Let’s start out with A SHAMELESS PLUG!!!!
Cause we all like that sort of thing.
I’ve recently been given a position at the Examiner to write articles about zombies. So in case you ever wanted to know what Omega’s opinions on zombies are, you should check it out. And then follow it religiously.
Would you believe that I had been planning on making a post about The Tutorial since December? Just goes to show how incredibly on top of things I am.
The Tutorial
I’ve already mentioned The Tutorial several times, as it has been a huge part in establishing some of the foundations of the Mythos. Here we follow M, the original Runner, the man who decided to make a blog about giving survival tips to those hunted by Slender Man. Being the first blog in this style, The Tutorial created or codified many of the ideas we see present in the Mythos today.
Plot
The Tutorial is scarce on plot most of the time; most of the posts are either M doling out advice, or explaining his current situation. We know M had a brother, who was killed by Slender Man (along with the rest of his family), and we sometimes are given a flashback to an event in M’s past, when he was less experienced at running, but this is mostly the extent of the backstory. For a while, there were hints of a plot appearing, through M’s dreams of a forest and a feeling he had that things would change soon, but schedule slip caused those plot threads to die off.
M the Runner
The Tutorial practically invented the concept of a Runner in the Mythos. We had seen hints of it in Marble Hornets, as Alex appeared to have temporarily escaped the Operator by running away. But The Tutorial was the first time we had a story which focused on someone surviving Slender Man through running; most stories at the time were fairly static in their location. And apart from Seeking Truth, most focused far more on the protagonist going insane than they did on survival. The Tutorial changed the setting for both the authors and the characters. Those writing Slenderblogs were given a new way to handle their characters, which spread rapidly. Writing Runner characters was popular for a long time (before Fighter characters replaced them): a Runner protagonist allows the author to create a character who manages to be genre savvy and proactive about their survival, as opposed to those who just quietly break down at home, while also retaining the sense of helplessness which is useful in horror.
For the characters, it created a common trait of genre savviness. With M’s Tutorial, there was now a place where characters could learn the basics of this creature who was hunting them, and how to stay alive. For some time, commentors would often post a link to The Tutorial whenever a character realized they were being stalked. Barring the “Why are you posting a broken link?” excuse, it would be hard for the character to continue to act in such a confused manner after being introduced to the Tutorial.
M the Codifier
If you look back through this blog, you’ll notice that I have brought up M and The Tutorial a lot. That’s because he was the one who laid down much of the foundation which the current blogs use. Much of what M posted was based on what was seen in Marble Hornets, but with an explanation behind it, instead of leaving it a mystery. The Operator Symbol was given a purpose, Slender Man’s teleportation was discussed, and proxies were given their first real definition.
M’s thoughts on proxies may be one of the most long lasting effects; prior to The Tutorial, stories had existed where Slender Man had human servants, but it was M who first gave them a name and rules. M created the title “Hallowed”, which was the name most used before “Proxy” overtook it in popularity.
Not everything that M said has been taken as gospel truth. The getting up high rule was never very popular, and using masks as protection never took off (until Maduin made his own version of that concept). And as more time passes, more bloggers move further away from M’s ideas. Not as an intentional rebellion against him, but because people are starting to find new ways to look at the things he posted, or explore his ideas from new perspectives.
M the Unkillable
M cannot die. I am convinced of that fact. Time after time, he has vanished for months, until people began to claim he must be dead, only for him to suddenly return and make a comment on someone’s blog. His last post may have been in December, but M made a sudden return in March within the comments section, only to vanish once more. M represents one of the few characters who have managed to stay completely sane and alive during his entire time stalked onscreen (other characters, such as Tony or Sandra, have been involved with Slendy for a longer time, but most of it was before they started their blogs). M is one of the only two surviving protagonists from the earlier times in the Slenderblogs (Zeke being the second), and as such his blog stands out. If you ever want to see firsthand how the Mythos has changed stylistically over time, all you need to do is compare The Tutorial with any currently active Slenderblog. Both will be a story about someone who is at this time being stalked by Slendy, but the environment, tone, and events in them will be markedly different.
It’s almost been a month now since M’s last interaction, so I’m guessing we’ll soon start to see people claiming that he’s either dead or gone. But after seeing M go through so much, I’m starting to think that I’ll only believe he’s dead once I see the body. And maybe not even then.
Useful Links
The Tutorial: http://getuphigh.blogspot.com/
The Tutorial TVTropes Page: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheTutorial
The Tutorial Unfiction Thread: http://forums.unfiction.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=29853
Showing posts with label Tutorial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tutorial. Show all posts
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Basics of Running
Getting a good stride if essential; stretch your legs out, don’t just shuffle along. The longer your stride, the more ground you cover with each step, and the less energy you expend. Also remember to move your arms, you need them to be pulling you along. I’ve had to deal with too many people who just kept their arms practically motionless, and that does more to hinder you than help.
Oh, wait, sorry, wrong kind of running.
Before I begin, I’d going to mention some stuff on other blogs. Genevieve at Exilis Veritas is trying to map out the locations of Slender Man sightings. This may prove informative in the long run, so if you’re willing to, I’d recommend going to the map and posting any sightings you’ve had of him.
