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

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ก.ย. 2020
  • In which I solve a decade-old My Immortal-related mystery... but probably not the one you're thinking of. Check out Amnesia, currently showing on MUBI Canada, and get a free month at mubi.com/sarahz
    With the support of Creative Europe - MEDIA Programme of the European Union.
    -----
    Support me:
    Merch: standard.tv/sarahz
    Patreon: / sarahz
    Twitter: / marysuewriter
    Thank you to Red Bard/Kennedy for research help and voicing Taylor Ashmere: / @redbardiscool
    Toby/Todd voiced by NathanWhy: / why_nathan
    Music by Zoë Blade and used with permission. (Except the song during the Critics United section, which is "Old Timey" by Kevin McLeod).
  • บันเทิง

ความคิดเห็น • 13K

  • @fanboy50
    @fanboy50 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3910

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

    • @jdprettynails
      @jdprettynails 3 ปีที่แล้ว +69

      This could easily be a line from Welcome to Night Vale

    • @thaddeuscramer2312
      @thaddeuscramer2312 3 ปีที่แล้ว +30

      Everyone is Toby now.

    • @trinitysarah2992
      @trinitysarah2992 3 ปีที่แล้ว +31

      ridiculous, i`m not toby

    • @thaddeuscramer2312
      @thaddeuscramer2312 3 ปีที่แล้ว +56

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

    • @fanboy50
      @fanboy50 3 ปีที่แล้ว +28

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

  • @johnl.7254
    @johnl.7254 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5373

    The world building of this dude rivals Tolkien

    • @AnaMaria-wt3ix
      @AnaMaria-wt3ix 3 ปีที่แล้ว +422

      Tolkien was Toby.

    • @4203105
      @4203105 3 ปีที่แล้ว +341

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

    • @ashamohamud6927
      @ashamohamud6927 3 ปีที่แล้ว +51

      Miles no. just no.

    • @suckit1335
      @suckit1335 3 ปีที่แล้ว +30

      Asha Mohamud yes

    • @BlueTroll
      @BlueTroll 3 ปีที่แล้ว +36

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

  • @farribastarfyre
    @farribastarfyre ปีที่แล้ว +1868

    "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
      @amoureux6502 ปีที่แล้ว +126

      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
      @abbiaca-3288 ปีที่แล้ว +54

      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
      @madeline6951 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +22

      more like "brother in Satan" lmao

    • @ElleBlackwood1995
      @ElleBlackwood1995 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +23

      @@madeline6951 Thanks, Toby.

    • @andrewjenkins9965
      @andrewjenkins9965 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +31

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

  • @TheWAYF
    @TheWAYF 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +482

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

    • @llewelynshingler2173
      @llewelynshingler2173 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +64

      The rest being Dante and Milton

    • @user-bk4xk2mv9u
      @user-bk4xk2mv9u 6 หลายเดือนก่อน +22

      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
      @angrysnekgoeschomp3240 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​@@llewelynshingler2173 best comment 😭

    • @YOSSARIAN313
      @YOSSARIAN313 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

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

    • @YOSSARIAN313
      @YOSSARIAN313 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

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

  • @theladynim2
    @theladynim2 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5281

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

    • @sappysaphic420
      @sappysaphic420 3 ปีที่แล้ว +335

      don't forget about the biBLe pOeTeY

    • @Moonlitwatersofaqua
      @Moonlitwatersofaqua 3 ปีที่แล้ว +106

      I wonder if he also wrote starkits prophecy.

    • @cuttlefishonfire7502
      @cuttlefishonfire7502 3 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      @@Moonlitwatersofaqua lol

    • @VaatiOfDarkness
      @VaatiOfDarkness 3 ปีที่แล้ว +75

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

    • @biconstanner6315
      @biconstanner6315 3 ปีที่แล้ว +22

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

  • @yongusdongus7351
    @yongusdongus7351 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5137

    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
      @queer-ios3155 3 ปีที่แล้ว +133

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

    • @witchhazel811
      @witchhazel811 3 ปีที่แล้ว +78

      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
      @vallisdaemonumofficial 3 ปีที่แล้ว +26

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

    • @rezajafari6395
      @rezajafari6395 3 ปีที่แล้ว +33

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

    • @jvgreendarmok
      @jvgreendarmok 3 ปีที่แล้ว +14

      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.

  • @cifge_404
    @cifge_404 ปีที่แล้ว +1210

    ...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
      @afellowpotato ปีที่แล้ว +22

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

    • @cifge_404
      @cifge_404 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +19

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

    • @devonmmi
      @devonmmi 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +18

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

    • @warwicktaylor347
      @warwicktaylor347 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      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
      @xstar4698 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

      maybe it's A BUNCH OF PEOPLE

  • @norafromash5087
    @norafromash5087 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3201

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

    • @charlesintune
      @charlesintune 2 ปีที่แล้ว +43

      Well when u put it that way Lmao

    • @kel9993
      @kel9993 ปีที่แล้ว +101

      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
      @indumatipngtuber2790 ปีที่แล้ว

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

    • @wardrobewings8000
      @wardrobewings8000 ปีที่แล้ว +42

      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
      @februaryfox2718 ปีที่แล้ว +16

      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

  • @MarieSuzette
    @MarieSuzette 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4262

    My Immortal is our generation's Zodiac Killer.

    • @jacobplayer2709
      @jacobplayer2709 3 ปีที่แล้ว +113

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

    • @absinthefandubs9130
      @absinthefandubs9130 3 ปีที่แล้ว +317

      TED CRUZ WROTE MY IMMORTAL
      I'm calling it now

    • @screamingbanshee1282
      @screamingbanshee1282 3 ปีที่แล้ว +53

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

    • @jacobplayer2709
      @jacobplayer2709 3 ปีที่แล้ว +64

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

    • @andreworders7305
      @andreworders7305 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      More like last generation’s

  • @jakobcrotty8907
    @jakobcrotty8907 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5434

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

    • @ZombiesWerePeopleToo
      @ZombiesWerePeopleToo 3 ปีที่แล้ว +365

      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
      @japandemonium77 3 ปีที่แล้ว +55

      Always has been

    • @funyarinpa9464
      @funyarinpa9464 3 ปีที่แล้ว +278

      @@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
      @ocean7889 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      damn

    • @nyarlotep
      @nyarlotep 3 ปีที่แล้ว +88

      @@funyarinpa9464 are you Toby?

  • @MissBeeBonnet
    @MissBeeBonnet ปีที่แล้ว +685

    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
      @7thboss931 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +34

      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
      @Olivman7 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +22

      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
      @celisewillis หลายเดือนก่อน +2

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

  • @kaitlynnp582
    @kaitlynnp582 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3147

    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
      @emilydurkee8664 2 ปีที่แล้ว +142

      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
      @GreatBooker 2 ปีที่แล้ว +83

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

    • @siliconvalley6280
      @siliconvalley6280 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      You mean like Peter pettigrew

    • @kaitlynnp582
      @kaitlynnp582 ปีที่แล้ว +24

      @@siliconvalley6280 lol more like Remi from Rattatoui

    • @MissCaraMint
      @MissCaraMint ปีที่แล้ว +8

      That sounds adorable.

