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douglysium · 6 months

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Episode 4 TMP Quick Thoughts

Housekeeping and Prologue

Hello, this is Douglysium and you might not know me as that guy who wrote over 100 pages of analysis on the Eye (which can be read on Tumblr here (https://douglysium.tumblr.com/post/735599414228484097/the-relationships-between-the-dread-powers-the) or Google Docs here (The Relationships Between the Dread Powers: The Eye- Knowledge is Fear and Ignorance is Bliss)) or as that guy who wrote an article on the Extinction (which can be read on Tumblr here(https://douglysium.tumblr.com/post/717929126195003392/what-would-avatars-of-the-extinction-be-like-a) and Google Docs here(What would Avatars of the Extinction be like?: A TMA Speculation)). Suffice to say I might be a bit of a TMA fan. Also, spoilers for TMP up until episode 2. You can read my ramblings on the last episode here (TMP Quick Thoughts 3).

However, Protocol offers a very unique opportunity and experience for me because I didn’t actually get into TMA until after it was over and I binged all of it. So this is my first time experiencing something even remotely similar to what the original TMA fans probably experienced when waiting for each episode week by week and slowly having to put everything together with the limited information they had. So I decided to throw my hat into the ring since this might be my only chance to do something similar. However, I’m working on some longer form TMA content so I can’t spend as much time on these articles giving a bunch of super detailed thoughts. I will try to keep these short and that inevitably might mean some could have questions about why I think or predict certain things and in those cases I would probably recommend you read at least some of the two articles I mentioned above to get a better idea of where I’m coming from. This also means I won’t be giving you a play-by-play of every single thing that happens in the episode so I encourage you to listen to or read them yourselves and feel free to comment if you feel something is important.

These reviews are probably going to end up focusing mostly on the Entities and their manifestations as they are what I have thought about the most and spent the most time interpreting and there’s been a lot of… interesting theories floating around about how the Entities are manifesting that I want to go over.

Finally, I’m just going to say it right now, spoiler warning for all of The Magnus Archives. I know that Jon and co said one could start with Protocol and be fine, and while that’s probably true, media like this tends to be made in conversation with or take into consideration what came before it in the irl chronology in order to connect them. While I’m sure you could skip The Magnus Archives, I don't really see the point of skipping over it when we are already getting characters from TMA showing up in TMP in Protocol. So to me it’s pretty clear that if we want to understand the full picture of TMP and all the things it is trying to say then we can’t just try to pretend TMA doesn’t exist or scrub it away. Just because you could understand what’s happening without the context in broad strokes doesn’t mean you're getting all the nuances.

These articles are meant to be quick and short so sorry if there’s typos and if I don’t address every possible question or possibility. I don’t want to repeat myself too much in this series outside of the prologue so be sure to skim some of my other articles.

Big Oopsie

In my last discussion around Episode 3 I realized I made some major mistakes with my interpretation of the statement. Luckily, it turns out most of the specific points about the Entities I mentioned still apply but it definitely pushes Webber’s statement towards having more themes revolving around The Corruption. On Reddit I posted notes in the replies of the post with the mistakes I made and how that changes my reading of the episode. I also have the corrections in italics on the google doc and Tumblr versions of that episode.

For the sake of convenience before I look at this episode here are the paragraphs and their corrections.

But then there’s that weird rash infection with all the roots. I mean yeah there’s a very real argument for The Corruption, both thematically and physically, but Leitner has mentioned that the Powers can manifest as anything that generates the fear they feed off of. Not only that, but there is a precedent for The Eye manifesting as a disease or infection. Albrecht von Closen had an encounter with The Eye after coming across a tomb and taking a bunch of old books with numerous statements (something Jonah later stole). In MAG 127 (Remains to be Seen) it’s clear Albrecht is being beset by a strange illness and he is becoming sickly and dying (he’s also spouting statements and staring at people). Albrecht later dies from unknown causes (the mysterious illness) and an autopsy reveals that his internal organs, bones, and inner skin had been covered with eyes… but there’s no eyes visible in this TMP episode. It might literally just be a disease caused by Webber not getting medical treatment or it could be The Eye trying to force Webber to choose between hiding and dying or risk going out and interacting with people. To risk being perceived.

