The Man in The Wall

"Don't forget, kiddo... you're nothing without me."

- The Man In The Wall

The Man in The Wall (also known as "The Indifference" by the Red Veil) is a mysterious being associated with the Void. First appearing during The War Within, it has a more prominent appearance during Chains of Harrow, revealing it to be a potential threat that few anticipated, and even fewer prepared for.

General
A mystery even to the Lotus, The Man in the Wall has been hounding the Operators ever since the Zariman Ten-Zero incident, observing them as they dealt with the horrors on board. The true nature of The Man in the Wall is disputed, with both Rell and Palladino claiming it to be a personification of the Void's power that existed well before the Zariman arrived, while the Lotus (and Margulis before her) insist that it is a gestalt entity created by the Operators' experiences during the incident. Regardless, The Man in the Wall treats the Operators with some degree of familiarity, nicknaming them "kiddo" during direct encounters. It was also mentioned during War Within that the Operator's father refered to them the same way.

The War Within
While the Operators do not encounter the entity directly, the Man in the Wall would periodically talk through the Operators as they confronted their past, particularly in regards on how they dealt with their parents, who were driven insane by the Void, and how they viewed their Void-borne powers, some of which were sealed away by Margulis for the Operators' safety. As the Operators learn to unlock said powers, Teshin comments that the Void is a world that "watches and dreams".

The entity's true colors however show themselves when the Operator chooses what to do with the Elder Queen's relinquished Scepter; choosing to dispose of the Kuva flask attached to it, or relinquishing the flask to Teshin for safe keeping will result in The Man in The Wall admonishing the Operator's decision, while consuming and embracing the Kuva's effects will have The Man in The Wall congratulating the Operator instead.

Chains of Harrow
As the Tenno learn of Rell, an Operator who was cast out by both his fellow Operators and Margulis herself, they learn of how Rell came into contact with The Man in The Wall and with the help of the Red Veil's predecessors, find a means to keep it at bay. Rell, who had been denied the cryosleep that would preserve the other Tenno, ultimately chose to transfer his spirit directly into his Warframe, in order to keep The Man in The Wall from attacking the Tenno.

Though it succeeded for quite some time, both the strain of being stuck in a "Transference Loop", and the growing strength of The Man in The Wall (strongly implied to be a direct result of the Operators unlocking their sealed potential during The War Within) slowly drove Rell insane, with a portion of the Red Veil following suit. Realizing that Rell would continue to suffer no matter what the Tenno did, Palladino, who was serving as Rell's only means of communication with the rest of the Veil, mournfully requested the Tenno to destroy Rell's vessel so that he could finally rest, passing the burden of holding The Man in The Wall at bay to the Operators that once shunned him.

After ending Rell's ordeal, a doppelganger of the Operator, strongly implied to be The Man in The Wall itself, will appear sitting on the Market or Codex console, greeting the player with "Hey Kiddo" when they focus their camera on it and disappearing as soon as the player looks away. The doppelganger will continue to make sporadic appearances throughout the Orbiter any time the player enters it (either by logging into the game or returning from a mission), behaving just as it did the first time.

The Sacrifice
While not involved with the quest itself, if the player encounters the Man in The Wall after completing The Sacrifice, they will ask the Operator if they're feeling better, as the Operator had witnessed Excalibur Umbra's memories during the quest and believes that they killed Umbra's son Isaah. After confirming the Operator's memory, the Man in The Wall simply states "Good" and vanishes from the player's sight, regardless whether the player looked away from him or not. All future appearances of the Man in The Wall will exit in a similar fashion, though he can still disappear as soon as he leaves the player's sight.

Chimera Prolgue
El hombre en el muro