  • @NiktheBik
    @NiktheBik 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5233

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

    • @Olwwolf
      @Olwwolf 3 ปีที่แล้ว +421

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

    • @aboz8649
      @aboz8649 3 ปีที่แล้ว +211

      We are Toby

    • @Olwwolf
      @Olwwolf 3 ปีที่แล้ว +189

      @@aboz8649 humanity is actually a hive mind of tobies

    • @absinthefandubs9130
      @absinthefandubs9130 3 ปีที่แล้ว +116

      You´re still making normal apostrophe´s

    • @namingisdifficult408
      @namingisdifficult408 3 ปีที่แล้ว +28

      Toby is all

  • @laurenherweyer2659
    @laurenherweyer2659 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4558

    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
      @Man-ej6uv 3 ปีที่แล้ว +305

      maybe they’re purposefully ignoring it 👀👀

    • @mybffiscrazy
      @mybffiscrazy 3 ปีที่แล้ว +580

      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
      @infectiousfungi3188 3 ปีที่แล้ว +22

      i actually believe its a boy

    • @placeholder8392
      @placeholder8392 3 ปีที่แล้ว +57

      I feel like this is the most likely answer

    • @iwantsalmon
      @iwantsalmon 3 ปีที่แล้ว +90

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

  • @TyGently
    @TyGently 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1855

    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
      @donutlover417 2 ปีที่แล้ว +550

      THE APOSTROPHE! AAAAAAAAAAA-

    • @Multienderguy37
      @Multienderguy37 2 ปีที่แล้ว +151

      @@donutlover417 I didn`t notice it.

    • @cascharles3838
      @cascharles3838 2 ปีที่แล้ว +96

      @@donutlover417 OH SHIT

    • @thelittleredhairedgirlfrom6527
      @thelittleredhairedgirlfrom6527 2 ปีที่แล้ว +164

      We found another Toby alt!!!

    • @SacredDaturana
      @SacredDaturana 2 ปีที่แล้ว +220

      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.

  • @robinrose8104
    @robinrose8104 ปีที่แล้ว +956

    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
      @dwell7315 ปีที่แล้ว +29

      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
      @liv6833 ปีที่แล้ว +11

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

    • @ellw7830
      @ellw7830 ปีที่แล้ว +8

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

    • @heyitzmae
      @heyitzmae ปีที่แล้ว +4

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

  • @SingingSpock
    @SingingSpock 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3120

    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
      @kronemerj 3 ปีที่แล้ว +80

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

    • @hypatiakovalevskayasklodow9195
      @hypatiakovalevskayasklodow9195 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

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

    • @HyperfixationPres
      @HyperfixationPres 2 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      But is every Toby also Xehanort?

    • @zoguy6988
      @zoguy6988 2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

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

    • @chillinsquirtle
      @chillinsquirtle 2 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      @@HyperfixationPres only if they played union x

  • @donnamaria3059
    @donnamaria3059 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2721

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

    • @highsun76
      @highsun76 3 ปีที่แล้ว +18

      LMAOO I LOVE THIS

    • @natanbcpc
      @natanbcpc 3 ปีที่แล้ว +25

      *It`s

    • @Mossprite21
      @Mossprite21 3 ปีที่แล้ว +18

      Plot twist: the gun is Toby

    • @nawa73
      @nawa73 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@Mossprite21 lol

    • @Gafafsg
      @Gafafsg 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      @@Mossprite21 Always has been

  • @Mike-ii1hi
    @Mike-ii1hi 10 หลายเดือนก่อน +264

    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
      @ronan-outoftime 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +9

      it`s funny seeing you here toby

    • @jonathanj8303
      @jonathanj8303 2 หลายเดือนก่อน

      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.

  • @Kyman102
    @Kyman102 2 ปีที่แล้ว +552

    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
      @kabobawsome 2 ปีที่แล้ว +109

      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.

  • @hibiscusflowers4436
    @hibiscusflowers4436 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2759

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

    • @diyagore1784
      @diyagore1784 3 ปีที่แล้ว +31

      Wait, who are we trying to find?

    • @jamierooney455
      @jamierooney455 3 ปีที่แล้ว +84

      @@diyagore1784 the author of my immortal

    • @diyagore1784
      @diyagore1784 3 ปีที่แล้ว +23

      @@jamierooney455 oh.

    • @Goldman200
      @Goldman200 3 ปีที่แล้ว +34

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

    • @bubblegum1366
      @bubblegum1366 3 ปีที่แล้ว +42

      @@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.

  • @davidfrend
    @davidfrend 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4543

    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
      @FadzaiSimango 2 ปีที่แล้ว +125

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

    • @silverprimus321boi9
      @silverprimus321boi9 2 ปีที่แล้ว +136

      @@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
      @FadzaiSimango 2 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      @@silverprimus321boi9 This makes total sense!!!!

    • @emememememememememe
      @emememememememememe 2 ปีที่แล้ว +35

      miku wrote my immortal

    • @multi-mason
      @multi-mason 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

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

  • @madisonbednarz547
    @madisonbednarz547 2 ปีที่แล้ว +776

    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
      @librasuperstar3779 2 ปีที่แล้ว +183

      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
      @meganrobinson9867 2 ปีที่แล้ว +138

      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
      @mel-burnes 2 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      but then we might not have gooten this video

    • @isaguima9731
      @isaguima9731 ปีที่แล้ว +79

      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
      @heyitzmae 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

      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

  • @Ouroboros2343
    @Ouroboros2343 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +89

    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
      @llewelynshingler2173 7 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

      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
      @alim.9801 4 หลายเดือนก่อน +16

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

  • @Oceanus5000
    @Oceanus5000 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3287

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

    • @kB042
      @kB042 3 ปีที่แล้ว +115

      TOBY McGuire

    • @mothma_am
      @mothma_am 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

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

    • @percivallavoie4415
      @percivallavoie4415 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      This entire comment

    • @superherovamp
      @superherovamp 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      That and a infinity mirror

    • @kabob0077
      @kabob0077 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      @Fen Vulpeus There's more.

  • @odolowa1
    @odolowa1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +585

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

    • @jbennett5634
      @jbennett5634 3 ปีที่แล้ว +40

      *stares off into the sunset*

    • @shytendeakatamanoir9740
      @shytendeakatamanoir9740 3 ปีที่แล้ว +75

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

    • @marcelarossi8737
      @marcelarossi8737 3 ปีที่แล้ว +39

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

    • @mixedjpg
      @mixedjpg 3 ปีที่แล้ว +14

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

    • @Rikku147
      @Rikku147 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Okay I cannot stop laughing

  • @linnama5869
    @linnama5869 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +97

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

  • @BinturongGirl
    @BinturongGirl 2 ปีที่แล้ว +209

    "You were caught red-handed, smoking gun in the victim's mouth, surrounded by eye-witnesses and holding a notorized confession. What is your defense?"
    Well, I was hacked.

