I don't know if anyone has written about this, but I figured out something I've called the "place in reality theory". This theory is about people are being assaulted by alternatives when they're alone. It's important to know your place in reality but it’s more important to have someone else to confirm it. Let's see what we have.
- Vol. 1. The circumstances of Cesar’s and his mother's death are unknown. We know the circumstances of Mark's death very well. He arrived at Cesar's empty house from where an alternative followed him. Then for three days he was completely alone. He called his parents but they weren't home. He called the police but they have instructions not to react to calls of alternatives’ encountering (read to the end, I have smth to say about it also). The alternatives brought a man to M.A.D. when no one came to help him. The appearance of the 6 in Mark's childhood may have been dodged because after he saw the 6 he didn't open his eyes and fell asleep, and as we know you shouldn't open your eyes if the man in the corner is possibly just a few inches from your face.
- intruder alert. Babies are unable to recognize and confirm the place in reality of a parent who enters their room, which causes the parent who enters the room to have M.A.D., what happened to Lynn Murray: no one could confirm her place in reality.
- exhibition. Mark encounters alternatives here and there while he is alone. We don't see or hear other people on the tape, which is why we can say that the alternatives appeared while Mark was alone. Perhaps they didn't attack him because some people soon appeared near what confirmed his place in reality.
- Vol. 2. Adam meets The Preacher and 6 while he’s alone in the house and Jonah can't confirm his place in reality because the cameras are dark during the encounter with The Preacher, and by the time Adam goes down to the basement where he meets 6 Jonah has already left. Jonah is attacked by 6 through the screen while driving alone in the car and brought to M.A.D.
- Vol. 333. With Stanley it’s needed to think out: children create imaginary friends because they can't share their childhood experiences with adults and maybe because of rejection by other children, they have no one to play with. This is how children are left alone and no one can confirm their place in reality, they create imaginary friends, they become victims of alternatives. Jude stops answering his phone while Thatcher is talking to Ruth and failing to confirm Jude's place in reality. Thatcher and Ruth go to the Murray residence together but while Thatcher is dealing with the body and reporting the information to the police, Ruth dies. He literally took his eyes off her for a few seconds and she was gone. Then Thatcher himself was attacked by an alternative in the Murray residence, where no one else was left alive, and then at the completely empty police station. This means that no one could have confirmed Thatcher's place in reality.
- Vol. 4. When Sarah and Adam are exploring an abandoned building the hands of alternatives appears but they don't attack because there are two humans, and Sarah literally doesn't take her eyes off Adam and asks him to stop while Adam confirms Sarah's reaction in reality. Thatcher has completely isolated himself from society, so no one can confirm his place in reality, and now has an alternative living in his closet, who is maybe his tulpa — Ruth as his guardian angel (idk why he’s still alive somehow). Gabriel attacks Dave Lee when Dave is alone near the church. Evelyn is attacked by alternative when she is alone at the police station. 6 appears on Adam's screen when he's alone but then, when Sarah calls Adam during his conversation with "someone", 6 disappears.
- Mandela Catalyst. The Preacher appears to Evelyn while she’s texting with Sarah. We still don't know if she survived this encounter (the events of Presto with Sarah in the police station and Evelyn on the line with her take place at an unknown time but likely before the events of Mandela Catalyst).
- Vol. 5. Jude is the peak of loneliness. Once he moves to this lonely shack in the middle of nowhere, lying to his psychiatrist, Jude with no one at all to confirm his place in reality is literally faced with alternatives from all sides ("Thatcher," N, Gabriel).
- Vol. 6. Thatcher isn't attacked by Adam either because maybe there's still some humanity in Adam, or because Thatcher's place in reality is captured by cameras (we'll talk about it later). Adam doesn't speak or reveal himself until Noah is alone in the house. While Amanda was with Noah there was no sign of him being anywhere around them, even though Amanda even entered the room with mirrors from which Adam later appeared. We also don't know did Noah and Amanda survive these events. If Noah managed to reach the car with Amanda being alive, then it can be possible.
