Tarot Cards

Creeper being the darlings that they are posted the Tarot cards so we could see what they are properly, and now they make more sense:

The three spread Tarot cards are read in the order: the past, the present and the future. Since we know James is aware of Madame Darling, the psychic reader, we can assume these cards came from her giving him this type of reading.

The past we know is The Stranger. We were introduced to him and this tarot back in February/March. This cements that the creature is likely to be what caused the car accident (links to the theory The Stranger caused it in order to get Mary/Madeline for himself and away from James.)

The present is The Inquisitor. Inquisitive means having/showing an interest in learning things, which is basically James doing all his researching and investigating into mysteries. It also wears a hook on its left hand. What hand did James injure in the car accident? His left. Captain Hook, who we know is James, wears the hook on his left too.

The future is The Lovers. This means that the pair in the card are not currently together. The chick in the photo has blonde hair too. We've only been introduced to one girl with blonde hair, and that's Mary. This card means that James's future lies with Mary, because that is him in the card too as he has short dark hair too. They both wear callous hearts too, confirming that in the future James will join the callous heart and be able to spend his eternity with Mary again, linking to the album title Eternity, In Your Arms.

Notice the background is the car accident newspaper article. All about dear Mary.

Donnie Darko

It's extremely clear that Creeper have taken influence from Donnie Darko. This became apparent when they began counting down to Suzanne. "In __ days ___ hours ___ minutes ___ seconds we'll die holding hands." In Donnie, "In __ days ___ hours ___ minutes ___ seconds that is when the world will end."

Looking deeper into it, there's an insane amount of connections.

Theory:
The Callous Heart are the Manipulated Dead from Donnie Darko. The Stranger is Frank. Time has gone completely out of sync (In Hiding With Boys James has "time out of phase" written on his wall.) The Callous Heart work for The Stranger, in the video they're outside watching everything James is doing in his hotel room. The Grand Reveal patch suggests they serve The Stranger as they've idolised him on their jackets. He may be the God/Leader of the cult, which links to Creeper's backdrop of The Stranger overlooking the callous heart. Drawing parallels between the two, it's clear that James won't make the same sacrifice that Donnie did. Donnie chooses to die to save humanity, but the last song on Eternity, In Your Arms is called "I Choose To Live."

Time out of sync:
There have been numerous things which suggest time is completely out of sync.
1. The HWB video says James arrives at the hotel on 23 December 2015, but the state of room 309 suggests he's been there for a while. He has a huge board on the wall of the mystery which must have taken a while to sort out.
2. www.whereisjamesscythe.co.uk cannot make up their mind on when James's birthday is. It says he's born on 25/12/1975, but then on the missing poster it says he's born on 31/12/1975.

Donnie Darko:
"The Philosophy Of Time Travel" (fictional book by Roberta Sparrow) can be used to explain the links between the two:

The Artefact And The Living - "Artefacts provide the first sign that a Tangent Universe (completely different universe) has occurred. Artefacts returned to the Primary Universe (main universe) are often linked to religious iconography, as their appearance on Earth seems to defy logical explanation."
James Scythe carries rosary beads and a cross around with him constantly. There's also a cross on the album cover. These appear to be the artefacts, therefore it's known there is a tangent universe which explains time being utterly fucked.

The Living Receiver - "chosen to guide the Artefact into position for its journey back to the primary universe. The Living Receiver is normally blessed with Fourth Dimensional Powers. They're normally tormented by terrifying dreams, visions and auditory hallucinations during his time with the Tangent Universe. Theses surround the Living Receiver, known as the Manipulated, will fear him and try to destroy him."
James Scythe is The Living Receiver (Donnie Darko in the film.) This explains why he constantly has dreams of The Stranger and why he has described some encounters as having "visions of grief." The Manipulated are The Callous Heart. This can explain why James is so knowledgeable and looks into them so much; they're trying to destroy him, but he won't take that shit.

The Manipulated Dead - "more powerful than the Living Receiver. If a person dies within the Tangent Dimension, they are about to contact the Living Receiver through the Fourth Dimensional Construct. The Manipulated Dead will often set an Ensurance Trap to make sure the Artefact is returned to the Primary Universe."
This is where it gets confusing. The Tangent Dimension is different to the Primary Universe. If someone dies in the Tangent, surely they do not die in the Primary. This could potentially explain why they're immortal? They've died in the tangent, they won't die in the primary? I'm not sure I don't have the brain capacity to figure this out at all. The Ensurance Trap could potentially be James at the Dolphin. He's there figuring everything out, he has all his rosary beads and crosses.

