Meaning Behind Bts Songs

Meaning behind 'Run'



Run is, with old and new symbolic elements throughout, an umpteenth reenactment of I NEED U and the Prologue: V, the rebellious part of Jin’s psyche who’s ultimately responsible for him entering adulthood, has to make that decision over again, but also once and for all.

We are in reality in Jin’s psyche, who’s processing the idea that he is no longer a child in is mind throughout the whole Trilogy — a process he has to go through to reconcile is old and new self. Everyone is, then, ultimately controlled by Jin’s psyche and V is acting, like every single one of the boys throughout the HYYH cycle, as an alter-ego.

After denying the truth of what happened in I NEED U, Jin and the boys have come closer to facing reality in the Prologue. In Run, they will now all have to definitely come to terms with adulthood and let go of youth for good. They will then be reunited and “forever together” as Jin, now being reunited with the personified emotions of his youth, will be able to reconcile is old and new self and move on.

Shots of V struggling under water will be shown throughout the Run MV, mirroring his state of mind in all previous MVs, for this is a retelling of what has already happened, is happening and will happen — time doesn’t apply to the HYYH Trilogy, which simply works as an allegory for the end of youth. Incidentally, V is wearing a Nirvana t-shirt in this MV, a reference to the band* but also the state that happens when one is released from karma and reincarnation, which fits the smilingly never ending cycle of HYYH perfectly as the Run video actually breaks the reenactment cycle.

Welcome to the void

By symbolically “killing the father” in I NEED U, V has now entered “the void” of adulthood, represented by the darkness surrounding him.

Struggling with the new reality, a muffled version of Butterfly playing in the background, he falls down backwards into dark waters (in a reverse scene to the Prologue ending, where he jumped forward to the wide open ocean). Water is here an obvious symbol of internal emotional turmoil, as it was for Jimin in I NEED U: V is confused, lost and regretful over his youth, just like Jin was in I NEED U and the Prologue (they are all one and the same).

While entering water, V then starts revisiting happy moments with the boys as well as reliving moments of doubts and struggle: this is him reliving the hardships of growing up, just like Jin did in I NEED U and the Prologue.



Run (under water, nirvana & darkness/void motif)

We already knew V was a troubled kid in I NEED U, and now we get to see him act indeed all irresponsible and living like there was no tomorrow. Ultimately though, he will have to realise he cannot go on living like this and that life will pass him by (running trains are shown throughout the MV as a symbolic element for time passing, one’s  life’s journey and how one would not want to miss “the train of life”).

Run (train & bridge motif + maze reference to the Forever Young MV)

Rapmon is paired up with V most of the MV, as Jin’s most mature side (in the Prologue, he was the one wearing the Nirvana t-shirt, a possible reference to his own release from reincarnation at that time). He’s seen first at the abandoned train station from I NEED U, set out to follow the path of the train tracks to find youth again: he is going backwards instead of moving forward, just like V, the coffee scene at the beginning actually mirroring V’s own fall into the realm of dreams.

INU, Korean & Japanese ver. (darkness/void motif)

INU & Run Japanese ver. (darkness/void motif)