(Note: This post was originally published on Reddit. I have republished it here for archival purposes. You can read the original post and comments here.)
Theorytinys, Clowntinys, Smartinys–gather round. Let’s have a friendly chat. One of the most persistent yet entirely unfounded theories that haunts our hallowed halls of clownery is this idea that some ATEEZ members are actually Sirens. And I think it’s important that someone finally take it upon themselves to debunk and delete these theories to free up some RAM so that we can start focusing on the many other Teezerverse mysteries that deserve our attention (does anyone know who "Bobo" is???). So, here I am to answer my own call.
Before we get into it, a disclaimer: I am not shading or shaming anyone. I myself am a supporter of the almost-entirely unsupported One-TEEZ Theory™ (Three-TEEZ™ is my backup; Two-TEEZ™ is dead to me). So I understand the lure of chasing after a fanciful theory for nothing more than the joy of pretending the puzzle pieces actually do fit together and maybe The Intern is still in control after all. But these Siren theories that re-emerge from the collective Atiny consciousness every comeback need to be retired. Just as we all let go of the idea that Halateez are the evil counterparts of ATEEZ after the advent of Her Majesty, the High Queen Answer (we did all let this go, right? Don’t make me APA cite The Diaries at you), it’s time to release the Sirens to their watery tomb.
I had to dive into the depths of Atiny Twitter, TikTok, and Tumblr in order to fish up the source of the “Yeosang is a Siren” theories. Unsurprisingly, the theories aren’t based on a lot of facts. But let’s unravel them all anyway. (Most of my Siren info comes from this source, this source, and our good friend Wikipedia. Additionally, I’m capitalizing Sirens to differentiate them from sirens–like the police variety–so that we all don’t get confused.)
I first encountered the Siren theories late last summer when people were suddenly talking about “the scream” in the Kingdom version of The Real. As it turns out, the theory seems to have actually been around for awhile but was picking up steam again maybe because of the watery motifs used in the Deja Vu promo images? The earliest reference to the Siren Theory that I could find came from a 2020 Tumblr post which was actually not about Yeosang but about Wooyoung. Most recently, I’ve been seeing the theories pop up again, most notably in this fluff article in addition to a few twitter threads.
As with most mythologies, the origins of Sirens are a bit murky. Our most famous Siren story comes from Homer’s Odyssey in which our boy Odysseus goes on an epic adventure and survives his encounter with the creatures thanks to a lot of beeswax and some very strong rope. Though there are various versions of the Sirens’ parentage, the most accepted seems to be that they were the daughters of the river god Achelous and one of the Muses. The Sirens lived on a rocky island in the Strait of Messina. They were blessed and cursed with beautiful voices so enticing that they caused sailors to crash on the rocks and perish. Some stories claim that the Sirens were simply lonely and wanted companionship. Others say that they were cannibals. Some stories also claim that they were cursed to die if any sailors survived their siren song. Originally there were two unnamed Sirens though that number, in some later versions of the story, increased to 8 (now I know what you’re thinking and stop it right there).
Now that we have some Siren background, let’s talk about the theories. First, some people claim that Yeosang is represented as having a fish or mermaid’s tail. In this section of the Pirate King choreo, we do see Yeo on the floor with his legs together. Additionally, Yeosang wears a mermaid tail pendant in the Say My Name mv and promo images. I couldn’t find a clear picture to link, but I did check my Zero to One album and the Hidden Map photobook. And sure–it looks like a mermaid tail. Or maybe a dolphin. (Source: trust me, bro.)
The issue with this evidence is that originally, Sirens weren’t anything like mermaids at all. Homer did not really describe the Sirens, but context clues imply that they were human-like. Later on, they were described as half beautiful woman and half bird, much like the harpies (creatures who, from what I could tell, mostly just are nuisances who steal people’s food). There are two versions of the birdification of the Sirens, both part of the kidnapping of Persephone. In one version, Demeter curses them with bird bodies because they allowed Persephone to be stolen (some say she doomed them to murder sailors at this time as well) and in the other the Sirens actually request wings from Demeter in order to help search for her daughter. It seems that sometime during the 9th century when scholars were creating mythological bestiaries, the artists depicted the sirens as mermaids while the accompanying texts still gave them bird-like features. Over time, I have to admit, Sirens and mermaids have become pretty much synonymous in both classical literature and in modern pop culture. And this pains me to no end.
Even so, looking at that Pirate King choreo, I’m not seeing mermaid tail. I’m just seeing “how else would he do that choreo?” And it’s not like this type of choreo is a common occurrence with Yeo. Same as the pendant–if that tail is meant to signify his Siren status, then what does Jongho’s feather necklace say about him? Hongjoong wears both fur and feathers, so what’s going on there? If Yeo were constantly wearing fishy fishy like accoutrements, maybe the theorists would be onto something. But, it’s like I tell my students: once is an occurrence, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern.
