A thought about the ending (everything is circular)

[boreal brook]

(note: tried posting this yesterday but it bugged out so apologies if anything here is fucked up or if it's still buggy on my end haha 😅 also very long so bear with me while i fight the character limit 💀)

Disclaimer: Quite a few of the ideas I'm putting here stem off a video essay I watched by a guy on youtube called Perligo all about the "Clancy way" thing hidden in the cover art for SAI

I've sorta summarised it here, cause I need the context for the idea I sorta springboarded off that, but those theories arent something i'm claiming, and the way he explained it likely makes tons more sense than how i've put it.

Anyways! Watching that video I picked up on a lot of key things. My main take away from it was about the cyclical nature of the Dema storyline as a whole. how Clancy ends up in Dema again and again despite escaping, and how the map of that road seems to mirror that; Clancy way ultimately feeds back into the main ring-road that seems to resemble Dema itself (that road is also named 'Andrew drive' which is decently close to Andre like the bishop, if you think about it..)

The way Perligo thought about it in his video (or the way I interpreted it, at least) was that it meant that Clancy was always destined to return to Dema, but this time (like we begin to see in the letters found at the FPE events and in the Paladin Strait MV) he's fighting back rather than being dragged back by Nico. And I do like that thought, and feel like its probably the most logical, but I have a theory of my own.

Perligo mentions about how the main opening onto Andrew drive, and subsequently Clancy way, mirrors the direction that the way out towards Trench on the map of Dema. East is up; Trench is east.
On the actual map, it's Clancy way that's East. So if you translate that to the map of dema, you get Clancy way leading out into Trench before circling back to Dema. My interest, though, is West, not East

If you look at west on the map of the actual place, there's a small body of water (probably a lake) right next to the area that the houses are at. If you then look at the map of Dema you can see that west there (provided Trench is in fact in the east) there is also a body of water in the form of the sea. I feel like that's significant, but its going to take some explaining.

I dont know what show it started at off the top of my head but i remember seeing clips of Nico and the niners during the Clancy tour where Tyler sang the line "East is up" while pointing his guitar downwards (also thing a similar thing happened in the SAI liviestream but I'm not sure). Obviously common theory that this means East is down; I feel like if we carry on with the idea of west being important it could mean that, like running east was an escape route into trench before, running west is the way to safety in this scenario. There's also the line in Truce; "the sun will rise and we will try again" that makes me think that heading west, heading against the sunrise, would be some sort of desperate last-ditch attempt at winning.

Also an additional fact that makes this feel important (another one i saw in that video essay): the music video for Truce was filmed on Clancy way (or supposedly was). So despite it being before the lore technically started it links, and it links hard.

In a similar way, a lot of the older songs link to the lore, or seem to. A particular one that comes to mind is A car, A torch, A death; for obvious reasons.

The title is the main driver of that link; we have the car (seen in the mv for HDS aswell as other places), we have the torch (torchbearer) but we don't have the death.
Its widely thought that Clancy will die at the end of breach because of this fact, but i dont think it'll be the way that everyone thinks it will be.
Specifically want to focus on the line: "and then i said, i'll take the grave, please just send them all my way".

Which, on its own feels like it could just generically hint at his death. But my thought is that Clancy will run west rather than give in to Nico or run back into Trench, breaking the cycle.
(i will say, though, the idea of Clancy becoming a bishop either beside or in-place of Nico does give me shivers and i feel like its more likely to happen than my idea)
There looks to be nothing West of dema but a cliffface and then the sea, so i feel like he could possibly try and lure Nico to that cliff and take both of them out at the same time, or something similar.
(also the thought that during the blurryface era Nico was closer to an alter ego (is that the right word for it?) for Tyler than what he presents as today so it sort of makes some sense if they die at the same time, esp given how Blurry is a manifestation of his doubt and insecurities)

Not related to the older songs, but still lyrics focused; Drum Show.
Now, I know what you're thinking: It's not lore-related. I know that. But hear me out.
This may just be a case of websites getting lyrics wrong but: throughout the song there's the line "i've been this way, I want to change" as backing vocals on some parts. Towards the end of the song (last chorus off the top of my head?) That backing vocal seems to change to "i've been this way, I want to drown"

Again, this might be a case of spotify getting the lyrics wrong, but listening close enough the lyric does sound slightly different at that point (I might be hearing things, though, cause I had trouble picking it out under the main vocals and stuff)
I do doubt that this in particular leads to anything or is even correct, but if it is it has to mean something. Especially if my thoughts on the other stuff do turn out to be anywhere close to correct.

Do I think they will be? I can't say I do. But I think its hell neat regardless.