    • @gloop7458
      @gloop7458 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      My mind just went buck wild on an idea spiral (I know this comment is a year old. Shut up)
      What if AI gained sentience (like in Detroit Become Human) but they could still be hacked because they're AI. How would a legal system deal with that. Potentially, the AI would be smart enough to be able to take legal responsibility for their own actions but how would you determine if they were hacked? Would the laws at the time allow AI to wave responsibility for actions when hacked or would they still hold them accountable?
      Anyways, that's my brain dump. I'm not going to write this (probably) because it doesn't interest me too much and aligns too closely to an insanity allegory for me to be uncomfortable as representing it as non-human. I just had to get it out

  • @manuelafaria6703
    @manuelafaria6703 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1960

    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
      @ohhellobethany 3 ปีที่แล้ว +43

      Better go change my bio, lol

    • @xxrandomxxheroxx12
      @xxrandomxxheroxx12 3 ปีที่แล้ว +30

      Better go change my Will

    • @Rain-np7tk
      @Rain-np7tk 3 ปีที่แล้ว +24

      This is going to be my senior quote

    • @Sunny_coolgamer
      @Sunny_coolgamer 3 ปีที่แล้ว +15

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

    • @Niobesnuppa
      @Niobesnuppa 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      @@Sunny_coolgamer *Don`t forget

  • @nilknarf36
    @nilknarf36 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3425

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

    • @idek7438
      @idek7438 3 ปีที่แล้ว +294

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

    • @shytendeakatamanoir9740
      @shytendeakatamanoir9740 3 ปีที่แล้ว +181

      @@idek7438 We're all Toby.

    • @letmebeyoureden
      @letmebeyoureden 3 ปีที่แล้ว +102

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

    • @pinkdoor2450
      @pinkdoor2450 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      @@letmebeyoureden LOLL yes xD

    • @shytendeakatamanoir9740
      @shytendeakatamanoir9740 3 ปีที่แล้ว +72

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

  • @troodon1096
    @troodon1096 2 ปีที่แล้ว +414

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

    • @extreme_vegoon
      @extreme_vegoon ปีที่แล้ว +1

      I do.

    • @ludiloigranje9921
      @ludiloigranje9921 ปีที่แล้ว

      Yes

    • @heyitzmae
      @heyitzmae ปีที่แล้ว +19

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

    • @mariaz1884
      @mariaz1884 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      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
      @rachel3206 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +10

      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"

  • @erynflynn8467
    @erynflynn8467 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +60

    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
      @emilybarclay8831 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

      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
      @Anindeterminateamountofbees 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@emilybarclay8831also snapewives. That vid was a wild ride

  • @dalli
    @dalli 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2809

    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
      @pface774 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      im the 1 thousandth like 😎😎😎😎

    • @TheWikingWarrior
      @TheWikingWarrior 3 ปีที่แล้ว +132

      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
      @eps3154 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

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

    • @gracehaven5459
      @gracehaven5459 3 ปีที่แล้ว +12

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

    • @SupergirlFaisa
      @SupergirlFaisa 3 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      @@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.

  • @loveandwar007
    @loveandwar007 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2884

    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
      @SarahZ  3 ปีที่แล้ว +1113

      honestly i personally think that's the most likely outcome

    • @uhuh936
      @uhuh936 3 ปีที่แล้ว +277

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

    • @kleptomatic8848
      @kleptomatic8848 3 ปีที่แล้ว +250

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

    • @ileanabriannemari
      @ileanabriannemari 3 ปีที่แล้ว +92

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

    • @raidenthenctzenwithinsomni4961
      @raidenthenctzenwithinsomni4961 3 ปีที่แล้ว +30

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

  • @bendickinson9965
    @bendickinson9965 ปีที่แล้ว +198

    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
      @theholyllama6950 ปีที่แล้ว +25

      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
      @carolinemcgovern4488 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

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

  • @RodrickMarsMoon
    @RodrickMarsMoon 2 ปีที่แล้ว +405

    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
      @YourLocalMagical_Girl 2 ปีที่แล้ว +30

      I call him VAMPOTTER

    • @salem-01
      @salem-01 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

      How does your uncle type his apostrophes (/j)

    • @RodrickMarsMoon
      @RodrickMarsMoon 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

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

    • @RodrickMarsMoon
      @RodrickMarsMoon 3 หลายเดือนก่อน

      @@YourLocalMagical_Girl Haha'. Good one 🤗😄.

    • @salem-01
      @salem-01 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      @@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

  • @Tama-Hero
    @Tama-Hero 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9274

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

    • @fhey7903
      @fhey7903 3 ปีที่แล้ว +455

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

    • @cloud_and_proud
      @cloud_and_proud 3 ปีที่แล้ว +97

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

    • @arandombard1197
      @arandombard1197 3 ปีที่แล้ว +187

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

    • @obamaobama1056
      @obamaobama1056 3 ปีที่แล้ว +208

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

    • @justineberlein5916
      @justineberlein5916 3 ปีที่แล้ว +21

      I. am Toby

  • @Firebatx36
    @Firebatx36 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8288

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

    • @nikolaos9652
      @nikolaos9652 3 ปีที่แล้ว +168

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

    • @briangronberg6507
      @briangronberg6507 3 ปีที่แล้ว +34

      Right!?

    • @gracelau3093
      @gracelau3093 3 ปีที่แล้ว +132

      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
      @zoec6944 3 ปีที่แล้ว +55

      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
      @briangronberg6507 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Grace Lau Ms. Scribe?

  • @connitinmouth1638
    @connitinmouth1638 2 ปีที่แล้ว +131

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

    • @connitinmouth1638
      @connitinmouth1638 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

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

  • @jessepretorius1456
    @jessepretorius1456 2 ปีที่แล้ว +252

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

  • @Lexi_Zone
    @Lexi_Zone 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3048

    "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
      @rotciv557 3 ปีที่แล้ว +239

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

    • @adriankatz
      @adriankatz 3 ปีที่แล้ว +162

      Everyone's Toby?
      Always have been.

    • @emmadelfin884
      @emmadelfin884 3 ปีที่แล้ว +19

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

    • @coscorrodrift
      @coscorrodrift 3 ปีที่แล้ว +48

      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
      @Puerco-Potter 3 ปีที่แล้ว +20

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

  • @ilaya4183
    @ilaya4183 3 ปีที่แล้ว +971

    "Toby or not Toby"
    That genius joke tho.

    • @kikiceili3956
      @kikiceili3956 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      RIGHT?

    • @gerardlacroix6015
      @gerardlacroix6015 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      ... So that was his end game ?

    • @allozaur2
      @allozaur2 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      @@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
      @IsaacMayerCreativeWorks 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Toby or not toby - that is the genius joke tho

    • @CaseyShontz
      @CaseyShontz 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

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

  • @Art-ye4gd
    @Art-ye4gd ปีที่แล้ว +198

    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
      @cultusfetus ปีที่แล้ว +18

      did toby at least paid you for it?

    • @TheRaychenator
      @TheRaychenator ปีที่แล้ว +27

      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
      @MartianCandies ปีที่แล้ว +1

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

    • @joearnold6881
      @joearnold6881 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Did you write Final Fantasy House?

    • @queenbeeautumn
      @queenbeeautumn ปีที่แล้ว +33

      Hi Toby!

