The Alternate (Vol. 333)

"Identify **Yourself**!" —Thatcher Davis*This character has yet to receive an official name, so this article uses an **unofficial**, provisional name for the time being. This is not the character's actual name.*

## The Alternate

* True Form
* "Thatcher"
* "Ruth"

### Aliases

Ruth Weaver (Falsely)
Thatcher Davis (Falsely)
Mark Heathcliff (Falsely)

### Affiliation

Archangel Gabriel (assumedly)
Adam Murray (possible creator)

## Appearances

### Portrayed by

* Alex Kister
* Andrew Long
* Michelle Strohwig
* Max Schreck (Count Orlok)

### Appears in

* The Mandela Catalogue Vol. 333
* every day gets brighter
* The Mandela Catalogue Vol. 4

### Debut

The Mandela Catalogue Vol. 333

> Afraid of your own reflection, lieutenant? Dead or alive... you're no use to these people. A man without a purpose... in a world that doesn't need him. A scared boy with a gun. Sound familiar?
>
> The Alternate (as Thatcher) comparing Thatcher to Mark, The Mandela Catalogue Vol. 4

"**The Alternate**" nicknamed as **The Murray Residence Alternate**, is a major antagonist in *The Mandela Catalogue*. It serves as the primary antagonist of Act 1 and a minor character in Act 2.

## Description

The Alternate is a very tall, lanky, pale entity and apparently has the ability to float or at least appear to do so. Its voice is extraordinarily deep and raspy, as heard when it sings Amazing Grace to Thatcher.

Thatcher's confrontation with it heavily implies that alternates cannot be killed by conventional means.

When disguised as Thatcher, the alternate appears to look like Thatcher, but ends up looking uncanny.

## Biography

### The Mandela Catalogue Vol. 333

The alternate appears in the Murray household after Lynn's encounter with 6. During a 911 phone call between Jude Murray and Thatcher Davis, Jude describes The Alternate as appearing like nothing he's seen in his life. After Thatcher holds on Jude's line, Jude is presumably killed by The Alternate off-screen.

He makes it's first physical appearance during Thatcher and Ruth Weaver's investigation of the house, after Ruth goes missing. Soon after, Thatcher hears footsteps nearby. He calls out into the house, The Alternate responding back in Thatcher's voice. As Thatcher becomes frustrated, The Alternate impersonates the prior phone call between Thatcher and Jude before running up to Thatcher and singing Amazing Grace in a low, gravelly voice. Thatcher eventually jumps out a closed window back to the Police Station.

As Thatcher is making desperate calls for help at the Mandela County Police Department, Amazing Grace gradually gets louder and louder on the security cameras, signifying The Alternate approaching Thatcher.

After none of Thatcher's pleads work, The Alternate reaches and confronts him. Then impersonates the voice of Ruth and multiple other citizens, who tell Thatcher "The town is in shambles because of you", as well as a child (possibly Adam Murray) who believed him to be their imaginary friend. The Alternate floats toward Thatcher until cornering him. As near the same with Mark’s initial confrontation in Volume 1, the camera cuts to black and “uh oh! bad decision Thatcher!” appears onscreen. From Thatcher's chest camera we can see the The Alternate stretch its face and laugh maniacally before being shot by Thatcher, which does no damage. With closed captions on, the following names can be read: "Mark Heathcliff", "Ruth Weaver", "Cesar Torres".

The Alternate copies the appearance of Ruth before telling Thatcher "THERE'S NOT ENOUGH ROOM FOR THE TWO OF US LIEUTENANT". We then see the alternate twitching before staring into Thatcher's chest cam. The footage freezes on it smiling.

### every day gets brighter

Thatcher reveals in a recording that the Alternate has impersonated himself and is wandering about. He talks about how he feels he cannot show how he truly feels about the alternate invasion. “*I'm scared, but I can't show it. I can't show any fucking weakness because if I act human, if I act like this- this is fucking bothering me, everyone's gonna lose hope.*” He then goes on to say that he will kill the alternate even if it’s the last thing he does, and that part of him wishes he did not survive the encounter with it.

### The Mandela Catalogue Vol. 4

The Alternate we see in Vol. 333 presumably takes Thatcher's chest camera, turns into Thatcher and films himself saying "This is Lieutenant Thatcher Davis. It seems like I made a mistake. Everything's clear here at the station. Calling off all units. Over."

The Alternate then teases Thatcher (still referring to Thatcher as "Lieutenant") and refers to him as a "Scared boy with a gun", comparing Thatcher to Mark Heathcliff, using psychological tactics to torture Thatcher, as he was the officer leading the Mark Heathcliff investigation. The reason why this would torture Thatcher would be because he followed the Mandela police rules and didn't send any units to save Mark, causing Thatcher to have even more regret on his mind.

## Speculation

* There is a lot of evidence supporting The Alternate being accidentally created by Adam Murray as an infant in Vol. 333, after Adam did everything the man in the TV (Stanley/6) told him to.
* This Alternate and Cesar's Alternate are often implied to be one and the same, which doesn't make chronological sense, given that this Alternate was manifested through the broadcast of the Might of the Subconscious TV show, which happened after Mark's death.

## Trivia

* Given that Thatcher Davis is named after King David, whom had notoriously slayed the giant Goliath in the Book of Samuel at a very young age despite all odds, it's assumed that "The Alternate" is supposed to mirror Goliath due to its massive size.
* The bullet Thatcher Davis Shot to The Alternate is a 9mm bullet.

## Gallery

The alternate appears before Thatcher.The alternate followed Thatcher.The alternate begins raising into the air, notably in the same position as Jesus Christ (The son of God in Christianity) during his crucifixion.The alternate floats towards Thatcher.The alternate molting itself.The alternate stretches its mouth into a smile to distress Thatcher.The Alternate in TMC Vol.4 as the Face Studio 2 guide face.