The 'Author' of My Immortal Emailed Me, And Then It Got Worse

[@fanboy50]

Inside of all of us are two wolves. One is Toby. The other is Toby. Both wolves are Toby. You are Toby.

[@jdprettynails]

This could easily be a line from Welcome to Night Vale

[@Canonicallycreative]

Everyone is Toby now.

[@trinitysarah2992]

ridiculous, i`m not toby

[@Canonicallycreative]

@@trinitysarah2992 That’s just what Toby would say, Toby.

[@fanboy50]

@@trinitysarah2992 that's what I would say if I was Toby. And I am. So I did.

[@NiktheBik]

I'm freaking shaking. I'm afraid everyone in this comment section is Toby and we're all talking to ourselves

[@Olwwolf]

*stares into the mirror* fuck. What if I'M Toby???

[@aboz8649]

We are Toby

[@Olwwolf]

@@aboz8649 humanity is actually a hive mind of tobies

[@absinthefandubs9130]

You´re still making normal apostrophe´s

[@namingisdifficult408]

Toby is all

[@johnl.7254]

The world building of this dude rivals Tolkien

[@AnaMaria-wt3ix]

Tolkien was Toby.

[@4203105]

Also a name that starts with To... curious.

[@ashamohamud6927]

Miles no. just no.

[@suckit1335]

Asha Mohamud yes

[@BlueTroll]

T NAME!!!! ITS A T NAME!!!!

[@farribastarfyre]

"I just want to put My Immortal behind me but I keep being haunted by my past" My brother in Christ, you reached out to Sarah yourself

[@amoureux6502]

Same energy as Rose Christo trying to say she was forced to come out as the "author" of My Immortal against her will while seeming to be the sole driving force behind the claim

[@abbiaca-3288]

He keeps playing the victim. No one asked him to confess, no one ever accused him. He's been confessing and then getting upset at the consequences of his actions for years now.

[@madeline6951]

more like "brother in Satan" lmao

[@FernBlackwood1995]

@@madeline6951 Thanks, Toby.

[@andrewjenkins9965]

"It was a trollfic, a widely beloved trollfic, and I am so ashamed at my success."

[@theladynim2]

TLDR: This dude wrote every bad fanfiction EXCEPT for My Immortal

[@sappysaphic420]

don't forget about the biBLe pOeTeY

[@Moonlitwatersofaqua]

I wonder if he also wrote starkits prophecy.

[@cuttlefishonfire7502]

@@Moonlitwatersofaqua lol

[@VaatiOfDarkness]

I dunno, I can't seem him doing light and Dark, the adventures of Dark Yagami

[@biconstanner6315]

@@VaatiOfDarkness Long live to dark Yagami and Bus-sized man thingy!

[@jakobcrotty8907]

So, just to be clear, Toby is everyone EXCEPT the author of My Immortal?

[@ZombiesWerePeopleToo]

Toby COULD be the author, but we don’t have the kind of concrete evidence that we’d need to be 100% sure. He definitely seems to be the most likely candidate though.

[@japandemonium77]

Always has been

[@funyarinpa9464]

@@actuallyrandomperson What if Toby and Sarah are actually the same person, and the timeline being off was done in purpose just to have an excuse to make this video? 🤔

[@ocean7889]

damn

[@nyarlotep]

@@funyarinpa9464 are you Toby?

[@SchaffrillasProductions]

This is legitimately a better author-related mystery than Gravity Falls

[@SarahZ]

toby wrote the journals

[@juliad857]

Honestly, this was all I was thinking of throughout the video.

[@MoreColtraneChanges]

Why are all my favorite KZbinrs posting on this video all of a sudden? Not complaining, it just surprises me.

[@Alice-gr1kb]

honestly like wtf is this shit

[@doyoueverfeellikeaplasticb2703]

omg hii

[@cifge_404]

...how on earth this guy managed to run 25 different accounts _and post multiple fanfictions on nearly all of them_ is beyond me. I'm actually kind of impressed.

[@afellowpotato]

I'm just replying so you can see how much likes you got

[@cifge_404]

@@afellowpotato Oh my goodness, you're right! I'd forgotten about this comment, thanks for all the likes you guys! 😅😆

[@devonmmi]

like bro i can barely keep track of my mains anymore much less post on all of them consistently

[@warwicktaylor347]

The social welfare safety net can be 'sufficiently' comfortable here in NZ if you can snugly into it just so... Not having to work can free up a lot of the resource ff loves, hours, lots of them.

[@xstar4698]

maybe it's A BUNCH OF PEOPLE

[@nilknarf36]

Just got to the end, can't believe Sarah took off her mask and was Toby the whole time

[@idek7438]

Towards the end I started wondering if I'm actually Toby too

[@shytendeakatamanoir9740]

@@idek7438 We're all Toby.

[@letmebeyoureden]

shytende aka Tamanoir maybe the real toby was the friends we made along the way

[@pinkdoor2450]

@@letmebeyoureden LOLL yes xD

[@shytendeakatamanoir9740]

@@letmebeyoureden Maybe the real friends were the Toby we made along the way

[@yongusdongus7351]

If ya girl uses a weird apostrophe, has a name starting with T And likes bible fanfiction that aint ya girl, That's Toby

[@queer-ios3155]

No, see, you're girl *IS* Toby

[@witchhazel811]

the weird apostrophe kinda looks like youre typing engish on a french keyboard. the "accent grave" is where the apostrophe is on an english keyboard. If you dont follow it with a vowel thats exactly what it looks like.

[@vallisdaemonumofficial]

@@Sir_GeriGerico my favorite Bible fanfiction involves Jesus f***ing Christ, and yes, it's pretty hot

[@rezajafari6395]

I kind of suspect that the whole idea of bible fanfiction may all just be Toby

[@jvgreendarmok]

I used to use the "weird apostrophe" until around 2000 when someone pointed it out. I'm not sure where I picked up the habit.

[@Yanara126]

I hope the real Tara is watching this all go down, a glass of good wine in her hand and a satisfied smirk on her face.

[@TheTimestreamer]

God, causing such a 007 level shitshow would be GLORIOUS.

[@Quinhala11]

Still on vacation in Dubai

[@bruh-mb1rd]

I really hope whoever wrote it is doing good

[@Azazreal]

Tara is also Toby

[@matthewvandenel9827]

You hope she is a cat lady? Sick burn.

[@norafromash5087]

The idea of this 2010 vigilante group trying to purify a fanfic website sounds like a fanfic of reality

[@charlesintune]

Well when u put it that way Lmao

[@kel9993]

sorry guys that was my alternative account 😔 ive actually never heard of fanfiction and me and my second cousin twice removed schemed this comment on a summer sunday while we were outside drinking melted icecream off the porch

[@indumatipngtuber2790]

I know who it is! It's THE Illuminati!

[@wardrobewings8000]

I remember those times. Critics United weren't the only group set on making ff writers want to tear off their hair. They just were the most infamous. Even now there are puritans crazies on the internet who will spam, report, and try to dox you just because your story features for example 17 and 19 year olds in a romantic relationship. Calling you a paedophile in disguise. Not every fandom has those, but unless you only stick to fandoms of for example M rated movies you will eventually run into one of those "think of the children!" people.

[@februaryfox2718]

They’re not even gone I saw a review posted six months ago the other day from Critics United😭 I only hope it was a troll

[@SingingSpock]

Turns out the real Toby was the friends we made along the way. All of them. Every last friend you thought you had? They were Toby. Deal with it.

[@kronemerj]

The Toby is coming from inside the house! Get out of there!

[@hypatiakovalevskayasklodow9195]

665th like. so close. good luck, tobby!

[@HyperfixationPres]

But is every Toby also Xehanort?

[@zoguy6988]

It's the cake meme but instead of cake it Tobie.

[@chillinsquirtle]

@@HyperfixationPres only if they played union x

[@Firebatx36]

As someone with no history or experience in fanfic, this hits me like a true crime podcast from another *planet*

[@nikolaos9652]

It was like the description of some alien form of life. What a trip!