Okay, here is where I make my first mistake. I say he doesn’t like how Jasmine talks to Gerard even though he is clearly talking about Maddie and in addition to that I misread and misheard Gerald as Gerard. So she was talking to someone completely unrelated to the Eye. Something that weakens my point for the Eye.

But maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. The Corruption is more likely a possibility here. Jane Prentiss mentions that she didn’t like The Eye and her worms reacted to it. She even described it as anathema. So maybe the fear of being perceived is similar to what Jane experienced. Additionally, the Corruption often ties into themes of toxic love. Specifically, forms of toxic love we might find disgusting or repulsive. The Corruption doesn’t just relate to physically disgusting things but also behaviors and mentalities we might find gross. Someone can be physically sick and have a “sick” behavior or be “sick” in the head. Here we see Maddie caring for Webber even as he rots away but she never seems to try to get him the help he probably needs from other people.

You could also argue that Webber seems unhealthily attached to Maddie and is using her to enable his self-destructive behavior. Not to mention The Corruption and disease with all the maggots going hand-in-hand all the time. Something I stupidly forgot in the original version of this was that in the very medical files NORRIS is spitting out, Maddie is “Maddie Webber, age 39 – Deceased— ” and in addition to that the part of the file before this says “journal of Dr. Samuel Webber, age 46. Issued by grief councillor Harriot Manning.” So if this is being documented by Webber as he is turning into a tree that would mean either 1. Maddie is already dead and this is all happening due to the doctor’s unhealthy emotional response and attachment or 2. The doctor possibly straight up killed Maddie. With this in mind that would mean that Webber’s panic attack is linked to the death of Maddie and the thing he is freaking out about is the possibility of people knowing he thinks Maddie is alive or that he might have killed her. The fact that he says “They don’t understand. I was so close to getting caught... but it’s done. All I need to do now is disappear.” points to the idea that he might have killed her.

This part of the statement “Thought I heard someone calling my name. No flashlight though, no movement, just the voice. Sounds like Maddie. My hands won't stop shaking” might have been The Corruption using the feelings of disgust and love Webber has towards himself and Maddie to call to him. So when Webber dies he rots away and can metaphorically join his also rotting life within the garden or dirt that everyone’s body will one day decompose into.

This wildly changes the reading to being way more Corruption coded. Someone who loved someone in such an incredibly unhealthy way he ended up killing the person he loved. There’s also an interesting metaphor here for the garden. Someone being killed and metaphorically or literally being used to allow a garden to grow as their body rots into something disgusting before being combined with feelings of shame, self loathing, and disgust. The Corruption and self loathing is something I haven’t really mentioned but there’s a precedent for it. As I’ve mentioned, corruption is the fear of disgusting things and that would often include the fear that you yourself might be disgusting physically or in terms of behavior. If you hate yourself you might say “I’m a piece of shit” and the idea of that is usually people find shit to be disgusting and repulsive.

There’s also an argument for The Flesh and body horror and in TMA sometimes The Flesh had a bit of garden theme, such as with Jared Hopworth’s domain.

In the original version I do mention The Spiral as a strong possibility but I also don’t give it a fear shake. I’m not going super in depth to it but Webber is clearly losing it and you could argue that maybe this Maddie person is connected to the Spiral and Webber acknowledges he is paranoid so he might be plenty afraid of going crazy. Mentions about how, for example, he is having trouble telling what time of day it is due to the unusual amounts of light could point to themes of The Spiral and being mistaken about something.

This statement is definitely more nebulous than the others so far but at the same time I don’t really see it being different than for example the vampire or that one time someone had to watch a video of a guy eating a computer. There are still statements from TMA that are just as nebulous and people are still debating to this very day what Entity these statements or beings might / should belong to.

Due to the additions I am more confident that this statement is probably connected towards The Corruption. Maybe like 85% sure this is The Corruption (If I had to assign an Entity and we assume they are still present) and the other possibilities being The Eye, Spiral, and Flesh respectively. With The Eye and Spiral being more likely than The Flesh.

