DEUS EX MACHINA
DEUS EX MACHINA is the forty-first episode of TribeTwelve, and the 1st video of season 2. It was uploaded on June 4th, 2013, the third anniversary of the first video to be uploaded.
Description
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Transcript
[Note: Given that this is a "Collective" video, there are no spoken words to transcribe; below is the text that appears in the video in chronological order.]
[All following text is shown onscreen in OCR-A font, which is associated with Firebrand.]
[Black Screen. White words appear in the middle.]
Hello Noah.
[A black screen fades into a black-and-white view of the Boardwalk. Firebrand is seated at a table that is in the middle. He blinks, then indicates the surroundings with his hands in a welcoming gesture.]
You already know who I am.
[Close-up of an eye. It opens, then the intersecting eyes symbol appears over it. Pan out to reveal the eye on Firebrand's hand. He folds his arms again and smiles before fading into the static behind him.]
I am no longer bound to the Administrator.
[Shot of ripping fabric.]
I am now something that I shouldn't be.
[Splash of black. Cut to Firebrand in front of a burning building. He turns his head slowly, with sudden spasms that seem to be due to video errors.]
A rogue god.
A loathsome entity with mutual interests has saved me from servitude.
[View from feet to head of HABIT, with his back turned to the camera. He is holding an axe and wearing a short-sleeved shirt and a hat. He raises his head, turns it, and smiles, before opening his mouth and letting his long tongue roll out. He flicks his tongue a few times. Screen goes black before coming up on Firebrand, who holds his hands up, palms with eyes forward.]
I belong, and yet I don't.
[Firebrand covers his face, then shakes as if crying.]
An abomination of existence.
[He smooths his hair away from his face, which now has a single eye. His torso is covered in six moving eyes.]
Trapped in this awful form.
I am here to guide you along the right path.
[Shot from underneath the observation tower, with Noah running past on the Boardwalk holding his camera in front of him. There is a second clip of a person running past the Boardwalk, but it is unclear if it's a repeated clip or if there is a second person on the Boardwalk chasing Noah.]
Fighting fire with fire.
[Firebrand, smiling, walks past a burning building with a vaguely body-shaped object over his shoulder. He looks around, then steps off-screen. New shot of Noah sleeping in his bed.]
This arrangement, while favorable for our situation
[Camera pans around to see the Administrator inside of Noah's bedroom.]
is not favorable for the Administrator's.
[Tentacles appear behind him. A hand comes out from the left of the screen and flips him off. The tentacles disappear and the Administrator's head tilts to the side.]
It can't correct this.
[A safe appears. A hand opens it, revealing a woman with her hands over her face. She looks up slightly, revealing X's over her eyes and identifying her to be Cursor.]
But that won't stop it from trying everything it can to do so.
[Cursor presses her hands together in front of her face.]
It is disrupted. Displaced.
[Black puzzle pieces fill the screen. A hand sweeps over them and a white one (or a blank) appears. Firebrand is then seated at a table in front of sped-up footage of a coast. He holds up the journal, with the intersecting eyes symbol on its cover.]
It requires the missing piece.
[Firebrand brings the journal to his chest and hugs it to himself, bowing his head.]
The very piece that grants me invulnerability.
I have dedicated my very existence to aid you as much as I can as an unbound member.
[Close-up of waves, then water lapping at a shoreline. What appears to be silhouettes of people waving their hands part to reveal Firebrand seated at a table.]
I sacrifice myself for you, Noah.
For us.
[He raises his hands to indicate his surroundings, which is now sped-up footage of a busy crosswalk.]
For all of us.
[Firebrand with its head scratched out walks into the entrance to the boardwalk.]
You still have much to do
[Future Noah stumbles back from the camera, with a camcorder in one hand and Nazi Blade in the other. He looks down at his hands, then up at the camera again, which pans up towards the ceiling.]
and it is all inevitable.
[Hands that are presumably Firebrand's open up the journal on a table.]
I know this
[The journal is flipped through.]
because I have lived it already.
A gift is headed your way.
