“When bishops come together they don’t know that Dema don’t control us. East is Up” – twenty one pilots – Nico And The Niners

For the last 13 years, Twenty One Pilots has been creating a complex universe that personifies mental health. Their lyrics and cryptic tweets create a storyline that is constantly being built on. The story of “Dema” has ties to their first album, twenty one pilots, but truly starts with their 2018 album, Trench. With that said, I would like to welcome you to T R E N C H.

Introduction to Dema

Dema is a city and government system engineered by creative geniuses, Tyler Joseph (vocalist, bassist, pianist) and Josh Dun (drummer). It generally represents our depressive, anxious, intrusive thoughts, behaviors, and doubts. It’s made up of 9 regions, each run by a bishop. These bishops keep everyone within the laws of Dema, and try to enforce vialism, the idea that the ultimate purpose of life is to take your life. It’s a place of dullness. No creativity. No color.

On the other side, we have banditos. These are the rebels in the story. Their goal is to escape Dema and go to Trench, a bright place full of freedom. Banditos represent us fighting our intrusive tendencies, and yearning for freedom and true joy. The leaders of the banditos are likely a character named, Clancy, as well as Josh Dun (we don’t know if he has a character name or not).

Clancy could be Tyler, or an entirely different person. From what we know now, Clancy is the persona Tyler plays in the Jumpsuit, Nico and the Niners, and Levitate music videos. He struggles heavily with wanting to return to the confinement of Dema, after they escape to Trench. He feels it is safer there. This is like how we often feel like it’s easier to just live with the depression and anxiety, allowing it to control us, then to try to fight it off.

Letters from Clancy

We were first introduced to “Dema” at the 2017 APMA awards. Twenty One Pilots had won the award for “Most Dedicated Fans”. Tyler did not accompany Josh to the ceremony, so Josh accepted the award alone. In his speech he said, “Tyler’s sorry he couldn’t be here. He’s actually out cutting ties with Dema”. At the time we had no idea what this could mean.

Later on, in 2018, fans discovered a site called “dmaorg.info”. On this site, a letter from Clancy was found. We had no knowledge of Clancy yet, but we learn that he, “had a deep affection for Dema”, and he believed, “there was a wonderful structure to the city that put [his] cares to rest.” This was the second time we heard the term, “Dema”. He then went on to say he was proud to serve his region’s bishop, Keons, but the other bishops weren’t so kind.

Soon, another letter was released to dmaorg.info, also written by “Clancy”. In this he described his new feeling of being trapped in Dema. He realized Dema wasn’t a true home, but rather a confined space, where they kept him in a bland, depressive “slot”.

Cryptic Messages and Images

After the first few “Clancy Letters”, the website started releasing cryptic messages and strange images. One of the first images was a black and white map, which originally had the top left corner missing. It was very mysterious to us, and we had no clue what it was. Then we were gifted the corner, which included the title, “Dema” and a compass. Under this was a passage, titled, “sev_ering_ties”, similar to what Josh previously said Tyler was doing with Dema. The message said, “gEt out. the compAss lies. they don’t control you. get out. the compaSs lies. they don’t control you. get out. the compass lIes. they don’t control yoU. get out. the comPass lies. they don’t control you.” There’s a few things to unpack from this, but for now, let’s focus on the capitalized letters, which spell out, “EAST IS UP”. On the map, the compass was normal. We figured the message was from the banditos, those against Dema, letting us know the way out. It was then obvious to us that Dema was a bad, bad place. But what would they mean by, “East is up”? That was unknown.

In October of 2018, the album Trench was finally released, after a long hiatus. This album features a song, Nico and the Niners. In this song, one of the most used lines was none other than, “east is up”.  The music video involved them escaping. East was the way out.

Later, we discovered what would help them get out. On the website was a file titled, “they_ca_ntseeFCE300.GIF”. After further investigation, we discovered that “FCE300” is the hex code for a shade of yellow. In Nico and the Niners, Tyler sings “I’m fearless when I wear my rebel clothes”. In the music video trilogy (Jumpsuit, Nico and the Niners, Levitate) the banditos wore camo/army green outfits with stripes of yellow tape. This caused the conclusion that the bishops of Dema are unable to see the color yellow. With camo and yellow, it’s easier for the banditos to stay low in hopes to escape confinement.

This was a good discovery, but then we remembered a photo previously posted on dmaorg.info, of vultures staring down off a clifftop. Then Josh Dun changed his twitter background to a vulture with a laser of yellow coming from it’s eyes, pointing at his profile picture, which was him in his bandito attire. There were mentions of “watchers” in previous Clancy letters, which are more than likely the vultures. It’s suggested that they can see yellow, and they take care of the people who attempt an escape.

Now, there is so much more to uncover and discuss. There’s heavy ties to their 2015 album, Blurryface, as well as their 2021 album, Scaled and Icy. There are very mild ties to the 2009 album, twenty one pilots. For example, the Jumpsuit, Nico and the Niners, and Levitate trilogy has ties to the song, A Car, A Torch, A Death. In Jumpsuit, there was a burning car. Nico and the Niners includes torches, helping to lead the banditos away. Levitate has a death, which I won’t spoil quite yet. This was just the beginning. Stay tuned. Next, we meet Blurryface.