Where are you taking us, Twenty Øne Piløts?
I know I haven’t been here for a while, and that’s because life has been busy and I haven’t felt compelled to share anything, and it feels strange that the lingering thoughts I wanted to share are about music and a band… something I don’t tend to write about much.
Nico, Blurryface, Clancy?
But the story Twenty Øne Piløts have been telling over the last ten years, over the course of multiple brilliant albums, of a battle between good and evil, mental health and ill health, and of living or dying, has made them a constant in my life as a soundtrack for my own trials and tribulations. And with the post Clancy tour announcement of a new single and album, promising to conclude this battle, I can’t stop thinking about where this story is going to go.
If you have no idea what I am talking about, you can find a brief but thorough introduction to the lore of Twenty Øne Piløts here by gooooooodboah :
If you know what I’m talking about, you can skip the next few paragraphs and get a drink whilst I get everyone else up to speed. [CW: Depression and Suicide]
Essentially, there is a place called Dema, run by the Bishops of a religion called Vialism, who consider their population to be worthless other than as vessels waiting to be emptied so that they can take possession of them, in order to control the rest of their citizens and any opposition. Vialism thus encourages people to commit suicide, in order to become tools for the Bishops to control, and the whole of Dema seems to be designed to undermine self, destroy self worth and discourage original thought.
There is a rebel faction who have escaped Dema and live outside its walls, in a land called Trench, calling themselves the Banditos, with a central figure called the Torchbearer. They help people escape Dema and are building an army with an intent to destroy the Bishops.
Clancy is a citizen of Dema who has escaped and been recaptured multiple times, and although he is alive, he has been subject to possession by the Bishops. Whether Clancy becomes Blurryface when he is possessed or that Blurryface is a nickname given to the Bishop Nico possessing him is subject to some discussion. Either way, even when Clancy is not possessed, he fears the threat of it and the undercurrent of those thoughts lurking all the time.
In this tale, Blurryface is obviously a representation of Tyler’s insecurities and negative thoughts.
“So I started trying to win. I want to conquer this thing. I want to conquer this person. So I started naming him.” - Tyler Joseph, Alternative Press issue 323
Over the last ten plus years, this story has unfolded, been fleshed out and elaborated in a way that would turn many published authors green with envy. The world building has been carefully and beautifully done through lyrics, music, and music videos, supported by an increasingly strange online social media presence and the eerie interruptions by Blurryface. It has been incredible to experience, especially as TØP have managed to make their fans part of the story - making them into the Banditos. As the fans have pondered online what aspects of the lore represent, Twenty Øne Piløts have taken cues from them, using their ideas to deepen the world. Somehow Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun have managed to turn us, their fans, into collaborators in this immense astonishing project.
At the end of their concerts TØP say, “We are Twenty Øne Piløts, and so are you.” And they mean it.
But, with the unfolding of the story, and messages dispersed in fragments and riddles, TØP let us know that 2025 would be Clancy’s last chapter.
If there’s anyone still in the kitchen, you can jump back in now…
This story is coming to a close and the outcome… what the hell is coming?
Generally, most stories feature two sides, good and evil. The light and the dark. Whilst some storytellers blur the line between the two, it is usual for us to root for the good, to hope that the light will prevail, be triumphant and that there will be a happily ever after. For us to hope for the Banditos to destroy the Bishops and their terrible soul-crushing regime. Anything else would surely be inconceivable.
But this story isn’t entirely that simple.
Behind the simplicity of good versus evil, are the complexities of what Dema, the Bishops, and Blurryface represent - anxiety, depression, insecurities, low self worth and the oppression of society’s expectations, to name only a few of the things we battle.
“We all go through something.” - Josh Dun, Alternative Press issue 323
Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun have been open about their battles with mental health, and much of the songwriting illuminates both their struggles and ours. Including the horrible fact that this is a battle that never truly ends. Even when you think you’re past it, even when you think you’re “better”, the tendency towards depression will always be there, like a dark seed buried deep in the shadow of our souls. Mental health is a war that never ends, it just gets easier at times, everyone suffering has to find their own way of living with it and its threat. You have to discover your own balance, your own tools, your own truce.
“After treatment of the first episode of depression, approximately half of all patients will relapse, and this risk increases for every subsequent episode, (70% and 90% after second and third episode respectively).” - The British Journal of General Practice
So the question is:
If the war between Dema and Trench is a true representation of our battles with mental health, can either side truly win? Surely this is a conflict that can never end?
