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[Axebeard]

There's also the "iwillfindyou" in TTA's latest vid description, which is reminiscent of ######, like TTA is fed up with Jay's failure to lead him to the ark and is coming for him again.

[LegoAlchemist]

Not sure if this has been said yet -- I haven't gone through this topic -- but I would like to post my theories about what the "ark" might be. I'm just getting the feeling that people are starting to make assumptions (such as "the tunnel is the ark because the Operator distortion is different in there") that don't really have... fact.

These are my thoughts:

We have already seen the ark. If not, we have some kind of clue as to what it might be. It's plausible that it appeared somewhere in season 1 -- even as early as Entry 9. This is my reasoning:

If Troy and Joseph are any good at writing (I certainly hope they are -- they've said in interviews that they're not), then the ark would be something introduced early, even if it was a brief glimpse. Anything in season 2 or later would simply be... an ass pull. Almost a deus ex machina. Something that is implied to be this important can't simply appear out of nowhere late into the series. It's "setting the gun on the table"; the gun the hero uses to kill the villain at the end appears early in the story, so it's not just like, "hey, here's a gun out of nowhere. lolbang." It's simply good writing to introduce a late plot point early in the story, so that in the end, when it's revealed, everyone can be like, "ooooooooooh. why didn't we think of that?" (this also supports my belief that we have already been introduced to the alter-ego of totheark) This, of course, is purely from an OOG standpoint. My IG standpoint, to me, makes a bit more sense:

totheark. The only reason we know that such an "ark" exists is because of totheark. IIRC, there has been no other mention of the "ark" in the Entries itself -- it's just totheark. For some reason, totheark is obsessed with finding this ark through Jay (the whole "WHEREIS THEARK" thing in "Exit", "you will lead me to the ark" from #####). Why? Why Jay? There is clearly something totheark believes Jay knows about it -- even if Jay doesn't know it or hasn't realized it. totheark started responding to Jay at about Entry 9. Perhaps there was something in that Entry or an earlier entry that made totheark believe that Jay knew where this "ark" was. It's possible that totheark had been searching for the ark for quite some time, and was so stunned that Jay knew where it was, he started harassing him for the location of it. He continues to follow Jay's movements and create video responses to this day in the event that Jay accidentally reveals the whereabouts of the ark. Whether totheark is searching for this ark for villainous purposes or otherwise is not known. That would lead to an analysis on totheark himself, which is getting off-topic.

So this is more of what he ark could be, not about what the ark actually is. This theory certainly narrows down our choices: the basement thing Alex and Seth were exploring, Brian's house, the gazebo where they were shooting Marble Hornets, the Red Tower; perhaps an object somewhere in the entries that we missed; perhaps Jay himself. All of these are, in my opinion, potential clues. I'm not shooting down the tunnel theory (though I believe there is SOMEthing unusual about that, it's probably more Operator-oriented, while the ark seems to be more about avoiding the Operator), but it just seems so unlikely to me, for the reasons given above.

We also can't rule out time travel. Time travel would essentially nullify everything I have said above.

[Spakken]

I was wondering when somebody was going to bring up time travel. Perhaps the Alex and Seth investigation actually hasn't happened yet, etc.

As far as what the Ark is, there's only a couple of things that I think are being overlooked. We keep assuming that the Ark is a place or object. If Masky needs Jay to lead him to said place or object, then it can't be one we've ever encountered, because Masky knows everything we know AND more. There's only a few ways he would need Jay for this.

1. The ark isn't a place, it's actually more of a concept that Jay has figure out. (This is the weakest of the three and feels very hippy-dippy, but hey it could happen.)
   
2. The ark is an event that combines both object/location and Jay's actions to be successful. (This idea has a nice feel to it, but in all honesty, it's about as weak as the ark being a concept.)
   
3. The ark is still simply a location or object, BUT Jay holds a unique secret that points directly to it without knowing it. See my theory on page 38 of the Entry 49 video, but basically memory wiped info trying to be recovered. (This idea has the most strength, because Masky's been coaxing Jay to recover lost memories, but also has the greatest pitfall because, if Masky's been watching everything we have AND was actually present during Jay's last 'bout of memory wipe, then there's no likely way we can piece together info from the videos to figure out just what the ark is.)

[hsemagliG]

[Zarggg]

Time travel has never been a part of this series, and if I find that that it is, I will ragequit so hard.

[Spakken]

agreed, Zaarg, it would be a cop-out. Perhaps it's just a simple explanation where a complicated one is the truth.

[LegoAlchemist]

[FossilizedSauce]

I always thought something about time travel was widely accepted here. 23 isn't really ambiguous - Jay enters that house in broad daylight, once he goes through the maze of doors it's black as night in a matter of minutes.

[Randoman96]

[Owlish]

I was always, for no good reason, under the impression that Alex was the ark. No, not because of his first and last and hypothetical middle initials. I kind of figured that this ark was something that multiple parties were searching for, including Slendy, and that it had a deep yet obfuscated significance. I can't help but think of "enttry #37," which seems to suggest that Alex and Slendy go way back, but could of course be a vicious lie. This would mean that Alex has some kind of significance to Slendy. What that actually means, though? No clue. Just speculating.

[Tharol]

Do we know if the Ark is one person or more than one person there.

[Blank_Zero]

Bruce was the Ark

Tim's mask is too.

So is the book from 50 (and in 45?)

Jay is an ark.


Satisfied yet? Everything is an Ark.

[Gold Knight]

Maybe the item they ordered for the next entry is the ark. Or did you mean totheark? Because right now, it looks like that's at least two people.

[czaaaaaa]

I've always thought time travel could easily be a theme in this, except from a more philosophical standpoint. The idea that nearly the entirety of Season 2 was done from the previous 7 months, from a storytelling perspective reminds me quite a bit of Vonnegut's Tralfamadorian time. The idea that a being lives constantly every point of his life, every moment of his life and consciously knows that. Jay is going through a conscious retelling to himself of what he had done those past seven months. A bit like a Tralfamadorian would look at himself, on his deathbed. Slightly sad, but delighted that at the same time he's experiencing something altogether fantastic, just at another point in his life.

[jackofnotrades]

Really simple answer, the "ark" is just referencing finding a way out of all of this. Let's not forget, when Jay started posting videos, he didn't think he had been involved with Marble Hornets beyond some location scouting early on, and we've seen from past entries that he was clearly there for slender shenanigans, to the point that he was "gone" with everyone else according to Alex. Somehow, he got out already. Either he did something, or someone else did something for him, or he was just kind of "set free" from all of this.

It seems plausible that totheark wants to follow suit with Jay - perhaps somewhere on a tape is the key, since Jay apparently has no memory of whatever happened.