The Lore of Disco Elysium (We Got The Book!)

[@dialectiks]

"This leaves us with only two things that might be able to delay the end of the world: Communism and being absolutely hardcore." 🔥🔥🔥

[@leolion3323]

I take part in both 😎

[@phunkracy]

These are two sides of the same coin, idealny united in one: spiritualism and materialism

[@phunkracy]

Oh just reached the part where its speaken outright in the video hahaha

[@IsaacMorgan98]

HARDCORE!!!!

[@Gabrielnfs]

Communism is human retardation given the form of ideas

[@IshkaGaming]

Watching disco elysium content to help soothe the pain about knowing we may never get a proper sequel to the masterpiece that is the final cut.

[@JamrockHobo]

Who knows! Kurvitz is the guy to cook something up, no matter if it's with the current ZA/UM or without.

[@IshkaGaming]

All I know is that if he gets rights to the IP, I will throw money at a crowd fund if possible!

[@phunkracy]

​@@JamrockHobohe got through alcoholism, failure of his dream (as a writer) and came back with a work of true art. I have faith in him

[@stevensmith1031]

​@@phunkracyUn jour je serai de retour près de toi

[@shaqtaku]

I think Kurvitz and Rostov are cooking up something.

[@Desi-qw9fc]

I loved the concept of Pale travel immediately once it came up in the game. The idea that you basically put yourself inside a giant bullet and shot yourself through the Pale knowing that steering yourself is impossible inside it, and hoping that you aimed yourself correctly at the start of the process. That’s pretty Hardcore.

[@Mackenzie1942]

This is like warp jump in war hammer 40K

[@erdalguclu]

@@Mackenzie1942 I mean the pale almost sounds one-to-one like the warp. Unprepared people who travel through go insane, it's unreliable and even a slight deviation means you get lost and the paranormal way in which it interacts with "realspace" complete with the whole shivers skill, the pales version of psykers. The only discrepancy is that the pale just seems to be the warp without demons or warp-entities.

[@migrivp2672]

​@@erdalgucluplot twist the pale is slanesh cumjar

[@abdullahhuseinalaydrus]

​@@migrivp2672so are you saying that slanesh cumed all over Elysium before became earth?

[@bitterleafcastle1552]

What's even more hardcore is that they've managed to discover a way through the Pale in the old days with just wooden ships and some poetry😂

[@Entropic_Meat_Machine]

Disco Elysium's lore is genuinely so fantastic, its got such a uniquely unsettling feeling to it.

[@ginar2339]

I believe in Harry. I believe that he can use communism and hardcore to overcome the end of the world -- that the reality presented in the book is preventable. After all, if innocences and magpies are able to accelerate the pale by stealing the future, why wouldn't a man stubbornly dragging the past (communism, disco, love) into the present be the antidote? Wouldn't a man that is able to go from hating and fearing the world to loving it and believing in its future be representative of how the world can be saved?

[@noobdosjogos]

dora in the dream says it might take 20 years to get over her, the bomb drops in 22 it's not impossible that from sadness this deep rebounds hardcore so hard to the core that saves the world

[@yeastmobile]

HOPE! UNITY! HAAAAAAARD-CORE!

[@brunoe1891]

I think it might be possible that it is a preventable apocalypse, but now knowing what Jamrock Hobo says about Kurvitz radicalism (and the overall feeling I get from the game really), I doubt his choice to save entire Elysium would be such a naive and heroic-fantasy type of solution.

[@ginar2339]

@@brunoe1891 oh no, I don’t think that Harry would actually save Revachol super-hero style, I meant more that Harry has the ability to give people hope and slowly bring them around to his way of thinking and that that on a large scale could make change in Revachol

[@BoozeNMetaL]

@@noobdosjogos imagine Harry getting over Dora just to get nuked 2 years later. I can't accept that reality. It's too much

[@eeyuup]

The pale was one of those incredibly fascinating aspects of the universe. At one point Joyce refers to it as something along the lines of the physical manifestation of entropic decay, and that got me thinking the rest of my playthrough. When I finished the anodic music club, I had a sort of theory. My idea was that the pale isn't just entropy, or information, but the past, and a yearning for a future that didn't come, manifesting itself in the present, and slowly killing a potential future. All over you see people yearning for some nebulous "good old days" and whatever future would've happened if only something hadn't gone horribly wrong. From Harry and Joyce, and the golden disco days, to someone like Rene, the monarchist, who clearly feels Revachol's future was stolen by the revolutionaries. There's always this undercurrent of "what could've been". Also the information you can get on the innocences reinforced this idea in my head. People, supernatural humans who are somehow able to gaze into the future and steal from it, further unraveling reality. Consciously or not acting as agents of the Pale. So yeah, gotta keep it hardcore, yeaaagh!

[@jeremytitus9519]

To the MEGA

[@heehoo3685]

that reminds me of the line harry can say in the church, something to the effect of "Anortic dance music is the only thing preventing the pale from entering this world..." kim kinda beushes it off as dumb but that did come to mind when i read your interpretation.

