#mag81

[qc-wiggles]

niche tmaposting GO!! heres a gift for ginger on discord for the tmi server gift exchange. i saw their prompt about jon's parents being involved in the institute/fears and went wild!!! imagine being descended from not one but two cunty office workers!!!!!!

[buildoblivionthenwewilltalk]

okay batshit theory time please feel free to clown me as someone who has not followed the arg at all but what if sam is the alt version of the kid who got taken by mr spider instead of jon

[im-the-queen-of-stardust]

You know I thought my tma relisten would be more along the lines of "Oh, I completly missed the influence of the Desolation in this one the first time" and not sobbing because of lines like "And my suffering, I now know, pales in comparison to what has befallen others far more innocent that I. But perhaps not for long." Because of course there'd be a lot of tragic irony or foreshadowing that I missed. Should've expected that.

[waitingfordaysis]

John has adhd. You know I'm right.

[gammija]

i need to find that one post thats like 'sometimes you see a fandom opinion that's clearly wrong to you, but you realize YOU'RE the outlier for perfectly remembering that one sentence that disproves it in ep eleventy' cause i just realized that jon and martins ages are collectively mentioned in 2 episodes in canon, and not everyone might immediately remember them unprompted

[belleisnowhere]

"It’s fine. To be honest, it’s nice to have someone keep the Admiral company while I’m out."

MAG81: A Guest for Mr Spider

[nucifraga]

so... who was going to tell me that my estimates of the tma characters' ages was WAYYY off??

and i know jonny probably meant it to be that way so that there'd be leeway for creative interpretation of the characters and all, but my brain wants them pinned down. so. here's a mini-list/research rant of my favs. presently the list consists of:

Jonathan Sims

Martin Blackwood

Sasha James

Timothy Stoker

Mike Crew !

Oliver Banks

Michael Shelley

Gerard Keay

Three disclaimers – (i) The TMA timeline is a trainwreck. Many assumptions have been made. At least half of them are probably wrong (especially where University is used as an age marker) and also my maths ability sucks because I haven’t done maths in two years, so where there are glaring issues, so feel free to correct me and I will edit accordingly :’) (ii) This is by no means definite. See above. Honestly, attempting to decipher them feels like trying to understand the Spiral. But I’m doing it anyway, because as both a fanfic writer and an academic, I want to at least try. (iii) SPOILER WARNING!! SO MANY SPOILERS! I think the only seaosn that isn't spoiled is maybeeee S5 ???

With that, let's go! [Ages are approximate & as-of 2016 / S1]

Jonathan Sims Age: 28 Birth year: 1987-1988 There seems to be a general consensus on this one. MAG81 appears to be one of the key clues here – ‘Jon says that he was about 8 during the events of the statement and that it happened a year or two after Leitner's library ended, which was in 1994. So he's born around 1987-88.’ [source: reddit]Of note is the fact that he lied about his age and pretended to be older, which is hilarious, and leads me to believe that he’s the youngest of the Archives crew – or at least, near there.

Martin Blackwood Age: 28-ish Birth year: 1988 Has worked for the Institute since at least 2009. He’s lied about having a Master’s in parapsychology, so is likely old enough to feasibly be able to have one. As all institute staff have to at least have a Master’s in something archive-related (iirc), all of them must hence be at least 22/23, assuming the Master’s courses are 1 year long. Jonny has, however, stated that Martin is either a bit older or a bit younger than Jon, and I’m tempted to believe it’s the former (see above).

Sasha James Age: 28-34, 30-ish? Birth year: 1981-1987 There’s like, nothing on Sasha. I’m assuming she’s at least older than Jon, because that might be why he began faking his age. The only possible marker would be that Sasha’s worked in Artefact Storage (for 3 months), Research (for longer, I assume) and long enough in Archives to be considered as Gertrude’s likely successor. So, definitely more qualified, and also older than Jon.

Timothy Stoker Age: 30-ish Birth year: 1986? Tim has a degree in Anthropology from Trinity College (I assume this to be Oxbridge, rather than Ireland or something, since he resides in London), and spent 5 years working at a publishing firm. This puts him at 26 (18+3+5) in 2013 when Danny was taken. As he says he began working for the Institute shortly after, I would assume that this is when he stopped working for the firm. I’ve added a bit of buffer because nobody’s birthdays are given, ever, and also there might have been a bit of time between leaving university and joining the firm and/or leaving the firm and finding the Institute. So – 30.

Okay that’s the core staff, onto my other favs.

Michael 'Mike' Crew Age: 37-ish Birth year: ~1979 My #1 avatar! I did a double-take after I worked out his entire timeline, but here’s the highlights: He was a uni student during late 1997-early 1998 when he went looking for Ex Altiora in Lion Books. I’m assuming he was a first year, because generally uni students stay in the sameish area for the whole course and I don’t see him missing out on an opportunity to Leitner-hunt just because the store was in a slightly out-of-the-way part of town. So! This puts his birthdate at around 1979-1980.