  • @GoblinoAlaMode
    @GoblinoAlaMode 2 ปีที่แล้ว +173

    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
      @Jack-hi1hq 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

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

    • @caoilfhionndunbar
      @caoilfhionndunbar 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

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

  • @krlosz1996
    @krlosz1996 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1839

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

    • @Polikaize
      @Polikaize 3 ปีที่แล้ว +102

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

    • @raininess
      @raininess 3 ปีที่แล้ว +32

      The true puppeteer. O.O

    • @jonathanbaggette6541
      @jonathanbaggette6541 3 ปีที่แล้ว +19

      I just spit out my coffee

    • @warmachine5835
      @warmachine5835 3 ปีที่แล้ว +20

      I mean, fuck, it tracks.

    • @GlassesnMouthplates
      @GlassesnMouthplates 3 ปีที่แล้ว +23

      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.

  • @re0294
    @re0294 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3286

    “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
      @KS-di4bn 3 ปีที่แล้ว +161

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

    • @user-xh6cg7zf9h
      @user-xh6cg7zf9h 3 ปีที่แล้ว +20

      toby

    • @icp7201
      @icp7201 3 ปีที่แล้ว +47

      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
      @JulianHernandez-tn5gu 3 ปีที่แล้ว +13

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

    • @brandonporter8509
      @brandonporter8509 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      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

  • @medonot
    @medonot 2 ปีที่แล้ว +328

    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
      @dinonid1234 2 ปีที่แล้ว +90

      How do we know you're not Toby?

    • @truebornseeker9767
      @truebornseeker9767 2 ปีที่แล้ว +106

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

  • @cottoncandythetrashpanda
    @cottoncandythetrashpanda 2 ปีที่แล้ว +257

    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
      @jacksyoutubechannel4045 ปีที่แล้ว +27

      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
      @XatxiFly ปีที่แล้ว +19

      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
      @anafolie471 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      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
      @nottheshirt483 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@anafolie471 source?

    • @anafolie471
      @anafolie471 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      @@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.

  • @d.lan3y
    @d.lan3y 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1105

    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
      @lysergidedaydream5970 3 ปีที่แล้ว +37

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

    • @LukeSciarappa
      @LukeSciarappa 3 ปีที่แล้ว +16

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

    • @QueenFondue
      @QueenFondue 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      I'm Lillie.

    • @lysergidedaydream5970
      @lysergidedaydream5970 3 ปีที่แล้ว +21

      @@QueenFondue * I`m Lillie.

    • @heinoustentacles5719
      @heinoustentacles5719 3 ปีที่แล้ว +18

      Hey Toby! How's Toby and the kids?

  • @Liboo52
    @Liboo52 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1251

    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
      @jesusramirezromo2037 3 ปีที่แล้ว +61

      Or they completley forggot they made it...

    • @potmki6601
      @potmki6601 3 ปีที่แล้ว +178

      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
      @SomeNerdyVlogger 3 ปีที่แล้ว +73

      Honestly, this is the most likely scenario.

    • @Sheechiibii
      @Sheechiibii 3 ปีที่แล้ว +60

      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
      @puffnisse 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

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

  • @TobiCatsith
    @TobiCatsith 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +46

    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.

  • @sjmokey
    @sjmokey 2 ปีที่แล้ว +164

    Girlfriend Reviews recently cracked a case of someone with several alternate accounts sending themselves death threats that also used the weird apostrophe. In retrospect, he was probably also just Toby.

    • @cultusfetus
      @cultusfetus ปีที่แล้ว +5

      i know this is an old comment but which video?

    • @TheRaychenator
      @TheRaychenator ปีที่แล้ว +66

      @@cultusfetus I just looked this up because I am absolutely imploding over the fact that the Tobyverse isn't over. The video is titled 'A Redditor on r/TheLastOfUs2 sent death threats to himself and blamed us. | Girlfriend Reviews'. I cannot believe the reach this one man has. Also, slightly unrelated, but after watching Sarah Z talk about this, i went and looked up a video essay on MsScribe and right off the bat, the name Ebony Brown is used, and while it's most likely that Toby took her name FROM the MsScribe situation (in tandem with his obsession with My Immortal) I cannot express to you the immediate heart attack I experienced and the panicked thoughts of "Anyone could be Toby, I could be Toby, I can trust no one' and how that has impacted my life LOL

    • @fallenwarlock2418
      @fallenwarlock2418 ปีที่แล้ว +33

      @@TheRaychenator And Toby allegedly doxxed Tara last year. They’ve said that, yes, they aren’t the real author, but they used to chat with the real one, and showed some emails they’ve exchanged without any censorship, so people used the uncensored personal information to find someone that would match those info. So Toby either doxxed the real Tara or they’ve doxxed an innocent person who has nothing to do with My Immortal (or they’ve doxxed themselves and this is just Toby playing 4D chess alone)

    • @anafolie471
      @anafolie471 ปีที่แล้ว +31

      @@fallenwarlock2418 Just a correction: He came close to accidentally dox Tara but that never happened. All ppl found was what was the IP address for, which was the school she (most probably) studied. After that the mods of the subreddit removed every post related to that and toby just reposted the emails and covered the ip

  • @tedros6917
    @tedros6917 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1575

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

    • @Random_Person.-.
      @Random_Person.-. 3 ปีที่แล้ว +69

      Oh no

    • @rileys.9768
      @rileys.9768 3 ปีที่แล้ว +190

      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
      @Rain-np7tk 3 ปีที่แล้ว +34

      What if 90% of the accounts are toby?!

    • @liyre4189
      @liyre4189 3 ปีที่แล้ว +85

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

    • @Rain-np7tk
      @Rain-np7tk 3 ปีที่แล้ว +43

      @@liyre4189 isnt everyone toby deep down?

  • @folklaur
    @folklaur 3 ปีที่แล้ว +616

    This is the closest I’ve ever gotten to reading the bible

    • @annabelcrescibene4257
      @annabelcrescibene4257 3 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      Me too

    • @_gremlinboy
      @_gremlinboy 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      God I wish that were me

    • @aerithxx
      @aerithxx 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Same, and I've actually physically owned a bible!

    • @lmao2302
      @lmao2302 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      Toby having 21 altarnative accounts reminds of the God being the son the lord and the holy spirit all at the same time.

  • @natwafakidna8234
    @natwafakidna8234 2 ปีที่แล้ว +165

    Thank you Sarah, I could have lived my whole life without the knowledge that an Atlas Shrugged x My Little Pony fanfiction existed.

    • @leonidtimofeev1178
      @leonidtimofeev1178 5 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      There's also a fanfic where Rainbow Dash reads "Virtue of Selfishness" and it even has good reviews and is kinda well-written (although preachy as fuck... which is on brand for all Ayn Rand fans tho).

    • @charlesintune
      @charlesintune 17 วันที่ผ่านมา

      I just cackled

  • @gabriellealessandra8181
    @gabriellealessandra8181 2 ปีที่แล้ว +215

    i was thinking how strange it is for a Christian especially to write Bible fanfic... and then i remembered Narnia. lmao i'll accept Narnia.

    • @meganrobinson9867
      @meganrobinson9867 2 ปีที่แล้ว +28

      Arguably Jesus Christ Superstar and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat are also Bible fanfiction

    • @shadowldrago
      @shadowldrago 2 ปีที่แล้ว +45

      @@meganrobinson9867 I'll do you one better. Paradise Lost and Dante's Inferno. The latter was even a self-insert.

