Hiss incantation

The Hiss incantation is a Dadaist poem that is recited by individuals possessed or influenced by the Hiss.

Description

The Hiss incantation, as it is described by the Federal Bureau of Control, is a recursive chant repeated by entities which are possessed or influenced by the Hiss. This has included Hiss-possessed FBC agents as well as Dylan Faden and Zachariah Trench. The meaning of the poem, if any, is not known by the Bureau, though Emily Pope was adamant that the incantation was meaningful, perhaps a statement of intention or a means of spreading the Hiss resonance. Dylan Faden, while under the Hiss's influence, described the incantation as soothing.

The incantation is Dadaist, incorporating irrationality and a rejection of logic into its structure. The ominous tone of the chant hints towards misanthropy, isolation and violence, much like the behavior of the Hiss infected themselves.

Origins

Expansion 2: AWE reveals that the Hiss incantation is a Dadaist poem written by Alan Wake. Wake needed something to convey an "alien force mimicking human intelligence," something that could not be translated. He cut up sentences and words and then put them in a shoebox, pulling out the words and forming them together into what would later become the Hiss incantation.

It remains unclear if Wake was in some way interpreting the Hiss through his paranatural abilities, if the Hiss took this poem for some unknown purpose, or (given Wake's ability to rewrite reality) if this is even proof that the Hiss itself is merely one of his fictional creations brought to life. However, there is some evidence that the Hiss may have actually implanted the chant into Wake's subconscious, as the lines "you give us the permission in your regulations" and "the word that describes this is redacted" appears to be directly mocking the FBC's bureaucratic structure and censorship of information, with "you've taken your boss with your boss with you" possibly alluding to Zachariah Trench (the "boss" of the FBC) being under the thrall of the Hiss itself.

Transcript

“

You are a worm through time. The thunder song distorts you. Happiness comes. White pearls, but yellow and red in the eye. Through a mirror, inverted is made right. Leave your insides by the door. Push the fingers through the surface into the wet. You’ve always been the new you. You want this to be true. We stand around you while you dream. You can almost hear our words but you forget. This happens more and more now. You gave us the permission in your regulations. We wait in the stains. The word that describes this is redacted. Repeat the word. The name of the sound. It resonates in your house. After the song, time for applause. We build you till nothing remains. The egg cracks and the truth will emerge out of you. You are home. You remind us of home. You’ve taken your boss with your boss with you. All hair must be eaten. Under the conceptual reality behind this reality you must want these waves to drag you away. After the song, time for applause. This cliché is death out of time, breaking the first the second the third the fourth wall, the fifth wall, floor; no floor: you fall! How do you say “insane”? Hurts to be happy. An earworm is a tune you can’t stop humming in a dream: “baby baby baby yeah”. Just plastic. So, safe and nothing to worry about. Ha ha, funny. The last egg breaks now. The hole in your room is a hole in you. You came and we let you in through the hole in you. You have always been here, the only child. A copy of a copy of a copy. Orange peel. The picture is you holding the picture. When you hear this you will know you’re in new you. You want to listen. You want to dream. You want to smile. You want to hurt. You don’t want to be.

”

See also

• Linguistic Ability
• Speech Analysis
• Wake Writes a Beginning