[@briangronberg6507]

Right!?

[@gracelau3093]

friend, if you haven't looked up the saga of ms. scribe after watching sarah z's video, you have to. it's like another riveting episode form this podcast

[@zoec6944]

I can’t watch true crime cause it squicks me out too much, but I like the overall vibe of it.the sense of detective work etc. So this was truly perfect!

[@briangronberg6507]

Grace Lau Ms. Scribe?

[@Tama-Hero]

Are you sure you're not ALSO Toby? I'm not sure I'm not also Toby at this point.

[@fhey7903]

We are all Toby. Toby is all. Toby is one.

[@cloud_and_proud]

I thought that exact same thing too! Wait... Does that mean I'm you?

[@arandombard1197]

Statistically speaking, Sarah must be Toby. Everybody else was.

[@obamaobama1056]

Maybe the real my immortal was the tobys we made along the way.

[@justineberlein5916]

I. am Toby

[@kaitlynnp582]

My childhood pet rat was named Toby, and the section summarizing all of Toby's actions had me visualizing a particularly tech-savvy little tan rat spending all my school hours online arguing with himself.

[@emilydurkee8664]

This is my alt account, I never had a rat. My sister Trish and I made him up. She used to just edit for me but now I don`t have access to the account

[@GreatBooker]

I mean, can we prove it WASN’T your pet rat??

[@siliconvalley6280]

You mean like Peter pettigrew

[@kaitlynnp582]

@@siliconvalley6280 lol more like Remi from Rattatoui

[@MissCaraMint]

That sounds adorable.

[@RedBardIsCool]

Mystery Inc WISHES they could solve mysteries like us

[@xmascritter2383]

I mean, on one hand, they do have to have to solve a new case like, once every 2 days. But on the other hand, have they taken a case that the collective mind of the internets been struggling with for 12 years? I dont think so.

[@TsukiGeek]

I would 100% watch a fanfic mystery show hosted by you two, especially if you had a Mystery Machine

[@Nadia1989]

True crime wishes it could be you two

[@Jayfive276]

I demand you add PushingUpRoses or Amanda (Swell Entertainment) to your team and then we have KZbin’s own Charlie’s Angels 😁

[@iamjustkiwi]

@@pyxella6020 yikes 😬

[@donnamaria3059]

“Wait, it’s all Toby?” “Always has been.” 🌍 👩🏻‍🚀🔫👨🏻‍🚀

[@highsun76]

LMAOO I LOVE THIS

[@natanbcpc]

*It`s

[@Mossprite21]

Plot twist: the gun is Toby

[@nawa73]

@@Mossprite21 lol

[@Gafafsg]

@@Mossprite21 Always has been

[@davidfrend]

Everyone and anyone who claims to have written My Immortal is lying. No one wrote My Immortal. It simply appeared out of the primordial fanfiction ooze that was laying around the site.

[@FadzaiSimango]

That would actually explain a lot. Like the quality, for instance...

[@silverprimus321boi9]

@@FadzaiSimango yeah, for all we know, my immortal was the product of a hyper advanced AI that was only able to ascertain information from fanfic sites and was told to use all the data it found to create one. And considering the amount of bs edge as well as the popularity of Harry Potter, that doesn't look too far. It might've been a predecessor to the ai scripted movie scripts that people show on the internet.

[@FadzaiSimango]

@@silverprimus321boi9 This makes total sense!!!!

[@emememememememememe]

miku wrote my immortal

[@multi-mason]

K, except it kinda seems as though Toby may well be the very primordial fanfic ooze of which you speak…

[@TheWAYF]

So the "Bible Fanfiction" community is like 80% one teenager's alt accounts by volume, is what I'm getting here.

[@llewelynshingler2173]

The rest being Dante and Milton

[@איילתשביט-צ9מ]

That's so tragic seeing how I've been (not) working on a fanfic about Elijah being a sad (and homocidal) goth for years now. And only Toby is around to flame me if I ever get anything done? That's just unfair.

[@angrysnekgoeschomp3240]

​@@llewelynshingler2173 best comment 😭

[@YOSSARIAN313]

​@@llewelynshingler2173 Also chronicles of narnia. Most legends of king arthur are also fanfiction as well

[@YOSSARIAN313]

​@@llewelynshingler2173 not only is the divine comedy fanfiction, its a self indulgent, self insert mary sue fanfiction

[@Lexi_Zone]

"The fact that these accounts only seem to interact with one another." And yet...they apparently interacted with _you,_ Ms. Z. Are...are you also Toby...??

[@rotciv557]

That's what I imagine TOBY would say... *Toby*

[@fools4jules]

Everyone's Toby? Always have been.

[@emdel884]

I genuinely expected that at some points i wish i was kidding

[@coscorrodrift]

Holy shit, imagine if she was actually Toby, and she made a 1 hour video where she just "confesses" to "have discovered" it through digging, but it's actually shit she did years ago. It'd be the greatest twist of this century

[@Puerco-Potter]

This thread is just toby acussing other toby accounts of being fake

[@loveandwar007]

Plot twist: The author of My Immortal is a completely normal person who just wrote a trollfic when they were a bored young teenager

[@SarahZ]

honestly i personally think that's the most likely outcome

[@uhuh936]

Sarah Z they probably have no idea the chaos they’ve unleashed

[@kleptomatic8848]

@@uhuh936 or they do and they're thriving in the chaos

[@ileanabriannemari]

@@kleptomatic8848 I do like a person who watches chaos in the sidelines 👀

[@raidenthenctzenwithinsomni4961]

@@uhuh936 Or they do... they're an agent... of chaos

[@dalli]

bottom line: we hope that the person who wrote My Immortal is a healthy well-adjusted person, but the people who claim to be them definitely aren't...

[@pface774]

im the 1 thousandth like 😎😎😎😎

[@TheWikingWarrior]

I feel like the very fact that they're *not* taking claim for the title probably shows some healthy distance from the whole affair.

[@eps3154]

Couldn't she just contact the admins at ff? They should be able to see the IP addresses.....

[@gracehaven5459]

there should be a drama film based on Toby and his years worth of presumed mental health issues ngl. I would watch it!

[@SupergirlFaisa]

@@eps3154 would they be allowed to reveal that though? Like wouldnt that be against some sort of confidentiality clause legally (i honestly dont know) only other reason i can think of is ff is not that active anymore i wouldnt think they have the self service team to get back to queries like say a twitter but i havent tried so maybe.

[@MissBeeBonnet]

The weirdest thing for me is… I think this guy has missed his true calling/creative medium, as it seems like he would be really good at running something like an ARG??? He’s great at prompting and leaving breadcrumbs, he’s clearly got a pretty good handle on playing multiple characters and their dynamics, he seems to love watching people untangling his weird little mysteries… I genuinely think it would be a way healthier outlet and a really natural fit for his particular… erm… *style of Expression*, and give him a type of creative project where it seems like he could really thrive and meet people who would actually truly enjoy all the work he puts into it for its own sake??? Whatever he ends up doing… this guy sounds troubled, and I hope he’s since found something that makes him happy. 😔

[@7thboss931]

I really doubt he intended to leave as many breadcrumbs as he did. It feels a like a personal game, not something meant to be understood by outsiders

[@Olivman7]

Yeah, this is both weirdly personal and not bad for an ARG. The part where he calls himself out on the signature apostrophe thing feels like a fight-club-level plot twist.

[@celisewillis]

You're right! This is a nice, empathetic way to look at how this behavior could be constructive.

[@RozehKakes]

hasnt it already been some elaborate bizzare ARG? i mean all the creators and forum users that have tried piecing together just Todd/Toby's 5 million accts and whatever mania the main person is going through has been a labryinth all on its own

[@laurenherweyer2659]

I like to imagine that the real author is just out there being normal and has no idea that people care this much about who she is

[@Man-ej6uv]

maybe they’re purposefully ignoring it 👀👀

[@mybffiscrazy]

Same. Like one day she’ll come across this video series and be like “Oh wtf? I forgot I even wrote the most loved/ hated fanfic in the world.”

