Just a speculatory writeup about the Void and the MitW.

[AuroraSonicBoom]

Hey,

there's no need to comment or read this. I just want to put down my thoughts and speculations somewhere I can reference them when I need it.

THE VOID

The Void ultimately an environment without conscience of its own, and its effects can be both beneficial or detrimental depending on who you are and how long you have been exposed to it. It has been described as an ocean that a child's unburdened mind is able to float on, while others(adults) drown in it's depths, becoming mad. This suggests that the Void is the the surface layer of chaotic subspace that has severe effects on the mind, and that the longer you stay, or the more burdened your mind is the further your consciousnesses sinks into it's corrupting depths. Judging by how the adult victims of Void exposure behave, this has likely a lot to do with emotion.

As a person ages, their life experiences accumulate, both positive and negative. Negative experiences do have a larger effect on us than positives, and negative emotions like hatred, prejudice and fear are things we are taught to suppress in order to get along with other members of society. The Void, defined primarily by its chaotic nature(hence why Sentients cannot adapt to it), might have a similar effect on the mind, scrambling thoughts, emotions, making people lose their restraint, mentally and by extension physically. They become unable to rationalize, to suppress all the burdens they carry around with themselves subconsciously, as if they suffer from emotional tourettes.

This might have been why the Lotus didn't want to take Rell. She knew that his (autistically inclined) mind put him at great risk of drowning in the Void, which he eventually did. He was already in the process of succumbing to the Void's exposure at a much faster rate, as the comic 'Rell' shows. In it, he defended himself against his mother, but unlike later when he was attacking another adult in defense of a fellow Tenno, the color of his Void energy beam was red. Right before his eyes did glow in the same eerie color as well.

 

THE MAN IN THE WALL

Staying with the comic, there are a few important points to be made about these scenes involving Rell using force. How he is depicted during both attacks might be an important clue as to what the entity that will later become known colloquially as "The Man in the Wall" is. On one hand, Rell was forced to harm or even kill his mother, a person he loved likely more than anyone, which one can imagine would be emotionally very difficult, maybe even impossible, for a child to do. He knew that his mother wasn't herself anymore, but it'd still require a tremendous amount of resolve to harm her.

In opposition to that, when Rell was escaping the remaining adults he attacked or killed another adult to protect another Tenno that had fallen behind. This time, however, the color of his energy was blue, and his eyes did not gleam in a red light. Rell acted defensively to save another person's life against an attacker he likely had no emotional connection to, a much less distressing act for certain.

A few panels later, Rell is prevented to join the rest of the fleeing children by a boy who doesn't want him along with them, stating that he's a risk, that he's weird. In that moment that boy's eyes glowed in the same shade of red as Rell's did when he was forced to harm his mother. This showed us that not only Rell was affected by the process that causes these effects in the Tenno.

What it also tells us is that if we compare the emotional states of Rell as he was forced to harm his mother with the boy's forceful rejection, we can see a similarity. In both cases, the Tenno put their own well being over that of someone else's. They acted in self interest, egoistically. Contrary to that, when Rell defended another Tenno, his motivations were altruistic in nature, selfless.

Finally, during the battles in Chains of Harrow, the apparition named Rell did speak in a whisper that still sounded like his original voice heard in the flashbacks, yet during the final confrontation his intonation changes in way reminiscent of how our Tenno speaks at the end of War Within, and how our doppelganger greets us. Once we provoked him by taking his Donda, the apparition of Rell that appeared has a very similar appearance to the way the selfishly acting Tenno in the web comic.

We've already established the idea that depending on the emotional state of the Tenno, their appearance might change as well. A Tenno acting selflessly and virtuously like we all do in game(or are portrays as doing), looks different, and they might sound different as well, while a Tenno that acts in in self interest transforms in minor ways. How does the apparition appearing in our Orbiter fit into that, though? The Tenno clearly talks in a way that would befit the entity haunting them when they are faced with the decision about what to do with the flask of Kuva at the epilogue of War Within. Each of the choices does end up with the Tenno being possessed and commenting about their decision in a way that suggest not only that the entity taking over the Tenno's body wants them to consume the Kuva, but is also connected to its consumption.

Quote

Destroy: You mad at me, kiddo? Did you forget? You owe me.

Control: Don't forget, kiddo... you're nothing without me.

Consume: Hey, kiddo, what took you so long?

Assuming the entity speaking through us in this instance is the same(or of the same type) as the entity that seemingly takes over Rell - namely the Man in the Wall - we can conclude some interesting ideas from these lines. The MitW might have a preexisting relationship with the Tenno, he nicknames the Tenno "Kiddo" - an endearing term used by adults to address children. The only other time we hear anyone in the game use that term is during a flashback in the War Within, when the Tenno's father talks to them about something watching them from the Void. The MitW also claims that he's an essential part of the Tenno. This sentiment is repeated by the possessed Rell at the end of Chains of Harrow, when we threaten to free him from his bondage. Lastly, the MitW also mentions that we are indebted to him, and infers that by destroying the Kuva we aim to spite him. 

All of this information helps us paint a picture of the MitW's character, but since that's not the only time we encounter him, let's take the other instance into account as well. During the final battle with the possessed Rell, the entity having taking control of him speaks every time we destroy a few chains and trigger flashbacks connected to an emotion. The entity responded to these flashbacks as if it could experience them alongside us.

Quote

I won't let you take me... from me.

Rap. Tap. Tap. You'll let me in, little piggy.

But the in-kids don't care about the invisible outs.

If you were alone in that drift, you'd need a friend... even like me.

