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Well, well, well. Hello, everyone. I am back, through the only power that can make me come back, i.e. the power of an EXO comeback. The concept trailer for the 6th album, "OBSESSION", has dropped and I am here today, standing entranced and in awe, as we all are, I presume. If you hadn't checked out the trailer yet, then I suggest you do because this blog will be opening a discussion around possible explanations around it. Also, you're probably living under a rock, considering that even I have watched it already.

#EXODEUX

As soon as I started digging into it for explanations, everything sort of, clicked into place. Although I haven't searched for theories at all, the rumors of the most prevalent one reached me. I am talking, of course, about the cloning theory. And I think it is quite obvious that this is the concept. However, while trying to look for clues in the trailer, I came up with another possibility which in the end I merged with this famous theory.

The biggest and most obvious clue is #EXODEUX, and that is why we are starting from it. "Deux" in French stands for the number 2 in English. Already, we can see that this comeback will be dealing with EXO's doubles. Doubles are a very interesting concept in literature and can be interpreted in multiple different entities, metaphorical and literal ones (e.g. doppelgängers), but I think it is very obvious that here we are talking about in the literal sense, doubles of EXO's identities, or in other words, clones. The double element can also be seen in the logo of the comeback, the two flags.

The two flags would be identical, were it not for that one subtle, white line. This is where my line of reasoning came into play.

There are multiple parts of the comeback that already portray a sort of corruption, a creation of fakes or in that case doubles with corrupted identities. I will be getting into the in the concept trailer later but that can be easily seen in EXO's new logo (one flag being crossed with a white line), in the written logo above (with the alternate versions of letters, implying a new version), as well as the creation of the new, reversed of EXO on Instagram which in case you missed it has the handle @exo.onearewe. The is created for promotion of course, but it also imitates the official EXO . In the description, it almost mocks the comeback as if it is the official EXO and it has no knowledge of another reality (the hashtags of the comeback put in question marks ¿/?). Also, it lists the link of exodeux.smtown.com. When you click on the website, it is still under construction and listed as "Coming Soon". Comparing the official with the new one claiming to be the official one side by side, we can see that the original also has the official EXO link (exo.smtown.com) in its description. The new imitates the original one, and it would be no surprise to me if for the purpose of this comeback the new gets verified as well. It's all a very meta attempt that hints at the concept of this comeback, that is that the new version of EXO and their new identities claim to be the real ones with no precedent and that the original EXO are fakes and questionable.

The new handle is also a playful jab or pun at EXO's identity. The syntax of the words implies a question "One, are we?". It is completely reversed from the group's motto. Seen in light of this comeback, this can mean that the Red Force's attempts to dismantle the group within through the creation of their clones have succeeded. Seen in a more realistic point of view, well ... we all can say that it's a stab right in the heart, considering that 3 are missing from this comeback.

Moving on to this masterpiece of a concept trailer, I will be talking about what I noticed while analyzing it because shit gets interesting.

(Sidenote: I was just looking for the well-known "Tree of Life" speech and my shit got overturned because now there is a new theory.)

In the concept trailer, we see the Tree of Life burning to the ground. In the origin speech of EXO, we hear the narration of EXO's story. If we listen to the origin story again here is what we find. The 12 forces of nature nurtured the Tree of Life in the beginning. The Red Force created the Evil which made the Tree of Life grow weaker. The Tree was divided in half and each of its sides was hidden from the other. The 12 forces then created 2 suns that look alike and 2 worlds that seem alike. In those worlds two versions of EXO were created but were never to meet each other. That is where the "cloning" happened, in their origin story. In the video we see that when the planets align, "the legends will greet each other: the day the Red Force is purified and the 12 forces unite into one perfect root: a New World shall open up".

Sooo.... holy shit.

As I was watching the MV, I was pretty sure about DNA corruption and cloning. The blood cells and the DNA spiral made it apparent. But apparently, it's a different story. The theory I had was that the Red Force captured the EXO we know and corrupted their DNAs so that either they became new beings or they made clones of the version of EXO we know. But with this new information, it is obvious that we get to meet the other version of EXO, the one that has been residing in another world from their creation until now. The Red Force might be keeping the EXO we know captive or it could be another thing but the important thing to note from all this is that the cloning did not happen now according to their origin story at least. It happened from their creation and now we get to witness EXO's doubles. The EXO we've been missing on.

It's a lot to digest. That's for sure.

The theory above really s the fact that in every other EXO MV, EXO is together and they have reunited. That is, they weren't the ones split in 2 different worlds but their doubles were split from them. This could also explain the fact that the clones/doubles (different according to each theory) do not understand the existence of another EXO (the original one we have witnessed). But then again, this could be applied to either theory accordingly. Clones would have no knowledge of their original selves too.

