Welcome to my parlor...

we've known clancy has been in a very vulnerable state of mind for a while. the clancy album is, from beginning to end, a story about relapsing into harmful old habits and mindsets. this prolonged manic episode starts as soon as he comes down from the high of seizing for the first time back in voldsoy. he feels in control of something for once in his life. the line between morality and the end justifying the means begins to blur as he starts using the citizens as a way to get into dema and begin a revolution from inside the walls. this power, this control, it starts to intoxicate him. he feels overly confident in his newfound abilities, and this leads to overcompensating for the scared boy he used to be.

“I'm not as scared as I used to be. Their mystery begins to fade as a method to defeat them becomes more clear. I no longer feel powerless. I can outsmart them. This new power of psychokinesis worked, and I believe it can work again.”

— Clancy's journal. 024 02MOON 09.

“I found a way in. A way they'll never suspect, and a way they'll never understand. Everything about our cause is so hard for them to understand, but so close to the hearts of the glowing resistance. I can reach them all. I can recruit everyone with eyes that see beyond the horizon. I can teach them.”

— Clancy's journal. 024 02MOON 28.

but suddenly, we learn that the torchbearer, who has been loyally following clancy everywhere, isn't the same one who has been standing all the way across the paladin strait. or rather, it is a guide, a projection, as we later learn from tyler himself. torchbearer exists, but in the same way that clancy has finally found his powers, torch has been using his own. this puts a wrench in the plan. all of a sudden, clancy starts to rethink everything that's happened so far. was any of it real? was his mind playing tricks on him? did he hallucinate his companion for years? had his abused and tired mind, after years of smearings from the bishops, finally began to crack under the weight?

but most importantly, could he, despite all they'd been through together, truly trust torch?

why do i come to this conclusion? in one of the unused lyrics from digital remains, we see the following excerpt:

“Breaking alliances over the silences from ignited torches when the battle had begun.”

something broke along the way. the blind trust clancy and torch once shared had been, in a way, breached. clancy's mind is more vulnerable than ever, susceptible to the bishops' control. to nico, to blurry.

The evidence I planted on purpose

in another lyric from the unused song "drag path", we see clancy refer to himself as "useless", "worthless", "defenseless", his disappearance being a "minor inconvenience" for torch, just "a set back", as he waits to be rescued, "on the off chance" torch feels "compelled" to save him once again:

“A drag path etched on the surface

I'm here again, conscious but defenseless / worthless

A drag path that’s on etched the surface

The off chance that you feel compelled to save me again

A setback, for you, just a minor inconvenience

I’m confident you’ll find me

I dug my heels next to each other

As evidence for you to discover

A drag path that leads to my prison

I’m confident you’ll find me”

it is clear that clancy's self worth has taken a major hit, and he is no longer sure of his importance in torch's life, or in the rebellion's plan. "feeling the reality that everybody leaves", he sings in navigating, despite the fact that torch's touch, even through a projection, was enough to guide him back home.

torch attempts to communicate with clancy, to reassure him that he had in fact never left his side, despite his physical body not being there.

“I see the weathering on your face, and the journey you've been on. Although we were away, I hope you now know that I've never left you. [...]

Covering you, TB.”

— Letter from Torch to Clancy | FPE Minnesota + FPE Columbus N3

however, this letter ends up most likely intercepted by the bishops, as we saw in the FPE. there is a big possibility that clancy has never read it.

clancy's erratic and manic behavior starts to get noticed by the other banditos. some seem excited at the showcase of this power, but others question clancy's methods:

“Nico's power is the element that has given Dema and Vialism such an iron fist. More power, even if it's Clancy's power, will corrupt the movement we've fought so hard to bring to Dema. We are all one people, and people striving for hope and victory, not more tyranny. Clancy must know that!”

— Letter from Magnus to Baldur | FPE Bologna, Italy + FPE Manchester, UK

all of this brings us to the line:

My body's on the line now

I can't fight this time now

I can feel the light shine on my face

Did I disappoint you? Will they still let me over if I cross the line?

Take a seat, but I'd rather you not be here for

What could be my final form

Stay your pretty eyes on course

Keep the memories of who I was before

clancy is beginning to realize that there is no other way to destroy the bishops and reclaim dema than to put himself in harm's way. in a last moment of tenderness, he asks torch to remember him as he was, and their time together, but to keep moving forward no matter what.

torch, however, is having none of it:

CLANCY,

NEVER FORGET THE CRIES OF YOUR PEOPLE. NEVER FORGET THE RAW FEAR THAT FUELED YOU, OR THE REBELS THAT MADE YOU WHO YOU ARE TODAY.

WE ARE ALL ONE. WE DESTROYED THEM SO THAT WE DIDN'T BECOME THEM.

WE MUST DO BETTER, CLANCY. WE MUST DO BETTER.

TB

— Letter from Torch to Clancy | FPE Hamburg, Germany

the tone is desperate, he is clearly trying to bring clancy back from the brink.

clancy replies to him, colder than ever, in a very worrisome letter depicting how his manic behavior has reached its peak:

TB,

The crown is heavy, but I can carry it. This city needs hope, and I alone can give it to them. But the city needs to feel powerful again, and snap out of the lifeless obedience they've been trapped in. I can give it to them. I gave them hope. I will be their example of absolute power. I feel alive again.

– Clancy

— Letter from Clancy to Torch | FPE London, UK

this feeling of euphoria, reminiscent of a manic episode, can only end in one way: crashing back down. backsliding, if you will.

it's possible that what we see in paladin strait, clancy climbing the tower alone and torch worriedly glancing back, is a detour from the original plan.

and finally, this brings us to the contract. we begin where we left off, nico choking clancy. he closes his eyes and we witness how he tries to fight off nico's control over his mind. the mv is a series of disorienting, confusing, twisted images, a hazy nightmare. red eyes surrounding him and torch, possibly depicting the glorious gones, or us as the audience, being controlled by blurry.

the leaves and the storm from the backslide mv, depicting a battle inside clancy who's trying not to relapse, not to succumb to nico's power

the lyrics are frantic, they show us a glimpse into clancy's mental state: sleep deprived, on edge, paranoid, obsessing over when and how blurry will attack.

My hallucination I used to see, it felt so real

clancy has convinced himself that their connection, their alliance, has been severed, their paths diverged. he doesn't trust his own mind anymore, if he ever did, and now reality starts to blur with dreams and hallucinations.

But now I plead, just take the deal

I promised you a contract

this is sung directly to torch, pointing at him. clancy promised torch a long time ago that he would go along with the plan, he would use his power to reclaim dema and defeat the bishops once and for all. but as said earlier, clancy realized that torch's methods would be futile if their goal was to succeed. there is no winning without him using all of his available power, even if it means losing himself along the way. so now he pleads for torch to take this deal. it isn't ideal, it isn't their initial plan, but a compromise must be reached.

in turn, this also works with torch offering clancy his jumpsuit, his rebel jacket. he promised him freedom, the only thing he has to do is take the jacket back and step away from the precipice, it doesn't have to be this way. we've seen clancy refuse it once, but we don't know if this is an scenario he imagined, or a distorted memory. we, just like clancy, cannot trust his mind anymore (if we ever could in the first place.)