Gwen enters the scene and offers Alice some sort of job “thing” on the 27th but refuses to elaborate on what it is. Which reminds me of the behavior Jonah had after taking over Elias and how he often held information from people like Jon for reasons that weren’t always clear. But eventually Alice gets Gwen to open up and she admits that it’s dinner with friends. Despite this it’s still kind of weird that Gwen thought to ask Alice of all people. They don’t exactly seem like friends so that’s strange. I can’t say if this means anything though.

Someone pointed out that Gwen is probably asking Alice to take her shift which makes a lot more sense then whatever the fuck I thought was happening. It’s still interesting that Gwen would ask for a favor though and then proceed to not elaborate which I still find really weird. Normally, if you ask for a favor you usually want to say why in order to get sympathy or understanding and trying to just get someone to do stuff for you for no reason tends to come off as shady. I still wonder if there’s a particular reason Gwen is so cagey. She asked what terrible event led Sam working for this organization in a past episode so I wonder if all the characters have some sort of trauma or encounter with the supernatural that is affecting them differently.

Episode 4 “Taking Notes”

Okay let’s get started with the episode. Once again we cut to hearing what’s happening in the show via the computers. I’ve already spoken about this 3 times at this point so blah blah blah something like The Web or Eye is watching through devices, maybe The Extinction if you want to go full on mad conspiracy theorist and I think Smirke’s 14 are still at play and if I’m wrong yolo but also maybe The Extinction emerged, who knows.

Alice immediately starts grilling Sam for trying to access restricted files after receiving a security notification from Sam’s activities. Sam was looking for terms relating to “Magnus” and “Protocol”.... roll credits.

But on a more serious note, this ties into a point I’ve been making again and again about Sam. He is extraordinarily curious and in this respect he is very similar to some other notably Eye aligned people like Jon. Additionally, the Eye just tends to attract people who are curious or want to know / witness something in various ways. Sam points out that there’s no reason Alice should be getting any computer security notifications and she says “I shouldn’t be, but you should be damn glad that this system doesn’t do anything like it should. If Colin caught wind of this he would have a meltdown! ” Which I think could also tie into The Eye since one of the things the Entity revolves around is the fear of being perceived and / or judged. So here we have Sam being caught doing something he clearly shouldn’t be doing and it’s being revealed to someone who shouldn’t have seen it. Alice, also belabors the point by saying Colin would be pissed if he found out what Sam tried to do.

I know that whether the computers are aligned with The Eye specifically might be debatable and if it turns out that these computers aren't Eye aligned this could debunk my point. There is definitely a precedent for it since the Tapes from TMA were actually aligned with The Web. However, I would argue that in the case of the Tapes, even though the artifacts themselves were aligned with The Web, taking statements and recording them is something The Eye still tended to do and The Web’s plan involved using the statements in order to metaphysically tie the Entities to them so they could be dragged to a new universe. What I’m saying is aspects of The Eye could still be at play.

Sam of course questions why files mentioning “The Protocol” would be restricted and Alice does what she usually does and basically tells him to stop asking questions. Which is fair in this case because the government probably doesn’t take snooping around secret files very lightly. This idea of the government catching you trying to take secrets and potentially doing something terrible if they catch you could also relate to The Eye. Alice says that whatever "The Protocol" happens to be it seems to be super high level lock and key stuff.

When asked how much trouble Sam could be in if caught we get this interaction.

ALICE

“All I know is it used to involve Starkwall.”

SAM

“Starkwall? As in “The San Pedro Square Massacre” Starkwall?”

ALICE

“The private military contractors yeah.”

I did an EXTREMELY light Google search and, at least on the surface, it doesn’t seem like this massacre is a direct reference to a real event. It’s also too early to make any hard guesses that aren’t just speculating but here are some of the first possibilities that come to my head.

Maybe, this massacre is connected to when the Entities first emerged and their first appearance caused some level of chaos due to a bunch of supernatural and weird stuff potentially happening. Maybe, it’s a lot more simple and it’s just a violent event tied to an Entity like The Slaughter. Sam seems to have a strong reaction to Starkwall implying that they are either famous or infamous to at least some people. Is this organization tied to an Entity like The Slaughter? It could also be that they specifically deal with fighting or dealing with the supernatural like how Section 31 of the police force in TMA was called upon to deal with supernatural things. Maybe Starkwall will even end having Hunters tied to The Hunt in the same way that Section 31 did? Of course, it’s way too early with way too little information to say with certainty.