If we try to appropriate a character using only these lines, we'd come up with a different one. This entity seems driven by emotions, the feeling of abandonment and respectively the desire to bond. Contrary to that, the entity that took control of our Tenno sounds much more calm, certain of themselves. They don't seem afraid but anxious, eager even. Their apparition smirks jovially, laughs and (apart from the creepiness) seems to have a mischievous air about them.

The only thing Rell's MitW and the one that our Tenno look to have in common is the desire to become or remain part of the person they possess. The entity in control of Rell referenced Rell's time on the Zariman and suggests that because he was abandoned by the other children, the entity was allowed 'in'. This would leave no doubt about the idea that the MitW and the person they possess are two separate individuals, but then the entity's rueful intonation as he talks about in-kids not caring about the outs, and needing a friend suggests that he's at least sympathetic to Rell's plight. Is the MitW a completely separate individual or, as he/they claim/s, actually a part of the person they possess? Lotus seems to corroborate that notion in Chains of Harrow, when she explained Rell's talk about the MitW as being a form of Void delusion all Tenno suffered from. The accompanying comic

Our Tenno is possessed before we met Rell's possession, right after Teshin helps them uncover numerous memories about their time in the Void aboard the Zariman. Memories Margulis buried to protect them.

Quote

Teshin: I warned you. Now you're trapped inside this place with the Queens burrowing in. Now I am forced to undo what Margulis did, to open the gates... and make you suffer.

Teshin: Margulis lied to you, a lie of omission. She did not cure the Zariman children - she erased them. My only hope is that truth still lingers inside you, buried within your mind. The power and the misery... of the Void.

Lotus: A mother wants to shield her child from the evils of the world. Margulis didn't lie to you. She protected you.

In Chains of Harrow, Rell mentions that the Man in the Wall is listening. The entity took control of our Tenno the moment we had the Kuva in our possession. Was that coincidence? If not, how did he know? Was the MitW 'watching' us, as Rell claimed? Why was our Tenno not possessed earlier? Did the Tenno holding the Kuva attract the MitW to them? Did Teshin uncover memories that would allow the MitW to start watching us again?

CONCLUSION

Let's recap. What do we know so far of the Man in the Wall? We know that the entity('s)

• is not exclusively interacting with our Tenno, or that there are more than one of them
• chooses to appear like and sympathizes with the Tenno it's possessing
• acts and talks in an emotionally unrestrained way
• attitude towards our Tenno changes depending on the choice we make
• relates to Kuva, a substance that is shown more than once to have memory altering effects
• considers itself part of the Tenno

So, with all of this in mind, I'm coming to the following conclusion:

The Man in the Wall is a suppressed part of the Tenno's personality that defines itself as being emotion driven and without restraint for their desires. Similar to Freud's popular concept of the mind, this part of a Tenno lies in the subconscious, restrained by their sense of morality and reason, while the ego - the distillation of their desires and ideals - resides on the conscious surface. *

_{Freud about the Id: "It is the dark, inaccessible part of our personality... It is filled with energy reaching it from the instincts, but it has no organization, produces no collective will, but only a striving to bring about the satisfaction of the instinctual needs subject to the observance of the pleasure principle"}

Instead of the personality elements being parts of a Tenno's whole, the prolonged exposure to the Void fractured them along the line of their subconsciousness, essentially causing them to suffer from a variation of split personality. The subconscious, 'dark' version of the Tenno becomes its own being, appearing as an apparition to them, and if given in to their selfish desires, is even able to take over the Tenno's consciousness. This explains also why adults exposed to the Void at length inevitably go mad. Their subconscious personality is by far larger, and has been suppressed longer and more deeply than that of a child's, making it impossible for them to control it once it's triggered by emotional distress and bubbles to the surface.

Quote

Queen: The grownups are howling at the door... drowning mad in the Void ocean but you... you are at ease swimming within the depths! You remember then how the howling stopped - they had broken through.

Rell's mind was a lot more vulnerable to the Void, that's why he was rejected by Margulis, who didn't trust him to be able to contain his impulsive side. The Veil founders took him in, tried to help him, and eventually sealed him away in his warframe to protect the ones around him, from him. Rell remained awake for centuries in isolation, not even his Donda being able to help him keep his focus, all while the desire not to be alone wore him down and made him succumb to his 'dark' side. When the Tenno came to help the Veil, Rell's mind had deteriorated so much that the parts of his personality seeped through the seal and into the minds of the Veil acolytes around him, driving them mad.

This isn't to say that the Tenno's subconscious personality is downright malicious. Rell's only was when our Tenno started to try and capture him, as he didn't want to be imprisoned again. The moral dichotomy of the ideal versus the selfish has more in common with the Eastern concept of yin and yang than good and evil, a sentiment that is reinforced by DE interest in implementing moral choices based on this idea from an early stage in development.

The choices our Tenno makes during quests define(or are supposed to define) how much of this subconscious, desire driven part of them they allow to rise to the top. The more self-serving and emotional their choices, the more their alignment changes towards the dark. In contrast, the more altruistic our choices are, the further our 'moral compass' leans to the light side.

 

Addendum¹: The MitW's voice can actually be heard even earlier in the War Within, echoing our Tenno's comments on the bits of memory the Queen dredges up. During the last memory, however, there is no echo, but instead the voice of our Tenno has become the MitW's.

Quote

Operator: She's lying.

???: She's lying...

Operator: Something's out there, kiddo... watching us.

???: Something's out there, kiddo... watching us.

Operator: This is my family now.

???: ...my family now.

Etc.

___

Edited May 29, 2018 by AuroraSonicBoom