This is my first shot at a totally original BTBAM interoperation. I TOTALLY welcome anyone's opinion on this. I'm in no way claiming to be 100% right. Please forgive my writing style's immense use of parentheses, but it's what makes sense to me.
Tommy doesn't always put the story in a linear form. For example, he has said that "Bloom" takes place between "Swim to the Moon" and "Specular Reflection."
Ok, here we go ;)
I think the first part of this song takes place on Prospect #2's world before the destruction and the beginning of his mission. So I think this takes place before the Parallax EP.
In my mind, there is a metaphor of a home (whether its a planet, dwelling, or ship) or "box," and uses terms such as "bed" and "window." "She" is his lover, but not a person, but the "Headless Wonder" from "Prequel to the Sequel. So "She" is the planet itself. The black mask represents Prospect #2's increasing detachment from the human condition as he ends the world (a.k.a. Black mask IS Prospect #2). He used the world, "collecting" and "profit[ing]" from its resources, then "destroying" it. He leaves the world before it is destroyed, or "before the rise of the sun."
The ending of his world puts his mission into motion. He is "propelled" by the world's "pain," or death.
The second half of the story takes place "years later" (obviously), but more specifically, just before the song "Extremophile Elite." [Non linear story telling, remember?]
Prospect #2 eventually becomes some kind of inhuman being (mentally and maybe even physically) during the song "Lay Your Ghosts to Rest" with all the cutting he does to himself; perhaps even becoming some part machine. His "frantic writing" is a note he writes, which later he will find again when he meets Prospect #1 in "Extremophile Elite."
"Something is buried where his head once lay
A note... MY note
My hands shake and I fall to my knees
Slowly read... "please know I love..."
I think it's an apology note, something he might have done to psychologically cope with his wrong-doing (abusing his world until its destruction). He wonders why he is holding onto it and why he is reading it again ("What inside forced me to see the ink?" ( I think it was the humanity he has left, but it obviously causes him pain and pushes him towards becoming inhuman.) After he takes it out, uncrumples the note ("smoothed out") and reads it, he rips it up ("then in pieces"). He feels massive regret. He blames himself for his world's destruction ("One heart in a two heart bed. She woke to nothing. Because of me, she woke to nothing.")
His ship (or "box" which has become his only home at this point) lands on Prospect #1's world. This is the world the Night Owl's have taken over. They promised to make it better in "Fossil Genera:, but as we know from "Desert of Song," it is a desolate, sad world. This explains the "Valley of smiling despair." I think the Night Owl's would argue that the world is better, hence the dichotomy. The negative emotions he feels here are from his human side, or "other half," which he is in the process of losing ("BUT lost through selfish measures") ever since he destroyed his world and failed to save it.
Perhaps the rest of this song is a strong vision. He is inhuman ("robot") and has left his home ("box" this time, an actual dwelling). He feels alien to his dying world. There is nothing left to gain from this world ("No profit/ For once no profit"). The destruction has already begun ("after the rise of the sun").
"A burning smell creeps up my nostrils (the box is gone)." This line reminds me a lot of the line "The stench of shit is in the air..." from "Lost Perfection," which we know is the ending of Prospect #2's world. His home ("box") is destroyed.
A trapdoor is a portal to something usually negative. Locked from inside, to me, means that he is closing off this portal to this negativity, which I think he thinks is his human side. He is now an "incomplete me," or an inhuman human if you will. He continues his mission. "My propulsion from their pain."
So in conclusion, this song is about the death of his humanity and the death of his world. I know I make A LOT of stretches, but hey, this is my first attempt. What do you guys think?
It is important to note 2 things:
This is my first shot at a totally original BTBAM interoperation. I TOTALLY welcome anyone's opinion on this. I'm in no way claiming to be 100% right. Please forgive my writing style's immense use of parentheses, but it's what makes sense to me.
Tommy doesn't always put the story in a linear form. For example, he has said that "Bloom" takes place between "Swim to the Moon" and "Specular Reflection."
Ok, here we go ;)
I think the first part of this song takes place on Prospect #2's world before the destruction and the beginning of his mission. So I think this takes place before the Parallax EP.
In my mind, there is a metaphor of a home (whether its a planet, dwelling, or ship) or "box," and uses terms such as "bed" and "window." "She" is his lover, but not a person, but the "Headless Wonder" from "Prequel to the Sequel. So "She" is the planet itself. The black mask represents Prospect #2's increasing detachment from the human condition as he ends the world (a.k.a. Black mask IS Prospect #2). He used the world, "collecting" and "profit[ing]" from its resources, then "destroying" it. He leaves the world before it is destroyed, or "before the rise of the sun."
The ending of his world puts his mission into motion. He is "propelled" by the world's "pain," or death.
The second half of the story takes place "years later" (obviously), but more specifically, just before the song "Extremophile Elite." [Non linear story telling, remember?]
Prospect #2 eventually becomes some kind of inhuman being (mentally and maybe even physically) during the song "Lay Your Ghosts to Rest" with all the cutting he does to himself; perhaps even becoming some part machine. His "frantic writing" is a note he writes, which later he will find again when he meets Prospect #1 in "Extremophile Elite."
"Something is buried where his head once lay A note... MY note My hands shake and I fall to my knees Slowly read... "please know I love..."
I think it's an apology note, something he might have done to psychologically cope with his wrong-doing (abusing his world until its destruction). He wonders why he is holding onto it and why he is reading it again ("What inside forced me to see the ink?" ( I think it was the humanity he has left, but it obviously causes him pain and pushes him towards becoming inhuman.) After he takes it out, uncrumples the note ("smoothed out") and reads it, he rips it up ("then in pieces"). He feels massive regret. He blames himself for his world's destruction ("One heart in a two heart bed. She woke to nothing. Because of me, she woke to nothing.")
His ship (or "box" which has become his only home at this point) lands on Prospect #1's world. This is the world the Night Owl's have taken over. They promised to make it better in "Fossil Genera:, but as we know from "Desert of Song," it is a desolate, sad world. This explains the "Valley of smiling despair." I think the Night Owl's would argue that the world is better, hence the dichotomy. The negative emotions he feels here are from his human side, or "other half," which he is in the process of losing ("BUT lost through selfish measures") ever since he destroyed his world and failed to save it.
Perhaps the rest of this song is a strong vision. He is inhuman ("robot") and has left his home ("box" this time, an actual dwelling). He feels alien to his dying world. There is nothing left to gain from this world ("No profit/ For once no profit"). The destruction has already begun ("after the rise of the sun").
"A burning smell creeps up my nostrils (the box is gone)." This line reminds me a lot of the line "The stench of shit is in the air..." from "Lost Perfection," which we know is the ending of Prospect #2's world. His home ("box") is destroyed.
A trapdoor is a portal to something usually negative. Locked from inside, to me, means that he is closing off this portal to this negativity, which I think he thinks is his human side. He is now an "incomplete me," or an inhuman human if you will. He continues his mission. "My propulsion from their pain."
So in conclusion, this song is about the death of his humanity and the death of his world. I know I make A LOT of stretches, but hey, this is my first attempt. What do you guys think?