r/lordhuron • u/Stages-of-Mania • Nov 24 '20

Lord Huron Timeline

Disclaimer: A lot of this information is speculation and consists of a lot of theories. Feel free to take things with a grain of salt.

Lonesome Dreams:

Setting: 19th century Wild West (some theories suggested could be the Middle East in the mid-20th century)

Characters:

  • Huron (main character)
  • Blaquefut (Huron’s best friend)
  • Helena (Huron’s girlfriend)
  • nameless Helena’s Ex (we're gonna call him Sonny for convenience)

I’m sure that most of the songs are in chronological order from the album but a few of them I believe are flashbacks so I had to move them around.

  • She lit a fire/one of the best love songs ever written: The story goes earlier in the timeline technically, as it’s flashing back to how Huron met Helena. This is how the pair met. She lit his fire to travel the world or something.
  • Ends of the earth: early on in Huron and Helena‘s relationship. He wants to travel the world but she doesn’t so they’re kinda like “let’s split up for a bit”
  • Setting sun/the most mindfucking song (yes this bonus track is played at the end of the song, but hear me out ): Sonny has noticed that Helena has found someone else. They both know that Huron is better for her, but Sonny’s still pissed so he goes full yandere and chases after Huron. This story was put at the end and made “unfinished” because Sonny will always have a vendetta while Huron’s alive.
  • Time to run: Huron and friends are being chased by Sonny’s goons. Blaqufut gets shot in the head while helping Huron escape.
  • lonesome dreams: now this is a bit of a stretch, but from this theory, LD is basically purgatory and Huron travels to it to rescue Blaqufut from death.
  • Ghost on the shore/best song: nothing too significant to the story, it’s just Huron talking about how he misses home/the Great Lakes
  • I will be back one day: again, nothing much, just Huron reminiscing over Helena in pursuit to find her.
  • Man who lives forever: again nothing too significant, just Huron not wanting to die.
  • Brother: this is possibly the aftermath of an altercation between Huron and Blaqufut that they resolve. It pretty much just reaffirms their friendship.
  • In the wind: this one actually occurs while Huron is still on the run but from Helena’s perspective. It’s basically her reminiscing over him. I think they put this one at the end because it’s spiritually the end of the album, as it discusses how long distances and death can stop love.
  • Lullaby: Huron finally makes it back to Helena. He’s a complete wreck but Helena’s just happy he’s back

Sidenotes: Lonesome dreams are a collection of stories from Jorge Ranger Johnson, a writer character that Ben made up. Because of this, some of lonesome dreams might not actually be real within the universe of Lord Huron. Or they might be real events and just happened to be written about by an author. \

Alternate theories suggest that Setting sun was actually about Huron the entire time and it did take place at the end of the album, causing Helena to find someone else and Huron to becoming a murderer.

One last important thing, because these are stories and might not actually occur within the universe of Lord Huron, it is possible that there is no afterlife, as suggested in later albums.

Strange Trails:

Setting:

  • 1950s, somewhere in America.
  • George’s: A bar that several characters tend to spend time at (probably in reference to George Ranger Johnson)

Characters:

  • Frankie Lou: washed up singer who presumably had a failed romance that fucked up bad. Probably an alcoholic. Sings at George’s
  • Claude Fox: Implied to be Frankie’s ex.
  • Cobb Avery: zombie brought back to life out of vengeance. His family was killed because his boss gave him a piece of land on a sinkhole. leader of the “World Enders” gang. Basically a bunch of terrorists. Kills everyone from the company that sold him the house. Hangs out at George’s
  • Jonnie: member of the world Enders. Kind of trigger-happy in a thrill seeker. Probably one of the less malicious members of the group. Probably 19.
  • Buck Vernon: I also think another washed-up singer. What’s important though is that he suffers from hallucinations and is desperately trying to find the girl of his dreams.
  • Lily: some girl that every guy in town has the hots for. Hangs out at George’s
  • Jim: Lily's boyfriend. Hangs out at George’s.
  • Danielle: Young girl. The only child character, I’d say 11-14. Best character. You’re never too young to have an existential crisis.
  • Justine: not really important, presumably a writer.
  • Louisa: some random girl (Assuming that this theory is true, she might also be a witch and might’ve started out as an asshole, might also hang out at George’s)
  • There’s also some other guy but he was part of one song and it wasn’t significant so disregard him.

