My Lore Thoughts

Here I will document my own personal thoughts on Sleep Token and their lore, inspired by the lyrics, instrumentals, and visuals accompanying the music. Again, I will stress the word personal, and also the word lore (more on that below, under the Disclaimers section, which is "I" in the Page Navigation.)

While some of these thoughts may align with the greater community's conclusions, and some may misalign, it is worth pointing out that I don't actually interact much with the Sleep Token community, and when I do, it's not in a lore context. I am in the Sleep Token Discord, but it overwhelms me and I'm not the most active in there. So if you see something here that comes across as potentially contrarian to commonly held conclusions, rest assured that I came to these conclusions on my own, without intent to challenge anyone else, potentially drunk, with only my laptop for company, and with my cat to bounce ideas off of. She's given me so much feedback, we can consider Echo an honorary co-author of all my lore theories.

Necessary Disclaimers

I have been, pretty much from the moment I was old enough to comprehend TV, a wrestling fan. Specifically, I grew up on WWE (it was technically still WWF when I started watching, but I was also a toddler at that point.) This is important because, from that young and impressionable age, I have been intimately familiar with the concept of kayfabe. And this is relevant because, from a not-quite-as-young and not-quite-as-impressionable age, I have interacted with Sleep Token under the rules of the same social contract I interacted with, for example, Bray Wyatt. I know there's a regular white man under all that. But while he's on my screen, this white boy can do magic!

When it comes to the lore, this means that I do not ever take any real life events into account, nor do I ever speculate on how the music might reference a real life event in Vessel's (or any of the other members') life. Just as the Uso brothers' stage personas have some reference and basis in their real life, I acknowledge that Sleep Token's lyrics may similarly have some basic in Vessel's real life, and I acknowledge that. Anything that falls outside of the realm of what is explicitly shared with me in the contract of kayfabe, however, is frankly none of my business, and has no place in discussion of lore.

To make a long story short, all this to say that while some take information regarding the members' past projects (which I don't even know about) into account when discussing lore and potential interpretations, I will not do this. I will also never speculate as to the actual events in the members' lives that may have influenced the lyrics and lore choices. Whenever I speculate something along the lines of "maybe this lyrics means x, y, and maybe even z!", that speculation is purely within kayfabe, and I am never making the suggestion that x, y, and maybe even z actually happened. Whether they did or not...that's none of my business.

What About The comic?

I don't really consider the comic "canon" as far as the lore of the band goes. While I do think it gives an insight into the themes and emotional intent of the project as a whole, Sleep Token as a band has a very different storyline, far more grounded in reality, than the Teeth of God comic. If I do reference the comic in my theory-crafting, it's less in a one-to-one, "the comic says this so it must be true!" sense and more in a "how can I use what happened in the commic to draw a conclusion on what the band is trying to accomplish emotionally" sense. I've also been a fan of comic books basically since I could read, so playing fast and loose with canon material out of a necessity is also something I am very used to.

The Characters

Something that immediately helped me set up the confines of this endeavor was to establish the characters in this piece. Just as a book or a play have established characters, so too does the "story" that Sleep Token is telling. After hundreds upon hundreds of hours listening, I've established three "main" characters in Sleep Token's story.

Vessel

Vessel is, from a realistic perspective, the vocalist, lyricist, and co-composer of the band. From a lore/story perspective, Vessel is a man who was approached by a deity who promised him "glory and magnificence" in exchange for worship¹.

What's In a Name

The first two articles refer to the man leading the band as "Vessel," the next two refer to him as the proper name "Him," and then from then on he is referred to as "Vessel" exclusively. In those first two articles, Sleep is referred to with the capital H Him and He, similar to the Christian God, which is a bit confusing when the next two articles use that to refer to Vessel. From a Watsonian/lore perspective, I plan to mostly ignore this (although I do have a baby psuedo-theory that I may bring up when we get to it in the timeline.) From a Doylist perspective, I suspect this is just the growing pains of a new creative project that you are still working out the finer details of, especially one that you are sharing with the world live rather than as one finished product the way a book or a song would be. If you saw how many times the protagonists of my novel Vessels of Divinity (no relation to the band, I started the novel in 2017, years before I got into Sleep Token), you would be agog.

Sleep

Sleep is described by Vessel as a deity¹, who may tied in some way to the UK's lore and land. Sleep is exclusively referred to with "Him" pronouns in interviews, though some lyrics can be interpreted as referring to Sleep as "she" (which I will discuss when we get there.) Personally I think a deity with a name beyond translation, a "primal majesty"¹, would not really subscribe to the Western gneder binary. I will use "Him" pronouns as reflected in interviews, but I don't think that means that Sleep is a man.

The Ex-Lover

The past.

Even In Arcadia

Look To Windward to me reads as Vessel striving to stop the gradual changes Sleep has made to him. The "eclipse" in the lyrics brings to mind a slow overtaking, one body completely covering and hiding another, and transforming it into something else, however briefly. The Vessels have been changed by Sleep, as evidenced by their on-stage appearances and the promotional images. I read "halt this eclipse in me" as Vessel begging someone (Sleep? A new lover? One of the other Vessels?) to help him halt that process. He can feel his "form start to fission", splitting apart and creating power that he will not have access to, because it is in Sleep's best interests, not his. He will be pulled apart, made anew, and then completely overshadowed by the one he serves. This is further supported by him stating that "even [he] he forgotten" "where [he] came from."

Even In Arcadia is addressed to Sleep, and it is not a triumphant song.