James in the callous heart:
Since time is morally fucked and dimensions are fucking around all over the place, it's possible that James is able to view himself in the future, or the past who knows. When James drives past the callous heart gang, he stares for a long time (while taking his eyes off the road how dangerous.) Among the gang is a man we haven't met before. He isn't the same guy in the Honeymoon Suite and Lie Awake videos, that man has tattoos, the new man doesn't. Who else doesn't? James Scythe. They both have beards too. Coincidence? This can suggest James is watching himself in the future, once he has been reinvented after joining the callous heart gang. If James chooses to live, like the song suggests, then maybe the only way he could remain living is to become part of the Manipulated Dead since he doesn't make the sacrifice to save humanity. Because of the shit dimensions and time being out of phase, James can view himself and watch himself. Bit creepy.


Quotes/Lyrics
Frank - "I've been watching you."
Creeper -

Donnie - "Under the blue moon i saw you" (referring to when Donnie first meets Frank at nighttime

Creeper - "I recall the blue, first night I met you." 

Donnie - "Every creature on this Earth dies alone."

Creeper (in one of the phone calls we got) - "WE. ALL. DIE. ALONE."

If this doesn't make you think Creeper have linked this to Donnie Darko, I leave you with one thing. With the exclusive preorder patches, we got a sticker. The sticker depicts The Stranger holding the mask of Frank in Donnie Darko. And what else? The Stranger has a bullet hole through his left eye.

Time

Time is a huge concept within Creeper's music videos and the 3rd ep. William has said how the Stranger is tick-tock the crocodile in Peter Pan and he's also said James Scythe is Captain Hook. In Peter Pan, Hook is eaten when the crocodile clock tower falls on him. What features in a lot of Creeper's music videos and photos?

lie awake

Hiding with boys

Suzanne 

THE FUCKING CLOCK TOWER. The clock tower is in Southampton. The Dolphin is in Southampton. James went missing in Southampton. Confirmed: the clock tower ate him.

I'm joking but the peter pan explanation confirms that the stranger took him. 

James's Wall

In his hotel room, James had a wall covered in stuff trying to figure everything out. This post will explain (as much as possible) what each item is and why he has it.

The wall first shows these 2 post its and the missing poster of Dan with his eyes black out. The post its read "who who who where" over and over. He's constantly trying to find the Callous Heart gang and figure out who they are. This can explain why he looks so long when he drives past the gang, he recognises them from the posters.

The video shows a tarot card of The Stranger. He picked it up and put it next to two markings. The post it saying "Itchen Bridge", a bridge in Southampton. Huge. Not sure of the significance nor connection but I'm sure we'll find out soon. The writing says something about being "down below." This implies either The Stranger, or something else, lurks "Down Below." Creeper have a song called Down Below so, again, I'm sure we'll find out what this means. Back when Creeper were missing and doing the phone calls, I got one of William saying "he ___( something I can't remember) in the river down below." The Itchen Bridge goes over a huge river. Could this mean something? Does The Stranger have a boat house and reside on the river?

Madeline being written in air quotations implies this isn't actually her name. James knows her as Mary, so he doesn't want to call her Madeline. The writing "who is she" shows he's trying to figure out who she is, but he appears to have acknowledged the fact Madeline is Mary reinvented because he's calling her "Madeline" rather than straight up Madeline. 

"Time out of phase." This could be James figuring out that for the Callous Heart, time is not real. He knows the Callous Heart don't age at all and that they're immortal, therefore time doesn't work for them the same way it works for everybody else.

In the background is a drawing of someone's perception of The Stranger with a post it "visions of grief" which I'm assuming is a way in which someone has described an encounter with The Stranger. James is holding a tarot card which looks like it has a plague doctor on. Since the other tarot cards have had the lovers (the couple in the honeymoon suite and lie awake) and The Stranger on, this must be of some significance. Annoyingly, the quality is too poor to make out exactly what it says, but it's certainly got someone wearing a plague doctor mask on.

The photo of Madeline which was on the Strange Southampton website ( www.strangesouthampton.club if you want to go check.) This photo also included William and Ian, but he's only singled out Madeline. James knows that this is Mary reinvented. It's like the entire thing is just a desperate ploy to get her back. He's so fixated on her and finding this gang is his way to get to her.

