knotty patrol
My interpretation of the lore/worldbuilding is of putting different ways of thinking into solidified locations/cycles. Blurryface/dema is about control and repression, consolidating that “negative” side you would wish to be rid of into one being. An antagonist. Trench is about “freedom” in quotation marks, as it’s not really freedom if you’re constantly on the run. Each cycle he escapes, finds the banditos, grows restless and returns to the comfort of the walls. It’s progress but not a solution. Scaled and Icy was a complete backslide, returning to dema under complete control and watch of the bishops, and simply putting on a face to give the illusion of joy and complacency, when Clancy is more unhappy and distressed than ever. The cycle of performing finally ends with Keons (the bishop of cycles sacrificing himself) and TB (who he comes back to).
I do not think the album Clancy is a cycle, and that it will rather be resolved by leaving the lore completely. If we assume the other cycles are different ways of thinking, like escapism or complete submission, it can be assumed neither of these comping mechanisms work long term. It helps enough to stay alive but not enough to stay in a good place. My idea is that since this fictional world was created “to feel some control, destroy it if I want”, it will be destroyed, not by fire or by rebellion, but by simply turning away from the lore. Whether this happens in the story by destroying the city or destroying Trench I don’t know, but I think whatever happens in Breach will finally get rid of everything in the story so that there is nothing. Without a story confining our ideas of what it means to be under control or struggling, we can be free. They are not places to be desired, and it is up to us if we want to destroy it and try again. We can always start the cycle again and go through the motions and we most likely will, but destroying all those mental barriers is the only way to move forward.