Second: I recently discovered the blog Golom Tulpa Anima. It’s only a few posts long right now, but it has a great deal of information, much of it going over things I wasn’t planning to go into much detail here. So if you’re looking for even more Slender Man information, check it out.
But now onto running. Until the Winter Equinox, I’m planning to post more practical information here. Hopefully some of it will be of use. In addition to this post on running, I hope to have posts on the Operator Symbol, Slenderproxies, and potential weapons of effect before December 21st.
Running From Slender Man
“Runner” is the term that has become associated with people who are hunted by Slender Man, but who stay on the move to avoid him, instead of remaining in a single location. M is the one who popularized the concept, when he created his blog giving advice on how to be a not-dead Runner. Since then, whether or not a blog is being made by a Runner has become a good indication of what the tone will be: If they remain in one place, expect a focus on horror and puzzles, with little hope for them making it out alive. Whereas a Runner blog will usually be on the more optimistic side, and the participants will usually be much more aggressive and genre savvy towards Slender Man.
M’s Rules
These are M’s basic three rules, which are essential for running.
1. Get Up High
According to M, Slender Man has a bit of difficulty finding humans who are high up. The hypothesis M had for the reason was that Slendy couldn’t visualize humans taller than he was, because humans are supposed to be shorter than him. A human taller than he is makes no sense at all. The example for height M gives is two stories plus a roof; I’d stay go with three stories just to be safe.
Ironically, the first of M’s rules, and the one which makes his URL, is the one most likely to be broken. Not to say the rule doesn’t work; there are still many instances of someone hiding in a high place to avoid Slendy. But it’s only a chance that it would work; in Scared, when Drew tried hiding in a high place, Slendy “took a few steps forwards, shot those fucked up things out of his back, and shot up to the roof to see me [Drew]”. There’s also the chance that he’ll just Slenderwalk into a tall building, or send Slenderproxies after you (who have no problem with the concept of people being high up). Even so, there’s no harm in being high up, so it should be done as an added precaution.
2. Keep Moving
The one which everyone seems to remember. Don’t stay in one place for too long. Even if Slendy can just Slenderwalk to your new position, movement appears to decrease the number of sightings you’ll have of him, plus it throws off Slenderproxies, as they need to rely on conventional methods of movement.
Running is almost universally accepted to work. The only place I can remember which didn’t agree was H(a)unting, and there they didn’t say that running wouldn’t work, only that it “isn't for everyone”. Slendy seems to enjoys a bit of a hunt, which might be why he lets so many people run from him.
3. Keep Your Eyes Open
This is part of M’s hypothesis on how Slenderwalking works. That was already covered, so I’ll be brief. Slendy can’t appear or disappear while he’s being observed, or thinks he’s being observed. Therefore, you need to keep your eyes open, pay attention, and if you need close your eyes, have something like a mask or an Operator Symbol to trick him into thinking he’s being watched.
Instances of this not working were covered in the Slenderwalking post.
H(a)unting’s Advice
H(a)unting’s main point of advice seems to be to not freak out and start panicking when you encounter Slender Man. Don’t throw Operator Symbols up everywhere, don’t run screaming when you see him, don’t throw your life away and start running if you don’t need to, do act in a calm, rational manner. If you act frightened of Slender Man, you’re more likely to be killed by him. Keeping your spirits up is the best way to hold him off. Sandra (Oracle) recommends keeping in a small group so that you can all help each other’s spirits, act confident when Slender Man appears, and don’t panic when you encounter a Slenderproxy. Thus far, Slenderproxies tend not to actually try to kill someone, unless they appear to be a threat (such as the Sages). They will attack people, but if Slender Man is hunting someone, he wants to be the one to kill them.
Miscellaneous Advice
-Avoid Large Groups
This is another of M’s. Having a few people with you is fine, but more people draws Slender Man towards you. The ideal situation would be to have a group of two or three people; enough to protect each other and keep everyone sane, but not so much that you turn into a large target.
-IPods are Your Friend
Steve Jobs is the one who will save us all, it seems. There are two uses for IPods. In Ichthyological, Liz used one as a way to alert her of Slender Man’s presence. She would have music playing, and whenever the audio began to screw up, she would know that Slender Man was nearby.
Another use was from Jay (Heroic Sage) in Anomalous Data. While being followed by Slender Man, he had Yakety Sax play on his phone (well, not exactly an IPod, but same idea) to lessen the fear associated with the situation.
-Don’t Accept Invitations
Okay, so you’re on the run from Slendy, you’re staying smart, keeping him at bay, dodging the Slenderproxies, and then you start seeing one location in your dreams, or some unnatural force seems to be drawing you to a place….
Seriously, don’t go, unless you are either crazy prepared, or have a very good reason to risk your life. Going to the house didn’t help J in Marble Hornets, Anthony going to the tree in Lost Time ended with him dead, going to the cave may/may not have ended with Sam of White Rabbit Asylum being killed (depends on whether you think the lack of activity is because she’s just not blogging anymore, or because of what she found in the cave), traveling to the Land of the Ashen Waste resulted in the HYBRIDs encountering Slendy…. Are you seeing a common trend here?
