A compendium of TXT narrative from the Dream Chapter to the Star Chapter:
from boys who dreamed about a star, to boys who are kissed by the stars
disclaimer: this is just my interpretation, none of these theories are to be considered as the sole explanation of txt storyline
TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s discography from The Dream Chapter to The Star Chapter tells a single story, a story of growth, like a bildungsroman (a term used in literature to refer to a genre of novel of formation that focuses on the protagonist’s growth from childhood to adulthood) or a coming of age movie, that talks about a boy’s experiences through life as he grows up, experiences that are universal and that all of us can more or less relate to.
Structured like a series of books, it is divided in 4 chapters - each chapter divided in parts (one trilogy and three duologies) - and 3 spin offs (minisodes) that work as a bridge from one chapter to another. Each chapter represents a different stage of growth and can be said that their overall themes are centered around different types of love (according to the classification the Greeks did of several types of love):
The Dream Chapter: philia (platonic love, friendship) - transition from childhood to adolescence;
The Chaos Chapter: eros (romantic, passionate love) - from adolescence to young adult;
The Name Chapter: philautia (self-love, self-acceptance) - from young adult to adult;
The Star Chapter: agape (selfless, unconditional, compassionate love) - adulthood, maturity.
THE FIRST CHAPTER: The Dream Chapter.
The Dream Chapter is a trilogy and it’s divided in 3 parts: Star, Magic and Eternity. This first chapter mainly revolves around the theme of friendship.
In The Dream Chapter: STAR, the boy who is growing and transitioning from childhood to adolescence, is experiencing changes and turmoils within himself, the so-called “growing pains”, as he does not accept himself nor feels accepted by the world around him. He feels different, and this difference is metaphorically represented by the horns growing on his head. However, one day he meets other boys who are different yet alike; they share his same pain and thus understand him. The Dream Chapter: Star tells the story of the bond of friendship between these children - a bond they wish to last eternally -, their shared dreams of reaching the stars and their promise to never forget each other, to stay together forever and to meet again should life separate them and lead them to different paths.
The Dream Chapter: MAGIC is about the “magical” adventures the boys live as they rebel against the rules of society and dream to escape in a world of their own, their magic island. The boys have fully embraced their adolescence.
The Dream Chapter: ETERNITY, however, tells us that you can’t escape reality forever and that at some point it will eventually affect you. As the boys grow, misunderstandings happen and rifts start appearing in that friendship the boys thought would last eternally: “Friends don’t understand me anymore”. Eternity deals with the feelings of disillusionment in front of reality.
This leads to the first spin-off of the series, Minisode 1: BLUE HOUR, a depiction of the boy’s confusion in front of a world that looks unfamiliar and strange now that he does not have his friends by his side anymore. Afraid of the future that awaits him, the boy desperately clings to his past, to the memories of that special bond, to the last remnants of the day before the coming of the night.
THE SECOND CHAPTER: The Chaos Chapter.
The Chaos Chapter is a duology: the two parts, Freeze and Fight or Escape, reference humans’ response to an obstacle, threat or harmful event: freeze from fear, fight it or find a way to escape from it. Taking place in that moment of growth between being an adolescent and transitioning into a young adult, this chapter deals with two main themes: romantic love (eros) and the chaos of reality.
In The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE, fully surrounded by the chaotic reality of the world, the boy feels useless, confused, incapable to move or even make a decision for himself. In this metaphorical frozen state, the only salvation comes from meeting “you”. You awakens the emotion of love inside the boy and this love becomes his saving force, the only reason to survive, and he clings to it as if it’s his only anchor in this chaotic world.
Once this passionate, romantic love has melted his frozen self, it becomes the boy’s driving force to fight and rebel against a world that, once again, does not accept him. The Chaos Chapter: FIGHT or ESCAPE is thus about the boy deciding to either fight the world or escape from it in the name of this new found love.
But a love that is all about being saved and that is so dependant is not meant to last. In the second spin-off of the series, Minisode 2: THURSDAY’S CHILD, the boy experiences his first break up. That love that he thought eternal, that saved him, has now literally ruined him, turned him into someone he can’t even recognise anymore. The boy goes through the five stages of grief until he finally accepts this experience as just another step toward his growth. The boy is moving from adolescence to young adulthood and is now ready to start his own journey to find his own self, his own identity.
Up until now, in fact, the boy has always revolved his entire self around other people: first it’s his friends, then it’s his lover; it was never about himself. That’s the reason why, every time he experienced a break up, he felt at loss, confused; because he lost what he believed represented his identity: in the dream chapter I am me, because I am like my friends; in the chaos chapter I am me because I love you. But when I lack these two, who am I?
THE THIRD CHAPTER: The Name Chapter.
The Name Chapter, another duology divided in Temptation and Freefall is thus about finding one’s own identity and the trials one has to go through during this process. As the name of the chapter suggests, a true name is, especially in fantasy literature from which TXT storytelling takes a lot of inspiration, a person’s true identity, his fate and destiny; in fantasy, knowing one’s own name means knowing everything about them and having power over them. The main theme of this chapter is thus that of self-discovery and self-acceptance, what Greeks called philautia, self-love.
