I am here today to present a theory I have been working on for sometime. I know that it still has it’s plotholes and I am well aware of them and am willing to try to address them as time goes on. I hope that if there are straight out fallacies in my theory, I invite you to address them. This theory is not set in stone and has been in progress for several months now. Yes, I take this all too seriously, but that is what I do. I create, build up and present theories.
This particular theory is addressing a character within Marble Hornets that I’ve loved and hated equally. Not no our dearest, tallest friend, but his B.F.F
MAKSY: Behind the mask
Now, I am well aware that in the beginning, Masky was just as confusing and mysterious as the Operator himself, but as the series has progressed, people have begun to rest their weary heads and settled on this simple equation:
Masky=Tim
I too subscribed to that idea for the longest time. I didn’t feel it was necessary to think too much on the supporting character. Everywhere I went online, everyone was tossing around that Tim was Masky as if it was solid as gold. A few people at UnFiction believed that possible Alex or maybe Seth could be Masky, but they are a great minority. The reining theory is that it is Tim and not without reason. Allow me to list what physical attributes we have of Masky:
-Mask
-Brown Jacket
-Jeans
He never wields a weapon, but is not afraid to become physical. I’ll be addressing that later. Masky is a puzzling character in many ways. Let me first focus on his physical appearance.
I am not sure how many times you personally have watched Marble Hornets, some have watched all the videos more then others no doubt, but more or less there has become a singular visual representation of Masky:
That is the most popular image when googling “Masky from Marble Hornets” More or less. And that is for good reason. Of the 5 Marble Hornets and the 1 ToTheArk video, Masky is more often then not portrayed wearing the 3 points. Only in one Marble Hornets video is he wearing something other then his iconic outfit.
Entry # 18
In Entry #18, J returns to “the house”, which is actually Brian’s house. J had already made the trip, twice on camera, to the house and was familiar with the lay out. As he is moving around and searching for more clues, he comes across this:
Masky in a dark colored sweatshirt, jeans and the token mask. We are given several closer looks at Masky in this entry:
Also notable, Masky is primarily worried about keeping his mask on. He lays dormant after the tussle and only reacts again when J tries to remove the mask. I am not familiar with the theory of “Proxies” or how they work, but my own theory is that Masky is being controlled by the Operator yet still retains some, lesser form of control. Again, I’ll get into that later, but my point now is that Masky is dormant until J approaches him, they wrestle and J is heard struggling and coughing off screen then next we see Masky violently seizing on the floor. I believe that it is, in simplistic manners, a “short circuit”. His orders are clear and that is to stop J. So he does and when J begins to show physical signs of duress, the person inside Masky tries to override the direct order and this causes him to seize then return to a dormant state--until J tries to unmask him, then the Masky person is able to take control again, gain power over the situation and J runs away before they fight again.
The next time we see Masky is Entry #19. Maksy has been following J, as shown by the ToTheArk videos Addition which was someone filming J during Entry #16 and Exit that is filming J as he searches Alex’s car for batteries during Entry# 13.
Next I’d like to examine Entry #20. In Entry #20, we are able to get a look at J, Alex, and Tim, all on camera at the same time. Only Brian is missing, supposedly “somewhere” which I find suspicious. Brian was the main character of the short film, Marble Hornets, so to think of doing a “behind the scenes featurette” without the main character seems suspect. But I suppose I could easily over look that, even if they are in his house. Tim is running late and enters sometime toward the middle sporting the iconic Masky jacket that we had just been exposed to in Entry # 19, which of course happened AFTER Entry #20.
Note that there is a moment of audio and visual distortion around 1:13-1:15, before Tim arrives but while Brian is still unaccounted for. Then upon Tim’s arrival and later while the camera operator is focusing in on him, more audio distortion is heard.
Tim is the next aspect that I would like to address. Tim “unmasked” if I may. Tim appears in 4 entries. These entries are, and his attire listed:
Entry #9- Faded jeans and a brightly colored shirt
Entry #15- Dark wash jeans and a dark green shirt with grey rimming the sleeves and collar
Entry #17- Unknown pants and a dark brown shirt
Entry #20- Dark wash jeans, black shirt and infamous light brown jacket
So, literally we see Tim wear this jacket, once. He wears it once and in Entry #20, he also is carrying a pill bottle in his bottle. He takes whatever medication is held within then places it in his left pocket. Later, the video is cut off before we see Tim leave. It is not so much of a jump to play on the idea of Tim leaving this jacket behind after leaving Brian‘s house, with the pills still within. J later finds a bottle of pills in Brain’s house (actually 2 bottles) and comments on the bottles likeness to the one in Tim’s possession and more importantly, in the jacket. I’d like to propose the idea that Tim could have left the jacket behind after leaving Brian’s house. In Entry #15, which takes place in 2009 and not along with the other Tim videos in 2006, he is not wearing the jacket. October 03, 2009, to be exact. The type of day to wear a nice jacket should a person have one, don’t you think?
