#hope i'm making sense

[moontragedy]

I don't know if it's canon and I didn't get it or if it's just my theory. Nevertheless, I can't help but think that the Pale in Disco Elysium is literally because of Harry ('s alcoholism? retrograde amnesia?), and that the world itself (reality) is a creation of the mind. The creators said they wanted to create a game that could be a "mind simulator", I think it truly is.

To explain myself, when Harry talks to Joyce about the Pale, she explains to him that it's a sort of nothingness that is growing, spreading, although no one really knows much about it. It is the "negation of being" and the opposite of matter. It constitutes 72% of the world (the rest being "isola"(e?), continents of matter).

Therefore, we know the Pale surrounds whole and real continents.

Also, when Harry talks to the Programmer, they realise that the triangle of silence is kind of a "hole in reality" : they come to the conclusion that it is part of the Pale.

Joyce also says that although it is the opposite of matter, it is not really part of reality (which makes sense as only something that is not part of reality could create a hole within reality).

So the Pale is the enemy of matter, but also the opposite of reality. In this sense, and because it generally is defined this way, I think reality could be defined as matter. And it would be why Joyce opposes it to the Pale. Moreover, what we generally oppose to matter in turn, is the mind, belief, thoughts, emotions, what is not physically.

When Harry enters the book club, he has to read a book about infra-materialism in order to officially get accepted by the two communist members. In the book, it is written that Nielsen thought communism as a way to change reality itself through the power of the mind. Basically, if enough people became communists, the collective mind could - by thinking about it - wrap reality to make it the way they wanted. Although, he alone had a mind that was apparently powerful enough which is why he could be help communism so much, understand reality better, and he would've had superpowers (levitation, reading other people's mind).

The theory had different stages (depending on the strength of your mind, how hard you trained it, and the faith you had in communism I think it was?). It enabled the believer to modify reality, as it could make them read the mind or levitate like Nielsen is rumored to have done (which further shows somehow everything can be within reach and pliable).

In any case, there's this strong belief that the mind is superior to reality because it is the one commanding the other how it should look like.

The two students thought that the reason this world is so poor, sad, at war and litteraly going toward its destruction is because of the capital, and especially because it corrupts the mind. It would've made the collective mind think about a world that can only be despair, and by thinking about it, feeding the existence of such a world. And I guess it could be since, in the game, communism seems to be an answer to the end of the world, and the only way for Harry and the other caracters to have hope.

This idea that belief and thoughts create reality can then be backed up by the discussion with the Programmer. She says that the triangle of silence should normally keep expanding, that it has been there for a long time. And then, with Harry, they talk about how it explains why the church is here. That the building was specifically built to contain the expansion of the Pale.

Because the church is a place of faith, only something that is home to intense thoughts and beliefs could battle against the opposite of reality.

Therefore reality is both matter and created by the mind : it is the material consequence of thought (and especially the collective mind, as it has been said that the more people believe in something, the stronger the thought is and the more reality instantly follows).

Back to the first point. The list of people authorised to travel through the Pale is very short. Harry only knows two : Joyce and the Paledriver. We learn, through Joyce, and confirmed by the driver, that the Pale is a place that can lead people to insanity if exposed for too long to it. But when you travel through, you also get access to all this knowledge. The Paledriver, because she often goes inside it, has many memories that are not hers.

Joyce who also gets through it for many days at a time, has gotten more access to things around her (as she has probably seen many realities though other people's memories). Because she has seen more through the Pale, she appreciates the world that she lives in better.

What she sees "great bodies of water [...]" can be memories from the Pale. Those memories both her and the Paledriver have acquiered are proofs of what dwells in this nothingness. It is the "negation of being" not only because it isn't, but because it no longer is. And the past isn't, as the memories belong to the past.

Which brings me to my most important point. I think this is why Harry is the one that caused the quickened expansion of the Pale. We know he has no memories left, and his condition worsened as he got two full blackouts before getting retrograde amnesia for good (and it seriously sounds like offerings to the Pale).

When he talks to the Insulindian Phasmid, it says that the Pale is a human creation. It says that it came with the arrival of the human mind but "no one remembers it before [Harry]". The Pale had stagned and maybe no one used to see it or be bothered by it anymore, but then the lieutenant came along. And the Phasmid says that all animals and plants are convinced he will "destroy us all".