Oliver Banks Age: 28-ish Birth year: ~1987 Oliver Banks’ timeline during & post-Uni makes NO SENSE. Fortunately, we do know that he moved to London around 2005 to do his undergraduate degree at the London School of Economics. Which puts him at around 18 in 2005, and his birth year can be worked out from there. Quick rant about Oliver’s timeline: Oliver is working at Barclays by 2007, and he was recruited after graduating. Which means he both began and subsequently completed his undergraduate degree between 2005 and 2007. That’s literally impossible for a standard 3 year course. Plus, by around 2007, he’s been working for nearly a year at Barclays, so he started in 2006… so apparently he began his degree and completed it in under a year, since the academic year starts in September??

Michael Shelley / Michael the Distortion Age: 31 / 49 / early 50s (but canonically 92 at all points in the timeline) Birth year: ??? I didn’t do the research on this one, so here’s my source because I don’t think there’s any more I can add.This mess is truly Spiral-worthy, which could have been intended, but also may just be the TMA timeline wonkiness at work. There’s also been some speculation that he was hired at even younger than 18, but equally it’s possible that he was hired older, which puts his age squarely into the [I don’t have a fucking clue] range.

Gerard Keay Age: technically 32 Birth year: ~1984 Gerry was born in the 80s, and given that the above source states he was in his ‘late teens’ in 2002, this tracks. Making the assumption that he’s 18 in 2002, I’m going to place his birth year at around 1984. However, he died in 2014 (I’m assuming late-2014, given that he had time to encounter Leitner in London & travel a bit with Gertrude before his death) in the USA, putting him at around 30 at the age of his death. Since he’s dead, he doesn’t really age, but he is ‘aware’ enough to be in existential pain so I’m going to go with Descartes on this one and say he’s ‘alive’ enough to continue counting his years of existence. Poor guy. Doesn’t even get to actually die til August 2017 either.

Part 2 ft. the 4 Grandpas of the Apocalypse here

[sm0kebreaks]

the deep desire to storyboard mag81

[a-mag-a-day]

I had already loved Jon well before this episode but this one just reaffirmed my love for him. This was the episode when I knew I would be thinking about this guilt-ridden, poor little meow meow for the rest of my life 😭

This is honestly one of my favorite episodes of the whole podcast! I’ve listened to it so many times lmao. The book is so damn creepy and unsettling — I think the part that truly gets me and I realize what is actually happening is when the fly brings his son… how much do you think that that person simply wanted to read this “innocuous” book to his son only for Mr. Spider to take his son away???

“Mr. Spider doesn’t like it!” “Mr. Spider wants more!” Mr. Spider is a ungrateful little shit!

8-year old Jon feeling guilty over his bully being claimed instead of him will always break my heart </3 He was a KID!!!! There was nothing he could’ve done against a literal monster!!! Someone PLEASE give him a hug and tell him there was nothing he could’ve done!!!!! 🥺😭

ALSO: There is one animatic I want to make sure is in your queue for today because it is one of my favorite TMA animatics! This person adapted the book A Guest For Mr. Spider into an early 1900s-style silent film which of course fits the vibes PERFECTLY 👀🕷️ https://at.tumblr.com/bookish-huntress-art/a-little-animation-based-on-mag81-a-guest-for/noe8f9t2c0ph

Ooh thank you!

Yeah this is an excellent episode

[frootbyethefoot]

thinking so hard about how jon and annabelles backstories are super similar (if annabelle is telling the truth that is)

- both marked by the web to enact some grand plan at a young age

- both generally around the same age

- both grew up near the beach

- both were neglected in some way and that neglect left them to their own devices and that lead them to be marked

- and hell!!! if annabelles telling the truth, or not just framing it this way for sinister web domino effect reasons and its honestly what she thinks the way they think about said neglect is similar too i think!

“ It seemed to mingle with her grief, so the sadness over her own lost son would manifest in recriminations and bitterness. Saying this aloud I worry I’m painting too bleak a picture of my grandmother. She cared for me as well as she was able, and whatever her private feelings might have been, she did try her best. And I was hardly an easy child to deal with. “ - jon, from mag81 a guest for mr. spider

“ I was one of the youngest, and it soon became clear to my infant mind that in order to get anywhere, the key was to navigate the baroque family politics in which I found myself. I became very good at it. I would instigate fights between siblings if I needed them in trouble. If I required sympathy, I would bite myself until I drew blood, and then blame it on my sister Lizzie. I discovered a deep and enduring talent inside myself for lying. My manipulations were not intricate, but they were far beyond what was expected of a child my age, and I have always believed that the key to manipulating people is to ensure that they always under- or over-estimate you. “ - annabelle, from mag147 weaver

maybe i’m just reading into it way too much and i’m wrong but i have a vision in my mind!