    • @meganrobinson9867
      @meganrobinson9867 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      I also realised Good Oman’s is too

    • @shadowldrago
      @shadowldrago 2 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      @@meganrobinson9867 YEP. Ever since there have been stories, people have wanted to tell their own stories about those stories.

    • @meganrobinson9867
      @meganrobinson9867 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      And Lucifer

  • @jennavoutsinas775
    @jennavoutsinas775 3 ปีที่แล้ว +871

    Pretty Little Liars wishes it was this complex

  • @RedBardIsCool
    @RedBardIsCool 3 ปีที่แล้ว +19764

    Mystery Inc WISHES they could solve mysteries like us

    • @xmascritter2383
      @xmascritter2383 3 ปีที่แล้ว +395

      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
      @TsukiGeek 3 ปีที่แล้ว +352

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

    • @Nadia1989
      @Nadia1989 3 ปีที่แล้ว +107

      True crime wishes it could be you two

    • @Jayfive276
      @Jayfive276 3 ปีที่แล้ว +115

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

    • @iamjustkiwi
      @iamjustkiwi 3 ปีที่แล้ว +35

      @@pyxella6020 yikes 😬

  • @halfdraco7765
    @halfdraco7765 ปีที่แล้ว +29

    I really, REALLY want someone to make an edit/parody of "Agatha All Along" from Wandavision that's like "it was Toby Alts all along" because OH MY GOD how much time does this person have???!!?

  • @nickpoenisch4563
    @nickpoenisch4563 2 ปีที่แล้ว +78

    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

  • @IcyIndigo
    @IcyIndigo 3 ปีที่แล้ว +914

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

    • @themostepicpersonever1154
      @themostepicpersonever1154 3 ปีที่แล้ว +33

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

    • @OhNoBohNo
      @OhNoBohNo 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

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

    • @yooringonghan
      @yooringonghan 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      @@OhNoBohNo but "Legion" are demons tho

    • @JesseColton
      @JesseColton 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

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

    • @hhoi8225
      @hhoi8225 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      It's Fight Club for fanfic.

  • @brittanyewilliams4572
    @brittanyewilliams4572 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2596

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

    • @Tustin2121
      @Tustin2121 3 ปีที่แล้ว +145

      Crewmate: There are 10 Tobies among us.

    • @ghalfsharp0
      @ghalfsharp0 3 ปีที่แล้ว +137

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

    • @skinnyboi8937
      @skinnyboi8937 3 ปีที่แล้ว +38

      This is some conspiracy shit

    • @frederique1019
      @frederique1019 3 ปีที่แล้ว +15

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

    • @rebbekahcannons9805
      @rebbekahcannons9805 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      That's the interest for you

  • @skyblade7438
    @skyblade7438 ปีที่แล้ว +38

    This entire ordeal is the definition of "congratulations, you played yourself."

  • @verylostdoommarauder
    @verylostdoommarauder ปีที่แล้ว +122

    I might add my own theory: So when it comes to hacking into an account, there are two possibilities: Either someone guesses the password (usually using a bot) or the list of stored passwords is leaked. I don't really know that much about fanfiction history, but I have seen multiple videos about My Immortal and I assume that a password leak around 2008 would be something to note, so that's ruled out (Correct me if I'm wrong). The thing about Toby is that 1. He never hacked any other accounts and 2. His activity doesn't suggest that it was something he did multiple times and 3. He doesn't seem like the kind of person who would bother with either a bot to guess the password or by guessing it manually. Now consider that the timeline for My Immortal's posting slowed down towards the end and ended with a bunch of chapters dropped all at once. With the evidence considered, I propose a likely scenario: Toby knew the real author of My Immortal personally. My Immortal's author got bored and decided to give both accounts to Toby not knowing the kind of nonsense he did on Fanfiction during his free time.

    • @turnleftaticeland
      @turnleftaticeland ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Oh shit true!!

    • @danlovegrove6972
      @danlovegrove6972 ปีที่แล้ว +22

      If I'm remembering my lore correctly there was a password leak from another site the real Tara Gilesbie used and that's maybe how a hack happened? Strange Aeons has a my immortal video that mentions this.

    • @salem-01
      @salem-01 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

      So according to some sources Tara’s account was REALLY easy to get into and there were a ton of people breaking in, her password was apparently just “Tara” and I think it DID get leaked a couple times. This could all be bullshit though and I think yours could be a valid theory.

  • @emer730
    @emer730 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3189

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

    • @katsucandy
      @katsucandy 3 ปีที่แล้ว +376

      nobody tell her about dante's self-insert fanfic

    • @emer730
      @emer730 3 ปีที่แล้ว +209

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

    • @Cambroth
      @Cambroth 3 ปีที่แล้ว +74

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

    • @GuiSmith
      @GuiSmith 3 ปีที่แล้ว +27

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

    • @RestingJudge
      @RestingJudge 3 ปีที่แล้ว +23

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

  • @inbarfink3253
    @inbarfink3253 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1931

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

    • @maxwellsdemon6599
      @maxwellsdemon6599 3 ปีที่แล้ว +124

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

    • @lilithium3940
      @lilithium3940 3 ปีที่แล้ว +58

      @@maxwellsdemon6599 We are all Toby

    • @SpoopySquid
      @SpoopySquid 3 ปีที่แล้ว +79

      The real Toby was the friends we made along the way

    • @artemismeow
      @artemismeow 3 ปีที่แล้ว +24

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

    • @ChildOfAnAndroid
      @ChildOfAnAndroid 3 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      You`re not using the right apostrophe...

  • @tinfoilballoon8362
    @tinfoilballoon8362 2 ปีที่แล้ว +194

    I actually do believe Toby wrote My Immortal at this point, probably in the peak of his... whatever spiral the Tobyverse is. My theory is Toby enjoys (or, not necessarily enjoys, but is compelled) to be disbelieved and doubted. He does it to himself *constantly* as a form of self-harm or coping. When My Immortal took the hell off, the high of his identity not being known so he could dangle it around every time the mystery is brought up as a sort of... I dunno. Way to continue his whole disbelieved schtick. Because at this point, the author of My Immortal could come forward and I think everyone and their mother would still go "are you sure tho"-- it's like self-induced imposter's syndrome or something. I had an ex with BPD and these tendencies are REALLY similar, just in a really niche way. Your brain tells you that you're not actually a good person, or not actually kind, or not actually worth anyone's time, or not actually the author of My Immortal, and you manifest this in various ways. Physical self-harm, social s*icide (deleting your social media, discord, etc). I wouldn't be surprised if it manifests in other ways.
    Either way, whether or not my theory is right, I do hope Toby finds happiness and relieves his loneliness in a much more constructive way.

    • @crazydragy4233
      @crazydragy4233 2 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      One of the more unique and interesting insights/opinions in the comments I read so far.
      At this point I'm pretty convinced it's Toby too but I will never understand the method to this madness and I think it's time to move on.
      The whole thing is fascinating as heck for sure though.

