PALADIN STRAIT MUSIC VIDEO EXPLAINED & THEORIES | twenty one pilots 

Throwing this out there… No Chances has these lyrics: -“Get the door to blow you away” - the creaking door blowing open with scary floating Nico -“Notorious in the octagon, now” - Clancy is definitely notorious to the 8 remaining bishops (the octagon) after Keons died. Also “chorus, verse, chorus, verse, now here comes *the eight,* wait” in Levitate -“How’d you get the location? Put together pieces?” - Clancy knew exactly where to go, putting together all of the pieces from the letters, maps, and content from the lore. -“Spent some weekends on the grind” - Saturday lol. Also “Fridays will always be better than Sundays ‘cause Sundays are my suicide days” -“Surveillance is outside, we see when you arrive” - seizing the vultures to spy on the Banditøs army coming in -“Ride or die, my son” - could probably say somethin here haha I just think No Chances is an incredibly undervalued piece to all of the lore. Maybe it’s more like dialogue between Nico and Clancy than at least I ever knew. Freaking love this band.

When he opens his eyes, he looks determined. It's like Niko did exactly what Tyler wanted him to do ....

i'm pretty sure we're gonna get at least one more song on 25 of June because in the last seconds of Paladin Strait video we can hear something that sounds like an intro for another song

Thank you for the breakdown, I completely missed the flowers! To me, Clancy’s expression seems like “You’ve just activated my trap card” lol. Also, something cool I noticed is that the motion Clancy makes with the antlers in the tower is nearly identical to when he is seizing Keons and destroying the neon tube in The Outside music video. If I know my lore I’m pretty sure that was him setting Keons’ soul free, so I wonder if in this video he somehow is pulling down the neon tubes that hold all the bishops’ life forces, killing them instantly.

My theory.. one more song. Maybe on the 25th? The story ends with one more song that shows us the end of the battle. The ending shows Tyler fading back into reality / our world and waking up from a dream.. Possibly just showing Tyler in his house in his bedroom where Jenna comes in and tells him breakfast is ready and the kids are waiting. Life is bliss. Maybe not that exact scenario but something similar to that could occur. Jumpsuit says “we’ll win but not everyone will get out” this group of banditos will win this battle but not everyone wins unfortunately. The story ends with Tyler winning his battle of mental health because he’s no longer in that dark place. His career, his fans, and his family is what matters most. This album is all about Clancy winning this battle with the dark parts of his thoughts, this world he created, and all of the themes these songs associate with. He doesn’t want to backslide. “You should let go, it’s all in my head” is him speaking to himself.

If you use an app like Merlin Bird ID, you can identify a Red-eyed Vireo, House Sparrow, Northern Cardinal and Carolina Wren during the “end” of Paladin Straight.

Also also, I found a cool thing: The audio from the song "Chlorine" matches almost perfectly with the visuals for the Paladin Strait music video.

I think, when it comes to the bird sounds in the music not being present in the video, it’s important to remember that they’re presenting ideas in different forms of media to slightly different audiences. The sounds in the album add so much to the story telling and setting of the song. With the visuals of the video you just don’t need 60 seconds of bird audio. Like what would they have done with the music video for all that time? More slow motion shots of Clancy climbing the tower or running through Dema? Sure they could’ve done that, but I feel like the pacing of the video was perfect and including that audio wouldn’t have helped. It definitely improves the album track. It gives the listener an opportunity to dwell on the lyrics of the song before getting to the conclusion and climax. It’s presenting the same story and ideas in different forms and I doubt it has much lore significance unless you want to tie the bird sounds to ‘Isle of Flightless Birds” somehow.

I also think that at the end of PS video , clancy looks at nico in the eyes for the very first time.

When Clancy uses the antlers on the bishops, it looks like the zombies turn back into their normal selves, like their color returns instead of being grey and unsatuated

I like to imagine that Clancy already has everything he needs to kill all the bishops, but he's afraid to do it because, he would have to sacrifice himself, like in "Migraine" "Sometimes to stay alive, you got to kill your mind" Since Trench and Dema are representations of Tyler's mind, and Nico is Tyler/Clancy himself

In the livestream when Tyler says b4 playing the Paladin placeholder song: ‘tell me does this sound like the end?’ he might just have been giving the viewers the hint to stick around beyond the 1 minute of birds. Not that he’s implying that the lore isn’t finalized after the FPE/Nico end statement 🧐 Lots of people saying that Clancy staring down Nico at the end shows that he has the inner power to stand up to his ultimate demon Nico. The End. Buuuut, I still was hoping for a more definite end to the saga/battle. Maybe we’ll get one final song Drag Path?? (unreleased song from the Digital Remains).

Thank you for the analysis! 💜

guys i have a theory...i think clancy isn't actually the one who climbed the tower and confronted nico, because in the paladin strait video, clancy and the banditos are walking, but in the background you can see people with his red and black mask and red tape, NOT banditos, so who are they? I think there are clancy copies, and when he's about to climb the tower it shows him looking up and then it skips to him again but this time he's on the complete opposite side... and one of the lyrics says "they tell me i'm a copy" i think there's something more we haven't even thought about and when he opens his eyes after nico has him by the throat, it seems like it's in reaction to being called clancy by nico. idk but it seems weird

Great analysis!!! Thank you for doing this.

Also, I think the look on Tyler's face is one of observation. He wants to see his enemy clearly so he can find a way to take him out.

love this!! i always look forward to your videos, along with JLAnderson, Dema and Stolen Potential. i don't know why people don't talk more about your content as well, you do a great job! 💗

Volcano behind Banditos = Dema destruction 🔥

Where is the scar on Clancy’s nose?

I was thinking it was possible that the yellow flowers at the entrance of the sewers was to hide it from the Bishops considering they cannot see yellow putting it at the entrance / exit of where he would sneak in and out of the city would be a really good idea it would hide it from their View

I think the minute of birds was there to make sure the listening parties ended the party before the "Nico part".

Kinda not related but OMG play March to the sea over this music video it fits so well it's scary😱😍

yo realmente estoy un poco harto de esperar.

It just hit me 🤦‍♂️Clancy is a Red Shoulder Hawk!

I think they inserted the bords in the placholder to push the time to 6:28. I think something is coming between 6/25 and 6/28.

My whole issue is if Tyler is Clancy and clancys bishop is Keons, why does it still feel like Nico is his bishop? Are there 2 clancys? Was there another Clancy? I’m so confused.

What if the whole video is Dema propaganda due to the oversaturation of the video?