If you are going to accept an invitation from Slender Man, you better have a good reason to do so, or be Zeke Strahm. Most encounters end either in some kind of attack, or if you’re unlucky, outright death. It’s rare to escape completely unscathed, unless Slendy’s still just playing.
-Stay Out of the Woods
If at all possible, avoid large groups of trees. Either forests are his home, or he’s just stronger/more active within them. Going into the woods is always a bad idea; I can’t think of a single blog which has recommended it as a way to stay alive.
-Don’t Be Stupid/Passive
It sounds obvious, but there are so many times I want to slap some of these runners and tell them to start thinking logically. You have so much information available to you, don’t just ignore it. I hate reading people make posts about how they’re planning to go exploring in a forest, when they should know better. Or absolutely refusing to do anything about their situation. If you just sit around your home, letting your life and mind fall apart, you will be killed, go insane, or become a Slenderproxy. Victims who act proactively, who work to extend their lives, who stay smart and on the move, have a much longer life span than their counterparts. And when they do die, they usually go out in a much more dignified manner than someone scrambling to type some desperate calls for help on their home computer as their mind completely snaps.
Useful Links
The Tutorial: http://getuphigh.blogspot.com/
H(a)unting (Advice): http://wwwrunningwonthelp-lya.blogspot.com/2010/09/advice.html
Oh, wait, sorry, wrong kind of running.
Before I begin, I’d going to mention some stuff on other blogs. Genevieve at Exilis Veritas is trying to map out the locations of Slender Man sightings. This may prove informative in the long run, so if you’re willing to, I’d recommend going to the map and posting any sightings you’ve had of him.
Second: I recently discovered the blog Golom Tulpa Anima. It’s only a few posts long right now, but it has a great deal of information, much of it going over things I wasn’t planning to go into much detail here. So if you’re looking for even more Slender Man information, check it out.
But now onto running. Until the Winter Equinox, I’m planning to post more practical information here. Hopefully some of it will be of use. In addition to this post on running, I hope to have posts on the Operator Symbol, Slenderproxies, and potential weapons of effect before December 21st.
Running From Slender Man
“Runner” is the term that has become associated with people who are hunted by Slender Man, but who stay on the move to avoid him, instead of remaining in a single location. M is the one who popularized the concept, when he created his blog giving advice on how to be a not-dead Runner. Since then, whether or not a blog is being made by a Runner has become a good indication of what the tone will be: If they remain in one place, expect a focus on horror and puzzles, with little hope for them making it out alive. Whereas a Runner blog will usually be on the more optimistic side, and the participants will usually be much more aggressive and genre savvy towards Slender Man.
M’s Rules
These are M’s basic three rules, which are essential for running.
1. Get Up High
According to M, Slender Man has a bit of difficulty finding humans who are high up. The hypothesis M had for the reason was that Slendy couldn’t visualize humans taller than he was, because humans are supposed to be shorter than him. A human taller than he is makes no sense at all. The example for height M gives is two stories plus a roof; I’d stay go with three stories just to be safe.
Ironically, the first of M’s rules, and the one which makes his URL, is the one most likely to be broken. Not to say the rule doesn’t work; there are still many instances of someone hiding in a high place to avoid Slendy. But it’s only a chance that it would work; in Scared, when Drew tried hiding in a high place, Slendy “took a few steps forwards, shot those fucked up things out of his back, and shot up to the roof to see me [Drew]”. There’s also the chance that he’ll just Slenderwalk into a tall building, or send Slenderproxies after you (who have no problem with the concept of people being high up). Even so, there’s no harm in being high up, so it should be done as an added precaution.
2. Keep Moving
The one which everyone seems to remember. Don’t stay in one place for too long. Even if Slendy can just Slenderwalk to your new position, movement appears to decrease the number of sightings you’ll have of him, plus it throws off Slenderproxies, as they need to rely on conventional methods of movement.
Running is almost universally accepted to work. The only place I can remember which didn’t agree was H(a)unting, and there they didn’t say that running wouldn’t work, only that it “isn't for everyone”. Slendy seems to enjoys a bit of a hunt, which might be why he lets so many people run from him.
3. Keep Your Eyes Open
This is part of M’s hypothesis on how Slenderwalking works. That was already covered, so I’ll be brief. Slendy can’t appear or disappear while he’s being observed, or thinks he’s being observed. Therefore, you need to keep your eyes open, pay attention, and if you need close your eyes, have something like a mask or an Operator Symbol to trick him into thinking he’s being watched.
Instances of this not working were covered in the Slenderwalking post.
H(a)unting’s Advice
H(a)unting’s main point of advice seems to be to not freak out and start panicking when you encounter Slender Man. Don’t throw Operator Symbols up everywhere, don’t run screaming when you see him, don’t throw your life away and start running if you don’t need to, do act in a calm, rational manner. If you act frightened of Slender Man, you’re more likely to be killed by him. Keeping your spirits up is the best way to hold him off. Sandra (Oracle) recommends keeping in a small group so that you can all help each other’s spirits, act confident when Slender Man appears, and don’t panic when you encounter a Slenderproxy. Thus far, Slenderproxies tend not to actually try to kill someone, unless they appear to be a threat (such as the Sages). They will attack people, but if Slender Man is hunting someone, he wants to be the one to kill them.
