The Operator (Marble Hornets) Character Blog

The Operator is quite an interesting character within the Slenderverse, and being one of my favorite villains (or force of nature) in all of analog horror! With Rosswood recently concluding, it has brought back the vibes of the original Marble Hornets and done a perfect job of storytelling. I decided to give the Operator its own character blog! So enjoy!

Sources Used

Marble Hornets by Joseph DeLage and Troy Wagner

Other Sources Used:

Background

“I’ve been seeing this man…he’s following me…”

Picture this: you are sorting through your various VHS tapes your friend sent you, and you decide to watch some of them, but notice something is off. You don’t remember some of these recordings. You CAN’T remember these recordings. That’s weird. But you also notice something else. Something is following them. A weird, mysterious being, who doesn’t seem hostile…but something about it just feels…OFF. This is the Operator. This thing has been stalking a man named Tim Wright for many years, even since childhood!

Throughout the Marble Hornets franchise, it has been stalking the cast and crew, slowly driving them insane, and turning them against each other. While we don’t know this thing’s exact goal, it seemingly messes with its victims' heads and spreads its influence through interaction. Thus, we now know that its main goal is to spread its disease among its targets to stay alive, and to sustain itself with the use of The Ark. Even though the Operator has fully corrupted its victims and spread its influence, it wasn’t enough, as Tim finally killed one of the last people associated with it, therefore making sure it ceases to exist…but due to Tim still being around, it lived. With its influence still around, the Operator seemingly went after another group of people, and more. And possibly trapped two of the main cast, Alex and Jay, in purgatory. So check your windows and grab your camcorder, cause this entity will be there. Watching. For all eternity.

Experience and Intelligence

While we don’t know when the Operator came to be, it was first discovered in the early 2000s, when it started its first set of victims. While we don’t know this thing’s level of intelligence, we do know that it is a conniving being with knowledge on how to stalk without being spotted. It also seems to study its prey from afar, before soon confronting them to exploit their weaknesses. Finally, it seems to be more willing to get its hands dirty whenever necessary.

Powers and Abilities

Influential Existence

Whenever the Operator interacts with someone's mind, it crawls in like a parasite. By doing this, the Operator can spread its disease (which is the influence) to other people. It would then slowly consume its target bit by bit until it becomes an empty shell, in which it takes them to the Ark and consumes them, and stays alive as a result. As a double-edged sword, killing everyone associated with the disease would be able to weaken it, although it would be very hard if the Operator were to spread its influence onto YOU.

Mind / Empathic / Madness Manipulation

The Operator’s main ability. Throughout the series, it has messed with the minds of its victims, doing things like increasing stress, violent tendencies, paranoia, etc. It can even use mind control to comply with its orders.

Memory Manipulation

Another one of its main abilities is to affect memories. Usually, erasing them. For example, it wiped SEVEN MONTHS from Jay’s memories, caused Jessica and Tim to have amnesia, and more.

Fear Manipulation

It seems the Operator can instill fear within victims, such as when Alex’s dog named Rocky, started getting scared when confronting the Operator, as shown above.

Voice Mimicry

In Rosswood, the Operator has shown abilities of mimicking people's voices, in which it was able to mimic Alex's voice to get Jay out of hiding, and later on continuously mimic Alex's voice again to mess with Jay.

Telekinesis

It seemed to cause swings and seesaws on a playground to start moving on their own without touching them. It also has moved doors and seemingly dragged Tim without touching him, and did the same to the camera within Rosswood.

Technology Manipulation

The Operator is capable of affecting technology, such as causing distortions in audio and video recordings, preventing a voicemail from being sent, causing a camera to run out of battery, etc.

Aura (Overwhelming)

Passively, the Operator can cause many things to happen to its victims. Things like amnesia, sleepiness, and minor diseases. Along with this, it can infect the person, causing violent coughing, headaches, seizures, or unconsciousness. If the target is around the Operator for too long, it can intensify headaches, seizures, amnesia, and other health issues.