[@elou.bunbun]

gorgeous

[@slingwolf590]

The future of disco elysium that may never come.

[@kuman0110]

for me, when Joyce said that historical materialists say its reified past, it immediately clicked for me, and the famous quote from Marx "the traditions of dead generations weigh like a nightmare on the minds of the living". The pale is The Past, the "dead generations ", their thoughts and traditions, eating the world ant its future away

[@kingmoo]

While it seems like the fate of the Elysium world is hopeless, it sounds like the one possible hope, the one future where humanity isnt annihilated, begins with Harry solving the case. From a preview on DE written by Kurvitz himself: "It's up to you - and you alone - to save the whole world. To untie the great knot. To crack the case. To resolve reality. You are the last Revacholian hero. The Revacholian hero has nothing, but he must conquer everything. If he doesn't care, no one does. All of it will slowly roll into the heavens under the advancing pale, or it will contract into a singular miracle only the Revacholian hero can deliver."

[@Merkuse]

It reminds me of when Rhetoric tells Harry to start building Communism. Same one-man vs all energy

[@E_l0]

@@Merkusethat mainly why if think that a superstar good cop combines best with a moralist alignment, bringing that upbeat, even hopeful, disco energy to a system with little hope to spare: moralism

[@JamesYoung]

@@E_l0 centrist moment lmao

[@arjyabirhazra1135]

so the moralist ending effectively dooms the world

[@arjyabirhazra1135]

MLs love their great men

[@spiritwolf963]

This was genuinely one of the best recontextualizations I've had of a game that I thought I to some degree "got". I look forward to seeing more from you.

[@JamrockHobo]

That means a lot to me, thank you!

[@parkinglotsofhell]

Disco Elysium feels like the first game that really deserves to be part of the Western canon, in the sense that it seems to consciously partake in and add to the conversation we’ve been having since before Plato. What an amazing work of art.

[@benjaminjenkins2384]

I feel like a lot of the fromsoft games especially under Miyazaki have a lot to say about stagnation, family trauma, and the way the powerful are more petty and destructive than the powerless

[@parkinglotsofhell]

@@benjaminjenkins2384 oh for sure, they’ve definitely got tons of literary merit but DE feels as though it’s specifically taking and building on a lot of the themes of contemporary capital-L literature (about addiction, religion, specific political ideals, etc) while FromSoft games are operating at like the archetypal level, if that makes any sense, in that they’re creating entirely new mythologies. Like If I were teaching Elden Ring, I feel like it would be in conjunction with other mythologies. (Not sure if it even matters lol)

[@ile1237]

It would be more under eastern canon and not western canon

[@corbjones2738]

​@@ile1237 That's an interesting take, how do you mean? I really hadn't thought of it fitting into eastern canon before, but I'm down to hear how!

[@mathinho1237]

​@@benjaminjenkins2384ah come on, we are talking serious here, adult talk, not teenagers who discovered Berserk and think it is "real mature art"

[@arditlika9388]

I always thought the Pale was incredibly significant, even though I completely missed it on my first playthrough, and not just a world building device. Now I can see that the Pale was even more than that, a genius way to put a world ending threat, parallel to our world and connect it with history, progress, ideology and more. The more I visit this world, the more incredible it is. You've done a fantastic job with the video, and provided great insight.

[@Handles_arent_a_needed_feature]

Wasnt that already said ingame

[@argophontes]

7:42 While I'm sure someone has made the connection before, "I AM LA REVACHOLIERE" feels like a direct reference to "Soy Cuba", an episodic Soviet film about the Cuban Revolution. Throughout the film is the Voice of Cuba itself, a woman's voice that extols the virtues of the Cuban people and derides the foreigners who exploit them.

[@user-ig4dl4iv1j]

Re: the people can say "Communist Harry can stop the apocalyptic events of Sacred and Terrible Air", I philosophically agree but its not clear to me that these works have a "canon" like MCU or Star Wars. This setting was originally a tttrpg homebrew where presumably different stories with different outcomes likely played out. DE could just as easily be intended as an adaptation or remake of Sacred and Terrible Air. It's hard for me to even figure out which DE playthrough is "canon". (After all you can play Harry as a fascist or neoliberal bad cop) What's more important is not the "in-universe" events but what is being said about our real-life conditions. If you think communist Harry can stop the apocalypse, then do that in our world.

[@kamalindsey]

"If you think communist Harry can stop the apocalypse, then do that in our world." 🔥

[@benmartin6690]

So, first off I estimate around 90% of the clips used in this video are something that never transpired in my only full playthrough that was about 60hrs. Which, in of itself is wild to me, but then you framed this whole video around these clips with personal insights and interpretations on lore that I thought I knew well. It's totally made me finally want to play this game again at least one more full playthrough. I think I'll read the suggested translation and then go back in.

[@JamrockHobo]

Enjoy the read!

[@ukaszgrzesik7231]

Damn, that might be the best essay about Disco Elysium and its worldbuilding I have seen so far!

