General Discussion

i've gotten super into magnuspod over the last few weeks after bingeing all the episodes, and i'm slowly converting my friends to it as well, since i'm the kind of person that absolutely needs to talk about my latest hyperfixation with as many people as possible.

to those who haven't listened, the magnus archives is a horror/mystery podcast that initially appears to be an anthology of short, somewhat creepy horror stories presented as statements given to the magnus institute (an organisation researching the paranormal), read by the main character and head archivist, jonathan sims - but the statements are all connected, and the overarching narrative between them has effects on jon and the rest of the archive's staff in ways beyond anything they imagined when they started working for the institute.

if you have listened - i'm dying to talk about it. what's your favourite episode? your favourite character? what are your theories about what's going to happen next?? what are your incredibly trivial headcanons???
(please use the [ spoiler ] code tags for anything past season one!!)

Oh I like TMA a lot!

Gosh it's hard for me to think of a favorite episode but Burnt Offering, Freefall, and A Sturdy Lock have all stuck with me for different reasons. I've been talking to people about The Man Upstairs recently and while that episodes did not actually have really bad meat sounds, I sure feel like it did.

Basira's my favorite at the moment, but Jude Perry is also, very hot. I'm always happy when Helen shows up.

With future theories, one of the ones I've heard recently that I'm fond of is that fear of the Future has overtaken modern technology/computers which is why Jon needs to record on tapes. Also my rotating theories on what The Watcher's Crown would entail.

I guess, more trivially, I've been thinking about how much the desolation seems to take in sacrifice, and who sacrifices what.

@weirdpine

ooh, interesting theory!!! my main theory vis a vis tapes is that they seem to be associated with the web? i draw this fron the episode involving the film director and his web of film tape, as well as how, while it makes no sense that the eye needs things to be recorded (it can see anything, after all), the web resorts to more physical means. jon was marked by the web at a young age (mr. spider) and spiders and webs crop usomewhat helpfully a few times - one big example is in s1, where spiders show jon the false wall where jane prentiss was hiding. just my take on it for now, but the web has otherwise been rather quiet, and jon's compulsion powers seem outside the realm of just the eye's abilities, so. i think it's involved in a lot of places, including the tapes!!!

and yeah, sacrifice seems to be a thing for the desolation, given that a sacrifice by nature is something associated with pain, and pain is the desolation's entire jam. even the desolation's followers have to offer up their own pain to please it. i love all the symbolism in this podcast, man,,

@Rainfrog

Oh, yeah, I can definitely see that. And especially because it doesn't quite make sense that the eye needs something to be audio format and not like, video format. Adding onto the Web's presence in the archives, I honestly had an Web!Elias theory for a good long while. And honestly, with Jon going out to smoke with his Web Lighter while Elias goes down to the tunnels to kill Leitner, along with Elias now sorta manipulating people from behind the scenes, Oh Huh, it does make sense that an avatar of the web would be immune to compulsion.

Also yeah! I mean, I latched onto Jude Perry for obvious reasons, and I'm still curious if she really fell for the Desolation and set herself on fire to destroy her life, or chose herself instead of her girlfriend to destroy and her mindset has been changed since then to justify that choice.

Also yeah, what episodes have stuck with you? Who are your favorite characters?

Hell yeah Magnus archives!!
I don't have any theories because I'm dumb but I really like the extinction.
My favorite characters are probably daisy, jon, and georgie :0
I also really like the The End dude that got killed by the meteor at point nemo... Oliver? I don't remember his name haha I hope he shows up again! I also distinctly remember a scientist on the boat from that episode that they took care to mention, something about how she seemed as lost on that boat as he did. It's probably wishful thinking, but I hope she comes back! I like the episodes related to science and academia. The tooth apple ep was *chefs kiss*

My favourite episodes... I really like the one with the Antigonish poem, and the Daedalus station ones... Also the Jane Prientiss statement, and the one about the poor insomniac person. I think the more abstract prose-y ones fascinate me, haha.

My favorite powers are the stranger and the vast! But I like all of them tbh

Now I Have to plug some podcasts I like because I'm incapable of not doing so - have you listened to I Am In Eskew? It's another horror podcast that I highly recommend if you like Magnus - it's definitely more spooky and dark. Another good one is the Lost Cat podcast, which is a bit lighter but has a similar moodiness, and some things the main character runs into are pretty spooky.
Stellar Firma is made by rusty quill as well, it's a comedy but it's Very Good if you like funny podcasts.

