#magnus protocol theory

[kidd-video]

Been really enjoying how the Magnus Protocol has been playing with the idea of ✨️nostalgia✨️. Sam obsessing over the Magnus Institute, Alice wanting to rekindle her relationship with Sam, Celia looking into familiar names from TMA.  Even the monsters are a bit of a throwback - a mascot from a 90s TV show, a member of British aristocracy, [ERROR] with her cassette tapes.

And on a meta level - the listeners are playing into this nostalgia, too. The theories that Jon/Martin/Jonah are stuck in the computer. Our excitement at hearing familiar voices again. Trying to  assign the Smirke 14 to the O.I.A.R. cases...

The thing is - nostalgia is actually just  corrupting everyone. Sam's obsession is putting the O.I.A.R. crew in danger. Alice's attempts at reshaping their relationship to how it used to be is harming her current friendship with Sam. Celia's investigations just keep leading to dead ends.

And us, the listeners, our inclinations to apply the old lore from TMA to this new series...it might be causing us to miss some big clues in Protocol...

so yeah, I just think it's really cool how Magnus Protocol is playing with the dangers of nostalgia, especially considering it's a sequel!

[idkwhyyouaskingm3-blog]

Been racking my brain on why the person emailing Gwen would want Lena out of her position. That's probably why the emailer is sending Gwen this information

But what if that's not that. What if it wants out. It can read stuff on newer tech but it's stuck in the 90s business version of windows.

She gave him a pen drive. It's found a way out. She's basically given Trevor a virus. How bad would FR3-D1 be if it can do more than just witness horrors but create them

[toweringclam]

Okay so theory time.

While the world of TMA was heavily skewed towards fear, I think the world of TMAGP is more balanced. Desire is just as powerful a force. Many of the documents have people destroyed by their desires who never really actually fear it even as it turns them into something abhorrent. Fear is definitely a factor, but if we want to start pinning down Entities, we should start considering Hungers in addition to Fears

[tyrs-right-hand]

Alice has watched someone die. Alice’s parents died while she was dating Sam in uni. Alice likely watched her parents die. But who, or what, killed them?

I was thinking - what if they were killed by an OIAR external? I highly doubt the OIAR ordered a hit on them, but the externals (like Lady Mowbray) are still just going out and killing on their own agenda. Imagine Alice finding out that the office she has worked in for so long (as well as Lena and Gwen!!) have been working in direct cooperation with the monster that killed her parents. Peak workplace drama

[daughterofluthien]

WHY is the protocol-verse magnus institute

Specifically, why is it called the Magnus Institute? Because TMA's Magnus Institute was founded by, named after, and run for a century and a half by the OG eye-boy Jonah Magnus.

But in the Protocol-verse, the fears as we know them (probably) didn't exist back when original flavor Jonah was kicking around. And while we do have a few 'statements' from the institute in the Protocol, they all seem to be focused around categorizing items or people for alchemy reasons. And based on the ritual mentioned tmagp 21, the Institute seems way more interested in alchemy—specifically, the Great Work of alchemy, which is what historical alchemists called the creation of the philsopher's stone.

So, given that it's so different in focus and mission from the TMA Institute, why is it still called the Magnus Institute.

Was protocol-verse Jonah Magnus simply involved in a different flavor of weird esoteric BS in this universe?

Or, as is my personal crazy theory, was the Magnus Institute founded by or (more likely) named after/inspired by THIS GUY:

13th century philosopher, theologian, and rumored alchemist Albertus Magnus.

Now, at least according to wikipedia, irl Magnus was probably not an actual alchemist. However, after his death, a lot of alchemical texts were attributed to him, and a common legend about him was that he had actually discovered how to create the Philosopher's Stone.

aka the Great Work aka the thing that the Magnus Institute was also trying to accomplish, and the end goal of their millennium ritual

The only difference between the institute and their namesake being that Magnus actually completed his Great Work, while the Institute was burned to the ground by the OIAR before they reached their goal.

[sapphirenightshade]

I just had a thought about Augustus.

