2026-09-14

Entity "Little Pistol" lyrics analysis

Starting a series where I twist the meaning of song lyrics to fit my OCs. Today we're featuring Entity with Little Pistols by Mother Mother! Reading about Entity before reading this is recommended.

Up on my side, where it is felt
I pack a little pistol on my pistol belt
I think it might be fear
Of the world and the way it makes you feel afraid

This pistol is paranoia. I think it's pretty much what it meant in the original song too.^[1] Entity's character is defined around paranoia. I don't know what made him this way but I suppose I could work on that. Or not. It definitely started around when he met Frosting though; the details of this is important Spy School in Flower City spoilers so I'm not elaborating. I will finish the book even if it's shit, trust. And his job, the eternal-executioner. Yeah.

Under the skin, against the skull
They put a little chip so that they know it all

Entity literally believes this. That's why in one of the routes in Family of Secrets (I'm less likely to finish that so I'm just throwing ideas around) he carves his own brains out with his diamond knife. Spoiler alert, he has no chip in his brain and he fucking died.

His paranoia isn't completely baseless, though. He knows his job. He does it every day. And Kismet does have strong mind-reading. But Entity had literally never gotten remotely close to Kismet to be in his mind-reading range ever. Kismet's hyperawareness is as far as the entire Flower City though but the guy doesn't give a fuck about Entity. Even if he did know him he would appreciate his fear and submissiveness.

I think I might be scared
Of the world and the way it makes you feel afraid
And how it gets in the way

It sure does get in the way of loving his family!

And now I want brimstone in my garden
I want roses set on fire

Too much of this and he starts perceiving peaceful life as abnormal. Because his perceptions (a peaceful life) does not match up to his beliefs (someone's gonna kill me around the corner. This corner. Any minute now. I survived this day but execution awaits literally tomorrow), so he starts wishing for bad things to happen to justify his beliefs and resolve the contradiction. You know, instead of adjusting his beliefs to the reality he perceived.

This is something I should also remember myself; really. Am I really terrible at everything, or am I merely trying to adjust reality to my beliefs? We should let our perceived reality shape our beliefs and not the other way around. That's the only way to have beliefs that are based in reality.

And I, well I want what's best for me
And I, I think I know just what that means
Just what that means

Sure yeah you totally know that. The "best" for him is to have his paranoia justified, which means constantly seeing enemies where there are none. Most of the bad things that happened in Family of Secrets were actually just caused by the family themselves. Harmony forging evidence out of thin air. Frosting chasing her lover recklessly. Entity doing literally anything at all.

Today I coo, today I caw
I have a pistol party and I kill 'em all

He's gone mad. The pistol party is just real life; he thinks everyone is carrying a pistol like his when in fact he was the only one.^[2] And he hurts the people he's supposed to hold dear ("kill 'em all") because he mistook reality for the dangerous "pistol party" inside his head.

I think I might be scared

Bruh, you think? You're scared to the guts. Not only are you scared of the world around you because of your paranoia, you're also scared of the notion that reality may not be what you thought it was.

I may be giving Entity dear too much smoke here considering his job is literally to double-extra-forever kill people, so I'm going to address that next.

Of the man and the men with their hands inside
And the women, oh, the women all they do is cry

If you interpret "men" as the executioners like Entity, who put their "hands inside" their victims, and "women" as the victims, who would understandably do nothing but cry, this line could be Entity reflecting on the nature of his job and the harm he had caused, especially when he doesn't know what the prisoners did to warrant such a fate. And he's scared of it, because he doesn't know when he'll end up in one of his colleague's, or heavens forbid his student's, hands.

So yeah I gave him too much smoke previously because I fucking… forgot… that was his job… But now this is acknowledged and all is well again! This still doesn't mean his paranoia is justified though! It just gave that a source. All my previous points still stand because I'm literally Tofu and I decide what's right and wrong.

And I, well I lose my mind
I lose my mind
I lose my mind
I lose my mind

No shit.

And now I found brimstone in my garden
I found roses set on fire

Now if he weren't mad enough before, he's totally there now, starting to actually see his beliefs in reality, actually see people as the dangerous monsters they ought to be.

And I found Jesus, what a liar
So I trade licks with Muddy Waters

Muddy Waters is the Father of Chicago Blues, and "trading licks" mean sharing music techniques or something like that. I don't really know the relevance of that line, but "I found Jesus, what a liar" is clearly a loss of faith. This could be interpreted as Entity rejecting the truth even when laid out in front of him.

And I, well I found what's best for me
And now I see no tragedy
And I, well I found a burning rose
And now I won't be packing little pistols
No, no, no more

So uh imagine Entity kneeling in front of the bathroom sink with blood on his head dyeing the water red, smiling and saying this as his eyes close.

Also just mentioning here on the topic of paranoia, which is one of my favorite emotion(?)s to explore in fiction, I've also been toying with the idea of a Bauhinian/Atlasian character going to Moreland/Westavia and just being freaking scared all the time, jumping at shadows, and the entire book is just hinting at an awful conspiracy and it ends and nothing happened. Literally nothing happened the entire book.^[3] But you're supposed to laugh at that character though so this song doesn't fit.