[Image of a lock on a box]
courtesy of my tampering
[A briefcase is sitting upright. A figure with scars on the inside of its forearms picks it up and walks away.]
and his sending.
[A close-up of one of the number combination dials on the briefcase. The numbers are spinning around.]
The combo is just the beginning.
[Shot of "Introduction - In Memory of Milo Asher". The video, profile picture, likes, and view count are all blacked out. The title, username, subscribe button, information buttons, and description are blacked out one by one. Changing numbers appear around the screen. Dots form into a figure sitting in a chair, with its head on one of its arms and the other arm splayed outwards with a gun.]
A past soul sends his regards from the present.
[Close-up of the hand holding the gun. Slashes across the forearm are shown.]
May his gift serve you as it served me.
[Firebrand is seated at a table with the briefcase on top. A shoreline is behind him. He wraps his arms around the briefcase, unlatches it, and opens it. A large mouth opens from within the briefcase.]
The gift of knowledge.
[The final frame of the video contains a shot of the briefcase with shoes on top of it.]
Analysis
- This is the only video posted by the Collective so far that has spaces between the words in the title. It is also the first video posted by a member of the Collective besides the Observer.
- The figure at 0:59 is generally considered to be the antagonistic entity known as HABIT, who is using Evan 's body. The clothes that he is wearing match the clothes worn by HABIT in the video MOVING IN. Noah has since confirmed on his Twitter that he believes that the figure is Evan.
- When the audio is reversed and sped up, it is revealed to be a clip from the song "We've Been Had" by the Walkmen.
- Based on this tweet, Noah believes that he was stabbing someone in the scene showing him stumbling back from the camera with a knife in his hand.
- Later, it was confirmed on TribeTwelve leaks that Noah was stabbing Kevin/Observer, and the knife that Noah is holding it was Sebastian's Nazi Blade, which was used by Prebrand, and later confirmed to be Future Noah stabbing and killing his own friend, Kevin.
- The last frame of the video shows the briefcase with shoes on top of it. The text reads "Look deep into your soul" at first, then flickers into "Look deep into the soles."
- The description, decoded from Base64, reads:
- Trust me.
- Trust yourself.
- Trust us.
- According to TVTropes , Deus Ex Machina is "when some new event, character, ability, or object solves a seemingly unsolveable problem in a sudden, unexpected way".
- At various points during this video, Firebrand can be seen wearing a chain around his neck and a ring. These both correspond to what Noah can be typically seen wearing in other videos.
- Vague facial features can been seen on the Administrator at 1:47, which is consistent with the rest of the series.
- This is the first occurrence of a video not created by Noah with no apparent Observer influence, or at least no direct communication from him.
- The boardwalk scene looks like it may be a different angle from a scene in "INTERRUPTION". The scenes side-by-side can be viewed here.
- The figure in the chair at 3:55 that has scars on his forearms and is covering his face with his hands and appearing to cry is Mr. Scars . This is confirmed by two tweets Noah once made, saying how he had a dream about a man sitting in a chair in an empty room, covering his face with his hands, and also had scars on both of his arms. Noah even stated on his Twitter that he thought the man was Mr. Scars. Later, he stated here that he thinks that Mr. Scars is Milo.
- It is unclear why HABIT may have helped Firebrand break free of the Administrator's influence, except for "mutual interests".
- HABIT's involvement with Noah/Firebrand was potentially hinted at in "The Envelope" , with a note from "an old connection", claiming he was "not an observer". This matches HABIT's typical communication, ending the note with "Yours".
- The context behind the scene where Firebrand flips off the Administrator in this video is later revealed in Milo's journal entry "tapes". As it turns out, Noah was sleeping due to being knocked out by Firebrand, and the Administrator briefly appears while Firebrand is explaining the loop to Milo offscreen.
- Firebrand tweeted through the TribeTwelve account that the briefcase seen in the video is on it's way. Noah also received a letter that says "OBITUARY" on the front, with 2 black crosses on the back. This does not seem to be Observer styled, and it could actually be from HABIT. Noah said he might upload a video of him opening it in the near future.
Gallery
