Theories

This is a page to collect & air out any & all theories, speculations, observations, & wild mass guessing about the Marble Hornets series. Theories should be organized into the categories below, if at all possible.

General

My overall take on what has happened so far:

The Operator is a force that is loosely based on the Slenderman of the Something Awful forums, though he doesn't bear all of the same hallmarks and so for this series, can be assumed to be an original creature. He is an unknown, unexplainable force that does not like cameras, that perhaps is linked to fire and/or arson, water and/or drought, the bending of physics and breaking of puny human minds.

Being caught by Alex on film, the Operator was focused on and therefor his undefinable properties were given definition. He hated that. Either Alex realized that he was losing time, and began filming himself innocuously to keep track of it, or the Operator caused in him some kind of surge of paranoia that caused him to begin filming himself.

Either way, Alex set the film rolling, causing more and worse effects as the Operator became more embroiled in the situation. By proxy, Tim, Sarah, Brian, Seth and Jay became involved. The Operator found himself on the defensive as Alex moved from trying to figure out what was going on, to actively seeking out the entity. Either he was trying to find it's lair, its source of power, or… well, I'm not entirely sure what, yet. Either way, he drew in Seth, at the very least. During his investigation, Alex moved from his home to Brian's; Brian seemed to have gone missing entirely, Jay lost large periods of time, and both he and Tim were exhibiting strange symptoms such as headaches, coughing, and perhaps nightmares.

During this time, Alex became deeply involved, to the point that he wanted to extricate himself. Tim became involved if only because his medication forced him to remember the events that the Operator was trying to force him to forget. He could even have been working with Alex at one point as Seth was (#22) because Totheark (who is noted as the same as the masked figure numerous times in the series, and the latter of which is Tim as discovered for sure in #35) has footage of various clips from the earlier entries (the sound to #10, for example, in the response 'Operator'.) Jay was drrrrpin' along, potentially involved but mistrusted by or being protected by Alex. I think that Brian was killed, because there are numerous points when Brian is mentioned as missing (#17 and #20); blood is found in more than one place (#16, #22), and Alex is shown as having switched into living in Brian's house (#20 suggests that they are at Brian's house; #3 seems to show footage of Alex in a different house before the events where Alex is done investigating (#22). Because Brian was Tim and Alex's shared friend, his death would be one logical reason as to why they were intent on harming the other (#35).

In any case, the breaking point is reached during #22, where Seth is lost and Alex is transported back to Brian's house. He stores the tapes in the attic and when Jay asks for them, he rids himself of them and leaves town forever.

Three years pass. Alex is building himself a new life during this time. He has decided that no cameras of any kind are allowed in his house. Tim is dealing mediocrely with the balanced need for his life-saving medication and its side-effects of never being able to forget the Operator, and is possibly going quietly insane. Jay has forgotten everything, and only remembers something off when he coincidentally stumbles into a thread on the Something Awful forums that reminds him of Alex's tapes.

He begins to watch the tapes. He posts them online for us all. Tim gets wind of them (possibly he has been hunting for more information about the Operator for some time, and the surge seewhatpunIjustmadethere?! of Slenderman art, information, etc. has led him to Marble Hornets. Jay admits that he's actively seeking Alex and the reason behind what is happening. Totheark (Tim, I'm guessing for the sake of this theory) begins to reply to Jay's videos with clips that he has retained. He is both warning Jay and trying to draw him more deeply into the mystery, possibly having decided over the course of the last three years that if someone can have gotten through them all in blissful ignorance, he's worth harrying for answers. Tim could want to know how to move on, but he might also want revenge for the death of Brian.

Jay discovers that he possesses either some residual effects or maybe 'powers' (though I hesitate to call them that) from his encounters with the Operator. The masked figure seems to possess these as well, so they could be being transferred to Jay through either second-hand contact or through direct contact (as in Jay's door-warping in #24 a little while after his direct contact in #23.) He decides this is way too creepy and, with goading from totheark, leaves his place, which is promptly burned down by Tim/totheark such that Jay will be forced to be on the move.

Where this theory diverges for me is around #26:

1) Alex does not know about Jay and is living his life normally, but Tim/totheark knows where he is all along, and plants a tape for Alex (or in the case of things, Amy) to find in order to attract the Operator back to him. The tape is then delivered by Tim to Jay as a set-up to get Jay to meet with Alex.

2) Alex has been following Marble Hornets and knows about Jay's circumstances. The tape was legitimately accidentally found, Alex sent it, and wanted Jay to arrive. He could also have wanted Tim to intercept the package, as a setup.

I'm leaning more towards the tape being a plant because it seems really unusual that Alex would both know of Jay's circumstances and know where he is despite constant moving, but then that might knock down the theory that Tim was using Jay as a means to find Alex and seek revenge.

In any case, we're coming up on a section of time that is pretty contentious and is being slowly divulged during the present, so some theory-style zeerust will probably set in shortly.

Jay finally finds the address that was listed on the package, depending on if the tape was a plant, it was a setup by Alex to get Jay and Tim together, because Alex knew that if Jay was arriving, Tim would surely follow and could therefore deal with him. If the tape was a plant, Tim managed to lure them both to the same place with the intention of getting at Alex to finish him off. Though Tim manages to stab Alex, the latter wins out and Jay and Alex go on their way… It could be that Amy was killed during the latest appearance of the Operator, so Alex has some ammunition to refuel an old grudge (if the tape was a plant) or has been newly reintroduced to some old memories, to his great dismay.

Alex and Jay work together briefly, but Jay discovers that Alex is not the same person that he remembers at all. Alex has dealt with his encounters with the Operator in a way that has taken something away from him, and left him rather remorseless and hollow (and no, not hollow in the sense that it's being used in other Slendy-style stories; I don't think Alex is a Masky or even totheark at all!) Alex imparts some information to Jay that is important in dealing with the Operator, and they keep in contact but it isn't exactly what Jay hoped; there isn't some quick and easy way to be rid of either the Operator or Tim, so, possibly, Jay parts ways with Alex.

Tim is busy recuperating from a bashing to the leg, but when he is able, he contacts Jay as well. Through either trickery or manipulation of Jay's sense of morality or nobility, he manages to sway Jay to see his point of view… or a part of it. Because they are speaking in person (or over the phone, whatever) Tim isn't using or even checking his account on youtube. Alex has convinced Jay not to upload information that Tim could use, but Tim has found a new method to keep track of him… for the time being.

Tim eventually suggests that Alex is the ark, regardless of whether or not Alex truly is. His reasoning could be from a mixture of factors: part honest if crazed belief, part manipulative intent to direct Jay to do his own dirty work… in any case, the ark is someone who keeps the Operator alive and kicking, and Tim convinces Jay that Alex is just such a person through evidence of #26, where the camera only focuses on the guy for a few seconds before the Operator appears.

He convinces Jay that Alex needs to die, and after some severe differing of opinions between Jay and Alex, the former is not completely unconvinced… but there is no way that he can kill someone. He learns that Tim is going to set up an encounter between Alex and the Operator to destroy the ark and release them from being haunted, or stalked, or whatever, by the Operator, forever. Jay gets wind of it but is too late to do anything about it, and in #29 we see that there is nothing left but blood…

But the Operator is still there. And Tim and Jay are left holding the bag of shit.

Something happens then, and the intervening months are probably not entirely coherent. Jessica enters the picture some time soon after, either through association (she was in the park at the time, as it was a place she often went as a child; or maybe she was loosely affiliated with Jay?) or the intervention of Tim. For whatever reason, it's gotten into their heads that she's become a second ark and is the reason that the Operator is still around.

They manipulate her as they try to figure out how to fix things; do they have to kill her? Was she plagued by the Operator before Alex's death? Jay plays the part of himself to get information from her, Tim hangs back for the time being. Something goes wrong, however — either they find something out that they weren't supposed to, or the Operator got too close and nearly ruined everything — and drastic measures need to be taken. Tim forces them to forget a large period of time, or else the Operator does and Tim helps that along… however, he keeps track of the both of them when they reach the hotel.

Tim wants to speed things along, however, so while Jay and Jessica are figuring out who they are and what happened, he is devising a plan; that plan involves getting Jay the information he needs to get up to speed, and keeping him and Jessica from running off together, because the last thing that he needs is to have to track down two frightened people. Jay is, for the time being, the more important one.

So he's catching Jay up to speed, and Jessica is left in the dark. Where this is going to go, I don't know, but I have a feeling that it will involve someone dying, or plain old disappearing. I'd like if Jay wound up having a… not a happy ending, but one in which he's able to move on. I think that they'll probably have something messed up and confusing and that generates the most questions of all, though. :/

WoT: Comprehensive theory about what happened, is happening.. and not so much about how it will end. ~ Dray

Theory U

This theory concludes that Jay is insane and that he is imagining all of the things in the marble hornets universe are happening in real life. ~MarkStones

This couldn't really be true, as everything's videoed, so it can't really all be in his head… ~scarl18

I have to agree with scarl18 on this one. Even if it was true, that would have been quite stupid.

The Operator

The SIR- This is mere speculation, but has anyone else noticed the connection between the Operator's name and the location seen in Entry 57/58. Operator at an abandoned hospital? Has anyone else found anything that could back up this theory? The SIR.

The Operator is connected to cameras in a specific way.

The two most common theories (that I've found) are:

a) Cameras bind The Operator to this realm of existence, forcing him to follow our rules. Alex used the camera as a way of containing The Operator and preventing him from skipping around time and space. This is best supported by the entry (forgive my ignorance, but I don't remember the entry) in which the Operator enters the room, is seen entering the room on camera, and later is no where to be found, when the only entrance is being watched by the camera. (which never sees The Operator leaving)
-——I would like to comment on the above theory, please watch Entry #26 before reading:
I believe that cameras also serve as The Operator's "eyes." He has no face, but seems to notice everything that is caught through a camera. For example, in Entry #26, the footage of Amy and Alex being attacked by the Operator is shown. What attracted him there? Perhaps merely thinking about the creature can be enough to summon it, but I believe the camera was the real bait that the Operator couldn't resist. Once Amy put the camera on Alex, the Operator took notice and made an appearance. Again, this theory could be pretty easily disproved with the right evidence, but because nowadays cameras are everywhere, it would make sense if they are how The Operator sees. -Brometheos

b) Simply seeing The Operator and 'thinking' or 'remembering' him are enough to get his attention. ~ bobthecrusher

Isn't the person who usually manages the camera and videoing - e.g., for a news reporter or on the set of a production - called a camera operator? Perhaps The Operator has some sort of connection to this job or action. -ResearcherTeague

The Narrator's "Operator"/Slenderman Theory
There is a discrepancy between "the Operator"'s behavior in the earlier entries and the later entries. Notice in the earlier entries, "the Operator" seems to have no trouble moving about the frame. Later, however, "the Operator" seems to be frozen in place. I refuse to believe that the people in charge of Marble Hornets would be so inconsistent as to simply change mid-series. What if the figure in the earlier entries - let's call him Slenderman - and the figure from the later entries - called the "Operator" (Note: I would like to know who coined this term, because he has not been called this in the actual series). - are two different entities? If so, then why? Perhaps Slenderman was trying to provoke Alex or possibly persuade him not to pursue the Operator. Whatever the reason, there is an obvious distinction between the two, and as I have stated before, the Marble Hornets creators would not make such an obvious mistake.
Take also, into consideration, Entry #60(Spoilers). As far as I know, we haven't seen Slenderman (The entity capable of movement while on camera) since Entry #17. He is obviously seen climbing over the pipe. With the logic that the Operator cannot move on camera, this entity MUST be Slenderman. I would also like to point out that in the earlier entries, Slenderman causes little to no video and/or audio distortion. In Entry #60, however, he causes severe distortion. What if, like the Operator, Slenderman can, indeed, jump through space/time, but only causes distortion when he makes these jumps? This might explain when (Spoilers) Slenderman enters Alex's room while he is sleeping, but is gone when he wakes up. He jumped space/time, but it wasn't on camera, so he didn't cause much distortion, if any.

