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The Overview

Toki is the only one in the band that seems to have photos in his room at all. But the thing that I've noticed is that these photos will change sometimes depending on how close up the shot is! These 5 pictures below is what Toki's pictures usually looks like. It always follows the same pattern;

Single shot of his mother

Group shot of his parents

Single shot of his father

Empty small frame

Single shot of Toki playing guitar

Group shot of Dethklok

Single shot of his father

My hypothesis is that this is the order in which Toki sees his life story in reference to his family and identity.

Photos

These are the stills that I believe the photos on Toki's wall come from.

From the left, we start with his mother. A mother is the start of life. Toki was born from this woman so it would make sense that this is where his life began. But it's also a long, narrow shot with an obvious missing person to her right. That place is suppose to be for Aslaug. Even in his photographs, his presence is always there, even when he's not present.

Then to the double shot. Take notice that in the double shot, Toki placed them so the opposite parent is placed next to their spouse from the other photos. The single shot of his mother is hanging next to her husband in the second photo, where as his mother in the double shot is next to his father in the single shot next to her. This speaks to me as a way of acknowledging they are a duo. They are not meant to be separated, and that Toki always witnessed them as a team. They are his parents!

The middle photo also conveys to me that this how Toki saw his parents as a toddler. Toki is still too young to be completely separated from his mother, but the labor and abuse began shortly around this timeframe. He was expected to be a working individual as a family member and his father knew that. His father is the one that put him to work.

Then to the single shot of Aslaug. Pay attention to the fact that his portrait is tall and narrow, with no free space on either side. His photograph is meant to be powerful. He is still Aslaug with or without his wife. His presence does not necessarily mean that Anya's presence has to be there as well. This could speak well to the type of dynamic that Toki witnessed as a child between his parents. His father was his own person, someone who command a room. He was a reverend. Reverends have to be able to control their congregations and lead them to their salvation, no matter the cost. His mother was just a part of that following. And Toki sees that.

I believe that this is when Toki started getting severely abused and forced to work through horrible conditions. There was no need for his mother, her job as caretaker was over. For now, his life was under his fathers rule and no one else. He is his father's son.

Next to them is the small empty picture frame. I have a few theories.

This picture frame represents the lack of acknowledgement as a child in Toki. He was not seen, just like how there is no photo present. He did not see himself as a part of the family in context to his parents. He was theirs to use and then throw away when they got angry. There are no photos of him because his parents did not see him as a family member, only a tool. So the empty frame represents the lack of identity in the family structure. That's why it's so small. It's a frame meant for a child's picture. The child should always be smaller than the parents, lower than the parents. Notice how it's below the top of their heads? It's a way of respecting them. The empty frame is Toki, both psychically as a missing childhood picture and metaphorically as an empty shell of a person without a role to play.

This represents the time where Toki was kicked out. The empty frame is there because Toki had no family except himself while he was living on the streets. He had no one to count on or be protected by. The frame represents that loss of time, loss of structure, loss of identity, loss of everything. Take note that it's in between his father's picture and then a picture of himself. It's small because it could represent the amount of time he was lost for or the way it made him feel while he was lost. Either way, it's a representation of loneliness and fear, put out into a world that doesn't care about him. Toki had no one but himself, and he has no photos of himself during that time. So he has nothing to put there.

Take note that all four of these photos hang over nothing. There is nothing under them but empty space and the floor. This could represent a fear of putting things that he loves near his parents. He had nothing but a straw doll to his name as a child. It could be fear holding him back from putting anything near them, even though they could not take them away. He had nothing.

(The closet I could find a source photo of this photo is his figurine from the mystery boxes and a few stills, but nothing cut and copy like the rest of the photos.)

Next we have a picture of Toki playing guitar as a grown up! This represents individual freedom and identity within himself. He knows that he can count on himself to be his own family with his own passions. His guitar playing granted him life, a role, an identity, a passion, a skill. Playing guitar is one of Toki's greatest passions! It's also a full body shot! Toki is proud of his photo, he wants to show that he can be valuable in his own right as a guitarist!

However!

His dinosaur toy is blocking him!

This could represent his childlike tendencies blocking fans, the band, and viewers from see his true potential. The head of the dinosaur is completely blocking his guitar, preventing the viewer from seeing him play. His suppressed childhood is preventing himself from fully being recognized as an accomplished guitarist and a full fledge member of the band. This is also the only photo where is above his bookshelf of trinkets. His dinosaur, his globe, his skull, his books, his ship! These are those childhood fantasies he wished he could explored when he was an actual child. Why couldn't Toki just get a long shelf, spread everything out and that way the dinosaur wouldn't be blocking his photo? Because he can't put anything under his parents. So because of his parents abuse in his childhood, now his freedom to explore those interests take over his identity, until all you can see are his things. This could represent his looming Age Regression within the series and his child-like tendencies and naiveness.

Next to that is a photo of Dethklok. Now this is his family!

He cares and loves these people. He has an identity with the band, though sometimes it's overshadowed, it's still there. This is also the only group photo that Toki is in! He has a home and a family here, he has met the end of the road. It's close to his bed, surrounded on all sides with his things. It's not blocked by anything and in fact, it's overtop a lamp. It's in the spotlight! For all purposes, that should be the end of it all. The happy ending. He has a family, a role, an identity, the spotlight, the focus, the fans. Everyone loves him, respects him somewhat. It's as high on the wall as the decor will let it. He thinks highly of them, of himself.

But his life isn't that easy.

The last photo is a single shot of his father, close up on his face, looming over Toki's bed. The picture is sightly lower than Dethklok's photo but it's larger. It's a reminder, that despite all of it, he is still his father's son.

