We've all heard of him, he's been passed down from generation to generation. And as we spread, he became myth, for he couldn't see us all. But then there comes a day when we all of realize, we have made a big mistake. What do we do, he's there, ever so real. We go doubt it, go about our lives keeping silent from those who are still left unknowing. Then he appears, and he appears again! Then we go to other people, ask for their help They doubt at first, then he comes to them, and finally we fight with those we thought could help us. That's when he comes, with outstretched arms, as if he's our caring father, and we leave with him. Never to be seen again.
The question remains, though, who is this man, that we all seem scared off? He goes by many names, The Elven King, The Alder King, The Erl king, SlenderMan (Slender Man too.), and many more. This person, or king as our forefather use to call him, has had stories written about him far more than any other king. Even to day stories pop up, but with the changing world, they are not always the written kind. Videos and pictures of this slender man; enlightened us with what he looks like, where he is, and who he's after, but not completely.
We know that this creature likes to lure people to him, his way of doing so has changed, though. Early records show that he's attract people with sex, both males and females, Then he'd hide from adults and kill their child, while they ignored the child's plea for help. Today he uses two ways; one for catching kids, and another for adults. The one for catching children is a more mysterious method; in a time of crisis, he'll appear before a child/children and vanish with the kids, without the parent evening know until it's too late. For adults he'll follow a group of friends, starting with one, then once another finds out he'll follow him, until all of them are being followed. Then he'll cause memory loss, a little at first then a lot, the friends will start to distrust each, maybe hurt/kill each other, then he'll show up, some of them may fight a losing fight with him, while others will succumbe to his outstretched caring arms.
In many of the modern pictures we have of him, he seems to wear a black suit and tie (think men in black, whether it's I or II is up to you), and, as the newer name suggest, he's a tall, slender man (funny, how with all our complex machines, we humans are still very simple), with long arms, and has hidden arms in his back that he sometimes uses to walk on (think Dr. Ock from Spiderman 2). His face is completely white, no nose, eyes, ears, nothing. This may be just to scare us, or he's not human. Also, seeing that the suit is only a hundred years old and stories of him has been written in the 1700s and before, I think his costume has changed over time, or he wears a suit maybe to not draw attention to himself in pictures (which is pointless really, he's a like 7'0'' with a white face).
Most pictures seem to come from America, Norway, and Japan (he has been seen in other countries, yet these are the most). I believe he originated from Norway, because the earliest records of him seem to come from the Scandinavian region (northern Europe: Iceland to parts of Finland). He probably migrated to Germany, where the poem Der Erlkönig was written, which is about a boy riding on a horse with his father at night, then the Erl King rides up with them, the boy then cries out to his father that the Erl King is there. The father ignores the child, for he can not see the Erl King, the Erl King then tells the child to come with him, promising him a beautiful place to live and his daughters. The child cries again to his father, who, again, blows it off as the wind and leaves. Finally the Erl King hurts the child (the poem doesn't explain how), the father quickens the pace of the horse, and when the father got home, his son was dead.
That is Slender Man, The Elven King, The Erl King, but in my research I found that the Scandinavians believed in a group of people the called Elves. These Elves would come out at night and dance in circles, attracting men who saw them. They also have a story about a knight riding to his home where his bride-to-be is waiting, when an elf ask him to come to a dance. Knowing bad things would happen to him if he went, he says no, the elf then gives him a disease and he's dead the next day. Mostly the Scandinavians believe that elves capture adults and children to satisfy their want for revenge, and I have came down to this theory, Slender Man is part of a race that originated in Scandinavia, and some of the famous one have been given names. They live all throughout the world today, and both the male and females of this race will capture humans for revenge (I have no clue what for and they must like to hold grudges). So, basically, Slender Man is not alone.
Link:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Slender_Man/comments/satrz/slender_man_the_elven_king_the_erl_king_the_alder/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share