I think it’s very interesting that, unlike TMA, none of the characters mention that they feel like they are constantly being watched no matter where they go in the O.I.A.R. facility in the same way Jon and co mentioned they felt like they were being watched in the Archives. It could just be that they haven’t mentioned it though since it’s not like that detail was dropped in episode 1 of TMA either.

When the statement this episode starts it is AUGUSTUS to which Alice responds “Hey! Augustus! Feels like I haven’t heard him in forever!” and we get this interaction.

SAM

So is this, like, a rare voice?

Gwen presses spacebar, irritated. The voice stops.

ALICE

Kinda. It’s usually just Chester or Norris. Augustus is a bit of a special occasion.

I once again have to wonder if there is some sort of logic or factor that determines when specific voices show up. I don’t know if Alice is aware of any possible triggers despite saying “Augustus is a bit of a special occasion” since she could simply be joking.

The statement itself is one of the easier ones to summarize I think. Basically, someone gets a violin of the “finest craftsmanship” from a strange gentleman by a fire and quickly realizes that using the violin allows him to play amazingly but comes at a cost of blood and pain. Either from themself or others. Eventually, the musician secretly gives his nephew the cursed instrument as part of an inheritance. I would say that this statement is probably detailing an encounter with The Slaughter. We have seen time and time again cases of The Slaughter causing violence via music, such as Grifters Bone.

As we are regaled with the story we learn that this musician had a tutor at some point by the name of Oliver Bardwell (ha bard… like musician) and we are told he “nursed a conviction that this honor was purely the fruit of his own skills as an instructor, rather than a product of my talent and endeavor. Bardwell, a singularly vexatious man, reveled in the task of reminding me that, though my father may hold station in the Lords, the regrettable position of my birth ensured I could not rely upon that fact to provide for my future.” So we quickly learn that Oliver is an asshole and in addition to that the statement giver even confesses “In these moments of Bardwell’s cruelty, I shall confess I indulged my imagination in contemplation of what morbid or grotesque fates might befall him on the journey, by happenstance or even by my own hand.”

I think this helps point to parallels with The Slaughter. The Slaughter is an Entity born from the fear of violence and here we have the implication that Oliver was a potentially violent and cruel man which in turn caused whoever is giving the statement to wish to enact violence or misfortune upon Oliver. It is unfortunately not completely unheard of in various time periods and places for figures of authority, such as parents, teachers, and mentors, to attempt to enact discipline via forms of violence, or they might use violent methods as a form of negative reinforcement. It would not surprise me if Oliver was using such a method to try to get the narrator to play better. We also know that this statement was probably not super recent because we get “I paid little heed to his prattle or ambitions, spending those weeks en route refining my finger patterns upon the timeworn bridge of my cherished Rogeri, at least as far as the unsteady coach would permit.” and “Alas, as the journey continued, Bardwell’s practiced manners and veneer of refinement gradually eroded, and as the summer's warmth yielded to autumn's chill, his demeanor truly soured, a change hastened by each rut and jolt of the aged carriage” which points to the idea that they were traveling via horse pulled carriage. We also later hear about a coachman, so I don’t think that this statement takes place in a time where cars and / or planes were common.

Going back to what I said earlier about Oliver and violence we get this “I have made mention of the grim fantasies that on occasion possessed my youthful mind, but you must believe me, nephew, when I say I had no part in his death. I do not know what at last caused the frenzied paroxysm which seized him that night. He had slept but little the week prior, and the strain upon his nerves was plain to see. It was as I missed the fingering of what should have been a simple exercise, a mistake I ascribe to the coach’s jostling, that he leapt to his feet. Words tumbled from his lips, devoid of coherence, a symphony of mania conducted by some unseen maestro of his own imagination.” It is rather notable that when Oliver begins to become violent and frenzied the narrator immediately believes the source of this violent attack to be them. For some extra context a paroxysm is defined as “a sudden attack or violent expression of a particular emotion or activity.” It can also refer to “a sudden recurrence or attack of a disease; a sudden worsening of symptoms” but given the context of the scene and the fear of the narrator I assume the first definition is more applicable. It could also be possible that this is a double meaning. If we suspect that Oliver was violent before then the second definition could apply in the sense of a sudden recurrence of violence that has suddenly worsened.

