#Dominic Swain

[kald-dal-art]

Bringing back this series hi. Trying to do a proper relisten of the series, so have the first 4 episodes of TMA posters. Hopefully manages to do all the episodes of the first season 🤞

Ko-Fi

[jordankennedy]

miscellaneous statement givers from seasons 1 and 2 (aka the BEST seasons)

[thatpodcastkid]

Magnus Archives Relisten, MAG 4 Page Turner

Analysis of MAG 4, Page Turner. Spooky book time! Spoilers ahead.

Jurgen Leitner? Stupid idiot motherfucking Jurgen-

Sorry about that got possessed for a second. Anyway, first Leitner statement! Let's get into it while I try to control my rage.

Facts: Statement of Dominic Swain, regarding a book briefly in his possession in the winter of 2012.

Statement Notes: So much in this episode! First Gerry and Mary citing, first Leitner and Mike Crew mention. Crazy how relevant this episode was and we all had no way of knowing.

Starting simple, I would just like to say that as a theatre tech, Swain is so accurate and so real. "Doing a little bit of everything?" Real. Trying to see friends work but you also work at the same time? Real. Work place romance? Real. Not being able to relax when you see a play because you know all the tech stuff that can go wrong? Really real.

What I really loved about Dominic's statement though is the highlight of the ozone smell. He walks all around London with that book, shows it to Mary and Gerard, shows it to friends, and no one else mentions the smell. Yet, when he shows it to his ex Katherine Mendes, she said it "triggered her vertigo." This happens with a lot of the cursed items in the show: they don't have one general effect, but target the specific sources of fear and anxiety in the owner. Katherine apparently gets vertigo often, so The Vast would naturally trigger than height-based stressor. But Swain has a specific fear of lightning and the ozone smell because of what happened to Mike, so torturing him with that smell is the most effective way to cause fear in him.

There's also some really classic cursed object horror going on here that I love. Swain tries to sell the book the whole episode, but calls it "his book" fleeing Mary. Additionally, he says that he thought about giving it away, but felt that "wouldn't count." Very similar to Do Not Open here and a lot of cursed object horror in that there needs to be some kind of debt or reciprocity established rid one of the object.

I also just love the line "walking felt as natural as falling." It really conjures the idea that he can't control himself, that he's stumbling to Mary's shop uncontrollable just as he would fall through the sky: completely unable to stop.

Entity Alignment: Dominic translates "Ex Altiora" as "From Higher" or "Out of the Heights." That's just such insane Vast energy, the idea that whatever the book does to you will spawn from the open empty sky and you won't be able to stop it, just as you'd never be able to stop falling.

Obviously this episode is generally Vast aligned, but that painting of the Eye really freaked me out. "Grant us the sight that we may not know. Grant us the scent that we may not catch. Grant us the sound that we may not call.” This engraving very much encapsulates the point of the Eye and the Archive, and weirdly foreshadows what Jon goes through later. It is essentially saying, "Let me witness the fear and pain of others so that I don't have to experience it myself." Why would Gerry paint this? Especially given that a giant eye gives Elias direct view into his home. What is the goal?

Character Notes: Jurgen Leitner? Stupid idiot motherfucking Jurgen Leitner god damn fool book collecting dust eating-

Sorry what happened I blacked out.

Seriously though, my biggest takeaway about Leitner in this ep is that he doesn't spell his name with an umlaut like others. Why did Jonny include that detail. What does that do for me.

I do love that the only information Swain could find on him was that he lost a bidding war over a book to "GRbookworm1818" who is so obviously Gertrude it's hilarious.

I think it's so weird that Swain couldn't find anything online about him, though. Leitners are clearly around, so wouldn't there be some kind of chat room or reddit post about one? Builds my theory that the Entities or at least the Web has some influence over internet content in this universe that it doesn't have in The Magnus Protocol universe. In TMAGP, the OIAR sorts through things found in databases and the internet, but in TMA the Archive seems to be the only source of real supernatural info, proving that Elias or someone else was controlling the stream of information in a way that the entities aren't able to (yet) in TMAGP.