[@JamrockHobo]

😭❤

[@samuelbutler2566]

This was *way* more fascinating, not to mention strange, than I thought it was going to be. Like many others in this comment section, I choose to have faith that the apocalypse of Sacred and Terrible Air is not set in stone: With Harry's knowledge of the future, and belief in love and revolutionary change, there is a chance for him and many others to survive, and maybe even reverse, the onslaught of nihilism and nostalgia that threatens to consume his world. Hopefully this applies in our own world too.

[@cannonballking7]

Aw yeah, time to literature it up I didn't get this art degree for nothing! In all honesty I am so glad "Sacred and Terrible Air" got translated, as it was a really interesting and enthralling read, even if it was a little janky at parts. I can say with confidence that it works a fantastic side-piece to "Disco Elysium" and shows the strengths which the interactive medium allowed, in order to make a stronger work of art. Hopefully it won't be out last view into the world, through the original creators lens, but if it is these 2 works of art were simply fantastic. Keep up the good work, and have a lovely day.

[@JamrockHobo]

[@miggylikeciggy]

actual art degree

[@virgyvirgil]

reading the book makes you realize how much this is kurvitz's world and the tragedy that is was stolen under him you can even see alot of harry in terezes scenes (if you build harry to be a superstar cop with drugs/physical as the focus) the clerk at the corner store scene is 1 to 1 in the game and book. the pale aged spirit is shaped like the ship the neet is collecting and the themes of the dichotomy of how memory and nostalgia can harm you but at the same time can keep you motivated to go on and persist even if it's just for a tiny bit longer. The fight against the pale as you showed with the church ravers (who share alot with the raver in the shack they meet in the book) (which i feel like the pale is like a physical manifestation of how things get lost to history and the apocalypse is everything is lost as you said the rave is in a sense fighting against this force by keeping the music from that mostly forgotten time alive). the way you learn how the pale works totally recontextualizes every scene in disco that involves the pale like the phone or radio transmission that seem from a different time. if you are a disco fan i absolutely recommend the book. I went with the second translation about a year ago and its great

[@YorkJonhson]

Beautiful write-up. Interesting context for some of Disco Elysium's lore I didn't quite catch while playing myself, especially for the church and the idea of the night club representing something that could actually hold back the Pale. Also I'm intrigued by the implication that the Innocences aren't just saints or brilliant inventors, but people who might be capable of drawing on future information and concepts that shouldn't even exist yet, hence the upheaval of technological and social change that follows in their wake.

[@JamrockHobo]

Thank you so much! The part about innocences being basically super-magpies is a bit of a speculation, but I guess that they are at least "normal" magpies, since they brought radically new concepts into the world without following the "natural" historical progression of things. Maybe a combination of normal magpie-ism and the charisma that we see in real-world religious leaders

[@rohancooray194]

@@JamrockHobo I always thought of the Innocences as progressive historical epochs being represented in a single person. The "Great Men of History". Both Hegel and Marx characterised Napoleon as one of those figures; historical progress embodied within a single man uprooting the decrepit aristocracies of Europe and imposing a rational, liberal, "meritocratic" framework. A man who set the terms for how European society would progress into the modern era long after his defeat. Lenin would also be our world's equivalent to an "innocence". The burst of communism into the world embodied within a single man, whose own drive and charisma pushed the Bolsheviks to seize the opportunity of 1917 when most of the party did not think the time was right. It was his model that defined how communism would exist as a historical force in the 20th century. We live in the shadows of these Innocences. I think a theme of Disco Elysium is the power of belief. And perhaps the "supernatural" seeming power of Dolores Dei and the other Innocences is nothing more than the fervent belief of their followers. Just as Harry's fervent belief in his own wife's power over him transformed her into Dolores Dei. She was to Harry what Dolores Dei was to humanity. The same could be said of our own "Innocences". Napoleon and Lenin couldn't really single-handedly do anything, but they existed almost as centres for people's beliefs. The belief in communism almost became the belief in Lenin. And maybe when Dolores was assassinated by her guard who said "we needed to figure this out ourselves!" it's reflecting our own reality that we have long ago abandoned our belief in our collective capacity to shape the world, by putting all of our faith in charismatic figures to guide and save us, who we assign our hope and trust to. Climate change, like the Pale, is a crisis for humanity but with no Innocence to guide us out of it. And if human belief is the only thing that can save us from them, maybe we need to make a new form of belief. Not around a person or God, as that was always an illusion masking that true power comes from collective will. As Stepan says, Communism is the religious belief in humanity's future.

[@JamrockHobo]

​@@rohancooray194 I really wanted to add a dive into Hegel's conception of world spirit, especially since Revachol says in the Shivers check that they are a fragment of the world spirit. Maybe at a later time! Sola, the "anti-innocence" between Doloris Dei and Miro, kinda left humanity to themselves and they did in fact not figure it out by themselves. Instead, the moralintern took power and bombed the shit out of everyone. She is succeeded by Miro who draws his conclusions from a this era of human failure and decides to just end it all. If we get a next innocence it will again be an anti-innocence in some sense like you suggested, but not just the laid-back "do what you want" kind of Sola. Because time is running out. In our world just as in Elysium.