Power Bestowal

It seems that some victims exposed to the Operator have shown technopathic abilities similar to the Operator itself.

Space-Time Manipulation

The Operator can warp space like changing rooms of a house, making a structure disappear and reappear somewhere else, and warping Rosswood Park to cause the characters to appear in different places. In Rosswood, it can seemingly manipulate special areas like the abandoned hospital so that characters who try to escape get sent back to where they started, or possibly be sent to dimensional areas. Along with this, it can warp time by sending victims forward in time, multiple times.

Perception Manipulation

It can change the perception of people, or things, like causing a camera not to spot door movement, or causing Jessica to see other people as shadows.

Selective Invisibility

The Operator can seemingly make itself invisible to certain people, so that they can only see it through a camera lens.

Clairvoyance

The Operator always seems to know where its victims are. For example, it immediately knew where Alex’s new spot was.

Sleep / Dream Manipulation

Due to its aura, it can cause targets to faint or suffer from insomnia and narcolepsy. Along with this, it can manipulate dreams, such as when Jessica kept having dreams of being watched by the Operator, or how Adam had dreams about the Operator.

Darkness Manipulation

The Operator can seemingly make the area around it dark, like when it darkened Alex’s room, or when in Rosswood, it kept the abandoned hospital that Jay and Alex were at dark for several days on end.

Teleportation / BFR

It can teleport itself and others across long distances, and can transport others to The Ark, which is seemingly a pocket reality that is endless, and contains the Operator's maw (presumably). Along with this, it can teleport targets forward in time.

Reality Warping

Within the Ark, the Operator seemingly can control things within it. In the Marble Hornets comics, while Hoodie was within the Ark, he states that "everything is distorted." Along with this, the Operator changes things, such as causing him to fall down a large hole seemingly out of nowhere, even though he was traversing on ground in eternal darkness. As shown above, he starts to see code appear around him, causing him to land in water and start sinking, similar to what happened to Tim in Entry #65, and finally manipulate the ocean to spit him back out to the beginning.

Elasticity / Body Control / Size Manipulation

It can modify and stretch its limbs to longer distances, and can grow its whole body (in this particular image, 40.35 ft. Jesus.). Along with this, it can bend its limbs really weirdly.

Biological / Death Manipulation

The Operator can leave weird ⦻ marks on the skin (similar to the irl Ringworm) without any physical contact. It also seems it can cause instant death within victims marked with this symbol.

Sustenance Manipulation

In Rosswood, despite Alex and Jay being stuck in the abandoned hospital for 10 days, they haven't starved or dehydrated, which means the Operator can manipulate their sustenance.

Necromancy

It seemingly can bring back people from the dead to do its bidding. Like when it reanimated Milo’s corpse after he committed die.

Illusion Creation

The Operator was able to create a bunch of illusions to throw Jessica off. It also utilizes these illusions throughout the comics.

Intangibility

It was seemingly able to phase through Masky when he tried to punch it. Do keep in mind this was within the Ark, but due to the nature of its abilities, it could probably do this within the real world.

Support

Proxies Brainwashed Humans

Now, there are some complications with putting these guys within the Operator’s team. For starters, these brainwashed humans in particular don’t listen to the Operator often, with Masky (in the middle) actively going against it. But, because it can brainwash and control their bodies, it should be fine that they should be part of its team.

Masky: Previously Tim Wright, Masky is pretty much a normal guy who possesses a camera and a knife. Due to the Operator’s influence, he can manipulate technology.
Hoodie: Previously Brian Thomas, Hoodie (just like Masky), is a normal human who possesses a metal pipe and a handgun. Due to the Operator’s influence, he can manipulate technology.
Totheark: This character is kinda debatable if it's even part of the Operator’s team, but it is implied it is one of the cast members of Marble Hornets. And also runs the Totheark channel. They are the smartest of the 3, being able to hack, program, video edit, and code.

