so... i have a theory! open the description box to read it!

the coming of ragnarok is signaled by the serpent jörmungandr's release of it's own tail \u0026 the diminishing of the ouroboros. the golden bracelet in the good guy MV could be a reference to draupnir (odin's ring), which multiplies \u0026 drips into 9 copies (reference to hwiyoung's ending scene in Jealous). since inseong has the original ring, we infer that he is odin. \u0026 odin hung himself from the yggdrasil (the tree of life) for 9 nights to discover the meaning of the runes (reference turn over comeback schedule) before falling back into the roots of the tree. the golden bracelet and snake in the glory era is, therefore, representative of draupnir \u0026 jörmungandr.

from our perspective in the 9loryus prologue, we can see that the bracelet, a perfect circle, has transformed into the slithering serpent. but to inseong, he still sees it as an ouroboros, representative of the illusion he is kept in, although he does eventually notice the incoming eclipse (reference to summer breeze MV). inseong gradually wakes up from the illusion through summer breeze and kingdom. in the good guy stage, he overturns the sf9 jewel to symbolize sorrow (joy reversed), resists temptation in jealous, and is immune to the smoke in believer (he takes off the mask rowoon gives him). inseong's choices make up the alternative realities the sf9 members find themselves in, but interestingly, his part in believer when the camera zooms into his reflection demonstrates the importance of mirrors throughout the entire glory era (including kingdom).

during the gun scene in summer breeze, the mirror in the snake frame shatters to reveal light, a path out of the reality they have found themselves in.

during jealous, mirrors are continuously used throughout the stage.
* in particular, chani dances inside the mirror. later, he pulls his 'reflection' youngbin out of the mirror plane during the believer stage. however, because he pulls himself down, he still remains trapped within the illusion.
* in jealous, jaeyoons strikes the mirror during his part.
* dawon \u0026 juho fight \u0026 struggle in front of the mirror, and juho tries to push dawon through although dawon manages to escape.
* additionally, taeyang walks away from the mirror (the escape route) in the beginning of jealous and returns to hwiyoung to wake him up from his illusion. at the end of jealous, the sf9 members are seated near the mirror while hwiyoung walks towards it as the backup dances (branches of the tree of life) wither. hwiyoung does manage to escape his reality.
* hwiyoung \u0026 taeyang's dance in believer hints at a connection between them: although taeyang removes hwiyoung's blindfold in the pre-video, hwiyoung removes his blindfold by himself during the stage. their dance together highlights the turbulent relationship between the two characters as hinted in the good guy stage where taeyang points to hwiyoung, and more explicitly in the physical conflict betweeen hwiyoung and taeyang in the beginning of jealous.

believer's stage outfits are interesting if we connect them to this theory too! with the exception of inseong, who has a white outfit but black mask, other members use masks corresponding to their stage outfits:
white (S/CHANCE): jaeyoon, rowoon, taeyang, juho*
* although juho has a black\u0026white outfit, he eventually uses a white mask, signalling his escape)
black (F/SORROW): youngbin, dawon, hwiyoung, chani* (this group is especially threatened by their reality in the stealer stage)
* although chani is held at gunpoint in the stealer, inseong eventually saves him

also a fun fact, it seems that the ceiling for the group dance set in the summer breeze mv is at the points of the chance rune
second fun fact is the colour green! conventionally associated with loki, god of Chaos, but I think in this case it is a reference to the evergreen nature of the tree of life which takes over each member in trying to root them in the nine worlds.
third fun fact is that the alternate reality trope seems popular with sf9's concept team since there have been repeated references to glitches and error (very matrix-reference heavy!) in their past MVs. there are references between MVs, like the dice in jealous that appear in hwiyoung's scenes in 9loryus \u0026 summer breeze, but i think they are just references for the sake of continuity.

again i don't know everything but i want to hear what yall think! please feel free to comment below!
PS: if you made this far, do me a favour \u0026 subscribe to my channel please it would help me a lot!