bishops for how to act and what to sing. They seem very uncomfortable and awkward, like they’re trying too hard, and their body language is very unsettling.

The PSI Symbol

PSI is pronounced the same way as the abbreviation for Scaled and Icy; SAI. Some people think that it represents a different perspective, but I don’t think that’s necessarily true. I do agree, however, that it might be a hijacked representation of “east is up”. If you listen to Nico and the Niners backwards, you can hear “We denounce Vialism” and “We will leave Dema and head true East” and lastly, “We are Banditos”. Now that the bishops know about Clancy’s letters, they know full well what that means. And so the new symbol essentially mocks the hopeful phrase. The psi is almost always neon. So this could mean that they want us to think “east is up” is just more death. For so long, the Twenty One Pilots logo meant hope. So they changed it, giving it a new meaning. Another thing that I noticed, which may or may not be coincidence, is on the cover of the new album. There’s a dragon named “Trash”, who seems to be the new “mascot” of sorts. And coming out of his nose is a billow of smoke. (Some say it’s lighting, but I don’t think that would make sense haha.) And it just so happens that when you look at the root and stems, it is almost in the shape of a psi. It’s also featured in the distant background of Shy Away, blurrily, almost as if they wanted to put it in our minds gently. Two different versions of the psi are seen flashing onto the screen during the video, too fast to see clearly. Like subliminal messaging, almost.

Trash Talking

Okay. This post is already extremely long, and I honestly cannot find a way to explain Trash any better than Nalbis does in this video, so instead of writing it all down I’m just going to recommend the video if you’re interested in learning about him :’D

Alrighty guys. I’m exhausted, and I can’t think of anything else I need to cover pertaining to the lore that I know. Let me know in the comments if theres anything I missed, got wrong, or any theories you would like to add. This has been fun! I look forward to whatever comes next. See y’all next time! (All of the videos and sites that I used will be linked at the very bottom. Please visit them and show them some love! They were extremely helpful and interesting. Thanks!)

♡, Shortie

RESOURCES:

Web links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Bourbaki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Silence
https://www.reddit.com/r/twentyonepilots/comments/8iiqen/who_is_clancy/
https://www.reddit.com/r/twentyonepilots/comments/8y061e/what_does_east_is_up_mean/
https://www.reddit.com/r/twentyonepilots/comments/96em5n/the_act_of_smearingbeing_smeared/
https://www.reddit.com/r/twentyonepilots/comments/nib06w/who_the_hosts_are/
https://www.reddit.com/r/twentyonepilots/comments/ni7m5j/hosts_of_good_day_dema_credited_as_lisden_and/ (this last one was only mildly helpful, but I figured I’d list it too.)

Videos:

Youtube channels I found helpful in researching lore and individual albums/songs/characters:

https://www.youtube.com/c/ThePopSongProfessor
https://www.youtube.com/c/nalbis
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChwbfG8UvnLOJ_WgRiAaPBA
https://www.youtube.com/c/JakeAlan

I do not own any of the photos or videos included in this post 🙂