[@steve7613]

​@@JamrockHobo I'm a bit late, but thank you so much for your review of the book and how it connects so much of the weirder aspects of DE's lore together. Another moment related to the Innocences having access to the future and thus "inventing" concepts and technology before their time that comes up in the game is the assassination of Dolores Dei, with the assassin saying "We were supposed to come up with this ourselves!" (refering to the technology and religion Dei helped establish) This moment is never quite fully explained in the game and I came away from it assuming Dei was actually an alien, but I'm glad to finally know that it's because Dei was recieving information she wasn't even supposed to have from the future. Also, finding out Gary was actually right about something and his rant about the future wasn't just conspiratorial hogshit blew my mind.

[@h2ojr1]

The existence of "The pale" hit me like a truck in my playthrough. Suddenly my grounded crime drama about a detective who forgot his memory on a binger became a sci-fi mystery about a world made of only islands seperated by an ever expanding darkness that may or may not be effecting everything thats happened so far and may effect things down the line. I liked Joyce's theory on the pale's origin since it dates back to the start of Human history and seems to be growing as the human population grows. That the pale is intellectual thought and desires made manifest. It growing because trees and plants digest the air we breathe but nothing digests thoughts so eventually they just accumulate and builds.

[@terran5364]

Lots of little details I'd overlooked; a great breakdown! I choose to believe the dark future will not come to pass. Something that occurred to me is that the historical collision of Elysium, of past and future, is very reminiscent of Mark Fisher's perspective on capitalist realism. "It is easier to imagine an end to the world than an end to capitalism." The final innocence even alludes that it/they-the innocence(s)-expresses some degree of humanity's longings. Revolution was violently discredited, Elysium cannot maintain the pretense of longing for a brighter future and so longs for death instead. Reality bends to fulfill that wish, history itself pours in to end it all.

[@visoriannull832]

That would be probably the most beautiful thing I can imagine. All the powers in the world trembling in their bunkers, soldiers clutching their weapons waiting for the order to charge at...something. Heartfelt, serious screaming on every media channel about the end. Then when it finally hits all it turns out to be is a shift in economic models. the "stock market" crashes so hard no one can justify restarting it. I would like to imagine people would make the sane choice and move on, but some people would rather die in the past.

[@Artur107_]

Man i always come back to this video, the thought of Harry being a magpie without knowing it and ending up using his abilities to help and possibly start a revolution in Revachol makes me always choke up in hope. "This time it'll be right... This time Revachol will be free" Long live Revachol, long live the Revolution!

[@Kiboune_YT]

I thought about how depressive and hopeless Disco Elysium world was, after I found out about pale for first time in the game. Something just slowly kills everything and you can't do anything about. It's not some far far away death of sun, it's very close. Now I wonder if Moralintern could've slowed down the process if they hunted down magpies and dealt with Innocences. And maybe started blasting hardcore music from their aircrafts!

[@ilymarko]

the script for this video was so well-written an eloquent it's like you could've been a writer for the game yourself. top-notch content, subbed

[@JamrockHobo]

That's such a nice thing to say. Thank you a lot! EDIT: Robert, please hit me up when you read this lol

[@morganconnor8528]

This video already has me itching to do another replay of Disco Elysium and adding another book to my "must read" pile. God, this whole thing is so cool!

[@brokenhelmet9489]

I'm not really a book type person despite loving disco to death but you sir just made me want to spend my entire weekend reading "Sacred and Terrible Air" Thanks for the amazing vid mate can't see what else you got cooking up

[@JamrockHobo]

😭❤ It's also a good book for non-book-persons, I recommend it :)

[@JujuGoiaba06]

I was for months trying to find some good content about the pale and all this complex aspects of Disco Elysium lore. I had already saw your streamers compilation video and loved, unfortunately I didn't notice you would do more videos about Disco, thank god youtube recomended me one more time your channel, it's really amazing your work here 🤩

[@imperial4947]

Any ideology Harry purports, since he is the catalyst by which the world fundamentally changes, is the one that would prevail during the future of Revachol. I believe the game’s blank slate is more appropriate giving Harry and ultimately the player the chance to pave the way forward. Harry’s stake in any politics is just its ideals used to try and win Dora back, so it’s up to you to ultimately decide the fate of Revachol.

[@JazzJackrabbit]

If we were to understand the Pale, then it ceases to be the Pale. "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." -- HP Lovecraft

[@KarlStolls]

This was a fascinating deep dive into what is effectively supplemental material, something a lot of fans (certainly me) would probably have overlooked. I'm reminded of a scene from the Moralintern questline, where trying to contact the Coalition ship results in entroponetic crosstalk and a brief snippet of dialogue from the island, which hasn't happened yet. For me that was both a big eureka moment and oddly humbling, realizing the Pale was a fundamentally more bizarre phenomenon than I had previously understood. It wasn't just the past - it was the future. Disco Elysium is an incredible game, built to engage with on multiple levels, and I really enjoy seeing people do deep dives into its lore and more esoteric secrets. It has very Deus Ex-ian qualities in that people are going to be discovering things about it for years to come. Thanks for the effort you put into both reading the book and putting together this excellent video! I know I'm going to be looking at the game in a new light next time around.

