unforum

[Peppercorn]

I like the theory that even though it's not an origin story, it still has something to do with the Operator in some way, assuming that it was an actual urban legend that Alex didn't make up. Of course, he probably made it up.

[CraicIsMighty]

It's not an origin story but I'm not all convinced it was just some random creepy story Alex was telling to try and freak out Jay. For one thing, if Alex was originally planning to kill Jay then, how would he benefit from scaring Jay first? Wouldn't it be a better idea to try and keep Jay as unsuspecting of his true intentions as possible? Freaking him out like that just put him on his guard, thus increasing Alex's chances of failing to kill him.

There are two things about the "ghost story" that intrigue me. One: The speed with which the trees were growing. Two: "The boy's" murder.

My mom is a big gardener and I asked her about how fast trees can normally grow. She told me that in North America relatively fast growth for a tree is about a foot a year. If these people were getting stretched out "like a rack" then that is definitely not fast enough. It would take years for these people to get stretched out significantly. Something was making the trees grow unnaturally fast. (Something with no face and a dark suit?)

If TO is linked to the forest in Rosswood somehow (maybe it's the gateway from our word to his or something) maybe murder and discord that happens there gives him strength? Perhaps he compelled the people to resort to such violent punishments so he could feed on the "violence", and even startd to get people to murder each other. But after compelling someone to murder "the boy", it went too far and he accidentally scared the people into stopping, thus losing a lot of his strength. So he scared Alex out of College Town and compelled him to move to Rosswood Town so he could murder more people in the forest and he'd get strength again.

[Serum]

[Gante]

I think Alex's story is a local legend of sorts, the sort of semicoherent spook yarn kids tell each other at summer camp. But, like most legends, there's a kernal of truth in it. Vague rumors of something wrong with Rosswood Park, a freakishly elongated figure, unexplained fires, and danger to children, spread and distorted like a giant game of Telephone, gave rise to the story Alex tells.

As for why he tells it...well, maybe it is his attempt ot warn Jay not to trust him. Or maybe he's just trying to make sense of what's happening to him.

[Lithp]

Maybe we'll find out if the story is a local legend if Jay ever sees fit to do a search about Rosswood.

[CraicIsMighty]

[sour diesel]

[CraicIsMighty]

Yeah, there is definitely a striking difference between Alex's behavior in 38/50 and 52. In 52 he seemed in a hurry just to get it over with and rushed towards the shed, barely speaking to Jay and Jess. In Entry 38 he seemed more relaxed and meandering, and spouted out that creepy ass story. Did he act more reluctant in 52 simply because Jessica was there and he actually had some reservations about killing her? Or was he not originally intending on killing Jay in 38? Maybe he didn't make the decision to kill Jay and Jess until the very moment when he asked Jay to bring her next time in entry 50. But in that case, what was he originally planning to do to Jay? So many questions!


Also, if Alex didn't want Jessica involved, why did he even call her in the first place? Jay wouldn't have even known about her if he hadn't done that...

[Jingleman]

I'm going to become a pariah for saying this, but it's an origin story. The only reason anyone thinks that it isn't an origin story is an OOG commentary. The story is structured and presented as an origin story in game and it makes sense in the context and doesn't conflict with any other information we have. Alex brings it up in a way that we've seen thousands of characters from other works bring up an origin story - you know, slightly ominous, at a significant location, showing that he knows more than Jay/us, talking about issues that are precisely what we want to know for background and context, plausible explanation for the distinctive characteristics of the antagonist, deep into the second act, etc. If it walks like a duck, and talks like a duck, it's a duck. This story has all the characteristics of an origin story, except that they made a comment OOG to the contrary (and we're not supposed to be using OOG stuff for our theories, remember?).

Most people will never see the commentary, so the entries have to stand on their own. I can't count how many times new folks have come on to unfiction and asked about "that cool origin story in 38" or something only to be shot down, and when they ask why, it's only ever for out of game reasons that only the most serious fans will ever be aware of. It shouldn't be an origin story for one tier of fans and a spooky, out-of-place story from an unstable character that doesn't really fit for the other tier.

As far as I'm concerned, authorial intent, or what they claim as their intent, has no bearing at all on the substance of the work itself. Until there's something in-game that gives any indication to the contrary, I have to take the 38 story as an origin story.

If anybody has a legitimate theory that says it isn't an origin story, that they thought of before they heard what the creators said OOG, then I'm open to it. But don't throw the OOG comment back at me. I know about it, and it doesn't matter.

[Lithp]

Your argument is invalid. You can't say it's an origin story just because you want it to be. They wrote it, if they say it's not The Operator's origin, then it's not.

I will agree that it is fantastically less than clear in the Entries themselves, something that I think people are in denial of, but it doesn't make it "not an origin story." Not for the work itself, not for a group of fans, not ever. If some (how ever many) fans (understandably) believe it is an origin story, it merely means that they are mistaken.

So it's OOG. So what? The best, most in-depth, reliable information always comes from author commentary. And what's the point in spending pages upon pages churning out theories that everyone knows to be wrong just because they "don't use OOG info"?

Now, if you want to argue that all of the cues that make it look like a story indicate to you that Trosephim are engaging in some Lying Creator shenanigans to set up for a future reveal, that would be a more logical claim. I'm not sure I would agree with it, but it's better than "I think it sounds like an origin story, therefore it is, even though the authors say it's not."

[missingnocchi]

The trees wouldn't have to grow a foot a day. Alex specified that they would die of dehydration, and never said how much they would stretch. A few inches from an already taut position would look pretty unnatural in itself. It would take few weeks for the body to decompose and fall apart. This is still a monstrous rate of growth, but they did say it was blessed.

[Ztakk]

[CraicIsMighty]

[Lithp]

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten to say that I liked the idea of tweeting Jay asking if Tim knows anything about the story.

The worst that can happen is that he ignores it.

Edit: Okay, technically, I guess the worst thing that could happen is that he goes ballistic, declares the end of Marble Hornets, & starts attacking anyone who mentions it with big rocks. The worst thing that is likely to happen, then.

[paladin181]

Here's a transcript of the story. Note that it never says the criminals were actually stretched out, just that that was the intention, but that they died of dehydration. Stretching isn't really a part of it in reality.