Harry's plight in the game shows the danger of deriving happiness only from others. Once we make someone our whole world, we are at their mercy. If you find happiness within yourself however, you will always carry it around with you.

I appreciate the effort that went into this, i also was aware of the amount of posts & conversations were had about people being "broken," by that scene, shortly after breakups, or after dealing with addiction. for my second playthrough, i was fascinated by Dolores Dei/Moralism angle & how it relates to historic figures or real life imperialistic history; but the sequence in the clip here hit me a little bit differently than i was led to believe: While we have to take into account it's not a 1:1 reliable version of Dora, despite her wistfulness & even willingness to talk to Harry, her almost gloating about being pregnant & otherwise making low blows were backed up by two things: Jean mentioning that she was part of the bourgeoisie, meaning she was almost cosplaying as poor when she had a safety net all along & could have been attracted to Harry being a "normal person" almost like an exotic pet, but was never in danger of actual devastation herself. Second point being Insulindian Phasmid's last sentence "Move on from that woman. It doesn't take a 3 meter stick bug to tell you that woman was Hell." It just made the interaction with Dora/Dolores feel off & my takeaway was that Harry got played, rather than people resonating with "Damn, he fu*ked up his chance because he's a loser and i relate," pining for lost love, when Harry never had any shot to begin with. Which is specifically not meant to downplay what resonated with players - art speaks to different people differently. But it's something I haven't really heard talked about. I was relieved when I heard you actually bring up some "Dora wasn't perfect points," but still didn't touch on that.

This was very insightful, thank you! I like your theory about the pale influence on this Dora -- Dolores convergence, the way Harry speaks to the Dolores part indeed reminds me of the way the pale driver lady speaks to her infused memories in this semi-detached way

@owlbatross9187

9 ай бұрын

You're welcome, glad you enjoyed it! You bring up a great point there about the Pale Driver - the way Harry talks to Dolores in that segment and even the way he vividly remembers things about her at times is definitely similar to the way the Pale Driver slips in and out of memories! Great catch!

It's always the one that love deeply and give all so purely ends up getting broken and left alone while the other side moves on so quickly and easily without giving a damn that's why I feel so related to Harry cause I've went through what he went through It's pure hell seeing the one you deeply loved lives his life happily without you while you're alone and broken picking up your broken pieces...

Cut to the car in the ice- "He made some serious mistakes." Top quality humour there.

@owlbatross9187

5 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed that! I laughed out loud while editing that in myself!

My memory is hazy on the Church scene, but it's worth noting that Harry having been able to identify what the stained glass used to look like before it was broken serves as additional evidence he could have been there. Why else would he have been able to piece the design back together? I know the iconography of the window is probably as renown as Dolores herself, but Visual Calc isn't omnipotent (As proven by its failure to identify where the Deserter's shot came from in Klaasje's bedroom) and it'd feel strange for Harry to have so much information on something he's not in some way related to. I'm in heavy support of the raid theory!

Team Harry all the way. One faced hardship and became unwell, the other left because of that.

@owlbatross9187

6 ай бұрын

I totally agree! I'm firmly on Harry's side with this one.

main issue with the analysis around income is the RCM is a volunteer force in Revachol, it can barely finance its own departments to have equipment, and its stated that most of the members are paid via charitable donations from the precincts they work within. they are not an official government body either, and only really exist out of necessity, as the coalition refuses to make an actual police force but continue to occupy revachol without allowing them to establish their own government. Becoming a lieutennant-yfrettor likely helped in this, and being a surprisingly competent and reliable detective meant he likely had a more stable income, but by then his fiance had left him. I always interpreted it as she came from money and he from not, as you mention it likely caused contention as any social class difference would another note, Harry worked in Jamrock, a nearby precinct/neighborhood, as Martinaise had no actual precinct and had long been neglected due to issues with the union's hostility and lack of resources for the RCM, Kim and Harry are there to decide which of their precincts will take on the extra load by proving they can handle a particularly rough and politically risky situation.

really cool analysis of the convergence of the characters. thanks for sharing. i didnt realize that if u dont go to the church they didnt combine at the end. i love the complexities of this game

@owlbatross9187

8 ай бұрын

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it! Yeah, the alternate dream segment is really hard to trigger, given that folks are just naturally inclined to check out things like the stained glass mural and all the lines about the "ex-something". It really is a very complex game, with so many interesting outcomes and possibilities!

I think the fusion was just a thing his brain did because he worshipped his ex, personally. I only have one line from one his more notoriously usually wrong head voices, but one (electrochemistry I think) mentions his view of her body was almost religious in how he worshipped her beauty. And that was enough to fuse the actual beautiful blond haired religous figure and the the ex, who's beauty he worshipped in the tattered wreck of his brain.

I was just thinking about how interesting the connection between these characters were and the general reaction to Dora being either hatred/anger or just plain melancholia . Really insightful analysis , great video.

@owlbatross9187

7 ай бұрын

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it! Yeah I've been wondering about the connection there ever since I first played the game, so I had a great time sitting down and trying to tease out the connection between them.

