#mine: theory

[portvial]

ok now that some time has passed and i feel more normal after a day of screaming with my friends, i'm starting to gather my thoughts.

there are a lot of theories out there already. some say the torchbearer we see isn't real and just blurry trying to trick clancy, others say it's a recent memory before they approached dema.

i'm gonna analyze clancy's pov thus far (this will get long, apologies):

we've known clancy has been in a very vulnerable state of mind for a while. the clancy album is, from beginning to end, a story about relapsing into harmful old habits and mindsets. this prolonged manic episode starts as soon as he comes down from the high of seizing for the first time back in voldsoy. he feels in control of something for once in his life. the line between morality and the end justifying the means begins to blur as he starts using the citizens as a way to get into dema and begin a revolution from inside the walls. this power, this control, it starts to intoxicate him. he feels overly confident in his newfound abilities, and this leads to overcompensating for the scared boy he used to be.

“I'm not as scared as I used to be. Their mystery begins to fade as a method to defeat them becomes more clear. I no longer feel powerless. I can outsmart them. This new power of psychokinesis worked, and I believe it can work again.”

— Clancy's journal. 024 02MOON 09.

“I found a way in. A way they'll never suspect, and a way they'll never understand. Everything about our cause is so hard for them to understand, but so close to the hearts of the glowing resistance. I can reach them all. I can recruit everyone with eyes that see beyond the horizon. I can teach them.”

— Clancy's journal. 024 02MOON 28.

but suddenly, we learn that the torchbearer, who has been loyally following clancy everywhere, isn't the same one who has been standing all the way across the paladin strait. or rather, it is a guide, a projection, as we later learn from tyler himself. torchbearer exists, but in the same way that clancy has finally found his powers, torch has been using his own. this puts a wrench in the plan. all of a sudden, clancy starts to rethink everything that's happened so far. was any of it real? was his mind playing tricks on him? did he hallucinate his companion for years? had his abused and tired mind, after years of smearings from the bishops, finally began to crack under the weight?

but most importantly, could he, despite all they'd been through together, truly trust torch?

why do i come to this conclusion? in one of the unused lyrics from digital remains, we see the following excerpt:

“Breaking alliances over the silences from ignited torches when the battle had begun.”

something broke along the way. the blind trust clancy and torch once shared had been, in a way, breached. clancy's mind is more vulnerable than ever, susceptible to the bishops' control. to nico, to blurry.

The evidence I planted on purpose

in another lyric from the unused song "drag path", we see clancy refer to himself as "useless", "worthless", "defenseless", his disappearance being a "minor inconvenience" for torch, just "a set back", as he waits to be rescued, "on the off chance" torch feels "compelled" to save him once again:

“A drag path etched on the surface

I'm here again, conscious but defenseless / worthless

A drag path that’s on etched the surface

The off chance that you feel compelled to save me again

A setback, for you, just a minor inconvenience

I’m confident you’ll find me

I dug my heels next to each other

As evidence for you to discover

A drag path that leads to my prison

I’m confident you’ll find me”

it is clear that clancy's self worth has taken a major hit, and he is no longer sure of his importance in torch's life, or in the rebellion's plan. "feeling the reality that everybody leaves", he sings in navigating, despite the fact that torch's touch, even through a projection, was enough to guide him back home.

torch attempts to communicate with clancy, to reassure him that he had in fact never left his side, despite his physical body not being there.

“I see the weathering on your face, and the journey you've been on. Although we were away, I hope you now know that I've never left you. [...]

Covering you, TB.”

— Letter from Torch to Clancy | FPE Minnesota + FPE Columbus N3

however, this letter ends up most likely intercepted by the bishops, as we saw in the FPE. there is a big possibility that clancy has never read it.

clancy's erratic and manic behavior starts to get noticed by the other banditos. some seem excited at the showcase of this power, but others question clancy's methods:

“Nico's power is the element that has given Dema and Vialism such an iron fist. More power, even if it's Clancy's power, will corrupt the movement we've fought so hard to bring to Dema. We are all one people, and people striving for hope and victory, not more tyranny. Clancy must know that!”