    • @howlrichard1028
      @howlrichard1028 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      Hi Toby.

    • @straawberryfieldsforever
      @straawberryfieldsforever ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Right! I think its so absurd this guy would suddenly start hacking someone just for his obsession with Tara's story. As a writer, especially when I was really young, the obsession over your OWN story can definitely be real. I think at the time the story didnt have the big rep and fame as it had now, yet, somehow Toby back then was completely obsessed over it. I think also the start of it all, that seems very real is creating Tara and Raven. Having a co-writer is a really easy away to protect yourself from criticism. Some people cannot handle criticism or critique so badly they start to produce their own hate accounts, or praise accounts.

    • @kaitlyn__L
      @kaitlyn__L 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

      Yeah NGL the constantly making and deleting(/"retiring") accounts definitely made me think a lot of BPD (I say as someone with it, but who hasn't done that, but saw a bunch of pals do it in their teens and twenties)

  • @dragonfire7965
    @dragonfire7965 ปีที่แล้ว +31

    There’s something inherently creepy to me about hearing stories abt the same person using multiple accounts. It’s not like I don’t have multiple accounts on many social medias so I’m not totally sure why it freaks me out so much. But it does lol. Spookier than true crime

  • @matildarose
    @matildarose 3 ปีที่แล้ว +570

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

    • @j2dragon109
      @j2dragon109 3 ปีที่แล้ว +18

      *What if everyone is secretly toby

    • @cat1mouse2
      @cat1mouse2 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

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

    • @joannamyers1268
      @joannamyers1268 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

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

    • @nandyk.2026
      @nandyk.2026 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

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

    • @anib8863
      @anib8863 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@j2dragon109Shush, you'll reveal us!

  • @pacoromes
    @pacoromes 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1046

    JKR just tweeted that Toby's actually been gay this entire time.

    • @myettechase
      @myettechase 3 ปีที่แล้ว +200

      “Toby” is a JKR sockpuppet, it’s actually an acronym that stands for Trans-Oxclusionary Badical Yemenist

    • @AngbangCorp
      @AngbangCorp 3 ปีที่แล้ว +16

      I'm crying hahaha XD

    • @doodlebrain6594
      @doodlebrain6594 3 ปีที่แล้ว +16

      Fool, JKR is toby

    • @Shitty_ghost
      @Shitty_ghost 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@myettechasethis is my new headcanon

  • @yomilemondragon1721
    @yomilemondragon1721 2 ปีที่แล้ว +63

    Who's to say Toby ISN'T Tara? I mean, he turned out to be everyone else. I'm starting to wonder if I'm Toby. Maybe Toby is all of us?

  • @Jaros
    @Jaros 2 ปีที่แล้ว +25

    Imagine being one of the few real people following The Prayer Warriors at the time, finding out through this that pretty much everyone they were interact with at the time were all the same person...

  • @Xidnaf
    @Xidnaf 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3830

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

    • @Alice-gr1kb
      @Alice-gr1kb 3 ปีที่แล้ว +51

      OMG IT’S YOU XIDNAF HI

    • @justineberlein5916
      @justineberlein5916 3 ปีที่แล้ว +13

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

    • @neptune7315
      @neptune7315 3 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      woah its actually you

    • @eddie-roo
      @eddie-roo 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      Wow, it's actually you

    • @fredericksmith7942
      @fredericksmith7942 3 ปีที่แล้ว +13

      LANGUAGE STICKMAN

  • @gachasaver5846
    @gachasaver5846 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2614

    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
      @lesteryaytrippy7282 3 ปีที่แล้ว +131

      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
      @Sheechiibii 3 ปีที่แล้ว +24

      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
      @abbie_joan 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      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
      @Sentientmatter8 3 ปีที่แล้ว +13

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

    • @lokiscobee6907
      @lokiscobee6907 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      he may have had a multiple personality disorder

  • @kaleeshsynth9994
    @kaleeshsynth9994 2 ปีที่แล้ว +76

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

  • @mannekwin4664
    @mannekwin4664 ปีที่แล้ว +22

    so i was around at the time all the midnitegoff stuff went down and what your man is leaving out here is that my immortal 2 was probably taken down by him because real tara (i.e. the actual bloodyrists666 account) commented on the story and called him out for impersonating her. he then did a public apology and they apparently reconciled which is why the two accounts are friends. might be somewhere up on waybackmachine, i swear i remember reading all this in real time lol

    • @salem-01
      @salem-01 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      This is interesting because if Tara did comment saying that Toby was impersonating her that directly contradicts the emails Toby and Tara exchanged, or supposedly exchanged. When Toby apologised for pretending to be her Tara says “I didn’t know you pretended to be me lol that’s weird” (or something similar.
      Anyway if this is true my three theories are that one of the two (the comments or the emails) were faked, she just kinda forgot it, or she commented on the fic not knowing Toby was pretending to be her and instead was just angry that he was writing a sequel to her fan fiction.

  • @Yanara126
    @Yanara126 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7343

    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
      @TheTimestreamer 3 ปีที่แล้ว +433

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

    • @Quinhala11
      @Quinhala11 3 ปีที่แล้ว +623

      Still on vacation in Dubai

    • @bruh-mb1rd
      @bruh-mb1rd 3 ปีที่แล้ว +282

      I really hope whoever wrote it is doing good

    • @Azazreal
      @Azazreal 3 ปีที่แล้ว +62

      Tara is also Toby

    • @matthewvandenel9827
      @matthewvandenel9827 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      You hope she is a cat lady? Sick burn.

  • @SchaffrillasProductions
    @SchaffrillasProductions 3 ปีที่แล้ว +21110

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

    • @SarahZ
      @SarahZ  3 ปีที่แล้ว +6100

      toby wrote the journals

    • @juliad857
      @juliad857 3 ปีที่แล้ว +477

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

    • @MoreColtraneChanges
      @MoreColtraneChanges 3 ปีที่แล้ว +689

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

    • @Alice-gr1kb
      @Alice-gr1kb 3 ปีที่แล้ว +112

      honestly like wtf is this shit

    • @doyoueverfeellikeaplasticb2703
      @doyoueverfeellikeaplasticb2703 3 ปีที่แล้ว +41

      omg hii

  • @supergamer42
    @supergamer42 2 ปีที่แล้ว +36

    this is incredible.
    i had no idea that other people were out there pretending to be 50 people and starting their own communities of themselves. it honestly makes me wonder just how many of us are out there; a weird quirk of the combination of severe depression, processing issues, loneliness, and access to the internet that no other society could quite have created.
    i used to do something similar; i created many accounts and they often fought with each other, were rude to each other, dated, etc. it was a maladaptive form of imaginary friends, but i also put it to less innocent uses, like vetting people who i was becoming friends with online under fake names and learning about them before they knew i was curious. it actually helped protect me from being abducted once, because i had, through my alt, learned that the person who was trying very hard to meet up with me in real life was lying about key details as their story didn't line up to both my accounts.
    the late oughts were a very damaging time to be young, and a lot of our trauma came out in ways nobody had ever seen before, or noticed (i can imagine someone with a similar tendency publishing articles under various names, or op-eds, or whatever, but the ability to have multiple alter egos interacting with people you actually know either online or in real life and have them have no idea it's all you is a very modern thing.
    i kinda want to meet this guy, just because i don't know anyone who did this to such a pathological extent as i did (and i did these things up until my early 20s, so i'm not surprised he hadn't quite grown out of it 2 years ago.) i'd be curious to find out if he's been diagnosed with similar mental illness, and if it's a trait of the specific intersection of certain disorders or just a trait some people have a tendency towards.
    anyway, great video and fabulous sleuthing, thank you for this content!

