Düpidübidü

[Note: I'm calling the version of Ateez we meet in the Fever Diary Film/Inception when the written lore started Feverteez. There's also Halateez (fedoras) and Pirateez, the….uhhh….pirates.

I'm also going to assume everyone reading this knows the lore to date. If not it's all easily searchable on YT and other sources, or I can provide links.]

Okay...where to start? How about the end?

So, the last bit of written lore we have is Sopro emerging in a cemetery with a Frankenstein corpse body, and we're told that a war breaks out at the same time. Ominous, right?

My current theory about what is going to happen next is that the war Sopro started will spread to the entire world as Sopro learns and grows and feeds on everyone's emotions. It won't just be a war in the traditional sense--people's emotions will be manipulated and out of control. Almost zombies to their emotion, puppet-mastered by Sopro, who now has a grudge against its Mother Bird, Wooyoung.

Sopro is a sentient spirit. It feels as if Wooyoung betrayed it by stepping on it and hurting it, and that pain and betrayal--however unintentional on poor Wooyoung's part--will have dire consequences for the entire world and their timeline.

What Feverteez does to take down Sopro, I'm not sure. I do think in order to stop Sopro they will have to confront their own traumas and maybe come to terms with a few things. Some of those traumas have already been addressed and moved past.

Jongho in particular seems to already be in a healthy place, as he's confronted the past and moved on from it by the time Sopro emerges in that cemetery. I think everyone else needs a little more time to heal, but the journey has been started.

That being said, I don't think they're going to "win" against Sopro, though they may defeat it. The world will be devastated, and everyone will be so exhausted from the emotional toll the war took on them that it will leave an opening for the rise of Sciensalvar, Henry Joe's cult.

As we know from the Thunder girl, Z traveled to 1999 and met his world A variant Henry Jo and set him on this path with his cult. Henry Jo is basically going to try and recreate the same anti-emotion government in Z's Strictland. And with the world in an exhausted emotional state, he will prey on their desire not to feel anything. The cult will spread. The rise of anti-emotion sentiment will grow quickly.

Of course, there are always people who fight back.

The aftermath of the Sopro War is what I think we see in Halazia, or at least that's my current theory, since Halazia doesn't seem to take place in the same glossy modern cityscape of Strictland that we see in Guerrilla, Bouncy, and Crazy Form, etc.

In Halazia, the world is crumbling, war-torn, a smoking ruin. And we see the cult of emotionless people barely listening to them proselytizing about feeling emotions again.

We also see the Halateez scarecrows everywhere and we're told in the prologue that "they" disappeared and that "a new eight have taken their place" because "they" will never return. Very strange, right?

Most people think that was the Halateez having disappeared, and that the version of Ateez we see in Halazia are either Pirateez or Feverteez or even a fourth, separate version.

My personal theory is that that is Pirateez, simply because of the color schemes involved in the video. If you watch closely (and I know others have pointed this out waaaay before me but they Have a Point) the colors orange and purple are usually present when we're dealing with the pirate crew. (Hongjoong is also usually wearing fur.)

There's TONS of orange in Halazia and lots of purple lighting, especially during Hongjoong's rap. And oh look, a fur hat.

Once you notice the color schemes it's hard to unnotice it.

(Feverteez is blue and orange, by the way.)

And for the record, MATZ is Pirateez and as others have, I think correctly guessed, they're up against Henry Jo's cult in the MV, so that just leads credence to my theory that the Pirateez are in a post Sopro Halazia world.

But why is Pirateez there at all? Where are Feverteez--the version of Ateez we've been following in the lore since Inception and the Fever Diaries? What about Halateez?

My theory is that Halateez is NOT a World Z variant of Feverteez at all like a lot of people assume. Feverteez and Halateez are in fact the same group of people but from different points on the same timeline.

(I'm not the only person to come up with this theory either but I do think it makes a ton of sense and feeds into the whole "Moebius strip" timeloop theory many others have brought up.)

This leads me into my next theory and that's about how time travel actually works in the lore. Because it's…….WEIRD and confusing.