We know what *Elias Bouchard* sounds like,

But we never heard what *Jonah’s* voice sounded like in his original body, since every one of his letters was recorded by Jon.

And Jonny and Alex wouldn’t make it so obvious as to cast Ben Meredith as Augustus, even though by now a lot of us are pretty sure that Augustus is some aspect of Jonah— since Jon, Martin, and Jonah were the three present when the Panopticon fell. Even with the teaser bait of the .jmj error. They still want to make us work for it.

So my current theory is that the three computer voices may not be their full consciousnesses like the implications of the Sergey Ushanka statement, but instead an aspect of each of them, thus allowing us to hear Jonah’s original voice before he started body-hopping.

[teepussilakana]

71 hours before next fix (tmagp 25) drops officially

who do we think the Minister is?

[tmp-thoughts]

Theory: Protocol isn't about fears, it's about suffering.

I find this really interesting, sadly I wasnt able to find anything else on this theory searching so im just going to assume the you mean rather than the fear gods feeding on fear, whatever tmagp has feeds on suffering im sorry if im wrong.

I tried to find evidence that makes this theory float although I couldn't find all that much;

Ink5oul likes that look of fear/pain going down and getting her tattoo causes a lot of suffering - this can really go either way for feeding from fear or suffering but its a similar situation if you look at lady Mowbray

The idea that the entities figured out that fear was an unsustainable resource or at least the web knows they will try a different method aka suffering

Lastly I believe that in episode 2 'main adjustments' The lady isn't in fear or feeding fear she is feeding suffering because she is inflicting it on herself and isn't afraid of doing it.

I personally dont believe this theory but here's this I still think fear is being fed off of and now use a different kind of fear than before but still fear. Its still plausible just less likely. And tell me if im missing any evidence for it because I probably am and I'll add it.

[lunarnillinia]

The magnus protocol theory - greek mythology themes

@torkhin @amelie-isnt-french @field-cryptobotanist & I have been picking up on some greek mythology associations (more specifically the odyssey) in protocol. We might be onto something or it might just be the craziest red herring ever.

There are definitely connections between alchemy and greek mythology, so who knows at this point, am i right??

Here's an overview of connections i made, along with connections @torkhin made previously

*disclaimer* i am well aware i am REACHING with a lot of these, but i need to get my thoughts out nonetheless, let me nerd about greek mythology...

TMAGP 1: Orpheus & Euridice

Going to the place of the dead to find your lover that you just can't let go

TMAGP 2: Pygmalion & Galatea

Artist's desire to create the perfect image of a woman (sculpting). Falls in love with the art & causes it to become a reality

TMAGP 3: : Daphne & Apollo

Toxic 'lovers' where one of them turns into a fucking tree

TMAGP 4: Sirens

Music that leads to your death

(Sirens are also often depicted with instruments, to lure their victims with)

TMAGP 5: Eros & Psyche

This one is especially far fetched but: being urged to reveal and *actually see* this thing that everyone keeps on saying is horrific

(Myth explanation: Psyche gets banished to an island alone. She gets told by her sisters that her lover that comes to her in the night, which she is never allowed to see, is a terrific monster. Eventually they urge her to light a candle to see and kill the monster.)

TMAGP 6: Charybdis

Monster that wants to completely draw you in and 'embrace' you

(Charybdis is sometimes depicted as a sea monster with a lot of sharp teeth or as a giant whirpool)

TMAGP 7: Penelope's suitors

These people that you didn't invite just keep coming into your place, enjoying themselves, making the place unliveable and you just can't get them to leave

TMAGP 8: Lotus eaters (/Laestrygonians)

Strange place with these people that just seem 'off' want you to eat there and 'stay awhile'

(Laestrygonians were cannibalistic giants that killed many of Odysseus' men)

TMAGP 9: Palamedes (& Tyche)

The whole thing with dice & luck

Dude who's supposed to be your friend/ally tricks you into doing something you don't want. You then play into it and get your revenge on him later

(Myth explanation: Palamedes was a greek ally but also an enemy of Odysseus. He tricked Odysseus, who was trying to get out of joining the trojan war by acting insane, into revealing himself when Odysseus' baby was threatened. Odysseus never forgave him and framed him for being a traitor and then had him killed by the rest of the greeks or killed Palamedes himself in some accounts.

