Marble Hornets/Headscratchers

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Just out of interest, who came up with the "20 dollars" thing originaly?
    • Someone made an edit of one of the early videos claiming to have found the "missing audio" and, whenever the Operator showed up in the video, that song started playing. Thus a star was born.
  • Okay, I have to ask. What is "wifin"?
    • WiFi-ing with a healthy dose of Rouge Angles of Satin.
    • In all seriousness, though, it seems to refer to spending all your time with one girl while in the club rather than mixing it up and meeting more people. Don't ask me why it's worth $20, though.
  • Here's something that's got me scratching my head: How do you think Ron Browz himself would feel about the Twenty Dollaz meme? Anyone wonder if he follows Marble Hornets at all?
  • The fact that J thought going to the house at night was a good idea in the first place. Sure, it makes sense in Movie Logic Land, where it's 20 times scarier to be there at night, but thinking as a real person, would YOU go to someone's house at night when something's stalking him/possibly you?
    • Sort of justified by the fact that the entry was uploaded in the middle of December if I remember right, and if you know anything about cheap cameras, then "just after sunset" could look like the middle of the night, so it may have been as early as 4:30 pm, depending on where he was. Your Mileage May Vary.
    • And for what it's worth, it's not like during his second trip, going in the daytime helped much...
    • Plus, J was clearly breaking and entering. Of course he did it at night; he didn't want to get caught and arrested.
  • Even if it turns out to have some sinister meaning (and it probably will,) why does Jay automatically find it noteworthy that Jessica thinks she's seen him before? It should at least occur to him that maybe she's just watched the entries on Youtube.
    • Because she specifically mentioned that his name sounded familiar, and he's never given his full name in an entry?
      • Supported by the fact that Jay is a relatively common name, but he also says his last name in the video, but it is removed from the audio. I thought the same thing as the first poster originally, but she was probably referring to his full name, which has never been shown completely.
  • Why are we supposed to be afraid of Slendy? Apart from looking creepy and occasionally appearing in places he's not supposed to be, he hasn't done anything bad. How do we know he's not actually Alex's guardian angel who's just really bad at his job?
    • Well, if you go by the rest of the mythos, there is that little issue with the long history of gruesome murders and Mind Rape. Outside of that context, though? Yeah, mostly just that he's really freaking creepy, since he doesn't do much on-camera.
    • Thinking about it, having someone - even a normal human - stalking you and randomly appearing to stare at you from a distance would be pretty scary in Real Life.
    • Fear and paranoia are sometimes cited as side-effects of Slendy's presence. There may well not be any real reason for it.
    • That's completely skipping over Entry #11, where he sneaks into Alex's room and leaves him bloody, or the fact that he makes you physically sick, induces amnesia, can make you his puppet slave, and turns houses into Eldritch Locations. That and the pools of blood we keep on seeing everywhere...
    • Entry #49 full stop.
      • Actually, it's implied that Slenderman has killed at least two people. Seth in #22 and Brian in #51. He also seems to "eat" people.However, it would appear he's just randomly creepy and uncanny.How does it feel to be watched everywhere you go while you are almost completely oblivious?
  • The scene with the hand at the door in entry 33, it is utterly scary, I am not saying it isn't... but even so, It just me who felt as a "cheap" and obvious way to cause terror? It happens exactly when the camera is facing the door (reminding us that this is a scripted story). Plus what is the point of doing so?
    • In the scene in question, Jay seemed to have purposefully put the camera down to keep filming himself, as he's clearly shown to do at many other points in the series (Note how he looks at it as he's putting it down). The "just at the right time" thing isn't much different from many of the other scares in the series, Entry #27 in particular is full of them.
    • The scene is actually scary if you consider the totheark videos telling Jay that he is losing control.
    • It gets scarier if you consider that Jay just happened to get lucky getting the hand in the frame. Just think how much action must happen out of frame. I think the scariest part about when Alex films himself constantly is that it's simply impossible to cover every single angle with one camera. How many hands were not recorded by the cameras?
