You know…..
if Stanley’s the Author…
that kind of explains the exclamation points that point to the glasses on the Cipher wheel in the Journal
Stanley can’t be the Six-Fingered Hand and the Glasses at the same time
He would have been confused when he say the wheel the first time,
"Those are my glasses, but that’s my hand too"
I think this goes in line with the Evil Stanley theory.
The author (Young Stanley) ID’d the glasses as his instead of the hand. Portal Stanley gets out and immediately places his hand on the journal (making the symbol for the hand his) and with his glasses broken. If the glasses are broken, then that’s not him — the glasses are there to symbolize Young Stanley.
Also, when reminiscing, Grunkle Stan never placed his hand wistfully over the books’ hand or anything. He was looking at the glasses, which could futher mean that the glasses represent his brother.
ooooh
Young!Stanley as the Glasses and Post-Portal!Stanley as the Six-Fingered Hand, I didn’t think about that.
Food for thought
And if that portal has anything to do with TIME TRAVEL…?
Possibly. It could also be a picket dimension filled with all kinds of monsters where time moves slower. Maybe they built a portal to an alien prison if the alien theory is correct. Some sort of null void.