Influence of the Operator

1) I speculate that the operator influence in reality and those in it are based on how much contact and the they've made with it.

a) Early entries the operator was often seen far from its observers and consistently passive in its action.

b) As Alex and later Jay become more fixated on it the operator begin able to approach them more readily and having more influence over them

*change in mood

  • paranoia
  • lost time
  • possession by operator

-maskofterror

I think that the Operator itself cannot inflict harm onto anybody. I think that it must use Conduits, like Alex, or even Jay, as you can see in the more later entries.
~TheBossBoy

The SIR. Yes, the Operator has not been seen to physically hurt anyone. I think it simply wants to keep everyone except Alex out of the way. Whatever is going on is between Alex and the Operator, but Jay posted the videos and brought in Tim and TTA. So the Operator has no choice but to get Alex to do his cleaning up for him. Too many people knew about the Operator during the filming, so he/it told Alex to incapacitate them so they could have thier memories wiped. I agree with the Idea that Maksy is and alter ego, which would explain why Masky hates Alex but Tim doesnt care.

The ego split occured before the mind wipe. Tim loses his memory, but Masky is unaffected. Masky helps TTA, whoever he/she/they is/are to remember and as ~scarl18 says, they team up to solve the mystery, or help Jay, or get revenge on Alex, or all three. It all depends on opinion. The SIR.


Operator symbol theories

there are 3 common theories about the symbol.

a) The symbol summons The Operator to wherever it is drawn.

b) The symbol acts as a ward against The Operator to keep him away.

c) The symbol acts as a warning sign against The Operator. ~ bobthecrusher

d) The symbol is a mark to The Operator to be connected to a person ~Chiky


I think that the main purpose of the Operator symbol is as a warning symbol. (as bobthecrusher stated in Theory C) Alex is usually seen drawing Operator symbols, possibly to warn people of the Operator stalking him. There are also symbols wherever the Operator is found. It also seems like the only places the Operator can instantly appear/jump between are places where the symbols are found. This could also explain bobthecrushers Theory A.
~Ne0theBro

If I remember correctly, Alex isn't shown drawing the strange and freaky pictures and messeges (which include the operator symbol) after Entry #8. Afterwards, Alex seems to embrace the Operator. (ignoring the symbol in Entry #13, etc) Perhaps the symbol does act as a ward against the Operator, and one would need it with them constantly to avoid the creature. It seems that Alex gives up trying to run away and instead attempts to reason with it, but ends up injured(entry #14) and goes back to his original tactic.- Theteamplayer

Zairuen's Theory

Before reading these theories, I urge you to watch Entry 38 in full.

First things first, excuse me giving my theory it's own sort of section, but I fear that if I didn't, it would get confusing because this is going to be a lot of text, while most speculation consists of just a few lines. If I did something wrong, please notify me so that I can get rid of it.

Okay, I found entry 38 really creepy. The story he told? But more than that, it was intriguing. I wouldn't be surprised if I'm not the only person to throw out these theories, but I think it's still important to get them out there.

Theory One

"The trees were just burnt with the bodies still on them" - Likely as not, the people in charge of this didn't mark each tree, they just went around burning the ones with bodies on them. For this reason, if one was gone, they wouldn't notice. Ever. My theory is that this is the explanation for the operator. A criminal was taken out to those woods- but he was never found. He had stretched out and escaped his bonds (this may suggest that he has the ability to deform some limbs [enabling him to get out] rather than just extend/retract his arms and legs). But it doesn't end there; I think it's safe to say that, assuming this is how things are, the criminal's crime was manslaughter; of children in particular. This would explain the death of the child, and why it was a child that was killed, rather than an adult. However there are three things this still doesn't explain: Why is he after Alex, where is his face, and why is he wearing a business suit?

Theory Two

I think my second theory works a little bit better than the first. Credits to my brother for coming up with the basis.
Basically, this second theory will answer everything except the business suit question. However, this would require taking a whole new view on a certain point made: The belief that people would stretch out. What if this didn't just come from the belief that everything would grow faster? And maybe the belief that everything would grow faster didn't come from the plantlife?

The story says that they thought the forest was blessed. I think that the Operator is the "deity" of that forest. I'll explain everything one at a time. What if the person who started this practice saw the Operator, with his long, stretched out arms, and thought that it was the forest's doing, or that he was a deity of growth? He would proceed to set up the practice explained, of binding the criminals to trees, thinking they too would have something similar happen to them, or have some odd growth in general. This explains the practice, as well as him not having a face (he's a deity, why should he have one?)
What about the child? This could split into two directions.

  • The story of Der Großmann goes that he would punish children who did something bad. If this is the reason however, there are a few problems: It doesn't explain, why Alex? Why was it only that one child, and not all the other bad ones as well? For this reason, I like to dismiss this possibility. However, I still decided to post it here.
  • The Operator, if he really is a deity, may be a bit cliché; He was having a god-nap, and then was woken up by someone and was grumpy. Who woke him up, I don't know. Was it the child or the people who started binding people to the trees as punishment? If it was the first, what follows is simple: He killed the child for waking him up. However, if it was the latter, it raises two questions: Why the child and not the people in charge of punishing the criminals, and why is he after Alex? I have some answers to this. Firstly, what happens to those in charge of the criminals is never said. What's to say they didn't all get killed by the Operator later? Another, likely possibility (supported by everything we know so far), is that the Operator does not go for groups of people. Since the people binding criminals to trees were probably in groups, the Operator needed another way to keep people out of his forest; He took the life of a child, which successfully chased out the intruders. And as for Alex, I wouldn't be surprised if he awoke the Operator again.

One slight problem with my last point is that, if it was the child that awoke the Operator (although I doubt it), how would the creator of that practice have seen him, thus thinking of the faster growth theory? Maybe he saw him from close up, taking his god-nap, and assumed it was the corpse of a tortured soul who had suffered from the stretching effects of the forest.

Theory Three

The suit would be easy to explain with one of the theories above: It was the suit worn by the condemned, prior to his burial/cremation. It's funeral garb from the 19th century, which has changed little since then. ~ Zeta Kai

Click here for the original comment by Zeta Kai

Oh, that's quite an interesting piece of information. It works very well with theory one… And if I think about it, perhaps the fact that it was a child may be irrelevant, and it simply wandered into the forest and the Operator attacked him. Perhaps Alex ran into the Operator as well, which is why he is being pursued. Somewhat of a scary thought, if we take a moment to consider the ill fate of the child. This also explains why he would leave his forest, something that I believe the deity of a forest wouldn't do. Perhaps this is the information we were looking for. In my opinion, this is the best theory yet. Thank you for this piece of information. ~Zairuen (AKA Isaac)

This has answered all our questions save for the Operator's apparent lack of a face.

Theories Four +
I just thought I'd include that many of the parts of the theories that I've stated above could be interchanged and come out with equally coherent theories. If anybody thinks of a good one (with some of their own speculation as well if they want) that they feel it would be right to post, feel free to add a "Theory x" to this. Don't forget to leave your display name, I don't want to take your credit.

End of Zairuen's theories~

Don't you dare "TL;DR" me. ~ Zairuen (AKA Isaac)

The SIR. I can honestly say that i almost agree with Theory one. You have explained everything except these: if the Operator stretched his limbs out of shape and didn't get burned with the tree, how did he get his abilities, how did he lose his face, and what does he want with Alex. To be blunt, i don't think anyone is even close with any of their theories as to the exact nature of the Operator. And no, i am not mocking anyone or being smug, i just think it's going ot be something completely different to what any of us have thought of. Hopefully Entry 59 might shed some light on this issue. The SIR.

I'd like to add on to this particular video (this is my first input, BTW). It may seem childish, but I almost think that after seeing this entry that the Operator is some kind of ghost, set on revenge, cliche, I know, but hear me out. He talked about how they would string up those on trial and stretch them out, that would explain the Operator's long arms and legs, Alex also mentioned about how they would burn the bodies of the condemned after they were dead, that would explain the Operator's odd connection with fire. The whole story also establishes the Operator's connection to Rosswood Park, which in entry 60.5 is shown to go back farther than the events in Marble Hornets. - DL

Theory X1

Concerning The Operator's blank face:

  • His face was burned off in the tree's fire. In undeath his body took a surreal appearance mimicking reality without directly copying it.
  • His face is blank in a symbolic representation of forgotten identity or a suggestion that The Operator is an amalgam of every man convicted in the forest.
  • His face is blank to simply symbolize lost memory, seeing as how one of The Operator's primary tools/effects is amnesia.

Also I'm suddenly reminded of the painting of a burning forest seen at Brian/Alex's house. Fire seems too present of a motif in MH. Not surprisingly it is linked to forgetting; more specifically active or chosen forgetfulness:

  • Alex instructs Jay to burn the MH tapes so he can erase the forbidden knowledge from history.
  • Alex announces his intention of burning the tapes after the initial pump room incident.
  • Bodies of dead convicts are burned to further destroy them even after their deaths, possibly to erase them from history along with the trees; their implements of execution.
  • Jay's apartment is burned when the arsonist knows that he is not residing there. Could be a threat but also a way to destroy the memory of Jay's presence in that town.

~ Red-Rock-Run

Theory X2

I think that the Operator could be a forest deity, but was once in a human's form. My speculations and details about this theory:

  • The Operator merged a human's body with his own soul so that when the human died, he would have a new form to exist in.
  • The human carrying the Operator's soul was a criminal who was put in the forest.
  • The Operator is wearing a suit, which was what the human was wearing prior to his death in the forest.
  • When he was put on the tree, the human's limbs had become stretched, causing the Operator's unusual limb length.
  • The human's body was burnt on the tree, burning his face and causing full disfigurement.
  • After the human's body was burnt, the Operator began to free himself and adapt to the body. While he was adapting, the stretched limbs became a normal part of the Operator's body. This also happened with the face, as his burns were not normal, so his face was formed blank instead of directly copying the burns of the human.

