#but uhhhh. what if i’m callum tho

[canonicallyginger]

Okay i’ve been thinking about something regarding the meta of The Magnus Archives that i honestly have no idea how to describe succinctly. So i won’t even try to be succinct.

Spoilers for everything so far, and speculation on the finale and uhhhh... idk, read at your own risk i guess.

As we learn more and more in season 5, here’s which fears are getting to me in a meta sense:

The Web. Everything so far has been connected, and I don’t know how things will play out. From the very beginning of the podcast, every statement has had direct connections to entities. Jon flat-out didn’t even bother recording statements that didn’t have bad audio on modern equipment. Every single statement has relevance. A lot of statements have extremely subtle relevance. Example: In MAG 52 (Exceptional Risk), A man named Phillip Brown gives a statement on the day Robert Montauk was killed by Maxwell Rayner. Phillip Brown is mostly irrelevant, but his ex-wife was named Caroline Brodie. Phillip was most likely the father of Callum Brodie, who the People’s Church of the Divine Host tried to get possessed by Maxwell Rayner. And even tho that attempt failed, Callum is an avatar of the Dark. Robert Montauk’s arrest was first mentioned in MAG 9 (A Father’s Love), in a statement given by his daughter Julia Montauk, who later kidnaps Jon. Every episode with any connections has a LOT of connections. Any episode without major connections usually continues exploring the fears. Still connected, but only by association. The Web is all about how everything is connected.

The Eye. Obviously this one is relevant. The Panopticon is off in the distance, watching. Jon is watching. The Ceaseless Watcher is watching, ceaselessly. We’re listening. We’re experiencing the story using the same method Archivists are drawn to making recordings: cassette tapes.

The End. Also known as The Coming End That Waits For All And Cannot Be Ignored (which is very wordy). This specific name can be applied to the finale, which is looming over everything. We know its a tragedy, and it’s only a matter of time before the tragic end of the podcast. A big part of The End’s whole deal is the anticipation of inevitable death. And that anticipation can give so much dread.

The Desolation. This fear is all about loss and destruction, especially when something is destroyed before it can reach its potential. Every major character who died before season 5 has had a LOT of potential. Sasha and Tim especially. And that’s part of the tragedy for those two.

The Stranger. Because our only way of experiencing the story is via a slew of unreliable narrators, it’s hard to know what to trust and what to take with a grain of salt. Who’s telling the truth, and are they even aware of the truth? Who’s lying, and is it a lie or a misunderstanding of events? Or is it projection? Jon’s statements in season 5 are all heavily representative of Jon’s own fears.

None of this is me trying to make a point. I’m just making observations about TMA in terms of meta.