We also get “I watched with growing unease as shadows danced upon the walls of his thoughts, their forms and nature hidden to me, save for what I overheard him utter beneath his breath, barely perceptible to the ear. At moments, it seemed almost as if he were listening to some far away music, though my instrument lay quiet beside me.” which points to a possible connection between The Slaughter and some of the rhythm or music it often likes to manifest as. I also think it’s interesting that the narrator mentions “grim fantasies” but reassures his nephew he did not kill Oliver. It has already been explicitly mentioned that these grim fantasies involved violence but it appears that the narrator is afraid that someone may suspect that they are reason enough for him to kill Oliver. This points to a theme of the cycle of violence, where one person might become more violent because someone else enacted violence upon them, so on and so forth.

After fighting “as though some specter flitted just beyond his sight and grasped his hands, moving them with wild abandon as Mr. Bardwell sought salvation from whatever phantoms haunted his waking dreams.” Oliver proceeds to throw himself head first out the carriage door and kill himself via busting his skull open. It’s possible that this could be a form of violence relating to self harm (since self harm could be considered an act of violence towards oneself) or maybe for whatever reason Oliver perceived something else to be attacking him. The event also causes the coachman to suspect the narrator of killing Bardwell. We get another allusion to violent outbursts in the past when it is said “He had been witness to many heated exchanges between myself and Mr Bardwell, and as I approached, it became clear he perceived not a terrified and distraught youth, but a violent killer.” So at the very least the carriage driver believes there is some sort of precedent or motive for violence here. This also shows us that the narrator in all likelihood is not so young as to be defenseless or immediately assumed to be innocent.

The coach driver’s fear of violence seems to become so great that “A primal fear seized the man, and he acted rashly. I shall not speak of what followed, but suffice it to say that I ended up alone, wandering in the night.” It’s hard to say what happened but if I had to take a shot in the dark, and consider the fact that the narrator doesn’t want to even speak about it, I have to assume that the coachman attacked them and they fought back in self-defense before being forced to kill the man. It’s possible that the carriage driver just ran away but we also have to remember that Oliver seemed like he heard “some far away music, though my instrument lay quiet beside me.” Is it possible that the coachman was also a victim of this unheard song? It would make some amount of sense considering that we soon meet a man who gives the narrator a strange violin that craves blood and can cause violence. Maybe the violin is what they heard but I am unsure and I don’t know why the narrator themselves wouldn’t have it heard. It could just be coincidence or some other factor like The Slaughter preying off the coachman’s fear.

Speaking of, the narrator meets a strange gentleman sitting by the fire and the man probes the narrator for his story while offering food. After hearing the tale he sighs and says “"Fortune does seem to have forsaken you," he mused, his expression unreadable and his tone strangely conspiratorial. "Indeed, I would suggest a stroke of luck is much in order."” before giving the narrator a strange violin. As he does, we hear about some of the other trinkets “Within it I could spy an assortment of trinkets, ranging from battered knives and chipped porcelain to fine jewelry, small ivory figures and even a set of gambler’s dice. "Luck assumes a myriad of forms, " he proclaimed, his practiced manner warm and inviting, “and today it takes the form of a simple traveler offering you his wares. You mentioned playing the violin, I believe?””

I wonder if this man is similar to Mikaele Salesa and considering that we will soon get an episode about a strange pair of dice I wonder if the set of gambler’s dice is the same set. If it is that would point to the idea that the man is not only collecting Slaughter artifacts in the same way Mikaele wasn’t aligned to any particular Entity and collected a variety of their artifacts before giving them away.

We get a bit of detail about the violin “Placing a bow upon the string, and in a single

fluid motion, he executed an echoing double stop that resonated with a satisfying thrum. He said nothing as I examined it, ascribing it no history, no famous maker or master luthier. The neck, a paragon of symmetry, led the eye from the deep crimson hue of the upper bout gradually surrendering to a subdued natural mahogany as it descended.” but as the musician continued to trace their fingers along the string “At that moment a cry of pain erupted from my throat, a cry that shocked even myself, as I realised I had cut my fingertip upon the strings. The merchant only smirked, looking at me as one might a boy who'd touched a cooking pot.” This is the first hint we get at the violin’s darker nature. The noted “deep crimson hue” the violin has might symbolize deep red blood. It could even be the vestiges of someone else who played the violin and had to give a blood offering.