  • Where does Jay get the money for all these motels and gas?
  • The Operator. While I'm glad the brains behind Marble Hornets are being original, why? There's no difference betwen the Slenderman and Operator besides their name.
    • Maybe because they're one in the same?
    • There are several differences between the original Slender Man & the Operator from Marble Hornets. The version of Slender Man from the Something Awful forums (where the concept/character was created) had tentacles, a face that was supposedly different for each viewer, a growing cult surrounding him/it, a draw towards water/fire/children, & a history of rearranging people's organs. The Operator has no face/fingers, teleports off-camera, messes up people's memories, & does a lot of standing around. While the Operator is clearly inspired by the original Slender Man, they are effectively two different characters. A lot of the confusion stems from the fact that the Operator's "name" wasn't revealed until the series was well under way, coupled with the relative obscurity of the original Slender Man meme. Marble Hornets largely popularized the meme, even though the Operator only superficially resembles the root idea.
    • Where did they confirm the name Operator? Was it in the totheark video, because if it is how the hell are we supposed to have found out?
    • It was in an interview, and hasn't been said in-universe. Also, no, the Operator and Slender Man are essentially the same, despite their differences. Slendy's MO, abilities, and history changed a lot from his conception. The "different faces for different people" thing has long since been dropped, and the organ-harvesting has mostly been forgotten by all the bloggers and ARG creators. In fact, nearly every account has something different about him, which is part of the reason Something Awful thought he was so scary and interesting in the first place- besides a few scant details, you really can't be sure exactly what he is or what he wants. Plus, we haven't really seen "The Operator" do a whole lot besides just stand there, so we can't tell exactly how his motives differ from the "origin."
    • With regards to The Operator's lack of face being a supposedly a difference: while it is true that the original slenderman's face was different to everyone who saw it, it also appeared completely blank on camera. We have only seen The Operator on camera, and i don't think the lack of face has explicitly been mentioned, so The Operator's on camera appearance is not necessarily a difference between Him and Slendy. Checking what the Operator looks like to the naked eye would clear this up, of course. Any volunteers?
    • This troper has a simple theory to reconcile all this- in the Marble Hornets-verse, "The Operator" is the actual name of the creature, but it's only known to a few who are intimately concerned with the mythos. "Slender Man" is just the layman's term for what people would call him if they aren't as involved or informed.
  • Is it just this troper, or does the fact that Tim survived somewhat ruined the impact in Entry 35?
    • No, because it confirmed that he is in fact Tim, explains the limp in his attack at the hotel, and establishes that Alex got pretty violent since the last time he and Jay met.
  • I've rewatched Entry 15 at least ten times by now, and I just can't see it. I mean, the fact that Masky is Tim was pretty much The Not-Secret, but...I just can't detect anything. No hint of being totally batshit insane, no sense that there's anything more to this guy and his role in the plot. I don't know why I'm dwelling on this, but I can't help but feel like there had to have been some clue to tip us off, even if it can only be seen in hindsight, and there's just...nothing. It's so jarring, and I'm sure that was the point...but still. Something just feels off about it all.
    • Can't remember exactly, but there have definitely been clues regarding something being off about him. He starts freaking out when J mentions Marble Hornets, he displays the ominous cough & feeling of coldness(aka some degree of Slenderman influence) and is shown to be taking some pills that later ended up in the house where Masky was. If anything, I'd complain that revealing that Masky was actually in-universe Tim as opposed to just being portrayed by the same actor was a bit predictable and took a bit away from the sense of mystery regarding the masked figure, but it's only been one entry and I'll retract all my complaints if they use Insane/Possesed/Whatever Tim as Mr.Exposition who'll expand(or really, establish) the mythos.