Miscellaneous Advice
-Avoid Large Groups
This is another of M’s. Having a few people with you is fine, but more people draws Slender Man towards you. The ideal situation would be to have a group of two or three people; enough to protect each other and keep everyone sane, but not so much that you turn into a large target.
-IPods are Your Friend
Steve Jobs is the one who will save us all, it seems. There are two uses for IPods. In Ichthyological, Liz used one as a way to alert her of Slender Man’s presence. She would have music playing, and whenever the audio began to screw up, she would know that Slender Man was nearby.
Another use was from Jay (Heroic Sage) in Anomalous Data. While being followed by Slender Man, he had Yakety Sax play on his phone (well, not exactly an IPod, but same idea) to lessen the fear associated with the situation.
-Don’t Accept Invitations
Okay, so you’re on the run from Slendy, you’re staying smart, keeping him at bay, dodging the Slenderproxies, and then you start seeing one location in your dreams, or some unnatural force seems to be drawing you to a place….
Seriously, don’t go, unless you are either crazy prepared, or have a very good reason to risk your life. Going to the house didn’t help J in Marble Hornets, Anthony going to the tree in Lost Time ended with him dead, going to the cave may/may not have ended with Sam of White Rabbit Asylum being killed (depends on whether you think the lack of activity is because she’s just not blogging anymore, or because of what she found in the cave), traveling to the Land of the Ashen Waste resulted in the HYBRIDs encountering Slendy…. Are you seeing a common trend here?
If you are going to accept an invitation from Slender Man, you better have a good reason to do so, or be Zeke Strahm. Most encounters end either in some kind of attack, or if you’re unlucky, outright death. It’s rare to escape completely unscathed, unless Slendy’s still just playing.
-Stay Out of the Woods
If at all possible, avoid large groups of trees. Either forests are his home, or he’s just stronger/more active within them. Going into the woods is always a bad idea; I can’t think of a single blog which has recommended it as a way to stay alive.
-Don’t Be Stupid/Passive
It sounds obvious, but there are so many times I want to slap some of these runners and tell them to start thinking logically. You have so much information available to you, don’t just ignore it. I hate reading people make posts about how they’re planning to go exploring in a forest, when they should know better. Or absolutely refusing to do anything about their situation. If you just sit around your home, letting your life and mind fall apart, you will be killed, go insane, or become a Slenderproxy. Victims who act proactively, who work to extend their lives, who stay smart and on the move, have a much longer life span than their counterparts. And when they do die, they usually go out in a much more dignified manner than someone scrambling to type some desperate calls for help on their home computer as their mind completely snaps.
Useful Links
The Tutorial: http://getuphigh.blogspot.com/
H(a)unting (Advice): http://wwwrunningwonthelp-lya.blogspot.com/2010/09/advice.html
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Slenderwalking All 'Round the World
I seem to be growing into the habit of starting these posts by mentioning some weird Slender Man related occurrence which happened to me at some previously. This post will be no different.
Some of you may recall me mentioning in my Marble Hornets post how at night, I confused two black signs and a white sign for Slender Man, causing a minor freak out. I walked by the place where I saw that on Thursday, during the daytime, and noticed something. There were two black signs, but there was no white sign.
If I may be allowed to express my feelings through the use of understatement, I was somewhat unnerved by this revelation. However, my initial freak out about seeing Slender Man in the signs was at a time when the Mythos was screwing with my head the most, and I was seeing Slendy in everything.
I also want to mention that this blog has been linked to on TVTropes. Which means that one of my life goals has been accomplished. I will have no regrets when Slender Man inevitably comes and kills me.
I was also linked to on 4chan, which is simultaneously both a badge of the highest honor, and an irredeemable shame.
I’ve finished Da Watcha, and caught up with All Eyes on Me!, The Master Comes, Bright Asylum, A Study in Purple, Jonclub113, Not Alone, Adventures of Eric, Believe What You See, and Make It Count. This is all the ARGs/stories I know of; if anyone has any others which I’ve missed, feel free to share them.
Slenderwalking
Slender Man’s favored mode of transportation, when he isn’t walking around with that slow gait of his, is something akin to teleportation, which I call Slenderwalking (because making a new word by combining two other words makes my inner German happy). This is the ability Slender Man displays to appear seemingly anywhere, and then vanish from that place at will. I can scarcely imagine how much he must save on airfare when traveling cross country.
M’s Rules
As with many of Slender Man’s features, M was the one who first established a set of guidelines defining Slenderwalking. This is how the ability is portrayed in the majority of ARGs and stories, with the occasional minor deviation.
Following M’s rules, Slender Man is capable of appearing or disappearing to/from any point in space, so long as he is not being observed. He’s like a horrifically frightening Schrodinger’s Cat; he potentially exists at every point in spacetime, until he is observed, giving him a fixed position. You could probably throw around a lot of phrases including the word “quantum” if you wanted to, but I’m trying as hard as I can to avoid turning this into an advanced physics paper.
According to M, the reason Slender Man can seemingly teleport is because he is capable of moving freely across spacetime. “He's in a different sort of mathematical reality, so His perception and way of interacting with space and time are different. Basically Slenderman isn't teleporting from room to room, it's all the same to him. Going from 1 town to another is like walking into another room for Him.”