Tim’s hairstyle is my next point. Masky and Tim have the same hairstyle. Shaggy, dark brown/black and sideburns. Admittedly, this is the weakest point of my theory, but a hairstyle does not, the man make. Tim is not the only man in America, hell Alabama to have Shaggy dark brown/black hair w/ sideburns. Granted, none of the other guys seem to have sideburns during the entries of 2006. But 3 years seems like more then enough time to grow one’s hair out and sideburns. I am not saying this is the case, but that this to be considered.
Next, I want to address the physicality of Masky. Masky is seen in a frontal attack in 2 videos, Entry #18 and Entry #33, in addition to Masky in J’s room in Entry #19. The three incidents placed side by side show a marked difference in Masky’s physical appearance:
If we ignore the clothes and hair, we can see that there is some strange physical hiccups. Entry #19 Masky seems much thinner then Masky in Entry #33. Let me set that aside for now. Let’s place all the men of MH side by side w/ Masky and take a physical measurement of their chests. It is the manly thing to do:
Entry #19 Masky is much narrower in the chest and shoulders, closer to the build of Alex, J, Tim and Seth. Brian is easily the most built of the group and does not match the Entry #19 Masky.
Now the side by side of the men versus the Entry #33 Masky:
We can now see that the thicker build of Brian closer resembles the build of Masky instead of the other men. Also, now I know most of the men are going to look away but really, it is ok to look. I am not much of an ass girl myself, but it caught my attention. In Entry #33, there is a close up on Masky’s bum as he is turned away from J:
This bum has a nice curve to it. This is an ass tour!
As you can see, despite all the conflicting angles, most of these boys are flat as pancakes when it comes to trunk space. Aside from Seth, who so far has not been seen fully figured on camera, all the men are accounted for. Brian is the only one who has the proper ass shape to match the Entry #33 Masky.
I suppose you can guess where I am going now? Good. Because I will be getting to that quickly enough. Now, remember when I questioned Masky’s intentioned earlier? That his orders are to stop J? Well it is later enough, so let’s get to that.
Entry #18 Masky has the upper hand on J in each and everyway accountable. J is unaware Masky is there, J is completely alone in and abandoned house and seems to have severed every tie he has, so if he were to go missing, no one would notice for awhile. Also, Masky is never armed. I’ve though long and hard on it as to why Masky is not armed. If Masky was given the orders by the big man to kill J, Masky would probably use some sort of weapon. Not a gun, a gun is too human and impersonal. A bat or club could be used, but the range in such close quarters would be near impossible to wield properly. Anything like a spear or bow and arrow would be comical and again, impossible to use in such confined an area. The only weapons I would consider would be either a rope to strangle J or a knife to stab him. Both are compact weapons that could be easily concealed and takes nearly no previous knowledge of how to work the weapon.
Tactile and efficient, Masky would most likely use a knife or rope. The fact that he is quietly perched on the couch was J is unknowingly moving all around, Masky could have easily launched on him. He didn’t though. He waited until J came closer. J was judging by the physical build and the attire as to who this person was and called out to Masky “Alex? Alex!” At this point, Masky attacks J. They tussle around, Maksy has a seizure and J tries to remove the mask. Maksy can be heard audibly saying, “No!” though muffled behind the mask, does sound entirely like Tim. The intonation and pitch of the voice is near a perfect match to Tim’s voice.
At the end of Entry #18, J wakes up unconscious in his car and notes that his knife was taken from him. I shall assume that he took the knife for protection but was not actually able to use it during the fight. Sometime between the loud crash/bang noise as J tried to escape the house and him waking in his car, the knife was removed from his person. Why? If Masky wanted to kill him, and perhaps had a weapon hidden on him, he could of used it, but I assume that Masky was unarmed. After J blacks out, Masky could’ve borrowed J’s knife for a moment then gave it back to him… in the back. Or throat. Whichever. Again, Masky has the upper hand in the games and he allows J was get away unhinged.
On J’s third return to the house in Entry #23. In Entry #23, J returns to the house, this time in daylight and seeks out the doors that he believes ToTheArk told him were unopened. J is again, roaming around Brain’s house which is even worse condition then the previous trips and after checking the bathroom for the blood he found last time, he turns to see Masky peaking in on him. Masky takes off running down the hallway and into a room with J hot on his heels. When J opens the door, Masky is gone.
Finding himself in a disheveled bedroom, J begins looking around. He finds several pills on a table next to what appears to be several prescribed liquid medication bottles. He examines them only long enough to get them on film, notices the door is closed behind him, proceeds through and is back in the same room… I guess. He leaves through the door, enters the hallway, looks down the stairs and tries to enter through a different door into a different room, finds himself in the same room again and begins to panic, as told by his quickening breath, as the house gets darker around him. Next thing we know, J is in a dark closet, emerges and sees a door across from him swing shut, a Masky mask hanging from a knob. The video then goes completely wonky and we are in the strange, decrypted building Alex and Seth were in on the tape J found at the Red Tower in Entry #21.
