Hey, I'm new to Marble Hornets and I don't think I ever heard what was Brian and Alex (and Tim, to be honest) doing those three years of being absent? And why did the Operator just leave them be. Maybe I missed a line or something, sorry if this ask is stupid.
Hey no ask is a stupid ask, Anon. That honestly is a really good question because well, it is a very weird detail most people forget. I'll break my thoughts down into three chapters to explain what I think was happening for each character as succinctly as possible. I will say though my ideas are only theories.
1.】 Alex Kralie
I think after burning the tapes he did and running away from Rosswood, literally putting distance between himself and the Operator, it was sort of unable to fully reach him, as while Alex was heavily infected he had quite literally burnt his bridges to it y'know?
I imagine when he moved in with Amy he left behind a lot of possessions and shit to boot, especially since it is stated that Jessica was Amy's roommate, if the two were living together they might not have had space or need for all of Alex's shit.
During his absence, Alex was probably just living his life and slowly recovering from the Operator's influence. I think fuel to this theory is how, in Entry #26, at 4:03, Amy asks if Alex is ok and says he is in an "odd mood," when... he has been being what, a bit snappy? That is frankly nothing compared to his behavior on set, but if him being slightly snappy and stiff is enough to have his partner worried, I think it is safe to say that Alex has probably been doing way better in his time away from the camera, possibly even acting closer to how he behaves in the old tapes we see, of him before the Operator's influence really starts to grow. (Entry #20, Entry #54, as examples.)
The camera appearing, the camera he used to film the murders of Seth and probably Sarah, not to mention the attempted murder of Brian and Tim and Jay, is solely what allows the Operator to reach Alex again, that camera's very existence serving as an anchor of not only what Alex has done but also the Operator's control over him.
(I have thoughts on the camera but that's for another day.)
2.】 Brian Thomas
This one is way more speculative, but personally I believe that after being pseudo-killed and/or given a traumatic brain injury, there was a brief period where Brian was stuck in the Ark or the woods that surround it, disoriented and in pain. During this time he became a missing person's case, and by the time he got out and back to his apartment, it had basically been taken over by police investigation and then abandoned when no leads turned up.
I think though, there was probably a period of time during this three year gap where Brian was just, staying at his house. Its likely he initially he slept in his room, maybe even bedrotting there as he struggled to come to terms with everything that happened, occasionally trashing his room whever the urge of an outburst came over him. I say this because the distortion in Brian's house, the distortion that happens when someone infected by the Operator stays somewhere too long,⁽¹⁾ is strongest in his room, it is where we see the worst sort of pseudo-teleporting and nonsensical passage of time in Entry #24. (Watch Entry #24 again its really good.)
I wouldn't be surprised though if even after he realized what was happening, he just instead slept in that closet that we see Jay find in Entry #16, which has a cushion sprawled across its floor, water and blankets. And it doesn't look like someone broke in, there are no personal possessions in the closet, someone was just temporarily staying there, but not using it as a home base.
But he can't stop it, he can't uninfect his house when he is the problem. Rooms and halls loop, doors open to places they shouldn't why also not opening at all, day becomes night in the blink of an eye.
I can't say when Brian's hunger for revenge started. Maybe it did immediately. Maybe it took a bit of time for him to parse it out. But one thing is for certain, his house was not a safe space to stay after he accidentally corrupted it with his own sickness. Whenever he left, I think it was when he started doing what he did in Marble Hornets, hop around different abandoned houses in the woods, drag dirty mattresses into corners, and possibly even stalk Alex if he wasn't already.
1) We see this phenomena three times, Alex's House, Jay's House, Brian's House. Ignoring the current one for the sake of argument though, what do we see at Alex's and Jay's? Well, in Entry #24, we see the layout of his house first of all, as he films himself, and then we watch as randomly, late in the night, he gets up and leaves his room. But the door never opens up on the other side, Jay himself says, "Two hours pass before I am seen again," when this happens. Well there's our space not making sense. Now, infamously in Alex's case, we see it suddenly cut from night to day in mere seconds. At Brian's, we see both, which I think could imply not only a strong infection, like at Alex's but not at S1 Jay's, but also a recent one to a degree, like S1 Jay's, but not Alex who moved out of that house forever ago.
3.】 Tim Wright
Honestly, no idea. He was probably just living his life. To be fair the Operator does just kinda leave him alone, probably because he is like the only person that can resist and fight it. It is safer to avoid him and his damned protector. Not to mention that until like Mid-S3, when Tim finds out about everything and starts to get infected too and all that, he never produces static, only Masky does, the alter that specifically tries to protect Tim from stuff.
I don't think its unlikely to say Tim just straight up wasn't infected, because Masky took on the burden of the infection.
So he was probably just chilling.
(Masky was probably helping or trying to care for Brian if I had to guess? But only after going to his house in a weird act of mourning and finding suddenly this Brian-not-Brian. And even then well we don't really know she extent or what she was doing. I imagine that time was the best for their relationship though, as once the grief is somewhat dealt with, as Masky earnestly believed Brian was finally this partner she was desperate for, someone who could help her destroy the ark and protect Tim. [Not realizing Brian cares more about just, hurting Alex back and revenge, though at the time Masky probably also wanted revenge for Alex hurting Brian and feeding people to the Ark even if only incidentally. Idk its only later, especially when with Jay, that stuff truly fell apart.])
Anyway, ramble over, I hope this satisfies your question, anon :-)