Feats

Overall

Spread its influence onto the Marble Hornets cast
Caused said cast to go insane and murder each other
Successfully spread its influence onto another cast of characters
Consumed multiple people
Brainwashed multiple humans to do its bidding
One of the best Slenderman interpretations

Power

Drew blood from Alex (Street)
Easily defeated Jay (Street)
Overpowered Tim (Street)
Brutalized Alex (Street)
Pounded open a locked door with ease (191.35 - 495.55 Joules) (Athlete - Street)
When in an enlarged state, it broke a tree
Just by moving, it can generate a ton of energy (13783.56 Kilojoules) (Wall)
Can seemingly control the Ark and manipulate its setting (Universal+) (Debatable; See Before the Summary)

Speed

Can move at speeds comparable to a normal human (Average Human)
Stretched its arm across a room in a fraction of a second
Can move faster while in a bigger form (35.4 m/s) (Subsonic)

Scaling

Normal Humans

Due to the Operator clearly showing that it is superior to normal human beings, it should reasonably upscale them.

Jay was able to hold his own against Tim (Athlete)
Jay could tank a fall from a small tower (Athlete)
Alex was able to fight against Tim (Athlete)
Alex rendered Jay unconscious (Athlete)
Alex could tank a beating from Masky and Hoodie (Athlete)
Jay’s strength is higher while possessing a knife (Street)
Alex’s strength is higher while possessing a handgun and a knife (Street)

Brainwashed Humans

Since these humans are under the Operator’s control and are shown to be inferior to it, the Operator should upscale these two.

Masky can carry Jessica on his shoulder
Tim (Masky) can knock out Jay (Athlete)
Tim (Masky) can fight against Alex, and he killed him in their final encounter (Athlete)
Hoodie can hit Alex with a metal pipe so hard that he knocks him out (Athlete)
Hoodie can knock over Tim with a punch (Athlete)
Tim (Masky) is stronger when wielding a knife (Street)
Hoodie is stronger when wielding Alex’s handgun (Street)

Weaknesses

Despite its mysterious nature and numerous powers, the Operator has a few weaknesses. First, the Operator’s effects on people can be lessened with certain anti-seizure medication. Second, it could be made vulnerable by destroying every individual who had something to do with it or its victims. Third, even while invisible, you can still see it with a camera. Also, while the Operator's reality warping abilities are impressive and frankly terrifying, it's something that it can't do off rip. It HAS to take you to the Ark in order to use said abilities. Finally, while the Operator does have an army of proxies (or can make more depending on the situation), they’re not really obedient. Sometimes they can resist the Operator or not do what it says, and Tim, one of the Operator’s proxies, is literally working AGAINST the Operator.

Before the Summary

Is the Operator related to Slenderman?

So this is one of the main confusions with the Operator. Isn’t it just Slenderman? I mean, it does look like him…right? Well, not exactly. While yes, the Operator is canon to the Slenderman mythos, it isn’t Slenderman. Just by looking at their appearance, they show some differences. Notice the absence of tendrils on the Operator and the difference of some of its abilities. And in terms of how they behave, they act differently from each other, and do different things. The Operator doesn’t physically interact with its victims like Slenderman, usually just drawing power from their mental state. Along with this, Masky and Hoodie show some differences from Slenderman’s usual proxies (they also aren’t even called proxies), being able to keep their sanity and can resist the Operator sometimes, unlike some of Slenderman’s proxies. There are just too many differences to consider these two the same entity, so in conclusion, the Operator is not Slenderman, and none of of Slenderman’s feats and abilities will be used from the main canon. So no 7D - 11D Operator. RIP!

Can the Operator control the Ark + How big is the Ark?

Alrighty, so first question. What is the Ark? The Ark is essentially a pocket reality that the Operator can send its victims to either trap them for a time or to use it to consume them. The Ark, as shown in Marble Hornets and in the comics, is this REALLY DARK area, with a light in the middle shining down onto a hole that potentially could be the Operator's mouth, as it is HEAVILY implied that is what it is. With this in mind, it could allude to the fact that this dimension might be PART OF the Operator. And as discussed before in its abilities, the Operator can manipulate this dimension however it desires. Now that we know that the Operator can control the Ark, this leads us to our second question.