See, I've always thought it was a strange how when Yeosang broke the Cromer and sent them back to World A and they ended up at an earlier point in the World A timeline, to a time when Yunho's brother was still alive, there weren't TWO VERSIONS of them.

Think about it, if they traveled back in time, wouldn't there be TWO Yunho's hanging out with his brother?

Except, there's….not. There's just one Yunho, one Hongjoong, etc. No doubles, when there definitely SHOULD BE. Why is that?

Okay, hear me out……………Hot Tub Time Machine.

Like in the movie Hot Tub Time Machine (I'm sorry lol but REALLY) when they travel into the past they don't run into past versions of themselves because their consciousness "takes over" their past selves bodies. Right?

I think the time travel rules in the ATEEZ lore universe works in a similar way. My theory is that two versions of the same person from the same timeline cannot exist together at the same time without the two versions "merging" into one, thus erasing the other version out of existence.

So when Feverteez traveled back to Yunho's-brother-is-still-alive-World A they "replaced" themselves on that timeline by merging with them and that's why there weren't two versions of them. Does that make sense, or are we all having aneurysms for breakfast?

So then that brings me back to Halateez-is-actually-a-future-version-of-Feverteez. Specifically, I think during the Sopro War they will don their Halateez gear to fight both Sopro and Henry Jo's cult, but they will not win the war. They lose hard, but people will remember that they led the fight to save the world and are a symbol of hope.

They will also realize that, because their actions caused their world to fall the way it did, they will have to stop it from happening in the first place. (Timeloop!) Which means they will have to contact their past selves (Feverteez) and deliver the Cromer to Hongjoong in the warehouse.

And because HalaJoong is only there in Hongjoong's dream (but not physically present) they do not risk merging right then.

BUT! I know you're thinking "giiiiiirllll what about Answer? they were seated at the same table, which you just said was impossible because of some wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey hot tub ass bullshittery" and my response to that is that that was NOT Feverteez in "Answer" that was Pirateez, who are, in fact, from a different dimension and timeline.

Variants can survive without merging with their counterparts (as proven by Z and Henry Jo meeting), but people from different points on the same timeline cannot, as they are the same person, and not a dimensional variant.

Which is why Halateez and Pirateez can sit at a table together and plot. They're dimensional variants but not the same person.

Plot what though?

Good question! No idea!

BUT! Answer has a lot of liminal time travel imagery in it (giant clock faces, Mingi in that boat in the fog, etc.) and all of Wonderland's lyrics (and imagery) seem to indicate that they're going somewhere that they don't mean to return from.

Pirateez may be traveling to World A post-Sopro War.

And Halateez....well, they state pretty blatantly that they're going to the "start where the end awaits."

What is both the end and the beginning for Halateez/Feverteez?

The place where they first met themselves, of course.

So my theory (currently--and I'm aware that it's flimsy AF….okay all of this is, which is why I have hesitated to share any of it) is that Feverteez realized that Halateez has always been their future selves, and that in order to stop this whole nightmare world and Sopro's War from happening they will have to sacrifice themselves, hoping this time will be different and their Feverteez selves will fix it.

That's why they call themselves a "suicide squad" in Hala Hala, and break their own necks. They're literally on a suicide mission. They knew in Wonderland that they wouldn't return and would merge with themselves and erase their own existence.

And there's definitely some foreshadowing of Sopro there in Hala Hala. I mean, look at Wooyoung wiping blood off his mouth when he was the one who started this whole thing by making his wish and literally swallowing Sopro. And then look at the others falling down dead at his feet in a square shape that resembles Sopro. The lighting is even red, the same color as Sopro.

So what do I think will happen (has already happened?)

Feverteez/Halateez travel to World Z, possibly starting the Black Pirates rebellion against Z OR maybe Pirateez was already leading that rebellion in World Z? Unclear. At some point they steal Z's Cromer (or take the Pirateez's Cromer?), which they then deliver to Feverteez Hongjoong in the World A warehouse. They are then caught by the android guardians and put into the glass cells.

BUT WAIT! Hongjoong and the others see themselves in the cells! They don't take each other's places! I hear you yelling at me. I HEAR YOU. My hot tub time machine theory is looking pretty stupid, right?

