#stayed up till like 5am last night just going over tma and tmp

[foineswoine]

This post is gonna compile all my thoughts on The Magnus Protocol. All taken from various ramblings I’ve subjected my friends to (lmao) (if any of y’all see this, no you do not.)

All seasons spoilers.

I have. questions about The Magnus Protocol. First, I’ll go through the small amount of info we have. https://rustyquill.com/show/the-magnus-protocol/ "The Magnus Institute was an organisation dedicated to academic research into the esoteric and the paranormal, based out of Manchester, England. It burned to the ground in 1999. There were no survivors. Now, almost 25 years later..." right so. from this we can gather that this takes place in an alternate universe where the Fears leaked into, because the Institute was originally in Edinburgh, not Manchester. And it didn’t burn down in 1999 the OG timeline. This raises questions:

If the Fears didn't originally exist, how come Jonah founded the Magnus Institute?

I've been trying to figure out his original reasoning, but it hasn't been... exactly forthcoming. He was always intrigued by the esoteric, even before discovering the Fears (as mentioned in #24, a letter to Jonah before founding the institute, "but I recall that during your visit last spring you mentioned your fascination with the macabre and strange..."). And I can gather that he had known about the Fears before 1824, when Barnabas wrote to him about being in the Lonely (because, if Mordechai Lukas could have popped him into the Lonely, he must have been an avatar, and their cohort learnt about the fears from Rayner as a little group <3- "When Smirke first gathered our little band – Lukas, Scott, and the rest – to discuss and hypothesize on the nature of the things he had learned from Rayner, I felt what I believe we all felt: curiosity, and fear."). So, he learnt about the Fears before 1824. Well, Milbank was designed by Smirke as "a temple to all the Fears in equilibrium." And he started working on it, after being convinced by Jonah, in 1815. Three years before the institute was founded. So, in this alternate universe, why would he found it? If there weren't any true paranormal sightings? Hm.

“It burnt to the ground in 1999.”

I found this notable because, in 1999, the Institute was subjected to a data breach. Is this where the timelines diverged? ("but when all those statements were leaked back in ‘99..."). I saw a post regarding this, suggesting that perhaps this IS where the timeline diverged. And instead of leaking the documents, the person who obviously wanted to damage the Institute just resorted to good old-fashioned arson.

Now, this is a bit meta, but most of the tidbits of information given in statements have some importance to them. We revisit it- especially when it concerns the Insitute. But aside from a throwaway comment in 68, the data breach never comes up again. This would make sense if it was something set up specifically for the Magnus Protocol.

“Now, almost 25 years later…”

25 years after 1999. 2024. Our time. Not 2018 or 2019. Hm.

Now, this next section is talking about fucking Manchester. Because Jonah moved the Institute from Edinburgh to London because of the Panopticon. So, there must have been some big event to cause him to move to Manchester. Now, some of the Magnus Archives is based on real events- the concept of using the panopticon as a prison design certainly was (although, Robert Smirke being involved was not). This is where my ramblings get a bit off the rails- I skimmed through the Wikipedia article on large events that happened in Manchester, just to see if there was any historical significance to the area. And I found the corn laws.

Not particularly relevant, but since I am compiling all the thoughts and rambles I felt it was necessary.

The teaser trailer! Woo! We hear Martin’s voice in it, so one can assume that he will make an appearance. But- there were no bodies found in the wreckage (end of ep 200). No bodies. Not Elias’, not Jon’s, not Martin’s. And we’re talking about a separate universe. An alternate dimension. No bodies found, the fears were dragged into a different universe? What’s to say that Elias, Jon and Martin weren’t dragged in with them. Or, well, Elias’ (and Jon’s? I hope not) dead bodies. God, that would be fucked. Martin waking up in a new, alien universe clutching the body of his dead boyfriend. That’d be fucked.

I’m not gonna stake my life on this theory, but it is a possibility. Just throwing it out there.

And with the teaser, at the very end there’s a slight whisper. Or is it the sound of wind? Of breathing? I am terrible at identifying sounds. Someone’s probably already done it though. Lmao.

A reddit thread I saw (https://www.reddit.com/r/TheMagnusArchives/comments/znrhlk/tshirt_design_for_magnus_protocol/) already identified the “non vacillabimus” to be “We will not flinch,” or “We shall not falter.” And the aforementioned tumblr user identified the two symbols in the centre of the coat of arms to be salt and mercury (they also pointed out sulfur? Although I can’t spot it), and that it resembles the British Civil Service logo/coat of arms. 

The O.I.A.R. at the top of it all stands for the Office of Incident Assessment and Response (probably).

Other snippets of thoughts that don’t really merit their own section: >Daisy’s first name is Alice. Alternate universe Daisy as a main character? I doubt this a bit, but it would be interesting if that were the case.

>”"have stumbled across its legacy. A legacy that will put them in grave danger." what does this mean???? It’s extra stuff that may mean that Jonah'll return (if not as a character, he will be at least talked about again. yk?)” -me at 9 (slightly comprehensible)

>”if jonah magnus doens't show up in the magnus protocol I am suing and crying and weeping just let my favourite charavter suffer more!! let the cast attack and maim him!!! let the bastard man be all smug and then let people b eat the shit outta him!! thats all I want!!” -me at 2am (not very comprehensible)

Closing Thoughts: Jonah Magnus really wanted the Corn Law drama.