After the violin player makes his way to Manheim and eventually plays the violin, we get an interesting note. “A tremor of apprehension coursed through me as I faced the silent assembly, and it was with an unfamiliar feeling of uncertainty that I gripped my new instrument. Its neck, more slender than its predecessor, sat awkwardly in my hand, and as I began my fingers fumbled in their search for purchase upon the strings. I attempted the first of my well-practiced recitations, but my playing was inelegant and rough, eliciting only dismissive whispers, and derisive muttering from my audience. A surge of indignation and fear welled within me, urged on by the knowledge that I, my father's sin, who had done terrible things to reach that hall, could never return home in disgrace. I executed a 'jete', a jarring musical demand for their attention, a declaration that I must be seen, and heard. A rapid and perfect volley of eleven notes, past which no murmur, no whisper lingered. I had their complete attention.” I’ve been pretty adamant that the Entities are still feeding off fear in TMP and to this end I would point to the fact that the violin seems to take full effect when a “surge of indignation and fear” wells within the musician and we later hear “I could see in the faces of my audience an astonishment, and something not

entirely unlike terror…”.

The violin player also makes note of “the knowledge that I, my father's sin, who had done terrible things to reach that hall” which to me increases the likelihood that they ended up having to fight and kill their coach driver since I don’t know what else they could be referring to outside of rampant misplaced guilt.

The violin reveals its true nature when “As my eyes opened, I saw of blood pooling on the neck from where my skin should be, as the uppermost layer of the fingertip dangled, torn and hanging like discarded parchment. Pain and panic blossomed, but no option remained other than to play, and to play the most daunting melodies my mind could conjure. Sluggish at first, as I felt the strings run their length against my bloody flesh, then rapidly accelerating, crescendos intertwining diminuendos, a dance of command and submission enacted upon the strings.” and we hear “I was, of course, accepted, hailed as a singular talent. Yet a suspicion took root in me. A realisation that the positions of “player” and “instrument” were not so firmly set with this hungering violin. It was a creature with needs and purpose of its own. The needs were simple enough. Blood. Flesh. Little enough at first. Skin shaved and cut and singing in pain. And the rewards were great, as with each performance, agony intermingled with melody, and my bleeding fingers lubricated those resonating strings. ”

So in order to play the instrument the narrator must give an offering of blood, or what might be more broadly an offering of some sort of pain. The musician soon comes to the grim realization that “The blood for its strings need not be your own.” “Only once did I play it without paying its price: wrapping my fingers in thick bandages so as to prevent its razored strings from cutting me. I had believed my playing would be lackluster, my performance uninspired. Yet the music that came from my instrument that day was somehow more beautiful than it had ever been before.” but then “They fell upon each other then, a dance of teeth and nails, of tearing and gouging. I watched as a gout-ridden man in emerald silk sucked the eyes from his son’s skull and crushed them in his jaws like ripe cherries. A demure young woman bedecked in gold peeled the cheeks from her betrothed as she sang to the music that I could not stop playing. It was only when a candelabra was upended and the room engulfed in flame that I was at last able to cease my recitation and make my escape. ”

So the violin seems to have abilities quite similar to that of Grifters Bone, who we know is aligned with The Slaughter and they can play a song that causes extreme violence. The narrator describes the violin as being a creature so it’s possible that when it’s hurting him he perceives it as an act of violence or maybe the act is a sort of metaphor for self harm or aiming your violence at yourself. The violin apparently sounds more beautiful than ever when it is drawing from the blood and violence of other people so it could be that the more pain and blood offered to the violin the more beautiful it sounds. This violin also might be a metaphor for the “tortured” artist trope. The idea that you must endure great pain or suffering to be a great artist.