    • @yikes369
      @yikes369 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      i did similar things to when i was pretty young. i was a lonely kid and my way of coping was to make a bunch of accounts,
      create friends and interlink them to make a larger friendship group. i didn't have much self-confidence and in real life i struggled making friends because of my body dysmorphia and mental health. it's something i regret to this day as i never told any of the real people involved that i did it and i would have no way to now as i've lost contact with them or the details to any of my accounts from that era. i think that it's much more common than people expect.
      i hope you're doing well. it's a hard thing to come to terms with!

    • @Shrek_es_mi_pastor
      @Shrek_es_mi_pastor ปีที่แล้ว

      What the fuck

  • @cursedcontent4207
    @cursedcontent4207 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +11

    If I'm ever in New Zealand, I want to go and see as many musicians as I can so I can shout "HEY TOBY!" at them just to see if any respond.

  • @monicaraybrandt
    @monicaraybrandt 3 ปีที่แล้ว +718

    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
      @puffnisse 3 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      So just the Spartacus scene?

    • @idkidc2573
      @idkidc2573 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      @@puffnisse no the radio rebel scene

    • @kitana5583
      @kitana5583 3 ปีที่แล้ว +5

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

    • @thatoneguy9582
      @thatoneguy9582 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      -greg hello-

  • @ArtemisScribe
    @ArtemisScribe 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2263

    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
      @chofi43 3 ปีที่แล้ว +145

      Its 2020, weird shit is happening, i have hope

    • @irdiseddere7752
      @irdiseddere7752 3 ปีที่แล้ว +64

      That Rose Christo situation was a Trainwreck

    • @ArtemisScribe
      @ArtemisScribe 3 ปีที่แล้ว +76

      @@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
      @ArtemisScribe 3 ปีที่แล้ว +58

      @@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
      @gelletanas 3 ปีที่แล้ว +62

      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

  • @jennifergriel861
    @jennifergriel861 ปีที่แล้ว +43

    Imagine if Sarah was the one who wrote My Immortal, but she has tv style amnesia and doesn’t remember.

  • @agustinamagpie
    @agustinamagpie 2 ปีที่แล้ว +174

    This video only convinced me 100% that Toby was the author of My Immortal... The dyslexia, the trolling, the "hackings", the `s... And most damningly: the name starting with T.

    • @truebornseeker9767
      @truebornseeker9767 2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      Did you find a quote where Tara uses the weird apostrophe???

    • @user-ip9jq9zw9c
      @user-ip9jq9zw9c 2 ปีที่แล้ว +22

      @@truebornseeker9767 i haven’t found that, but there’s a solid portion of toby alts where he doesn’t use the weird apostrophe. everything else seems to fit with his patterns

    • @VaatiOfDarkness
      @VaatiOfDarkness ปีที่แล้ว +19

      Toby outright admitted to Red Bard he didn't write My Immortal, but that he had contact with the real Tara

    • @khepri3198
      @khepri3198 11 หลายเดือนก่อน +15

      I don't think that's the case. Too many inconsistencies arise from considering them the same - how Toby seems to have access to all his old accounts (because a lot of them have resurfaced recently), but not to Tara's original account. The way the start of his involvement with My Immortal coincides with a famous reading of it surfacing on YT and his new claim also coinciding with a My Immortal video on YT, but lack of involvement in the other fake author scandal. The 2008/2009 inconsistency and the way Todd-related stuff was added during that period and then reverted. The way My Immortal is just... better written than, say, the confirmed Todd sequel.
      No, I believe the theory of "Todd was not the author, but managed to get access to the account in 2008, and lost it later" fits all of the available evidence much more cleanly than the idea that Toby was My Immortal's author.

  • @howdyhowdyhelga
    @howdyhowdyhelga 3 ปีที่แล้ว +563

    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
      @TheSorrel 3 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      Now I wonder where all the other Sarahs are.

    • @howdyhowdyhelga
      @howdyhowdyhelga 3 ปีที่แล้ว +37

      @@TheSorrel There is no Sarah. Only Toby.

    • @eggi4443
      @eggi4443 3 ปีที่แล้ว +17

      Just Toby.
      Just Toby.
      Just Toby.

    • @SawyBoy
      @SawyBoy 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      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
      @AlexG2490 3 ปีที่แล้ว +3

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

  • @annarichard7359
    @annarichard7359 3 ปีที่แล้ว +826

    Permission to ship all the tobies with each other like the onceler

    • @moonmoon11111
      @moonmoon11111 3 ปีที่แล้ว +78

      THIS IS SOMETHING I CAN GET BEHIND

    • @kirakoraawesome
      @kirakoraawesome 3 ปีที่แล้ว +31

      ... *permission granted*

    • @freyrapollo
      @freyrapollo 3 ปีที่แล้ว +9

      permission DENIED

    • @siennahartle9069
      @siennahartle9069 3 ปีที่แล้ว +40

      I’m in. When do we start the massive summer camp role play?

    • @kazukisaudios2203
      @kazukisaudios2203 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      @@siennahartle9069 *Now, my children. Join the cult!*

  • @isaacthered
    @isaacthered 4 หลายเดือนก่อน +16

    So,
    - has a real name similar to Toby
    - is a musician
    - pathologically lies about things that are really easy to debunk
    - has a habit of taking full credit for things he was tangentially involved in
    - constantly gets into arguments in niche internet forums
    - keeps trying to get youtubers to talk about him for attention
    - opposed to liberal politics
    Tommy Tallarico, is that you?

    • @KnapfordMaster98
      @KnapfordMaster98 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      oh my god this is so funny

    • @TheRaychenator
      @TheRaychenator หลายเดือนก่อน

      The thing tho is that Tommy’s lies are all easily verifiably lies. He’s on live streams lieing all the time and his lies make sense. Toby’s motives are pathologic at BEST and there’s one person is this comment section who claims Toby is not one guy but a large network of people who write for him. Which makes his motives even more unclear!! That person won’t reply to me tho so I’m starting to wonder if they were telling the truth or if Toby really was just one freak.

    • @hehe-hi1vn
      @hehe-hi1vn 17 วันที่ผ่านมา

      Toby`s mother is very proud, isn`t she?

    • @TheRaychenator
      @TheRaychenator 8 วันที่ผ่านมา

      UPDATE THAT PERSON DID REPLY

  • @icarussarts
    @icarussarts ปีที่แล้ว +10

    I looked a bit on that DeviantArt account (Todd-Gilesbie), and somebody asked if he can still log into Bloosyrists. The question was asked on December 12th, 2014. They got an answer only in April 20th, 2015. The question: "so can you still log into (...)", and the answer states the following: "Sadly, not anymore. It's been like nine years. I can't even log into Midnitegoff anymore. I know it sucks but I don't really care anymore," which makes the date he last logged into Bloosyrists somewhere in early 2006, but still he confessed in 2011, another thing happened in 2009 and he kept mentioning 2008.
    It's clear it wasn't him behind My Immortal due to these inconsistencies.