[@infectiousfungi3188]

i actually believe its a boy

[@placeholder8392]

I feel like this is the most likely answer

[@iwantsalmon]

@@mybffiscrazy I feel like it's so bad it has to be like a shitpost/parody

[@MarieSuzette]

My Immortal is our generation's Zodiac Killer.

[@jacobplayer2709]

I thought our generations zodiac is the zodiac since he was never caught...

[@absinthefandubs9130]

TED CRUZ WROTE MY IMMORTAL I'm calling it now

[@screamingbanshee1282]

Zodiac actually could have been caught but the police thought he some some regular person, the zodiac killer said it himself

[@jacobplayer2709]

Screaming Banshee they were looking for a black guy because of course they were

[@andreworders7305]

More like last generation’s

[@hibiscusflowers4436]

The only person that wasn’t Toby was the ONE PERSON we’re trying to find

[@diyagore1784]

Wait, who are we trying to find?

[@jamierooney455]

@@diyagore1784 the author of my immortal

[@diyagore1784]

@@jamierooney455 oh.

[@Goldman200]

I still wonder about the other people faved in Tara/Raven's accounts

[@bubblegum1366]

@@Goldman200 Toby couldn't tell us because if he talks about an author who isn't him he dies. It's like a reverse Beetlejuice thing.

[@TyGently]

God, he was dodging the question about account access because he wanted you to doubt him and do more research. There`s no other explanation, because it wasn`t actually that hard of a question, it would`ve been easy to either answer definitively or come up with a lie. He was acting suspicious on purpose.

[@donutlover417]

THE APOSTROPHE! AAAAAAAAAAA-

[@Multienderguy37]

@@donutlover417 I didn`t notice it.

[@cascharles3838]

@@donutlover417 OH SHIT

[@thelittleredhairedgirlfrom6527]

We found another Toby alt!!!

[@SacredDaturaa]

That was my thought as well. A lot of this behavior reminds me a lot of serial killers who send taunting letters to the police, because ultimately, they want recognition for their cleverness and they aren`t getting it if no one has figured it out. Like, who was behind Cicada 3301? That person or group devised a bunch of puzzles so clever it stumped the entire internet, and their reward is... languishing in obscurity.

[@manuelafaria6703]

honestly i want my grave to say “used to live in the british isles and moved to australia, is dyslexic, likes bible fanfiction, writes poetry, has written my little pony fanfiction, has a problem with the author of the book of seamus, has a fixation with gareth vandersleld and claimed to write my immortal in 2011”

[@ohhellobethany]

Better go change my bio, lol

[@xxrandomxxheroxx12]

Better go change my Will

[@Rain-np7tk]

This is going to be my senior quote

[@Sunny_Haven]

Don't forget "and uses weird apostrophes when writing".

[@Niobesnuppa]

@@Sunny_Haven *Don`t forget

[@emer730]

'Apparently Bible fanfiction is a thing' lads who's gonna tell Sarah about everything written during the Renaissance ever

[@katsucandy]

nobody tell her about dante's self-insert fanfic

[@emer730]

@@katsucandyquick! everybody hide Paradise Lost, the book that did to Lucifer what the H*rry P*tter fandom did to Draco

[@Cambroth]

Song of Songs is just bible fanfic that actually made it into the bible

[@GuiSmith]

Emer Exists oh my fucking god I cannot wait to ruin people’s views of this classic now

[@RestingJudge]

@@Cambroth song of Songs is legitimately some beautiful poetry so I see why it was allowed. Hearing it in the Hebrew omg

[@howdyhowdyhelga]

this is like a weird episode of scooby doo, where they take off the villains mask to reveal it's toby and then one by one the scooby gang takes off all their masks to reveal they're all toby as well.

[@TheSorrel]

Now I wonder where all the other Sarahs are.

[@howdyhowdyhelga]

@@TheSorrel There is no Sarah. Only Toby.

[@eggi4443]

Just Toby. Just Toby. Just Toby.

[@SawyBoy]

Honestly, I would have done this type of thing if I was bored and not ok as a teen, and I genuinely wonder when the mask is gonna come off and I’ll see Toby in the mirror 😰

[@AlexG2490]

@@SawyBoy It's Tobies all the way down.

[@littlecryptids]

the rewatchability of this video is insane, i swear i’ve watched it like 7 times. my immortal’s author remains one of my favorite internet histories, and this video just serves to make that hyperfixation grow lol.

[@dwell7315]

one of my favorite things to do is watch/listen to Sarah's longer videos like a podcast. This one, both Homestuck videos, Johnlock, Supernatural and Destiel, they're all so good

[@liv6833]

Literally same, I usually rewatch this like weekly went I draw

[@ellw7830]

so true, i listen to the homestuck ones when i’m falling asleep sometimes lol

[@heyitzmae]

i’ve watched this video like ten times and i still feel like my brain was put in a microwave afterwards every time

[@bxwieknife]

⁠@@dwell7315I watch all of those, then the Dadhcon, Dear Evan Hansen, Sherlock, and All or Nothing videos CONSTANTLY while drawing, it’s so good every time

[@Oceanus5000]

The whole Toby situation is just the “Spider-Men pointing at each other” meme in fanfiction form.

[@kB042]

TOBY McGuire

[@mothma_am]

@Fen Vulpeus don't you mean... T O B Y OUR LORD AND SAVIOR

[@percivallavoie4415]

This entire comment

[@superherovamp]

That and a infinity mirror

[@kabob0077]

@Fen Vulpeus There's more.

[@jennavoutsinas775]

Pretty Little Liars wishes it was this complex

[@SarahZ]

Toby is A

[@strawberryqueen0382]

Sarah Z T*

[@jesmeyer732]

Hahaha amazing!

[@KingsandGenerals]

Sorry, no one lives in Winnipeg, that is just not true.

[@valeriepacheco9163]

Last place I thought I’d see king and generals

[@maryd7753]

as someone who “lives in winnipeg” i can back this up

[@mentallyunstable1926]

what the hell is a winnipeg

[@aila6814]

winnipeg isnt real, winnipeg cant hurt you..

[@Nadia1989]

Mr Collins fiancée lives in Winnipeg. Or was Lady Catherine?

[@Mike-ii1hi]

The reveal of Taylor being Toby blew me away. This is camp, this is drama, this is the tyoe of thing that I realized i wanted to live for. Im afraid that I`m Toby, but also comforted by knowing that I`m not Toby. I couldnt reach those heights Not all of us were meant to touch the sun lol

[@ronan-outoftime]

it`s funny seeing you here toby

[@jonathanj8303]

But didn't Taylor do a partial live reading (of my immortal, I think)? And Taylor is said to be 'she', which I assume the real Toby ain't. I assume that would likely be obvious on audio. That bit still puzzles me.

[@tedros6917]

my biggest fear is that those are just the accounts toby wanted us to find

[@Random_Person.-.]

Oh no

[@rileys.9768]

This is actually my real theory. Including an intentional 'tell' like the apostrophes makes it super easy to intentionally leave it out on accounts you don't want to be associated.

[@Rain-np7tk]

What if 90% of the accounts are toby?!

[@liyre4189]

@@Rain-np7tk What if YOU`RE Toby??? what if... what if the real Toby were the friends we made along the way?

[@Rain-np7tk]

@@liyre4189 isnt everyone toby deep down?

[@ArtemisScribe]

I can't believe we found out who EVERYONE involved in My Immortal was EXCEPT TARA! She haunts me. She's out there somewhere. Living her life. Existing. Knowing she wrote it. And honestly if she didn't come forward when the Rose Christo scandal happened then she's probably never coming forward. Which is honestly the internet's greatest tragedy.