There are some problems with M’s rules, especially how he deals with the possibility of Slender Man time traveling. According to him, it isn’t possible; the people who claim to have been transported to another time are mistaken, likely due to being shook up from Slender Man touching them. However, his theory has Slender Man moving freely through space, which implies capability to move freely through time. In relativistic physics, space and time are not separate. They are a unified concept, called spacetime. Moving through space also means moving through time. I could write even more in depth on this, taking about all sorts of science fun relativity causes (for example, did you know that by moving faster, you are slowing down time? Unless you’re getting close to light speed, it won’t be a noticeable amount. But if you ever want to feel empowered, think about this: whenever you accelerate in your car, YOU ARE MANIPULATING TIME.) but that isn’t the point here. The point is that, whenever Slender Man is following M’s rules (which, unfortunately for us, is most of the time) he can exist at any location or time he wants to. So based on our current understanding of relativistic physics and the workings of spacetime, Slender Man should be fully capable, under M’s rules, to travel freely through time, as well as space.
The inability to Slenderwalk while being observed remains interesting, though. When I mentioned Schrodinger’s Cat earlier, it wasn’t entirely in jest; the idea of something gaining a fixed position due to being observed screams quantum physics. But there’s also a good chance that this weakness is a mental one, not a physical one. By M’s rules, Slender Man can be tricked into not Slenderwalking via using the Operator Symbol, masks, etc. to make him think that he’s being observed. To understand what’s going on there, we’d need to get inside Slendy’s head, which probably isn’t possible for us human brains to do.
So here we’ve got a Slender Man who can appear anywhere and anytime he wants to, only limited by his inability to Slenderwalk while being observed. I suppose if we really wanted to, we could trap him by getting a large enough group of people put him under constant surveillance. Although given how things tend to go down in this Mythos, I doubt that would be as successful as we’d hope.
Jay’s Rules
Jay (R.I.P.) from Anomalous Data had his own theory on how Slenderwalking worked, based on Slender Man’s connection with human belief and emotions. Instead of being able to Slenderwalk anywhere he pleases, Slender Man manifests near people who have belief/fear in him. Following these rules, Slender Man can only appear near people, not anywhere he pleases, and he lacks the ability to travel through time. However, here he has been shown with the ability to appear in multiple places simultaneously, something which hasn’t appeared under M’s rules.
Through experimentation, Jay was able to prove a link between Slender Man’s appearances and human brain activity. Unfortunately, Jay never posted a finalized, all-encompassing theory on the mechanics behind this method of Slender Walking. As Jay has likely been killed by Slender Man, we will probably never see such a post.
This is the most limited method of Slenderwalking which Slender Man has displayed. People who lack strong emotional feelings have a greater immunity against Slender Man manifesting near them, and manifestations can be prevented entirely by erasing a person’s memories of Slender Man.
No Rules
And, of course, sometimes Slendy just does whatever he pleases. This features most commonly in the ARGs whose focus is on the mystery of Slender Man, and as such offer very few explanations for what occurs. Usually, Slender Man’s Slenderwalking abilities will be limitless in such cases. Think M’s Rules, but able to Slenderwalk even while being watched. The first place I encountered this was in Dreams In Darkness, which I initially dismissed it as more of Damien’s insanity. But it would appear again in Scared, which as far as I can tell at the moment, isn’t the hallucinations of a madman, and is a legitimate encounter with Slender Man. There isn’t much more to say on this Slenderwalking method, except that it almost makes Slender Man omnipresent.
However, it may be somewhat of an exaggeration to claim that in these ARGs, there are absolutely no rules governing Slenderwalking at all. There may be no rules which have been revealed in the story. Since the focus in the ARGs using this isn’t on explaining Slender Man, they aren’t going to create a list clearly defining how Slenderwalking works. Instead, he acts in whatever way the plot demands he do so.
Useful Links
M’s Tutorial-It’s not a Tardis: http://getuphigh.blogspot.com/2010/08/its-not-tardis.html
Anomalous Data-First Contact, plus complications: http://anomalousdata.blogspot.com/2010/09/first-contact-plus-complications.html
Some of you may recall me mentioning in my Marble Hornets post how at night, I confused two black signs and a white sign for Slender Man, causing a minor freak out. I walked by the place where I saw that on Thursday, during the daytime, and noticed something. There were two black signs, but there was no white sign.
If I may be allowed to express my feelings through the use of understatement, I was somewhat unnerved by this revelation. However, my initial freak out about seeing Slender Man in the signs was at a time when the Mythos was screwing with my head the most, and I was seeing Slendy in everything.
I also want to mention that this blog has been linked to on TVTropes. Which means that one of my life goals has been accomplished. I will have no regrets when Slender Man inevitably comes and kills me.
I was also linked to on 4chan, which is simultaneously both a badge of the highest honor, and an irredeemable shame.
I’ve finished Da Watcha, and caught up with All Eyes on Me!, The Master Comes, Bright Asylum, A Study in Purple, Jonclub113, Not Alone, Adventures of Eric, Believe What You See, and Make It Count. This is all the ARGs/stories I know of; if anyone has any others which I’ve missed, feel free to share them.
