What is Slender Man?

We know what he seems to be, but what is he, actually? Is there even an entity behind the manifestations? What ideas exist about the nature of Slender Man? Or what are your own ideas?

There are a lot of ideas! The first ones off the top of my head are that he's a:

1) Extra-dimensional being

2) A tulpa (an entity that it is willed into existence by people)

3) An alien

4) Some type of folkloric monster

5) And much much more!

There's probably as many theories as to what he is as there are Slenderfans.

Depends on the writer.

I agree that there can be as many theories as theorists. That's part of what makes the topic so compelling, for me. I'm hoping there can be some discussion of the various ideas, though.

The idea (or at least label) of the "tulpa" does seem to be widely invoked. But what do we mean, exactly, when we use that term? We can look it up on Wikipedia if we want to know the standard definition of the word. I'm curious about how and why we're using it. What do we mean by it?

A meme.
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Adding to BlackWolf's list, I think you could also interpret him as a sinister technological being (created by humans or another intellegence), as part of a conspiracy of some kind, as an 'error' in existence as we know it.

On top of that, with most of these theories we can ask ourselves the question, is he sentient or not? Does he experience conciousness/ intelligence as we know it and choose to do the slendilicious things that he does, or does he merely function without contemplation? Perhaps acting on instinct or as part of a larger and inexplicable physical reaction.

I would hope that he has some type of consciousness. The other option seems kind of...underwhelming to me.

My interest in the Slender Man topic developed because the subject made me think of Jung's comments about flying saucers, when I first encountered it. Projections from the collective unconscious, the beginnings of a modern myth. In a sense, that's not too far from the idea of the tulpa (and much new age thought seems to treat it as the same thing), but it would be a take into which a non-sentient Slendy would fit.

What would the collective unconscious be communicating, if anything? Perhaps Slender Man is a warning about corporations, say. They're legal "persons" which lack concrete human identities (faces) are clothed in legal formalisms (sharp black suit), are amoral, can be everywhere at once, and (according to some views) seek to consume or absorb real humans in one way or another. A similar interpretation could be made using governments, presumably, or any human organization.

Or Slendy is a spirit of Nature, of the trees, say, manifesting to warn of ecological disaster. Or not to warn, but to slowly cut back the human population which creates the threats to Nature.

Or Slendy is outside of our reality altogether and each manifestation is a single tentacle or feeler or finger or branch, whatever, poking into our realm at a point where a vulnerability has been created. A vulnerability spawned by human thought or fear. These branches don't reveal anything about what's really poking into our reality, and they have no sentience in themselves.

Yeah, I'm rambling. Just some thoughts I've had, while suffering Slendy-spawned insomnia.

I don't get the logic of trying to pin down a single origin or purpose when it's blatantly obvious that depends on who's writing him at any given time.

I'm not interested in pinning anything down. I'm interested in examining the various different ideas which exist. Every idea is equally valid, so why not discuss them?

Say you're writing him, right now. What is he?

Or not. No one has to discuss such things.

Harlan Phoenix wrote:I don't get the logic of trying to pin down a single origin or purpose when it's blatantly obvious that depends on who's writing him at any given time.

Just a bit of clean harmless fun I dont think any of us really expect to get an answer from speculating. For me half the appeal of the slenderman mythos is how well it lends itself to discussions such as these.

And Neomenia, I have a frickin CRUSH on your Jungian idea. Winpoint.

Neomenia wrote:
Say you're writing him, right now. What is he?

Grandpa.

^Please explain? Or are you just being clever?

WhiteWolf wrote:^Please explain? Or are you just being clever?

I am not kidding.

Well, okay. Your grandpa, my grandpa, the Great Cosmic Grandpa? A grandfather clause which permits the monstrous, mythical entities of the pre-scientific era to loom large in the current day? One of the Great Old Ones? Or is it an accusation? I'll grant that I'm disastrously un-hip, and older than the average member here would seem to be, but I'm not that much older.

No no no.

Specifically my grandpa.