      • Most of that was in the tapes, though. I mean, I can believe that there was something going on with him, but the coughing and all that, that was years ago. I'm focusing mostly on #15, the only time we see him (as himself) in the "present", and as hard as I try I just can't pick up any nervousness or tell he's hiding something. Maybe it's just me, I guess.
        • Well, to be fair, we don't really see his face much. Besides, if everything was TOO off and we noticed and Jay didn't, then it might lead to fandom to conclude that he's an idiot.
      • I figured the operator was influencing or right out mind-controlling Tim as masky, with Tim having no recollection of it. For all we know, he might have ben doing something similar to Jay in parts of the 7 months jay can't recall. Maybe other times to Alex may have grown immune, or atleast aware of the fact that the operator is capable of taking control of him.
  • Jay's being chased cross country by things he can't explain. One of those things has come into his room and has attacked him another time before that. So, why would he give his real name to a girl he just met? Right after losing 7 months of memory and her being a complete stranger?
    • I think at that point he just wants to trust somehow, anyone and is willing to give a litle personal information just to get anyone on his side. not the BRIGHTEST idea, granted...
    • Actually, I had the opposite Just Bugs Me: he should have trusted her more. In the situation he's in, he's going to have to take some risks if he doesn't want to just keep running. Besides, whoever (or whatever) he's running from can already track him down no matter how much he runs, so them knowing his full name isn't going to make much difference.
      • Troy's own interpretation of J might help understand this: He basically mentioned that J is something of an introvert. He simply isn't terribly sociable or talkative. While it would be logical for him to trust Jessica more, we tend to regress to our core instincts at times of crisis.
  • Having credits at the end of the first "season". Sure, we know it's fiction (or do we???), but they could have at least not fucked with the immersion until after the series was over.
    • Its not on the main account, anyway. You can easily avoid the credits if you so desire.
    • Sometimes, you just have to give in. People were complaining that there were no updates and thought that the ARG was dead. Look at what happened Just Another Fool having No Ending. As the troper above said, at least it was on a different channel.
  • Do any of the characters have families or loved ones that have noticed they've gone missing?
    • Maybe they're all orphans? Or perhaps they just don't call their poor mothers as much as they should.
    • -beep- "Kralie here. I can't answer your call right now, I'm on the run from a tall faceless guy and his masked assassin. Leave one." -beep-
      • We actually get to hear Alex's voicemail thanks to totheark.
        • I know. It totally should have said that! :(
    • -beep- This is Masky, If your calling about the new Masky positions, interviews will be held right outside Jay's apartment window. Password is 'Starfish'. Positions may be required to grow epic sideburns to complete the look. Those happy and healthy mentally need not apply.
      • "Tim? This is your mother. Why have you stopped calling me? And what's this 'Masky' business? You'd better not be up to anything illegal, young man! You know how I feel about hooligans!"
        • *Beep* MOOOMMM! Don't spoil my identity to the Marble Hornets GUYZ!
          • *sigh* "I swear, you're just like your father..."
            • I think we just wrote a fanfiction.
      • I think Masky's voice mail would be more like "*crackle crackle* EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE ooooooooooooooooooooouu WWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA *crackle* .e.g.a.s.s.e.m.a.e.v.a.e.l. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA *click*". Heh heh.
    • -beep-"Hi, this is the Operator. If you're looking for AN operator, you're SOL, buddy. If I'm not here, it means I'm either terrorizing the cast of some random student film or I'm watching Chuck. Please leave a message after the-hold up, gotta stand menacingly. ...alright, leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. If this is Alex Kralie, STOP FOLLOWING ME. It's creepy."
      • Alternatively...-beep- Hello, this is the Operator. If you're wondering where I am right now I'm probably getting my suit cleaned. Please leave a message at the sound of the distortion. Also, I'M RIGHT BEHIND YOU.
  • Did it ever occur to Jay that he could just ask the hotel employees how long he's been there? Possibly even telling them he lost the combination to his safe in order to get them to open it for him? He could even ask them how long he's been there for and why he's only ever seen one other guest in the whole damn place.
