On January 5th, 2010, YouTuber xkcdHatGuy released his first video, titled, "4th Dimension Explained By a High-School Student." The video currently sits at 33 million views and would forever alter his life. The video was a massive hit, and viewers couldn't help but feel transfixed by a young man with a surprisingly deep voice, explaining an incomprehensibly complex concept more adeptly than any science teacher.
After a gap of a few years, HatGuy released more videos, often branching into musings on the socioeconomic threads of the world; touching on each subject with an awareness far beyond his years. His run of ten videos earned him millions of views and a place in internet history. But then, he inexplicably went silent. xkcdHatGuy's final video was posted on December 20th of 2013, without any warning that it would be his last.
"When the world needed him most: he vanished," the top comment on his final video reads. Countless other fans continued to commend his efforts, even to this day. The comment: "Praying for you, man. Your knowledge will not be forgotten. I used to ask myself these same questions as a teen. Hope you are doing well” was posted one year ago, and has 2.5 thousand likes.
Despite the support, HatGuy's fans were eventually forced to concede that their favorite schoolboy philosopher was likely never returning; the conclusion of his story lost to the depths of the internet. "He clearly found a way to go to the 4th dimension and is just chilling there."
However, on September 4th of 2019, almost six years after his sudden disappearance, HatGuy emerged from the depths of oblivion; looking much older, but with the same unmistakable voice. In a video titled "My Return to YouTube and Why I left”, xkcdHatGuy explains why he suddenly stopped uploading to his channel and updates everyone on where his life and mind had taken him. The reason given for his sudden silence? A forgotten password.
"I lost access to my account due to forgetting my password," he says, "and unfortunately I am unable to recover it." He goes on to share he is autistic and states that his diagnosis has "led to the development of who I've become today."
HatGuy, on life since he lost his password, says, "Health became a big part of my life" and that he "began to study alternative medicine." He also says that he dropped out of college because he felt that it was "an exercise in conformism." Since then, he has developed his "ultimate health theory," and lives with his wife of four years.
"The only real goal I have in life," he says, "is to help people realize the truth about what a toxic world we live in, and how we can change it and ourselves for the better."
With a new channel, also titled xkcdHatGuy, he is trying to do just that; and this time, he intends to remember his password for good.
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