My twenty one pilots Theory
So Mark confirmed on twitter today that the order of twenty one pilots’ music videos goes Heavydirtysoul then Jumpsuit then Nico And The Niners. A lot of people are still confused so I wanted to give my theories on the music videos, Clancy’s letters, and the whole Dema storyline.
Let’s start with Heavydirtysoul. As we all know this video is a loop, the very first scene being of a crackling fire and the very last scene being Tyler back in the car. The video’s concept is a representation of what it’s like to live in Dema. As Clancy says in their first letter, Dema is a trap and the people of Dema have to do the same meaningless tasks every single day.
In the HDS music video, Tyler is trapped in a car being driven in circles by one of the bishops. During the day time, Tyler is stuck in this car, under the bishop’s control, and clearly agitated. They keep driving past Josh who provides Tyler with hope, guidance, and protection in these three music videos. Just like in the Heathens video, Josh isn’t really there. Tyler is imagining him bc Josh is never controlled by Dema and he personifies Tyler’s hope of getting out.
By the time it turns dark in the HDS music video, the bishop is gone and Tyler literally breaks free from the car and then it catches on fire.
This could represent the hopes and dreams about escaping Dema that Tyler has during the night. But they’re only dreams, and by the end of the video Tyler is back in the car with the bishop at the wheel, Josh gone. Living in Dema is like living in an endless loop where you’re forced to do the same boring thing every day, and where dreams of rebellion taunt you every night.
We see a road at the beginning of Nico And The Niners with Dema in the distance.
We also know from the map of Dema that it is one big circle city.
Maybe the road in the HDS music video is a circular road surrounding Dema and maybe Tyler’s meaningless task is to drive on this road everyday to scope out Dema’s horizon. Tyler’s also literally wearing the same outfit in the HDS video and NATN video when he’s in Dema. So Tyler is in Dema in the HDS music video too.
Being stuck in a car that drove in circles everyday was driving Tyler insane, and every night he dreamt about setting that car on fire and getting out. But he’s not able to do it until he “wakes up” in the Jumpsuit music video.
During the Jumpsuit music video we have flashbacks to the HDS music video. Yes, they are all flashbacks because Tyler’s hair is buzzed in the HDS scenes and longer during the Jumpsuit scenes. From all the flashbacks we see that Tyler has done what he always wanted to do: he has blown up the car that trapped him and is finally able to escape. Also his neck and hands are no longer black meaning he is no longer under the control of the Bishops (the one controlling Tyler being Blurryface or Nico). He’s free. HDS music video Tyler couldn’t relate.
In the last scene, Tyler grabs his rebel jacket and heads into Trench, which is still a flashback that takes place before the Jumpsuit video. The jacket being already in the trunk of the car and Tyler clearly knowing where it is shows that he planned to blow up the car in order to leave Dema and join the Banditos.
In another letter from Clancy, they ask if they’re the only one who knows the truth about Dema and the Bishops. Clancy also says that those who have not realized the truth have “dry eyes caught in a trance of obedience, devoid of any trace of an identity.” The only people with light in their eyes are those who have been “smeared … by the darkness of bishops hands.” As we see in the Jumpsuit video, those are the people who have attempted to escape but, like Tyler, were caught and brought back to Dema.
Tyler saying “We’ve been here the whole time. You were asleep. It’s time to wake up,” could just be an answer to Clancy’s question. “Am I the only one who realizes that we’ve been lied to?” Nope. Tyler and the Banditos have been there the whole time, thinking the same thing, and Tyler has finally woken up, ready to escape Dema. The last video we got before Jumpsuit was HDS, so we were stuck in Dema, we were asleep, and with the arrival of Jumpsuit it was time for us to wake up and escape Dema with Tyler.
So the Jumpsuit video happens: Tyler runs through Trench and fails his attempt to escape because Nico/Blurryface finds him. The Banditos try to help him by throwing down some yellow flower petals to distract the Bishop/Nico/Blurryface because he can’t see yellow. In the last scene Tyler is being dragged behind the Bishop’s horse with a yellow flower in his hand, neck smeared, and Josh is watching it all go down. From Clancy’s most recent letter, they’re watching it all go down too.
Now the Nico And The Niners video happens. Tyler is back at his room in Dema. His neck is no longer black as he plans for another attempt to escape, no longer under the trance of Nico/Blurryface’s control. He’s back in his Dema prisoner clothes. Where did his rebel jacket go? The Banditos must’ve salvaged it when the Bishop removed it. One of them gives it back to Tyler in the video
Tyler’s got the yellow flower from his escape in the Jumpsuit music video, and he throws it in a drawer with a bunch of other flowers.
Does this mean he’s made multiple escape attempts? Absolutely. Clancy confirms his familiarity with Trench in their letter. While witnessing the events of Jumpsuit go down, Clancy writes “To him [Tyler], the terrain seemed familiar, as if he had been out here before.”
Clancy also ran into Tyler during their escape from Dema.
So throughout NATN we see Josh and the Banditos walk through these hidden tunnels with torches to come to Tyler’s rescue.
Tyler and Josh finally meet up, do their fancy handshake, and “start a concert, a complete diversion” that interrupts the Bishops from doing whatever it is they’re doing. Maybe having their Annual Assemblage of Glorified or maybe just doing what evil Bishops do on the daily.
Whether it’s annual or not, the bishops are making GLASS. VIALS.
“WE WILL RENOUNCE VIALISM”
Dema is full of glass vials that seem to provide the only light to the city. And the Bishops make them!!!
In the video the Bishops make a glass vial light structure and start worshipping it. They’re clearly serious about this vialism that they have instituted as a mandate for Dema.
Have the bishops really taken away Dema’s source of sunlight? Is that how they rip their citizens away from any hope of a world outside Dema? Is it just one more way that they can have complete power over the people of Dema? No wonder everyone is trying to leave all the time.
The NATN video ends with Tyler leaving his jacket from Jumpsuit behind. These two kids pick it up as the nine Bishops approach them. Tyler probably just gave those children their first sign of hope.
As Tyler and the Banditos leave through the tunnel with torches, Tyler now being the one to sing “we are Banditos” in reverse, a Bandito makes him a new rebel jacket with yellow tape. Tyler is ready to escape again, only this time he is not alone.
And before you ask, I don’t think the Heathens video has anything to do with the Dema storyline. tøp had to incorporate scenes from Suicide Squad in the video, so I truly think it was made to be more Suicide Squad themed than Dema themed. Sure Tyler’s suit is yellow to predict the color of the new era but nothing else matches with Dema. The clothes aren’t the same, the buildings aren’t the same, the cut on Tyler’s nose isn’t even the same.
In the Heathens video Tyler has cuts all over his face including one long cut on the bridge of his nose. Whereas in the Jumpsuit video he only has two shorter and fresher cuts on his nose. Maybe Tyler just scrapes his nose a lot? If Heathens had to be a part of the same Dema storyline as HDS, Jumpsuit, and NATN, it’d probably just take place after one of Tyler’s failed perimeter escapes. But I think we’re just thinking too much.
What will the next music video bring? Tyler’s long awaited escape from Dema? A death since the previous videos gave us a car and a torch? Who is Clancy? What is this all a metaphor for? Hopefully we will get answers soon.
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