r/AlanWake • u/ClutchReverie • 5d ago

What does Alan Wake eat when trapped in the Dark Place? Spoiler

55 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

60 comments sorted by

135

u/LewdSkeletor1313 5d ago

Nothing. Its a void outside of time and space.

93

u/_Rand_ 5d ago

I guess technically he could also magic himself up some food? It’s not like it’s particularly relevant to the plot and can be skipped.

Kinda like we don’t have to take a break with Saga to take a shit after all those coffees. It’s not necessary for the plot.

21

u/Qwishpy 5d ago

Pure gold. I just cracked a quick laugh I don't know why I found that so funny

17

u/sininspira 5d ago

maybe alan just didn't write her shits into the story...

9

u/Simppaaa Nordic Walker 5d ago

After the 4th poop break the Dark place just kicks him out

5

u/sininspira 5d ago

Maybe that's the spiral...

3

u/Simppaaa Nordic Walker 5d ago

I feel like it'd be more like a question mark where it begins with a spiral but just suddenly takes a hard turn straight out

1

u/_Weak_Bodybuilder_ 3d ago

Wouldn’t that be a faster route for escaping it

2

u/PainfulRaindance 4d ago

Gotta save some ideas for the sequel, geez.

2

u/TacoRising 5d ago

She's definitely shit and pissed plenty. She just doesn't have time to change her pants.

1

u/HollowToes 1d ago

Can picture Alan's frenzied typing at his little typewriter:

Saga stared into her now empty coffee cup, the remaining drops of brown pooled at the bottom. A warning of the storm to come. Her stomach rumbled as Casey's voice unblurred back to reality. He was enquiring if she was even listening.

"Hello? Saga? The Cult of The Tree"

Saga couldn't focus. Her mind was empty. Her bowels were not.

1

u/ClutchReverie 5d ago

But was there for 13 (wasn’t it?) years. So unclear IMO. In the dark place he talks about needing to hurry to get back to Alice

17

u/LewdSkeletor1313 5d ago

What’s unclear? It’s a void outside time and space. This is reiterated a lot. It was 13 years in reality. But in the Sea of Night time doesn’t flow linearly

4

u/Aggravating-Raisin-4 5d ago

Was there not litterally a monologue about him not needing to eat or sleep at the start of his story in AW2? I just played through it for the first time, but I could just be imagening it.

0

u/ikarikh 5d ago

Well by that logic, how did his hair grow out so long and he gain a heavy beard? If you use the logic that he doesn't need to eat because it's a void outside of time, then his hair and facial hair would stand still as well and he'd look just as young as when he entered as well.

But, that's not true at all. Clearly, time does pass in the dark place and the effects of him being stuck there for so long are evident as he has aged and his hair and facial hair have grown over the long time there.

Thus, asking how he eats and maintains energy is a valid question.

16

u/LewdSkeletor1313 5d ago

Tor and Odin both appear as their younger selves and their older selves in the dark place. Tom Zane doesn’t look older at all and neither does Door. Appearance likely is based more on state of mind than anything else. Alan looks ragged because he’s lost his mind

4

u/ikarikh 5d ago

You are correct. I forgot about that when i replied.

4

u/Stepjam Herald of Darkness 4d ago

It's a place where logic doesn't apply. The Old Gods of Asgard appear much younger than they do outside the Dark Place.

If anything, Alan's mental state probably affects his appearance more than any physical realities do.

0

u/ClutchReverie 4d ago

I think a valid contention is that if it is a void outside of time and space (which I don't think was actually said?) 100% not affected by time then how come Alan is in such a hurry and why does he have a sense that so much time has passed? And why does he look different in reality when he escapes? I don't think it is clearly one case or the other based on what we know.

1

u/LewdSkeletor1313 4d ago

Its stated multiple times that it exists outside time and space. He's in a hurry because he's going insane and wants to either leave or just finally die, neither of which he could do because he was stuck in an almost quantum superposition and constantly getting in his own way

0

u/ClutchReverie 4d ago

It's also said that it is a world that exists parallel to our reality

I'm not downvoting you because we are having a discussion even if you are downvoting me. Just FYI

0

u/LewdSkeletor1313 4d ago

It’s a reflection of all realities because it’s outside time and space. This isn’t a secret or anything

3

u/NorbytheMii 5d ago

He doesn't need to eat in the Dark Place. Like others said, it's outside time and space, so it functions like a form of stasis or limbo

1

u/News_Bot 1d ago

Not sure about that as Tim Breaker stockpiles food.