Slenderwalking
Slender Man’s favored mode of transportation, when he isn’t walking around with that slow gait of his, is something akin to teleportation, which I call Slenderwalking (because making a new word by combining two other words makes my inner German happy). This is the ability Slender Man displays to appear seemingly anywhere, and then vanish from that place at will. I can scarcely imagine how much he must save on airfare when traveling cross country.
M’s Rules
As with many of Slender Man’s features, M was the one who first established a set of guidelines defining Slenderwalking. This is how the ability is portrayed in the majority of ARGs and stories, with the occasional minor deviation.
Following M’s rules, Slender Man is capable of appearing or disappearing to/from any point in space, so long as he is not being observed. He’s like a horrifically frightening Schrodinger’s Cat; he potentially exists at every point in spacetime, until he is observed, giving him a fixed position. You could probably throw around a lot of phrases including the word “quantum” if you wanted to, but I’m trying as hard as I can to avoid turning this into an advanced physics paper.
According to M, the reason Slender Man can seemingly teleport is because he is capable of moving freely across spacetime. “He's in a different sort of mathematical reality, so His perception and way of interacting with space and time are different. Basically Slenderman isn't teleporting from room to room, it's all the same to him. Going from 1 town to another is like walking into another room for Him.”
There are some problems with M’s rules, especially how he deals with the possibility of Slender Man time traveling. According to him, it isn’t possible; the people who claim to have been transported to another time are mistaken, likely due to being shook up from Slender Man touching them. However, his theory has Slender Man moving freely through space, which implies capability to move freely through time. In relativistic physics, space and time are not separate. They are a unified concept, called spacetime. Moving through space also means moving through time. I could write even more in depth on this, taking about all sorts of science fun relativity causes (for example, did you know that by moving faster, you are slowing down time? Unless you’re getting close to light speed, it won’t be a noticeable amount. But if you ever want to feel empowered, think about this: whenever you accelerate in your car, YOU ARE MANIPULATING TIME.) but that isn’t the point here. The point is that, whenever Slender Man is following M’s rules (which, unfortunately for us, is most of the time) he can exist at any location or time he wants to. So based on our current understanding of relativistic physics and the workings of spacetime, Slender Man should be fully capable, under M’s rules, to travel freely through time, as well as space.
The inability to Slenderwalk while being observed remains interesting, though. When I mentioned Schrodinger’s Cat earlier, it wasn’t entirely in jest; the idea of something gaining a fixed position due to being observed screams quantum physics. But there’s also a good chance that this weakness is a mental one, not a physical one. By M’s rules, Slender Man can be tricked into not Slenderwalking via using the Operator Symbol, masks, etc. to make him think that he’s being observed. To understand what’s going on there, we’d need to get inside Slendy’s head, which probably isn’t possible for us human brains to do.
So here we’ve got a Slender Man who can appear anywhere and anytime he wants to, only limited by his inability to Slenderwalk while being observed. I suppose if we really wanted to, we could trap him by getting a large enough group of people put him under constant surveillance. Although given how things tend to go down in this Mythos, I doubt that would be as successful as we’d hope.
Jay’s Rules
Jay (R.I.P.) from Anomalous Data had his own theory on how Slenderwalking worked, based on Slender Man’s connection with human belief and emotions. Instead of being able to Slenderwalk anywhere he pleases, Slender Man manifests near people who have belief/fear in him. Following these rules, Slender Man can only appear near people, not anywhere he pleases, and he lacks the ability to travel through time. However, here he has been shown with the ability to appear in multiple places simultaneously, something which hasn’t appeared under M’s rules.
Through experimentation, Jay was able to prove a link between Slender Man’s appearances and human brain activity. Unfortunately, Jay never posted a finalized, all-encompassing theory on the mechanics behind this method of Slender Walking. As Jay has likely been killed by Slender Man, we will probably never see such a post.
This is the most limited method of Slenderwalking which Slender Man has displayed. People who lack strong emotional feelings have a greater immunity against Slender Man manifesting near them, and manifestations can be prevented entirely by erasing a person’s memories of Slender Man.
No Rules
And, of course, sometimes Slendy just does whatever he pleases. This features most commonly in the ARGs whose focus is on the mystery of Slender Man, and as such offer very few explanations for what occurs. Usually, Slender Man’s Slenderwalking abilities will be limitless in such cases. Think M’s Rules, but able to Slenderwalk even while being watched. The first place I encountered this was in Dreams In Darkness, which I initially dismissed it as more of Damien’s insanity. But it would appear again in Scared, which as far as I can tell at the moment, isn’t the hallucinations of a madman, and is a legitimate encounter with Slender Man. There isn’t much more to say on this Slenderwalking method, except that it almost makes Slender Man omnipresent.
However, it may be somewhat of an exaggeration to claim that in these ARGs, there are absolutely no rules governing Slenderwalking at all. There may be no rules which have been revealed in the story. Since the focus in the ARGs using this isn’t on explaining Slender Man, they aren’t going to create a list clearly defining how Slenderwalking works. Instead, he acts in whatever way the plot demands he do so.