[@chofi43]

Its 2020, weird shit is happening, i have hope

[@irdiseddere7752]

That Rose Christo situation was a Trainwreck

[@ArtemisScribe]

@@irdiseddere7752 it really was. I'm conflicted on her brother's actions because on the one hand doxxing... but on the other hand how else was he supposed to prove he was telling the truth and stop everything before it got even more out of control?

[@ArtemisScribe]

@@chofi43 I have faith in your faith. I've been a My Immortal detective too and God I just wanna know. Even if we never know exactly who Tara is, I just want to know that SOMEONE has seen definitive proof that yes, they can confirm they have spoken to the person who wrote My Immortal.

[@gelletanas]

who knows, maybe she's gone. I mean, accidents happen daily and being so engaging and then disappearing seems weird. that would be sad, but quite a normal tho a tragic thing

[@IcyIndigo]

Toby basically started a cult where there are a bunch of members but he’s also the only member

[@themostepicpersonever1154]

So he’s the real life version of Xehanort from Kingdom Hearts then.

[@OhNoBohNo]

he's legion... wait... from the bible...

[@yooringonghan]

@@OhNoBohNo but "Legion" are demons tho

[@JesseColton]

@@themostepicpersonever1154 I was literally about to say Toby is Xehanort 🤣

[@hhoi8225]

It's Fight Club for fanfic.

[@Kyman102]

That talk at the end about digital self-harm reminds me of an episode of the Simpsons, where Bart fumbles catching a baseball during a little league game, losing the game. The entire town of Springfield turns on him, and someone starts a major harassment campaign against him. And the reveal is that the one perpetrating the campaign was Bart himself, expressing his own self-loathing compounded by the entire town treating him like shit.

[@kabobawsome]

It's something that if you read a lot of the psychology behind it, it's apparent it's not actually new, just a new form of this kind of emotional self-harm. In fact, the Simpsons was probably one of the first bits of media to represent it sympathetically. Before that, even often now, it's treated as "just seeking attention". You see it a lot with "self-deprecation" and depression humor hidden behind so many layers of irony, it's hard to tell whether it really was just a joke or if they seem themselves as worthless. If I may get a bit feminist, there's a reason it's more common in men, too. To quote bell hooks, "The first act of violence that patriarchy demands of males is not violence toward women. Instead patriarchy demands of all males that they engage in acts of psychic self-mutilation, that they kill off the emotional parts of themselves. If an individual is not successful in emotionally crippling himself, he can count on patriarchal men to enact rituals of power that will assault his self-esteem." These are those rituals of power, but turned inwards. It's what happens when a man gives the outwards appearance of that dead emotion, but knows that not to be true internally. So, by way of the inherently pervasive nature of the patriarchy, they feel guilty in that and open assault on themselves out of self-loathing for their failure to live up to the patriarchal standards. This is also why, despite it typically being associated with that psychic self-mutilation that hooks refers to, it can still happen in women. After all, it does not take self-loathing patriarchal pressures to turn someone who views themself as a failure to emotional self-harm.

[@Kururu265]

what episode was that? i mean the number or the season

[@krlosz1996]

Plot twist: Sarah Z is Toby and has been planning this video for 15 years

[@Polikaize]

tbh, i unironically had been considering this thought for like 10 seconds somewhere around halfway into this video

[@raininess]

The true puppeteer. O.O

[@jonathanbaggette6541]

I just spit out my coffee

[@warmachine5835]

I mean, fuck, it tracks.

[@GlassesnMouthplates]

It's all meditated and carefully planned for more than an entire decade so she can make a video that segues to a Mubi sponsorship segment in the future.

[@inbarfink3253]

After watching this, I'm not even sure that I'M not Toby

[@maxwellsdemon6599]

That's a typical Toby move... Accusing himself of beeing Toby. Am I Toby? God damn....

[@lilithium3940]

@@maxwellsdemon6599 We are all Toby

[@SpoopySquid]

The real Toby was the friends we made along the way

[@artemismeow]

We're all Toby, no one exists except Toby. It's absolute loneliness.

[@ChildOfAnAndroid]

You`re not using the right apostrophe...

[@monicaraybrandt]

that one scene from radio rebel where everyone is like "i'm radio rebel" but it's just a bunch of sockpuppet accounts saying "i'm toby"

[@puffnisse]

So just the Spartacus scene?

[@idkidc2573]

@@puffnisse no the radio rebel scene

[@kitana5583]

I was just about to comment this! Though, I picture it more as a bunch of sockpuppet accounts saying "I wrote My Immortal"

[@thatoneguy9582]

-greg hello-

[@madisonbednarz547]

i’ve watched this video a million times, but what gets me about the tara account updating in 2009 could have EASILY been explained by toby saying “i personally lost access in 2008, someone must have genuinely hacked it in 2009”. no one would’ve believed him, but god it would have been so easy for him to explain it away but he just doesn’t

[@librasuperstar3779]

Or he could just go "Oh sorry that was a typo I meant 2009". Because the 8 and 9 keys are literally right next to each other

[@meganrobinson9867]

Or he could have just said he got it wrong because it was over ten years ago and he didn’t remember the exact date because why would he

[@mel-burnes]

but then we might not have gooten this video

[@isaguima9731]

Or he didn't answer on purpose to Sarah not believe him, do some digging and eventually make a video about him. Toby has a history of being a bad liar purposely and constantly outing himself after all Maybe the only thing he didn't predict is that Sarah would dig so much to the point of finding out his real identity and stuff

[@heyitzmae]

honestly i believe he kept dodging it to bait sarah into looking into his weird elaborate network of clones because it definitely seems like he wants to be caught a lot of the time

[@re0294]

“Now you might have guessed that the story was going in this direction” Babes I couldn’t even guess my own name at this point let alone where this story is going.

[@KS-di4bn]

I'm starting to think that my name is Toby after hearing it so much.

[@user-xh6cg7zf9h]

toby

[@icp7201]

Imagine how scary it would be to participate in any of these discussions as a real person, be it in TV Tropes forums or in FFN comments, talking with a bunch a different people only to find out they were all the same person. I would have an existencial crisis

[@JulianHernandez-tn5gu]

It's straight up gone into another dimension, let alone direction.

[@brandonporter8509]

Honestly after the first sock puppet I was thinking this is gonna be a story of 50+ sock puppets all having flame wars with each other

[@brittanyewilliams4572]

This whole thing was like watching a game of Among Us except everyone is an impostor

[@Tustin2121]

Crewmate: There are 10 Tobies among us.

[@ghalfsharp0]

"Toby looking kinda sus" "Which one?" "Yes"

[@skinnyboi8937]

This is some conspiracy shit

[@frederique1019]

Yo, I laughed so hard at this comment thread, you guys are wild.

[@rebbekahcannons9805]

That's the interest for you

[@d.lan3y]

Theory: The entire internet is just Toby. Everyone you` ve ever interacted with online was just one of Toby` s alts. We are all Toby.

[@lysergidedaydream5970]

This is just a modern version of the solipsism problem and I love it.

[@LukeSciarappa]

I think it` s supposed to look like this, actually.

[@QueenFondue]

I'm Lillie.

[@lysergidedaydream5970]

@@QueenFondue * I`m Lillie.

[@heinoustentacles5719]

Hey Toby! How's Toby and the kids?

[@linnama5869]

Look, there's not a lot of things to do in New Zealand. Toby's just creating his own unrestrained summer fun

[@Liboo52]

The scariest thought to me is the possibility that the real author of My Immortal wrote it for a laugh and then forgot about it. They don’t know about the drama surrounding it, they never watched the live action web series, they haven’t seen this video or have even thought about My Immortal for a decade.

[@jesusramirezromo2037]

Or they completley forggot they made it...

[@potmki6601]

Maybe it was just a phase for them, and they weren't that invested in the canon anyway. The "hacked" chapters were other people helping them write it for once, because they were loosing interest or motivation. Then decided to take a break - and moved on from goth fanfiction phase of their life completely instead, found new interests, probably went to uni, never looked back.

[@SomeNerdyVlogger]

Honestly, this is the most likely scenario.