    • He did ask them about the first one. They said he was only checked in for the one night. As for the rest...maybe after realizing he and Jessica were the only guests there, he decided it was probably best not to trust the staff? I mean, if I found myself in a hotel with only one other person in the whole place, I'd assume it was some kind of setup too.
  • In Entry #33, Masky gives Jay a pretty wimpy slap. I'm not sure how seriously I can take him after that... Their previous scuffle at Alex's old house was pretty intense, but that slap... Creepy as Hell, yeah I can give him that. Something to be afraid of? after wimpy slap? I don't know...
    • There's a bit of debate on who hit who. To me, it looks like Jay might've smacked him one with the flashlight.
    • I can see the flashlight hit for sure. and remember Masky was going with only one good leg. Call it a try for grabbing him on the way down instead of a slap.
  • Entry #38. What collection of unlabeled tapes did this come from? On Twitter, he said all the tapes he had are gone. And weren't they all labeled?
    • He later tweeted that when he finally got back, all of the tapes and his camera were still there. He just took a couple of days to get back, post Entry #38, and then update everyone on the situation.
  • This. Just... what? This is an actual reupload of a video that was on the Marble Hornets account for like five minutes. I swear.
    • I can vouch for this, too. No clue what it was.
    • Troy has two account. MH one and another one for other things. Likely, he just cocked up his accounts and uploaded the video to the wrong one.
    • Troy's twitter noted that he had been bored and messing around with Xtranormal around when the video went up.
  • First, If you haven't seen Entry # 40 yet, please read no farther. Further. Whatever. Thank you, and now back to our regularly scheduled program. So, um, in Entry #40, Jay (sensibly) drops the camera and books it after encountering the Operator. Which raises the huge question: who put the tapes in the safe in the hotel? And why? Unless Alex or Jay went back for the camera (which I doubt) that leaves some decidedly unsavory options.
    • Remember that it is highly implied that Totheark and Tim are the same person, and that we saw Tim in the hotel. If Tim is allies with Slendy, he would be the person to deliver the camera, since Slendy oddly wants to let them film him. If he opposes both The Operator and our protagonists, it would seem as though he didn't want Jay or Slendy touching the camera, so he hid it in a place where, eventually, both sides found it. Finally, if he sides with Jay, he left the tapes in a place where he would find them easily. No matter how you slice it, if makes sense (relative to the rest of the series, at least).
    • Solved, as of entry #41
  • So, Entry #40. J is sitting around in a parking lot, waiting for Alex, who is late. Okay. He calls Alex's cell phone; he doesn't pick up. Okay. So, naturally, he decides to go for a walk in the freaky woods. What? That'd be a dumb idea even if it wasn't for our skinny friend; with Slendy in the equation, I can't help but wonder if J was high.
    • If Intermission is to be believed, Totheark baited him to do it.
  • He's the Operator, so, uh...what does he operate?
  • Why hasn't Brian even been mentioned in so long?
    • Jay was only looking for Brian because he thought it might give him a good lead on Alex. And at this point, he has his own safety to worry about, so he's not really concerned about people he hasn't seen in years and barely even knew.
    • That, and it might actually keep Brian safer if he isn't mentioned anymore unless absolutely necessary. I mean, Alex didn't start getting involved again until J started looking at the tapes are began mentioning Alex's name in the Entries. It's not out of the question that simply being suspected of having a connection gets you involved.
    • That, and there's always whoever Totheark is. Don't count Brian out just yet.
  • How does Blasky beat Jay to his car in Entry #41/#42?
    • Didn't Jay get lost in the woods? It looked like Jay ran in a blind panic so it'd be easy to believe that Jay got lost.
