#some allowances need to be made for thr necesseary structure of the ep

[the-rolling-libero]

Here are some thoughts on MAG 184, with a large helping of Very Obvious allegory, vaguely connected images, and a dash of ant communsim.

this isn't the first time we've been ants in the face of the powers, and my feeling that we're supposed to be coming back to this image of helplessness, of ignorance of the full picture, is reinforced by this line:

which is referencing the idea central to the anthill image, that we can’t fully understand the powers, even as we glimpse them-- that our conceptualizations of them are a bit fundamentally ‘bull’. And ofc we have this bit, which is pretty explicit-- but it changes the meaning of the whole thing.

Not only are we seeing the anthill metaphor brought back and reminding us of humanity's ignorance in the face of the powers, but I would argue this line turns Leto's experience into an allegory for the avatars-- specifically, Jon.

If the ants are taken as human, Leto is placed above them as the stand in for the fears. This is the natural way of the apocalypse-scape, where the avatars are more than ever invested with real, tangible power over the general population. If we are ants, Avatars are the new kid with a kettle come to burn us away through the various domains of the apocalypse. But Leto isn't trying to kill the ants. He's trying to reduce all the harm he can-- but of course, he can't help but be what he is (what he’s been made by his placement in the anthill?).

This is not the behavior of the Avatars that we know-- none, of course, bar our good friend Jonathan Sims, of I’m-Doing-My-Best Fame. It's been a prevailing thread through his journey that he's tried to reduce all the harm he can-- sometimes poorly, sometimes incompletely-- but if you don't see Jon in "he holds his arms in close and tries not to move" idk what podcast you've been listening to.

Further, the way that Leto's experience as an “Avatar” in this passage is related repeatedly to Knowing.

Though there's a twist of corruption in there, this absolute knowledge, their senses attuned, connected as one-- this is where Jon is now, connected inexorably to every single person in the hellscape. He can see their thoughts, truly know them in every way. And of course there's this bad boy:

He can feel them and considers their fear and their pain; not exactly the absolute empathy that Jon is going through, but a state of heightened awareness that I would argue still connects with Jon’s experience. This is who Jon is at this moment; Leto is standing in for Jon. And I would be far from the first person to note the similarities of Jordan to Martin, with his quest for the Queen.

The endings for our two characters leave me thinking about the sort of ending a tragedy like tma might have-- the sort of ending they're leading us to expect, at least, with this episode.

For Jon: overwhelmed by his inability to act without destruction, trying to save people incapable of saving themselves, perhaps even tortured specifically by them (bc how else are we supposed to understand him being constantly aware of all the pain in a world ruled by fear?)

and for Martin, a bit longer--

Leaving the other behind on a quest that he knows, deep down, to be futile, defined and condemned by the hope that carries him on.

The fact that Jordan is chosen to become an Avatar of the eye by forces he cannot control in the end is also an interesting little tidbit hint for Martin-- maybe a divergence? A choice he’s currently facing, the two paths of torturer and tortured that he’s been refusing to really choose between the whole time? I don’t think this episode is showing us the future-- that would be a more obvious hand than the writers tend to play. I think it’s showing us some possibilities, setting up expectations for what ‘endings’ in this hellscape look like. I sure hope there’s a third option-- but Magnus Archives so far has been a story about no decision being right, a game you can’t win. It would take a fundamental upheaval of the whole system to change things.

In regards to that, I think there's something to the idea that since the ants are actually the avatars in this situation, despite the metaphor going the other way, the narrative might be hinting at the possibility of people subsuming the fears into themselves, maybe eventually toppling the powers (or simply changing them). Is there anything to this reversal, or is it just the device we need for the episode to work?

Really makes you think! :^)