This photo links to the photo above of Madeline. James puts his photo of Mary next to the one of Madeline, almost confirming they're the same person. We see Mary is blonde in the polaroid, but Madeline has black hair. Confirmation she has had to completely reinvent herself in order to not be caught not ageing. He's also got the article from the car crash where he killed her. This accident took place on 23/12/2006, 9 years prior to him going to the dolphin and all of this happening. 

Tarot card of the lovers shown in the honeymoon suite and lie awake videos. James also has the flier for the psychic Madame Darling, having the review from a J.D from London saying he met his wonderful wife "Suzy" through her. Could Suzy be short for Suzanne? Who is J.D?

His entire wall. The writing at the top says 3 words then "to see you in the window of your house." Back when Creeper were missing and the phone calls were happening, someone kept getting one saying "The Stranger is in your garden. He's looking through the window of your house." Are the band trying to say he's coming for the whole cult? Is he trying to make everybody immortal?

James and Mary in the Callous Heart

At the end of the Hiding With Boys video we see James in his hotel room and the stranger appear behind him:

The Stranger has been fucking James up for a while, but after this date (23/12/15) James went missing completely. Literally fucked off out of existence, but he's still alive? Since he wouldn't leave anything alone, another theory has stemmed: what if The Stranger takes James and he joins the Callous Heart with Mary/Madeline? This could be an explanation as to why no one has found him yet. He's had to reinvent himself so that no one will realise he's stopped ageing, so now he'll look completely different. Looking for this version of James Scythe won't be successful because he doesn't exist anymore, much like Mary not looking anything like Madeline.
This can explain why the album is called "Eternity, In Your Arms" because James and Madeline are together with their immortality.

Lyrics and potential links

We had a pact

Suicide pact gone wrong

“mary look what they’ve done to me”

links to mary James’s wife, not sure who’s pov

“our peers around us grew up so dull that we left our lives behind”

they both wanted to start a new life on the other side and die together

“we’re only vulnerable to those who approach us until they realise there’s no heart to break”

callous hearts do not break

Gloom

“did he hold your hand like i used to”

holding hands theme, Madeline and the Stranger together?

“but i learnt a lot of life from watching what we had die”

not sure who’s pov, but it could be james’ seeing what he had with mary die since she had to reinvent herself and he learnt some are immortal and some, like him, are mortal.

VCR

“would you stop me if you saw me, or would we pretend our eyes miss?”
Madeline knows what James looks like, and James knows Madeline is Mary reinvented.

“nights introspection lasts” 

links to the sleep paralysis and the Stranger.

into the black

“i pray you’re doing better now since that night one year ago”

James killed Mary at night in the car crash

“breaks my heart that you were right”

James has a heart capable of breaking, Madeline/Mary could’ve warned him she’d have to reinvent and he’s sad she was right and had to leave him

“I braved the night I heard your news. Guess what you never own is worst to lose”
He never owned Mary, but he lost her

“don’t remember you this grey and blue”
what’s grey and blue? a dead person. who died? Mary. 

“embracing what dies in us while we are still alive”
Callous hearts do not age, but in order for things to keep on living, parts of the body die off and then start again. a continuous process to remain alive forever.

Novena

“we never spoke about love, just mortality”
James is mortal. Callous hearts are immortal. Mary could’ve told him then she was a part of it, and was therefore immortal. 

“would you have lived differently if you had known this life was on loan”

Callous hearts reinvent themselves so they don't get caught ageing. they create different “lives” so as not to get caught.

Black Cloud

“I’ll be your curse, the one you tell your friends about”
From Mary’s perspective? If she’s part of the callous heart

“don’t fret upon my whereabouts”
Mary to James. since she became Madeline he’d have no idea where she was, but because she was part of the callous heart he’d look for that group to find her - hence the missing posters of the band up in his hotel room

“just remember you’re still young and you’re still free, so forget about me”
Mary to James. James is 40, he has a lot of his life left. Mary wants him to stop chasing her and live his life.

Could also be from the stranger’s perspective telling Mary to not fret about where he is. “I’ll be your curse”, she’ll go and tell her friends about seeing him. “young and free,” Mary will remain young always. 

Honeymoon Suite

“hollow hearts” - the whole callous heart not breaking theme

“you can hold a hand for a thousandth time and still feel alone in the skin”

the holding hands theme again. it seems so unrequited

“lets get hexed, lets hangout”

the whole phantom being. a hex is a cast/spell you put upon someone

Allergies

“i’ve been out like a light since last night. Played our song and danced to it all alone”

James killed his wife. this could be the night after. of course he’d dance alone. he killed his wife.