A lot of people wonder about the relationship between Slaughter and music and while violence itself isn’t tied to rhythm or music certain institutions that enact violence are, most notably the military and various armies throught history. Whether it be their rhythmic marching or a drummer beating their instrument in order to keep the army moving in proper rhythm or even acting as a way to raise their morale to get them to continue fighting. Roles such as these have actually been around for quite a long time which could explain some of The Slaughter’s manifestations. At a certain point it would be unsurprising if the sound of a kind of drumming might make you assume an army is on its way.

“The Spirit of '76” by Archibald Willard

Phrases like “beat the drums of war" can refer to preparing for or inciting a war and Merrian-Webster defines a war drum as “a drum beaten as a summons to war or as an accompaniment to marching or fighting.”

In addition, some genres of music, such as metal or rock, are thought by some to be violent. There are stories of people making deals with the devil himself to get some sort of skill with an instrument. There are also rumors of genres such as metal being used to recruit the malleable youth to join the devil or commit acts of violence and / or murder (especially during the satanic panic in the U.S.).

As always, there are going to be other Entities that overlap with some of the fears. The Desolation overlaps a bit here, and the Entity can be so similar to The Slaughter that some people ask what the difference between the two actually is. The Desolation seems to be the fear of loss, usually but not always via destruction or damage, and The Slaughter is the fear of violence. Like all Entities they do overlap a bit and can have similar manifestations but to give a general idea- if you are afraid of your house burning down that’s usually more The Desolation and if you are afraid of being stabbed by someone that’s usually more The Slaughter. Of course, exceptions always occur and these things can be very muddled. For example, you might lose someone you care about to violence and violence often goes hand-in-hand with threats of destruction. You could also argue that the violin could be threatening to take your fingers in a sense and the musician does mention the fear of being sent back and basically losing what they have worked for.

The fact that the narrator seemingly cannot stop playing the violin could relate to The Web via being controlled by something and the fear of being in front of a watching audience that is judging you could relate to The Eye, but I still think that The Slaughter has the strongest precedent here.

We get confirmation from Sam that this statement is rather old when he says “Why on earth would something from the 18th century show up on Freddy?” I’ve mentioned earlier that we don’t actually know exactly when the Entities would have appeared in this universe (if these are the same set of Entities from TMA anyway). Time seems like it gets kind of weird with both The Change and multiversal travel but I wonder if some of these statements are being carried over from the previous universe via something like The Eye, statements, or accounts stored in / on things tied to The Entities? Could a statement like this simply be from the TMA universe or maybe the Entities just appeared earlier than we thought? Heck, I still can’t discount that this could be a different set of Entities even if I personally lean towards these at least paralleling or mirroring the Entities as we see them in TMA and their categories (and I would go as far as to posit that they are probably the same Entities from TMA).

The transcript says “SAM and ALICE have been listening despite themselves. GWEN is still working.” which I think ties into what I have mentioned previously about statements. They connect to something a lot of people don’t want to hear and they are shown wearing on the psyche of people like Martin when they listen to them. The Archivist is also described as having the job of being a “living archive of fear” and witnessing the terror and fear of others so I wonder if the people working at the O.I.A.R. have some comparable role.

Gwen then gets an email notification on her pc and we get

GWEN

Hmmmm?

She opens the attachment a recording plays. The audio quality is very

poor.

KLAUS

(video, begging) Please. Please, you don’t have to do this!

YOUNGER LENA

(video) We both know I do.

KLAUS

(video) /I I-could disappear again! They would never know!

GWEN

(Gasp) /Lena? What the hell?

Computer turns off.

This once again points to a theme The Eye has of randomly leaking information but it could also be The Eye or even Lena trying to stoke Gwen’s curiosity. Encouraging curiosity is something that The Eye and Jonah seem to like to do with curious people such as Jon, Tim, Melanie, and even Rosie. This also potentially parallels Jonah killing Jurgen Leitner after the man comes out of hiding. Something that might be more likely than we give credit for if we consider that the first statement of TMP seems to parallel the first statement of TMA with a story that sounds like an encounter with the Anglerfish.

Conclusion

I don’t really have much to say here but feel free to leave your corrections or thoughts and I may give my 2 cents or say if I agree or disagree with them.

#tmp #tma #the magnus archives #the magnus protocol #discussion

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