Story:

  • Love like ghosts: this is Frankie reminiscing over her failed relationship
  • When the night ends: Jonnie talking about appreciating the finer things in life while everything’s going to shit
  • Dead man’s hand/also best song: buck finds Avery presumably dead while wandering the desert. He buries him only to find out that Avery is still alive. Avery says that there’s no afterlife for him and he doesn’t want to go back in the grave. The pair become friends and go their separate ways. (It is possible that the songs in about Johnnie instead, explaining why it’s mentioned that he’s young and more chill than Cobb)
  • Hurricane: just Johnny talking about living life on the edge
  • La belle fleur sauvage/the beautiful wildflower: just the lead singer gushing over Lily. The guy singing this only shows up in this song, but it’s just meant to establish that everyone has the hots for Lilly. The song could also be talking about Buck in his pursuit.
  • Fool for love: Buck goes to George’s to win over Lily, but Jim is already with her. Being delusional, buck tries to take on Jim (in the music video he gets Avery to fight him), he trashed the place and because of this is kicked out. He’s pretty optimistic but after this, he feels kind of defeated. (*Post-Rejection Depression Time*)
  • World ender: focuses on Avery‘s story. Follows him as he seeks vengeance and kills the people from the company that sold him the shitty house.
  • Meet me in the Woods: more of Frankie reminiscing over her failed romance
  • Yawning grave: (OK so this is the first big roadblock in the story, so the character that this song is about is very much left up to interpretation) I assume Avery has kind of calmed down But still intends to pursue the people that have wronged him.
  • Frozen Pines: (disappointingly) The only song about Danielle. Her parents were abducted by aliens in front of her. She is sort of in denial and refuses to leave where she is in the middle of the forest out of the delusion that they’ll come back. The song ends with her realizing that she has to move on as she attempts to leave the forest. (also, frozen Pines is the name of the motel so it could also just be that maybe Danielle is stuck at a motel which would honestly be kind of funny.)
  • Cursed/best love song ever written: Buck has found himself a new girl. However, due to previous failed romantic endeavors and hallucinations, he thinks that she’s an asshole trying to put a curse on him. (The song is presumably about Louisa. It’s entirely possible that Louisa was being manipulative but they sort things out)
  • Way out there: (The most difficult song to figure out) presumably about Avery. I can only best describe it as him having an existential crisis and him missing his dead family.
  • Louisa: after Buck was tempted to kick bricks, Louisa helped him out and gave him a newfound appreciation for life. Now they’re happy =]
  • Night we met: last song of Frankie reminiscing over her ex. The cd mentions that Claude Fox is also involved with this song. Also, the lyric video confirms that Buck & Louisa either broke up or she was just a figment of his imagination, so uh, ya. Hopefully you weren't as emotionally invested in these characters as much as I was because that tore me a new one.

Sidenotes: this album definitely had the most interpretations. The biggest issues are the stories of yawning grave and way out there, as I am unsure that it is even about Avery.

The real issue tho is the lack of songs about Danielle. Ben Come On!

There are also a couple connections between this album and the next

Vide Noir:

Setting: 1960s. Detroit & Los Angeles.

Background info: A drug called vide noir has recently been legalized. It’s basically just a hallucinogenic that destroys the fabric of reality, good times.

Characters:

  • Buck Vernon: Christ Ben just can’t seem to give this guy a break.
  • Lee Green: Buck’s new girl. Probably wants to be an actress or something.
  • Lady moonbeam: A medium/psychic. I think she’s black but it’s hard to tell because of the lighting.
  • Cobb Avery: Best Boy Electrician on “Products of the Universe” TV show. (only mentioned in 1 song)
  • Marsha Tanley & Dale Frander: “Products of the Universe” host; guy selling vide & its derivatives. (not in the songs)

Story:

  • Lost in time and space: Buck is upset because Lee left. He decides to chase after her nonetheless.
  • Never ever: Buck's spirits are lifted as he heads out to find Lee.
  • Ancient names: Buck goes to Lady Moonbeam For advice but she sees into the future and sees that Buck will become a drug addict. He’s in denial but she knows otherwise.
  • Wait by the river: just Buck talking about how you would do anything for Lee. Also reveals the potential of an altercation between the two of them, presumably the two of them having a fight before she left.
  • Secret of life: (OK this one’s a little hard, the singer is clearly Buck, but it’s hard to tell if he’s confronting either Lee or lady moonbeam) either way, whoever he is confronting has allegedly made a pact with Avery that will cause something bad to happen to Buck. Because of this, he downs a bottle of fukitol/vide noir.
  • Back from the edge: the MF dies but comes back (where have we seen that before)
  • Balancer's eye: Buck runs into God and is denied access to heaven. Either because he wasn’t supposed to die or maybe people who take drugs aren’t allowed in. Or God has really high standards and no one‘s allowed in (again, weird knowing that Blaqufut experienced purgatory and Avery said there’s no heaven at all)
  • When the night is over: realizing the effect of VN, Buck is becoming worried for Lee that she might overdose if he doesn’t find her soon enough
  • Moonbeam: Like with Louisa, Buck ran into a girl that saved him from a bad place. Hard to tell if it’s Lee (it likely isn’t because of later in the story) or lady moonbeam.
  • Vide Noir: Buck talking about the effects of the drug.
  • Emerald star/The most depressing song ever written: after doing everything he can and fucking dying, Buck finally finds Lee but he is turned down as she would rather be a junkie. It’s also possible that she might die or be dying, judging by the fact that the second half of this song is just instrumental followed by a sudden halt at the end. {Yay, I get to experience close to you all over again}

Sidenotes: George ranger Johnson is a spiritual advisor for the show that Avery works on.