Useful Links
M’s Tutorial-It’s not a Tardis: http://getuphigh.blogspot.com/2010/08/its-not-tardis.html
Anomalous Data-First Contact, plus complications: http://anomalousdata.blogspot.com/2010/09/first-contact-plus-complications.html
Friday, October 1, 2010
Victims
Well, probably you, now that you’ve read this blog.
Just a small little tangent at the start. I’m writing this post from my parents’ house in Austin; to most, that won’t mean anything. To those who know me personally, you may see where I’m going with this.
THERE ARE FRIGGIN TREES EVERYWHERE.
The neighborhood’s in the middle of a forest. It’s slightly disconcerting after having read through so many blogs screaming at me to stay away from trees. I’ll be sure to let you know if any of the trees I see are in formal wear.
On topic now:
One of Slendy’s defining characteristics is how he frequently targets children. In the first Slender Man picture, he is shown in the background of a playground, with the tagline that all the children in the photograph disappeared afterwards. Yet as I said in my “What is a Slender Man?” post, within the ARGs, children only make up a small portion of the victims. It’s incredibly rare for a story to make any reference to Slender Man actively hunting a child during the time frame in which the story takes place (the exception would be Dreams in Darkness, but sadly that doesn’t count, for reasons I’ll explain when I post about that ARG. Another exception is Vengeance, which was written by an 11 year old. Its quality is exactly what you’d expect from an 11 year old writer who doesn’t know where the shift key is.) But it would be statistically irresponsible to claim that since the majority of ARGs are written by people between 16 to their mid-twenties, the majority of Slender Man victims fall in that range. All it proves is that the majority of victims who actively blog/upload YouTube videos are between 16 to mid-twenties. To get a clear idea of the demographics of Slendy’s victims, we’d need to do a large scale survey, which is sadly not within my abilities. Perhaps we can convince the United States government to put on their census forms, “Are you being followed by a very tall and faceless man in a business suit?”
While we can’t make a cool looking diagram which details the exact demographics of the victims of Slender Man, we can attempt to narrow it down by categorizing the groups of people he does target.
Categories of Victims
Children
For simplicities sake, we’ll define a child here by its biological definition, someone between the stages of birth and puberty, rather than a societal one. According to most stories, these are Slender Man’s favorite victims. This is possibly related to the theory that Slender Man exists through our minds and belief; children have a very strong imagination, and are known for their fear of monsters hiding in the dark. A being such as Slender Man could easily manipulate and feed on such attributes. Why children are his favorite prey, I have no idea. Possibly Slender Man is really one of PedoBear’s many disguises.
Some interesting things to note are, A) Slendy often will take multiple children at once, and B) Slendy tends to not go after children as much while focusing on an older victim.
The first isn’t always the case; sometimes Slender Man will spend long periods of time breaking down a single child, as he would an older human. But whereas this singular attention is the norm for us old folks, in children, Slendy’s basic modus operandi seems to be, “Show up, grab a bunch of kids, maybe light something on fire, leave.” This might be because children are a much easier mental target than older targets, again possibly due to the more active imaginations.
The second point is just a reiteration of the seeming lack of child disappearances that occur within ARGs, as the attention is focused on the main characters (who are all too old to be considered children). Honestly, this is more likely due to the plot’s focus point not being on kids than anything else, but it’s always seemed weird to me how rarely we see Slendy actually grabbing kids.
Escaped Child Victims
This is another of Slendy’s favorite types of victims. If a child he wanted to catch escapes him, he has a nasty habit of going after that child again, after he/she has grown older. It’s a popular idea amongst many ARGs, such as Seeking Truth, In My Head, possibly Discuss The Findings, and Dreams in Darkness (although again, that one doesn’t really count). It gives Slender Man a motivation to be hunting the main character which isn’t totally arbitrary, as well as giving them a preexisting link to him, which can be expanded on within the story. In-universe, it really just makes Slender Man a poor loser, but it also means that there’s no way to escape. Even if you get away from him, years down the line, he’ll still come for you. You’ll never know when. You probably won’t even remember your original encounters with him; those memories tend to be suppressed deep down, so you won’t have any preparations for when you face him. One day, he’ll just appear in your life once more, to finally claim you.
Just in case, ya know, you didn’t want to sleep tonight.
People Who Know Too Much
This is the reason I’m going to mysteriously vanish at some point in time within the near future. I still cannot pinpoint the exact ARG which created this idea, but it’s been a very strong one ever since. Essentially, anyone who gets too involved in the Mythos is likely to be hunted by Slender Man. There is no definitive, final reason which explains the reason for this, but there are some theories. One is that Slender Man is trying to protect himself. The more people learn about him, the more likely they are to find a way to harm, or kill him. By driving them mad and killing them before they can do so, he removes potential threats.
The alternative is related to the concept of Slender Man being a creature of belief. If his existence is related to belief, than the people he would be strongest around are those who believe in him the most. Which would be all of us who follow the Mythos. Even if we know he doesn’t really exist, there’s still a small part of our mind that watches out for him. It’s the part that makes me really want to turn on all the lights while I’m reading Slenderblogs at night, or causes me to do a double take when I see someone in a suit.