  • Entry #43. Alex. WALKING TOWARDS SLENDY. The only two possibilities here are either, A. Slendy took control of Alex/had some other adverse affect after his initial fall, and caused Alex to walk towards him in a mind-controlled/sleepwalk-like state (think Jay in Entry #24), or B. Alex is resisting Slendy's control and sickness, and is walking towards him as an act of defiance. It's hard to imagine anything else. The question is, which one was it?
    • Um, answers in this series don't get spelled out so quickly. Try the WMG tab for that.
    • Not to mention "the only two options"? C'mon, give Troy and Joseph more credit than that.
  • Beforehand, Alex said he didn't want Jay to know where he lived. Is THAT where he lived?!
    • Yeah, I assumed that was why he didn't want to tell him, although why the hell he's living in the woods is unclear. I'm really starting to suspect his alliances.
    • Entry 44 only muddles things further. Alex gets visited by the Operator while he sleeps, and depending on your theories he either may have been protecting Jay or keeping him from snooping. Who can really say?
  • In Entry #43, Alex indicates the window he and Amy jumped out of; it's the only one on the third floor. Erm, what? Can humans do that without serious injury?
    • The window leads to the roof. The implication is that they slid down, not jumped straight onto the pavement.
      • This troper thought that was a hint that Alex was lying about what happened. Jay focuses a lot on the window after Alex claims that he and Jessica jumped out of it to safety and this troper thought that was because he realised how unlikely Alex's story was. And as of Entry 43/44 it's looking like Alex is definitely NOT to be trusted as he's either working with The Operator or being controlled by him
  • Here's a meta-headscratcher. Why do people insist on getting every question, plot twist and ambiguity spelled out for them here? It's a Jigsaw Puzzle Plot, answers don't get spelled out instantly.
    • Because it's fun?
    • Because people are selfish and lazy and don't like mystery since their brains aren't strong enough to handle a complex plot like this one.
    • Because humans have a primal fear of that which refuses to be categorized and understandable. (This fear is slightly lessened when we can all come together and try to make some sense of it. Though that tends to make the paranoia worse in the long run ...)
  • What was up with Entry #45? Specifically, the scene with the Maskies. Of course I can tell they're trying to kill him, but their movements are...very halfhearted, and the whole thing is just so slow-paced. I wouldn't be surprised if it was supposed to take place underwater, that's how off it looked. Is it just some really odd dissonance thing that fell flat for me? I just can't reconcile it -- it looked so fake...what was the effect supposed to be?
    • It's just you.
      • That's not a headscratcher. That's a complaint. Next.
  • Do I help or do I kill?
    • Uh...what?
      • Totheark is a troper now?
      • Wouldn't put it past them.
      • Based on 49, Alex seems to have chosen "kill."
    • Should I stay or should I go now?
      • If I go there will be trouble
        • But if I stay it will be double
          • So darling you've got to let me know
  • Okay, I'm still in season 1, but I have one question - Marble Hornets is a name of a movie Alex was filming in-Universe. The movie he's filming, as far as I seen of it (I'm at Entry #21 at this point) seems to be a Slice of Life or some Developing Doomed Characters parts of horror...why Alex picked up that name for a movie?
    • In-universe, no idea. In real life, according to the guy who plays Jay, the guys were thinking of a name for the series when they saw a truck carrying some marble, followed by a pest control service's truck with a hornet on it.
    • According to someone on Facebook: "Alex named it Marble Hornets because Brian's character was going to have a revelation in the film via a figurine of a hornet that his parents had on the mantle, along with a lot of other little figurines." No proof so far that this is actual Word of God, but it's a fair guess if not.
  • Isn't the normal reaction when one is being stalked by a strange man who also breaks into your house and attacks you to, y'know, call the police? I can sort of understand why Jay didn't call the cops; at first he was just looking through some old videos, and when he first got attacked himself it was while he was breaking and entering a strange house. But why didn't Alex call the police after the first time it became clear that Slendy was prowling around his house at night, or when Slendy actually broke in and (apparently) left Alex with a gash on his scalp?