~Ne0theBro

Theory X3

First of all, sorry my poor English. Second, and most important, up to date till Entry 60.5.
I think, about deity Theory, the Operator couldn't be one. Usually deity appears to group and being a nature force won't go out mad and slaught people, children (with the purity and everything else) over all. They'll ask sacrifices, if want to.
In my thoughts, the Operator is exactly what his name says: a surgeon. He worked at burnt hospital, probably in charge of Tim's treatment. I'm speculating from how he acts. He might be a psychopath that test things at children at the hospital, he had tryed, maybe, experiments with electricity which started the fire.
The Operator died at hospital. That's why his presence is stronger there. If you pay attention you will see that he can teleport other ones to the hospital, like he did with Jay, Entry 22 if I'm not wrong. With death he'd went to Hell. His stretched look and no face cames from what happened there (the suit is the funeral one). Somehow he scape from hell and wants revenge. Tim, now, is the really most connected one with the Operator. Alex seems to be the most sensitive, also was the first one to see him. It was just unfortunnate to Alex be the perfect pawn. Jay looks harder to control. Tim, at least as Masky, wanna end with the bad doctor who did bad things to him, ToTheArk probably is the rest of the crew that was dragged to this thing and wants help Jay and Tim/Masky to get rid of the Operator.
The symptons are also easy to explain with this theory:
The cough maybe is caused by the smoke of the fire at hospital. The headaches are caused by the experiments the Operator used to do, following the line of electricity experiments it is even easier to explain the paranoia. When the electricity field is to high you feel uncomfortable, like is someone always looking at you. If when the Operator appears he generates a electricity field it is normal feel paranoid, and worses at moment you really comprove that has someone watching you. The victimy may experience nausea, dizziness, headaches and maybe faint. Considering the brain acts entirely with electricity this can also explain how the Operator erases memories.
~Watashinomori

I heavily agree with the previous theory. The Operator is too specific - he targets just a few people (the MH cast and crew) rather than thousands of people around the world who do a certain thing. The locations, like the abandoned hospital, he seems very tied to. Spirits are known to haunt the places where they died, especially evil ones. I have two theories:

Theory 1: My first theory goes as such: the Operator, as stated in the previous theory, was a 'mad scientist' of sorts, who performed radical and inhumane treatments on mentally ill patients at the hospital where he worked. He was a surgeon - an operator. On one of his patients, Tim, the Operator's electricity-related experiments set ablaze the hospital. While Tim and the Operator escaped, the Operator was immediately found out and captured. His captors stretched him on the trees in the surrounding forest, where he somehow escaped. Maybe he performed his experiments on himself to give him superpowers? Anyways, after this second escape, he set the forest on fire, but this time, he got severely burnt, wiping his face clean off and killing him. He returned as a spirit haunting the hospital and the people who went there (the surviving ones like Tim, anyways), along with his abilities to teleport, warp space-time, his Slender-sickness 'aura', etc. His suit resembles the one he, and perhaps his captors, were wearing when he died, and his stretched limbs are the result of being stretched on the trees. Perhaps the reason he targets Alex is a way to get to Tim. This may also explain why the hospital was abandoned rather than demolished. Nobody would want to return there with that kind of stuff going on. At least, no sane person.

Theory 2: This theory goes off the base of spirits haunting where they died. Perhaps there was an doctor similar to the one in my first theory. But he did a different kind of experiment, which involved summoning the Operator, who was some sort of demon. The Operator would then possess whoever the doctor was affiliated with, like his fellow staff and patients. The resulting actions are basically the same as the ones in Theory 1. This may also explain why Benedict Hall was abandoned. Perhaps a student (maybe even Amy) performed a summoning, got possessed by the Operator, etc. Then Tim, Alex, or whoever would get afflicted and the campus was eventually abandoned.
~Desulto

Baron von Poopy's Theory

Let me begin by saying I’m brand new to MH – just started watching Friday and finished watching on Sunday. So the points I’m about to bring up as a theory may be completely invalid – please let me know if I’ve missed something key.
One particular scene in Entry 45 sticks out as very odd to me – where both Hoodie and Masky are working cooperatively. Why does this strike me as odd? Because throughout the series, there appears to be a shifting set of “alliances” (for lack of a better term) between Masky, Hoodie, and TO. At points, any two of the three players identified may be working towards the same, or at least similar goal – and against the third. At points, working towards the same goal (or at least not deigning to interfere with the goal). And at points all working for independent (and potentially at nullifying) goals. The alignments appear to be highly fluid.
I have noticed that most all of the theory work posted online then centers on the identities of Masky and Hoodie, and that the human identities of the players involved are the causation of their actions (past experiences driving them towards these roles). I suggest the following two primary points:
1) The only past experience that matters is interaction with TO, any other human drive doesn’t matter as it is the goals of TO that are important (the hunter does not care about the motivations of the herd beyond what he needs to achieve his ends)
2) There may be more than one TO
Since the latter is the more controversial, let me lay out that theory first. Here is what I assume about TO – it is a sentient creature whose existence is normally not measurable by the regular human five senses. There are times when it does become manifest within our sensor range – and it can be visually measured. As its existence is different from our own (perhaps living in a different “frequency” or within/across greater dimensions than the four (space/time) we exist within), some movement is interpreted by human eyeballs as teleportation and its effect on humans unusual (coughing, memory loss, etc.) So why do we assume this sentient being is the only one of its kind? We don’t make that assumption with other creatures – even most cryptids are assumed to have some sort of “family” – something from which they came from. Why then should we assume there is only one TO working within the MH universe? Perhaps Masky, Hoodie, and Alex are working for (or possessed by) different TOs, and as the objectives of these TOs change, so change the actions and alliances on the ground. Beyond what appears to be odd alliance behavior among the players, the only observation which may support this idea is color – sometimes the symbols are white, sometimes they have been overwritten in red – could this perhaps indicate a different TO?
This leads to my first point – since both Masky and Hoodie have had exposure to TO (whether there is just one or several), it doesn’t particularly matter what their motivations or feelings towards Alex may be. In the end, it is the goals of TO (or TOs if my other theory holds any water) which are directing their actions – and that includes even Alex. These motivations and goals of TO(s) are the true key here – and going with my assumption about sentience but existing beyond what humans can comprehend, is it possible for any of the characters in the story (and us as the audience) to ever understand?

The Ark

CG713's Theory

Maybe ARK is Alex's Initials (Alex R. Kralie?) because it was never written as a name, only ARK or ark.

-CrimsonGhost713

Daywalks thoughts

When I've seen all entries and responses from TTA, there came a striking thought to my mind: Couldn't Jay be the TTA himself. I mean, maybe its his schizophrenic persona, which he doesn't remember afterwards when he his Jay again.
I know which counterargument will be brought up now: Not possible because TTA posted a video of Jay lying on the floor coughing inside the house.
This leads me to my next point: Couldn't it be possible that Tim is the Masked Man (ok, we know that already) but Jay beeing the hoodie-guy. And as we know from entry 45 Masky and Hoody are doing things together (in the woods, attacking Alex), so Tim couldve handed this video over to Jay while they were their alternative personalities.
To support this: During the lost 7 months Jay always stalks around at Alex' house, trying to get some info. In the video they where they attack Alex, Hoody was stalking round Alex' house too.

*While Jay as Hoody is an interesting theory, its not really feasible - In Entry #62, Jay is "taken" by Masky and Hoody is seen pretty much immediately afterwards. Unless Jay has some kind of super-fast clothes changing abilities, I really doubt he could change clothes and put that mask on in the course of a few seconds.
Even more so, in Entry #58 (I think) Jay sees Hoody and chases him, which clearly shows that they can't be the same. Sorry. ~scarl18

Barl0we's Theory

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that Jay is the Ark. The videos are addressed to him by Totheark, hence the name.

On a whim, I tried searching for the Ark of the Covenant to see if there was any way the "Ark" thing could be a reference to that.

According to Wikipedia, the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines…Who returned it after seven months.

You know who was missing for seven months? Jay. In Entry 28* (Second episode of Season 2), Jay searches his bag "looking for a clue to the past 7 months".

I'm not entirely sure, but if my presumption that TTA is sending the videos to guide/mock Jay, and the videos *are* to the Ark…Then yes, Jay is the Ark.

-Barl0we

Lead us to the ARK

With theory that ARK is Alex's initials it would make sense that. This veiled expression mean you will lead us to Alex Kralie.

-maskofterror

This would make a lot of sense, seeing that TTA seems to be opposed to the Operator and Alex, although we've already seen that TTA has interfered with Alex. An interesting point that I'd like to make: Alex is the only character whose first and last name is given. Remember in Entry #53, when Jay finally sees Tim, and introduces himself? Both he and Tim's last names were removed. It seems that Alex's full name is the only important one.

Totheark

There is some argument over the identity of Masky and TTA, and if they are the same person or not.

There are 5 major theories regarding TTA/Masky:

a) they are one and the same, meaning that both are Tim, and have some strange obsession with Jay and/or 'the ark' which he believes Jay will lead him to.

(According to "Observation" it is not Tim, also in the Entries 61-62 we observe that Tim is Not the one of totheark ~Chiky)

b) They are two completely different people. TTA seeks 'the ark' (whatever that may be) and Masky…..is there. TTA may or may not be one of the former members of Marble Hornets.

c) There are multiple maskies. This is one of the least formed and most poorly organized theories in existence on the forum to have a wide following. There is speculation ranging from one of the mask wearers being female all the way to them each being a different member of the cast of Marble Hornets. This theory formed due to the number of masks seen and may have some merit as one mask matches none of the others, appearing as a skull like figure, its entire structure more wide and the mouth made of blacks that seem almost like teeth.

d) Alex is TTA. Though evidence leans more to the Masky and TTA being the same side of the argument, there are a group of people who support Alex being TTA, who is seperate from Masky

e) Multiple TTA's. After a certain number of responses the style and appearance of TTA videos change, hinting that TTA may or may not be made up of multiple people. ~ bobthecrusher

f) Concerning the name "ToTheArk": I think that the Ark could be Jay, since the videos seem to address him directly. Maybe Jay will unwittingly play a larger role concerning The Operator's plans. Or the Ark could actually be us, the viewers. ToTheArk popped up after most of the speculation and interest from viewers and maybe we will actually have to play some sort of role in the progression of the story. ~GarthHavarian

The Masked Man / Tim

The four masked people are Tim,Brian,Sarah/Jessica,and amnesiac Jay working under the slenderman's control against Alex. ~ Aperion


I think that totheark could either be just Tim/Masky since the mask is seen in many videos, or it could be a collective of people since Aperion's theory states that Tim, Brian, Jessica and Jay (under influence of the Operator) are all masked people. I can assume that Tim is not the only masked person since, in Warning, the person in the mask (around 0:19) and the eyes/face behind the mask (around 0:28) do not look like Tim. I would mainly assume that totheark is a collective of people under the influence of the Operator.
~Ne0theBro

I believe that totheark is a society, in which the masked men all work for in order to bring down the operator. They seem to have no intentions on hurting Jay, there only obvious intentions seems to purely be to stop the operator.
~TheBossBoy


TTA/Masky

OK, so after thinking about it, I believe I've formulated a theory as to the identities and role of totheark, Masky, and Hoody. It's quite a long theory, so bear with me. To make it more user friendly, I've divided it into parts.
My theory draws mainly from Entry #51, Entry #54, Entry #22, Entry ###### as well as other entries over the course of the series, and all (or most) of the totheark videos, but mainly Intermission, and, above all, Decay.

