What Even Is The Man In The Wall

Ever since Chains of Harrow, there’s been something lurking in the shadows, both there and not there. With the death of Rell, we have become susceptible to what is generally known as The Man In The Wall. Or Wally for short. This mysterious entity has been silently watching us, nudging us in various directions and often toying with us. The Man In The Wall is an enigmatic entity that no one really knows what it is.

The first time we encounter The Man In The Wall is right at the end of The War Within. While he’s not mentioned throughout the quest, at th every end, what you choose to do with the vial of Kuva will make you hear one of three voice lines from The Man in The Wall. He praises you if you drink the Kuva, but says that we “owe him” if we destroy the Kuva or that we’re ‘nothing without me’ if we give the kuva back to Teshin.

We then start to hear more about The Man In The Wall during the events of Chains of Harrow. In this quest, we discover that Rell, chained to his Warframe, has been blocking the manipulations of this mysterious entity from the Void. The quest ends with Rell finally finding peace, and a promise that us, the Tenno, will try and continue to hold The Man In The Wall back. We don’t really do anything though, and instead are visited by what looks like a doppelganger, a copy of us, that randomly appears on our Orbiter. This clone will still randomly appear, and continues to jumpscare players all the time. The clone though disappears as soon as we turn away from it.

At the time, no one was sure what Wally was, and the Lotus did first disregard it as some sort of mental trauma. But over the years, we’ve seen more and more of Wally. At the end of The Sacrifice, The Man In The Wall will appear, asking you about what happened to Umbra’s son. We say that we did it, that we killed Umbra’s son, and The Man In The Wall seems to approve of this.

We don’t really get much more information until Deimos. There, we discover the work of the person who first connected to the Void, Albrecht Entrati, a highly ranked member of the Orokin. He somewhat fell into the Void and only just managed to pull himself out, but not before seeing a copy of himself, that called him Little Bengel, a nickname his mother gave him. In Albrecht’s terror, he pulled himself out of the Void, accidentally cutting off one of The Man In The Wall’s fingers as he did so. Albrecht was so terrified of what happened that he believed that the copy he saw in the Void managed to escape as well. Because of this, Albrecht decided to not to partake in Continuity (the method with which Orokin made themselves immortal, stealing the bodies of others) and allowed himself to die.

In the mean time, we get another ‘clue’ in Railjack. At the back of each Railjack ship, a Reliquary Drive can be found. In it, a large finger can be seen, surrounded with a bit of void energy. When you plug in the device, you hear the same lines mentioned in The War Within. When you ask Cephalon Cy about it, he doesn’t really understand it and speaks about several paradoxes.

The Man In The Wall is also mentioned when visiting the Zariman. The colossal ship is blocking a hole between real space and the void, and there are hints here and there, although it’s not really noticeable.

During the New War, we start to see The Man In The Wall more often. During the quest, we appear to make a deal with Wally, in a handful of flashbacks when the Zariman incident happens. However, the biggest appearance of The Man In The Wall is at the end of The New War. As the Lotus seems to try and stop the destruction of the sun, a massive marble wall appears, with a laughing face and multiple arms carved into it, and a copy of the Operator sitting at the top of it. Both you and the Lotus can see this wall, but Lotus is unwilling to talk about it. Either way, both the sun and the day are saved, and we manage to save ourselves.

While The Man In The Wall still appears on our ships occasionally, Wally is also known to cause havoc in Duviri. It is what has destroyed islands in the past, making Duviri smaller and smaller. Some floating islands were destroyed by the king as they became cursed, others were destroyed by the Void. One island in particular was damaged directly by The Man In The Wall, using one of its massive fingers, and King Thrax destroyed the island before more of the Man In The Wall showed up.

We’ve seen several forms of The Man In The Wall. The first is as a copy of the player’s Operator or Drifter. This version pops up at random on your Orbiter, and looks exactly like you except with weird, darkened eyes. We see this form at the end of The New War, alongside a rather literal man in a wall. Albrecht Entrati saw a copy of himself as well. We also happen to hear The Man In The Wall occasionally, most notably on our Railjacks. But none of these things seem like a true form, rather being an imitation of people and objects in real space. In the Void, The Man In The Wall has not been seen in its entirety, we’ve only ever seen the odd finger, poking around.

As to what The Man In The Wall wants? No one is sure. It is a chaotic, wild being with no real reason behind its actions. It can be both friend and foe, helpful or destructive. All we know is that The Man In The Wall is a pretty scary entity, one that continues to watch us as we try fruitlessly to work out what it is. Either way, it is not something you want to mess with…