#esp given the nonlinear way in which it's been revealed to us

[morayofsunshine]

Ok so right now I'm thinking of the various dimensions in the ATEEZ lore as a series of layers, that a character discovers as they get more involved in the plot. Like how dreams in the movie Inception are structured, since Ateez made so many connections to the movie in their song Inception for a reason. Additionally, this order of dimensions I'm about to talk about is structured mostly as a model for how events seem to take place in this narrative, from dimensions that have the most influence over other dimensions and the characters that cause most events, to those that have the least (as far as we know right now). I'm not really sure yet what exact metaphysical form the different dimensions take.

So at the moment, what seems to be the core of the multidimensional mv universe is the dystopia from where Halateez hails. That's where the music videos and performances have been making allusions to this entire time, and where this next comeback is explicitly set. It's where there's technology to lengthen human lives and keep them controlled, a government determined to suppress human emotion, and a revolution waiting to happen.

Just outside of this dimension is where a few fantasy dimensions exist. It's a bit early to tell what order these dimensions are in or how exactly they tie with the others, but in terms of most to least influence, they come next. These dimensions have the adventurous world of the pirates and their journey, and the dreamworld utopia of Eternal Sunshine. The music videos that featured these dimensions didn't come with a lot of directly stated background information the way the others did, so they're the source of most theorytinys' questions and speculation. I think they could be here to show examples of other personas the characters can have, who may eventually help with the main plot; as a distraction from the main plot, to try to keep the characters from accomplishing their goals; to teach the characters important lessons for their main quest, simultaneously introducing new themes of the narrative; as a way for the main Ateez group and Halateez to communicate with eachother without being watched; or a combination of these.

Next, we have a dimension that seems similar to our own, where the main Ateez group hails from. I call them the main Ateez group because they're the ones that are introduced to us individually, and with the members' real names. This is where the story chronologically seems to start, and the main group travels to the other dimensions from here. Here, things mainly seem to happen *to* the characters, until Hongjoong uses the Cromer and takes everyone to the core. This dimension seems a lot like our own: until the Cromer is brought from Halateez's dimension, there is no magic or outlandish technology, and the characters' problems seem a lot like the problems any student in the 21st century could potentially have. In fact, the storylines written for the characters in this dimension were based on the members' actual experiences. Which brings me to:

Real life. Our actual dimension, outside of the screens. We as an audience mainly watch and listen to things happen, with little power to impact the events in a story that the producers have already written. However, that doesn't stop Halateez from trying to reach out to us through physical posters and blink-and-you'll-miss-it social media posts. We're the ones being asked to "wake up" now that Halateez has reached out to their allies in the fictional dimensions that surround their world. Because this dimension may host the audience that treats the other dimensions as fictional, but it hosts the inspirations that sparked the ideas for the story, as well. And so the narrative influences wrap back around to the center in a multidimensional doughnut.