Also, the Phasmid talks about how Harry has "creation reflected in [his] forebrain". The forebrain being known for being in neurology the preferential centre of the impulsivity control, agressivity control and some even talk about it being the centre for all that gives us our personality. Harry has absolute jack shit in impulsivity or aggressivity control and he does not remember enough of who he is to have a constant personality (remember as the Pale is the "negation of being", and certainly Harry is that when it comes to all that). His brain, because it reflects, is like a mirror to the Pale and he has a part in its creation.

Also could the "holes in reality" be caused by Harry because of the many holes he has in his memory (as they would be reflected right back onto the Pale)? If it was, we have to understand the relationship between reality and the Pale, and Harry's role in BOTH of them.

The Pale offers knowledge and somehow Harry is able to discuss with the hanged man, with the Phasmid, with objects. And he gets all this knowledge from them and it has always turned out to be true or highly plausible. He has never gone inside the Pale himself, but he stills has the knowledge (because his link to the Pale is strong). This somehow means also that he can really turn reality the way he wants it (but it stays reality because it keeps a general coherence : for instance the fact that the infos that should be impossible to obtain are true). If he alone can bend reality to his will, then he has a strong mind like Masov and Nielsen had before him.

This is emphasised by the whole concept of division by functions of conscience (i.e encyclopedia, savoir faire, esprit de corps, reaction speed etc). Not only do he talk to them, but they all have faces, distinct personalities, voices, and they can interact with each other. They are just as real to Harry and the player than anyone else.

We also know he has the ability to change reality because if the player chooses to become communist, he will dream about the revolution. Conscience tells him it has 0.000% probability of occuring but the night after (or immediately after saying yes I don't remember), it already changes to 0.001%.

Also, in philosophy, spiritualistic ideologies sometimes talk about how reality only exists through one's perception. In the game, we definitely have Harry's perception (because it is a mind simulator, everything is deeply filtered through him). Harry has dumb and impulsive thoughts that can turn into litteral quests, when he has no moral left, the world gets really dark (an total invasion of the Pale?), his dreams looks just as real as everything else, we get access to immaterial/dead/non-talking minds.

+ the black aura that always clouds our vision : everywhere you go there is a black filter at the edges. It can be the Pale lurking or it could be that the world is Harry's perception. When I mean his perception I mean in the literal sense of the word : if it gets too far from him it's dark because reality is exists only if you percieve it and his eye sight can only go so far.

If it is though, then the Pale also is. And since Harry is sad and got worse throughout the years, it got worse at the same time there. His memory holes expanded the already existent holes disrupting reality.

Anyway, tell me if it makes sense. Or if there is other explanations for these things.

[telethrutime]

I was going to make a funny post about how Revachol chose the most unstable, sad man to be her voice, but I realized he is the embodiment of Revachol, especially Martinaise from what we see, but probably the whole city.

He's a man whose whole life has been shaped by forces outside of his control, and then by his reactions to the conditions he ends up in. He isn't an angel, and he hurts other people and himself as a result. But he persists. He keeps going in spite of it all. It makes sense that

Revachol chose a flawed, driven man to be her voice because he is the embodiment of everything that happens within the city.

[beastsovrevelation]

hey, hope you’re doing well lovely! genuine question, not meant as rude or anything of such at all haha, just genuinely curious about the appeal of michael x cordelia as you seem to be v into it. i personally am not really a fan of almost any ships including michael tbh (and also cordelia is v gay to me lmao but that’s a personal thing) so just curious about your take. i love seeing others’ genuine opinions on this is all 🩶

Hello! I hope you're doing well too!

Why do I like the ship? Honestly, it's hard to say. I just... Feel a fire between them. Maybe it's chemistry between Sarah and Cody, but with me, sometimes it feels as though characters gain a will of their own. These two click. The fact I'm very attracted to both Michael and Cordelia (Sarah Paulson in general) probably adds to it. Cody's comments, too (the whole he loves her as much as he loathes her thing). Oh, and the ship creates a the Devil x the Witch dynamic (it's mostly from folklore I guess), which I love. The Darkness x Light trope fits also.

I'm quite the opposite with Langdon and ships, I like several. But, I mostly just talk about this one, as the others (aside from Millory) are with OC's, and I haven't posted the stories yet.