How big is the Ark? This is a very difficult question, as we don't really get an actual statement on how big this place is. We do get a statement from Hoodie that implies he has escaped this world many times before, but the only problem is how? How does he escape? The only other time was within Entry #65, where we see Tim get sent to the Ark, with him finding a body of a person that was killed and warped away in an earlier entry. The only way Tim escaped was by being teleported out BY the Operator. Hoodie escaping could have also just been the Operator warping him out when he got a far enough distance away from the hole. And in the same comic, Hoodie even states that the Ark loops, signifying that this area might have an infinite space. Add on to the fact that darkness seemingly goes on forever outside the hole, it should back this up.

TLDR: The Operator can control the Ark due to most likely being linked to it, and we see him doing so, and the Ark is most likely an infinite space, which gives the Operator universal AP within this realm, even though it shouldn't scale to his durability.

Should Rosswood be used?

Ah, Rosswood, the spin-off that perfectly encapsulated the vibes of Marble Hornets! For those who don't know, Rosswood is a spin-off to Marble Hornets, as I said just now. This takes place in an "alternate universe," where Alex completed the Marble Hornets film and never came in contact with the Operator, with him and Jay living normal lives, trying to work on movies. Tim is also seemingly missing in this movie, although it is speculated in the fandom that Tim was the child who ran away in the old hospital in the woods. But to make a long story short, Alex and Jay go to this abandoned hospital to make a documentary on Marble Hornets, in which they get trapped there, forced to stay at the hospital for many days or weeks on end without starving or getting thirsty. Any attempt at escaping brings them back to the Hospital somehow, with them slowly becoming insane and both dying at the hands of the Operator. Now, how does this tie in with the mainline Marble Hornets? Obviously, this was officially stated to be an alternate universe to the mainline story, so how does the Operator scale to this version of it?

Well, starting off, a theory suggests that this alternate universe could very well be a type of purgatory for Alex and Jay from the mainline universe, as there are many things pointing to that, since they are the only two from the main story that died and were the two main people driving the story. Along with this, due to the Operator's nature of distorting space and time, and even controlling an entire pocket reality, it doesn't seem too far-fetched that Rosswood could very well be its type of hell for both of them. Hell, even in Rosswood, when Jay finds his way to the tunnel, he seems to have stumbled into some potential dimensional area, as either he ran into another version of himself in time or from a different reality, or something grabbed his camera. Just due to how the scene is shown, I lean towards the former. The Operator in this universe even contains THE SAME ABILITIES as the Operator we know, so it backs it up even more. I know this seems kind of a stretch, but even including Rosswood, it doesn't really give the Operator much besides one ability and one feat, which doesn't even do much. So, in my opinion, Rosswood should be okay to add to the Operator's abilities and feats.

Summary

The Operator

AP: Street while in normal size, Wall when giant, Universal+ when inside the Ark.

Speed: Average Human while in normal size, Subsonic when giant.

Durability: Street while in normal size, Wall when giant (Harder to damage due to intangibility).

Abilities/Hax: Influential Existence, Mind/Empathic/Madness Manipulation, Memory Manipulation. Fear Manipulation, Voice Mimicry, Telekinesis, Technology Manipulation, Supernatural Presence, Power Bestowal, Space-Time Manipulation, Perception Manipulation, Invisibility, Clairvoyance, Sleep/Dream Manipulation, Darkness Manipulation, Teleportation/BFR, Reality Warping (In the Ark), Elasticity/Body Control/Size Manipulation, Biological/Death Manipulation, Sustenance Manipulation, Necromancy, Illusion Creation, Intangibility.

Weaknesses: Effects can be weakened with specific medication, can be visible with a camera, can be weakened by killing everyone who had been used to influence its existence, can only use its reality warping abilities in the Ark, and its army isn't the most loyal.