Let's turn away from the most hated character on the internet to talk about the most loved: Gerard Keay.

Our first intro to Gerry is death metal music blasting from his bedroom at two am which is just, so on brand.

(Also want to point out that Dominic Swain didn't realize it was 2 am until he heard the music. Missing time is another motif that keeps coming up in this show.)

I also forgot that Gerry painted in this universe, so it's nice to see they kept that connection in Protocol.

The thing that's truly key (no pun intended) about this episode though is the ritual Mary performs, blaming Gerry for her fake murder. I believe this is the episode she binds herself to the Skin Book, but I can't figure out when/how she would attach Gerry. Also, the case against him was thrown out because a "key piece of evidence was deemed inadmissible." Was this Gertrude pulling strings, Mary using magic influence, or some other powerful eldritch bureaucrat pulling for our boy? Who's to say.

Mike Crew is really only mentioned in this episode, but it did get me thinking about the relevance of scars in the show. His Lichtenberg scar influences who he is and what he becomes as an Avatar. Very similar to Daisy naming herself after her scar and pursuing law--which would lead to her becoming an Avatar--because of the event and injury. Also, Jon's "markings" are what allow him to start the Eyepocalypse. Physical manifestations and reminders of trauma shaping who we become really is a theme in this show.

And of course, Jon. He is such a terrible liar yet him believing in the supernatural was still somehow a plot twist. Proves how good a writer Jonny is, honestly. He doesn't believe in the supernatural, but is absolutely terrified of Leitners and is working on an "institute project" to eradicate them? I would love to know how this project worked. Was it just research? Was there a team dedicated to finding and collecting Leitners? He also mentions "the incident in 1994," is that when the library was destroyed? Or is just another terrible Leitner incident.

Crazy ep, one of my favorites. Let me know what you think!

[avatarofthebeholding]

fun liveblogging messages from a friend of mine who’s just starting tma (she’s on episode 5 at this point):

MAG 1

MAG 2

MAG 4

[mossphorescent]

I forgot to post this here whoops

[closethobbit]

MAG 004

Ah yes, theater tech. Always coming across cursed objects and weird people

[dspd]

Hogwarts Houses (RadDan°TM) I think some TMA characters might've been in very randomly selected

Jon Sims - Slytherin - specifically because he would have been a Ravenclaw except he had that defining moment with Mr. Spider which made him want knowledge to prevent being so powerless, as many traumatized

Graham Folger - Ravenclaw - bro took a criminology course for funsies do I need to say more?

Julio Hernandez - Hufflepuff - guy seems like a solid, down to earth, dependable person

Father Burroughs - Gryffindor - he's got good intentions but his righteousness blinded him to his straying from his chosen path

NotThem - Hufflepuff - while closer to a magical beast than human, NotThem is patient and persistent in how they stalk their victims, whose magical properties works very hard, and has the hidden teeth of a badger which very few ever see. The Hat only sorts according to the head it was placed on and would let NotThem matriculate.

Dominic Swain - Ravenclaw - theater nerd that knows a little bit about a lot of things, certainly enough to spy the diamond in the rough of a Leitner book

Martin Blackwood - Hufflepuff - no one knew why since he didn't talk much and always had his nose in a book and kept to himself in a Ravenclawish way but, even though he's a muggle born, he had a roaring side business during the summer selling easy-to-disguise-as-Muggle potions to pay for his mother's live-in carer while he's away at school.

Stoker brothers - Gryffindor - idk they give off Sirius mixed with Weasleys vibes

Tova McHugh - Slytherin - the whole taking but balancing with good deeds is giving upper class/super rich it's okay because look at my philanthropy eat the rich vibes. Definitely a pure blood or pure blood adjacent that quietly believes in that shit but, similar to Narcissa, does have a wall she hits when she says enough

[arson-is-the-answer]

reblog with the statement giver that pisses you off or just irritates you in general

[themagnustournament]

Round Two Part Six - Match 46

It’s Hard Shoulder, Daisy’s statement about the Coffin! And to think, in less than 60 episodes she’d be much more well acquainted with it. Hard Shoulder faces against Page Turner, which also had 154 votes last round.