One last thing that ultimately confirms the case of EXO's doubles existence since their origin is the flash of planets we see in the concept trailer. It's obvious that the planets are aligned as the prophecy has told, and that is why now EXO's doubles have come to greet them. This is the day that the Red Force is purified.

Lastly, in the Instagram teaser dropped, we read: "A messy world order / Anomalies due to twisted orbits", which is also the indicator of those parallel universes coming together and causing chaos. That is why, EXO's doubles are now roaming the same world as them. That also confirms the origin double theory.

In What Is Love MV, we see something similar happening. The EXO are apart and only after an eclipse do they find each other. What is the most intriguing part though is that through their surroundings, it seems like they all are in the same world! That means, that they were not split into the 2 different worlds the Red Force created and that they just managed to find each other in the same world. This gives even more proof for the origin double theory and I don't know about you but I am pretty convinced that this is the story. It explains a lot more than the Red Force cloning exo right now would.

To add even more to that (as if it wasn't enough), Baekhyun who seems to be the most clairvoyant in the whole storyline as well as the MVs says in the Power of Music comics in the beginning: "Something's wrong... But since when...? I don't know... Or... Maybe... It could have gone wrong from the beginning. I guess it went over my head." After EXO fight their foes, sent by the Red Force as I and they presume, Baekhyun still has his doubts in the end: "Something's wrong... Or maybe... Something has been wrong from the beginning." This sounds pretty conclusive. That is the moment when Baekhyun realizes that their true union as EXO was not when they found each other but that there are doubles of themselves somewhere out there, on a different parallel universe.

Before we shut down from confusion, let's get into the concept trailer. The EXO we see in the concept trailer all have blue eyes. This is what tells them apart from the EXO we know as we see the Sehun we know (it's getting weird saying it like that so I'm just gonna say the original EXO), in the end getting ready to fight with his bow and arrow. The original Sehun's eyes are brown. Of course, Chanyeol and Jongdae had to make this difficult; Chanyeol has one white eye and Jongdae one blue eye. I cannot be sure as to what that means but if we go along with the case that these are clones, it could mean that Jongdae is an imposter and somehow lost his blue eye , and Chanyeol... I honestly don't know. As I said before though, I do believe this is not cloning and they are doubles dating back to EXO's origin.

This part of the trailer is a clear indicator that EXO's doubles are ready to "greet" the original EXO and the day that the Red Force is purified has come.

The origin doubles case does not the 3 missing though. Maybe in their parallel universe, EXO's doubles could not reunite with the 3 other or maybe this is very much a reality plot-hole considering that SM cannot find a way to excuse that the 12 of the prophecy dropped down to 6 and they simply don't care.

It is also interesting how the doubles are shown in red light, with blue eyes, while the original EXO, Sehun in that case, is shown in blue light. It is as if the doubles are trying to copy the original EXO's "innocence" or good nature. If the doubles are truly evil-natured, which we can only base loosely on the prophecy saying that the Tree of Life was split in half and the cause was the Red Force that was evil, hence one side is the opposite of the other, or more influenced by evil, this only manages to click together very vaguely and honestly we are grasping at straws here. Whatever the case is, it seems that the original EXO are going to fight their doubles. If the origin double theory is true, that means that the original EXO thinks that the Red Force has cloned them so they want to destroy their clones, thinking that they are their enemies/trying to steal their identities.

I honestly started writing this blog thinking I have the answers but then more questions popped up as I came to unravel a whole new meaning. I really do think that EXO's doubles existed from the beginning since all the hints point there. But tell me what you think in the comments.

Honestly, the actual explanation is that SM created a confusing af origin story just to have space for any storyline they could fit for the next comeback. There you have it. For real though, if that was the case, they tie the loose ends pretty ok (better than Riverdale did in Season 3 lmao burn) and they came full circle, or should I say full ∅?

For the few ones that have followed up to here and understood my line of thinking, thank you for reading and let me know what you think.

I don't know how I let myself fall victim for theorizing again, especially for EXO's storylines. It must have been that I have been away for so long, damn. It was a trap. It's like opening Pandora's box, honestly.

#featurethis, I suppose. I'm honestly pissed that I'm more confused than I was when I started and I'm pissed that this blog probably confused, you lot, as well. I hope it didn't and that you can understand what I meant but, shit, this is the curse of theories. You invest a lot but you never know.

P.S.: How every EXO comeback is better than the last one, I will never be able to fathom.