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Forum index » Chaotic Fiction » Marble Hornets

Is The Operator really the bad guy?
Moderators: Giskard, JKatkina, Zarggg

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aboynamedsam
Boot

Joined: 25 Aug 2011
Posts: 31
Location: Northern California

Is The Operator really the bad guy?

Ok, I know everyone has assumed that the Operator and SM are one and the same. I am unconvinced. As of yet, I have not seen a single aggressive action made by the Operator. He lurks, he follows and has made people lose time and get sick due to some form of aura that he seems to have. The only aggression I've seen is from Masky/Tim and totheark. The puzzles have all come from tta. The attacks and disappearances have been in the presence of Masky/Tim. Granted, the Operator is spooky but he has had multiple opportunities to attack, kill, maim or otherwise harm, nearly everyone that has made an appearance on film. Why has he not acted upon those opportunities?

I, instead, pose a new theory. In my opinion, the Operator is not evil but is attempting to warn Alex and Jay about TTA. He seems to have issues communicating with Jay and (until recently) Alex due to the previously mentioned aura. I think that maybe Alex, having either lost his will to live or became more offensive due to the threat against his girlfriend, stopped trying to run and now knows the truth. Furthermore, I believe that Alex's actions recently have seemed odd only because the Operator has asked Alex to maintain discretion and secrecy. TTA seems to know a lot about Jay, therefore, the Operator wants to keep Jay out of the loop or possibly use Jay as bait. This would explain why Alex no longer seems to fear the Operator.

Any comments or suggestions are welcomed.

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 8:22 am

Riovas
Decorated

Joined: 12 Oct 2009
Posts: 195

Re: Is The Operator really the bad guy?

aboynamedsam wrote:

If you are suggesting that TTA and Timasky are the bad guys, Alex was being chased around 2 years before TTA or masky even existed. That does not make sense. Alex even mentions in entry 47 that he wasn't attacked/chased by masked people until he was around Jay.

aboynamedsam wrote:

As of yet, I have not seen a single aggressive action made by the Operator. He lurks, he follows and has made people lose time and get sick due to some form of aura that he seems to have.

You call this not being aggressive, but TTA' puzzles are? How? Also, how do you explain Amy missing?

aboynamedsam wrote:

The attacks and disappearances have been in the presence of Masky/Tim.

Amy is missing from when she meets the operator. Seth is missing from collapsing in the basement of doom (with slendy's face appearing). Alex transports to slendy in entry 43. Alex is also teleported WITH the operator in entry 44. Again, how is the operator not being aggressive?

aboynamedsam wrote:

Granted, the Operator is spooky but he has had multiple opportunities to attack, kill, maim or otherwise harm, nearly everyone that has made an appearance on film. Why has he not acted upon those opportunities?

Just because he's a bad guy doesn't mean his motive is to kill or attack, he could be trying to use them to acquire an object or goal. And then maybe kill then. It also seems that although Slendy can cause people to lose conscious, the people are capable to fight back and regain control, or slendy can only take over people's minds for limited times.

i dont think Marble Hornets has a simple good guy, bad guy scenario. Everyone has their own virtues and goals, most of which we do not know yet.

EDIT: Its up to the viewer to decide who's goals are right and wrong. For instance, you are viewing TTAs and Tim's goals as deceptive/evil/how ever you want to describe them while the operator's goals are naive/innocent/again however you want to label them. Here are my thought for example

The Operator- requires people to tangibly act in the world in order to either survive or to retrieve something that was lost

Jay- Unfortunate bystander who got caught up

Alex- Chosen by the operator for who knows why, has lost his old life,
friends, and girlfriend, and now probably trying to work the slendy to free himself and Amy.

Tim- (complete speculation here, no evidence of any of this) Possibly the first of the bunch to be haunted and controlled by slendy, but found a way to escape and move on during Marble Hornets, or maybe slendy decided that Tim was too hard to control and went for Alex instead. Tim now does not want Jay to get into this mess and has become Masky and possibly TTA. He wants revenge on Alex for multiple reasons, but primarily to end the operator's grasp around him. Tim probably still feel the effects of slendy on Alex and Jay, and therefore needs to dispose of alex and rescue Jay.

