Okay you guys Twenty One Pilots' new song The Contract just dropped today!!! It's really good; you should go listen to it! But more importantly, lore was dropped, both in the music video and the lyrics. So here is what I have found/speculate:
-So Tyler had worn the Clancy stole during the Clancy album, and he continues to wear it. However, in the music video he also wear another similar ribbon thing from his belt that's black with red edges and what appears to be white circles down the middle. Can anyone give a better description of this? And more importantly, why is he wearing this??
-So the music video starts at the end of Paladin Straight, when Nico grabs Clancy in a choke hold and smears him. We then see Clancy's eyes, which start out red, fade back to brown and then the music starts. Is this him resisting Blurryface? Or is it simply a design choice?
-Josh's red eyeshadow is back. So does this mean Blurryface is back for him and or Tyler?
-At the end of the video, while the torchbearer theme is playing, Tyler refuses Clancy's jacket. Is this symbolizing that Blurryface is reclaiming him, and or that he is becoming a bishop, as has been speculated before?
-Tyler sings "I want to get out there, but I don't try". Is he talking about leaving Dema and therefore his depression, and how he's no longer trying to overcome it? Has he given up?
-Tyler fades away near the end of the music video. Again, is he losing to depression/Blurryface?
-"I have a feeling that necromancer's outside" He's referring to Nico/Blurryface. Necromancers have the power to reanimate the dead, like what the bishops do when they seize someone.
-Tyler is surrounded by a lot of red-eyed individuals. Are they people that Vialism has claimed? They are around him in a circle, like the neon gravestones are around Dema. They also have red eyes, as we see in the beginning with Clancy being held by Nico. In the Stressed Out music video, we see Tyler's eyes become red when Blurryface is speaking, showing that that is his eye color. So therefore, wouldn't that mean that they were all claimed by Blurryface?
-Since Clancy's eyes are red when Nico holds him, would that mean he has also been claimed by Blurryface? However, at the end of the video, when it goes back to the first scene, Clancy's eyes are brown. So is he then not claimed by Blurryface? I know earlier that I said that the lyrics could've been saying that he wasn't fighting back, but this is the first song on an album that we won't get until August. I don't have all the info ??_??
-The red-eyed individuals are seen circling above, like a flock of birds. Could this be referring to the lyric in Levitate which states "They're smirking at first blood, they're circling above"? The several other mentions of vultures in the song would leave one to assume that that's what he's referring to. I'm pretty sure I've heard that he's comparing the bishops to vultures, so maybe this is supposed to be a visual manifestation of that. I'm not super confident about that one.
-Okay wait scratch what I said about the red-eyed individuals. I don't feel like erasing it. Plus it could be true. But anyways, I was just reading the lyrics on Genius.com, and on there there's annotations. In the music video for Paladin Strait, those who committed suicide, otherwise known as the Glorious Gones, are raised up as vessels for the bishops to use to fight the Banditos. So perhaps these people are the red-eyed individuals that appear several times in the music video for The Contract.
Well, that was basically a word vomit. My apologies if my grammar and or spelling was off; I don't feel like double-checking/editing this. Sorry not sorry. But I hope that those were correct speculations, and you enjoyed reading this. However, if you have other ideas and opinions, feel free to comment them! I don't mind critiques; this is all speculation, after all. Also, as I mentioned earlier, Genius.com has the lyrics with annotations that provide a lot of info. I recommend reading that. But I hope you have a lovely next 24 hours! Stay alive, fren |-/
Okay I just re-watched the music video for this, and I thought of something else. This might be an arbitrary detail, but could the leaves and wind be a subtle nod to Backslide? It also could be for the aesthetic though and I'm just overthinking this lol
110 months, 17 days & 17 hrs ago 12th Sep 2025 18:09
Also something that I didn't mention, although it's not part of the lore, is that the background reminds me of a sidescroller video game. Not like a specific one though.
11 year, 1 month & 17 days ago 12th Jun 2025 17:56
1 year, 1 month & 17 days ago
Also, as I mentioned earlier, Genius.com has the lyrics with annotations that provide a lot of info. I recommend reading that. But I hope you have a lovely next 24 hours! Stay alive, fren |-/
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