[@ChestersonJack]

Ooh, dialogue from the island? Reminds me of Reverse Transmission, when the main character has a cop show going on her TV in the background of a scene- but that “cop show” is actually a clip from the final chapter where real cops are investigating HER involvement at the company. (Trying not to spoil specifics if you want to listen to RT, it’s an amazing radio drama, Alan Resnick voices a main character, it’s great)

[@bobemor]

Disco Elysium pulls no punches with showing how hard positive change can be. But it also never shies away from showing that this difficult positive change is necessary. Completing the case, and achieving positive outcomes in the side stories, requires Harry to resist the path of least resistance repeatedly. To make sacrifices repeatedly. All so he can maybe go back to being an okay cop that one day gets over his previous marriage. This is presented as both a positive, but also achievable by the game. I get the sense the total apocalypse might therefore not be inevitable.

[@smokyprogg]

14:00 I always got a weird Inland Empire style vibe that the concept of the radiocomputer in this game (explained as having computational power proportional to antenna strength) was a metaphor for some sort of supra-natural consciousness, and I feel very validated right now

[@curronebongbong-db1sq]

Everytime i see Disco elyisum,it bring me back to my childhood's house and hometown.. fishy scent at the whole town,cold winter,and slummy people.. but i love that atmosphere,the reason i also love disco elysium because it feels like back to my hometown🥰

[@JamrockHobo]

If you lived in a northern-ish coastal setting (like me), you should read the book, because it plays exactly there. It really activated some childhood memories and made me nostalgic :)

[@Danielsonsonsonson]

@@JamrockHobo the first timeline of the book is saturated with nostalgia through and through. a first, innocent love, hanging around with your friends all day etc., i "felt" it too!

[@exopta]

I read the translation myself a few weeks ago and was wondering when something adding the book onto the context of DE was gonna come out. Love how the style and prose of this game spilled out into your own script's flow, esp in Catharsis - amazing video

[@JamrockHobo]

That means a lot, thank you!

[@boizalini9456]

I just beat my first play through today and I decided to end it before getting deeper into the 2mm hole quest, as well as complete the le responsibilité quest. Knowing that there’s this entire context already and entire points of interest I’ve missed, this video already makes me want to play the game again.

[@ilregiallo4151]

Ok you're analysis of post-apocalyptic genre and chatarsis in the last part of the video is pure gold.

[@IlyaKrepky]

Somehow you managed to create a piece of fine art by explaining another one piece of fine art. What I'm trying to say is that the video looks nice and it sounds nice. It produces a specific atmosphere. Actually I'm listening it sometimes on repeat. Not because I'm trying to collect new data on the lore of Disco Elysium but because I'm reviving a specific atmosphere the video managed to pin down and present to us. And so I'm encouraging the author to make more videos about expressing his thoughts in such a stylish manner. The video by itself... It's not only *about* Disco Elysium. It's holding and bringing us a sense of a game. Expressing and broadcasting it's atmosphere into our realities. Sounds almost like one of skill-personalities of Harris. A meta one.

[@JamrockHobo]

Thank you, that means a lot!

[@opposition1489]

This is hands down one of the most interesting and fascinating videos about disco elysium there is out there. Very well made.

[@cherryJ0lt]

I have to say thank you so very much for taking the time to put actual CCs/subtitles on your video instead of relying on the hot mess that is automatic captions on KZbin. Especially for a discussion of a world with such specific vocabulary, it helps those of us with auditory processing and/or hearing issues significantly.

[@MICKEYrenraw]

It's funny, currently playing Sunless Sea, and it reminds me so much of Disco Elysium, not it's game play or setting, but the world and all of it's characters are written so incredibly well and memorable. I would take that kind of good story telling over another bland, "world is ending, (you) chosen one has to save it" story :)

[@joshuawhite9876]

THE SUN THE SUN THE SUN

[@apollo4294]

I was thinking of getting sunles sea for it sounding similar to dredge and both just sound like interesting game premises. I’ll be sure to get it next time it goes on sale (:

[@MICKEYrenraw]

@@apollo4294 sunless sea is a very good game as long as you are in the mood for a (1 part) brilliantly well written adventure book (1 part) very tense survival exploration boat game

[@ChestersonJack]

The last game I played right before I played DE for the first time was Mask of The Rose (part of the FL universe). I saw the storytelling parallels too.

[@jmh8817]

There are a lot of individual points that made me go "I hadn't thought of it that way", and while there is a part of me that wants to write upwards of six paragraphs in a comment, the more practical part of me will summarize it as such: Thank you. That was both beautiful and thought-provoking. I will be thinking about this a lot in the next days, probably.

