#eternally
“Forever soothes my soul into eternity when you smile ever so beautifully for me..”
Forever exists in a heartbeat when you lose track of time and I.. I lose track of time when I look at you dear, I lose track all the time living forever in a heartbeat - eUë
“Lanegan and I were talking and some guy came up and goes “hi!” and Lanegan goes “no””— Josh Homme
The Star Seekers ⟡ External Connections :
Run Away
I received two anonymous asks about the Star Seekers references in Run Away, so I decided to answer them both together (and Anon 1, I apologize for how long this took):
Anon 1:
I’ve seen Runaway half a dozen times and I’ve only just noticed that the symbol we see through the video, the one on the Book that also appears at Soobin’s feet in Eternally when the d20 rolls to his feet……also seems to also be on the ground beneath the flaming door. You can see glittery lines that resemble the symbol revolving on the ground and it could really only be that symbol since Soobin sees it at the start of the video through those rose-colored classes ( idealizing the concept of escaping/running away to another world perhaps) and it circles the whiteboard drawing of the door then. Anyways just an observation I noticed
Anon 2:
external connection: I just noticed while watching the behind the scenes for Run Away (which has references to Star Seekers via the symbol on the book, among other connections) that the school in the music video has a banner on the soccer field that says, “HOME OF THE DRAGONS”
To be honest, I had not watched Run Away with the same attention as the Star Seekers MVs and films—until now. I was aware that it contained some references, but it was only more recently that I developed an interpretation (theory?) for why there are several MVs like this. Because, as I want to emphasize up front, Run Away does not have the official Star Seekers label in its YouTube description. (I’ve checked, multiple times, including the page source code.) I don’t believe this was an oversight on Hybe’s part.
More on this in a future post (as I have promised previously—I delayed my plans due to the upcoming film and webtoon/wattpad releases), but in short: two TXT songs so far have been explicitly conveyed as existing within the Star Seekers universe. Sweat is used as diegetic music in a scene of Eternally, and there is a brief shot of the characters rehearsing Can’t You See Me choreography in The Doom’s Night. Some other MVs, like Run Away, contain references to Star Seekers through both visual and lyric elements even though they are not labeled as official Star Seekers content. I have a feeling these may fall into the same category as Sweat and CYSM: they may be songs (and music videos) that were made in the idol lives of the characters. In other words, they may exist within the story—one level “deeper” than the content that Hybe actually labels Star Seekers.
This is, for now, my personal interpretation of the relationship between the labelled Star Seekers media and the particular songs/MVs that contain references to it. It’s the perspective from which I’m approaching Run Away (because honestly I don’t know how else to explain the maddening amount of references in this MV). I will save the “why did they possibly do this” speculation for that future post and simply document the references themselves. So let’s dive in!
Run Away 00:23, 04:24, 05:14 / The Tale of the Magic Island : The “teddy bear” (or “not a teddy bear,” as the later Eternity concept photo hints) that appears at the beginning (whole) and ending (half-burned) is also present at the end of The Tale of the Magic Island pop-up book and on its sticker sheet. It also reflects several of the characters’ emphasized body parts: horns, eye, throat, and heart.
Run Away 00:26 / Magic Island 07:10 : In the Magic Island MV, Yeonjun burns his hand while lighting a campfire on the island. In Run Away, he has a burn scar in the same location (in addition to the cut thumb—see below).
Run Away 01:17, 04:47 : Beomgyu applies a bandage to Yeonjun’s cut thumb. At the end of the MV, Yeonjun removes the bandage and discovers that the cut has completely healed. Beomgyu’s role as healer was confirmed recently in To Do Episode 65.
Run Away 03:43, 04:19 : The mysterious forest they find through the door in the swimming pool is rather evocative of the “magic island.” They also play with sparklers as they do in Magic Island.
Run Away 00:39 : Many of the images doodled on the whiteboard are familiar in a Star Seekers context: fire, flower, door, cat, “not a teddy bear,” star.
Run Away 00:59, 02:14, 04:13 / Eternally 07:03, 12:13 / Frost 03:31 / Shine Together (Run Away Performance) : As Anon 1 points out, several variations of the circular celestial symbol occur in Run Away (very well spotted beneath the door, anon!). I find it interesting that the central star is absent from the symbol when it appears at Soobin’s feet in Eternally. The symbol is also slightly different on the book in Frost compared to Eternally. Lastly, I haven’t watched the Shine Together fanlive yet, but I flipped through the photobook when I received it two nights ago and discovered the stage design incorporates the symbol as well during the Run Away performance. (For the first time, it’s occurred to me to wonder if the design is partially inspired by astronomical clocks.)
Doors are also a recurring image in Star Seekers—and, of course, fire.
Run Away 01:44 : When Yeonjun accidentally starts a fire in the classroom, Beomgyu rushes to put it out. The latter detail is interesting to note in contrast to Magic Island, in which his actions (appear to) cause the forest fire.
Run Away 04:34 / Eternally 04:42 / Frost 00:39 : The fleeting shot of a burning upper-level room in Run Away is reminiscent of the similarly fleeting shots in Eternally and Frost of red lights and a world on fire, respectively, through the windows—and it feels like an inverted perspective, since this is an exterior shot whereas the Star Seekers ones are from the inside looking out.
Anon 2 found a delightful easter egg (coincidence? or not?) in the behind-the-scenes shooting sketch for Run Away in the form of the school’s dragon mascot. (This was also enough information for me to figure out which school they filmed at, and the fact that it’s an international school answered my random/unrelated question as to why the library is full of English books.) The dragons have appeared in an antagonistic light in the Star Seekers MVs/films so far, but the dragon statues in the latest teaser and concept photos as well as the draconic symbol on their vests in the latter suggest that we still have a lot to learn about their role and relationship in the story.
I’ll wrap up here—for now! Thank you very much to both anons for sending in your observations and encouraging me to dig deeper into the Run Away MV. (As for the lyrics… that’s for another time.) I tried to be thorough in this overview of references, but if anyone felt I missed something, please let me know!
