Socket Man

* Echo
* Arches

**The Socket Man** is a paranormal creature that appears in Echo. It is a supernatural being that rapidly travels between various time periods, timelines, and places within Echo.

## Appearance

The Socket Man is a tall, bipedal creature with burnt skin whose name is drawn from its face, which resembles an electrical outlet. Its appearance fluctuates greatly due to its time-hopping and paranormal nature, but it is generally some shade of red or white with elongated limbs, a prominent rib cage, and a flat face with vacant eye sockets and a gaping, muzzle-less mouth. These aspects of its morphology are said to be the result of mutilation by fire; however, some features, like the elongated limbs and flat face, are unexplained by simple burning, implying some form of supernatural effect.

It is said to move in a manner similar to a slideshow being fast-forwarded rather than smoothly walking. It also has the ability to teleport. The Socket Man also seems to have the ability to teleport other people or objects, as shown when it sends the group's car from the road leading out of Echo into Lake Emma.

## Personality

Given the nature of The Socket Man, it is difficult to determine how much of a personality it retains. The Socket Man's existence seems to be characterized by its suffering and desire for the truth of Echo's various tragedies, particularly the death of Sydney Bronson.

Despite its identity being more and more diminished with each time it appears, the Socket Man appears to retain at least some of its memories. It watched over Jenna throughout her childhood, ensuring her safety despite the conditions of her home life. Furthermore, rather than killing the gang when they attempt to escape town, it teleports them to Lake Emma instead.

## Story

### Flynn's Route

The origins of The Socket Man are directly revealed during the events of Flynn's route. On Friday, should Chase talk to Daxton at the party held near the Hunter's former house, the salamander will describe a dream in which he encountered the creature. These dreams continue to haunt him, and on Saturday he tells Flynn about the creature in his dreams as well, particularly how it showed up in the same place where he had last seen the Gila.

When confronted about the day Sydney died and why he kept his silence, TJ explains that he saw the creature walk into the lake during Sydney's drowning and that he stayed quiet from both trauma and a fear of no one believing him. Following this confession, Daxton, Carl, and Jenna share their own sightings of the Socket Man.

The Socket Man makes its first physical appearance on Sunday when the group attempts to leave town during the mass hysteria event. While driving down the road that should lead out of Echo, the group witnesses the Socket Man crouching over the body of Duke near the wreckage of Chase's car. It then moves away at an impossibly quick speed, startling the group as it passes by their car. As they continue their attempts to drive out of Echo, the Socket Man then reappears on top of a hill before coming up to the car directly and seemingly teleporting it to Lake Emma.

After swimming back to the shore, Flynn begins hallucinating that he is in The Smoke Room talking to an adult version of Syd. The fake Syd reveals himself to be a simulation of Samuel Ayers, a "spirit" that possessed Flynn after Chase's near death experience. He asks Flynn whether he plans to continue searching for "the truth" and tells him that if he wishes to do so he can learn to ride the "ebb and flow" of the truth.

From "Sam's" description, it seems that Flynn's search for closure lead him to their meeting and the hallucinations that led him to "The Smoke Room." He is seemingly offered the choice to either turn his back on his obsession with learning the truth or learn to "ride it;" Flynn's choice to continue searching for closure regarding Sydney pulls him onto the latter path. Upon exiting "The Smoke Room," Flynn awakens somewhere deep within the Danicka Mine where a fire has broken out. His scales and tail soon burn off, with his snout being mostly destroyed as well. Daxton and Carl manage to find him, but flee in fear of what now seems to be a monster. This leaves Flynn to stay within the burning mine, which Sam refers to as the "Source" of Echo itself.

From here, Flynn (alongside "Sam," who is still within his body) is then seemingly trapped within the aforementioned "ebb and flow." He is pulled to various times and places within Echo where sorrow, suffering, anger, and fear are at their strongest, where he can either witness the ensuing events as a bystander or "burn down" people or aspects from each "jump." For every time Flynn is pulled to a new "tide," he is said to become more abstract and lose more and more of himself.

Flynn is warped to various tides, including the deaths of Mayor Moore and a fox who is one of Brian's victims, likely Keith. During the latter he may choose to kill Brian, a voyeuristic boar filming the murder, or the fox himself to end his suffering. Eventually, Flynn is pulled to the day of Sydney's death. He quickly enters the lake, witnessed by a young TJ, in hopes of gaining sight of what happens to Syd. Before he can finally gain closure however, his eyeballs explode. This completes the empty-eyed look of The Socket Man, who is then pulled back into the Source to wait for the next tide to draw him in.

The Socket Man is seemingly immortal, and he continued to be pulled from tide to tide and lose more and more of his original form as Flynn. He eventually is pulled to a closet in the Begay household and encounters a very young Jenna, who asks if he is real. Seeming to recognize his former friend, The Socket Man shakes his head.

In the epilogue set in 2020 Echo, Cameron Wilson sights The Socket Man standing within the mine, startling him before the creature is pulled back once again.

