Unless something concrete as fuck comes out I honestly thing these are more thematic ties than literal ARG 2 clues, using familiar imagery, lyrical cues and artwork to link everything back in together and fold in on itself.
2000s Trent loves loops and the idea of things feeding back in on itself, with things like The Loop Closes, Copy of a, NTAE vinyl's B-side, etc. all illustrating that and the idea of everything being a simulation is a great way to insert all of NIN's work into this fictional multiverse idea they have going on, which also is a cool way to portray NIN's overall catalog as the "alternate universe where Trent Reznor doesn't get clean and do well in life and ends up an addict in a dystopic nightmare," and it gives him an opportunity to make a sort of "ultimate" magnum opus that combines every theme, style and ambition of the band into one multi-part project, tying it all together and wrapping a neat little bow on top of it.
He talked openly about The Lovers being about where he could have gone in life, Trent's a character in the Year Zero ARG, he and Atticus are portrayed in wireframe in the AV PC and the Houston t-shirt (suggesting they're in the simulation) and tons of old lyrics and themes are mentioned in both physical components. I don't doubt there are a lot of cool goodies, easter eggs and references people haven't figured out yet but I don't think anything as expansive, interactive or mind-blowing as Year Zero's ARG is at work with any of this.
Just look at the end of Hesitation Marks -- a string of songs all dealing with losing yourself, becoming somebody else, split selves melding, fading away and being replaced by something uglier, darker and worse off but stronger, and then the ending of NTAE -- "I'm going back, of course I am ... I am stronger than I have ever been in my decline," and then add the vinyl's b-side on as getting sonically sucked back into your darkest world and you've got an artist obsessed with the idea that no matter what they do, no matter how far they go, no matter how different their life is and no matter how much they grow, they will always have the propensity in them to go right back to that place they escaped from, to re-become that person they've made such an effort to move past being. Add all of that together with fear of dystopia, the current political and global climate being fucking terrifying no matter what side you're on and the feeling of facts not mattering and reality being crazier than fiction and wrapping all of that personal narrative into a high-concept exploration of simulation theory makes a lot of sense.
I just found some of Add Violence's extra lyrics in The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner - "dead smell of perfume", "whispers secrets surges", "red swine eyelids".
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...yelids&f=false
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Just a guess, but I'm thinking 'Add Violence' is associated with the Year Zero ARG website - www.anotherversionofthetruth.com/violence
The website I mention has no concrete information about it, even though it was a legit subdirectory for a Year Zero ARG website. I searched the nin.wiki and archive.org as well as archive.is and I found nothing.
I'm thinking that the subdirectories for anotherversionofthetruth.com are related to the EP trilogy. For instance, the subdirectories are /violence, /revisionism, and /0. Revisionism is related to 'Not the Actual Events." Violence is related to "Add Violence." And, 0 is related to the last EP in the trilogy.
Just a guess, but I thought it was worth mentioning.
FWIW the knob on the cover of the AV physical component is labeled for "EVENT INTENSITY" -- event.
Not to dredge this all back up again, but did the vinyl section always say, "the dropping of the needle, the difficulty of skipping tracks, the changing of sides, the secrets hidden within...."
On the new Bad Witch art, the same jagged marks appear, I think something may be going on here, I’m not sure especially with the spectogram-background world thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave fits with the art work and the description as well as The new picture of Trent/Atticus. Atticus is in the cave or dark, relaxed and at ease. Trent is in the light, fists clinched and unsafe. You clever little buggers you!!!!
Last edited by Bad Witch; 05-12-2018 at 04:04 AM.
So, In the allegory of the cave, they are watching a simulation that just happens to be, not the actual events..I'll see myself out.
Last edited by Bad Witch; 05-12-2018 at 10:46 AM.
I put this on reddit, but I'll put it here too. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UwL...oaS4M4oOU/view
put on your tin foil hat. Sorry if this is a little bit jumbled. This is a theory based on some stuff I've read on here and some stuff I thought about on my own and with some friends on a discord. I'm aware I may get downvoted and I may well delete this.
I started thinking the albums were parallels to each other but now I'm back to thinking that background world may lead into another one of the songs. But the 5 acts still stand.
Bad Witch is such a strange title that it's made me wonder if the three album titles create an anagram.
Nottheactualeventsaddviolencebadwitch
I've been messing with the letters a bit.
You can make out
"It's too late," " evidence, " evil" or "lives" or "alive."
something like this wouldn't surprise me: remember the TPD sticker with the alphanumeric code?