05 of 10 - The Slender Man - Manufactured Myth
A lot of the critters we’ve seen this month have been readily explainable as extensions of human nature, basic misunderstandings, or simple hoaxes. The Slender Man is something a little more unusual, however. This creature’s story is actually pretty ill-defined; no one ever reports seeing him in the first person. It’s only when photos or videos of deep forests or lonely roads are reviewed that people notice something off. Far off in the distance, hidden in the mist, is a tall, thin, strangely proportioned thing. Often the figure features tentacles, and a blank or poorly-defined face. But the strangest thing is that once people start seeing the Slender Man, he appears to start (for lack of a better word) to stalk them. They’ll see him in shadows, lurking just out of clear view, watching. And then, one day, they’ll just be gone.
A creepy sequence of events, to be certain. And that creepiness definitely helped the Slender Man to gain a certain amount of belief in paranormal circles, despite the amazingly conclusive evidence against it. See, we not only have the thread where the Slender Man concept was created (link) and refined, but in that thread is discussion as to how to make the character appear plausible as a myth. People have ‘shopped the creature into existing photos to create “evidence” for its existence, put together fairly plausible-looking woodcuts to give the creature a background, and made sites to attest to its existence, all in the interest of stirring up belief in a creature. I have to admit, I find the idea of manufacturing a myth rather fascinating. The act of creating something that generates such deep belief would amount to pulling some of the deepest levers in the human psyche.
I have to admit, given the Slender Man’s supposed connection to trees, my first instinct was to throw it into the Tree family. But given that its greatest asset is the mystery associated with it, its sheer lack of definition, I think the more mysterious Jirae family might be more appropriate. As for skills, I think the Slender Man’s skillset would probably lend itself best to instant removal skills like Mudo and Hama, as well as evasion abilities like Fog Breath. Either way, I can see the Slender Man being unexpectedly powerful for its level.