[@Sheechiibii]

Why is that thought scary? Seems the most likely explanation to me and it's better than some of the other theories like the author being dead.

[@puffnisse]

@@Sheechiibii Why wouldn't the author be dead? People die every day?

[@matildarose]

2000: What if everyone in power is secretly a lizard 2020: what if everyone in power is secretly toby

[@j2dragon109]

*What if everyone is secretly toby

[@cat1mouse2]

this is the best comment hands down ... brb gonna make a bunch of Toby alts to boost this lololol

[@joannamyers1268]

I never thought I would see someone who could put Xehanort's various identities to shame.

[@nandyk.2026]

the internet is andy weir's the egg but instead of a god it's toby

[@anib8863]

@@j2dragon109Shush, you'll reveal us!

[@ilaya4183]

"Toby or not Toby" That genius joke tho.

[@kikiceili3956]

RIGHT?

[@gerardlacroix6015]

... So that was his end game ?

[@allozaur2]

@@gerardlacroix6015 There`s no endgame, it`s the single most grand piece of unintentional performance art in history. And considering it was not done for profit or monetary gain, in a way it`s far more genuine than most contemporary art, even if it wasn`t meant to be and is merely a product of a troubled, non-neurotypical mind.

[@IsaacMayerCreativeWorks]

Toby or not toby - that is the genius joke tho

[@CaseyShontz]

A foolish undertaking you’re Toby too! You use the same weird apostrophe!

[@Ouroboros2343]

Interesting side note and something to remind ANYONE who loves Atlas Shrugged specifically or Ayn Rand generally: Despite considering all government handouts of any kind immoral, she herself applied for and received social security and medicare in 1974 and continued to receive those benefits until 1982 (when she died).

[@llewelynshingler2173]

I assume she kept her "Every Man, Woman and Child for themselves!" Speeches going during that time? Since if she changed stances, this would be less of an issue

[@alim.9801]

Every time I hear anything about Ayn Rand it makes me want to shake my first at a cloud

[@IsaacIsaacIsaacson]

@@alim.9801 don't worry, I think she went the other direction.

[@brumagemm]

"Who deleted My Immortals?" "Toby of course" "Then who was trolling Toby?" "Very clever, young man, but it's Toby's all the way down."

[@thewingeddeer9946]

the phrase "Toby's all the way down" is a phrase that I never thought I'd read today. But by god it is the funniest

[@XXXXX8]

@@thewingeddeer9946 the phrase "by god" is a phrase I never thought I'd read today, but holy shit you are so unfunny

[@thewingeddeer9946]

​@@XXXXX8 To you sir, I hope you have a wonderful day. May you never feel that a comment like this is warranted again. I hope that they give you extra fries by mistake at any fast food place you go. I hope that you find out you achieved your dreams. That you find someone who will love and support you your entire life. That even when you are at what you think is your worst, something cheers you up. Because you deserve the best, and I hope that you see that others deserve that too. Savor all the happiness and joy that you will ever get, because it is what you should have the right to. And thank you to the gentleman who defended me, it is much appreciated and obliged.

[@Steelmage99]

@@thewingeddeer9946 "....And that, kids...". * Looks happily at class * "...Is what is known as "Killing with Kindness"." :)

[@XXXXX8]

@@Steelmage99 You're unfunny too.

[@ziggybee9494]

I'm just picturing Toby in a leather armchair with a glass of scotch, quietly chuckling to himself and shaking his head like "they found me. They finally found me." Edit: thanks for all the likes, Toby!!

[@johanna9845]

LMAO

[@oliviawilliams6204]

Or alternatively in a total panic in a basement with a tinfoils hat and in a total panic saying the same thing.

[@hkazu63]

“I’ve played this game for so long. I am so very tired, but finally, someone has won.”

[@ChildOfAnAndroid]

Nah he's just deleted all his accounts connected to that tweet. Cache never lies though ;)

[@johanna9845]

@@ChildOfAnAndroid i think i found his relative's youtube Channel and an article about his music career

[@gachasaver5846]

the fact that toby wrote all of these different fanfics, and parodies, and poetry, and comments, and reviews, and just talking to himself all the time is kind of weirdly sad and impressive in a weird way

[@lesteryaytrippy7282]

Yeah. While some of us hope and get giddy with one or two comments, this Toby guy wrote an epic on being both ghost fanfiction authors and his audience and haters 😟

[@Sheechiibii]

Yeah there's something so fascinating about it. Especially the question of why or just what he was thinking when he did it all.

[@abbie_joan]

oh no it's impressive all the way you gotta have alot of free time to do this Toby was having the time of their life

[@Sentientmatter8]

Well, hopefully he's putting all of this wild creativity into his music now.

[@lokiscobee6907]

he may have had a multiple personality disorder

[@erynflynn8467]

Forget true crime, I need more incredibly in-depth looks into obscure internet nonsense from the early to late 2000s. This was riveting. Thank you so much, this must've been an insane amount of work.

[@emilybarclay8831]

May I suggest StrangeAeon’s deep dives into bitofearth, onision’s books and she even has content on this subject that goes into different aspects of the history of my immortal than this video

[@Anindeterminateamountofbees]

@@emilybarclay8831also snapewives. That vid was a wild ride

[@dani.5087]

Toby in a nutshell: "You fool....I have SEVENTY ALTERNATIVE ACCOUNTS"

[@ШерешевскаяТамара]

is he talking about eggfucker1, eggfucker2, eggfucker3..?

[@lmao2302]

How leaked my bible fan fiction on twitter dot com.

[@patreekotime4578]

Plottwist: Toby is every account on fanfiction.net.

[@Man-ej6uv]

same

[@tystotallyradicaltoenail]

Oh goddamnit I commented this too rip me

[@merelymayhem]

my little pony atlas shrugged fanfic is truly the most cursed thing i learned about in this video and i already fear it will haunt me

[@hiddeluchtenbelt6440]

Merely Mayhem It feels somehow like modern times condensed into a single image

[@downsjmmyjones101]

What next? Karl Marx in Wonderland? Pope John Paul II visits Liliput?

[@merelymayhem]

@@downsjmmyjones101 ngl i would read karl marx in wonderland

[@merelymayhem]

now that I've watched the whole vid: ur research is amazing and this vid was a wild ride, one of my fav videos form u sarah!!

[@artangelic]

we need to be talking about this part SO. much more

[@Xidnaf]

The moral of the video at the end was basically "maybe, on the inside, we're all a little bit Toby."

[@Alice-gr1kb]

OMG IT’S YOU XIDNAF HI

[@justineberlein5916]

Toby who taught me Grimm's Law watches this channel?!

[@neptune7315]

woah its actually you

[@eddie-roo]

Wow, it's actually you

[@fredericksmith7942]

LANGUAGE STICKMAN

[@bendickinson9965]

I think THIS was the goal. To create some sort of weird augmented reality-esque online drama/mystery for the perceived audience of the internet. With this video you've put together a comprehensive overview of the saga, and based on the evidence from the apostrophe calling card, followed an INTENDED trail of breadcrumbs to sleuth your way into the truth of it all.

[@theholyllama6950]

Honestly Tara is probably sitting somewhere, with a good glass of wine and enjoying the shitshow her 16 yr old fanfic created. That's honestly the most badass outcome possible.

[@carolinemcgovern4488]

@@theholyllama6950 Good for Tara honestly. She got her dignity and got the hell out and I respect that.

[@Noxine]

Internet is just three Tobies in a trenchcoat.

[@EyeofZai]

Arbiter Elegantiae underrated comment

[@Nehu_22]

The whole world is Toby, except Sarah, but she's just now picking up the clues

[@DialecticRed]

Internet is three tobies in a trenchcoat in another trenchcoat with three tobies and it just keeps going

[@shelbyb9965]

@@DialecticRed it's Tobies all the way down

[@uhuh936]

Shelby B YES I laughed so hard

[@Jskid666]

Me: "Wait, was it all T O B Y !?" Sarah: *cocks gun* "Always has been."