[askfallenroyalty]

absolutely wild to me that for me, i have the story laid out and the comics prepared ahead of time so it's one long sequence. but because it's posted bi-weekly, moments linger and the intended and unintended feelings of the scene last for days, if not weeks.

biggest point: tuesday and thursday work together to me in a simple scene of (set up) and (pay off). but without that pay off, you get a different impression than what i was expecting... i guess this is a microcosm of when i wrote Asriel as a total Jerkwad but I knew their true intentions the whole time. like it was easy to paint them so cruel, cause i knew the pay off was an interesting introspection and critique of capitalism and closeting/isolating oneself from loved ones and soceity.

one of these i gotta reread the story and try my best not to think about my perspective as the writer and think over how i protrayed asriel earlier on in the continue arc.

since you guys actually lived through it- what's your thoughts? did i go too hard in that portrayal? i remember at least one person thought i actually hated asriel because of this at one point afkjasdf

i should mention this chapter serves to humanize Asriel's breakdown and set up a couple aspects of their heel turn to face turn (what would that be called??) hard to explain but basically, you can see Asriel's callousness and "super villian" energy at full display but it's all painted in (what i hope) a very sympathetic and understandable light.

i reaaaally love the tug and pull "is asriel flowey? was asriel flowey all along?" dynamic of the story and i'm hoping this scene can be pointed to as evidence for either side of the arguement

[maybemoonout]

here:

youtu . be/ppqP39p6VmI

the songs have time stamps in the comments c: (sending this one and not the video with only 505 because, agakn, they barely interact, but do say hi to each toher in the end, which isn't in the video with only 505)

Hi!

Apparently, my answer for this didn't send, how strange! I spent the entire day thinking I had this done and dusted! Unfortunately my post was lost and I can't recall what I said, but I guess I'll just reiterate it, ahhh the consequences of my forgetfulness.

Anyways, thank you for coming back and letting me in on this clip! I just watched the 505 part, and wow. Honestly that's all I can say, just wow. They did not act like themselves at all! How strange indeed. It was like they were trying their best not to acknowledge each other as much as possible. The way Miles and Alex moved away from each other after greeting and walking back stage? That was incredibly awkward to watch, visibly cringed in real life.

This was of course, 2018 though. Quite some time it has been, and I think most likely the awkwardness of 2018, whatever happened then, has subsided now. Especially with that infamous "kissing like pigs" memo from 2019 (important edit at the bottom about this), and the few dinners Miles mentioned throughout 2021/2022 (again I can't recall the date). I feel definitely SOME tension has subsided. Their music though is still incredibly... sad toned though. I don't know how to explain it, but the emotions are very sad still. They must truly be going through some stuff right now, the both of them, to have written some of the most meaningful songs I have heard in a while. Let's see though, I guess? HAHAHAHA

Thank you anon for coming back and letting me know of this <3! Hope to hear from you again soon <3

IMPORTANT EDIT:

It seems I made a mistake with that "kissing like pigs" memo! I read from this post by @mrschwartz that the testimony was posted in 2019 but the kiss itself was in 2016 after the Olympia Paris show, sorry for that mistake!

[somnimagus]

My page for @sheikahzine; about Impaz's duty to her village, empty of people and full of memories.

[id in alt text]

[skyberia]

on the agency of puppets

[ekko-idk]

Laios: people are hard to understand... There's way too many social rules to follow, popular conversation topics, eye contact, etc. They also rarely say what they mean and often they say the opposite, so much so that misunderstandings happen regularly.. Monsters are predictable animals with a set of rules and precautions you can follow to either tame or defeat them. if you know what to do, they're very easy to deal with!

Kabru: monsters are wild creatures with jerky unpredictable movements.. Their attitude can change in a second and if you don't have an insane amount of knowledge about them they can be, and often are, very dangerous. Human cultures often have strict and easy to follow rules that depend on certain communication strategies that are somewhat agreed upon universally. People no matter of background also react the same to many things (smiling, frowning, pupil dilation, etc.). if you know what to do, they're very easy to deal with!

[reasonsforhope]

People ask me sometimes how I'm so confident that we can beat climate change.

There are a lot of reasons, but here's a major one: it would take a really, really long time for Earth to genuinely become uninhabitable for humans.