[webster-max]

I love the Web and I really love Web!Martin, but something about Web!Jon makes my skin crawl in a way that no other entity really can, and I think that for me that’s because Jon is entirely and wholly the victim of the Web. Unlike Martin, who I could see being empowered and gaining agency from the Web, a Web!Jon is someone utterly in the power of the Web and acting against his own wishes and desire for agency that it really does break my heart. Even not!Jon, another particularly bad end for Jon, at least allows Jon to be dead- web!jon divests Jon of agency just as thoroughly without the mercy of even killing him. Instead, he’s forced to witness how his actions are simultaneously not his own and impacting his friends.

More under the cut about Jon, the Web, Mag81 typical childhood neglect and abuse, and for S5 typical suicide.

I think ultimately the way Jon would be taken by the Web would be through his experience with A Guest For Mr Spider. Simply put, if Jon’s childhood bully hadn’t intervened at the wrong moment, I think Jon would have spent the rest of his life under the power of the Web. I think he would have taken step after step, raised his fist up to the door, and knocked as instructed. The door would have opened, and then he would have stepped in as it pulled on strings, and the door would shut behind him.

After going missing for a few days, the local authorities would find him starving and parched, but otherwise unharmed and alone in the abandoned house in Bournemouth. After that, I think he would have been taken out of his grandmother’s custody and put into the care system. A few strings pulled, and I think he may have soon have as found himself fostered by a Fielding - not the same as Agnes’, not at Hill Top Road, just another relative of the family’s, some limb of the Mother’s or another, doing the same work and making sure things fall into place just so.

After that, I think Jon would be a good kid, exactly like the others. He’d brush his teeth and go to bed and study for his GCSEs and then A-levels all knowing that his life is not his own. All watching his foster siblings walk downstairs not to return one day, when they were 18 or close enough to it. When the spider got hungry enough. When he gets his acceptance to Oxford, he feels a pang of longing for the life he wishes he’d have. He mostly feels nothing as he drifts through his daily existence pulled on strings.

And then he’s packing his meagre things and he’s put into a car. The other children in the home are watching from the window. No one’s ever left like Jon before, and he watches the scenery change. He goes to university. His fosterer does not stay to help him unpack. Fielding has arranged for private accommodation. Jon doesn’t have to go home for the holidays. How the rent is paid, Jon doesn’t question. He sits down in the middle of his empty room, and he is alone for the first time since he touched A Guest For Mr Spider. It’s been a decade. He feels the strings relax.

He goes out. He makes friends. A girlfriend. Establishes a life. He doesn’t remember much of his childhood, and people don’t ask when he explains that he’s an orphan, that he grew up in care. It doesn’t often come up. He talks about his work- first, this is in his degree, then it’s in his job as a researcher for the Magnus Institute. He searched for the paranormal. He doesn’t find it. He knows he can’t prove anything. He knows he can’t even remember anything definitive, anything conclusive. He still freezes when he sees a spider. Freezes and shuts his eyes. He convinced himself that he remembers nothing because nothing happened, and that the paranormal isn’t real.

One day, Elias Bouchard offers Jon the role of head archivist. In that moment, every string Jon has ever felt hanging around his neck and throat- every social expectation, unsaid cue, suggestion and influence- every breath of cigarette smoke and every second spent pining for the next drag- each string snaps taught like a choke chain and the word “no,” is dragged from Jon’s mouth. “No, but I can help you find the right candidate.”

The life Jon makes for himself is over. Jon names the head archivist, and Elias listens, because he recognises Jon for what he is. A gift. A blessing from the Web. And Jon feels exactly as he did walking towards Mr Spider’s door when he does everything the Web asks of him to make the head archivist.

The archivist is made out of Jon’s friend, who he has worked with and trusted and genuinely liked for years. They’ve researched together, spent hours staking out suspects together- this is someone Jon knows and cares about, and someone who believes that they know and care about him in turn. Jon doesn’t want to hurt the archivist. His resistance is futile, and Jon can’t warn the archivist or his fellow assistants, the sound dies in his throat and what comes out instead is just more of the web’s lies like so many strand of silk, smoothing over suspicion and leading the archivist back into danger. He’s overflowing with it, and Jon realises that one does not need to see the teeth of the thing that will eat you alive if the consumption is from the inside out.

