What exactly is The Pale? (spoilers?)

[Seatbelt]

From what I understand it's a colorless odorless fog that spans the area between countries or "Isolas" and sort of bends reality more and more the further you go in to the point the laws of physics no longer apply and thus makes it impossible to traverse using conventional means in long stretches of time. The only way to pass safely is by using a helicopter or an "aerostatic". I also understand that The Pale didn't always exist and only appeared when humans came to be, as stated by the weird reed bug creature.

All this I gathered from the Wiki page since the pale is rarely explained in any good detail (save for a few NPC's). The wiki is vague about it at best and I'm not entirely 100% on my understanding of it (please correct me on it). But I think that's the point, the pale is unknowable by nature and even from the NPC that gives you the most information on it says it's hard to describe. Please post your thoughts and theories on what the pale is and what significance it has to the story and the world of Disco Elysium

[psychotron666420]

From my understanding, it's growing and devouring life. Once it covers the planet, everyone will die. And as far as I know, there's nothing that will stop it from growing. So basically the world is doomed, is the significance it has on the world.

[Du-Vu]

It also seems to be a metaphor/actual physical manifestation of sadness and memory? So the more humans cling to the past, the greater the threat to all of existence. Or something, maybe. Open to interpretation by design, I think.

[Shadow of Moel]

My opinion is that it seems like a merger of space and death(afterlife).
Its space full of memories of the past.
Saturated with memories you can't escape, so your mind will eventually drown in it. And you will be lost. Never to return.

[mitchincredible]

Based on the explanations given it sounds like it's effectively something that impacts time-space in a similar manner to a black hole.

There was one point where they discuss going to far in will result in a point where all directions and further inwards etc. which is very similar to theoretical ideas of getting close to/at a singularity in a black hole.

In the context of the game it is likely generated by dead memories and is also a metaphor for the main character's despair.

[DuckieMcduck]

Pale is a good ol sci fi supernatural. Possibly intertwined with religion if the theory behind the church being a containment for the "2mm hole" is correct. The ingame consensus is that it is man made as well.

The answer is purposely ambiguous. Those that go through the pale suffer from exposure damage which affects their physiology (Joyce can't sleep) and may even implant memories (Paledriver lady). It affects physics drastically (absorbs radiowaves) but not enough that it can't be traversed. May explains why Tiago (crab man) is an ascended crackhead if he's been hanging around the hole for long enough.

The moralist quest ending you inform Coalition Archer about the hole and they swiftly abduct you for it in a classic secret government maneuver to keep dangerous things under a rug. It's such a world event in the setting which is "too big" for Harrier's Disco Elysium to explore, maybe another game or book will go into more technical details because traversal and side effects of doing so seems to have been well thought out.

[𝔅𝔯𝔬𝔗𝔞𝔱𝔬 :)]

I cant help but feel like the Pale is a metaphor, its easy to quantify as Lovecraftian if taken literally, and applied to our world, but if viewed from a 4th wall perspective, it might make a bit more sense. maybe in the future the developers plan on going into more detail about it. but with the way the world is composed almost entierly of only busy spots, how everything past it errodes into meaningless nonsense, how it seems to grow and expand and is affected by our human capacity to think. I feel like its connected to US, not the characters in the story, but we, the humans outside the story, reading and speaking about it. maybe Disco is some sort of sister/mirror universe, maybe its implying that our subconsious is shared in a way? like were 'taking' ideas from this world, and replacing them with nothing when we bring it to ours? some sort of physical space imagination, where everything that doesnt exist, exists, and everything that doesnt exist, does. and the moment we make games about it, or think about it, introduce it to our world, and let it affect us, were taking all of that from somewhere, from here.

or maybe a snapshot of the creator's mind? they say the Pale is increasing, but what if thats the opposite? what if its getting clearer with time? a fictional world created by the author, by the game dev team, the only parts of the world that are concrete and unique to it being placed here, and any blanks left are the places their world and ours have in common. but seeming out of place for the story, like a... plot hole, like a logical inconsistency? like the complete unravelling of reality? nonsensical by its very nature? sounds a lot like the Pale doesnt it? I dont know, thats the best explanation my mind could come up with, maybe its something more lovecraft and less meta, but for fictional characters, is there really a difference?

[SkankHunt42]

Kurvitz (the main writer) himself said, when talking about his inspirations, and referencing the Soviet Union's tradition of science fiction literature and the works of the Strugatsky brothers in particular. "They were people who took responsibility for the heat death of the universe. When they were writing books, this needed to contribute to the ultimate fate of the universe. Because they didn't have money obligations, so what are your obligations then? So this kind of serious responsibility for, what the ♥♥♥♥ does a piece of entertainment really do to the human mind, and what are the responsibilities therein, that I think is very, very, very prevalent in Disco Elysium."

The Pale is a metaphor for entropy (heat death of the universe). I mean, the very study of it in the game is called "entroponetics" (i.e. entropy). I believe he's blending the metaphor with the concept of reality just breaking down. Everything mixing together... getting lost. Not entirely, things still exists, but theres no form anymore. Everything has just become everything. Even conceptually. It's quite an alien concept / phenomena to simulate mentally, so I wouldn't try too hard. It's supposed to be confusing; it's the breakdown of meaning itself.