Part 1 - totheark

So, at this point in time, we know for sure that Tim is the masked man. It was previously thought that Tim and totheark were one and the same, but I'm not so sure - I think that that would be too easy. I think that totheark and "Hoody" from Entry 41 are, in fact, one and the same. In the Intermission video which I mentioned earlier, we see hand drawn forests, with a face - which closely resembles that of Hoody's mask. It is followed by the text "DID YOU SEE ME?" At the beginning of Entry #40 - which Intermission whichwas a response to - a figure can be seen sitting against a tree, if you look carefully at about 0:31. We can then assume, that Hoody carrying Jay's camera back to his car in Entry #41 was totheark trying to help Jay out - which I'll get to later.
Now, this explains that totheark has a good chance of being Hoody, there's still an elephant in the room - who is the real identity of this mysterious figure? My answer - Brian, or possibly Seth. I'm going to go with Brian for this one, based on Entries #51 and #54. The two major similarities between these two entries is that they both contain Operator encounters with Alex, Brian and Tim. Those three only. So, I think that Entry #54, when the Operator sort of swoops into Tim's apartment, is sort of the beginning of the Operator's effects on people - when Alex starts getting his paranoia, Tim gets his cough, and Brian… well I'm not too sure about Brian yet. In Entry #51, we then see Brian left alone, but finding Tim hunched over, and coughing. Brian (probably) is then dragged away by the Operator (probably). I believe that Brian escaped from the Operator, found Tim again, and decided that this was Alex's fault. The two of them then decided to join forces against Alex and the Operator, which I'll get more into in my next theory.
It is also possible that totheark/Hoody is Seth, going off the events in Entry #22, where Seth is captured. In this case, we can assume Brian was killed in #51. This makes sense, because Seth was the cameraman, which means he probably has skills in video engineering, and getting the effects into the videos. The only problem with this is that Seth wasn't present in #51 or #54, and hasn't had much of a role in the series.
However, there may also be the possibly that totheark, Masky, and Hoody are three totally seperate people - Seth, Tim, and Brian respectively. However this doesn't explain Intermission, and totheark referring to Hoody as "ME". For now, I'm just going to assume that Brian, Hoody, and TTA are one and the same.
I have to assume that within the next couple of videos we will have to learn the identity of totheark because we already know that Tim was most likely Masky. My guess is it's Brian unless he was killed, not knocked out in entry 51 then it could be any number of people. - TheHooligan

Part 2 - alliance

So we know now that Tim = Masky, and Brian = totheark (probably). What remains now, is how do these two elements work together?
In the aforementioned Entry #51, Brian and Tim are seen in that building, being hurt, possibly tortured. Actually yes, tortured works well - lets say they were being tortured by the Operator.
Brian and Tim, upon finding each other again, realise that they had both been subjected to torture by the Operator, and that they had been led there by one Alex Kralie. So, they did what anybody would do - went out for revenge. They knew what Alex had done to them, and decided they had to be stopped. Tim/Masky would be the physical end of the alliance - he'd be the one who actively go out and try stop Alex. Brian would be the brains of the operation - thinking up strategies, posting the videos etc. etc. However, they would occasionally both go out, such as in Entry #45, where they hold Alex down. I think they intended to kill him, but the Operator comes to his rescue. Tim and Brian, remembering what the Operator did to them, run a mile.
As to why Tim never seems to remember any of his Masky outings, it is possible that the trauma of being attacked by the operator created a split personality in Tim - that of Masky. Brian is not so lucky, and constantly remembers what happened to him - which explains the videos. This reached a peak in Decay, which I believe is the single most important totheark video to date. Brian (as totheark says) that he is going to find "The Ark" (Most likely Alex), and as the spectographed picture at the ending, "Today is [Alex's] last birthday". Meaning that totheark and Masky are going to find, Alex, and end him.
Just another little bit of evidence to support this - Entry ###### (believed to have been uploaded by totheark). In Entry ######, Masky is being filmed, and the narration - which I believe is being said by Brian - states - "We will wait for you no more…", with "we" meaning Tim and Brian. It later states "I'm coming for you", referring to simply Brian (or possibly Tim). This then leads directly into Jay's aprtment being destroyed.

Part 3 - Jay

Ah, Jay. Our faithful, yet Naive narrator. He has had a lot of interaction with Masky and totheark, and I'd just like to tell this from the the Masky/totheark perspective.
Early in the series, Masky and totheark felt as though Jay was getting in the way. In the first season, Jay didn't really seem to be doing much more than walking around, exploring houses and whatnot. I feel that early totheark responses were trying to scare Jay off - they didn't want to hurt him as such, just wanted him out of the way. This explains why in Entry #18, in the house, Tim as Masky attacks Jay, but doesn't kill or seriously hurt him - even though he takes Jay's knife and has the perfect opportunity to. Indeed most early Masky appearances seemed to be more about intimidating Jay, rather than hurting him. (e.g. Entry #19, with Masky sneaking into Jay's room) The same basic thing is going on with totheark's videos - early videos seem to be nothing more than scares, and trying to scare off Jay. Just look at the Addition video - Jay is freaked out by the fact that somebody's watching him. This reaches a boiling point in Entry ######, where totheark just says "right, this s***'s getting old now, we're coming for you". The video also states that "from the start its been a game for us" - meaning they didn't really take him seriously at first, but now they're just sick of him. They then burn down his apartment, as seen in Entry #25, and figure that that'll get him to stop. Which succeeds - in Entry #26, Jay states that he's "done", and will stop uploading videos. The relief is shortlived for Masky and totheark, as he once again begins to try and figure out the mystery.
Now, as anybody who's seen season 2 will know, Masky seems to be a little confused with his priorities - sometimes he's helping Jay, sometimes hurting him. What I think, is that at some point in season 2 - not sure of exactly when - totheark and Masky realise that they and Jay really share common goals, and instead of trying to stop him, try and work with him - sort of an "enemy of my enemy is my friend" kind of deal. This most likely occurs when Jay starts to have doubts about Alex. This explains Masky saving Jay in #52, and totheark giving Jay his camera back in #41.
If we go further, in Entry #33 we get Jessica mysteriously dissapearing, and Masky popping up soon afterwards. It's generally assumed that Masky took Jessica to his Masky lair or something, but what if it wasn't? What if the Operator took Jessica, Masky tried (and failed) to stop him, and Masky running after Jay is him trying to tell Jay something, but Jay simply runs, out of fear?
This could also possibly explain why, in Entry #53 and Entry #54, Tim gives Jay the bag of tapes. Although Masky is, as I said earlier, the result of a split personality, it could be possible that Tim subconsciously knew that he trusted Jay, and wanted to help him.
It's also possible that Masky and totheark had some sort of falling out in season 2, which would explain why totheark seemed to be keeping up the "I'm gonna scare you" facade, while Masky tries to help Jay. This could possibly have been after Entry #45, when they fail to kill Alex, which totheark may have blamed on Tim. However, we can assume that at some point, they reconcile their differences, leading to…

Part 4 - the Decay video

For me, this is the part where totheark and Masky reunite, to say "we've had enough" Decay sort of summarises everything that's been going on with totheark and Masky. It's them saying to Alex "that's it. This has gone too far. You've killed innocent people, made others lose their mind, and cause more pain then you can possibly understand". I think it's important to note that in their mind, Alex is more of a villain than the Operator, because it's Alex's fault that it's all happening. We've seen that Alex has become more of a villain in season 2, and it may just be that Alex is the true villain.
But Decay isn't just saying that Alex's time is up. It's also announcing to Jay that there on his side. It's saying that Jay will help them find Alex, or "The Ark" as is implied.
I think that Decay really marks a a turning point in the series. Posting this a few days after Decay, I think that it's safe to say, that in upcoming entries and responses, all of the s*** is about to hit the fan. ~scarl18
If anybody has anything they would like to add to this, feel free to do so as you please. Just remember to credit yourself. ~scarl18

Extra

Assuming Entry #54 came near the end of Marble Hornets production, rather than the beginning as I speculated earlier, it's possible that the Operator entering the room with Tim Alex and Brian is when Tim was taken to the building in #51. Brian could then have had his memory wiped, much like Jay in later videos. In this case, Brian may have escaped from Alex and the Operator in this encounter, only to be taken in again by Alex in #51. In this case, the two events may be more closely linked than I had thought. ~scarl18

The SIR. ~scarl18 has a very sound argument here, but I disgree with the idea that Tim and TTA are working together. Or perhaps not that, but I do think there is at least three masked people. The hooded man, Tim/Masky and a second masked person.

This argument is based on Tim's clothes. When Tim attacks Jay in the hotel, and when he attacks Tim and Alex in the abandoned house, and when he's following Jay and Alex in Rosswood park, and even when he's not Masky and talking with Jay in the abandoned hospital, he's wearing the same clothes. Interestingly, the shirt is the same colour as the Hooded Man's hoody.

The second masked figure is the one seen in Jay's house, the abandoned house, and several TTA videos. White mask, and some kind of black hoody or cloak. I think that Masky could be working with TTA, but Tim has no idea what his alter ego is doing. I also think TTA could be more than one missing crew member, such as Brian AND Seth, or it could be Brian, Sath and Sarah, but becuase Sarah hasn't really played a major part in the series, i'll ignore her for now.

So I think Hooded Man and White Mask are TTA, probably Seth and Brian, and that would explain why they are out to get Alex. Tim, as Masky, is probably alligned with them, but we don't know this for certain. Yet. Also, on the basis of ~scarl18's ideas about Decay, i think he's right. Masky, White Mask and Hoody want to get rid of Alex once and for all. But when the video says You caused this, I wonder if they're referring to Amy, a completely innocent person, disappearing, presumably taken by the Operator.

It makes me wonder if TTA's might have rescued Amy, or at least know where she is. He/She/They could use this as a bargaining chip against Alex. Anyway, Read ~scarl18's well-constructed theory, and see what you make of it. I dont have as much time to watch to watch the Enties, so a lot of my stuff is speculation. Hopefully in the Entry 59, we might find out who The Hooded Man is, which would help us discover the identity of TTA.

Of course, if the mask is to hide his identity from Alex, who is probably watching the video's as they're uploaded, revealing himself will let Alex know who's after him. But if Decay is anything to go by, we're probably getting pretty close to the EndGame anyway. The SIR.


Theories regarding The Mask in general.

