The Operator Symbol

This is the part where I whine about Omega beating me to this post.  You’d think someone called “Omega” would be the last to cover something.  All you Slenderbloggers and your pretentious names.  Since my name is Andy, maybe I should start calling myself “Alpha” now.  */stupid ramblings*

Buuuuuuuuuut moving on…If you know about the Slender Man, chances are you’ve come across the Operator Symbol.  It’s a circle with an “X” through it.  It’s often written “(X)” or “⊗” (and don’t ask me how I made that symbol; I just copied and pasted).  It originated in Marble Hornets (where the Slender Man is actually referred to by the creators as “The Operator”, and it is now a large part of the mythos.  Unfortunately, as with many other aspects of the mythos, nobody can quite agree on what it does.

So what is the symbol, exactly?  Well, it’s called the Operator symbol.  The closest thing that I’ve found to information on what that means (thanks, TV Tropes’ Slender Man It Just Bugs Me page!) is that it’s the tensor product symbol, used in bilinear operation.  If someone reading is more mathematically savvy, I’d love to hear this in layman’s terms, because I cannot make heads or tails of what that means, or how it might be related to the Slender Man.

Part of the disagreement on what it does is due to incongruence within Marble Hornets itself.  It’s first used by Alex, who seems to be trying to escape the Slender Man.  However, it’s also used by the Masked Man/totheark, who seems to be a Slenderproxy of some sort.

The two commonly accepted theories of what it does are complete opposites.  One of the theories is that it repels Slendy.  The other is that it draws him to you.  You can see what we’re dealing with when trying to figure out what it does.

The “repellant” theory is ramped up a bit in M’s “The Tutorial.”  You know how, in horror movies, the villain seems to have some sort of Offscreen Teleportation (have fun at TV Tropes!)?  As in, the heroes will running from him, and he’s suddenly right in front of them?  Well, M theorizes that the Slender Man exists on another plane, and that that’s literally how he moves.  His theory is that, if he’s not offscreen (or, in the case of real life, being observed), he can’t teleport.  The symbol functions as a sort of eye that keeps him locked into reality when he’s being observed by it.  Just something worth mentioning.

Anyway, there are other theories that the symbol is an eye…theories from the other side of things.  Some believe that they’re an interdimensional eye that allows the Slender Man to see through them.  So even if people agree that it’s an eye, they may disagree on whether it’s a good idea or a bad one.

Another theory on it’s meaning is that it’s a face.  More specifically, the “X” through the circle represents the lack of a face.  If this is true, then it’s quite possible that it has no significance at all.  The people drawing it are drawing it just to draw it (redundancy ho!).  All it means is that it’s his symbol.

Something that Omega brought up on his blog (possibly cited from somewhere else.  I dunno.  I’m too lazy to look it up), is that it’s just his symbol, but that’s what makes it so powerful.  One common theory about Slendy is that he doesn’t exist unless you’re thinking about him.  What happens when you see the Operator symbol, once you’ve been exposed to the mythos?  Exactly.  This would fit under the “drawing” theory, only it’s the thoughts that draw him and not the symbol itself.

I’m personally a believer in the “repellant” theory, largely because I don’t think that Masky is necessarily working for Slendy.  It’s quite possible, in my opinion, for him to be trying to escape his influence.  In the end though, as with the rest of the mythos, it’ll probably come down to “whichever more people believe in.”

And now that I’ve gone over all that, a bit of personal stuff.  I think that I’ve introduced about five people now (people I know personally, at least) to Marble Hornets.  It’d be…two of my online friends, two of my real life friends, and my little sister.  I’m actually watching them with my sister (we just finished Entry #19.5 today, and we’ll work on the rest in the next few days), and I’m a bit disappointed.  She’s only really freaked out once: in Entry #11, when “Alex missed something.”  As Alex lies back down, she asks “Okay, so what did he miss exactly?”  I respond with “I’m not sure.  I didn’t catch it either,” trying to hold back a grin.  Of course, a second later, the shadow passes by, and she starts hitting me.  I had myself a good chuckle.

But anyway, I’m home for Thanksgiving break.  I don’t live too far from my school; I’m a bit under an hour away, so I don’t have much travel time.  Ironically, though, I feel less comfortable at home.  Up at school, I’m in the middle of a small city, and there’s enough light outside for me to be able to see what’s going on in the room.  I live in the country, however.  There’s not much light at night, and while my dorm is a really sturdy building (it has to be in order to house a bunch of young college males, a good portion of which are football players), my house is less so.  The area around it is more open, so the wind is louder, and it can be heard more easily through the thinner windows.  I like keeping my door closed, but while the heater in my dorm room keeps the room toasty, it keeps my home room frigid.  And of course, there’s all the trees back home, which are now all leaf-less and branchy.  I said earlier that I don’t think the Slender Man is a tree, but he definitely is associated with trees, and he tends to hang around them a lot.  Kind of ironic, huh?  Being at home creeps me out more than when I’m away.

Anyway, happy Thanksgiving, everyone.  Spend it with friends and family, and think happy thoughts.  And just remember, the Slender Man isn’t exactly real, so there’s nothing to worry about in the first place.

Andy