[@JamrockHobo]

This makes me really happy, and proud! Thank you! Also, I always appreciate a good rambling when you have the time for it :)

[@jmh8817]

@@JamrockHobo I don't have a lot to add, but I might as well show my appreciation for such a good video and engage the algorithm at the same time. So, I dabble with post-apoc fiction, and continuously struggle with the worst aspects of the genre which you (and others in the comments) have so well pointed out. DE is an inspiration for me and your observations on Kurvitz' writing are things that, indeed, I have continued to think about for days after watching the vid. One particular highlight of your vid for me is the section about Half-Light's introduction to the Cop of the Apocalypse thought. I spent a long time trying to figure out what exactly it was trying to get at with some very poor attempts at translating Greek. Now it finally makes sense! Yay! I don't know how difficult that was but it's very much appreciated. Have you read the case file from Harry's ledger that got dropped from the game? It was called THE COLLAPSING TENEMENT. You can find it in a quick search probably. It is illustrative of the kind of weight that Harry carries with himself every day of his life, and one of the things he was probably trying to forget in getting rid of the ledger and drinking himself amnesiac. Also, boy, that case sure does bear a resemblance to a large number of other things, both from the game and real life! The other thing I want to do is drop a recommendation for Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower, which I recommend to basically anyone that has thoughts about apocalypse fiction beyond "wow, cool apocalypse!". The protagonist of the story is an empath. She feels what other people around her also feel. That means she cannot perform acts of violence, physical or otherwise. She is one of the rare genre protagonists that does *not* thrive in such a world. As a note of color, the apocalypse in question is not a large spectacle but simply the slow inevitable consequence of climate change, economic disparity, global pandemics, mass famines, gang violence, corporate slavery and a political strongman promising to make their country great again. It takes place in the far, far future of 2024. It was written in 1993. Anyway I'd love to see some of the things you ended up cutting from the script in future vids. Ta ta!

[@JamrockHobo]

@@jmh8817 Thanks for the recommendation, I will soon have a look into the novel! As well as into the case file!

[@nat68446]

this is absolutely fantastic video / dissection of the disco elysium world, you’ve got a new subscriber man

[@kitkatzze]

great video! I'm happy you liked the translation 🐐

[@JamrockHobo]

Oh, were you involved? Yes I loved it! I'm sorry for pronouncing it "Ibux" haha :) I thought it was Ibux so it sounded like "E-books" :D

[@kitkatzze]

​@@JamrockHobo allegedly I was involved (for legal purposes and because the book really does swallow you, so I am missing some memories about parts of the process). no worries on the typos and miss-spellings. I'm sure there are a number of them in the translation too. we're also preparing an updated version to release in a few weeks. among other things like spelling errors to be corrected, we got some great community feedback in a couple of places!

[@trvkv]

Amazing video. You got a great voice and your thought process is clear and understandable. Also, incredible lore reveal. This makes Disco Elysium so much deeper (didn't expect it's even possible!).

[@limbobilbo8743]

If kurvitz rostov and hellen dont get the IP back they should speak to the guys who made ecopunk 2044, they cite disco elysium as a motivation and i think they could make something beautiful in that world

[@JamrockHobo]

that game looks pretty cool

[@christianeryu4674]

This is a great video, thank you so much for making it!!🎉

[@panoramathatguy7624]

I think the reason that Communism and being hardcore disperses the pale is because it is giving something to the world that wasn't going to happen before. The pale is created when knowledge and possibility are taken from the future, so it makes sense if doing the opposite would remove the pale. When you are trying to make the dance club in Disco Elysium, Shivers is very adamant about how there isn't going to be a dance club, so when you actually succeed in making one, you are actively creating potential for the future that did not exist before.

[@JamrockHobo]

That's a great way of saying it. Taking from the future vs giving something to the future.

[@MrIndiemusic101]

Late to the party. Maybe I'm misunderstanding something. But if the pale is a physical manifestation of man kinds yearning of the past due to an unrealized future, wouldn't yearning for communist revolution atleast the kind of failed revolution during the deserter's time would also contribute to the growth of the pale? I always figured in order to dispell the pale, humanity collectively needs to look at what failed from the prior revolutions and come up with new ideas for revolution to move humanity not only beyond the endless capitalism and neoliberalism of the present day but also beyond failed communist revolutions of yester year toward a brighter future with a new flavour of scientific communism that's more likely to last. Which is why I thought Hardcore in particular is able to dispell the pale because it's a brand new school of thought to move humanity forward positively.

[@jyrkikokkola8547]

Man, this really moved me in ways I can't really put into words rn. Easiest subscribe of my life.

[@itspaddyd]

Innocences are definitely magpies. Isn't their whole deal that they are the ones who bring great societal change in unnaturally small time frames? It seems the introduction of novelty is what brought Pale to the world, but perhaps the existence of an innocence accelerates it's expansion. There has not been an innocence for a couple hundred years, so the new innocence heralding the end of the world makes sense to me.

[@user-sl6gn1ss8p]

I'll start calling any media set in the current times "pre-apocalyptic"

[@EphemeraEssays]

Thank you for making this! I tried reading it and the way it was written was really not to my taste, so it's great finding someone distill the parts so concisely.