TTA- Very subtle, and seems to be trying to push Jay into a direction for his own goals, mostly trying to figure out who the operator is. Also seems to contain multiple people with different cinema effects and coding/descriptions. TTA also has its hand on tapes from the lost seven months, present day, and to Marble Hornets, so its possible that TTA is a collection of Tim and other original members.

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 9:02 am

Chest Cam Avenger
Unfettered

Joined: 13 Jun 2011
Posts: 309

Riovas - good response, if a bit abrasive.

aboynamedsam - Welcome to the forums!

I essentially agree with Riovas on this, but I think aboynamedsam has a point inasfar as, TO has been riding the "creepy stalker" train for a while now. While he's done a few things implicitly/pseudo off-screen(the taking of Amy, the ??? of Seth), we haven't really seen him do much of anything but wander. This isn't a critique of the filmmakers, but of the character of o-town himself: seriously, WTF are you doing? If you're here for a reason, for real: get on with it.

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 9:21 am

aboynamedsam
Boot

Joined: 25 Aug 2011
Posts: 31
Location: Northern California

@Riovas

Riovas wrote:

Alex was being stalked by the Operator yes but he had no idea who or what (it?, he?) is. All he knew at that point is that the Operator was spooky as hell. Also, Alex claimed that he wasn't being attacked/chased by masked people but everyone has lost memories so far. Who's to say that he remembers everything from two years ago, similar to Jay not remembering who Masky is?

Riovas wrote:

You call this not being aggressive, but TTA' puzzles are? How? Also, how do you explain Amy missing?

Lurking is hardly considered aggressive. Again, creepy but not aggressive. TTA's puzzles have all been accompanied with disturbing imagery and sounds. If tta was, in fact, trying to help, why be so mysterious about it? Why not call up Jay or Alex and come clean. Why the cloak and dagger approach. After all I've seen, he doesn't appear to have any fear of the Operator. He's been within camera shot of Jay encountering the Operator and yet he does not run. He (possibly) even enters the area of the Operator immediately after that attack to retrieve the camera that Jay drops. He does not appear to be checking over his shoulder or attempting to flee. It seems more like he casually walks up, get the camera and walks off as if he were a parent picking up a discarded toy from the yard. Also, as of the last entry (47) we learn that Amy is not missing at all. Alex has been keeping her location secret and using the excuse of searching for her as a pretense to keep Jay helping.

Riovas wrote:

I agree the MH is not simple black and white, good vs evil and the fact that I can possibly see the Operator as a protagonist rather than immediately assume he is an antagonist because he's a little creepy proves that I understand that fact. I think that instead of the Operator (I refuse to call him slendy as, aside from a rather tragic likeness in appearance, there has been no real evidence to support that Slender Man and the Operator are one and the same) attempting to control people's mind, perhaps he was unaware of his affect on the human psyche and is now attempting to gain some sort of control over himself. We know that he has some sort of teleporting ability and, therefore, it stands to reason that he is not from our realm of existence. Perhaps, he was simply unaware?

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 9:35 am

aboynamedsam
Boot

Joined: 25 Aug 2011
Posts: 31
Location: Northern California

Chest Cam Avenger wrote:

aboynamedsam - Welcome to the forums!

I essentially agree with Riovas on this, but I think aboynamedsam has a point inasfar as, TO has been riding the "creepy stalker" train for a while now. While he's done a few things implicitly/pseudo off-screen(the taking of Amy, the ??? of Seth), we haven't really seen him do much of anything but wander. This isn't a critique of the filmmakers, but of the character of o-town himself: seriously, WTF are you doing? If you're here for a reason, for real: get on with it.

Thanks for the welcome!

Obviously, I don't know for a fact that TO is not an antagonist, it's just this mans opinion. I can't wait to see how this plays out.

*EDIT* this man's opinion.

Brain was going faster than fingers.

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 9:38 am

aboynamedsam
Boot

Joined: 25 Aug 2011
Posts: 31
Location: Northern California

@Riovas

Also, I had forgotten about Seth. However, I don't recall seeing the Operator in that segment. Looking at http://marblehornets.wikidot.com/ for entry 22, no one knows what happened to Seth. There was no confirmed sighting of TO. Just Seth falling over in a very similar fashion to Jays falling over upon his first encounter with Masky.

