The "Operator" Symbol

Some have said it represents the Slenderman himself, the circle meaning a face, and the X meaning no lack of features. Others say that the symbol protects those haunted or stalked by Slendy, for certain amounts of time. Many believe it to be a warning; Slenderman has been near wherever the symbol is found, and will be there again, so watch yourself. (Those are some general ideas from the original thread.)

Let's discuss this more.

I offer another possibility, perhaps it tries to warn that 'running in circles' will only result in death. Perhaps the X represents the countless number of victims he has had over the centuries.

I would say it is intended to be a warning. When the symbol is shown Slenderman has a tendency to show up, and those that draw it are being stalked by him. The symbol itself, with a circle with an x through it refers to the fact that Slenderman does not have a face. It's a very distinguishing characteristic that the Slenderman has, one of the first things we say when we're trying to describe him.

I always thought it was a crossed out camera lense. Mostly due to the theories around Marble Hornets regarding cameras attracting Slendy.

And I always presumed it was symbolic of facelessness. Out of all of the ideas suggested, I prefer OPs.

Well, it all started with Marble Hornets, didn't it? I could see it dealing heavily with the plot if the meaning is ever truly revealed. I always felt it was risky business bringing it into other blogs and video series. I can see the appeal in it though, it makes for a good mysterious symbol.

That being said, I like some of the theories that have come up. The one Detective posted above, for example, is very simplistic and would make a lot of sense. I personally don't like to accept any of the theories of Slendy's origins as 100% canon, but if he IS a monster comprised of belief then the symbol would really be helpful in that sense.

Detective wrote:There's another way of looking at it. Perhaps it doesn't actually mean anything - you ascribe the meaning to it. Since you are familiar with the mythos, seeing makes you think of Slender Man. And since Slender Man operates on the power of belief, it turns it into a sort of memetic thought weapon.

Source: "A" of "Defining?"
http://nildesperandumnilfortuna.blogspot.com/2010/09/symbolsfaith-ii.html

Yes, yes, and uuuh... YES.

This is the sole idea that has made the most sense to me. I love, and have given you one winpoint.

I always thought it symbolized him. The face O, with the X representing his tentacles. ._.;

I do like Detective's theory.

I clicked on Detectives link, expecting some manner of factual article regarding symbols of faith and perhaps giving some place in history or the human mind to this ominous circle with an x. I sincerely expected to be further convinced of her "perception is reality" theory regarding the operator symbol.

But it's just another stupid entry on another pretentious blog. Fuck those blogs.

The operator symbol represents facelessness.

Satyrcynic wrote:I clicked on Detectives link, expecting some manner of factual article regarding symbols of faith and perhaps giving some place in history or the human mind to this ominous circle with an x. I sincerely expected to be further convinced of her "perception is reality" theory regarding the operator symbol.

But it's just another stupid entry on another pretentious blog. Fuck those blogs.

The operator symbol represents facelessness.

Your inability to learn from this groundbreaking new material will be the death of your own creativity. *shakes head ominously*

I think that all that can be said for sure about the Operator Symbol is that it's somehow related to the Slender Man. Really, there's so much debate on this. Ask ten people what it is, and you'll get eleven different answers.

The one that's probably most common is that it's a repellent, and it symbolizes an eye. This was largely due to The Tutorial (a blog that I mostly hate), which was extremely popular. So the theory caught on. Anyway, the theory was that he can't teleport if you're looking at him, and if you use the Operator Symbol, he thinks you're looking at him.

And on the other end of things, some people also think that it's an eye, but that it's a dimensional eye that allows Slendy to peer into our world. Or something like that.

Andy

Detective wrote:There's another way of looking at it. Perhaps it doesn't actually mean anything - you ascribe the meaning to it. Since you are familiar with the mythos, seeing makes you think of Slender Man. And since Slender Man operates on the power of belief, it turns it into a sort of memetic thought weapon.

Source: "A" of "Defining?"
http://nildesperandumnilfortuna.blogspot.com/2010/09/symbolsfaith-ii.html

I'm gonna side with Detective on this one. Even though the blog kinda loses focus, I more or less agree with it because I generally am a firm believer that we as the audience like to read too much into things.

Even if they attribute some sort of meaning to later in the series, I'd be willing to bet that they came up with that after the fact, and originally just chose it because it looked cool when they were tossing around ideas. They probably figured that we'd attribute our own personal meaning to it

I think if anything it serves as a logo of sorts for Slendy/Marble Hornets. It's kinda of like the pepsi logo or something, it has nothing actually to do with pepsi and it really doesn't mean anything other than it's the pepsi logo and that it makes you think of pepsi when you see it.

Or even better (or at least more interesting to me), I'm reading a John Lennon biography now, and people were always asking him the meaning behind the name The Beatles. Ultimately, he said that it's "just a name" and that they could have picked any still wound up being the same band.

Also I think "memetic thought weapon" should be the term of the year.

Green wrote:I offer another possibility, perhaps it tries to warn that 'running in circles' will only result in death. Perhaps the X represents the countless number of victims he has had over the centuries.

Or the X could be the man himself, waiting patiently for his prey to tire at the centre of the "web". The arms of the X symbolise his power and reach- each connecting to the chase?

That's my theory. But I also love Detective's.