The Epic ATEEZ Fantheory Book

Illusion

I have a couple views on Illusion. 

Firstly, it's possible that Illusion represents Normal ATEEZ trying to forget or dismiss the existence of their Dark Egos. In this theory, they are tricking themselves in an illusion to avoid admitting that they have dark sides in the first place. 

This idea corresponds with my slowly building parallel-universe theory. I'm not sold on this concept, but if both the Dark Egos and Normal ATEEZ have very similar props in their alternate universes, then this could be Normal ATEEZ's flying ship. Clearly the Dark Egos have a flying ship as well (see THANXX), but they would be different items in different universes. 

My other idea, which is the one I prefer at this point, if only for the Drama, is a bit more exciting. It stems fully from the title of this song, as well as a few clues I express down below. 

Illusion is a Dark Ego theme. 

Yep. Just like Hala Hala. My reasoning here is that the Dark Egos are trying to trick Normal ATEEZ, who are currently stranded on an island. The Egos are creating the Illusion and practicing being normal and cheerful and colorful. 

I loved Illusion before building this theory, but in my mind the depth it gets from this perspective is impressive, and I like it even more through that lens. lt's rather horrifying to see such a cheerful song as a mask for the Egos. 

Combining both of my ideas together would also work somewhat - if Illusion is what the Dark Egos are experiencing while Normal ATEEZ sing Wave in a parallel universe... well, it would explain why the music videos were released at the same time. 

I've probably gone crazy from over-analyzing, though. 

Things I noticed:

There is a ton to unpackage with this one. I think it probably has more lore than any other MV to date, and that's saying a lot. 

First of all, let's look at chains. I definitely analyzed this MV with my theory that it's a Dark Ego theme in mind, so I was paying special attention to anything that reminded me of the Egos. One of those was wearing chains. There are two primary styles that the members are wearing - the outfits on the ship, and the outfits on the island. 

On the ship, San is the only member with chains hanging on his belt/pocket (I don't know the term, sorry). However, literally all of the members except for Hongjoong are wearing chains around their necks, and Hongjoong is wearing necklaces, including quite a few pearls (Pirates of the Caribbean reference, maybe?). 

Once the scene shifts to the island, though, Yeosang, Hongjoong, and Jongho have chains around their necks, and Jongho, San, and Wooyoung have them hanging from their pockets. In my mind, chains are inherently a Dark Ego trait. We'll have to see when I go through Wave, but I'm pretty sure there aren't any present in that MV. 

Illusion begins with all the members asleep, which is an interesting nod to both how the video ends and the beginning of Wave. 

The lyrics at 0:15 literally say "It's a lie, the view like a lie," which could point to the clearly-fake sky the ship is flying through, or a warning to us to not believe what we see in the video. 

I was trying to read the chalk writing on the ship (the inside, not the outside where it just says ATEEZ a bunch of times and Wave and stuff), but the only time I was able to get much was the shot of Yeosang about half a minute in. Underneath him, there's a clearly visible phrase with only one word obscured: "The creative adult is AAA the chi[???] who [more message, maybe?]"