In Entry #33, J does nothing physical to stir Masky on… other than getting in the safe and finding all the tapes. At that point, Masky attacked him trying to wrestle away the bag. J with bag, camera and flashlight in head, began backing out of his room and into Jessica’s. At this point, Masky appears to bitchslap J. I believe that it was more so directed at the camera, not J directly. You can clearly see Masky turn away as he swipes, open-handed, level at the camera. Why do this? Because he doesn’t want to be on camera, of course. He turns away trying to keep himself from being caught on film, and at the same time tries to take a swing at the camera in hopes of knocking it out of J’s hand. I believe that is also why he chases J out of the rooms and down the stairs, he wants to get the tapes and camera away from J.
Entry #12 is one I’d like to take a moment to observe. While this short video does not have Masky or Tim, it does have Brian, Sarah (presumably) and Alex. Tim arrives at the end, but is never seen on camera. Entry #12 starts with Alex speaking, saying something like “I don’t know. He’ll move.” then goes about giving direction to the camera operator and Brian as they move through a dry run of a scene in Marble Hornets. There is heavy audio and visual distortion, and the Operator is clearly seen. In fact it is one of the few videos where the people act and react to his presence--all but Brian. He only speaks up when asking if they will need scripts for the run. Alex says no then the two of them walk together down the path assigned to the scene. They finish the layout of the path, then they return as Alex comments on Tim’s arrival. Brian walks by the camera again and seems to take no notice of the Operator off in the distance. In fact, Alex tells them “Yeah, let’s get him off the set. I hope he isn’t angry. Hey, buddy!” Then Sarah is heard right behind the camera saying “What’s he doing?”
At first I took that to mean that she was questioning who Alex was talking to, being that she didn’t see the Operator. But she is looking right through the view finder and it is focused in on him. There is no way she couldn’t see him, if not by her bare eyes then through the camera. Besides that, Alex is talking about the Operator, wondering what the man is doing, but decides to ignore him as they do the dry run and only confronts him when Tim arrives and it is time to shoot. He then calls out to the Operator and Sarah wonders what the Operator is doing and not what Alex is doing, meaning she sees him just fine.
Brian is the only one that doesn’t seem to take note or become curious as to why the strange man in a suit is just standing out in the middle of a field, staring. Only Alex and Sarah seem to take note and react to him being there. We are unable to see how Tim reacts to the Operator or how the Operator reacts to Alex calling out to him and asking him to get off their set.
But I would suspect of Masky’s great devotion and mysterious actions, he would not react or interact with the Operator when not masked. Brian’s quiet demeanor toward the uninvited guest and the fact that he seems to physically become unnerved, itching at his legs and back, leads me to believe that he is having a physical reaction to the Operator. Masky is a fickle character. Too close to the Operator lands him in trouble, he is human after all.
J is never able to catch Masky, yet Masky always knows just where J is and is able to get right next to him with out knowing it. Each and every time, Masky has the position of power to dominate over J, but he never takes it to finally end J.
I believe that that is because the orders are clear: Keep an eye on J and don’t let him get too close. He is not to kill J, but keep him at a distance. Enough to keep him chasing Masky but not close enough to figure anything about it. And Masky is going to follow his orders well.
Or should I say their orders?
Yes. That is right. I am proposing the theory that there are 2 Masky characters. Or at least 2 people to play Masky.
I know. I am not proud to say that, but I feel that it must be said. There is such a physical change in Masky from Entry #18 and Entry #33. Could it be almost a year’s worth of normal weight gain? Possibly. Could I be looking into this too far, absolutely. I would be elated to fully believe that Tim is Masky. Honestly, that would make me so happy. I didn’t even really like Masky all that much until I started to think it was Tim. Tim is my favorite character in MH. My favorite shot in all of MH is from Entry #### at 0:22. Easily the most influential shot to me, the most beautiful and perfect. I could see nothing but that shot of Masky putting on his mask from behind and think it was the best .gif in the entire world. I really can’t begin to understand the impact it had on me and still has on me!
To be blunt, coming up with this theory, collecting all the screenshots, downloading all the videos, scanning for the right shots, watching all the videos, rewatching all the videos, rerewatching all the videos, GIMPing all the shots to really give visual evidence, and sitting at my computer for the past 6 hours… I do it simply because of and in dedication to Masky. He is a character I have a love/hate relationship with and if he isn’t Tim, I will lean more toward the hate side. So proving me wrong, other then Tim hair on Masky, would do wonders for me. My heart wants to believe that Tim is Masky but my brain demands I follow the evidence.
I am not saying Tim is not Masky, but simply stating Tim might not be Masky and here is my evidence. Also that Masky does not want to kill J. And that if there are more than one Masky, it would make sense. The popular theory is that the Operator is trying to turn J into another Masky. If Tim and Brian are already Masky(s), and J is becoming one… and if Jessica is having the same symptoms, then that means she too is becoming a Masky, thus she must be connected to Alex. If my theory is correct and there is more than one Masky, then that would mean the Operator is trying to turn all of Alex’s friends into puppets to go after him. And that would be awesome.
Thu Jan 20, 2011 10:06 pm