— Letter from Magnus to Baldur | FPE Bologna, Italy + FPE Manchester, UK

all of this brings us to the line:

My body's on the line now

I can't fight this time now

I can feel the light shine on my face

Did I disappoint you? Will they still let me over if I cross the line?

Take a seat, but I'd rather you not be here for

What could be my final form

Stay your pretty eyes on course

Keep the memories of who I was before

clancy is beginning to realize that there is no other way to destroy the bishops and reclaim dema than to put himself in harm's way. in a last moment of tenderness, he asks torch to remember him as he was, and their time together, but to keep moving forward no matter what.

torch, however, is having none of it:

CLANCY,

NEVER FORGET THE CRIES OF YOUR PEOPLE. NEVER FORGET THE RAW FEAR THAT FUELED YOU, OR THE REBELS THAT MADE YOU WHO YOU ARE TODAY.

WE ARE ALL ONE. WE DESTROYED THEM SO THAT WE DIDN'T BECOME THEM.

WE MUST DO BETTER, CLANCY. WE MUST DO BETTER.

TB

— Letter from Torch to Clancy | FPE Hamburg, Germany

the tone is desperate, he is clearly trying to bring clancy back from the brink.

clancy replies to him, colder than ever, in a very worrisome letter depicting how his manic behavior has reached its peak:

TB,

The crown is heavy, but I can carry it. This city needs hope, and I alone can give it to them. But the city needs to feel powerful again, and snap out of the lifeless obedience they've been trapped in. I can give it to them. I gave them hope. I will be their example of absolute power. I feel alive again.

– Clancy

— Letter from Clancy to Torch | FPE London, UK

this feeling of euphoria, reminiscent of a manic episode, can only end in one way: crashing back down. backsliding, if you will.

it's possible that what we see in paladin strait, clancy climbing the tower alone and torch worriedly glancing back, is a detour from the original plan.

and finally, this brings us to the contract. we begin where we left off, nico choking clancy. he closes his eyes and we witness how he tries to fight off nico's control over his mind. the mv is a series of disorienting, confusing, twisted images, a hazy nightmare. red eyes surrounding him and torch, possibly depicting the glorious gones, or us as the audience, being controlled by blurry.

the leaves and the storm from the backslide mv, depicting a battle inside clancy who's trying not to relapse, not to succumb to nico's power

the lyrics are frantic, they show us a glimpse into clancy's mental state: sleep deprived, on edge, paranoid, obsessing over when and how blurry will attack.

My hallucination I used to see, it felt so real

clancy has convinced himself that their connection, their alliance, has been severed, their paths diverged. he doesn't trust his own mind anymore, if he ever did, and now reality starts to blur with dreams and hallucinations.

But now I plead, just take the deal

I promised you a contract

this is sung directly to torch, pointing at him. clancy promised torch a long time ago that he would go along with the plan, he would use his power to reclaim dema and defeat the bishops once and for all. but as said earlier, clancy realized that torch's methods would be futile if their goal was to succeed. there is no winning without him using all of his available power, even if it means losing himself along the way. so now he pleads for torch to take this deal. it isn't ideal, it isn't their initial plan, but a compromise must be reached.

in turn, this also works with torch offering clancy his jumpsuit, his rebel jacket. he promised him freedom, the only thing he has to do is take the jacket back and step away from the precipice, it doesn't have to be this way. we've seen clancy refuse it once, but we don't know if this is an scenario he imagined, or a distorted memory. we, just like clancy, cannot trust his mind anymore (if we ever could in the first place.)

the only thing that's left to see is what clancy will choose, what his next move is, and if the weight of this insurmountable power will be enough to completely corrupt him.

[ftmtftm]

You all realize Feminists have been critiquing "women only spaces" for decades right?