There are only two theories I could find for this, though there may be more mentioned in passing.

a) The Mask shields the wearer from The Operator, somehow preventing the wearer from being seen by The Operator, and keeping the user hidden while he or she goes about their oblogations.

b) The Mask is a device created to emulate The Operator who appears without a face. This is reliant on The Operator having control over The Mask and it's user somehow, or The Mask's user wanting to be like The Operator. ~ bobthecrusher


I think that Tim's ultimate goal is to control The Operator. That through luck or clever planning on his part, he was able to retain his memories and he was able to figure out some of the "tricks" to using The Operator's powers. He wants to have The Operator's full power but it makes him too sick (as a puny human), so he's using Jay to ferret out "the ark", a means that a human can use The Operator's power, without risking his own life. From the powers he's gained he can use doors to teleport, scale three floor buildings, and instantly know where Jay is, but he is still vulnerable. He has been overpowered almost everytime he has tried to attack Jay so it shows that he has hubris, and (probably) that his prolonged exposure to The Operator has made him insane. I believe the Mask he wears is more of a wishing stone (Perhaps a possesed article, The Mask starring Jim Carrey, anyone?) than a magical item (but it's hard to tell), that The Mask gives him the confidence to act and work against Jay and Alex. That by wearing The Mask he gains the God like power he wants to be but if you strip him of it he's the mortal he fears he is. ~ Bingo Zero


Tim and the hospital

(NOTE - Before reading this theory, I advise that you watch Entry 60 in full)
After watching Entry 60, and seeing Tim's medical papers, I've begun to get some thoughts as to what happened there.
If looked closely on the papers, it can be seen that they were from "University medical center". Could it be, that the "Doctor's office" was in fact some kind of illegal medical research center? It could be that Alex, Jay etc. were not the first people who encountered the Operator - maybe this medical center was set up to investigate children who had been affected by the Operator. Possibly there were also experimenrs done on the children to determine the cause - but not particulary humane experiments.
Another fact that is stressed in this hospital subplot is that the hospital was burned down. Could it be that it was Tim who burned it down, after being driven crazy by his treatment? This would also split his personality, giving rise to his alternate, "masky" persona, and possibly causing him to forget what he does as masky. ~scarl 18

I get the idea that the doll is a "tell me where he touched you" doll. His medical records have the word "LIAR" on the cover. The forest was known to be a place where people were strung up and stretched for their crimes and one of the them was molestation. Perhaps he lied about being molested and The Operator was the victim of being wrongly sentenced and is trying to get at him. This is why The Operator is so tall and stretched out in this particular story. Even though many theories seem to go to the normal idea of the thin man. - Anton Crowley

Alex

Alex has clearly done things to figure out what has gone on during the series, as shown in Entry #38. He also apparently knew totheark/Masky's not-so-secret identity prior to Entry 35.

The one conundrum I'm having is that is Alex doing all this by will or is he possessed by The Operator. In Entry #54 when the guys are having a Jam session and the power goes out Alex is acting pretty normal even though Slenderman is around, yet in Entry #56 he is acting menacing and secretive. Is this a sign that he is not always under control. Although this theory is kinda cancelled out when Alex tries to kill Jay and Jessica, but he could just be losing it from prolonged experiences with The Operator. - TheHooligan

The SIR- I can't explain why Alex was helping take out the other crew members from MarbleHornets, but it does seem that the Operator has some kind of control over him. however, I think in the three years before Entry 26, Alex may have found a way to shield his mind or resist the Operator or something, because after he runs into the Operator in Rosswood park, he lies to Jessica and says that he made contact with Amy. I think the Operator, being unable to mentally control Alex, had to resort to kidnapping Amy.

Either The Operator has Amy captive, or knows where she is, and he/it is using that to make Alex serve him. What doesn't make sense to me is that the Operator seems unablt or unwilling to kill anyone by him/itself. why does it need Alex anyway? It appears multiple times in the Annex of the hospital, but doesn't show up in that building in the forest where Alex tries to shoot Jay and Jessica.

It only shows up later at the hotel to erase their memories. If it wanted them dead, surely it would have passed on that info to Alex, so he could come in and finish them off. Unless the Operator didnt tell Alex to kill them, and he did that of his own initiative. Perhaps the Operator wants whatever is going on to stay between it and Alex, and all it ever wanted to do is erase their memories. Perhaps it isn't evil after all? The SIR.

Jay

Perhaps something in Jay's memories from during the original filming of Marble Hornets holds a major key that will solve this entire conundrum. - Zero

I think Jay is getting a little Slender-sick cause the last couple of tweets he has sent out have been pretty weird and the picture he posted seems to link him to the latest ToTheArk reply.

Jessica

The SIR. Three observations/speculations about Jessica.

1. Jay doesn't seem to mention exactly how well he knew her after he starts to rember his missing seven months. in Entry?, where Alex tries to shoot them, Jay says he will do whatever it takes to get her out. Does this suggest some sort of love interest? Or is it the Jay feels responsible for her because she doesnt understand what is going on.

2. I think Jay isnt telling us something about her. He says he spent a few months watching the tapes from his missing seven months, but doesn't say where he has been or what he has been doing. Also, in these tapes, we find out Jay has her phone number, and even if he had lost it, there is still a video record of it. Why hasnt he tried calling her? Or, if he has, why hasnt he told us what happened? Methinks Jay is hiding something important about Jessica.

3. Maybe, and i really am specualting here, Jessica is working with TTA. Think about it. There is no TTA stuff until after Jessica vanishes and Jay starts posting videos from his missing seven months. Perhaps the other members of TTA (see the theories above), were witing for her for information. This would explain why Masky turns up in the hotel right after Jessica vanishes. He found out that she was going to run off with Jay, but that she didnt remeber anything. He helped her escape, and TTA is probably trying to restore her memory so that she can help them again.

4. This isnt about Jessica, but since I mentioned the missing seven months earlier, I want to complain about that. Several times in the tapes from that time, Jay complains that nothing had been happening and that he'd spent a lot of time doing nothing. Why wasn't he posting tapes? His encounter with the Operator in Rosswood park would have been a wonderful choice. It sees kinda sus to me. The SIR.

Miscellaneous

Theories on Teleportation and the role of Door Ways.

There are 3 theories I could find on the role of Door Ways and the possibility of teleportation.

a) It is seen many time throughout the entries that someone opens a door and ends up somewhere else entirely. At one point Jay ends up in a basement that shouldn't exist. Another moment he opens the door to his room while sleep walking and is not seen coming out the other side. Alex leaves his door open, perhaps to prevent this from happening. During the scene in the Hotel in which J escapes, it has been theorized that the entire room moved down the hallway.

b) The Operator can move through time and space. The Operator has a quality that allows him to move from place to place without moving. He appears where he wants to appear and instantly.

c) Masky has properties much like the Operator in that he can teleport, allowing him to follow Jay from place to place.

Memory loss

The majority of speculation on Memory loss is wild guessing. As we have not had much information on the exact details it is hard to express it in words, ad most theories vary wildly depending on whom you ask. The most common theories are as follows.

a) The Operator has an electromagnetic field that emanates from him. This not only causes the damage to the tapes and video, but also explains memory loss as it effects the impulses of your brain.

b) After close contact with the operator (after seeing him) you are supposed to lose your memory. The Operator somehow thrives on stealing these memories or is perhaps not supposed to be seen and is compelled to follow you until he can wipe your memory. ~ bobthecrusher


What in the name of the hottest part of hell is Alex Kraile talking about in Entry 22 when he says, and I quote…. "We were the only two left. And I left him. Brian is gone, Tim and Jay, and Sarah. Everyone… is gone." We may never see Brian, Seth or Sarah again, but we know damn sure that Jay and Tim still exist. Obviously for reasons that I need not explain, Tim's word about Brian being fine is probably suspect, but even if he was okay that would just serve to discredit Alex.

I think Tim, Jay, Seth, Alex, Sarah and Brian hunted down The Operator. The Operator separated them throughout the night and sent them all on their way, wiping the memories. The exception here seems to be Tim and Alex. There's also the possibility that Seth was killed and we know nothing about Sarah. Jay had his memories of a lot of things erased. Maybe Tim DID have his mind wiped. Who knows for sure? But clearly they got close to something, wherever they were. -GangrulousTheArmada

Nam Rednels' theory

I have an awesome theory that could-if told right-double as a scary story…! so my story starts in an orphanage during the early 20th century. a young boy who had no name was nick named skinny limbs, due to is long and lanky limbs. skinny limbs was a clever young fellow and often stole things from people. one day when the care taker for the kids left them in the yard skinny limbs went into the woods in returned with a block of wood about the size of his face. he then hid the wooden block under his bed and told no one of it. later that night skinny went into the kitchen took a knife from the drawer and went back into his room. he spent the whole night carving a mask. skinny was obsessed with the idea that one little thing like a mask for example could hide your identity. he then carved masks for every one of his fellow orphans and one day they all ran into the woods. and since skinny had made everyone's mask he was their leader. skinny made a rather horrible leader because he was extremely bossy and stubborn. he never accepted anyone's input and had no care for anyone.years went by before they ran out of supplies so the figured they would all go and rob the small village that they were from. so skinny and his gang of mask wearing crooks went and robbed the village of all it's food. but skinny had been left behind when the other mask wearers left. the decided that they would not put up with his behavior and they left him to be the only one arrested. skinny served his time and was let free. once he was free he met a fine woman and they engaged. but every now and then he always saw a group of mask wearing folk lingering about. skinny then decided it was a good time to have a wedding. so the couple rented an old and sort of run down mansion,for it was all they could afford. the spent a few nights there and had a nice little wedding. but barely anyone went besides a few townsfolk. then after that skinny and his wife went to go to bed in the mansion. but half way up the stairs they say the group of masked crooks. they wanted revenge on skinny and they couldn't wait any longer! so the killed his wife and skinny went to jail once again. but this time the punishment was more severe… they tided him to a tree and covered his head with a burlap sack and buried his wife right in front of him. this was supposed to only be temporary but instead of dying of guilt skinny stayed alive and he had boiled up anger his whole time tied to the tree. and later he became one with the tree and out of his back were branches sticking out in every direction. skinny, or slendy was now on a rampage killing everyone of the masked crooks. and he then being so traumatized by these events went on to see what happened over and over again by forcing groups of friends to do the same thing and then the last one living would become the next slendy. the worst part is he found it amusing… So slendy found a group of friends just like his own and forced them to do what happened to him many years ago. this is the same group of people you see in the tapes of marble hornets…
~~nam rendels

I don't understand how this has any bearing on the story… ~Hydrolaze

Alright, let me explain the reasons why this theory is unlikely to be true.

First of all, it takes a lot of skill to carve a mask. Skinny Limbs surely wouldn't have that much skill to complete it within a night, enough time for a craftsman to complete one. That, and carving so many masks would take a week at least.

Second, why would they all follow him into the woods? I am sure the people working there told them how dangerous it is outside the orphanage. And especially, follow some kid who crafted them some masks (for an unknown reason). And the people would sure try to find them. Plus, kids don't have good teamwork, so they would all go their ways. That and there are wild animals in the woods. Wild enough to eat a group of kids.

Then, just because someone made masks for a bunch of kids, they wouldn't have a reason to follow him. It's like you following a guy just because he made you clothes.

Where would they get supplies? They would have to know how to hunt and cook.

How could a bunch of kids steal all the food from a village? Surely they had guards. Not ones that would get there after a while. Even a teenager could successfully fight them off. Then, there wasn't anything stopping SL from coming with them.

When he was released, a woman would surely not fall for a man with "Skinny Limbs" for a name, especially if he just was released from prison.

Good time to have a wedding when a gang wanted revenge? I think not.

All they could afford was a mansion. Wow.