[@JamrockHobo]

I recommend trying out the Ibex translation. The one that is pinned in the Reddit made me question my English reading skills too.

[@mongee3614]

This brought me a lot of comfort. Thank you

[@MxArgent]

I like to think that at some point - millions, possibly billions of years - in the future, life would one day emerge from the Pale again. Un jour je serai de retour près de toi.

[@_cotillion]

I love DE with all of my heart. It's hard to express how exceptional and unique this game is for me. Love all about it: worldbuilding, story, characters, ambient and soundtrack just kill me. But after watching this video I realized how deep the shit is and how many things i didn't pay attention to. The scale is immense.

[@Peanutjoepap24]

This is the best Disco video on KZbin and it’s not even close.

[@JamrockHobo]

❤️😭

[@crazyd3uces]

This presentation of the pale and the world of both the game and book was utterly perfect.

[@y4notu236]

This is the vid I NEEDED, back in august when I played i got sucked in and tried to find an Estonian who actually read the book, there's gotta be a connection between the golden computers and Dolores why would they put one in the church right next to a portrait of her?! and say she gave off some heat, ALSO I got the feeling the first time through that the ending was gonna be world shattering, it didn't happen in the game but thats because it happens in the book! also the pale hinted at grander plot developments but also mainly because the music was larger than the game itself and left me feeling like the world was real and that big things would happen like Joyce's theme

[@skuarf]

Impressive job man. Your research and attention to detail was simply outstanding.

[@JamrockHobo]

Thanks a lot, I appreciate it!❤

[@Personal_Chizo]

I wasn't even aware there were some full translations already! Subscribed, and thank you for brightening my week.

[@vitorgross9254]

by far the best disco elysium video I've seen

[@JamrockHobo]

Thanks so much!

[@nawe325]

knowing that the pale is supposed to represent climate change also helps contextualize a lot of the stuff about the pale like how humanities greed for more is what both created climate change and the pale

[@JamrockHobo]

And that both are running out of time. Note though that's its not necessarily an explicit metaphor by the game, just one that I find suiting to see why the pale is so menacing and "real"

[@Notna-e5s]

The pale being a confirmed metaphor for climate change is pretty lame. It was much more interesting when I saw it as an all encompassing representation of modernity collapsing in on itself and a godless, anxious world - not something just seen in the news and used as a propoganda device by governments

[@Skozerny]

"knowing that the pale is supposed to represent climate change" Please provide the context where Robert Kurvitz stated this. It's a fitting allegory, but -supposed- is a strong word.

[@dashiellgillingham4579]

28:10 The Road by Cormac McCarthy, but the point stands. The popular young mediums have yet to stray far from their roots, as pacifiers for the babes of a world of death and factories. They will, eventually. I believe that.

[@connormartin4705]

This video made a lot of metaphors in our beautiful game click with me in a way they hadn’t before (especially in regards to the workings of the pale)

[@void-creature]

It was almost 4 minutes Into this video that I realise "Wait, this is obviously going to contain a motherload of spoilers for DE, what am I doing??'

[@JamrockHobo]

Haha. Feel free to come back after playing the game! Even though I must say that it doesn't spoil the main investigation, only other cool stuff that you shouldn't get spoiled about.

[@PhoenixWrites2309]

I think its a fairly relative thing but this is my GOAT of videos. Work of art in its own right alongside the game and book it's based on

[@aidenLjmz]

i have watched this like three times because your analysis is amazing! Love your channel

[@JamrockHobo]

😭❤

[@PleaseCallMeRyan]

awesome video, excited to read the book and appreciated your analysis!

[@heathercole4180]

Thank you so so much for including subs, incredible content and instant subscribe ❤️

[@KameTrick]

Nicely done, dude! I played through DE Final Cut for the first and only time last year, and read Sacred and Terrible Air last month--such an interesting world and story. I look forward to seeing more from you and hopefully we'll see more from this world in the future.

[@Medosse]

I loved how u covered up so many topics in such a short time,amazing work!Also,great voice!

[@JamrockHobo]

Haha, not *that* short! Thanks a lot!

[@StephWash]

I knew you cooking sth big. Hell yeah

[@badley2095]

Thanks for the video! Also there is a manga called Firepunch that depicts pre\postapocalyptic world without any escapism and estetics. Just slow rotting away.

[@Jilluminum]

I think the game is very clear about the pale as an oncoming apocalypse and the end-of-all-things and I think it worked well as a metaphor for death and dissolution in general. We have this character who's being eaten alive by regrets and trauma and heartbreak and losing little tiny pieces of himself and he's a perfect mirror of a world that's coming apart in much the same way. As an older person struggling with the the overwhelming pain from their past and the unthinkable nothing of the future, harry is left with a choice about whether he wants to surrender to that nothing or to fight it tooth and nail for every inch. Disco is a story about recovering from the brink of suicidal despair and reaching back into yourself to find if not love and joy, then at least life and vitality. The party you throw in the church doesn't stop the pale, but it pushes it very slightly further away. We might not be able to avoid oblivion forever, but maybe we can keep it at bay long enough to have a few more parties and make a few more friends.