I think often about Audre Lorde's critique of a women only event that welcomed her wife and daughter, but not her son. Because she questioned it - the function and purpose of barring even the sons of Feminist women from Feminist events. Especially the barring of her young Black son, who would otherwise be left alone in the city where he would be more prone to the very violence those same Feminist women claimed to want to change.

Because what functional, forward thinking Feminist purpose does it actually serve to do that? What message does that send to women with sons, husbands, brothers, lovers, friends, who want to involve the men and boys in their lives in their activism? Who want to build a functionally better world for us all outside of the oppressive grasp of Patriarchy? Especially for the marginalized men who often sit at their own intersection violent Patriarchal oppression, that still happens to be Patriarchal oppression despite it not being distinctly misogyny?

What purpose does it truly serve to sequester yourself away into a pocket of the world, detached from those you share it with? What bright and shining future does that really promise you?

[f-misc]

"He's a hundred and ten years old"

...did they celebrate bucky's birthday together?

the wiki has bucky's birthday as march 10th, 1917. and the celestial island summit in ca:bnw took place on april 16th, 2027. so bucky's 110th birthday was just last month. sam's not rounding. he knows bucky's a hundred and ten because they just had his birthday...

...I need to know how long of a time "missed you too" is covering...did they spend bucky's birthday together?? have they just not seen each other for only a month? or, if it's been longer...did sam call bucky on his birthday? text him?? he has their picture framed on the best shelf in his office for christ's sake; he must have done something.

how many old man jokes has he made.

[lilly-townshend]

SOMEBODY REBLOGGED MY teenage silco vander and felicia FANART AND YOU KNOW HOW DID THEY TAG IT??

GIRL

...it's an official AU!name now

@burlbread ily

[redstringredeye]

I am unwell

[micer2012]

a reflection on MatPat's plagiarism

Hello, my name is Della, or micer2012, and 2 years ago Game Theory plagiarized three Tumblr posts of mine, making a video that now holds almost 6 million views.

My posts explaining his plagiarism made their rounds on Reddit, Tumblr and Twitter, but despite the Hermits and Pooka commenting on it (generally in support of me or saying they don’t know enough details about the situation to say either way), MatPat and his team have never owned up to anything, and no mention of my name is present on the video. The one Reddit post they made denying it (which was made before my detailed takedown, which they have never responded to (though the mods on the r/GameTheorists Reddit were kind and made sure it stayed up)) didn’t even mention me by name, just referring to me as “a tumblr user”. (Though one of the screenshotted comments in the body of the post does say my name)

This experience was baffling, but it’s overall had a positive impact on my life. r/Hermitcraft gave me a Golden Apple Award (post of the year, 2021). My inbox was filled with excited fans, wanting to ask me questions or pose their own theories, far more than the hate I got. (Though the hate I got from Game Theory fans was VERY funny. I wondered why none of them gave me shit about saying “MatPat misgendered Evil Xisuma” before realizing none of them read that far into the post.)

And getting on a more personal, and much more important note, I met most of my current online friends through this, including my partner. It helped me grow closer with my irl friends as well and gave me an entertaining story that I tell whenever I have the chance. It was one of the first things in my life that really made me feel like my talents, my autistic hyperfocusing and analyzing of things I love, could be valuable. Useful. Exploitable. It blew my mind that MatPat thought an autistic kid’s ramblings about a Minecraft Youtube joke character were good enough to steal. To put an audible sponsorship on. To get 6 million views off of.

And that’s why I’m writing this post, this update years later. As you might’ve been able to guess, Hbomberguy’s Youtube video on plagiarism reopened this wound. It was really hard for me to sit through, it took days of pausing and taking breaks, because I had experienced everything he was talking about firsthand. 

In my 10 page long takedown post, I wrote about how his rewording of my sentences made him say things that were incorrect, just like Filip did. The content farm production style that made big companies like Cinemassacre take one creator (AVGN/MatPat) and turn him and his content into a brand, a voice that reads out scripts by other people with other opinions/theories, is a history shared with Game Theory. What really hit me was Harris talking about how big creators only do this to people they think they can get away with doing it to. How they view their victims as lesser, as not deserving of their words, repackaging them as their own to give to an audience that can gain from hearing them, but deserves better than to have to listen to the original victim.