“no i never ever saw this coming, friday you said you felt nothing”

James killed his wife on a friday

“Drop me off and run me down in your car”

the car accident theme

“call home” “leave me alone”

“I’ve been ill since the first I saw your face”
James has been truly and utterly fucked since he first saw the Stranger 

Lie Awake

“We tend to talk but never speak”
James contacts people through the ESP cards, he talks to them but it doesn’t involve actually speaking

“your phantom friends”
the callous heart aren’t human since being immortal

“purple bows and summer clothes”

callous heart colours

“I felt the bed fall away on the night you left”

Mary died (so left) on a Friday night

“I sleep alone out of spite (every night, every night)

James? he won’t move on from Mary 

Henley’s Ghost

“last dance as i float above your bed”

The stranger? comes while people are sleeping

“if i don’t see you now, well goodbye”

The stranger’s perspective towards mary? or james’s towards mary

“When you were mine”
either the stranger or James when they both had a hold on Mary

Secret Society

The callous heart are almost a secret society themselves, they’re only known because James looked into them, and then the person on strange southampton 

“because we’re young”

the callous heart are evergreen, forever young

“the callous heart rose and fell”

unsure what this means, BUT the new grand reveal patch is a different callous heart. almost like the stranger has a hold on it now

“the ghost of youth speaks so softly to toast the death of you and i”

a relationship ending

Valentine

“the kids are digging early graves”

Like Mary dying, would “die” so she could reinvent herself so she isn’t caught “not ageing”

“i’ve been wasting all my time for you, it’s always you”

James is wasting his time chasing Madeline because he still isn’t over it

“when i crush on you from afar, you just crash me like a car”

links to the car crash 

“holding hands with a faint desire”

the holding hands theme again

Black Mass

from the stranger’s perspective to Madeline who is Mary reinvented

“if faced the choice, you’d dream so coy of all the boys”

It’s like she didn’t want to be a part of the callous heart and the gang with the lost boys, but she wasn't given the choice

“i’m not a dream that you wish you’d have”

the stranger is a bad dream

Misery

“pronounce dead the thing we had”

Mary and James are over after she died in the car

“list of coroners”

for dead people, Mary died

“hold my hand for a little white”
holding hands theme again 

“you are all i fear”

The Stranger represents fear

“you are years ago”

James’s perspective? Mary died in 2009 

Astral Projection

“Last January i held my breath and begged for a life less laced with tragedy, you never wanted me”
James went missing in January, Mary left him easily which could mean the “never wanted me”

“do you really want to wake alone? don’t you want to go home”

“i grieve the loss of who i was in vain, my nights disintegrate into you”

James perspective? Misses who he used to be before he got so caught up in the callous heart and Madeline. In Hiding With Boys video he’s out at night trying to find Madeline.

“do you see me the way that i see you in other people’s eyes”

It’s unrequited, whoever’s speaking

“purple and true, i do this all for you”
callous heart colour

“why fall in love to fall apart”

James was in love with Mary and she left

“we all wilt and fade, tragic and tried we dissipate”

Wilt and fade could describe ageing. Everyone grows old and fades away, except the callous heart.

“that place between sleeping and awake, that half dreaming space is where i’ll always keep you”

Link to Hook where Tinkerbell says it to Peter. Also talking about the Stranger since he is a link to sleep paralysis

Hiding With Boys

“do you ever think of me the way i think about you”

unrequited, in the video it features James about Madeline?

“If i ever die”

Humans are mortal, the callous heart aren’t. Who is questioning whether they’re gonna die?

“hiding with the boys in your bedroom”
Madeline hanging with the callous heart, the lost boys

“hiding the evidence of dying youth”
does this link to the fact the callous heart don’t age?

“im yours but you don’t care”
Mary died, but James still views her as his because they never broke up. Now Madeline is around she doesn’t care about James

“loving you is killing me”
James still loves Mary/Madeline, he keeps chasing her and he’s just getting himself in shit with the Stranger but he can’t let go

Suzanne

firstly who the FUCK IS SHE

“up and out the window before anybody hears”

Peter Pan reference

“set fire to yourself and yet still your heart it froze”
callous heart, not a real heart

“i wanna die holding hands”
holding hands theme

“listed all your enemies, what you’d do to them and what you’d do it for”

WHO IS THIS GIRL AND WHY HAS SHE GOT A DEATHNOTE

“can music save your mortal soul?”
Suzanne not in the callous heart? if she was she’d be immortal

“in your hospital room”

why is she THERE

“set the hostages free”
has the stranger got the callous heart hostage? are Suzanne and whoever’s perspective this is from gonna try save them? Links to hiding with boys, they may not be “hiding” they may be trapped. could explain why the stranger keeps an eye on james in the video when he’s searching for the callous heart. he wants him to leave them alone. 

whoever’s perspective this is from, they’re pretty fucking adamant on dying holding hands but wHO ARE THEY BOTH.