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 9:57 am

Riovas
Decorated

Joined: 12 Oct 2009
Posts: 195

Yay! I love debates! first off, I apologize if I came off a bit rough, I do enjoy reading new theories, but I also like to debate them to fully see one's side.

aboynamedsam wrote:

Riovas wrote:

Considering Jay went through all of Alex's tapes from marble hornets, I find it hard to believe that Masky/TTA were around but never captured.

As for the missing seven months, only Jay and Jessica so far have admitted to missing memories, we don't know what all Alex remembers during season 2, do there might be a chance that he was attacked but doesn't remember, ill give you that.

aboynamedsam wrote:

The way I see it, TTA is mocking Jay while showing him whats going on or where to go next. The reason why its so cryptic could be because of the mentality of the person, possibly caused by interactions with the operator. Again, I see making people blacking out, lose memories , and teleporting much more agressive than posting puzzels and showing tapes of things jay missed. TTA possibly feel comfortable because he knows he's hiding from the operator and getting away with it. Why be paranoid when you know slendy can't find you? Look at Alex in entry 26 before amy shows him the camera and how he seems relaxed knowing he's away from slendy. (He looks relaxed to me at least.) Also, why show Jay tapes if he thinks something is going to happen? (unless this is part of a plan for alex/slendy, but that's whole other argument to get into.)

Well, we have no idea whats going on with the whole Amy fiasco. But if the operator did capture her, and Alex was taken to her in entry 43, then yes, he knows where she is, but probably doesnt know how to free her. Thats what I tend to believe at least.

EDIT:

aboynamedsam wrote:

Eh, yeah I kinda always assumed that the face during 5:15 was caused by the operator, and I know that is a stretch, but in Jay's visit to the basement of doom, we see slendy at the end (entry 23, 7:00). That makes me believe slendy was there.

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 10:02 am

aboynamedsam
Boot

Joined: 25 Aug 2011
Posts: 31
Location: Northern California

@Riovas

I also love debates and while I did think your original rebuttal was a bit abrasive, I honestly thought nothing of it. I've posted on forums before and, by comparison, your entry was tame in terms of harshness. Smile

I agree with you that TTA is mocking Jay. The question is, why? It seems that he is leading Jay to something but to what end? It does seem very intimidating though.

Something I did notice though. Maybe the Operator sees through the film and Jay and Alex appearing on the film calls the Operator to them (pre-established theory) but Masky and TTA (if the two masked individuals in 45 are collectively TTA) and the camera returning, masked individual from 41 (I'll call him the Good Samaritan or GS) do not seem to fear TO. Also, Alex did seem pretty secure in his new life after not being on film for so long. Is it possible that the masks are what's keeping Masky/TAA/GS under TO's radar?

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 10:22 am

UFN
Boot

Joined: 19 Aug 2011
Posts: 11

Quote:

Ok, I know everyone has assumed that the Operator and SM are one and the same. I am unconvinced. As of yet, I have not seen a single aggressive action made by the Operator.

Well, The Operator and The Slenderman both follow the same Modus Operandi (roughly) but quite specifically the slenderman mythos isn't particularly aggressive to begin with.

To say that the operator isn't the slenderman because the operator isn't violent or attacking them is like saying the operator isn't the slenderman because the operator wears a business suit...with a different color tie.

There are a few things missing from the MH version of the SM mythos which *sort of* make The Operator different "Version" of the mythos...but I don't think that those things are significant enough to really validate saying that they're two completely separate. They're different, but not separate.

I mean, IIRC, the only things that are different are

- A single (And i'm pretty sure there is literally only one) account of the Slenderman killing his victims and leaving the bodies high up in the trees, then leaving their organs in bags hung from the same trees.
- The slenderman has tentacles.
- Name difference

The first difference can be attributed to this being a "lesser" part of the mythos; It was mentioned once, only by the original creator (Victor Surge) and it never really caught on as people expanded the myth (I've only seen EverymanHYBRID pay tribute to that). A much more common description follows that The Slenderman leaves no bodies, nor evidence of the person he's took, or himself and that it is unknown what he does with his victims.

The second difference can be attributed, quite easily, to a lack of technical expertise in MH. I mean, I certainly couldn't create tentacles from scratch, It's gotta be pretty goddamn hard to edit/create believable tentacles so i'm not faulting them for not doing it.