That’s the thing, I 100% think a video version of my theory to expose to a bigger community than “Evil Xisuma Fans on Tumblr” is a great idea!! Near the end of the video Harris talks about how video adaptations of things could be a great market, even an accessibility tool, and I completely feel that about my posts. I wrote them quickly assuming the reader was someone well versed on Evil Xisuma lore, after not even watching most of the CarnEvil series, and the diagrams I made to explain them are even less comprehensible. Harris makes a joke that I completely agree with, 

“I’m sure some of my videos would do very well if someone translated them into English.”

I don’t think I would’ve ever made my posts if I didn’t have autism, and a special fixation on Evil Xisuma and Hermitcraft. I made them because I felt the character was being done an injustice, and because I wanted to share with other superfans this theory that might explain it away. I do think that MatPat plagiarizing me was ableist. I used to wonder a lot if this would’ve happened if my posts were articulated better, if they had been peer reviewed, if the posts themselves had been spread to a wider audience before MatPat made his video. At one point when the discourse was fresh (before I had the time to write out my 10 page rebuttal), a bigger YouTuber (100k subs at the time) messaged me and started talking on Discord, interested in possibly making a video on the discourse, but I think my style of typing and general enthusiasm drove him away. You can tell by a single look at my blog (or my original 3 posts!) that I don’t usually type like this. This post you’re reading now has been peer reviewed and edited, and took me hours to format correctly. That video could’ve been huge, the entire outcome of this MatPat situation would probably be much different.

I also used to stress a lot about “being the one who ruined Evil Xisuma’s story”. If you didn’t know, to me S8 Evil Xisuma’s story got wrapped up pretty quickly and unsatisfying (in my personal autistic opinion). (though this might’ve been due to s8 being experimental and ending early with moon big) There was no real culmination of the plot points and arcs going on, and I don’t want to blame myself, but when Xisuma said on stream (when the MatPat thing was first going on) that he didn’t want to focus on the discourse or draw more attention to it, it makes a lot of sense to me that he just wanted to wrap it all up as quickly as possible. For a while I beat myself up about it, of ruining the story of this character I love, but it’s not my fault. If anyone’s, it’s MatPats, but I don’t think it’s useful to just blame someone else. That’s how the story ended up going, and that’s fine. This is Evil Xisuma we’re talking about, their inconsistent lore is what made them such an interesting character. And notably, Pooka made an animation with an awesome culmination of Jeff, the Dreamer, Evil Xisuma, and his own sona’s story, and it makes me so happy to watch. Whatever Pooka does is of course his own choice, but I’m glad he got to give this personal story his own ending (if it is an ending, and not just the start of a new chapter!). 

Typing this all out and getting it off my chest has made me feel a lot better. For a while I wanted to make my OWN video essay about Evil Xisuma’s lore and CarnEvil’s lore, actually going episode by episode to explain it instead of just assuming you knew as much about Evil Xisuma as I did. That idea is still not off the table, but MCYT isn’t something I’m that into right now. Maybe if something else comes out about Evil Xisuma I’ll get back on it, but for now I’m fine with letting that go. But I want to make other videos, share other theories and analysis… if I have the freetime I’d love to make YouTube videos, and if I don’t have the time I’ll continue posting to my tumblr and infodumping to my friends. Apparently my infodumping is valuable enough “content” to steal! Writing this out has made me feel a lot better though, I’m really glad I got it out.

If anyone ever wants to talk to me about the things I’m obsessed with, or reach out to me as a source in a bigger discussion about Game Theory or other channels, my inbox is more than welcome :] Thank you for reading! 

Sincerely, a tumblr user.

[artylla]

now they're frightened of leaving it

everyone's weaving it

[angel-sephiroth]

Careful now. That which lies ahead...does not yet exist.

Our world will become a part of it...one day. But I...will not end.