Why would they want revenge? Haven't they had enough with the unexplained revenge in the form of prison? Plus, they would probably forget him by then.

Why would SL go to jail if some gang killed his wife. That's like someone being in jail because someone smashed his leg for no reason. (Get it?)

Can anyone die of guilt?

Becoming one with the tree is called magic. Marble Hornets is paranormal.

How did he escape from the tree?

THE END ~PixelMan


The Abandoned Hospital (22, 51, 56, 57) & Other Stuff

-Papers:
When Alex films the papers he writes he communicates with The Operator. "Sees me at the tower" = "See what I filmed at the tower", and The Operator replies (please can anyone pass the spectrograph in the sound in the end of the tape?). So the Operator DID NOT appaer at the basement, he just replied. It probably means Seth is safe.

Done. This is the spectrogram of the end of Entry 22 starting right before the video cut out, and ending shortly after the video cuts to Alex in the house. Nothing usable there, sorry. ~Hydrolaze

Did anyone think to run the sound through a sstv decode?~Xymorm

-Entry 22:
Location: The Hospital's basement
Time: Saturday noon
Alex goes with Seth to the basement.

-Entry 51:
Location: The Hospital & Annex
Time: Sunday
Alex and Brian shoot the scene at the hospital, after The Operator's first appearance, the tape gets selnder-cut to when Brian finds Tim, after the Operator's second appearance, it Slender-cuts again to back to the hospital and shows Brian's body being dragged.

-Entry 56:
Location: The Hospital & Annex
Time: Saturday morning
Alex and Tim scout the filming place. Tim gets hit in the annex.

-Entry 57:
Location: The Hospital & Annex
Time: Saturday evening
Tim runs from Alex, running from the annex to the main building, where Brian finds him the other day.

-CrimsonGhost713

Henry`s Theory

My theory is, when Alex gave up on marble hornets, because of the operator, he decided to put a stone on it, but when Amy got his camera, all that was brought back, bringing back the operator, which took amy, since then, Alex has been doing some sacrifices and offering them to the operator, as a try to get Amy back, but the operator itself, cannot make any harm to people, so alex knock em out, and draw to symbol to summon the operator, so he can take his sacrifice, like he did with brian, with that guy at the tunnel, and tried to do with Tim, Jessica and Jay.

Hoping that after a lot of human sacrifices, the operator will release Amy. I think that the maskies and hoodie, are trying to stop alex, because they know about his plans with the operator, as we saw at the entry that they are trying to choke alex, but then suddenly, they ran away, probably the operator showed up, scarying them, but what i dont know, is why when Jay went to the house at afternoon, masky went through a lot of doors, until Jay teleported to the abandoned hospital, where he encountered the operator.

when masky stopped alex from shooting Jay and Jessica, we hear a shot, and then, we dont hear from alex anymore, but we do not know who was shoot, or even if someone was shot, maybe the gun shot in the air due to the fight.

resuming my theory:

The operator takes Amy
Alex tries to get amy back giving sacrifices to the operator (which probably feds on the sacrifices)
Jay starts to look for whats going on
everyone is missing
Tim abandons Jay
Jay forever alone
When Alex tries to kill Jay and Jessica, and masky saves them, thats the turning point, where masky and hoodie notice that they are on the same team, and then starting helping Jay to solve the mistery.

i don't agree. you're telling the operator only became active after 4.4.2010


8Bitzombi's Theory.

Ok, I am a little bit late to the game and actually heard of this today, but after watching the entirety of entries and TTA responses in the last 12 hours I have come up with a fairly comprehensive theory about the events surrounding the Marble Hornets tapes. Now mind you, before taking any of this into thought you should watch all of the videos release so far since this theory relies on understanding key events that take place. Also, I am adding a section because this is simply too large to include with other theories and covers several aspects of the tapes at once. With that said, here goes…

I would like to start with the story that Alex tells Jay the story about Rosswood Park during Entry 38. There are two very important parts to this story.

The first is Alex saying "When I first moved here," this leads me to believe that this isn't the first time Alex has lived in the Rosswood area; perhaps he first moved to this area when he was a child, which would explain enttry 37 being a video from a childhood birthday that the Operator appeared at.This could mean that Alex's family moved away when he was still a child and he forgot what had happened there until Tim brings him back during the preliminary work for MH. This could also explain why Alex is so interested in seeing the Hospital when Tim offers since he is normally not willing to go beyond "ten mintues from home."

The second part is the story itself which lends some explaination for the Operator and his stretched appearance.It would also seem that the brick structures that Jay finds during Entry 40 would have related to this story, it is obviously that they would have to enclose the trees in some way before lighting them on fire so as to keep the fires from spreading. Perhaps this is why they didn't cut the prisoners down, they built chimineys around them and couldn't get to the bodies so they just burnt the whole tree down to get rid of them. This also lends me to believe that the Operator is one of these prisoners that escaped since Jay encounters him after looking into the structure that still has it's tree inside (notice the second structure is without a tree) and has one of the walls broken away. Alex mentions that most of the criminals would die of starvation and dehydration; but what if one of the criminals was being feed and given water by one of the children of the village and he eventually did stretch out enough to break out of his bonds and the structure, once free in a fit of rage he kills the child who was actually saving his life.

Assuming that this is correct, Tim and Alex were both kids in that small town; they probably knew eachother but don't remember it. If this is true it is a safe bet that they may have awoken the Operator by simply playing in the woods or poking around after hearing the stories of what had occured there. After the encounter Alex's parents took him away to a new town to live while Tim's put him into a Psych ward. This is where I believe Tim encounters the Operator again, I believe this is where Tim has a mental break creating an alternate personality (Masky,) this personality sets fire to the hospital to try and kill the Operator with the logic that he was supposed to be burnt on the tree in the first place but wasn't (which is possibly how the Operator gets his featureless face as the fire burns them away.) This is when Tim's parents move him away, interestingly enough they move fairly close to where Alex lives.

Now we jump ahead 15 years, during the preliminary filming of MH Alex is looking for a broken down building to film in; Tim remembers the Hospital in his home town being burnt down, but doesn't remember why. Just thinking about the events is enough to draw the Operator to him; this explains what happens in Entry 54, and chronilogically becomes the first encounter they have with the Operator since they were kids even if they didn't realize it.

After actually returning to Rosswood Alex starts to change his behavior and becomes increasingly paranoid and chaotic; this is when we start to find out he is being followed by the operator. At some point his behavior becomes calmer, he stops video taping himself constantly and starts to lead a normal life. I believe this is after the events that happen during Entires 51, 56 and 57. My theory is this is because Alex realizes that the Operator is not trying to get him, but is rather trying to make him kill Tim as an act of revenge, hence why he attacks Tim the first time after witnessing the Operator in the hospital. I believe that when he leaves the hospital and gets back he thinks everything is over; this is why he wants to burn the tapes so he can forget everything that has happened. He leaves and starts a new life far away.

Cut to 3 years later when Jay starts going through the tapes; he begins to realize something is wrong and tries to piece things together. Along the way he encounters Masky (Tim) who is trying to stop him at this point because he realizes that it will attract the attention of the Operator and possibly Alex. Jay continues on anyways and posts all of his findings, this does attract the Operator and leads it to realize that Tim is still alive. This is when it abducts Amy, using her as leverage to ensure that Alex does what he needs to. Alex sends the video to Jay to lure him and Masky (who he knows is following Jay) out to attack Masky. This is why Alex tries to kill him when he realizes it is Tim but Jay stops him. This also explains why Alex wanted so much time away from Jay, I think it is safe to say he was trying to hunt down Masky but was unable to which is why he kept calling Jay out to see him; hoping he'd draw both.

Eventually Alex realizes this isn't working and is slowly starting to lose it, this is when he convinces Jay and Jessica to come see what he found; he hopes that killing them will draw out Masky or at least act as some appeasment to the Operator. As we know Masky saves them and they get away, but not for long. they encounter the Operator at the hotel who wipes their memories; possibly so he can make them think that Masky is working against them. When Jay starts to post videos again I believe Alex starts watching them again, onces Jessica starts to realize something is wrong I believe Alex abducts her to use as a bargining chip later down the road to get to Masky.

During this scene we see Masky and automatically assume he is after Jay, but it could simply be that he was near by and is responding to Jessica's disapearance like Jay was. From this point the tapes begin to reflect the events detailed above leading Jay to the Hospital and the records that Tim was actually there. We still haven't seen Alex again which is what leads me to believe he kidnapped Jessica and has been taking his time trying to secure her while he plots against Tim.

I think that is safe to say Alex will be contacting Jay at some point in the near future to try and convince him that Tim is the route of all the problems, and Jay will believe him because of the lies Tim has been telling.

The only thing that I haven't quite figured out is the hooded figure; who we can assume is part of TTA along side Tim. Though the "twins" artifact found incoded in Classified might mean that the Hooded man and Tim are actually brothers who suffered the same childhood, and if they are in fact twins went through similar psychotic breaks. This would explain why Masky trusts the Hooded man while Tim doesn't, since Tim might be trying to block out his brother from his memory along with the Operator. This also explains why the hooded man knows Tim is lying, and why he has his medical history. No matter what though, if Tim is part of TTA rather than just being another person being watched by TTA enttry #37 seems to give some level of credibility to my theory that Tim and Alex knew eachother as kids since it would explain how he had a tape from Alex's childhood birthday.

Now, I am sure there are potentially holes with this theory and there are some things that I haven't quite hammered out due to lack of details.

-8Bitzombi - July 8th, 2012

+Tim and Masky

In the most recent entry, (65) Jay shows us the documents and other things he found in the tunnel. The contents were some medical documents,for Tim, no less, a Folder with LIAR written on it, a doll, and a certain picture. This "certain picture" shows Jay talking to Tim in Entry 59. This contradicts the theories that ToTheArk is Tim. If it was Tim, then how was that picture taken? Of course, TTA could be 2 or even more people, but that is another theory entirely. This shows that Tim, and ONLY Tim is TTA. There may be several people, but again, that is another theory. Thanks for your time. Feel free to correct me or challenge me, I will credit you for any edits.

-CrimsonAether July 20th, 2012

Entry 12

I think that Entry 12 could be the key to understanding a huge amount of this. In Entry 12 it shows Alex and I think Brian being filmed with Seth or Jay on camera and maybe Sarah's there too. During the filming the usual Slender problems are present (camera quality is effected, weird effects on screen) After filming the camera pans over to reveal TO standing in the distance everybody in the group notices it and begins to question why he is there as Alex begins to approach the man thinking they are in trouble the film ends.

The point I'm trying to make is that what if this is the first encounter everyone had with TO and this is where all the problems started because 1. Alex is acting normal 2. When he sees Slendy he is not running in fear 3. he FREAKIN APPROACHES IT!!! maybe after the camera cuts out TO attacks all of them and wipes there memory and implanting his influence in them. this would make sense because since the tapes are not labeled we don't know when all the events that happened in the first half of the first season happened. all the other tapes basically show Alex acting weird around everybody. If this is true maybe jay will find something hidden showing what happened after the camera cut out. - TheHolligan


Alex was being stalked by the Operator for the majority of his filming Marble Hornets. After Jay had been given the tapes by Alex, Jay discovered the Operator, and was subsequently stalked by the Operator as a result of this discovery. After watching through the first 60 entries multiple times and breaking them down, it's easy to see that Jay suspects Alex of being the first one to discover the Operator. It wasn't until entry 60.5 that the actual truth, though in it's raw form, was revealed.