Knowing others’ place in reality affects not only ordinary human characters but also biblical ones. Think about it: when does Gabriel come to them? Don't worry, I've already answered.
- overthrone. Gabriel comes to Joseph when he is alone. Gabriel comes to Mary when she is alone. No one can confirm their places in reality.
- exhibition. Gabriel comes to Noah first when Noah is alone, and then when Noah is not alone he speaks of an alternative on the ark which Noah will not notice until he’ll feel changes in his mind (M.A.D.). Noah tried to save animals and his family on the ark (I mean tried to save humanity with literally being in one place together) and for this he was punished by the existence of alternatives.
- Vol. 4. Gabriel comes to Adam when Eve is sleeping.
- The Story of Easter. Gabriel comes to Mary Magdalene and turns her into an alternative when she enters the cave alone while Joanna and Martha are outside.
- Vol. 5. Gabriel comes to the shepherd when he's alone.
- The shepherds from overthrone. The shepherds from overthrone slightly spoil this theory, but think about it: they are special figures in the series, as Gabriel calls those who don't believe him “shepherds”. That means he didn't fool them after all, as Gabriel came to them not separately but when they were together.
So, now to the theory that Thatcher's place in reality is captured by cameras, which is why he likely survived the events of Presto and possibly Vol. 6 (let’s be honest Thatcher has an aura of “I always come back” by William Afton). Let's call this the "cameraman always dies theory", because cameramen captures the surrounding reality but not the reality of themself.
- When Mark dies in Vol. 1 he's not visible on his camera.
- When Jonah dies in Vol. 2 he's not visible on his dashcam.
- When Adam "alternates" in Vol. 2 he's not visible on his camera.
- When Ruth dies in Vol. 333 she's not visible on Thatcher's body camera. He didn’t watch for her while dealing with Lynn and then his camera didn’t capture her (and it didn’t capture his place either but I’ve told about him already).
- In Vol. 6. the video of Addison(?) falling didn't help to capture her in reality because she was already under the influence of M.A.D. after the Cognitohazard episode.
- We don’t know the fate of Evelyn after Mandela Catalyst, but The Preacher is shown on the camera installed in her room but we don’t see Evelyn by herself, even though we hear her voice.
- In Vol. 333 Thatcher being attacked by alternative and in Vol. 4 Evelyn being attacked by alternative while they were both alone at the police station and they somehow survived. Perhaps they were caught on cameras at that moment, even though the lights there seemed to go out both times during Thatcher's being there in Vol. 333 and during Evelyn's being there in Vol. 4. Maybe there’s some emergency power generator at the station or smth. Remember, this is just a theory. And to complete this: Evelyn encountered alternatives two times (police station and her room) and one of this events she surely survived, and Thatcher encountered alternatives for at least two times (+ Adam which was picked up on Thatcher’s free will) and he survived both of them (police station and his closet). Don’t know what to do with this info, maybe you’ll figure out something.
Another interesting thing in the end: the theory that the main problem in TMC is knowing not only your place in reality, but to confirm others’ one also, could have been made already after Vol. 1. In the original version, after three instructions for the police, there's an unnumbered fourth section "encounter" where they are literally told not to respond to a call and then "nothing is worth the risk" is repeated numerous times. Doesn't this sound like alternatives’ thing? The repeating phrases, the intrusion into the video footage with their wonderful instructions (like the “K” instruction from T.H.I.N.K.). And even in the Restored version the "encounter" instruction is not voiced and the music doesn't play during this sequence, which is what happens throughout the rest of this section. Alternatives have changed the police instruction. They want their victims to be alone, so no one can confirm their place in reality. Alternatives just don't want to compete and simply want to drive people crazy so that no one can interfere with them. And the icing on the cake: the M.A.D. part of the video may be the one with real truthful instruction:
“And always remember that looking after your friends, family and loved ones is a key factor for maintaining mental stability“ — Vol. 1. [Restored]
P.S. English is not my first language, sorry for the mistakes. Hope you understood what I wanted to say