His past will always be there to haunt him, his father's presence will always linger over him. It's domineering, it's haunting, it's terrifying. It's meant to strike fear. It's right in front of a robot with a axe, positioned right over top Toki's head where he sleeps. It's a control tactic, a reminder that Toki's life was always in his father's hands. He held the whip that tore his back, he stands behind the axe above his sleeping head. Aslaug is not letting Toki go. The damage that he has done to Toki is immense and complex. No might how high he gets with Dethklok, his father will always be closer, more demanding. And Toki will always be his victim until he learns to stop giving him that power.

Now, when you get close up shots, the pictures change!

Changed Photos

This represents the inner feelings of the character in the shot.

In "Fertilityklok", Toki is looking at the fertility calendar Caroline has given him. The close up shot replaces the Looming Father picture above his bed and the Dethklok photo. His father's picture has been replaced with Dimneld, who Toki sees as his father-friend. He loved and cared about him dearly. I view this as maybe Toki wishing he could talk to Dimneld for advice on what to do. Or, it could be him relating the idea of becoming a father to the only father-figure he knows that was kind to him. Could he be like Dimneld? Can he be a good father? What is a father?

And then you have young Toki. This could speak about young Toki's aspirations toward a family. Is this really what you wanted? Or it could represent the idea of bringing in another Wartooth into the world. Would they turn out like him? Or maybe that Toki still views himself as a child and that he is unable to make this life long commitment. Either way, Toki's photos depict his feelings toward the calendar.

We move on to "Dethcamp" where Nathan is putting a stack of clothes in Toki's room while he's off to camp. In this episode, Nathan takes on a very parental role for Toki. He is his band-dad the most in this episode. Now, in the background, three photos change. The small frame become a close up of Aslaug, Toki's guitar playing picture become another double shot of his parents, and the photo above the lamp is the same Young Toki photo.

I think that this is Nathan's feelings about Toki and his emotions upon finding out that Toki is as camp with Magnus.

To Nathan, what he knows about Toki is that his parents rule over him. The scars of their abuse are etched on every part of Toki's body and mind. Nathan has stated that Toki's father is a "piece of garbage" and does not push Toki into talking about him. He does not like Toki's parents at all. But he knows that they are a huge part of his character.

The photos behind him represent how he thinks about Toki. He thinks of his past, of the pain he has gone through, the fact that his parents will not leave him alone. It's overbearing and apparent. Even the empty frame is full, something Nathan views as Aslaug's fault (Toki's missing identity as a child and the loss time in which he was kicked out.) He recognizes Toki's shit childhood and his homelessness before Dethklok was Aslaug's fault directly!

The photo of Toki playing guitar as also changed. Toki's child-like presence is tainted and caused by his parents. All of his interests are a way for Toki to take back control of a lost childhood, something Nathan blames on Toki's parents.

Then you come across young Toki in the Dethklok photo frame. It's above the lamp, in the spot light. This is how Nathan views Toki, a child. Above everything, Toki is still that lost, small, innocent child that somehow found his way into his band and into his life. Toki is canonically seen as the little brother of the band, but this is "proof" of how Nathan really sees him. To him, Toki's identity is a child.

This shot depicts Nathan inner emotions as he sees the pamphlet. He is remembering all of the things Magnus has done to him and the band and how that relates to Toki's parents. They are bad people, hell bent on hurting one person, the child, Toki. Immediately after this scene, Nathan high tails it to Pickles room to get him to get Toki.

In "Diversityklok", we're introduced to a new photo and a remix of an original photo. We all know the group photo from this episode. So first, I want to point out that the group photo is on a completely opposite wall to the rest of the photos. It's directly over the body of his bed in a personalized photo frame, in a spot that has not had a photo before. This a completely new photo.

This represents the amount of care and thought that went into this photo frame, but also the amount of care and thought that goes into how Toki views his family and band. He loves them a lot, but they don't seem to love Toki (at least metaphorically in the photo.) He is in the background, obviously not told about this photoshoot or even with an ice cream. The episode is about Toki's role in the band, thus in the family, being ignored and pushed out. He's losing his identity and family. Despite all of Toki's work toward building a perfect family, he is still not enough for them.

Then we get to the photo above Toki's bed. It's the same photo but instead of Aslaug's normal dead stare, he is looking directly at the photo in Toki's hand with an angry expression. It's his looming presence once more taking over Toki's life. How it's all coming full circle and that no matter what, he will always that little boy in his father's clutches, unable to find a family that cares about him.

This also could be his father's anger influencing Toki's own anger toward his family. Toki is his son, a very angry and controlling man. He's taking lessons from that anger, smashing the photograph on the floor after this. The point of this episode is Toki creating his own club, the Special Persons Invites Club. Toki is the leader of said club. You know who else was a leader of a "club"? Aslaug. The reverend. His father.

In Season 4, this is the beginning of Toki seriously questioning his position in the band, looking for outside community (Camp, Magnus, Rockso), his feud with Skwisgaar as lead guitarist heightens, try's to shape himself into whatever another band member (Murderface) needs him as so they don't throw him away (Dethsiduals, Breakupklok), and him physically separating himself from the band at the funeral. All of that then follows Doomstar Requiem, which proves to Toki that his family and identity is the band!

Conclusion

The photos in his room, the ones that stay and the ones that change, are clever ways for the viewer to interpret Toki's life and the mindset of the people in his room. Obviously, there's a thousand reasons why those photos could be on his wall, but I think this makes the most sense to me.