Now get this: Palamedes is the inventor of dice gave the first dice to Tyche, the goddess of good and bad luck.)

TMAGP 10: Hermes & Poseidon

Again far fetched: Gwen playing a fucked up little messenger & an unknown enemy emerging from the waters

TMAGP 11: Poseidon

(Tattoo of) a ship in the middle of the ocean, being chased by something in the water

TMAGP 12: Polyphemus

Big monster with googly eye(s) crashes a party and starts brutally ripping people apart and eating them. His teeth are not soft.

TMAGP 13: Hermes

Far fetched: Hermes is a trickster god of trade and commerce, but also thieves

Same-ish theme of cheating the system for wealth

TMAGP 14: Circe

Snakes & people being transformed into animals?

TMAGP 15: Scylla

Noble lady is actually a monster with dogs (literally) by her hips and eats human flesh

TMAGP 16: no idea honestly

+ bonus thoughts on Lena: i think she might be an Athena type character:

stern authority figure, highly practical, scheming and placing her pawns just right, sees most people as tools/assets, but!! still cares about her people in some way too, protects them and helps them to succeed

Definitely add on your own thoughts :)

[redplanetlobster]

Me after misspelling 'dredgeman' in Google and finding out what a 'draegerman' is:

Anyways, now I have a half formed theory about how Luke just might become a very important character in the near future.

[creamyforestmushroom]

MAGNUS ARCHIVES PEOPLE I HAVE MADE A LINK! SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT FOR MAGP 10 AND ALL OF MAG

I assume people have already made this link but I had a revelation while researching for a MAG inspired dnd oneshot I want to run for some friends.

So, in the transcript for MAGP 10, the [ERROR] is credited as being voiced by Beth Eyre. Now, Beth Eyre has voiced another character in the original MAG called Lucia Wright in MAG 130: Meat.

Who else has the last name Wright? James Wright. The head of the Magnus Institute before Elias...

The wiki only mentions that they have the same family name and there's really no direct connections between them BUT what if? I'm happy to hear people's thoughts. Maybe this is a complete stretch

[mrmeeps3654]

Could the “mommy and daddy Stasi” have something to do with the German state security group from 1950-1990? The Magnus institute burned down in 1999 so it’s not a stretch to say the Stasi could have something to do with this. Idk

[idkwhyyouaskingm3-blog]

Is the MP definitely Trevor Herbert or is he the MP in the same way Elias Bouchard was the CEO of the Magnus Institute. I mean a homeless man would be an easy target or body snatching.

[didymoceras-was-right]

I wonder if maybe the dread powers are getting mix/matched in a way that reflects the cross-referenced categorization system for each incident. Like getting sucked into the multiverse just sorta jumbled them up.

[tyrs-right-hand]

So the person under the Institute:

Was in the tunnels. The tunnels that lead to the Panopticon.

Emerged from said tunnels into the Archivist’s office.

Had the first tape recorder of Protocol materialise and turn on just for them.

The only person I can think of when I consider all of this is Jon. But it can’t be Jon!

Haha… unless…

EDIT: It has been brought to my attention that Beth Eyre was listed in the credits as the voice of [ERROR]. I’m going to ignore this and continue to be delusional

[monochrome-sunsets]

THEORY, magnus protocol is the universe jmart and el*as went to after the end of tma. they got stuffed into the computers, in this sort-of-alive-but-not state, forever doomed to keep making statements. jon is chester, as we know by episode one. martin and elias are the other two computer voices, the ones that don't show up nearly as often. in this universe, something happened to the magnus institute in 1999, completely demolishing it. few people know what it is, outside of "creepy abandoned building". this is why there's no mention of the eyepocolypse- it didn't happen in this universe, it never had a chance to.