[@itsclemtime2357]

*~panicks in illness~*

[@vilukisu]

It's Tobys all the way down!

[@mikhailagray7519]

I think further investigation will reveal that 95% of people on FFN are just one person, and that it's actually just M. Night Shyamalan's alt accounts.

[@AnymousScreams]

What a twist.

[@shoujokadyan5502]

The Borg...

[@rebbecawitt581]

M. Night Shyamalan is actually an an alt person(?) for Jesus himself.

[@availanila]

Haha

[@Art-ye4gd]

I doubt Sarah Z sees this considering the overwhelming amount of comments, but I've talked to the person here, "Toby", before. I couldn't place it, but Toby was in several places asking people to help ghostwrite projects for him. A majority of the writings were not his, we wrote the bulk text for him and he put in some references. It's a whole thing, but Toby had a very large amount of people backing him, that's how he learned to make music while trolling people online. He posted it, but asked us to add to it. I don't know nor care about My Immortal, but if Sarah wants, I can prove I'm not him, that I'm from the states, that I've always lived here, and that I'm part of internet culture. I can even confirm that some people had their own alternate accounts to help Toby, so as to post when he posted, to make it seem like there were others active. I am (as far as I am aware) only a part of two weird internet trends; Toby and Final Fantasy House. If I'm going to offer to talk about one, it's going to be Toby, because the Final Fantasy House stuff makes me consider vomiting tbh.

[@cultusfetus]

did toby at least paid you for it?

[@TheRaychenator]

Don't know if Sarah saw this but I'm super stoked to see someone providing more first hand info on this. I never would have imagined he had the social skills to not only talk to people who werent himself, but rope other people into this scheme, but that makes sense from a time management perspective. I'd love to know: was he asking people to write bible poetry, flaming reviews, trollfic (like prayer warriors), or a combination of those things? I want to believe Sarah's theory about his bible poetry being a way to process complicated feelings on religion, but if he wasnt even the one writing them..... then this all makes even less sense.

[@MartianCandies]

Wait...are you Syd...? Just really wanna know your part in the house, sorry if that prodding..

[@joearnold6881]

Did you write Final Fantasy House?

[@queenbeeautumn]

Hi Toby!

[@Infovorousness]

Ultimately it’s not so much “who is Toby?”, it’s become a matter of “what is Toby?”, or even “why Toby is Toby?”.

[@Nugumfm]

Michael Scott to Toby: Why are you the way that you are?

[@sighmon5640]

"I'll do you one better: _Why_ is Toby?" -SarahZ, probably

[@kaity2775]

Who ISN’T Toby

[@Kaemdar]

I`m definitely Toby

[@bebebebota11]

Wann ist Toby?

[@eknova]

ryan bergara voice: and to this day, the original author of my immortal remains.............unsolved.

[@lucyku13]

Honestly I kept hearing the “let’s get into some theories” music in my head the whole time

[@_ares_587]

I'm not saying that BUN should do an April Fool's video on My Immortal But I guess I just did

[@tesiaw6229]

SO weird that “ebony” doesn’t even sound like the real word anymore after seeing it almost exclusively as “enoby” for so long

[@beanman3290]

obi wan kenoby

[@freebeerishere]

enby

[@Xehanort10]

The bit where Tara's insisting that Ebony's not a Mary Sue is great. "Ebony's name is Enoby not Mary Su."

[@jessepretorius1456]

“In short, Toby or not Toby” made me laugh for ten minutes.

[@lily-lily-okay]

the spookiest bit is that it was actually Toby who revealed the apostrophe thing... which means Toby wanted someone to find all the accounts with the apostrophe thing ... which means he could have more _without_ the apostrophe thing intentionally,,,,, how many Tobys are there with Tobyccounts on the Tobynet??

[@gracehaven5459]

we are all Toby, none of us are actually real haha

[@vogonp4287]

Sometimes I wonder if the people who I interact with online are Toby.

[@MIXANDMTCH]

HOW DO I KNOW _YOURE_ NOT TOBY

[@jorgefuentes8559]

Dang, this really is “Into the Tobyverse”

[@kolamite]

@@MIXANDMTCH How do you know YOU'RE not Toby?

[@giotronq]

''wait, it ´ s all toby?'' ''always has been.''

[@giotronq]

damn i fooled myself she already put the joke in lmao

[@Defectum138]

Hi Toby

[@tanyarastogi1110]

It was toby all along

[@taniaarguelles1558]

Love tht u added the apostrophe detail xd

[@nrivanwrites]

cant believe you figured out the author of literally everything but my immortal

[@pharoahcaraboo9610]

RIGHT? my god, prayer warriors, the my immortal sequel, my little pony atlas shrugged, i REMEMBER these badfics! i'm so mad they were the same dude wtf that just ruins the charm!

[@Demildiel]

BRB gotta check my fan fiction to make sure that it wasn't secretly written by Toby

[@calvakianlastname9009]

It’s like the opposite of finding out who Neil Cicieraga is

[@Demildiel]

@@calvakianlastname9009 ok but what if the writer of My Immortal is Neil or Emmy Cicierga? Part of me hopes that whoever wrote My Immortal is still actively creating content online and that's why they haven't claimed it

[@TobiCatsith]

Hi, my name is Tobi, and I'm not related to this drama in any way shape or form, but watching this video and hearing my name repeated so much has me filled with a unique kind of existential dread. Love the video.

[@HyperWraithAL]

Yeah, sure. How do you type your apostrophe`s

[@nbv6975]

The fact that this guy is still, over a decade later, trying to get my immortal fame? My guy. My dude. Get a life, you ain’t a teenager anymore.

[@TheEmmaHouli]

I like to think that the real my immortal writer just left the fic behind and has mostly forgotten about and has no idea of its legacy

[@AnaMaria-wt3ix]

Especially now. Like I'd get it 10 years ago, when they could've gotten some fame out of this. But now?! I doubt that enough people care to do something with that.

[@Jayfive276]

And even if he did, so the fuck what? It’s not as the studios are clamouring to get the movie rights. Like S says, what’s his endgame? To have a relatively small amount of people in a niche genre within a niche genre say “oh he did that thing? Huh. Neat.”

[@Penguinmanereikel]

TheEmmaHouli if they were this deep in internet culture at some point, even as a teenager, I highly doubt that they haven’t heard of this through cultural osmosis.

[@taurine5561]

I lowkey think it was more of a closure thing, if this was you wouldnt you still have some confusing feelings about it. or he could have just messaged her for kicks

[@adamklaits6379]

At this point I'm convinced that all Bible fanfiction that has ever existed is the work of one guy

[@availanila]

I think s/he's also isolated and had only ever read the Bible as a book and came across fanfiction and wanted to do their own.

[@hakasims]

Impossible! I once read a Cain/Abel smut and it was very well written. There’s no way that was Toby

[@emsharp5585]

Up to and including Paradise Lost

[@rockifythis]

Toby is Dante and John Milton!

[@screamingbanshee1282]

@@hakasims gosh y'all need to go to church, get baptized in moldva,

[@Jukajobs]

you know that short story called "The Egg" that's basically like, a guy dies and goes to heaven and then it turns out that basically everyone on the planet is who has or ever will live are all just basically different incarnations of him? yeah...

[@chasedelaney]

Plz.... I'm too weak to be connecting existential theories of reincarnation to Toby rn

[@persephone2706]

I think about that story all the time. And I use it as excuse to be a piece of shit. Cause ya know, I've lived many good lives already.

[@iamlordstarbuilder5595]

That sounds like Yiik

[@aeonb.2517]

Ayo netflix can we get a movie of this

[@SyberiaWinx]

Maybe...Maybe the writer of My Immortal really did die, and we are all her.

[@RodrickMarsMoon]

Ooh, God, the "gothic Harry Potter trio" edit my uncle made back in 2005, in the thumbnail 😳😱!!! We thought it was lost forever, I'm so glad to know it's still out "alive" around internet 😭😄...!

