#The flash backs in City Walls are actually flash forwards

51 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

autumn sinew
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Bear with me.

The “flashbacks” in City Walls are actually flash forwards, and the key is the smearing level.

  • Nico is smeared up to his nose, but Nova Bishop Clancy (at the end of CW) only up to his lips → Nico’s power is weakening.

Each supposed flashback shows a confrontation from a different cycle. I argue these cycles run in reverse, and the key is the duration between when a cycle starts, and when Nico confronts Clancy:

  • Paladin Strait / City Walls → the longest cycle, with Clancy becoming a weaker version of Nico, smeared up to the lips
  • Levitate → a slightly shorter cycle, happening after the PS/CW cycle, with a more weakened Nico, smeared up to the neck perhaps??
  • Jumpsuit → shorter still
  • Heavydirtysoul → the shortest cycle

The cycle ends here: in the HDS cycle, Clancy finally confronts a severely weakened Nico in the CW music video, and walks away free as seen at the end of the Jumpsuit music video, wearing the Bandito jacket. What looks like the start of Jumpsuit is actually the end of all cycles. Clancy appears completely unsmeared as he dawns the Bandito jacket.

So the timeline runs in reverse:

  • PS/CW = first cycle we know of (longest time between HDS events and first confrontation, strongest Nico).
  • HDS = last cycle (shortest, weakest Nico).

It’s all in reverse, which makes sense, since Intentions is literally Truce in reverse.

This would make the interpretation of the lore more hopeful, but this might just be me coping.

Thoughts?

fathom stratus
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i like this one a lot

ebon hedge
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I’m think this is very interesting

lone jackal
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I like this thought! Kind of like it's is telling what happened. And because Tyler's paint is on his neck, he is currently at a much lower level

autumn sinew
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Exactly what I was thinking!

crisp mantle
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@dawn forum there is hope

dawn forum
autumn sinew
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Oh this theory also explain the nose wound thing that people still don't seem to have an answer to.

If Jumpsuit immediately followed HDS, there's an unexplained gap with how that wound got there.

But if Jumpsuit is a different cycle from HDS (and the end of the Jumpsuit video), it's a different Clancy - one with the nose wound and one without

hushed whale
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dude you actually cooked a gourmet three course meal with this theory

ionic crest
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Did I just read this theory for FREE???

ebon hedge
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Great I’m crying again

autumn sinew
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Ugghhhh I know, I'm holding on to every bit of copium that I can possibly come up with 😭

autumn sinew
ionic crest
autumn sinew
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Hahaha if you did, defs don't send it 🤣

clever coyote
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this is such a bright version of how the lore can be understood, i love it <3

cursive valley
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Would there not need to be at least 1 cycle before PS/CW for our nico to become a Bishop in the first place? Love the theory though

autumn sinew
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Yeah I guess there's maybe a few previous cycles, each with a Nico that has a increasingly more smeared face (not sure if the 100% smeared face is appropriate but the theory does imply that it starts with that).

autumn sinew
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Clancy walking away from Dema, the end of all cycles, a free man. He prayed the yellow dashes in the street would take him home, and now they do. He can feel the light shine on his face. This is the last time that he tried. Intentions set him free.

CleanShot_2025-09-12_at_12.29.082x.png
arctic nacelle
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I love this theory!

versed valve
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I like this theory especially with all the backwards clips in the Breach songs!!

clever coyote
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yes! lots of reversed stuff and overall the whole cycle and end/beginning metaphors rlly push this theory

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well i wouldnt even call it theory, i guess everyone can make their own story/lore end and begin how they want. it‘s OUR journey after all

wild dock
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My own thoughts:
If it was different "nicos" every time, it would make sense that they would be less smeared every time, but that isn't what happens (could say that the smear increases once Nico gets into his position fully though))
Plus in the jumpsuit MV it doesn't seem like he's free per say, seems like he might be running away alone (otherwise I'd expect the rest of the banditos to be there) though there probably are more holes in this theory than yours :)
Idk imho much more likely might just be that clancy keeps getting more corrupted by his own pride as he gets closer to the target

So few, so proud, so emotional

But idk I haven't followed the lore that well

vague tapir
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Guys I have a theory, what of intention reversed is a sign to y the album in reverse order. It would make sense, since the contract would be before city walls

arctic burrow
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reminds me of kendrick lamar’s album DAMN. and how there’s two ways to interpret the story depending on if you listen to it chronologically or backwards

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so many songs in DAMN. have reversed snippets to signify to the listener to play the album in reverse order, so i wouldn’t be surprised if Tyler or someone took notes. Kendrick is also super into narrative storytelling through music as well.
i see the similarities for sure

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isn’t tyler’s shirt in levitate the same shirt from hds but now with added yellow tape? so if the reverse theory is true, maybe by the time hds takes place, josh is leading tyler out of the city and through trench and now tyler has abandoned all ties to any organization (banditos, clancy revolution, dema) and is going about it alone

my only caveat is tyler running from nico in the cw mv part where they’re back at the setting of hds. i just don’t know how that fits with all of this

arctic burrow
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scratch that. realizing now the end of jumpsuit has him with the bandito coat. girl i do not know how to interpret any of this. the timeline is so washed

grim rain
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i love this theory

sterile cairn
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the end of drag path supports this cycle ending with "we made it through the darkest night" compared to truce/intentions where it says to try again the next day (new cycle)

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i also think that these flashbacks in the mental health view is thinking of ways to stop yourself from doing the bad thing (|| relapsing/ ending ||)

old salmon
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So the haircuts??? And the hair color represents the different Clancy (the different cycles)?

severe spruce
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But if each was a different cycle , shouldn't Nico have less/more smearing on each cycle? He always looks the same though, with smearing up to the nose 🤔

old salmon
green talon
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My first idea was similar to this, in the sense, that I thought maybe the flashbacks were what Nico went trough to become a bishop, and that's why everything was a little different
The shock on Clancy's face when he first saw nico in a "flashback" made me think of it
And then Clancy is trying to deny this idea, that his greatest enemy was just like him once
But when nico stabbed him, maybe he got time to explain things to clancy,
And then when clancy killed him he didn't even try to defend himself, he knew it was supposed to happen

Also in the levitate scenes it seemed like Clancy was trying to find tb, which I think is a cute

vague tapir
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Btw we all are forgetting smth. How is Clancy alive¿ bro got stabbed in 2 different places and is still alive. I think that he became a bishop to become immortal, since in that moment his body was dying

ebon hedge
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Metaphor?

sterile cairn
modern basalt
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Jokes aside, maybe he knew TB would not give up and that, despite he has not hope for himself to break the cycle, he has hope that TB finds a Clancy that will.

worthy bramble
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ive re-read this a few times but i feel stupid still not understanding.
what do you mean by 'cycle' @autumn sinew

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are you saying these are all different clancys?

autumn sinew
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Yes!

autumn sinew
grim rain
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my guess would be that's just a change with the creative direction over time, since it just isn't consistent with Tyler which it hypothetically should be. the pattern would by necessity be either higher faded -> higher solid -> lower solid or solid -> lower solid -> higher faded which doesn't make much sense to me

old salmon
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ok no you're right I just rewatched city walls and at the beginning it doesn't have the same makeup as for the contract and the end of paladin strait so as you said it's probably an inattention or change of CD

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Sorry i made mistake

grim rain
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nah its a good observation

old salmon
# grim rain nah its a good observation

in morph tyler said : "He’ll always try to stop me, that Nicolas Bourbaki,
He’s got no friends close, but those who know him most know,
He goes by Nico. He told me I’m a copy" at 4:20
does this prove the cycle theory ?