    • "Yeah, I'm calling about a stalker. He's been breaking into my house and I think he...a description? Well, he's about...uh...ten feet tall, and he doesn't have a face...yes, I'm serious! He just doesn't have any facial features, it's really...hello? Is anyone there?"
      • "Hey, why are there guys in white suits and an ambulance at my front door?"
      • Or he could just say it's a tall guy with a mask covering his entire face. He could also show them videos.
      • Even if he did call the police, and explained in a way that didn't make him sound crazy the best case scenario is the police find/accomplish nothing while investigating how the things in Alex's videos could have logically happened. Worst case scenario the police also start being stalked and driven crazy.
      • And they'd probably confiscate all of Jay's tapes, making it even harder for him (and by extension, us viewers) to figure out what the heck is going on.
    • I think there's a lot of evidence for the Operator messing with the way people think. For one thing, there are maybe a handful of instances in the series when J or Alex actually refer to him directly. Alex describes him as 'a guy in a suit' in one of the first entries (when he's still sane), and I think that's the last time he's referred to as anything other than 'that thing' or 'it'. J doesn't say anything about him in his intro/outro text cards, even in entries where his appearance is the only thing of note. The two boys seem to swing between not knowing what they're dealing with, and not knowing that they're dealing with anything at all. It's a bit difficult to call the police about the thing in your house when there's something stopping you from describing it.
    • If you call the police, they investigate and they find nothing, they begin to think of you as a boy crying wolf and dispatch may not send them out to you the next time you call or the time after that. However, if he turned in the footage of 49 with the parts about the Operator removed, he could probably get the police to start building a case against Alex.
    • Well, we know what Alex seemed to be crazy enough to go hunting the Operator on his own, and with his... problems... likely did not even consider calling the cops. As for Jay, he's such an introverted guy (or so Word of God says), and might not have even thought of letting someone else in on it. He had trouble enough trusting Jessica, and she was in the same boat as him.
  • Okay, I know this has been asked, but seriously, in that seven-month gap, Alex was staying in a house and Jay in a hotel, yet all they seemed to do the whole time was wander around with cameras or cower in paranoid terror. In other words, they had no sort of income. How did they pay for, well, anything?
    • In keeping with the whole Parental Abandonment thing mentioned above, maybe their parents all died and they received inheritance? (No need for it to be a coincidence, either. I imagine Slendy's job is a whole lot easier if his puppets don't have parents to phone them in as missing persons.)
  • The season finale of Season 2, Entry #52, doesn't explain or even address the "noentry" video from Entry #29, explaining everything else but leaving a glaring Plot Hole there. Actually, there are a few more with this entry.
    • How did the tape get in the safe if this took place the night before Entry #27, and that the camera died with the tape in it? Why would Jay, in his unconscious state, replace the tape, put the other tape in the safe, put the videos on his hard drive, and somehow get the noentry footage filmed?
    • There are several typos.
    • How did the noentry footage get onto his laptop? Even if it happened while he was unconsious, it seems incredibly improbable. There is evidence that there has been a lot of meddling involved, how did Jay not notice it?
    • The hard drive in the trunk. Why? It obviously means there's more room for more entries in this season, why is this the finale?
    • What could possibly be in Jessica's safe? Where did it come from?
      • I'm guessing it's a safe deposit box that the hotel has under every bed. There's no indication there's anything in it.
    • What turned the camera on in Entry #27?
      • So they left some questions for next season. I don't see the problem with that.
        • There's a difference between questions and Plot Holes.
          • Except for the typos, though, these don't seem like actual errors. Totheark managed to hack Jay's YouTube account for enttry 37, I don't think someone uploading footage to his laptop is that big a stretch. The hard drive and Jessica's safe are probably hooks for the next season. Likely one of the Maskies replaced the tapes in the safe, strapped the camera on Jay, and started up the camera--neither of them appear to be on Alex's side, and they might not be completely hostile to Jay.