Main Theories

This is a post with main theories stemming from the disappearance in August-October and the new video.

James Scythe investigates mysteries for a living. He was looking into the Callous Heart and the Stranger. We think he tried contacting the Stranger via the ESP cards found in his hotel room after he disappeared.

Mary, his wife, died in a car crash with him driving.    This may have happened for one of few theories:
1. The Stranger used to be a real person and was in love with Mary, but once he died he became this paranormal, skeletal figure and wanted Mary to die to be with him not James. The Grim Reaper, known to appear when people are going to die, may have been at the scene before Mary died. The Grand Reveal patch shows that the Grim Reaper we all know on the Callous Heart has actually been The Stranger all along, which means he may have made James kill his wife on purpose in that crash (put a cast over him.) This is where Mary becomes Madeline on the other side, when she becomes a part of the Callous Heart.
2. James and Mary may have had a suicide pact, but it went wrong. The song 'We Had A Pact' has the lyrics "our peers around us grew up so dull that we left our lives behind' which hints that maybe they wanted to die together to get to the other side and to a new life, but only Mary died and James has been trying to contact/find her on the other side.
3. The song Allergies has the lyrics "no i never ever saw this coming, Friday you said you felt nothing." The car crash, "Fatal Friday", happened on a Friday. Hints maybe Mary told James she wasn't feeling the same, he was angry over the break up and killed her.

Callous Heart
The Callous Heart are "evergreen, forever young." They never age. This means they had to keep reinventing themselves so as they aren't caught not ageing, otherwise people will be onto them. This is where people think maybe Mary was a part of the Callous Heart all along, and so she didn't get caught she "died" in the car crash and became Madeline so she wasn't caught. The photo James carries around of the blonde woman is thought to be of Mary, and in the Hiding With Boys video Madeline has black hair. James also makes eye contact with her as if he knows it is Mary reinvented. In his room he has notes saying ""Madeline"" "who is she" "did he take her" which points towards him searching for her in order to find his Mary again, which is why he's so interested in the Callous Heart.
If Mary was in the Callous Heart she probably would've told James when they were together, explaining she needed to "die" and be pronounced dead, then reinvent herself so she wasn't caught ageing. This could explain why James knows about the Callous Heart and is constantly looking for them, so he can find Madeline again.

Religion
Mary's full name may be Mary Madeline. Mary Magdalene is the French of this, and Mary Magdalene is in the Holy Bible. Mary Magdalene being French can explain why James is driving a left handed car in the video. Also in the Bible are references towards "calloused hearts." In Mark 3:5 it speaks about calloused hearts and reaching out to hold hands. A common theme in Creeper's songs are holding hands. (did he hold your hand like I used to. holding hands around shopping centres. holding hands with faint desire. hold my hand for a little while. i wanna die holding hands.) This could be coincidental, I don't know if Creeper would read the Bible to find this. James Scythe also carries around rosary beads, those used in prayer, so he could be religious. There's also a big neon cross on the new album cover which points towards religion.

Hostage theory
The Stranger may be keeping the Callous Heart hostage. This can link to lyrics such as "just remember you're still young and you're still free, so forget about me" from Black Cloud. This could be from Mary's perspective, telling James to forget about her because he's free but she isn't. A hostage. This can explain why The Stranger is so peeved about James constantly trying to find the Callous Heart and so he "haunts" him. We also think The Stranger is James's cause of disappearance on 23/12/15 (though he was only declared missing in January.) The Stranger could think James was looking into it far too much for his liking and wanted him to stop. Notice in Hiding With Boys the Stranger watches him a LOT, then appears at the end as if he's appeared to take him away.
Suzanne also says "set the hostages free." We aren't entirely sure who Suzanne is, what she does or who's POV the song is from. But this may imply that Suzanne and whoever it is are planning on freeing the Callous Heart from The Stranger and his cast (the immortality pact they made with him perhaps?) Hiding With Boys also says "hiding with the boys in your bedroom" though they may not be hiding, they may be trapped there.

Characters as we know/think currently (Britt made this)