Click here to read the first part of this series, which focuses on the lore associated with Twenty One Pilots’ album “Trench.” Click here to read the second part of this series, which focuses on the lore associated with the album Scaled and Icy. Click here to read the third part of the series, which focuses on the lore associated with the “Overcompensate” music video.
Twenty One Pilots are known for the in-depth lore attached to their albums. Here is everything you need to know about the lore associated with their most recent album, Clancy.
Following the conclusion of the “Overcompensate” music video, Clancy, the album’s namesake and the story’s main protagonist, has arrived back on the shores of Trench after his treacherous journey across the Paladin Strait. Prior to this, Clancy and the Torchbearer had been stranded on the island of Voldsøy following the events of the “Saturday” music video, but by the time we are reunited with them in the “Navigating” music video, they are ready to set off on their journey to Dema.
The journey across Trench is long and treacherous, but Clancy faces it alongside a few Banditos who met him on the shore and the Torchbearer — or so he thought. Along the way, he meets the real Torchbearer, who explains that the version of him that had been stranded on Voldsøy was simply a projection who was meant to guide Clancy back to Dema. The real Torchbearer had been gathering a large group of Banditos back in Trench the entire time, preparing for the fight they had ahead of them.
In the “Paladin Strait” music video, after Clancy sharpens his Ned antlers — turning them into weapons — and dons his mask, stole and red tape, he and the Banditos start to make their way back to Dema to fight. Meanwhile, the bishops seize control of vultures using their powers of psychokinesis, allowing them to possess the bodies of the birds and see out of their eyes to gather intel on Clancy and the Banditos. The bishops are now aware of their plan and inevitable arrival in Dema.
The Bishops (not including Nico), perform a massive psychokinesis ritual, possessing all the bodies of the Glorious Gone and forcing them to rise from their neon gravestones to create an army of zombies to fight against the rebels. Once the Banditos arrive in Dema, they begin to fight against the zombie army while Clancy sneaks into the city to locate the Bishops. He climbs their tower and finds them all there (minus Nico), and he quickly defeats them using his Ned antlers. As the bishops are defeated, the zombies fighting the Banditos outside the walls of the city all collapse, their minds no longer controlled. It is then that Nico, who has been suspiciously absent for much of this, appears and grabs Clancy by the neck, lifting him into the air.
Arguably, Clancy has been one of Twenty One Pilots’ best-received albums and due to its heavy lore content, it has satiated much of the fans’ curiosity about the story of Clancy. Still, the lore is ongoing. As the Clancy World Tour progressed, the character of Clancy made several appearances and a recent release called “The Line,” from the official soundtrack of the second season of the show Arcane, seems to include Clancy content. Still, no official music video has been released so there is no way to know for sure where the story will go next.
This article series is an ongoing in-depth look at the lore associated with the band Twenty One Pilots. To remain updated on this series, stay tuned to The Brock Press.