One of the most defining features of the online series Marble Hornets—and arguably the one that has kept the fandom as alive as it is—is the way almost everything that happens in its narrative is up for debate, with there being very few actual hard facts we get of the characters or the world. We are left as the audience trying to puzzle out the story with a mostly incomplete puzzle, trying to figure out things such as what exactly happened to people like Seth and Sarah, how in control Alex was of the murders he committed, what exactly Tim's condition is and what "Masky" is, or even just what the end of the series implies.
If there's one entry in Marble Hornets that is the most subjective and open-ended though, I think it is enttry 37, the ToTheArk video uploaded on Jay's channel that features corrupted footage of one of Alex Kralie's childhood birthdays, filmed home video style.
But while for the most part we know what this entry is literally about, its part in the story is incredibly unclear, and I think there are three main conclusions one can draw from it, which each radically effect how you view the plot of Marble Hornets.
1. Alex Kralie saw the Operator as a kid
One of the main things we see the Operator do is, ding ding ding, distort video and especially sound, and the idea that Alex saw the Operator as a kid draws another similarity between him and Tim, something that Tim himself regularly does as he sympathizes with Kralie throughout the series. If Alex also saw the Operator as a kid, it feeds into to the fact they are not only both foils but both victims of circumstance, rather than Alex being a total villain for the sake of villainy.
There is simply something wrong in Rosswood, and it preys on hurt people like Alex and Tim, first hunting them when they were vulnerable as kids, before ultimately trying to claim them again when they're adults, wriggling in through the cracks it helped make in their psyche.
Tim manages to fight and escape it, but Alex doesn't.
But they are both victims from similar circumstance, who fell down different paths.
2. The entry is edited
There are some flaws with the first theory though, such as the fact that, while the audio distortion is Operator-esque, the video corruption is very different from how it usually manifests. It honestly reminds me more of Entry #76's fake operator than anything else, the one that Masky edited in to hide Jessica.
There are some just big noticeable differences in this entry from how it usually appears, such as the bar of static on the bottom of the screen, the sound distortion being slowed down rather than really static-y, and when the Operator shows up at 0:50 seconds in the video, it not only has a noticeably has a color distortion which is rather unusual for it? But also the literal date on the camera changes, a fact we never see before or after, such as in entry 26 when Amy records the Operator with a camera that also has the date in the corner.
Ultimately, to me, it feels more like an art project than an actual appearance of the Operator.
I think its not too unlikely that this could be one of "Hoody"/Brian's edits rather than actual straight up footage, possibly made to try to convince Jay, or to show him how "evil" Alex is, by correlating that he has been stalked by the Operator since he was a kid, whether that be true or not. Something something Alex has an inherent evilness/sin even when he was a kid, an idea Brian could realistically hold because he is a roman catholic and probably believes in sin. (This is a Joke.)
But seriously, Brian half the time only ever really posts art projects, even when he is showing us stuff that happened he will sometimes edit it weirdly to tell his own story/communicate his ideas. Why wouldn't he do that here?
3. The entry is metaphorical/a manifestation of how badly Alex is infected
The final conclusion I think one can come to about this entry. I know the title may put some people off but let me try to explain.
The Operator does have frankly bizarre collection of powers, and I think one interesting idea you could draw from this entry is that it has so badly infected Alex in the present, that his whole presence in reality as a whole is becoming poisonous, that in some ways he is taking on the qualities of the Operator.
Alex is becoming a broken gear in the machine of reality, his very self and things connected to him eroding the longer and more he is in this monster's presence, more under its sway. Its very existence is corrosive to life, as intrusive and uncanny as the tunnel shoved in the middle of the woods, with stones not even native to the area guarding its gaping toothless mouth, this place so out of place serving as a door between our world and the fake, distorted reality of The Ark.
Arguably, this theory has the least amount to back it up, but I think is one of the most interesting and definitely least discussed, even if it does throw a wrench in my own beloved "tim-alex foil" narrative.
Those are all my conclusions though :-) if you have any of your own that I haven't touched on, feel free to drop them in the reblogs/comments! I definitely think this Entry is one of the most interesting/confusing because of just how little and how much is explained to us.