@weirdpine

GOD jon's web lighter has been eating at me since it was mentioned LMAO........like. its never been fully addressed and i'm so hungry to find out its relevance. i'm also curious about melanie, since she hasn't been mentioned since her therapist appointment - specifically, since she said she "does not consent to being recorded unless she explicitly says otherwise", which is, interestingly, the last time we heard any recording of her. i 100% buy into her therapist being a web agent - maybe even annabelle cane, since she originated (in episode 69) from a psychology background, iirc? and that feeds into my "recorders are web's tools" theory !!!! web!elias is interesting, but he's never really seemed to be too connected with it? he seems to obsessed with the beholding, lmao. i love web!martin AUs in the fandom, though, so i'm not really one to talk.

my obvious favourite is jon - the whole narrative of losing humanity and wondering what it means to be a monster; the fear of losing yourself and hurting others being weighed against sacrificing yourself for the greater good (as jon is doing); the fear of becoming a monster........god, it's like. catnip to me. painful, angsty catnip. not to mention his general sort of "gruff, withdrawn, snarky man with a secret soft heart who genuinely cares about people" vibe is just. Very Good.

i'm also a HUGE martin fan - since the first episode he was introduced i kind of attached myself to him and i've only grown more and more attached. the whole..........Situation regarding his and jons feelings for each other...... my heart can only take so much torment, oh MAN. in general, tho, martin's such an interesting character; he comes off as a huge woobie to start with, but the man's got hidden depths and a surprising amount of inner strength.

daisy is my other fav - she's got such a wonderful character arc and such dynamic growth, and i really adore how no-nonsense she is while still being (especially recently) quite emotionally aware and sensitive. out of the entire cast, she is the only one with a brain cell.

in terms of more....inhuman characters, i liked michael from the start. spooky nutcase handsman. my favourite episodes are ......hm. hard to pick, not in the least because i listened to them all in under a week and it all kind of blurred together. i tend to like episodes with statements recorded directly from the statement giver, i think!


@thealchemist

YES I ADORE ESKEW!!! i actually listened to it while warming myself up for magnus (i'm terrible with horror, just a huge coward - eskew didn't actually affect me too much? i'm rather immune to body horror and i actually enjoy the general aura of strangeness, which reminded me of fallen london a little). it's so cool finding another fan of it :DDD one thing that struck me about eskew was how it resonated with me as someone who deals with mental illness - a lot of the episodes and themes seem to deal with what it's like to live feeling like the only sane person in an uncaring or actively hostile society; it made me more melancholy than scared a lot of the time. poor david ;-;

i tried out lost cat podcast, but i didn't enjoy the writing so much? it didn't really have the sort of strange-slightly-creepy-world-vibe i enjoy in eskew and tma, and the humour didn't land a lot for me. i actually preferred the mood of the guy's songs better than the podcast itsself LMAO. i'll probably give it a try some other time, though :0

I have a weird relationship with The Magnus Archives because I'm too scared to actually listen to the episodes but I stalk the fandom and have been reading the transcripts because a bunch of people I knew got into it and I managed to somehow grow incredibly attached to the entire archival staff. Jumping off of that comment, I would die for Martin and Helen is the best.

@browncoatparadox

it actually took me a few tries to get into it - i'm just a tremendous coward when it comes to anything mildly spooky. what got me through listening was focusing on the mystery aspects rather than the horror!! when i started to get really into putting the puzzle pieces together and asking questions, it got a lot less difficult for me to listen. but reading the transcripts is super valid too, tbh (and it's so lovely to have them as a resource). and yessss, i adore helen!! she's so strange and delightful.

I dug this thread up but. Thoughts on the most recent episodes?

@Rainfrog I have to totally agree with you, jon's arc in season 4 has been so good and his character + struggles with the idea of being a monster is. so enticing for me. Watching Martin develop over the seasons has also been amazing and the mutual ? pining between him and Jon in the tapes...ahhh delicious.

@browncoatparadox I also read a bunch of the transcripts but that was less because of the spookiness (although I'm terrible with ANY horror and for some of them I'm quite glad I wasn't listening at parts haha) and more to get through the statements and catch up quicker! I'd often turn on the podcast at the plot sections though to avoid missing out on the drama

@fortuna

no by all means!! i didnt want to dig up the thread myself but i'm happy to see another comment :D

the pining is definitely mutual, and it's really doing a number on my heart, especially in terms of where their respective arcs look like theyre going. out of the most recent episodes, maybe the standout theme to me is that of "anchors" - a recurring item, to be sure, but one that becomes far more interesting both given the involvement of the web (in the ritual and the links the web has to jon & martin), and the way anchors evidently connect people (and who do we know that's been supernaturally isolated lately?) and tie them to their humanity. it's a lot to think about, especially as jon goes further down the path towards the eye (trying to save people and sacrificing himself dangerously) and martin becomes more and more Lonely and isolated (but really, what is his plan?? i have to believe he has one; he's not apathetic yet; he's still emotional and angry, so.... hm)