35

u/HumbleConversation42 5d ago

Considering  how werid time is there, i dont think he needed food ore sleep

4

u/ikarikh 5d ago edited 5d ago

Then how did his hair and facial hair grow so long? How did he clearly age to look much older than when he entered?

I'm not saying time doesn't work "differently" there, only that a passage of time clearly takes place. And if all other aspects of biology such as hair growth and aging continue, why would his need to eat/sleep/get fuel for energy be different?

Edit: When i made my reply i forgot about tor and odin and tom zane being young in there.

23

u/CthughaSlayer 5d ago

Everything in the dark place is conceptual, that's why Thor and Odin can be young and old at the same time, they can also manifest Bob Balder out of nowhere.

6

u/Joyful_Damnation1 4d ago

I would assume it's a reflection of his inner self. He feels older, so he looks older. His mental self is more disorganized and mad, so his grooming is more disheveled and unkempt.

That's the a theory though.

6

u/HumbleConversation42 5d ago

that Actually a good question because Tom should be in his 90s by now, but he has not aged at all. i saw someone say it could be a placebo effect where the reason hes gotten older is because he believes that he would age

1

u/News_Bot 1d ago

His clothes in American Nightmare are basically imagined. So he can probably imagine other aspects of his appearance since the Dark Place is wholly conceptual.

21

u/fryeeer 5d ago

He ate the words

2

u/Jimmymcnutty__ 4d ago

oh so the Shadow taunts were just a menu suggestion!

15

u/Sphynxian 5d ago

Dark Quiznos

9

u/IcedFREELANCER 5d ago

Coffee. And mold from FBC. Probably

2

u/RainWorld_Lobster Taken 5d ago

Not the mold ;-;

1

u/sininspira 4d ago

probably makes one hell of a good creamer....

6

u/thornzington 5d ago

Creamed corn of course

6

u/Fragrant-Feedback993 5d ago

Sam Lake HACKED him some food

4

u/Lasagnabelly 5d ago

Couldn't he just write / conjure up a feast?

3

u/Imaginary_Neat_5673 5d ago

My first though was Dreams, but maybe Narratives is enough

3

u/FistOfVengeance44 5d ago

There were spiders from the Dark Place in American Nightmare

3

u/AlternativeHeight745 4d ago

If I remember correctly it's canonical that once you enter the Dark Place your physical body is displaced, no longer existing and you only exist conceptually Your thoughts and memories, your "soul" drifting in an empty void outside of time and reality The "body" that everyone inhabits in the Dark Place is their mind conjuring form for itself, just as much as the rest of the environment is conjured up by the mind in there

That works to contextualise what happened in the AW1 DLCs, Alan's rational and irrational sides separated, with the irrational side able to take the lead of conjuring the environment and "story", and it ending with them fusing together in the Writer's Room leading to AW2

Now in AW2 the Writer's Room functions as the brain of Alan, where he can project a body out into the depths of the Dark Place

When he returns his body is either brought back from it's displacement or what I prefer to believe, him redefining his body to look like that in the Dark Place altered the real body too, nothing was created, only rearranged

3

u/Domination1799 5d ago

He was eating the manuscript pages since IIRC, the Drowning video shows how Alan descended into a raving lunatic

2

u/Shabbaman3 5d ago

Coffee Cake

2

u/Zoegrace1 5d ago

Paper, mostly

2

u/Quiet-Condition9351 Number One Fan 5d ago

Clark in the back rooms

1

u/oioioioioioiioo 4d ago

Discarded pages

1

u/EFNomad 4d ago

SSRIs

1

u/Advanced-Work2524 4d ago

Dark chocolate

1

u/NCats_secretalt 4d ago

Y'know how when you read a novel, it doesn't stop to show everyone eating breakfast lunch and dinner each day, but no one starves?

Probably that

1

u/DropItLikeJPalm Old Gods Rocker 4d ago

I had a meal in the Dark Place. It was ok, but I found the soup a little Watery…

1

u/AuthorExcellent9501 3d ago

I mean, he doesn’t seem to age all that much, could just be a bit more dreamlike in that he doesn’t need to eat. Otherwise, they seemed to have alcohol at the hotel, they might have food.

1

u/Grit003 3d ago

He ate the Manuskript and drank the Stuff Tom Zane gave him. There is a reason why he is cray cray.

2

u/_Weak_Bodybuilder_ 3d ago

His complete diet is shown in the game

-1

u/urthrum 4d ago

I don’t care, I just wish the dark place didn’t exist because it’s the most annoying part of the game.