[@YourLocalMagical_Girl]

I call him VAMPOTTER

[@salem-01]

How does your uncle type his apostrophes (/j)

[@RodrickMarsMoon]

@@salem-01 I don't even know what that means 🤔😅. Could you explain that to me, please? Genuinely asking.

[@RodrickMarsMoon]

@@YourLocalMagical_Girl Haha'. Good one 🤗😄.

[@salem-01]

@@RodrickMarsMoonbecause like everybody in this story is toby and they all write their apostrophes weird I was making a a joke about your uncle secretly being Toby too

[@Conumbra]

This story is so bonkers that the Atlas Shrugged MLP fanfic is barely a footnote.

[@VetusDea]

i'm sorry, the what

[@Schilddruse]

the WHAT?! where.

[@actualgamerowned]

Excuse me, the what now?

[@iwakeupandboomimarat]

@@actualgamerowned its about 37-38 minutes in

[@spamquisition4046]

Is it the Twilight Shrugged fic in Wattpad? I googled it but unfortunately it's gone There's a deviantart pic of Apple Shrugged tho

[@kthxbi]

"He closed his account, and my initial correspondence was over" * looks down at the play bar to see there's still 50 minutes of video left * "oh it is so not over"

[@NataliaELopez]

That was my same reaction

[@Frakkis]

Initial is the word you missed then.

[@cometgravity]

gonna be real when you got to the point of "toby foster" being a name and it seemed like we were building up to something i was half convinced you were gonna reveal this guy is actually toby fox developer of the hit 2015 video game undertale

[@rhnirsilva652]

lmao, checks out tho

[@daniellecalderwood4626]

I deadass had the same thought process. Although, my familiarity with Fox comes more from Homestuck, and I was just willing to accept that godforsaken comic permeates into aspect of our reality.

[@rhnirsilva652]

trust me, I feel you

[@elfin2865]

BIG SAME

[@cometgravity]

@@daniellecalderwood4626 homestuck too! i was into homestuck for a good bit but was never into it ENOUGH to be familiar with any names beyond hussie. i only found out toby fox did homestuck stuff when undertale came out. but you're right it would not have been at all surprising if homestuck was involved here, it's everywhere

[@troodon1096]

Is it just me, or does anyone else find all this drama, manufactured or genuine, about fanfiction, far more interesting than the actual fanfiction?

[@azahazel]

I do.

[@ludiloigranje9921]

Yes

[@heyitzmae]

the manufactured drama is almost more interesting than the actual because i still desparately wanna know why toby did this

[@mariaz1884]

I've literally never read fanfiction, nor do I have even the slightest clue what My Immortal is about (despite hearing that name a thousand times through the years). However, the drama of fanfiction always pulls me in

[@rachel3206]

i minored in Lit in college and one of my profs once told me something along the lines of "no author could ever come up with shit half as crazy as some real people's lives"

[@sarahhumphries8000]

I'm starting to think that Toby has just formed an entire fandom just through sock puppets

[@Man-ej6uv]

*B I B L E P O E T R Y*

[@ellenpaul6039]

The best part about this is KNOWING Toby is gonna watch it.

[@RandomNickname1234]

And knowing that he's probably here, in the comments section, all around us...

[@sarah20025]

@@RandomNickname1234 it could be you! It could be me! It could even be- *headshot*

[@vogonp4287]

@@sarah20025 Scout: "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Heavy: "Oh!" Soldier: "What? It was obvious!" "He's Toby! Watch, he'll confess any second now..."

[@samantha.redacted]

plot twist: rose cristo is also toby and her brother that's not in foster care doesn't exist

[@BartMassey-PO8]

Red Bard is also Toby - notice the resemblance in names to Rose Cristo? So Toby helped Sarah Z uncover Toby. Sounds like his MO.

[@armleg]

@@BartMassey-PO8 How do we know that Red Bard isn`t also Sarah? They both have red hair...

[@msmichellewinchester]

Or he's been dead for a year and Toby was posing as him.

[@mikaoleander]

@@armleg oooh the apostrophe

[@froginatub]

Uh the brother is obviously real, he's just ALSO Toby. Cmon.

[@AugustQ-p1w]

I've always been convinced that the author of My Immortal was a child and wrote it in earnest. Not a young teen, a child, in the range of 8-12. Hear me out, I think people usually assume the author was at least teenaged because of the mature content, the sex and swearing, but if you read it assuming the author was sincere, it kinda seems like she didn't really know what sex was? And didn't use the swears in a very natural way? Same with the goth subculture and satanist stuff, she seemed to only have a vague idea of what that stuff entailed. I think it's plenty plausible that a 10 year old would have added those things in to make herself seem more mature. But now I'm kinda convinced it was Toby. Honestly given everything we've now learned about him it kinda checks out.

[@jacksyoutubechannel4045]

I think the one "TaEbony" kind of gives it away as a non-serious work, for a couple of reasons. 1) The real author's name would have to actually be Tara (or maybe "Taylor," but that kind of makes the cut off after "Ta" convenient). 2) She would've had to legitimately start typing her name, then delete part--but not all--of it, before typing the character's name. Search-and-replace would have replaced the whole thing, as would a person who found it while proof-reading. That just seems like such an unlikely thing to have happen as a genuine accident. Someone above suggested that Toby could be friends with Tara (in real life, or online), and at some point she gave him access to the account and asked him to post the last chapters because she didn't want to be active in the community anymore, but wanted to get her story wrapped up. That would explain the way the gaps between releases changed. Of course, the assumption would be that Tara picked a bad person to give her login to. (Maybe she even changed it at some point, once she found out about Toby's shenanigans, locking him out of the account where he could attempt to vindicate himself.) It's got to either be the above (I find the hacking really unlikely), or just plain Toby.

[@XatxiFly]

For me it would never convincingly be anything but parody after the reference to Sirius Black as Harry's "dogfather." But strange things happen I suppose.

[@anafolie471]

Interesting idea but it has been debunked since people managed to find out what school she went to, and the age range for being it that school was definitely not for young kids since it was a prep school

[@nottheshirt483]

@@anafolie471 source?

[@anafolie471]

@@nottheshirt483 all the posts regarding her school location and other specifics have been deleted since it got very close to dox her, but there are some leftovers that mention what happened on the subreddit r/myimmortaldrama. Toby was active for a while there after this video, and he showed that he got in contact through emails with Tara, which he accidentally released the IP address where she was sending the e-mails from. The IP address was what took people to find it was a prep school IP address and after that the mods stepped in deleting posts that revelead the location, name, etc, and Toby remade his post covering the IP.

[@alizardinyourroom1361]

Honestly all the shit that surrounds my immortal is waaaay more wild that the actual fic

[@hxjxangelx]

you´re toby

[@alizardinyourroom1361]

@@hxjxangelx bahahahhahaha maybe, maybe i‘m toby 😳

[@shadowbunny7892]

Which is saying a lot

[@cinemaocd1752]

Half of the writers in English Literature walk into a bar. Bartender: what'll ya have? *DISTORTED LOUD VOICE*: BIBLE FANFICTION POETRY

[@amycavaliere3216]

all of those writers are toby

[@cinemaocd1752]

@@amycavaliere3216 I feel like Toby could be one of the great artists of our time. He also has some serious issues to work through and has done so in this very elaborate and strange (to me) manner. But make no mistake John Milton and William Blake would be doing the same thing if they were online in 2020.

[@amycavaliere3216]

Cinema OCD *this whole thing is performance art and is actually a years long stroke of hidden genius*

[@odolowa1]

Maybe the real author of My Immortal was the friends we made along the way...

[@jbennett5634]

*stares off into the sunset*

[@shytendeakatamanoir9740]

Except there's only one friend, since there were all Toby and his alts. Actually, you were Toby all along.