Nor will I have you end.

[atimefordragons]

@giftober 2024 | Day 4: Slow Motion ↳ Raj and Simran's private little moment in Mehndi Laga ke Rakhna

[portvial]

following my previous post, i wanna touch a bit more on the subject of why clancy seems to be diverging from torchbearer's original plan and how he's trying to find a compromise to fit the reality he's found himself in: how his worst enemy is, in fact, an inseparable part of himself.

it all comes down to these two main points:

1. balance

2. jurisdiction

— Interview with Zane Lowe, 2018

tyler talks about blurryface inhabiting certain parts of his brain, places where this entity seems to have taken over, and the only way for him to escape from this encompassing darkness is running away from those occupied spaces and finding new, unexplored ground. that's what trench is; like tyler said, a liminal space, "where we used to bleed and where our blood needs to be", the space between your starting point and where your finish line must be.

we all know you're not supposed to stay in dema, but you're also not supposed to settle down in trench, as it serves as a place to find your footing, find your support system, and gather tools for your survival. a state of transition.

along the way this mindset has evolved, adapted, shifted. we are no longer running away, but rather, running towards. as i said in my previous post, clancy has found a shaky sort of confidence. it's not fully there at first, but he is secure enough in his own abilities to stop running away and face his tormentors dead on. we know by now this feeling of control starts to cloud his judgement.

however, with this newfound overconfidence, comes perhaps unwanted clarity:

Why was this given to me? Why am I the only one that can wield it? Was this the reason that I survived? My mind is racing as I wait here on the rocks - staring off into the darkness. Waiting for our torches to be mirrored - the signal he told me to wait for.

It feels oddly familiar. Not the spikes in my hand, but the power it harnesses, I've felt it before. Is this also the source of those rumors I heard in the dark corners of the city? Legends and stories that I assumed were myth, inspired by children's nightmares - tales of what the bishops would use the bodies for. Those "honorable" citizens who achieved The Glorious Gone - referred to as available vessels.

It all begins to make sense.

The episodes I would have: the blood red vision, my dreams of flying, the out of body account of the rider in the river, the decaying hosts of the television show, the robed figures that commanded the doomed ship...

Had we all been "seized" by the bishops using this same technique? Is this where their power comes from? Are they immortal, or just feeding off the next body, giving their hosts a brief second-life? I am in my original life, why am I available to this control?

This whole time I thought I was battling my inner self. Was I actually under assault from something else? SomeONE else?

— Clancy's journal, 022 03MOON 18

blurryface, nico, the bishops, dema and all it represents... they're all an inseparable part of clancy's psyche. one cannot exist without the other:

— 'Inside the revolutionary success of twenty one pilots’ Blurryface', Kerrang! Magazine #1593, 2015

your pain, your anger, your insecurities, your fears, everything comes from the same place: yourself. there might be external influences, of course. situations differ and everyone's psyche is different, but ultimately, the only way to defeat these obstacles is learning to balance them, to mold and tame them, in order to break the seemingly never-ending cycle of self destruction in half.

— ALT 98.7 FM, LA Press Conference, 2019

it's not a problem to solve, it's a tension to manage.

[Tyler] explained the elements of ourselves that we hate, and the constant battle against these traits. In order to add clarity to this internal struggle, he gave a name to these negative attributes: “Blurryface”. This way, we can attempt to define the struggle, and to see the battle we are actually facing.

But Blurryface isn’t that black and white. There are more layers to him than described. He can either be represented as sad, angry, evil, or deceptive. He has a tendency to draw you in, but only to pull you down. Tyler mentioned a vision of his mutilated face, and all of the dread associated with the elusive enemy. There is something vague about him, and something that cannot be completely described. No matter what your interpretation of Blurryface is, it’s safe to say that he remains something that we try to hide, and not show to the outside world. [...] The story is black and white, but with red. Red, the color of passion, violence, and anger.