Good analysis - this game is amazing. It really made me emotional . I feel like I got the best ending on my play through and I can’t bring myself to do a different run. It was too relatable . Harry reminds me of my Dad who also has an addictive personality and alcohol addiction. Through this game I could imagine it was my own Pa I saved from the downward spiral. I have empathy for Dora too - the struggle of living with and trying to support someone with an addiction and mental health problems is real. It can cause a lifetime of heartache and trauma, especially if they don’t want to be helped. Sorry for the loaded comment 😂

@owlbatross9187

3 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for sharing this! So sorry to hear about your dad, I totally understand how finishing Harry's journey would feel that way after that experience. I probably wouldn't want to give it a second run either! Honestly, I've only ever aimed for different endings for the sake of getting footage of different outcomes. I empathize with Dora as well - I can only imagine how difficult it must've been living with Harry once the realities of being in the RCM started to take a toll on him

This was very informative. I like this theory

@owlbatross9187

9 ай бұрын

Thank you, I appreciate it! Yeah I really think this interpretation of his relationship with Dora adds a lot to the context of the game

Theory on how Harry lost his memory- (spoilers) The hole in the world is a small bit of Pale that is growing and consuming information and likely Harry's memory. The Pale corrodes the mind and may be related to information from the future being sent back to the past which is consuming the past. The mercenary was in the Whirling in Rags on the third floor and a bullet crossed the water breaking through the window and hitting him in the head. Harry unknowingly recreates the past in reverse on the second floor. He arrives a week after the murder takes a shoe off his foot and he throws it out of a window (the second broken window in a week) It's likely in this moment his memory is sucked out of him across the water into the hole in the world. It's like Zizek says the first time something happens by tragedy and the second time as farce. (there is also a parallel here due to the raid on the Church also breaking the stained glass window.)

Dang, this was a great video. Lot's of stuff I never really thought about.

@owlbatross9187

6 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it! Honestly, I think this video is one of my best. I really had a great time sifting through all of the dialogue and putting what we know about their relationship into perspective!

What an amazing essay! Thanks a lot for your hard work, I really loved it and it helped me to summarize all the things in my head

@owlbatross9187

8 ай бұрын

Thank you so much, I'm glad you enjoyed it! I had a blast putting this video together! I love talking about Disco Elysium, it's such an awesome game. I'll have another DE video out next month!

Sick video. Thank you !

@owlbatross9187

3 ай бұрын

You're welcome! Glad you enjoyed it - this is easily one of the videos I'm most proud of!

Just binged all if your Disco Elysium vids they are all so good! Cannot wait to see what else you have in store definitely subscribing!!!

@owlbatross9187

8 ай бұрын

Thank you so much, I'm glad to hear you enjoyed them! I'll be dropping my next Disco Elysium video next week! This one will be on the Phasmid!

@harmony9493

8 ай бұрын

@@owlbatross9187 very excited I’ll make sure to tune in for it!

Beautiful video!!

@owlbatross9187

3 ай бұрын

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it! More Disco Elysium videos are on the way!

such a good essay thank you

@owlbatross9187

6 ай бұрын

You're welcome! Glad you enjoyed! I have more Disco Elysium videos on the way!

I feel for Harry

@owlbatross9187

5 ай бұрын

Me too. It's part of why I've never been able to do a "bad" playthrough of the game - it just feels so good to see him pull himself together!

great video

@owlbatross9187

3 ай бұрын

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!

Wait is harry always a gym teacher

@stephenlewis5837

9 ай бұрын

Always. Harry's history pre-bender never changes

@granola-approach

9 ай бұрын

no i assume he wasnt when he was a baby

@owlbatross9187

9 ай бұрын

Yup, always a high school gym teacher before he became a cop! Explains a lot of things, especially Physical Instrument haha

@TheBarbarianBear

9 ай бұрын

Yeah with the caveat that the player's political choices have an effect on HDB's recent political opinion. Idiot Doom Spiral mentions Tequila Sunset's drunken political rant.

Damn it, I just finished the game tonight and skipped sleeping on the bed because I'm a superstar cop lmao. Edit: Great video btw. I related a lot to the end. I've been hung up on this girl for over a year now. It fluctuates. Therapy does help me, but before therapy, people had art. And this game is art.

@owlbatross9187

2 күн бұрын

It's a great segment, but no worries - I almost missed it myself on my first playthrough! I thought it seemed like a bad idea considering the terrible shape Harry was in at the time! Glad you enjoyed it and well said! Best of luck my friend - I hope you find a way to move forward. I didn't get into it in the video, but I do have some experience with the same thing. It's one of many reasons I relate so much to the game and to Harry - it was very easy for me to see my own struggles in what he goes through with Dora.

I don't think his identification and blurring of Dolores Dei and Dora is anything that's supernatural or outright paranormal. It's just something that's strictly within Harry's deteriorating psyche, but it's completely normal. When you go through a particularly rough breakup where you have a lot of love for a person, you really have a hard time of letting go of their memory, and so you draw comparisons and identify them with lots of things, even if they're not necessarily related to, something just keeps popping up that calls back to them or reminds you of them. I had a bunch of girls, who were all attractive in their own way, interested in me before, and who I tried to reciprocate and pursue, and those situationships didn't last because I was really looking for someone that *looked* like her, *felt* like her, and *talked* like her. I was drawn to pursuing girls that looked like her for a long time, and then getting bummed when they couldn't be like her... We really get traumatized when they go through a nasty, emotional breakup, and we end up having the same repetitive thoughts of "what if I didn't do this..." or "what if I said the right words?" or "what if I tried to convince her again?" and this manifests often in our dreams and unwarranted flashbacks. This is a real phenomenon called "emotional flashbacks" that's involved heavily and draws upon what's traumatized us so heavily that it lingers around our nervous system for a time. And this game, unintentionally or not, depicts it in a way that hurts... but also feels beautiful and endearing.

ok but why does your voice and manner of speaking sound like the cryptofash 💀

@owlbatross9187

4 ай бұрын

I sound like Gary? O_O Excuse me while I go question my life decisions!

@ruofanyu6699

4 ай бұрын

@@owlbatross9187 not perfectly but i bet you could do a bang on impersonation if you lean into it

@Feningor

2 ай бұрын

Really? Sometimes his voice sounds totally like Garte's to me :}