[@marcelarossi8737]

Maybe the real author of My Immortal was the Bible Themed Poetry we read along the way

[@mixedjpg]

or maybe it's the friends we made up along the way :/

[@Rikku147]

Okay I cannot stop laughing

[@something_burger]

I've interacted with Todd, Thomas and Ebony on some small FFN forums back in 2012. I feel like at least some of those forums had to do with drama surrounding Critics United and their copycats from that time period, but I can't say for sure. I don't remember what my interactions with them were like or what they did on those forums, but I do remember Todd claiming to be Tara and having like this weird sort of rivalry with Thomas and Ebony...? He had this strong derision towards the Prayer Warriors fics and was kinda just another person who liked to make fun of them. It's crazy to know that Todd, Thomas and Ebony are all the same person, and that story has been this expansive and crazy. I remember two specific people called Quaker and Cathylove who were involved in the drama as well, but I'm fairly certain that neither of them are Toby (especially in Cathy's case.) But hey, I could be wrong, I could've just been talking to a bunch of Tobies the whole time! Thanks for unraveling this tale. I know I'm like a year late, but it's crazy to hear about... all of this, really.

[@dinonid1234]

How do we know you're not Toby?

[@truebornseeker9767]

The idea of someone being in the middle of this and just accidentally talking to A BUNCH OF TOBYS is horrifying to me lol

[@jewknowwho8178]

At this point I'm worried that literally everyone is Toby Is missscribe Toby? Is JK Rowling Toby? Is that cashier down the street Toby? Are you Toby? Am I Toby?

[@controngames8308]

We are all Toby

[@Someone-or8tp]

You are the Toby that My Immortal needs.... but not the one it deserves.

[@swanstarr1441]

Toby is actually msscribe, in this essay I will

[@SnekkySnek]

@@swanstarr1441 your essay better be better than My Immortal

[@swanstarr1441]

@@SnekkySnek I don't promise anythint

[@Eve.v]

okay but i literally can't get over the fact that tara (t-name, seems to have negative associations christianity, bad writing, claims to have been hacked) is the only one who ISN'T ACTUALLY TOBY? buck fucking wild

[@demonofsadism7915]

It’s like God Toby himself looked upon the sock puppet masses and decided, he wants in one the fun as well and gave us this T flavored puzzle.

[@sindrevangenrobberstad2889]

She was his muse

[@existenceispain_geekthesiren]

Aha. Tara is not Toby, but all of the Tobys... Are Tara.

[@anthonyb4479]

EIPAIAS sums up my thoughts...is there no way Toby could be the my immortal author after all? I wonder whether the weird apostrophe is there...?

[@emberhermin52]

I think she's another toby

[@kirbyizlife]

I really appreciate the fact that you didn’t share his true identity when you found it. So many other KZbinrs would be say “Here’s his full name and picture and Twitter handle also let’s armchair diagnose him with psychopathy and offer him no empathy in any way”

[@m.k4447]

George N good on her for not doing so outright, but I do think she might’ve given a bit too much information. A relatively solid profile could be built from the info and hints she shared. Someone bored and weird enough could probably find him.

[@unouni2548]

@@m.k4447 It's still less than that guy who wanted to search for a model from a picture and ended up giving so much information on her that it would have been very easy for people to find her. I still think about how creepy that must have been for that woman. (Now I've read people on different comments talk about his personal accounts, this is creepy as well)

[@thallh]

Walt Gerych what info is identifiable?

[@cometgravity]

@@waltgerych6731 i think a lot of people will try and find him but i would hope everyone here is decent enough not to harass him or anything like that. that might be too optimistic of me tho lmao (not accusing you of harassment btw, just sharing my thoughts on the situation)

[@unouni2548]

@@waltgerych6731 Oh, wow, that's quick! I take it back!

[@connitinmouth1638]

I wouldn't have been surprised if at any point you had told me that Toby was also behind Critics United

[@connitinmouth1638]

Has anyone owned any accounts on any fanfiction site or have they all been Toby all along?

[@coatimundi69]

​@@connitinmouth1638 i had an ff.n account but the more i think about it, it may hwve been ghost written by a guy named toby

[@insertunique7551]

This entire thing has left me, questioning myself. Like am I me? Or am I Toby? I don't know anymore......I just don't

[@abrady0]

It ‘ s all Toby

[@dannychefalo432]

I think we are all Toby

[@funsies8107]

@@abrady0 *OH NO*

[@quitted7276]

@@funsies8107 what are you saying ``oh no``? It`Il be okay.....

[@Canonicallycreative]

I made a comment above and then realized my name starts with “T” and was like... oh no, that’s gonna sound so sus now...

[@SelfCareCharizard]

brb gonna make 50 alt accounts to fabricate a conspiracy that people will pore over for decades to come ❤️

[@LisaSimpsonRules]

That's what makes it so disturbing for me. If you tried to do that, you will get bored of it in one or two years, you will have other things going on in your life.... more than a decade of this is scary to me. That's a whole life of fighting with yourself online. Mentally, it must have taken a huge toll on him.

[@SelfCareCharizard]

@@LisaSimpsonRules yeahhh. i really do hope that guy's doing alright, especially these days. it horrifies me that someone can be so lonely. stay safe and things.

[@lenaboyer6981]

Talk about leaving a legacy, amirite??

[@Rain-np7tk]

Good luck my friend

[@zerodollarbird]

"I'm self centered." Yeah because you literally don't know anyone who isn't you, Toby.

[@averagechannelname9969]

Lmaooo

[@FadzaiSimango]

This deserves way more likes!

[@chelsey8737]

This is hysterical

[@cifge_404]

It's probably not even that funny but it was to me.

[@boiyado6717]

How can you know anyone else when you are the only person in existence?

[@GoblinoAlaMode]

Toby has to be some sort of SCP. But imagine if he just like. Dedicated all this time and energy into a poetry book or something. He’d be out publishing even the most prolific published writers.

[@Jack-hi1hq]

He wouldn’t make much success considering his writing is terrible lol

[@caoilfhionndunbar]

@@Jack-hi1hq or he would accidentally write another trainspotting or Finnigans Wake

[@gmdsugs4021]

Cue the astronaut meme: “It’s all Toby??” “Always has been”

[@Robert0Pirie]

My god... it's full of Tobys!

[@ink8027]

The ones asking and answering are both Toby

[@Purplesquigglystripe]

If everyone is Toby, then tara can be Toby. I am Toby

[@21Trainman]

That’s actually in the video at 1:04:03 lol

[@coocoo3336]

Geometry dash is a good game

[@frontseatdevil7831]

"She stopped uploading around 2007, saying she'd come back after her vacation." Yup, sounds like a fanfiction to me.

[@miguel7888]

"Gonna take a break to focus on finals!" Last updated: 6 years ago

[@frontseatdevil7831]

@@miguel7888 Yes this is so true!! They always say they're leaving to study :(

[@letmetakeajormungandrattha8591]

fuck, this hurts

[@sleepiesalem]

FrontSeat Devil “Chapters will resume next week guys I ended up catching a cold!”

[@youtbuecraert]

don’t forget the authors who just stop not a word

[@SapphicFurry]

I don't have the mental energy to comprehend managing that many accounts. Toby out here playing 4D chess with himself.

[@thesukeneko]

that's exactly what a Toby alt account would say

[@m.k4447]

I do have to wonder exactly what was going on in this person’s life that had them spend this much energy on something with so little reward. I would say I hope they’re doing better, but given that he just attempted to get clout for a 14 year old fan fiction...probably not

[@flipflopzthreeonethree1873]

@BlazarBlue But that's the thing... he reached out to Sarah (as an almost 30 year old) claiming to write My Immortal. It wasn't like "hey check out this crazy shit I did relating to My Immortal", it was him seeing the opportunity to get back into the game, which is lying about his identity online and weaving a web of alternate personalities. He definitely had some problems back then, and it seems like he's still not letting go of some shit.

[@nickpoenisch4563]

I really like the term "digital self-harm", I see it a lot in some of my friends and family, and I never knew how to talk about it without sounding like one of those "everybody is on their dang phones too much" kind of people