Unless… is there something beyond good and evil, Trench and Dema, the Banditos and the Bishops, that we haven’t considered. Is there a third way? And what will that look/sound like?
It is obvious that no one would choose to live in Dema, a place where your ultimate purpose is to die, so your body can be used to fight the living. Dema appears to be a place without hope or purpose for most of its citizens, but is it any better for the Bishops? All they seem to do is demoralise, prepare for conflict, and build undead armies ready for the battle they know is to come. They perpetuate a meaningless society through conflict in order to protect their meaningless society.
No one in Dema lives a meaningful life, not even the Bishops.
The definition of trench is "a narrow ditch dug in earth", and in the context of warfare, “a deep hole dug by soldiers and used as a place from which they can attack the enemy while being hidden” (Cambridge dictionary).
In the context of TØP lore, we understand Trench to be outside of Dema’s control, a largely undeveloped landscape where the Banditos live, constantly relocating, building numbers by freeing those they can from Dema, in order to eventually battle the Bishops. This is a rebellion, living primarily in preparation of war, whose purpose is the destruction of Dema’s oppression.
The Banditos are not living, they are at war.
Neither Trench or Dema has citizens who thrive, create, or grow.
Tyler Joseph has said in interviews, “and, I guess, that Trench represents that feeling in between two places” - Kerrang! Issue 1742, Oct 2018. A sentiment voiced in the lyrics of ‘Bandito’ on Trench; “This is the sound we make, when in between two places. Where we used to bleed, And where our blood needs to be.”
Trench is not Clancy’s final destination, but he cannot survive in Dema.
It feels as if there is a third place, a third way of being, something which is neither Dema nor Trench, but another option. A place of compromise between the two sides, a truce… or a contract.
Then Twenty Øne Piløts announces a new single, The Contract, due out June 12th, with a new album ‘Breach’ to follow in September, destined to finish this epic tale in 2025.
I have no idea where this story is going, but this sense that we are headed somewhere we don’t expect, is incredibly exciting, and I just needed to put these thoughts out there so they weren’t just an itch in my subconscious for the next few months. And whilst I’m arranging my thoughts…
BLURRYFACE tweeted a message recently featuring extra capital ‘B’s at either end of the tweet. “BBROK EYOUR CONFI DENCEB”. What if the full title of the next album is not ‘Breach’, but ‘BReach…somethingB’. As if the ‘B’ represents a Blurryface quotation mark?
And lastly, the colour blue is becoming significant, with TØP posting photos from the Clancy concert when the stage was flooded in blue light, a possible binary code for blue being implied by the blinking eyes/dots on the countdown dial to The Contract. BLURRYFACE has told us previously that blue is a sign of defeat…
But defeat for whom? With colour being integral to the branding for the albums and tours, red being associated with the Bishops and Blurryface, and yellow being the colour for the Banditos. If you add blue, defeat, to red, it becomes purple, a colour which symbolises wisdom, creativity, power, royalty, magic, peace, pride, independence, and luxury, or should I say lavishness. It is historically an expensive colour which was worn by the Holy Roman Empire and Roman Catholic Bishops wore purple until 1464, when their robe colour changed to red due to the rarity and cost of the purple dye.
Could Clancy transform the Bishops from within, changing their robes to purple?
And if you add blue to yellow it becomes green, a colour which has symbolised nature, growth, renewal, and hope. It is a colour thought to relieve stress and aid healing. In colour symbolism, both sides could grow through defeat, and perhaps both sides are to be defeated by a third party, for this story to progress to a positive culmination.
Colour theory of resolution
These are just lingering thoughts and I really have no idea what is to come, but this is an exciting time and I can’t wait to find out where Twenty Øne Piløts are going with this. At least we know we’re in safe hands, Tyler’s driving and will avoid the potholes, and Josh is navigating as our guide. The car might catch fire at one point, but it’s just going to add to the excitement.
Buckle up, we’re going on Clancy’s last ride.
Links:
If you are in mental health crisis or despair in the UK, you can call 111 or 999 for help, or call the Samaritans on 116123. Please reach out to someone, a friend or professional help, you are not alone, you are needed and loved. Stay alive |-/
Predicting and preventing relapse of depression in primary care
British Journal of General Practice
https://bjgp.org/content/70/691/54
Alternative Press issues featuring Twenty Øne Piløts
https://www.altpress.com/?s=Twenty+one+pilots
A website featuring all the BLURRYFACE tweets
https://blurryfacetimeline.crd.co/#timeline
Colour symbolism can be found here:
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