Well, what if the android guardians high tech cells were stopping the two versions from merging the way they should have? I mean, they can suck out people's emotions and voices and stop people from feeling anything and get people high on yellow emotion smoke, why not have a way to stop quantum entanglement while they're at it?

Remember that HalaJoong tells Hongjoong to put his hand on the glass and when he does, something…..happens? It's very unclear what. But the next thing Hongjoong and the others know is that they're wearing the Halateez's clothing.

And at no point in time after that are the Halateez mentioned in the lore.

Not once do they talk about having two versions of themselves running around. They talk about the Black Pirates, but that's the name of the rebellion itself, and while "Halateez" is a fan-made name, they do not make it clear if they are included when they talk about the Black Pirates. They just don't talk about them again and you'd think having TWO versions of yourself running around would like, get a footnote at least.

But nope. Halateez are just gone. Exit stage left.

I think that whatever science/magic was keeping Halateez and Feverteez from merging broke when Hongjoong touched the glass and they merged as they should have from the start.

So Halateez, our suicide squad, merged with their past selves and "died" as they always intended to.

Halateez's end, but Feverteez's beginning. The cycle restarts and the Moebius strip never ends.

That's my theory anyway.

But what about Pirateez? Where in the everloving crap do they even fit in???? Well, that seems to be a universal question, doesn't it? Because no one ever seems to know where to stick the Treasure era pirates.

Look, I said my theories were half-baked AF, and no matter how much I roll some of it around in my head, it doesn't get any clearer.

But I still think it's Pirateez in Halazia, with the scarecrows of Halateez around. Halateez/Feverteez failed to stop the Sopro War. They failed to stop Henry Jo's cult. My theory right now is that Pirateez travels to World A in order to I don't know? Attempt to stop the rise of Henry Jo's cult? (hello again, MATZ)

I know that's weak sauce, but it's all I have.

Half-baked, man, like I said. I don't have the answers but I do have vibes. Concepts of a theory. I just don't think that's Feverteez in the Halazia mv. Halazia is weird like the pirates and doesn't fit into the timeline as we know it.

And you're probably wondering about the Cromer, since the last we saw it was broken. Well, broken things can be fixed and it's still in Yeosang's villa like some kind of Chekhov's gun waiting to go off.

BUT, I also think Pirateez has their own version of the Cromer

and if they're using it and Halateez managed to fix theirs or get to World Z at an earlier point and steal Z's, then well….my head hurts. Time travel is confusing. Cromers are not bound by space, time, or common sense.

There's also the GIGANTIC BROKEN CROMER that Yunho is sitting in in Halazia. And yeah, I have a theory about that too. Not about how it got broken, or why it's fuckhuge (WHY???!), but about the gravity in the mv.

See, in Halazia's prologue they tell us that the world lost gravity and their emotions, and we assume the giant orbs/moons are stealing everyone's emotions and affecting the gravity, but I actually kind of don't agree completely?

Because in the Fever Diary film, when Hongjoong first uses the Cromer, the gravity is affected around him and objects start floating.

The same thing happens in Halazia, and the Cromer is MUCH MUCH larger for unclear reasons, so a massive broken Cromer could be affecting the whole world's gravity and not just localized to one place.

The orbs/moons? No idea about those. They're Something, possibly tools of Henry Jo's cult in order to suck out emotions like everyone thinks. Whatever happened with San and that orb…. It's unclear. Total mystery. I'm not even gonna touch it.

There are of course lots (and lots and lots and lots) of things I can't explain and don't even want to try.

Like how Sopro was "born of the breaths of all of Halazia" by the four priests of Halazia. Are those the witnesses in Halazia's cookie and epilogue? Why did they look like Prestige Academy students? Why did they disappear (in a clap of thunder?) and why did they deliver that bracelet to Seonghwa? If that was Pirate!Seonghwa…why would he need it? He doesn't know the Be Free OR the Thunder girl. What if that really was Feverteez in Halazia?

AND WHAT ARE THE DAMNED CRYSTALS IN DREAMERS???

Yeah. I don't know.

Okay, that's all I have for now.

How nuts did I sound? Feel free to bark at me. I swear I'm normal.