            • It wasn't that they didn't solve "noentry", I can't expect that out of a series like this, it's that they didn't even acknowledge it. If there simply was a slide that said "I still don't know where 'noentry' came from", everything would've been fine, and we'd know that Troy/Jay hadn't forgotten about it completely.
  • Why hasn't The Operator been shown moving since season 1? I mean, in entry #10 and entry #14 we saw him walking, and yet in season 2 he is completely inanimate. Well, besides the arm movement for about two frames of Entry #52. And no, Offscreen Teleportation doesn't count.
  • So why did Masky attack Jay back in Entry #33, when, as evidenced in Entry #52, just days before that he saved his life?
    • Just because he's not on Alex's side doesn't mean he's on Jay's side. Maybe he just decided to focus on Alex first because he's more of a threat.
      • Or Masky knew something was going down and needed Jay out of there pronto. Despite the save, Masky has no way of knowing if Jay sees him as friend or foe. So showing up in full menace mode would ensue that Jay gets the hell out of Dodge. Showing up as Tim or warning him might have prompted Jay to ask questions but an attack would ensure Jay left as soon as possible.
  • I might've missed it, but has it yet been explained what Alex was keeping in his satchel? In light of #52 I'm inclined to think it's his gun.
    • I just thought it was the tapes and hard drive with the footage from his chest camera.
  • So Jay somehow survived attacking The Operator head on, then had his footage make its way to his safe, received new footage on his laptop, was safely transported to his bed with his camera strapped onto him, then before the camera was turned back on, something presumably was put into Jessica's safe we don't know about, clues were left in Jessica and Jay's rooms for how to access their own safes after the whole memory loss thing, and the entire hotel was emptied out so that only Jay and Jessica were left in the rooms. The implication seems to be that whoever arranged this wants Jay and Jessica to get together, open each others' safes, and get back on track so that the Operator induced amnesia wont slow them down for too long. Now lets look at two possible explanations for this:
    • Masky arranged all this since he saved Jay and Jessica from Alex just a few hours ago, has been seen actively fighting against The Operator, and managed to literally show up seconds after Jay finally took action, so he's the obvious first suspect. However, Masky attacked Jay as soon as Jessica and Jay showed signs they were ready to help each other, so it's unlikely he went to such detail to get them together.
    • This was arranged by someone who wasn't Masky at all (possibly totheark?) But if that were the case then what are the odds Masky would leave them alone for several days then conveniently show up literally five seconds after Jay finally makes some progress? Even The Operator doesn't always show up with such perfect timing.
  • What was the point of getting Jessica involved? It's obvious Alex didn't like the idea of Jay getting in touch with her, and Jay made such a huge deal about getting her phone number, to the point that he used one of his rare moments of competency to force Alex to give him her number. Then, after all that work, Jay finally calls Jessica, only to lie to her and pretend everything's okay. He specifically states that he doesn't want to alarm her or cause her to panic (despite having plenty of evidence that she SHOULD panic), but if he didn't want to worry her or get her involved in his search then why'd he bother asking for her number in the first place?
  • Why is Jessica so calm? It's been established Jay's not the brightest bulb and given the nature of this whole Operator business it makes sense why he wouldn't bother with the police, but Jessica didn't know about any of that. As far as Jessica was concerned a complete stranger calls her out of the blue to tell her that the roommate who mysteriously disappeared is still missing and then said roommate's boyfriend, who previously lied and said Amy was fine, tries to murder both Jay and Jessica. Why would Jessica not even suggest going to the police when any logical person would probably assume that Alex just murdered Amy with no paranormal activities involved. She never once questions why Jay's immediate response is to go into hiding without alerting anyone of the attempted murder.