### Prior to Echo

Though the Socket Man is first "created" during the events of Flynn's route, the creature's tendency to be drawn to periods of Echo's suffering cause it to appear across various timelines and time periods. The Socket Man can be sighted at various tragedies, such as the hanging of John Begay, the death of Mr. Bronson, and the moment when Daxton nearly drowns in Flynn's route. It also presumably killed Salem during the hysteria when he attempted to flee the town.

During Cliff's route, Jeb mentions that a friend sighted the Socket Man just before all of their chickens died, thus bankrupting their farm and forcing them to move away from Echo.

Somewhat frequently, the Socket Man was drawn to Jenna in moments where she was angry or sad, especially when her father was abusing her or her family. On these occasions, he would simply watch rather than attack, and Jenna would frequently witness him. Over time, Jenna came to consider the creature as a "Guardian Angel," though she would repress these memories later on.

In Jenna's route, Chase recalls a moment in his teenage years when he had a fight with either his parents or Leo and took a hike. He felt watched, and saw a burnt hand next to him, implied to belong to the Socket Man.

In November 2010, TJ was stalked by a tall figure while wandering some distance away from a dance he had been attending. The creature seemed to lurk just beyond the streetlights, frightening the young lynx greatly. Eventually, Carl arrived and gave TJ a ride back home, leaving the creature behind. Given its description and sudden appearance, it is likely that this was the Socket Man.

In October 2014, Carl tried acid and experienced a bad trip in which he thought he had picked up Chase from college and the otter was in the car alongside him. The Socket Man eventually appeared in Chase's place, causing the ram to crash the car. Though this experience traumatized Carl and caused him to worry about having killed Chase for some time to come, it is possible that the Socket Man saved Carl from The Embrace attempting to manifest to him.

### Leo's route

The Socket Man makes two brief appearances on Leo's route. When Chase, Leo, TJ, Carl, and Kudzu attempt to escape town in one of the Hendricks cars, they find themselves trapped in a loop that prevents them from leaving Echo. Eventually they come across the creature hunched over Duke's corpse near the wreckage of Chase's car, which the weasel had stolen earlier. It then vanishes for a bit before eventually reappearing at the top of a nearby hill. It then warps next to the car and teleports the vehicle and its passengers to Lake Emma. Later, it briefly appears as Chase exits the mine, immediately before Flynn appears.

Earlier on, when Chase is sleeping at Leo's house, he feels a presence and hears tapping on the window by claw-like appendages. It is unclear if it is the Socket Man, however, and is more likely The Embrace. Likewise, Chase is watched by some sort of entity as he bleeds to death during Leo's bad ending, though it is unconfirmed whether this is the Socket Man or another entity such as Robert Smith's creature.

### Jenna's route

The Socket Man is first mentioned on Tuesday of Jenna's route. After Chase tells Jenna about feeling as though a face was watching him when he was off by himself during their hike, Jenna shares her experiences of sighting her "Guardian Angel" throughout her youth. However, she dismisses these sightings as hallucinations brought on by her stressful environment.

The Socket Man makes its first physical appearance near the end of the route when Chase, Leo, Jenna, and Micha are trapped in Brian's trailer and the boys are being tortured by the bear. The Socket Man appears in the closet, and Jenna begs it to help a suffocating Micha. The Socket Man then cuts the noose around Micha's neck before attacking and presumably killing Brian as it pulls him out of the window.

In Jenna's good ending, the Socket Man again turns up during the standoff with Heather at Daughter's Dam. It appears behind Heather and begins creeping toward her as she plans to open the dam and flood the town. However, Jenna is able to convince her not to open the dam, indirectly thanking the creature in the process for keeping her safe. After Heather drops her gun, it is once again pulled away.

### Arches

In Arches, the Socket Man observes a badly wounded and delirious Arturo making his way through the desert.

## Relationships

It can be reasoned that the Socket Man retains Flynn's affection for his friends, since some of its actions seem to be attempting to save them or checking on them.

### Jenna

The Socket Man appeared to Jenna on many occasions throughout her childhood in Echo up until she ran away from home. Jenna looked upon it as a guardian angel, and upon "meeting" each other again during the events of her route she is able to successfully converse with it by asking it save Micha and stopping it from attacking Heather.

### Chase

After Jenna, Socket Man appears most frequently to Chase, albeit still fairly rarely. Its unclear what its intentions are in these encounters, but given that they seem to correlate to Leo's abuse it might be due to similar reasons as it visited Jenna.

## Trivia

* One of the pieces of graffiti seen on the motel during the events of Arches resembles The Socket Man.
* The Socket Man appears on the official "Circles" T-shirt designed by TUVVIN.
* The Socket Man is one of many characters who appears as a painting easter egg in the background of Opgedoekt in Glory Hounds.
* The Socket Man strongly resembles another entity, popularly dubbed "Heartface," that kills Brian in Danicka Mine. "Heartface" briefly shifts from white to red, implying it could be the same being as the Socket Man.

The graffiti resembling Socket ManSocket Man featured (to the right of Chase) on the "Circles" T-shirt.A painting referencing Socket Man seen in the background of Opgedoekt in Glory Hounds.