[@jayrocoria132]

Absolutely incredible video . I know more about this awesome world now thanks to you

[@alwaysright3943]

Phenomenal video, perhaps the best I’ve seen on KZbin. Looking forward to more, you earned my sub.

[@JamrockHobo]

😭❤

[@jentzi23]

This was really really interesting. I'm glad KZbin recommended it to me.

[@TheForeignCreature]

Oh, that's my recording at 7:43. Great video, glad I could be of help! :P

[@bubthebubster9092]

this video is amazing i never knew about half of this stuff and disco elysium is my favorite game!!! looking forward to more stuff like this

[@JamrockHobo]

Thanks, I appreciate it! Yeah you often finish a game without knowing much about the world. I didn't even know what Elden Ring about until I saw a lore video haha

[@leschenaultia]

Absolutely amazing work. I can't even begin to describe how i'm feeling right now. I now understand a lot more of Elysium's theme, it's so horrible, hopeful, beautiful, and real. Amazing video comrade.

[@JamrockHobo]

😭❤️

[@emprem1917]

that exceeded all my expectations for what one could take away from the game, after my first playthrough. thank you so much for sharing your deep analysis!

[@Deckard79]

Superb work

[@yungangina3633]

he did it. he actually did it

[@cstar3880]

such an amazing video, loved this

[@edsonandrade.person]

Thank you for this video. It makes us understand and appreciate even more this masterpiece. Great work here.

[@woody4779]

Thank you for this video

[@TGabrielTPOI]

Great topic and very well documented. Please give us more long format videos with your take and analysis on various DE topics. 🙏

[@arcticfoxinsox]

This is so brilliant. I love it when videos really make me think. You’re a legend

[@choricito4261]

Thanks for giving us a link to read it for free, i couldnt find it anywhere before i saw this vid, thank you!

[@ChessQuestionMark]

This is such a good video, you are literally encyclopedia, please make more videos, I feel like I should give you money

[@JamrockHobo]

❤️️😭 (don't give me anything though, it was pleasure to make the video!)

[@ChessQuestionMark]

@@JamrockHobo At least let us buy you a coffee or a pizza, how much money for an audiobook reading of the Sacred and Terrible air?

[@ZgermanGuy.]

Having just completed reading this i must say it works WAY better as a sequel to the game than a prequel The game does a way better job of introducing you to the world and its concept the book is clearly set in the universe but only by having the knowledge that its technology is supposed to be stuck in the 80s does the whole Atmosphere work right from the start

[@jesusp.1344]

I have never subscribed so hard to a channel before.

[@astf7971]

Currently doing a second play through, and almost everything about the pale was something I either completely missed or brushed off as Harry or the world having a moment I also didn’t expect the moralintern and their quest to also be involved with it And I thought I figured the game out, now we can only hope that the original creators get the IP back so these concepts actually get explored in the intended way

[@gorangluscic4419]

Such a great video! I'm looking forward to your future content.

[@JamrockHobo]

And future content shall come!

[@Bruno-vk8yp]

amazing work, congrats comrade!

[@JamrockHobo]

Thank you, much appreciated!

[@dawidwojacki5049]

I completed the game twice and this video still showed me things I haven't seen yet

[@phoenixshade001]

This vid and the one by Kay&Skittles are the best videos made about disco elysium. Most critiques fall short of understanding or end up deliberately ignoring all that the game and the world represents.

[@brolol3136]

That's so cool. Many thanks 👍

[@Miguel-is9mr]

Aw man, I refuse to believe that our boy Harry and the crew are just going to get nuked in the future, this HAS to be a preventable timeline :( Great video btw!

[@RiSK907]

Thank you for this, it was a beautiful video. Its all the more bittersweet because Disco Elysium 2 will probably never come to fruition due to greed and infighting within the developer company. Robert was apparently fired, even though this entire game is built upon his world. There is a huge lawsuit taking place between Robert and the current majority share holder of the company who fired him. Its all so sad. Something this beautiful doesnt come along often, in fact this game is quite definitely one of a kind. I hope from the bottom of my heart that Robert goes on to create more games - and hopefully, someday, far into the future, we will see more of Disco Elysium 😮‍💨

[@tappajavittu]

I've only played Disco Elysium thru 1,5 times but it's already my all time favorite game and perhaps my #1 narrative experience topping most if not all films, shows, books, comics, whatever. Just a masterclass in writing. I also love how pairing being a apocalypse cop and a superstar cop you basically become and absurdist cop. What a wonderfully deep ocean of melancholy this game is. And I gotta mention the soundtrack, just listening to the whirling in rags 8 am theme makes waves of nostalgia wash over me.

[@kombucha_director]

Thank you. This is a brilliant analysis of the lore, of the ideas that were presented in the game, but which I've failed to realize hold a great significance and value. Thank you, you are good man