People Who Trespass On His Territory
This category is only a hypothesis, with much less information backing it up than the others. One of the theories for the reason Slender Man begins following Alex and J in Marble Hornets is because they go too close to the red tower which is somehow related to Slendy. Another possible example is in Scared, where Drew’s first encounter of Slender Man is when he goes into the woods (Slendy’s territory) for the purpose of making Slender Man videos.
Now, two shaky examples doesn’t make for very good science. Both pieces of evidence are just unsupported interpretations; there’s little in them to back themselves up. And there are no clear guidelines to define what exactly Slender Man’s territory would be. In all likelihood, Robert Sage’s swamp would be better suited to be called Slendy’s territory than anything of this world. But I included this, because it is one of the many hypotheses about Slender Man’s victims, albeit a weak one.
Everyone Else
Well…. Um…. That defeats the entire point of me trying to narrow down what type of people Slender Man targets. While very rare, it isn’t unheard of for Slender Man to just start hunting down someone who has absolutely no connection with him at all. These are adults, who never encountered him as a child, haven’t heard of him online, and haven’t gone anywhere that might be one of Slendy’s hanging places. These people are arbitrarily chosen by Slender Man, without any motive behind it that I can understand. Such occurrences are rare; the only cases I’ve seen have been in the Slender Man Chronicles, My Name is Zytherys, Curious Little Girl, and Marble Hornets (if you don’t believe the trespass hypothesis). The problem with claiming that Slender Man arbitrarily chose his targets in those ARGs is that most of them are either ongoing or incomplete, so an explanation for Slendy’s interest may simply have yet to come/was intended to come later.
Symptoms of the Victims
Most of those being hunted by Slender Man display common symptoms which identify them as victims. The symptoms vary in severeness, depending on how much Slender Man has affected them. Those who are mentally strong are usually able to minimize the symptoms, whereas those who are unable to defend themselves from Slender Man’s mental attacks succumb quickly.
Slendersickness
Essentially, Slendersickness if some form of illness that results from close proximity to Slender Man. It can vary from a simple cough, to a debilitating fever. Medicine can help with the symptoms of the illness, but won’t cure it. According to M’s Tutorial, the sickness is caused by the body not responding well to contact with a being not of this reality.
Writing in a Notebook or Blogging
It’s very common for victims to use a notebook of some sort to express what they’re going through, or to blog about their experiences. It’s now theorized that this isn’t just something people are doing for emotional relief, but is in fact another way that Slender Man affects the mind. Why he makes people write, again, no definite answer. Possibly as a means to spread himself further: people read about him, bringing themselves into the Mythos, giving him strength, as well as a new set of victims. This may even apply to the blogs whose purpose is spreading knowledge on how to survive Slender Man; Slendy’s already shown on multiple occasions that, just because one survivor has been able to repel/harm him with some method, doesn’t mean anyone else will be able to get the same results using that method. In a way, it’s like giving one person hope, so that they get online to spread the word, unknowingly infecting many more while simultaneously giving ineffectual advice.
Another possibility is that Slender Man uses the notebooks/blogs to try and create emotional weakness in his victims. These people are opening their hearts out in these words, and while they do that, they’re emotionally vulnerable. If this is the case, than blogs may be more helpful for the victims than a notebook would; with a blog, readers and commenters can provide support during a victim’s moment of weakness, minimizing the danger. A notebook has no such support, which would allow Slender Man to take greater advantage of the moment of weakness.
So essentially, either blogs are horrible plague carriers or life savers. Great dilemma that.
Blackouts, or Changes of Location
Blacking out for periods of time, and often waking up in a different location some time after blacking out (or in a few rare cases, some time before when they blacked out.)
According to M, blackouts are caused by being touched by Slender Man, as the body shuts down from contact with something so foreign. The change in location or time would result from him Slenderwalking you to a different point in spacetime during the period of unconsciousness. In most people, this is a more advanced stage. Unless Slender Man is being particularly aggressive in hunting a victim, he usually waits before the victim’s mentality has broken down somewhat before moving in for physical contact.
Codes
Those whose minds are very close to breaking completely will often begin communicating only in cryptic codes. Some of this has to do with their sanity falling apart; normal communication is no longer fully possible for them. It also is often a part of their mind rebelling against Slendy’s influence. Codes are a way to communicate with others, while at the same time preventing Slender Man from learning of the message’s contents. But because of their decreasing sanity, and Slender Man’s mental influence, the codes are often as confusing as the messages they are encoded in. Cryptic phrases and codes will often continue after a victim has become a Slenderproxy, although these tend to be much more nonsensical in their content, or sometimes outright threatening.
Useful Links
Innocuousenough’s Blog - Toward a socioeconomic theory of the Slender Man: http://innocuousenough.wordpress.com/2010/09/22/toward-a-socioeconomic-theory-of-the-slender-man/
M’s Tutorial – Signs of Being Hallowed Out: http://getuphigh.blogspot.com/2010/07/signs-of-being-hallowed-out.html
So, in conclusion: It doesn’t matter who you are, we’re all screwed. Yeah, I was hoping for something more cheerful than that.
Final notes: I’ve caught up with Devil’s Hiding Place, It’s Your Very Own…!, Slender Man Chronicles, and White Rabbit Asylum. I’ve also finished reading Ichthyological.
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