Entry 60.5 was Jay's video documentation of the contents of the folder he had found in the maitenence tunnel in the abandoned hospital. After carefully observing the first documents, taken in 1995, it's discovered that, by 1995, the last grade in school Tim had completed was the 2nd. This means that he was in 3rd grade by 12/20/1995, which would make him between ages seven and eight. Remember that the typical Slenderman mythos depicts him to usually stalk children.

As the documents continue, it shows that he was suffering from insomnia, headaches, and coughing. These are all symptoms of the Operator's prescence. It also says that he had ran away two time codes earlier than the writing the documents. Also, the later document from 2002, when Tim was a teenager, said he had "hallucinations." It's agreeable that only he was able to see the Operator, which made others classify them as hallucinations. I personally assume these to be days or weeks, but, either way, it said he was found at Rosswood Park, where the Operator seems to take refuge. Remember when Alex was explaining the punishment of the criminals to Jay? "The theory is that they were being stretched…" The Operator is one of those stretched criminals. Tim didn't run away, Tim was kidnapped by the Operator and brought to Rosswood Park! This may not mean the Operator literally took Tim to Rosswood Park, but got him there through physicality or emotional influence.

Alex wasn't the first to discover the Operator. It was Tim. The Ark is the Operator's center, his starting point. Tim isn't Totheark, Tim is The Ark! Alex kept trying to dispose of Tim however he could. Because of everyone's association with Tim, they were automatically targets of the Operator. Alex felt that, without Tim, there wouldn't be any Operator to stalk him. It's a simple theory similar to Dracula. Kill the first vampire and they'll all die. Alex knows Tim is still alive, and Alex wants to be led to him; led "to the ark." Alex is Totheark! Who else would have the missing audio to Alex's own tapes than Alex? It's so obvious yet so well shrouded at the same time!

I really enjoy this series and this one took me a legitimately long time to crack. I can't wait to see what happens next :)

The Pessimistic Theory

This isn't the theory I(obsidalicious) support but It's a theory I think needs to be considered. It goes like this:

  • The Operator has full control of the situation at all times.
  • Any time he does or does not cause video distortion or memory loss is because he can control his power and chooses not to.
  • totheark's videos don't have to mean anything they may be there just to intimidate and confuse Jay.
  • Any time someone escapes from The Operator is because he lets them.
  • The Operator's favourite hobby is tormenting people to the point of insanity and paranoia.
  • The Operator is very good at his hobby.

As the title says, this is a worst case scenario but I think the 4th point should be considered where people are debating about the extent of The Operator's power. ~obsidalicious


Echelion's Theory

-The Operator, Alex, and the Masked Men

Whomever the Operator is, I believe it is one of the criminals punished in Rosswood park. His identity was stripped from him and he was executed in the forest with exceptionally fast growth, explaining the blank face (having no identity), black suit (worn by executed convicts, as described in other theories) and long limbs (forest's growth). The Operator in terms of it's 'slenderman' appearance is little more than a ghostly manifestation of the unnamed criminal's 'soul', if you will, and the strong emotions involved with being executed, especially in the way he was. Such energy released might linger, and be amplified by the similar agony experienced by the other criminals. It's goals are pretty ambiguous, but I believe it's simply seeking a new identity. It is attempting to switch bodies with someone, and take on a new identity. It chooses Alex. The Operator stalks Alex to the point of the latter's insanity and fierce paranoia. Alex's erratic behavior alienates his friends, making him impossible to be around, leaving him alone and vulnerable. The Operator takes control of Alex's body, wipes the memory of his friends, then moves to a unnamed town that encompasses his old home and death site at Rosswood park. There may be more than one Operator.

Masked Men:
2 theories

1.) The Masked Men are under the employ of the Operator
Since the Operator has no face, he must see thru cameras. Anyone extensively using a camera (like to film a movie) would be a prime target. The Operator also can extensively influence a person into performing simplistic tasks, with all their memory erased at it's completion. He employs several victims to be his henchmen, which I believe are the Masked men, and the masks reflect the Operator's senses (or lack thereof). 'Masky's mask design has particular emphasis on the eyes, the hooded figure (presumably ToTheArk) of Entry #41's mask has heavy emphasis on his mouth, thus, if this man is ToTheArk, would explain his propensity to deliever messages via YouTube and physically do very little. These minions are meant to distract and terrorize anyone attempt to make contact with the Operator's target (i.e. Jay), and further hound the target.

2.) The Masked Men are members of a secret organization
Since the Operator targets people, perhaps ToTheArk is an organization of those who've been stalked by the entity but were rejected for a different body. If this is true, maybe they attempt to scare away outsiders, such as Jay, and hope to kill whomever the Operator is targeting. This would explain the Masked Men attacking Alex in Entry 45.

-Change in Alex

If the Operator takes control of Alex's body, lets say, around entry 20 (just before the 7 months Jay couldn't remember) then one can assume that Alex is in the Operator's body. If so, that raise several points:

1. it would explain Alex's sudden cryptic and violent nature
2. if Alex now controls the Operator's body, it would explain why the Operator began to stalk Jay, yet despite getting close enough to put Jay in a trance or 'take' him, it doesn't do so. Perhaps Alex is merely trying to contact Jay.
3. if the Masked Men are under the Operator's influence, then Alex now controls them in the Operator's body, explain why Masky now attacks Alex and ToTheArk's message became less unsettling and threatening and more helpful and directive.
4. if the Masked Men are members of an organization, then they are attempting to destroy the vessel the Operator uses, Alex. They might be trying to trick Jay into killing him, to stick him with the blame, as they guide him with messages but little direct involvement.

-The Ark

Whatever this 'ark' is, it is of extreme value to the Operator or the organization ToTheArk. Perhaps the ark is something that could hinder, stop or kill the Operator, or it is something, or a person, immune to the Operator's influence. Such an item, or person, would need be destroyed or hidden by the Operator or found and used by the organization ToTheArk.

What is the ark?

1.) the ark is an item that can kill or stop the Operator
2.) the ark is an item that can make one invisible to the Operator
3.) the ark is the vessel that the Operator is targeting. Such a vessel would need to be protected by the Operator and destroyed or neutralized by ToTheArk
4.) the ark is someone resistant or immune to the Operator's influence.

-Jay

Maybe Jay is the ark, as in recent entries, Jay is not affected by 'Slender-Sickness' or in being in close proximity to the Operator. His memories are erased, but he doesn't disappear like the Marble Hornets crew or Jessica. His also doesn't have sudden and numerous coughing fits like Tim. While fairly affected in the beginning, Jay has become more resistant as the series progress, and is the subject of extreme interest to the Operator and ToTheArk. Whoever Jay is, he's integral to the story and probably the only one who can solve.

-The Future

Either the Operator must be killed, confined or stopped, or all characters are killed or go missing. These are the only possible futures. I think ToTheArk is an organization of those affect by the Operator, either as past targets or people who've been affect by 'Slender-Sickness'. I believe the organization will soon recruit Jay, as the hooded figure believed to be ToTheArk physical presence is increasing. Perhaps they'll reveal the answers.

The RyRy Theories

Okay, so these are a couple of theories I have about Alex and ToTheArk.

1. Alex is a servant to the operator, but not by choice.

Alex was intensely pursued by the operator in early entries, but now it appears as though the operator and Alex have become "Partners". however, I believe this "Partnership" was formed because Alex figured out that the Operator needs a recently killed body to gain power. After figuring this out, Alex meets the Operator and he tells him that he will bring him sacrifices in exchange for being sparred. The Catch is, that anyone Alex interacts with must be sacrificed. So all of the Marble Hornets cast, and anyone Alex interacts with, must be given to the Operator. So he goes on a quest to kill all of the Marble Hornets cast. he successfully kills Seth and Sarah, but Brian, Tim, and Jay are spared. After attempting to kill Tim, Alex realized he wanted out. He then makes his confession tape (entry 2 I believe) saying that all of the marble hornets cast and crew are gone. He leaves and attempts to escape the operator by moving and getting rid of all his video cameras. Some time passes by, and he has moved in with his girlfriend Amy. Somehow, a camera is placed in their closet by someone (or its one Alex forgot to get rid of). She turns on the camera, and as soon as she points the camera at Alex, the operator appears in his house. The Operator appears to send a message to Alex by either A) Killing Amy or B) Teleport her somewhere. The Operator also knows that Jay, Tim, and Brian are all alive, so Alex must kill them. Alex found the Marble Hornets youtube page, and knows the Jay is the biggest threat, but could possibly be spared. So he contacts him, and saves him from Masky (Tim). He attempts to stall Jay and get him to stop making videos. And when Jay gets deeper into the secrets of Alex, Jay begins to cut ties with Alex. Alex then realizes Jay is following him into the forest. he doesn't want to kill Jay, so he says to himself, "Don't follow me." and waits in the tunnel to meet with The Operator. when someone comes from behind, he kills him, and the Operator takes the victims body away. Skipping forward a bit to when Alex calls Jay to meet with him. When they are in the Shed/Hut/Wood Building, Alex pulls a gun on Jessica and Jay and says something along the lines of, "It didn't have to be this way, but you had to keep digging." This leads me to believe that Alex is being forced to do this. however, Jay is saved by Masky, and as Jay and Jessica flee, a gunshot is heard. This is the last time (as of entry 61) that we see Alex. this could mean either A) Masky shot and wounded/killed Alex or B) There was a struggle for the gun and a bullet was misfired. also note that after this point, The Operator begins to be seen without Alex in the vicinity. This leads me to believe that the Operator figured Alex was useless and abandoned him, and is now trying to use Jay as a slave instead of Alex. Feel free to comment on this.

2. Hoody and Masky

Alright, I'm going to try and explain this the simplest way I can. Both Hoody and Masky Hate the operator and Alex. however, Masky Likes Jay, while Hoody does not. Hoody tries to cause harm to Jay, as seen when he tries to lead Jay into the maintanence tunnels. Tim tries to keep Alex out of there, and succeeds. however, Jay returns to the tunnels, and is nearly killed by The Operator. I will add more to this theory when the next Entries are posted, as there is very little information about Hoody. Again, feel free to comment.

Hoody

I believe that Hoody is actually Alex acting in an undercover fashion. He is about the right height and moves in the same manner. I do not believe we have seen the two of them together yet.

Hoody is Someone We Know Well By Thessearch
(This was added AFTER The Narrator's theory below me, I'm just giving it more examination.)

I do know that time travel is coming into play in the Marble Hornets series, as least as a viable theory. Most prominent is in entry 65, where we see Tim obviously going through a lot of stuff, including being submerged in water and dragged through the woods, and still gets back to his car before Jay does. He’s not even wet.

