unforum

[Zebez]

[Starkley]

[Lithp]

You know, my problem with the story is that it just doesn't work anywhere.

It's apparently not the origin story, & if it was, now that I've seen the parallels to Freddy Kruegar, I can't unsee them.

Then you have the idea of Alex using it as "a distraction." First of all, this is cheap, but more than that, Jay isn't asking any questions about The Operator, so it doesn't make sense to feed him this bullshit origin story just before killing him.

And the problem with this new idea of giving The Operator a "sense of longevity" is that, in order to make it work, you would need to have Jay uncover more stories about The Operator, that also conflict with each other. And that strains the suspension of disbelief because, after all of this time, this story, told by Alex, is the only information that Jay has come across about The Operator.

[DHawk314]

Okay, I re-watched the DVD commentary for "Joseph Tells a Story" as Tim called it (Entry #38 ), and I realized I hadn't remembered a lot of it. For one thing, they don't just say it's not an origin story, they say they like the fact the Operator doesn't have an origin, and currently plan on never having one (This was made between Seasons 2 and 3). But more importantly, they explain the purpose of the story entirely. So I just made a transcript out of some of what they said. The part in bold explains why Alex is telling the story.


Joseph: We weren't, *sigh* and let us be perfectly clear about this, WE ARE NOT GIVING AN ORIGIN STORY!

Troy: Ya. We got a good bit of flack for trying to attach an origin story to something that didn't really need it.

Joseph: Ya, and that should really be emphasized because we like the fact that there isn't a set origin story and we don't really want there to be one.

Troy: Although we don't really wanna shoot ourselves in the foot here and be like "We will never do an origin story, ever!" because, ya' know. We probably won't, but it's...ya.

Joseph: Ya. Never is a dirty word (Troy: Ya) but uh-

Troy: We like the fact that there's no big scary story as to why the Operator exists.

Joseph: Ya, but anyway, um, he was being creepy and weird, like, this is BAD, like, you find out later where this kind of leads, um-

Tim: He's just being a dirty little fella.

Troy: Ya.

EDIT: Edited for grammar.

[FalloutGhoul]

[BurntToShreds]

I still think that Tim's mental health problems are what allowed the OP to affect Tim and make him become Masky, and that Tim is not the one who made the Operator. Although, I'm betting that he knows more than he's letting on. Perhaps the OP had been attracted to his less-than-perfect mental health when he was younger, then Tim got over it, but now he knows a bit more about how the OP, well, operates. However, the hole in that theory is that it would mean that Tim would have been freaking out and stuff when Alex wanted to film Marble Hornets down there. Whatever the case, I believe that Tim has an advantage over Jay and Alex in the "Operator information" department.

[S.Reay051]

[Lithp]

That is precisely no explanation at all. If "you'll find out later where this leads" refers to Alex trying to shoot Jay, that falls into the previously mentioned problems why it doesn't work in-universe. You can say it was foreshadowing, but that's an entirely out-of-context explanation. If it's referring to something that happens later, then it's still not an explanation, but at least the lack of an explanation is justified.

[Drnothing1]

[Starkley]

[Lithp]

If you have it all figured out, then by all means, explain. I'm not going to keep re-watching looking for some deeper meaning that very well might not exist.

[Drnothing1]

[Starkley]

Yes. What?

Also, what is a sacrifice anyway. People keep throwing that word around but so far the only thing we know is that The Operator hunts you down based on your facial hair, because he's jelly. Fully bearded dudes get taken to oblivion while guys with sideburns of justice just get stalked for twenty-odd years. Everyone else just appears to lose memory.

The problem is that TO hasn't actually DONE anything, nor have we noticed it change or gain from the disappearances that HAVE happened. So I don't like the word sacrifice.

In any case, that doesn't explain it/that's an oversimplification of something that already didn't make sense.

[Lithp]

I'm with Starkley. Not only is that a highly speculative theory that has absolutely nothing to do with anything I was saying, but I think you're the one who needs to rewatch the entries, because this is how it happened:

Alex tells Jay to meet him at Rosswood.
Around the same general timeframe, Jay had called Jessica, inviting her.
Jay voices vague misgivings to Jessica.
Alex shows up, is frustrated that Jay brought her along, but brings them anyway.
Jay & Jessica begin to get worried that they're being followed.
Alex tells the story.
They find the building, Alex decides to shoot them both, & argues with Jay about who got Jessica involved.
The Masked Man helps them escape.
The Operator doesn't show up until later, after Jay & Jessica get to the hotel.

This all happens sequentially, on camera. The issue isn't with the order of events, it's with the in-game purpose of the story.

[Flyleaf(IntoTheMist)Wolfi]