MAG 061 - Hard Shoulder | Spotify - Acast - YT | Wiki | Transcript

Statement of Detective Alice “Daisy” Tonner, regarding the traffic stop of a delivery van on the M6 near Preston on the afternoon of 24th July 2002.

MAG 004 - Page Turner | Spotify - Acast - YT | Wiki | Transcript

Statement of Dominic Swain, regarding a book briefly in his possession in the winter of 2012.

[theriverpointace]

sooooo. i listened to MAG 4 (page turner) again with my brother. and i can't stop thinking about dominic swain a little bit. no, i have no idea why i can’t stop thinking about the man whose, to my mind, defining character trait is that he blames himself for something that happened when he was a stupid kid, was out of his control, and certainly wasn’t his fault. this has nothing to do with me, my history, or my problems. I Just Think He’s Neat. (spoiler: that is a lie. i am projecting onto him a little bit bc i also can't stop thinking about my terrible middle-school ex 👍🏻)

and then i was scrolling through some of the future episodes to see if there are any that are gonna skip automatically bc they're explicit and i'm still logged in as a minor. i was mostly just counting, not really looking at the titles, but one caught my eye: MAG 46, "literary heights." i was like "hey that sounds like MAG 4, doesn't it? a book that gives you vertigo." so i looked the episode up and whose name do i see but michael crew? i peeked at all the dates again bc i tend to miss them, and 46 is from nearly twenty years before 4, iirc, so i was intrigued.

so i listened to MAG 46. (my brother and i just listened to MAG 5 this morning. i've heard thru MAG 7. idk if i'll listen ahead without him or not. idek if he'll want to keep listening tbh. plus i'm moving out for college in less than a month, so ... we'll see where it goes lol.)

anyways i just listened to the statement bit, i heard something about tunnels and spiderwebs and jonathan was like "i'm gonna set up a camera" and i was like "dude do you really think that'll work???" bc he seems to not be having much luck with tech in the archives. anyway. it ends with michael yelling at the lightning guy (???) and hurling himself off a building but ofc that didn't actually happen, all is well, sealed windows, no body, nothing to see here, and the bookseller goes home. statement ends. and jonathan's doing his lil wrap-up and then he points out that the bookseller didn't talk about the one woodcut that haunted dominic so badly: the empty night sky and the lichtenberg figure. and then he's talking about tunnels and cameras and i turned it off and i stared at my phone and i was like. "jonathan. are you suggesting that the book ate michael? DID THE BOOK EAT MICHAEL???"

so i did a bit more poking around where i probably oughtn't have. found out michael's an avatar of the vast, but not really what that means. the book did not eat michael although i still find that to be an extremely funny response. and that michael comes in to give a statement later, scaring the living daylights out of jonathan lol. i keep thinking about the "cover art" i found on the wiki page (by @.gammija here on tumblr, according to the caption!), it's so cool. i love the contrast between jonathan's gray hair and old-person glasses chain (affectionate) with his more youthful-looking sweatshirt. i also like the way he's holding the chair going "what the hell what the hell what the hell????" also the colors are very nice.

anywayssss MAG 4 might be my favorite episode so far, just because it's so damn intriguing! between dominic swain, who is one of my favorite statement-givers so far for several reasons; and the introduction of the leitner books—i know enough to know they're relevant but not enough to know what the deal is there; the introduction of michael crew, who seems interesting; the introduction of gerard keay!! who i've seen on my dash—again, idk what his deal is yet but ik he's relevant (particularly for the magnus protocol, right? that's when i really started seeing him, i think); there is enough started in this episode to keep me on the edge of my seat at least through the first season.

[jinkx-monsoon-season]

started listening to the magnus archives from the beginning, it’s even cooler the second time around. also, I got to ep4 and remembered that the first ship that touched my heart was dominic swain/mike crew! they are just two little meow meows! they have one and a half sentence in the canon describing their story! and they have the whole 3 fics to their ship tag!