Though the archivist opens the door, Jon feels it. As Jon’s domain winds around him, the Web shoots him through with the rest of the plan, for reversing the apocalypse and spreading through the multiverse. The Web doesn’t tell him if it will spread to one universe at a time or whether it will enter infinite universes simultaneously. It tells him how to save the world, no more, no less- pragmatic. It tells Jon how to end his own suffering in this domain that epitomises his helplessness and still throws Jon’s guilt in his face. It literalises the strings, now hooked under his chin, blood dripping down his throat- for the first time, his hands are literally tied and the script is high in his throat, waiting to be sprung on the archivist. The web uses Jon’s domain like a gun to his head, and Jon knows it’s him and this world or every other universe.

So that’s why when the archivist walks through Jon’s domain and takes his statement, proving conclusively that Jon suffers as a victim, where the Web has given him Jon’s first bargaining chip and the motive to end his own suffering and everyone else’s on Earth by telling the archivist how to undo the apocalypse- that’s why Jon makes the same choice he makes in cannon. That’s why Web!Jon makes the first, last, and only choice he’ll ever make.

The words are there and waiting, “end this suffering, save me and I’ll tell you how to save the world.”

He’s never resisted the Web before. He wishes he learned the knack of it a little earlier.

He doesn’t tell the archivist how to allow the Web into potentially infinite, potentially one other world. He doesn’t tell the archivist how to make another archivist, another Jon, even one more person suffer as they’ve suffered.

“End me.” He rasps. His own voice, free of the Web and bereft of the elegance it leant him. “S-suffering, end me-“ The web cuts him off. The strings tighten to Jon’s limit, then past it. His head’s pulled back, the only eye he can look the archivist in is the one in the sky. Jon tries not to overbalance on his tiptoes, his whole body stretched as if on a wrack. A wretched noise escapes him, and an answering sigh leaves the Archivist, pity or frustration Jon doesn’t know.

The archivist unhooks the web from under Jon’s chin. For a second his stomach lurches and he thinks he’s been saved and that he’ll be forced to comply with the Web’s plan. The Web made it easy for Jon to be saved, after all, and Jon thinks his effort came to nothing. He slumps, collapsing into the archivist. He feels their hands in his hair.

The archivist���s chest rumbles against Jon’s as they speak.

“Ceaseless watcher,” Jon buries his face in the crook of the archivist’s neck. They hold him, out of compassion or to keep him from bolting, and it steadies Jon.

“Turn your gaze upon this wretched thing.”

[koipalm]

[TMA SPOILERS]

scariest tma episodes (to ME... to ME)are as follows in no order uhh

MAG1 the angler fish

-what a good fucking opener. the details with the mans mouth not moving, and his feet touching the ground?? and the way he fucking folded in half like he was jerked back?? man. what an intense start

MAG3 across the street

-THE FUCKING NOT THEM..... MAN THOSE FUCKING THINGS SCARE THE SHIT OUT OF ME. THE FUCKING HAND AND ARM MAN

MAG10 vampire killer

-the imagery of the vampire.... i prefer traditional vampires to whatever the fuck that was. trevor herbert is a stronger man than me

MAG15 lost johns cave

-of course the cave diving episode but the added audio of her talking.... man i fucking jumped. holy shit that episode scared me

MAG23 schwartzwald

-the game about the kids sneaking down until 'it sees them'? that freaked me the fuck out.

MAG25 growing dark

-HER WEIRD FUCKING ROOMMATE. WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT GIRL DOING

MAG60 observer effect

-the fucking face in the mirror... MAN. being watched well i dont like that. at all

MAG65 binary

-something about the whole ARG aspect of computer programs getting weirder scares me.... also the imagery was really vivid? impressive for a statment about a guy eating his computer

MAG79 hide and seek

-notsasha scared the SHIT out of me. i couldnt even listen to this episode alone. jesus CHRIST man

MAG81 a guest for mr spider

-this episode was SO fucking good. the context that it gives, the storytelling, i fucking LOVED listening to this episode. im so glad i didnt get spoiled for this part bc holy fucking shit. something about that book creeped the hell out of me. he was right that book was fucked up

MAG124 left hanging

-whatever the fuck was on their cable car scared the SHIT out of me

MAG149 concrete jungle

-something about the unmoving statues of humans made from scrap that started to move.... and the whole artificial village.... super uncanny valley damn

ok there are. definitely more season one creeped me the fuck out but those are the ones that stand out rn

[thekintsugi-adult]

hey someone come talk to me about the magnus archives i'm exploding

i just finished mag81 so no spoilers past that

[dellohii]

listening to MAG81 rn and all i can think of is

jurgen leitner: kids edition

[blazewatergem]

I’m switching over to Welcome to Night Vale for now. That was. Holy shit.

Officially leaving off on MAG81. Will come back and scream after I process everything.

[notesofarichlycolorednight]

relistened to mag81 and i just realized jon mentioned that it'd gotten dark when they finally made it to the door for mr. spider but i'd always somehow missed that and pictured this happening in broad daylight

and idk i think it's more scary if it'd happened during the day