So its only right that this "study" I'm doing be kicked off with the most pertinant element of the slendymythos.
(P.s., have I said how much I love prefacing everything slenderman related with the word "slendy"?)
When the slenderman stories really started getting really big, the first thing that started happening were the hundreds and hundreds of fanworks based off Slenderman. From the first mention of the fellow on the Something Awful, to the multitudes of offshoot stories involving some college age guy looking for someone who has gone missing and left behind a seemingly 'innoculous' HEAP of film.
Seriously. That's every single one of them. But they do contribute a lot to our understanding of what Slenderman is sooo, lets take gander.
HERE THERE BE SPOILERS
So none of that "you ruined the ending!!!" whining, ok douchecanoes?
Lets talk MarbleHornets
MH is probably the birthplace of the true Slendymeme as it is today. Starting only a short while after Slenderman started getting big on the forums, Marble Hornets was the first to take the idea of Slenderman and run with it. Every Slenderblog thats followed usually has influences from (if not a total frakking copy of) MH.
The basic plot is this:
Jay, our lovably pug-faced, unreliable narrator; is friends with the enigmatic Alex Kralie. Both are film students. Alex is entrenched in working on his classically self-impressed, hoity-toity film student film "MarbleHornets" when somebody decides its time to make a break for hollywood and starts interupting the shoots. Of course, Jay, at the time, is blissfully unaware. All he knows is that his friend seems to be going a little off his rocker. Alex begins to behave strangely, then begins to obsessively film himself, eventually giving up his film altogether in favour of isolation and self-documentation. Eventually Jay confronts him about this strange behavior. He discovers that Alex has heaps of tapes lying around, which he plans to burn. Jay eventually talks him out of burning them and takes them home with him, planning to watch them. Which he promptly forgets to do.
Years pass.
Alex transferred schools shortly after giving away the tapes and Jay hasn't seen him for about three years. For some unknown reason, suddenly the tapes, which have been stored in Jay's closet collecting dust, pique his interest, and he creates a youtube account to document his findings.
(Point of note: There are some theories that what piqued his interest was actually finding the Something Awful Forum that started Slenderman. I don't know why this would grab his attention despite ironically not knowing that the monster he was looking at was the one that he would shortly discover himself, irregardless, it's nicely full circle.)
Because the tapes are somewhat old and unmarked, Jay has no way of knowing what order they go in and begins watching them at random. What he discovers is more than a little disturbing. Alex was being hunted by something.
Jay watches (out of order) Alex's seeming first encounter with long-tall-and-faceless, and Alex's downspiral of first trying to discover what Slenderman is, to being completely overtaken by paranoia and fear. Jay becomes increasingly concerned about what happened to his friend. Even more so when another YouTuber begins leaving cryptic and threatening video responses to Jay's account.
Of course, the inevitable happens, and Jay begins seeing Slenderman himself. In fact, the more Jay tries to find out about what happened, the worse things seem to get. From Slendy-sickness, to a masked man lurking in his room while he sleeps. Hell, Slendy even burns down the poor sucker's apartment building just to be nearer to him.
Oh yes.
The major players:
Jay: Poor sad-sack who gets wrapped up in hell just because he tried to be a good friend. Usually behind the camera, and usually quiet, we typically see the world through his eyes, and let me tell you, it's not always awesomesauce. If he's not getting slendystalked, he's waking up in the woods somewhere after portal-ing through a house for hours in pursuit of that masked man. Everything bad that happened to Alex, (coughing, stalking, paranoia, self-filming) all begins to happen to Jay.
Who said ignorence wasn't bliss???
Alex: Quiet, sometimes brooding film student # 2. Alex was a pretty normal film student, nice guy, kinda quiet. Then someone had to come along and start giving him a mindscrew. From the moment Slendy started getting involved Alex went from normal guy, to insane whackjob seen furiously scribbling pictures of slenderman all over the walls and yelling angrily at anyone who got in his way. Then he vanished.
Years later, after much desperate searching for his friend Jay recieved a video of Alex, seemingly happy and well adjusted. That is until his stupid girlfriend found the damn camera, and everything started all over again.
We've since met up with Alex again. He just appears and everyone seems to act like nothing is wrong. Granted, at the time, they're a little more occupied with an armed masky. Also, according to the newest video, Alex seems to know more about SM than he's letting on.
Totheark: Strange, enigma of a S.O.B. who turns-coat so many times it's impossible to tell whose side he's on, albiet, I find his videos distinctly menacing and they rarely seem to bring about any good. Usually utalizing distorted footage and audio, sometimes from Alex's videos that were missing scenes and sound. Sometimes video of Jay taking video (shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit). His responses always leave the viewer with a cryptic puzzle and the tingly sensation that this dude is up to no good. On the other hand, he tends to be the one to drive the story along, coaxing Jay back into the fray.
Then again, one has to wonder, would Jay have still been looking for Alex of Totheark wasn't the one driving him on towards Slendy?
There's a looooot of theories as to who the hell Totheark is. Pretty much everyone from Jay himself to that girl we saw that one time in that one video is suspect. As for me? My money is that it's Alex, and he's not such a good guy anymore.
Masky/Tim: Once one of the cast of MarbleHornets, Tim seems to have gotten up to some real hijinks in the past couple years. Tim, for starters, was actually one of the first to show symptoms of Slendysickness (raising some eyebrows on this side of the computer moniter, let-me-tell-you). Then, years later when Jay tried to question him about Alex, his answers were dodgy and unhelpful to say the least.
Then he started getting in on the haunting act himself.
Although we didn't know it at the time (well, everyone who didn't recognize his signature bomber jacket and epic-sideburns) Tim was that creepy masked man that lurked in the shadows of Jay's research. He first appeared in Brian's house (a dark, creepy, abandoned place that Jay hoped would give him some clues to Alex's whereabouts), calmly sitting in the shadows, before tackling Jay, and then promptly having a seizure. Then he showed up on Jay's security footage. Then he he followed Jay to the motel after his aparment burned down.
Masky was only recently 'unmasked', and revealed to be Tim. After visiting a burned out building a second time, and then finding Alex (rather unceremoniously if you ask me) Masky popped out, bypassed Jay and then stabbed Alex with a knife. Afterwhich Alex got revenge by umasking Tim, and then crushing his leg with a rock. Don't worry, he got better.
Brian; The lead actor from MarbleHornets, he seems to have dissapeared off of the face of the map. He and Alex were good friends, and was the one that introduced Alex and Tim. Sounds like he and Tim were something of best-friends before Slenderman horned in. He hasn't been seen since. However, it was his house that Jay searched multiple times. From the bloody sink and bullet casings, to the portals through time and space, things weren't looking so good.
Jessica: Jay's next door neighbor in the Motel. At first she seems happy and carefree, but things slowly decline as she delves into paranoia. Mentioning that she's been haunted by something since she was a child, and mentioning several oddities in the motel, Jay almost teems up with her. However, masky intervines, and she hasn't been seen since.
The Operator: Known affectionately as Slenderman. Able to teleport from place to place, except perhaps when on film, Slenderman seems to really really want to be on fim. He's not usually seen moving, which adds to his mysterious and creepy air, but he's almost always somewhere, lurking. His presence is noted by the effects on the characters, as well as visual tears, and loud audio distortions that trumpet his presence or influence. So sometimes you hear him, without ever seeing him at all. What's worse? You know that the protagonists don't even know he's there.
My rating: A
MarbleHornets is where it all began. It practically defines Slenderblog. On the otherhand, it's not perfect. But few trailblazers are. It builds the background for us to explore just what slenderman is.
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