[magichour-tech]

Its 2am , time to start blasting music , as you do.

My favourite episode IS mag 4 and NO i will not stop talking about it.

[thatpodcastkid]

Magnus Archives Relisten, MAG 4 Page Turner, Spoiler Free Version!

Spoiler free version of my analysis of MAG 4, Page Turner. Enjoy!

Facts: Statement of Dominic Swain, regarding a book briefly in his possession in the winter of 2012.

Statement Notes: Starting simple, I would just like to say that as a theatre tech, Swain is so accurate and so real. "Doing a little bit of everything?" Real. Trying to see friends work but you also work at the same time? Real. Work place romance? Real. Not being able to relax when you see a play because you know all the tech stuff that can go wrong? Really real.

There's some really classic cursed object horror going on here that I love. Swain tries to sell the book the whole episode, but calls it "his book" fleeing Mary. Additionally, he says that he thought about giving it away, but felt that "wouldn't count." Very similar to Do Not Open here and a lot of cursed object horror in that there needs to be some kind of debt or reciprocity established rid one of the object.

I also just love the line "walking felt as natural as falling." It really conjures the idea that he can't control himself, that he's stumbling to Mary's shop uncontrollable just as he would fall down the stairs: completely unable to stop. It's like the vertigo attacked Katherine had was multiplied for him here.

Character Notes: My biggest takeaway about Jurgen Leitner in this ep is that he doesn't spell his name with an umlaut like others. Why did Jonny include that detail. What does that for me.

I also love Gerard Keay so much. He listens to death metal, he paints, he goes against his mom, he burns books. Such a strange and unstoppable force of a person. That news article about his trial really makes you scared of him, but you also kind of want to trust him? Especially when you place him next to his really scary cursed-book-collecting mother. The contrast and the different kinds of nerves/dread you feel listening to their descriptions is just an example of great horror writing.

I think it's so weird that Swain couldn't find anything online about him, though. These books and Jurgen Leitner are clearly around, so wouldn't there be some kind of chat room or reddit post about one? Builds my theory that there is something controlling the stream of information about the supernatural in this universe. Something is trying to contain it all to the archive.

But of course, Jon. He doesn't believe in the supernatural, but is absolutely terrified of Leitners and is working on an "institute project" to eradicate them? I would love to know how this project worked. Was it just research? Was there a team dedicated to finding and collecting these books? What was the incident in 1994? Why does Jon have this job if he doesn't believe in the supernatural? Does he think only some of it counts?

Crazy ep, one of my favorites. Let me know what you think!

[the-murder]

So I just kinda want to expand on the roleswap idea here because I extrapolated a whole AU out of it.

So ruminate with me here, 1st. The Distortion isn't a door, it's a book or bookshelf. 2nd. There are no Leitners at least not how we understand them, there are Smirkes, architecture that serves as a direct link to the fears with powerful supernatural abilities.

The former head archivist at the Institute was Mary Keay, who would sacrifice her son Gerard to the Distortion to stop the Great Twisting.

Gertrude Robinson, by day, does business in evaluating the structure and architecture of buildings to make sure they are sound. After hours however she and her assistant Michael Shelly are "evaluating" more peculiar structures, distinctly ones built by Robert Smirke or with his principles, with dynamite and arson.

In the present, the former Archivist has gone missing, and institute head Simon Fairchild has appointed Mike Crew as the new head Archivist, with archival assistants Dominic Swain, Sebastian Adekoya, and (your choice of third statement giver).

It's half baked but I'm crazy about it all

MAGTOBER/TMATOBER Day 4! Roleswap! Thought it'd be cool to swap Gerry Keay and Michael the Distortion, so we have a Distortion Gerry and Bookburner Michael Shelly.

Here's my prompt list by Emerald-Emerlad! I know I'm super far behind but I'm just gonna keep going till I've done all 31 prompts

[jordankennedy]

sometimes you reread fics and they’re worse than you remember and sometimes you reread fics and they’re way WAY better than you remember