    • And on a related note, Jay makes it clear he's been snooping around, has an entire bag full of video tapes and evidence against Alex, and immediately comes up with an escape plan, as well as a backup plan that implies there's a possibility Jessica might need to take those tapes if something happens to Jay. Clearly Jay knows what he's doing and not once does Jessica even ask him what's going on. She just blindly follows him to a hotel, never considers going to police, and just quietly goes to sleep without questioning any of the things that just happened to her. She's taking this whole attempted murder thing surprisingly well.
      • Police Are Useless, apparently. Or maybe Jay filled Jessica in on all the not-quite-natural stuff going on while the camera was turned off, or maybe Alex as Slendy's... whatever also causes paranoia and irrational behaviour. Maybe Jessica's head has been tinkered with longer than we knew and it'll come up again next season.
  • Why have the creators of this not been hired by a movie or TV studio? This series is much better than the majority of "found footage" films that come out in theaters, and certainly better than many of the Lost clones populating TV. Obviously the format would have to change once it moved off a web medium, but still. The talent!
    • Too much sense, plus Slender Man is a public domain idea so there's that. Also look at the Dinosia House. Hollywood did pick up the guy responsible, but that project got delayed for years and years and might not ever come.
    • Also, Troy has said before that Marble Hornets only works in the format that it's in. He's said that if he were offered a MH TV show (which he has), he would turn it down because it wouldn't work with the ARG format.
  • In entry 51, why does Brian keep the camera rolling? This part has always bugged me. The only character that would film everything at this point is Alex, and pretty much anyone else would just close the camera and carry on with what they're doing (especially if it takes concentration.) I understand that it's necessary suspension of disbelief to forward the plot, but so far the makers have been so careful to make the gaps in the film believable. (For example, when Alex approaches the Operator and says "Hey, buddy" the camerawoman stops filming because there's no need to waste film or battery for a mundane conversation, and Jay comments on how frustrating this is in hindsight.)
    • Evidence. If he didn't find Alex, he could go to the police, report him as missing, and give them the tape so they'd know what happened and where to start.
    • Or if Brian didn't think that far, he just picked the camera up and forgot to or just didn't think to turn it off.
      • Unlikely as the camera is aimed as Brian walks through the building, if he was just carrying it, wouldn't the image be something more like an inverted backwards shot or at least more erractic in movement. This is probably more just a plot device than anything else.
  • During Season 1, J starts to suspect that totheark is the masked guy who attacked him and watched him while he slept. So if J knows that his violent stalker is watching his YouTube channel, why does he keep uploading videos detailing his movements, including what he plans to do next? Unless there are some hints I missed that J's actually been lying in some of the videos to throw totheark off, this seems like the biggest Idiot Ball moment in the series.
    • Willing Suspension of Disbelief: Because if he did the smart thing, the series wouldn't even be here.
    • Perhaps it's meant as an Apocalypic Log, he wants there to be some record of him in case the Operator caught up with him and he just disappeared. Also, given the inherent crowd-sourcing nature of the internet, perhaps someone could recognize what he was going through and help him find a solution.
  • When the Operator was first being filmed (e.g. Entry #1) why was there no major distortion like later, when he was on camera?
    • Because he was just watching Alex. The major distortions only happen when he's doing something supernatural; whenever he's just watching or walking around, like in the first 14 entries, it doesn't distort while on him.
    • Also, Rule of Scary
  • Why didn't Jay upload anything during the seven month gap?
    • Alex probably told him not to. One of the first conversations between Jay and Alex in the gap was Alex complaining about how easy it was to find Jay.
  • Why is it Jay is OK with plastering Alex's last name over his vids but still keeps his and Tim's last names secret?
    • Because at the beginning of the series, Jay was investigating his disappearance, and had no reason to believe that he was in immediate danger. Jay's last name only came up later in the series when it had very much been shown that he was. At this point, there's no purpose to hide Alex's name as it's given away at the very beginning, but he still makes an attempt to keep the identities of himself and Tim safe while he can.
Back to Marble Hornets
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Marble_Hornets/Headscratchers?oldid=2029365"