Next, let’s talk about the scream. In Pirate King, at 1:40 you can hear a scream in the background instrumentals. I don’t know why; I will never know why. It occurs with the lyrics “Raise the anchor, put away your dark hearts/ Wherever it is, we can go” which don’t inspire any screaming from me, so idk. Like I mentioned earlier, people have also claimed that The Real starts with a siren/scream. Here’s the thing, folks: according to reputable sources, Sirens do not scream. They sing beautifully. That’s their whole deal. There is exactly one wiki that claims that Sirens scream, but it also says they can be defeated with a Soul Eater. So I don’t know what mythology that’s supposed to be. If you’re looking for mythological creatures known for screaming, you’re looking for banshees, female creatures from Irish folklore who scream or wail to signify that you're going to be attending a family funeral very soon.
Most recently on twitter I have seen someone claim that Yeosang being alone in this Paradigm preview implies that he is a siren or is controlling Sirens. And to that, I have nothing. Nothing in Siren lore indicates that Sirens work alone or that Sirens can be controlled. This is obviously not a widespread theory, but I figured since we're here, let's check it off the list.
So, why then did they name the Paradigm intro track Siren? Is ATEEZ attempting to lure us to an untimely end on some very sharp rocks? Or are they referring to sirens, which are made to warn people away from danger? Seeing as the setting of The World series is far more Sci-Fi dystopia than fantasy, the reference to actual sirens would make more sense. Furthermore, you can hear sounds resembling sirens in Intro: Siren starting at the 1:00 mark. I did attempt to trace the etymology of the word “siren” to see if it does come from Greek mythology. And the answer I have is. . . maybe? I do know that sirens were developed in 1879 in France. That’s all I’ve got (but I also didn’t try very hard). So, I remain unconvinced ATEEZ are trying to get us to think "Sirens" by playing siren sounds.
As for the “Wooyoung is a Siren” theories, a lot of what I’ve seen is even more imaginative than the Yeo Siren theories. For instance, in Deja Vu promo images, Woo wears a ring with a barely visible seahorse on it. According to two minutes of googling, seahorses can symbolize friendship, love, devotion, luck, patience, peace, perseverance, magic, prosperity, foresight–or just anything generally related to the ocean, which I guess is our Siren link? Some also claim that his blue patterned top in Deja Vu is meant to represent fish scales. To that I say "please see my argument re: Yeo's pendant above." I’m sure we all know that theorytinys have been trying to paint Wooyoung as a traitor since Treasure days, and I think the Siren theories are just an extension of that. Notably, Wooyoung seems to have destroyed ATEEZ’s work in Say My Name, he’s the last man standing in Hala Hala and appears to be wiping blood from his mouth, he’s chained up in Wonderland, he tries to stop San from sacrificing himself in Answer: Ode to Joy (which I guess could mean he wants San’s plan to fail?), he’s pretty purposefully pictured with what appears to be a black dahlia in Deja Vu which may symbolize betrayal and sadness (I did read this in multiple sources, so it checks out), and he has his little vampire moment with San in the final chorus. However, none of this has any relation to Sirens specifically, so I fail to see the connection. Honestly, out of all the evidence of Woo’s imminent betrayal, the only one that really gives me pause is the dahlia because I simply can’t think of any other reason for it to be there unless The Intern is trying to tell us something.
My real issue with these theories is not the Sirens specifically–but that people will cherry pick bits and pieces of information and imagery to hyperfocus on while ignoring anything that doesn’t align with their theories. And you simply can’t do that. All you really need to do to prove that Yeo and Woo are not meant to be Sirens is read the actual diaries. At no time do either of them ever attempt to lead Ateez astray from their goals. In fact, Yeosang in particular sacrifices himself to make sure that his friends can escape–this is after he’s already made the choice to stay with his friends instead of returning to his controlling family if given the choice. Wooyoung is the one who reclaims the Cromer from Henry Jo at risk of being stabbed all so the group can return to Strictland to save Yeo.
I will admit that the discovery of a betrayal amongst the members would be the sort of drama that I live for. However, given that so much of ATEEZ’s story and image centers around their bond as a group, I don’t know how the narrative would deal with one of them betraying the rest or attempting to lead them to their doom. Plus, it would be very odd for one of the members to be set up to be disliked. The only way I can see it working is if Z (the leader of Strictland) makes an android copy of one of them (maybe of Yeo when he was trapped?) which he uses to infiltrate the group somehow while the original is trapped somewhere. But we’ve already done the damsel in distress bit with Yeosang, so it would probably feel repetitive. Furthermore, the Diaries (which I swear by) do not support this idea; at least, it definitely hasn’t happened yet. That said, there’s a lot of stuff in the lore that we simply don’t know, so I guess anything’s possible.
In summation: Are ATEEZ, including Wooyoung and Yeosang, very alluring men? Yes, absolutely. Do they have beautiful voices? Yes (I am not accepting counter-arguments on this point). But, are any of them actually attempting to sink the pirate ship? Feels like a hard no.
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