Humans have, throughout history, carved out a living for themselves in some of the most harsh, uninhabitable corners of the world. The Arctic Circle. The Sahara. The peaks of the Himalayas. The densest, most tropical regions of the Amazon Rainforest. The Australian Outback. etc. etc.

Frankly, if there had been a land bridge to Antarctica, I'm pretty sure we would have been living there for thousands of years, too. And in fact, there are humans living in Antarctica now, albeit not permanently.

And now, we're not even facing down apocalypse, anymore. Here's a 2022 quote from the author of The Uninhabitable Earth, David Wallace-Wells, a leader on climate change and the furthest thing from a climate optimist:

"The most terrifying predictions [have been] made improbable by decarbonization and the most hopeful ones practically foreclosed by tragic delay. The window of possible climate futures is narrowing, and as a result, we are getting a clearer sense of what’s to come: a new world, full of disruption but also billions of people, well past climate normal and yet mercifully short of true climate apocalypse. Over the last several months, I’ve had dozens of conversations — with climate scientists and economists and policymakers, advocates and activists and novelists and philosophers — about that new world and the ways we might conceptualize it. Perhaps the most capacious and galvanizing account is one I heard from Kate Marvel of NASA, a lead chapter author on the fifth National Climate Assessment: “The world will be what we make it.”" -David Wallace-Wells for the New York Times, October 26, 2022

If we can adapt to some of the harshest climates on the planet - if we could adapt to them thousands of years ago, without any hint of modern technology - then I have every faith that we can adjust to the world that is coming.

What matters now is how fast we can change, because there is a wide, wide gap between "climate apocalypse" and "no harm done." We've already passed no harm done; the climate disasters are here, and they've been here. People have died from climate disasters already, especially in the Global South, and that will keep happening.

But as long as we stay alive - as long as we keep each other alive - we will have centuries to fix the effects of climate change, as much as we possibly can.

And looking at how far we've come in the past two decades alone - in the past five years alone - I genuinely think it is inevitable that we will overcome climate change.

So, we're going to survive climate change, as a species.

What matters now is making sure that every possible individual human survives climate change as well.

What matters now is cutting emissions and reinventing the world as quickly as we possibly can.

What matters now is saving every life and livelihood and way of life that we possibly can.

[stealerofthe2ndbraincell]

There's an aspect of Original!Elias Bouchard that makes me so sad to think about in a weird kind of "meta" way.

And that's the fact that he has to be labelled as the "OG" not as Elias.

Technically speaking Elias has been dead for years. It's Jonah that's taken over - literally having his eyes removed and replacing them with his own and living as him (he even seemingly keeps his "old fashioned haircut" on Elias' hair).

And yet we as the audience don't often call that form of Jonah "JONAH". Instead it's Elias, cause he's been Elias for 4 series at this point.

"Elias started the apocalypse", "Elias beat that old man to death with a metal pipe" when it was never really Elias in the first place.

He's been so robbed of his own identity that not even death can spare him; all of Jonah's actions in his body are recognised as him.

(Btw this isn't me saying you can't call Jonah!Elias straight up Elias, I do that regularly ofc. I'm just being emo rn lol)

[folklorespring]

A lot of Ukrainians (me included) feel like we're talking into the void. We share news about war and current genocide, talk about our history and culture, about all the opression we lived through because of russia, russian colonialism, etc. Every single question you could possibly have about Ukraine is probably answered by multiple Ukrainians on social media already. But it seems like all of this is being shared only between Ukrainians and those foreigners who already know all those things, the people who need to learn about it won't see it. Something educational about Ukraine goes viral, you check reposts - Ukrainians and people who already engage with Ukrainian activism, no regular people who know nothing about Ukraine or "war is being shoved down our throat" crowd or whataboutists.

[milkywayes]

GARRUS VAKARIAN: DATABASE IMAGE ACCESS. > PT. 1 : 2160, 2166, 2170. > all files backdated according to user preferences: (terran_coordinated.calendar).

[manderleyfire]

cooper howard & lucy maclean + the definite contrasts, the striking similarities (aka ghoulcy foreshadowing)

[tee-dohrnii]

"You're already everything I need you to be."

[jakeperalta]

(The Signal™ as an act of love/understanding)

[elsaqueenofstress]

I'LL FACE JUDGMENT BY THE HOUNDS.

“i’m your man,” mitski / the ballad of songbirds and snakes (2023) / suzanne collins