The name difference can be attributed to the fact that, while "The Slenderman" is the most widely known name, people have called him many names, in many languages. "The Tall man", "The Skinny man", "The Suited Demon", "The Observer" - The slenderman remains quite an obscure paranormal creature, your average person will say what they see...or what they're being told they're seeing (I believe it was TTA that first called the creature "The Operator")

But the similarities much harder to explain away if they were two separate creatures.

- The fondness of wooded areas
- The long limbs
- Tall figure
- The business suit
- No face
- Stalking victims
- Abducting victims
- focusing on young people and children
- causing sickness in close proximity
- putting victims in a trance/hypnotized state
- Driving people to be violent and lose their minds
- Buildings having a nasty habit of burning down

The similarities are the very core of the Slenderman and numerous, the differences are a few fleeting minor obscurities that can be explained both In game and OOG.

(Sorry if thats a long ass post just to look at a single sentence, and i'm sorry if lots more has been said while I was writing this that I haven't covered or answered my post!)

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 10:26 am

aboynamedsam
Boot

Joined: 25 Aug 2011
Posts: 31
Location: Northern California

Riovas wrote:

EDIT:

aboynamedsam wrote:

That is a fair assessment. I went back and looked at 22 and 23 and I see your point. I think the reason I kind of wrote that one off is because TO didn't look like he was in the same place as Jay was when he fell. It looked to...clean maybe? I thought maybe there was a last teleport there or that the image had been spliced in mysteriously.

However, if TO was there in the BoD it would not be the first, nor the last time that Masky and TO have been encountered in the same place. Then again, 23 just tripped me out. Obviously, he was teleporting from one place to another but I was having a really hard time keeping up. I should go back and watch it a few more times.

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 10:37 am

aboynamedsam
Boot

Joined: 25 Aug 2011
Posts: 31
Location: Northern California

UFN wrote:

They're different, but not separate.

I like that. Is there the possibility that more than one exists? Think of it like this: They look similar and have similar abilities yes. Charles Manson and I are both about the same height and can both grow a beard. Charles want's to kill people, I am an aspiring philanthropist.

Could that kind of difference exist in the mythology?

Also, minor contention point, TTA did have a video called operator but the first time I recall anyone linking the name and the entity was when Alex drew it out in (I think) Entry 44. Correct me if I'm wrong though, please. I just got into the game about 3 days ago and got caught up with everyone else this morning. The website I was watching it on kept calling it the Operator but I couldn't figure out why until 44
.

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 10:51 am

Chest Cam Avenger
Unfettered

Joined: 13 Jun 2011
Posts: 309

aboynamedsam wrote:

Also, minor contention point, TTA did have a video called operator but the first time I recall anyone linking the name and the entity was when Alex drew it out in (I think) Entry 44. Correct me if I'm wrong though, please. I just got into the game about 3 days ago and got caught up with everyone else this morning. The website I was watching it on kept calling it the Operator but I couldn't figure out why until 44
.

Took me a long, long time to figure out why everyone was calling him "The Operator". Seems to check out, though.

As for the Operator vs. Slender Man discussion, here's my take:

"Operator" is to "Slender Man mythos"
as
"Rage Virus" is to "Zombie Mythos".

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 11:00 am

Riovas
Decorated

Joined: 12 Oct 2009
Posts: 195

Re: @Riovas

aboynamedsam wrote:

Just FYI, you GS is commonly known as Hoody here Smile

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 11:02 am

aboynamedsam
Boot

Joined: 25 Aug 2011
Posts: 31
Location: Northern California

Chest Cam Avenger wrote:

"Operator" is to "Slender Man mythos"
as
"Rage Virus" is to "Zombie Mythos".

But do we really know this? Again, the issue I have here is what TO's motives are.

Step 1) Lurk and be generally spooky
Step 2) ????
Step 3) Profit

Damn it TO! DO SOMETHING THAT RESEMBLES ANYTHING!!!

[ooooo capslock rage mode activated?]

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 11:17 am

Zarggg
Unfictologist

Joined: 23 Dec 2010
Posts: 1660

Chest Cam Avenger wrote:

Took me a long, long time to figure out why everyone was calling him "The Operator".

Because. That. Is. His. Name.

Not "TO," not "O-Town," not "0." The Operator.

Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 12:31 pm

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