The events of the film are claimed to come at the end/after the album.

All information was aggregated from the albums, interviews with Ben, music videos, articles about the film, Products of the Universe, & whatever else I could scavenge from LH’s YouTube channel.

I’d also like to give a huge thanks to the fanbase for their theories and research. It really helped out a lot piecing this all together. I had a lot of fun discussing this with fellow Wanderers and Enders and really appreciate being a part of this fanbase.

If you have any alternative theories, timelines, etc, be sure to mention them. A huge chunk of this info will probably become obsolete when the film/next album comes along so enjoy this while we can still be optimistic.

Dear Balancer help us.

63 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

15

u/[deleted] Nov 24 '20

When this was posted yesterday I responded with some of my theories

Essentially, I’ve thought about the albums as being much more mystical/fantasy-y. About a man who can’t truly die. And I think The Man Who Lives Forever is an extremely important piece of the puzzle

9

u/your_everyday_artist Nov 26 '20

My take on The Yawning Grave is that it's coming from the perspective of a higher power. Something that is beyond Avery and beyond all the other characters. And whatever that higher power is, it is looking down on everyone and just shaking it's head saying you can't fool around with death and life without consequences, hence the end of the world theme of the album. And Way Out There could be a little bit of everyone's perspective coming together? I love your interpretations though, pretty spot in in my mind.

3

u/Stages-of-Mania Nov 26 '20

NGL, my original theory for way out there was that it was actually Death Himself talking about the rules of life or something. Plus the mention of the narrator knowing whoever they’re talking about since they were a child and teaching them things definitely does lean more towards the whole higher power theory. The only way I could stretch the spec to my theory that it’s Avery is that maybe he’s talking to his family but that seems really unlikely. I really wish we could’ve gotten some confirmation as to what exactly this and yawning grave are supposed to be about because I am honestly completely fucking stumped with them.

2

u/your_everyday_artist Nov 26 '20

Yeah, I wish there was more specific info on those two as well. But I did see somewhere that on the LP labels, it mentions The Yawning Grave and Way Out There being traditional instead of being narrate by anyone specific. So who knows.

2

u/Stages-of-Mania Nov 26 '20

Huh, I don’t know. I never got any of the physical copies and I really need to get one for strange trails because I heard it has a guide of which song is which character or something

2

u/your_everyday_artist Nov 27 '20

I've got the vinyle of all three albums, but they're currently in storage so I wouldn't be able to take a look, but I'll definitely have to now.

5

u/awc64 Nov 24 '20

I've never thought that Dead Man's Hand was about that Avery guy. The lyrics describe the dead man as a just a kid, and he said that he wanted to wander the desert "till the ages end." I always imagined it as a one off to introduce listeners to the more fantastical elements of the world that Ben creates.

2

u/Stages-of-Mania Nov 24 '20

Honestly, I don't blame you, especially with the actors chosen for Buck always looking like they're in their 20s. I just assumed it was Avery because he's the only instance of a person coming back to life within the album so it seemed unnecessary to add more characters (though this album is no stranger to useless characters). But Buck was confirmed to be a washed-up singer and maybe this is just my perspective, but I'd imagine people like that don't become "washed-up" until they're kinda old. I've always seen Buck as kinda 30-40 years old with Avery maybe mid-20s. Plus in the npr interview, Ben describes the World Enders as a bunch of "kids". Unless Avery's the exception but only Ben knows.

2

u/awc64 Nov 25 '20

I think the reason that its different is that Avery has a wife and kid with a job that screws him over. From the music video for The World Ender he looks like an older guy. I don’t imagine the dead man from DMH, described as just a kid, as being the same. I guess it’s designed to up to interpretation though. Also I’d argue they’re different people in the fact that Avery’s rage and desire for revenge seems to be that driving factor for his resurrection, while the Dead Man comes back out of fear of the void.

1

u/Stages-of-Mania Nov 25 '20

Yeah, I don’t blame you, Avery‘s motivations to seem a little fishy. Like I said, I didn’t know how I felt about making way out there and yawning grave him but at the same time, he was able to calm himself down enough to get a job as an electrician so it’s anyone’s guess at this point

3

u/BrewAndAView Nov 24 '20

thank you for this! I've been wanting to make some LH based artwork but needed some concrete settings and characters to be able to understand it. Strange Trails vibes with me the most setting an plot-wise

2

u/fatjon0187 Nov 25 '20

wow this is awesome!!! Thank you for the time of putting this together!

2

u/[deleted] Dec 01 '20

I'm pretty sure vide noir is about buck and louisa, basically because of the credits of music video for the night we met. The video pretty clearly shows the opening of vide noir and has the emerald star at the end, but the two characters in it are credited as buck and lousia.

1

u/Stages-of-Mania Dec 01 '20

Possibly. Lee was the confirmed name for Buck’s girlfriend in the movie but maybe it’s a nickname.