    • @icarussarts
      @icarussarts ปีที่แล้ว +5

      On the topic of Raven, he got another question. "Was the girl 'Raven' that helped co-write MI a real person?"
      Answered, "Raven was bad up sadly. Was surprised to see her stories stayed on FFN for so long." AND I CAN'T GET WHAT "BAD UP" MEANS! Made up, maybe?
      In 2013 where was a question with "Are you actually back on?"
      "Somewhat yeah, I'm not going to make a grand announcement or something, but yeah, I'm back."
      Still, we've heard nothing related to MI in 2013 from Todd.

    • @icarussarts
      @icarussarts ปีที่แล้ว +2

      UPDATEEEE
      Out of curiosity, I looked up Tara fanfiction and got no useful results. Then, Tara Willow fanfiction appeared as a suggested search. Given that Willow is a character in My Immortal, it looks plausible. I found out it is something from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, in fact. Do you think she might have any connection to that fandom, too, given these names? It seems like something someone like Tara Gilesbie would be into. Just a theory.

  • @adamandom
    @adamandom 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2730

    "Apparently Bible fanfiction is a thing" Yeah, the biggest one is Dante's Inferno

    • @spritingk6879
      @spritingk6879 3 ปีที่แล้ว +184

      Paradise Lost os also pretty popular

    • @valeriavagapova
      @valeriavagapova 3 ปีที่แล้ว +98

      Quran is quite well-known as well, although one of my all-time favourites is The Book of Mormon

    • @BeazerProductions
      @BeazerProductions 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

      @@valeriavagapova lol I see why you’d think that. For real, though, the Book of Mormon is a favorite of mine, although I don’t consider it fan fiction. Reading it helps me grow closer to Jesus Christ and I know that it’s brought me a lot of comfort and helped me to be a kinder, more Christlike person than I would be otherwise. www.comeuntochrist.org/beliefs/book-of-mormon

    • @ajsnyder6160
      @ajsnyder6160 3 ปีที่แล้ว +132

      @@BeazerProductions pack it up, missionary

    • @sakura_branches
      @sakura_branches 3 ปีที่แล้ว +112

      @@BeazerProductions yeah, I preferred the musical version.

  • @brumagemm
    @brumagemm 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1790

    "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
      @thewingeddeer9946 3 ปีที่แล้ว +61

      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
      @XXXXX8 3 ปีที่แล้ว +4

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

    • @thewingeddeer9946
      @thewingeddeer9946 3 ปีที่แล้ว +26

      ​@@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
      @Steelmage99 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

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

    • @XXXXX8
      @XXXXX8 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@Steelmage99 You're unfunny too.

  • @milesbyt
    @milesbyt ปีที่แล้ว +27

    0:00 - Intro
    5:15 - The Conversation
    26:38 - Enter Toby
    38:14 - The Prayer Warriors
    51:45 - An Abundance of Tobies
    1:03:34 - TL;DW
    1:10:28 - Sponsor

  • @fleshbagwasp
    @fleshbagwasp ปีที่แล้ว +14

    Listening to this in the background was super surreal. Like, here I am, a dude named Tobie with a Christian upbringing, a propensity for lying, and a habit of making alts (Not to stir up drama with myself and definitely not 20+ accounts, jfc), and boom, I learn about some other eerily similar guy for an hour straight. I even used to have the weird messed up apostrophe, though that was only on my school Chromebook and because I never realized I accidentally changed the keyboard language setting until like 8th grade. It's like hearing about a weird parallel or alternate timeline version of myself.

  • @ziggybee9494
    @ziggybee9494 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1246

    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
      @johanna9845 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

      LMAO

    • @oliviawilliams6204
      @oliviawilliams6204 3 ปีที่แล้ว +64

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

    • @hkazu63
      @hkazu63 3 ปีที่แล้ว +67

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

    • @ChildOfAnAndroid
      @ChildOfAnAndroid 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

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

    • @johanna9845
      @johanna9845 3 ปีที่แล้ว

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

  • @kthxbi
    @kthxbi 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1047

    "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
      @NataliaELopez 3 ปีที่แล้ว +12

      That was my same reaction

    • @Frakkis
      @Frakkis 3 ปีที่แล้ว +1

      Initial is the word you missed then.

  • @madimelrose
    @madimelrose ปีที่แล้ว +31

    every month i watch this video and every time i rewatch im always creeped out by the uncanny valleyness of ebony brown's profile pic

    • @myspacepunk
      @myspacepunk ปีที่แล้ว +1

      it's a gender swapped picture of hitler iirc

    • @madimelrose
      @madimelrose ปีที่แล้ว

      @@myspacepunk i know, i found this out like a few weeks after i commented that LOL still super unsettling tho haha

    • @kaitlyn__L
      @kaitlyn__L 8 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      @@madimelrose oh no, their comment isn't showing up for me, what did they say?
      It definitely looks photoshopped to me, I had to pause and absorb just how creepy the different eyes and eyebrows with the wrong placement looked, but now I'm curious if myspacepunk has Definitive Knowledge I'm lacking lol

    • @madimelrose
      @madimelrose 8 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​@@kaitlyn__L oh damn. anyways they said that ebony's pfp was a photoshopped image of a certain german/austrian dictator LOL (weary of saying the name bcos their comment could've been removed for that reason lmao)

  • @Whimsical_Wraith_16
    @Whimsical_Wraith_16 2 ปีที่แล้ว +26

    Bro- This is probably one of the CRAZIEST internet mysteries ever. Seriously, I've been shaking in my seat the entire time, lol. It is so difficult to keep up with though.

  • @tesiaw6229
    @tesiaw6229 3 ปีที่แล้ว +856

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

    • @beanman3290
      @beanman3290 3 ปีที่แล้ว +40

      obi wan kenoby

    • @freebeerishere
      @freebeerishere 3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      enby

    • @Xehanort10
      @Xehanort10 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

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

  • @KingsandGenerals
    @KingsandGenerals 3 ปีที่แล้ว +2857

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

    • @valeriepacheco9163
      @valeriepacheco9163 3 ปีที่แล้ว +112

      Last place I thought I’d see king and generals

    • @maryd7753
      @maryd7753 3 ปีที่แล้ว +142

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

    • @mentallyunstable1926
      @mentallyunstable1926 3 ปีที่แล้ว +69

      what the hell is a winnipeg

    • @aila6814
      @aila6814 3 ปีที่แล้ว +80

      winnipeg isnt real, winnipeg cant hurt you..

    • @Nadia1989
      @Nadia1989 3 ปีที่แล้ว +13

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

  • @talbotbluechel2102
    @talbotbluechel2102 ปีที่แล้ว +13

    Imagine telling Sarah Z right after she uploaded this video that one day Andrew Hussie would play the same evasion game with her.

  • @NadirEatsRocks
    @NadirEatsRocks 3 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    Imagine if Toby used his powers for good. He would write phenomenal ARGs