But I’m not theorizing about Tim right now. I’m theorizing about Hoody. Hoody first showed up in entry(ies) 40/41/42 after Jay encounters the Operator, drops the camera and runs. Hoody picks up the camera and puts it back in Jay’s unlocked car. Afterwards, the figure seems to purposefully walk in front of the camera, look back, and walk away. ow is it Hoody was right there when Jay dropped the camera, and how did they know his car would be unlocked? Why would they bother to bring the camera back anyway? And what is the point of being seen?

In entry 60, Jay goes to the abandoned hospital, and finds out he is not alone. The Hooded figure leads Jay to a narrow tunnel, where it is implied he left medical files of Tim. These files ultimately lead to Tim telling Jay more about his problems as a child; They prompt Tim to tell more of the truth. Jay already knew that Tim was in the hospital, and most of that information was redacted. Why would Hoody bother to leave those files? How did they know that they would force Tim to help?

In the entry “entry”, the Hooded man films Tim while he is at home. He takes his medication and hides in a closet while Tim has a seizure. This entry confirms that Tim becomes Masky when he blacks out. Hoody looks at the camera once or twice, implying that this was filmed specifically for the purposes of telling Jay “this is what happens”. Why would he do that? Jay already knew that Tim was Masky. It wasn’t vital to really know that the medication kept him from becoming his alternate persona. So what why would Hoody go to the trouble of making sure Jay saw that footage?

In entry 66, Tim reveals lots of information about his childhood in the hospital. And, what would you know, Hoody shows up. They follow him and observe him crouching in a room, looking for something, it seems. When he leaves, Jay finds a tape, very old and very dirty. If Hoody had left something for Jay, wouldn’t he take care to keep it clean? OR, what if Hoody didn’t leave it? But was simply leading Jay to it? How did he know they were there? How is it Hoody shows up at JUST the right time and place? Why is he unafraid of being seen, and why is it we never see him doing anything except seemingly prompting our narrator?

It is because Hoody is Jay from the future.

The Narrator's Hoody Theory
A bit outrageous, but at this point, I think anything is possible. There is obvious evidence that the Operator is capable of jumping/making rifts in space and time. Many believe that the mask Hoody wears is supposed to make fun of Jay (due to the distance between the eyes). But what if it's much simpler(or maybe more complex) than that? What if Hoody IS Jay? Before you dismiss my theory as ludicrous on the grounds that they have been seen together, consider this: Somehow, Jay possibly utilized a rift in time made by the Operator. He goes back to his past, and acts out the role of "Hoody." Obviously, considering this theory, some wibbly-wobbley timey-wimey stuff went down, and we're just witnessing Jay's attempt at "fixing" the past. Hoody always seems to know what people are going to do.

On the subject of time travel, is it possible that the Operator isn't teleporting, but actually travelling through time? Or perhaps both? It could explain a lot of seemingly impossible events that go on in certain entries. I will try to point them out in the entry's pages themselves. -TheNarrator

xX888Vipers Theory
My theory, is that Hoody is Alex because in one of the entries (I can never remember witch entry is witch, too many of them) when Sarah (I think it's Sarah, but again i can't remember) finds Alex's old camera and that causes The Operator to appear, and you never hear from her again, i presume The Operator kidnapped her to use as leverage so that Alex does as he wants because Alex has an immunity to The Operators ability to control people, witch he got from taking the pills (remember those pills that were found in Alex's old house?) and he was stealing the pills from Tim, witch is why they make such a big deal of Hoody sneaking into Tim's room and stealing them. This would also explain why Alex is working with The Operator due to the need to keep him from harming his hostage. ~xX888ViperXx

Hoody & ToTheArk

Between totheark's entry "Observation" & "Entry #61", I think it's made plainly obvious that Hoody IS totheark. In "Observation", there is a camera sitting outside of Tim's window while he copes with his headache & takes his medication. And in "Entry #61", the camera is outside of the same exact window in the same exact angle as in totheark's video & it is revealed to be Hoody who is holding the camera. As to what his motivations are & who he REALLY IS, it is still unclear… But his message to Jay appeared to be an attempt to wake him up as to the lengths of his obsession. So whether he's doing this out of benevolence or malevolence, we will certainly find out soon. - Shayatanica

The Ark

Alex is working with the Operator (the flood) and totheark is trying to get us to saftey (the ark) with the help of Tim as Masky and someone as Hoody. They are trying to stop Jay from meddling. -Ethan Cook

Kat's To The Ark Theroy
I put this on the Totheark page, but I'm putting this on here swell:

I think the Ark is most likely, as earlier suggested, referring to the biblical sense. I may be wrong, but all places that relate to the Operator, appear to have to do with fire. I-E The hospital, the trees in the forest where they tied prisoners, the painting, the want to burn the tapes, and Jays apartment. And going on the idea that Totheark wants to take down the Operator, a lot of the videos, and a lot of the videos reference water in some sense. Could this mean, the ark is the water to put out the fire? Or the boat to save them from the flood? After all, water also seems to be a warning. Well this just an idea, but I think its true. Water and Fire are huge factors in this. A lot of the references are subtle, but they are there. Even personality wise, Assuming Alex is influenced by the Operator has short fuse, and became agitated and fierce (traits you could call a fiery personality) While Jay appears to have a more passive and easily influenced personality, much like water. If totheark is trying to take down the operator, which I believe they are, then I think the Ark is refering to a sort of salvation or freedom from the Operator, more then waiting for Jay to take them to Alex. After all, they obviously don't have any trouble finding anybody, especially with that film editing skills and knowledge of computer binary and use of spectrograph and obvious other computer nerd-ery, it wouldn't be hard to locate an IP adress or track him through his phone. The ark must be more then just Alex Kraile.

As to who totherark is, I think its one person. At first, I thought it was multiple, but I think the difference in how the editing is the result of finding out information on The Operator and Alex. I think at one point "Masky" and totheark's un-known identity, teamed up in the middle, then broke apart again. I think the S-stigma thing, must be important, because its in more then one video, I don't think its a signature though, I think its a warning that something is coming, because unlike regards, that seemed to end the video, the S would go through out the video, hidden in the corner, or hard to see. Well these are my ideas anyway. -KatsAtItAgain

Demon Theory

I think it is possible for the Operator to be a demon or something awful like that.
Maybe he was a murderer and was sentenced to death when he died, then was sent to Hell. But he had a chance to reedeem himself by collecting souls and then using their bodies to help him collect more souls. Alex is a perfect example.

Gazebo Theory

This one is pretty far-fetched, but it could be just as plausible as the time-travel speculation. The Operator has a strong connection to the forest, and to trees in particular. It could even be considered some sort of guardian spirit of the woods. Now, if someone were to cut down some of those trees, it can be reasoned that it would be rather upset about such a thing. And if those trees were to be fashioned into a structure, namely the gazebo featured during the shooting of 'Marble Hornets', then the Operator could become protective of said structure by extension. Perhaps, during the various shoots that took place there, someone had done something to damage the gazebo, thereby catching the attention of the Operator and unleashing its wrath upon the unsuspecting film crew. So basically, they angered the gazebo and it awakened to kill them. ~Nerve

TallShadow's Theories

1. Hoody=Seth=Totheark
In Entry 71, Jay is attacked by Alex. Seth happens to be nearby for whatever reason, forgot something at Alex's house, wanted to help him pack, whatever. Seth runs away and encounters The Operator, who makes him forget the incident. Then Alex convinced him to help him defeat the Operator, after Seth became aware of it. And after Alex took him to the location in Entry 22, he decided to end his alliance with Alex, formed to defeat the Operatorbut Alex probably started it to get rid of the MArble Hornets crewand go out on his own. Then Jay came into the picture with the Marble Hornets channel on Youtube. Seth suddenly remembers the attack and tries to scare him away with the frightening early videos. Then he becomes furious as it becomes apparent that Jay does not remember the attack, and Jay gains Seth's sympathies and he decides to help him. And all of this is because of the Ark.

2.Alex and The Operator
Entry 71 gave me an idea about Alex and how The Operator works. Here's my theory: TO brings the worst out of people, psychologically and to an extent physically, brings out their deepest flaws and such and magnifies them tenfold. Maybe Alex had socio/psychopathic tendencies BEFORE Marble Hornets. Maybe enttry 37 was Totheark's way of telling Jay how innocent Alex used to be, or how innocent he seems to LOOK; maybe Seth isn't getting as much attention as he should, because he might have seen Alex do something crazy, like kill somebody or something, but forgot it because of TO. And after Entry 22, he remembered everything and became Totheark.

3.The Operator Was A Shrink
If the above theory is correct, then it may shed some light on TO's origins. Here's my theory: TO was a psychiatrist who worked at the hospital Tim had lived, but then died in the other building somehow, maybe a fire, and Tim's building was a sort of replacement. The psychiatrist had a strong connection with one of Tim's family members, who had the same afflictions as Tim, and passed them down to him genetically. When Tim came to the other hospital, the psychiatrist's spirit recognized the relation, and started haunting or protecting Tim from harm. The psychiatrist had a negative influence on Tim, causing him to have nightmares and hallucinations. The shrink was sort of latched on to Tim, not quite possession, but kind of. So when Tim ran away to Rosswood Park, the shrink felt the presence of death, i.e. the executed criminals mentioned in Entry 38, and used one of their bodies to come back to life, turning their decomposed bodies into TO's form somehow. This theory is sort of flawed, as it doesn't explain what it wants with Alex, or what it's goals are.

4.The Operator Is An Eldritch Abomination
This theory just says that The Operator is a force beyond mortal understanding. It meddles with scarred individuals, such as Tim, and then scars other individuals associated with the original target for fun. The Ark is a way of discommunicating The Operator from our plane of understanding and the realm of mortals.

5.WATER
I watched Entry 65 and came up with this theory: water is The Operator's weakness. Assuming TO was in a fire and died before water was used to douse it, water could be the only thing to ward off the Operator, ignoring the Ark. After the beginning of 38 Tim escaped TO jump into a body of water, and was trying to wait TO out. Then TO made Tim warp out into the forest for the rest of the video. Tim knows this from his previous experience with TO as a kid.
ALSO this explains Hoody's gaze into the stream in 41; they were focusing energy on the image of water, imprinting the image into their mind to ward off TO. And in 68, Hoody has a lot of water-though this could just be for drinking, buut-maybe to ensure that TO doesn't come in on him unexpectedly. Maybe even DRINKING water can ward off TO. If this is true, then Jay should stock up on water, QUICK. This might be a HUGE revelation in future entries!

6.Jay Is An Unreliable Narrator
I mean, Entry 71! Either The Operator made him forget-which is the most plausible reason-or Jay simply could not fathom Alex attacking him out of nowhere, due to Alex being SEEMINGLY calm natured, quasi-confirming Alex as a socio/psychopath. Alex relied on Jay's flawed memory to continue his doings with The Operator, and Totheark didn't come to Jay because he knew he didn't remember anything. And Jay then unearths the tapes from Alex and is thrust into all of this. This would be a perfect opportunity for repressed memories to come rushing back, but TO's annoying habit of erasing entire chunks of memories is to thank for that. There could be loads of things that Jay has forgot, and how are we supposed to know?

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License