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| “ | Suffering? Yes, there is suffering. It must be so. And we must know of it, taste of it, build our houses upon its foundations. As life preys on life, so does human enterprise need vast inputs of suffering. It binds us together. The knowledge that there are others that cannot have what we have built affects us deeply. It is a cornerstone in our souls. That is something we discovered a very long time ago. It is vital. And it was this discovery that paved the way to Heaven's gate. | „ |
| ~ The Man explaining Past and Future's twisted philosophy. |
The Man at the Threshold, or simply the Man, is a supporting antagonist of the SCP Foundation mythos, appearing as the main antagonist of SCP-001: Kalinin's proposal. He's a representative of the twisted, posthuman civilization known as Past and Future, who came to Earth when the SCP Foundation became unable to hide the location of our planet any longer. The Man's actions directly led to the demise of all of humanity, as intended by Past and Future.
Biography[]
Background[]
Nothing is known about the Man's past. In fact, due to the ambiguous nature of Past and Future, it is not even known if the Man is an actual character or just a fragment of Past and Future's persona. Regardless, the Man displays enough individuality to be considered a character.
The Man is a representative of Past and Future and oversees a group of his fellow posthuman explorers, which includes Proteus, Mellita, Agus, and Monashir. It is implied he and his group were behind the rediscovery of Earth, following the waning of SCP-2798 (which has in all likelihood been caused by Past and Future, or perhaps the Man himself).
The Man at the Threshold[]
Now that the group's mission is complete, the Man's task is to determine the grim destiny of the group's members, who are all destined to suffer in accordance with Past and Future's philosophy. The dialogue between the Man and the group takes the form of a play, with the entire planet being its stage. He chooses Mellitat to dwell at the Planet of Eyes (meaning she will be brutally blinded), Agus to dwell at the Planet of Skins (meaning he will be flayed and left skinless for whatever will remain of his life), and Proteus to come at the Planet of Hands (meaning his hands will be cut). Monashir will be spared, and tasked to guard Earth within SCP-2303, until all humans are repatriated to the Planet of Hands.
Before departing, Proteus asks why they have to be separated and suffer such horrific fates for seemingly no reason. The Man takes Proteus around the world, telling him that he also pondered this. He explains that Past and Future, long ago in the past, determined that the only way to create a harmonious civilization, is to have a great many suffer a horrific fate, because, as the Man says himself, "the knowledge that there are others that cannot have what we have built affects us deeply", giving a sense to those living in comfort. For the Man, Past and Future do not inflict pain for the pleasure of doing so, but merely out of necessity, as suffering is "a cornerstone of [their] souls". Later, the Man brings a slave from the Planet of Hands, a woman who forgot her name. The woman claims to have found a divine purpose in her horrific suffering, and despite starving, declines Proteus' offer to get her food. Soon after, the woman collapses and dies. The Man reveals that she spent a "fortnight" (fifteen days) on the Planet, and now has "transcended".
While the Man is discussing his philosophy, he causes a great deal of devastation worldwide. He brutally mutilates and kills in the blink of an eye ten thousand people in Egypt, possesses the corpse of Mao Zedong, sending the nearby crowd into a murderous frenzy, and destroys the Three Gorges Dam in Hubei, resulting in a disastrous flood and the overthrow of the Communist Party hours after. Most nations fall into disarray and chaos as people are going insane over what is happening and the Man's words, with some countries using humanity's last hours to settle their pointless feuds, with war. Possibly millions died within hours.
At last, now that Proteus understands the purpose of suffering, the Man takes him to the entrance of the Washington Monument, where the Man sets up a portal to the Planet of Hands. The Man cuts both Proteus' hands, then cauterizes his wounds, before telling him to complete his "journey", by stepping into the portal, which Proteus does, before the Man and Proteus' friends all disappear. The portal remains there, with thousands of people going insane and choosing to step into the portal, facing a certain death.
Casa de Jacinta / Jacinta de la Casa[]
In the finale of Kalinin's proposal, the Man is mentioned as one of the guardians of the tower. He killed nearly all of the remaining operatives from the SCP Foundation (which by this point has all but collapsed) sent to infiltrate SCP-2303. However, he isn't there when Aurelio, the last of his unit, goes inside the tower, as Monashir took his place. Monashir is tricked by Aurelio into killing him, thereby triggering a dead man's switch, blowing up the tower alongside Monashir, and by the same occasion taking a blow at Past and Future's society. Whatever happened to the Man or will happen by this point is unknown.
Personality[]
Much like most instances of SCP-001, the Man appears calm, collected, and somewhat affable. However, he's also very cold and psychopathic, as he causes worldwide chaos using his reality-warping powers, and doesn't care the slightest about sending people to a fate worse than death. Despite his cold demeanor, the Man seems to genuinely believe in the merits of Past and Future's philosophy, reassuring Proteus that he will find a divine purpose in going away to the Planet of Hands, so that Past and Future's civilization may go on. The Man is clearly a conformist, as he refuses to listen to Proteus' objection, instead rationalizing the horrific nature of Past and Future's civilization.
While the Man doesn't directly address humanity, it is clear his play is primarily aimed at convincing humans to return to their malevolent masters. The Man wants all of humanity to be completely reunited under the banners of Past and Future, claiming that the upheaval caused by Past and Future will be the "last conflict our humanity will ever have to face".
Nonetheless, the Man might not be as honest and straightforward as he portrays himself to be. Even though he claims that he doesn't take pleasure in inflicting pain, he deliberately torments humanity by breaking their will and belief in consensus reality, murders thousands in very brutal fashions for seemingly no reason, and later destroys the MTF units in an unspecified but likely horrendous manner, clearly displaying some sadism, making him a hypocrite as well. The Man is also a skilled manipulator, successfully tricking most of humanity into surrendering themselves to the Past and Future.
Powers and Abilities[]
The Man is an immensely powerful reality-bender, able to twist the laws of reality to his will. He is incorporeal and has no set form. He also at some point possessed the corpse of Mao Zedong. The Man is also completely invulnerable to any kind of weapon and brushed away the attempts by the Egyptian army to neutralize him (and the other instances of SCP-001). Besides such powers, the Man is also an experienced manipulator with a corrupting influence on anyone in his vicinity, who was able to brainwash countless into joining the Planet of Hands despite the horrific end it entails.
Trivia[]
- The Man has no set form.
- The Man's age and past are both unknown. He could've been old enough to have lived through humanity's rebellion on the Planet of Hands.
External links[]
- The Man at the Threshold on the SCP Wiki.
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Template:SCP Foundation Villains