— Brandon Rike, Graphic Designer: Behind Blurryface.

tyler sings to us in migraine: "sometimes to stay alive you gotta to kill your mind." but how does one successfully kill their own mind without also killing an intrinsic part of themselves?

this is where reclaiming comes into play:

reclaiming red

We're excited to get back into it after taking a little bit of a break, but even more excited to get into the color red again, because that was the goal this whole time with the story. The thing we were afraid of, learning how to utilize it and try to win. That's kind of what the story is all about.

— Tyler Joseph, Overcompensate Behind the Scenes

overtaking your former self

reclaiming blue

— Clancy's journal, 024 02MOON 28 | Claim #00FFFF, hex code for the shade of blue that is a direct opposite of Blurryface red (#FF0000), and the same color used since Regional At Best. Claim Cyan = anagram of "I am Clancy."

clancy must reclaim these parts in order to break the cycle. he must reach a compromise with himself, coexist with this side, which means making a deal of sorts with blurryface.

blurryface cannot die without clancy meeting his own demise, but blurryface will not stop until clancy is dead. or worse, under its control.

so what is left to do? truce.

a deal, a contract. with torch, with blurry, with himself.

clancy is put in a negotiator role, not only trying to find a perfect balance within himself that will allow the rebellion to win the war, but convincing torch – who will not stop shielding, covering clancy from harm no matter what – that this is the only way to do it: fighting for himself, for once, instead of relying on being saved.

"a balance between being saved by a friend,

and saving yourself"

[ftmtftm]

Radical Feminist theory has no home in Intersectional theory. Radical Feminism is practically innately antithetical to Intersectional Feminism. The ideas and criticism that would create the framework of Intersectional Feminism pre-Kimberlé Crenshaw came to be as a near direct result of questioning Radical Feminist practices and ideology.

Audre Lorde, bell hooks, Angela Y. Davis, Judith Butler, Leslie Feinberg, all wrote/have written in ways that challenge and defy the core principles of Radical Feminist dogma. Kimberlé Crenshaw created terminology, Intersectionality, that ended up enveloping it all. People like Patricia Hill Collins, Mikki Kendall, Roxane Gay, Kate Bornstein, Leah Thomas, and Emi Koyama continue to write in ways that challenge Radical Feminist ideology - half the time purely by the nature of their framework.

You don't need Radical Feminism. Radical Feminism is not your friend. It will never be your friend. There is better Feminism out there - I promise you.

[grailknightmonty]

upon the heart of magic mountain 🌸🗻

from the oceanic goddess revered in the cyberpunk city on its hillside, to the stories of the ochre-feathered canary who's song hasn't been heard in years, it has been long thought by theorists that perhaps the magic imbued into this mountain was no coincidence- but rather the creation of mystical beings seeking to make a haven of sorts, a home protected by the powers that lie within this volcanic formation.

[zecoritheweirdone]

wanna preface this by saying that i am. So normal. anyway i just spent the last week redrawing scenes from mystery skulls animated but as that hermitcraft au i posted about a couple times. you guys should watch msa it is. so so good.

[mimikyuno]

you cannot convince that back in 2020 when mafumafu was commissioned by colopale and he composed cellphone love story/keitai renwa (it was supposed to be niigo’s first single but it was rejected so mfmf wrote composing the future/kuyamu to kaitenmirai instead) he wasnt told ALL of niigo’s rough plotline up to mizuki5 bc what is this and why did the devs give it to mizuena specifically 😭😭 losing my mind fr

[cursed-and-haunted]

HOLE THEORY

@/wovi / Immemorial Silence, Karman MacKendrick / Track, Tomas Tranströmer tr by Robert Bly / Black Square on a White Field, Kazimir Malevich / Hole Theory, William Pope L. / Overflowing With Empty, Judas H. / The Man With a Hole in His Head, Rick Bursky / William Pope L. / @/vren-diagram / Andrew Wyeth / Eating the Archive, Yousif M. Qasmiyeh / What We Buried, Caitlyn Siehl / Ann Carson

[riessene]

my take on fields of mistria's second mystery romance ;^)