The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION deals with the sweetness of easy things, the temptation of delaying growth and staying in a state of “blissful ignorance”. The path toward growth is a hard one and it’s easy to be swayed by the promise of an easier life with no responsibilities. “It’s so sweet, but I should find my name”: the boy however understands that no growth comes from remaining a child forever and thus decides to abandon his neverland, that “irresponsible paradise”, to fully face and finally accept that reality he had avoided since he was a child.
The Name Chapter: FREEFALL is all about facing and accepting the present reality. Through this process of accepting the pains that come with growth, and while chasing for his own dreams and his future, comes the realisation of his own identity, of how those horns that made him different have always been part of him, what makes him unique amongst thousand others, and of who he wants to be: an adult that doesn’t forget how to dream.
Once the boy fully accepts his own identity, he’s ready to go back to the people he met during his journey, those people he made a promise with. The last spin-off, Minisode 3: TOMORROW is about this promise of meeting again, about the idea of tomorrow that becomes the reason to look forward to the future.
The Name Chapter and Minisode 3 represent the past, the present and the future: TEMPTATION is about not growing up, about staying in your childhood, your past; FREEFALL is about facing the present moment, the present reality, while TOMORROW is about looking forward to the future.
The future of the boy, however, is “coming back” to the beginning, to that first promise he made with the others under the stars. If we read TXT storytelling according to the hero’s journey narrative, starting from Minisode 3, the story is heading toward its final act (the star chapter is, in fact, the last chapter) the “return”, where the hero comes back “home” changed by the experiences he has been through since he left. It’s like going back where everything started, with the new-found identity and awareness that the boy has gained throughout his journey.
According to the hero’s journey structure, The Dream Chapter STAR and MAGIC are the call to adventure, while ETERNITY and Minisode 1 are the stage of separation; from The Chaos Chapter onward we’re in the stage of initiation, with Minisode 2 and TEMPTATION representing the road of trials and temptations the hero goes through during his journey. The moment of revelation and transformation is represented by FREEFALL which is actually the climax of the entire storyline, since it’s in this album that the boy finally finds what he was looking for (his name, his identity) and accepts the reality around him, gaining thus new awareness of himself and the world. The last stage of the hero’s journey, the return, is represented by Minisode 3 and The Star Chapter, as the boy returns to that first promise and atones for the things that went wrong back then (loss of friendship and loss of love).
Now that the boys are back together to the promise they once made, the star who went to sleep when they separated, is awaken again (watch Nap of a Star MV to get a better understanding of TXT whole storyline, since it explores all the stages of the story from the dream chapter to the star chapter: the meeting, the separation, the trials and the return together).
THE FOURTH CHAPTER: The Star Chapter.
TXT storyline that started in the Dream Chapter finds its conclusion in The Star Chapter duology that represents the stage of adulthood and centers around the theme of agape, the highest form of love according to Greeks, that selfless, unconditional love that is given freely without expecting anything in return (Sanctuary) and that finds its highest form in the experiences of sharing and understanding each other: that is, empathy (Together).
The Star Chapter: SANCTUARY is about how, meeting again with those cherished people, creates for the boy a safe place where, despite the many scars and pains, he can find solace, a moment of respite from the harsh world and the hard process of growing up. Love blooms again in the frozen heart of the boy, but this time it’s a different love from the dependant one he experienced during the Chaos Chapter: it’s a more mature, balanced love, where saving and being saved have an equal role in the relationship (since you brought me to heaven, i’ll bring you higher than heaven). SANCTUARY mirrors the Chaos Chapter as it explores again the theme of love, but in a more mature way, as if it wants to repair what was broken back then (that dependant, toxic love that led to the break up in Minisode 2).
The Star Chapter: TOGETHER is the final chapter of the story, and as such it focuses on the will to move on toward tomorrow, facing and overcoming any hardship life may present, together. Even if the world around the boys is in chaos, even if it has lost its magic, “we do it for love”: love, in its highest, pure form, becomes the boys’ strength to face their future; and this love, this empathy and their bond - which is the true magic -, is what makes them different from everyone else; different, yet beautiful: “we are peculiar, but beautiful, and beautiful because we are peculiar”. In its themes, TOGETHER mirrors the Dream Chapter, as it focuses on the meaning of being together (Star-Magic) and overcoming together any trial and misunderstanding we might face on our journey onward (in Eternity, the friendship broke because they didn’t overcome their misunderstandings but instead turned their back to each other).
With The Star Chapter: TOGETHER, TOMORROW X TOGETHER put an end to a story of boys growing up and navigating the world, who, through many experiences, finally accept themselves for who they are. It’s a story anyone of us can relate to. In a way, TXT story is kinda like the ugly duckling fairy tale: a boy who feels different, not accepted by those around him, but when he meets other kids like him he finally feels accepted for who he is and, step by step, they all grow together into beautiful adults, in the same way the ugly duckling grows into a beautiful swan.
