#tma spoilers everywhere

[saragrosie]

Sketching while streaming s5...

Jonathan Sims I will learn to draw you (this is my doing. I could draw him however I want and I choose to stick with an image of him in my brain that is difficult for me to draw. Masochism.)

Not s5 Mahtins below I enjoyed drawing cuz hes neat:

(Edit: I yassified Martin in the do not separate cuz I wanted his hair fluffier)

[mintytea-exe]

the emotional rollercoaster that is the magnus archives (graphed)

[several-ravens]

wtf was episode 85

[merlions]

The more I research things in relation to magnus protocol the more I'm just like utterly filled with that classic emotion known as "holy shit Jonny Sims did his motherfuckin RESEARCH for this bad baby *smacks side of podcast*"

I feel like in doing any research at all on any topic, I'm finding myself sucked with black hole force into a wikipedia hole and end up accidentally reverse engineering this like, massive writing research tree from the listening side. It's been so implausibly frequent and intricate to have one topic just happen to link to yet ANOTHER eerily related topic that I'm starting to second guess myself, like am I seeing connections where there are none???

But like idk I think there's just SO MUCH and every seemingly unrelated leaf actually does, in fact, end up connecting back to a branch that does seem intimitely related to the tree (...as it were.)(fuckin. Can't talk about trees no more. Fuck u Isaac Newton. Fuckin apple head. Dog apple head fuck. Calcinate ur god damn laboratory) but it's just like the largest kudzu on the fucking planet and there are so many god damn leafs and branches I can't even see a damn quarter of the whole picture, even just considering the historical and alchemical research, before even considering the fictional plot and worldbuilding and how that's tying the irl stuff and TMA stuff and its own stuff together and !! (Is Georgie...???)

And through all of that. I have learned much. And I can say I know for certain now two things.

One: I thought I knew what alchemy was and what its purpose was, and at least a couple of things about it. I did not!

Two: it is infinitely funny that literally right after the Hooke episode (#19) when I was doing research on just Hooke and Micrographia, I said, in total and utter ignorance of any importance this phrasing might have: "[this episode is] Sprinkling mint seeds of Spooky History Research on the fertile but barren golf course of my mind".

I hope Jonny and Alex saw that and got a little chuckle. "Wow this guy really is gonna flip his fuckin lid when he finds out about the steps of alchemy. Like, oh I dunno, Separation! For example" WELL I DID!!! I did flip my lid.

TMagP ep so potent in its in-world 17th century lore drop that it caused me to briefly see into the future. Supernatural cosmic horror writing so choice that it manifests real actual spooky happenings in the real world. wait isnt that a john carpenter film

anyways I'm mostly writing this just to get it out of my own head, bc I feel like I'm losing my mind like I've stepped into a twilight zone episode and I need to find a way back to my original dimension somehow. but also if u read this and are intrigued by what i mean by any of it. i strongly encourage starting some wikipedia holing of ur own. start with literally anything on any topic mentioned in protocol. but esp looking into Sam's comment to Celia in TMP 19, about "spiritual substitution of elements". and know that this will take u on a magical internet journey from which you may return, but not unchanged

[late-to-the-magnus-archives]

augh augh augh

(well done, good reference, 5 stars)

augh augh augh

in another life

[im-tempted]

HI JUST FINISHED TMA 21

WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT

Oh... oh ya you've met Simon he is... SOMETHING ep 21 is very good I think about the talk of the sky eating the man a good deal more than i should the Fairchilds are interesting I don't think Simon comes back for a good 30 maybe 40 more episodes but he's always a treat

[appreciatingtokrev]

searching for tma content when trying your hardest not to get spoilered is like knowingly walking into a death trap and then being surprised when you die

[macabresymphonies]

Are we dealing with alchemists looking for The Philosopher's Stone?

(I will be referencing partially to the ARG, most importantly to the so called Klaus sheet that has german version on categories the OIAR team is using, and some light spoiler to The Magnus Archives, so beware).

We're four episodes in and cross-referencing each episode so far, there seems to be few things that connect most of them:

an orchestrator

a medium

an obsession

a transformation

Each episode so far mentions some type of third party being involved in the incident: Harriet Winstead mentions a "consultant" that was supposed to help her see Arthur, RedCanary mentions getting harrased by an anonymous stalker, Daria commissions Ink5oul for a tattoo, Dr Samuel Webber mentions seeing his dead wife "Maddie" who stops him from tampering with the transformation (could be a hallucination, but could also be somebody using his delirioum to impersonate her) and today we've got a mention of a "giftgiver" who gave The Violinist the Violin.

Additionally each incident mentions some type of specific medium the characters came into contact with: The Box, The Violin, The Ink (cross referenced in Klaus sheet from the ARG), The Garden (as in plants in the garden). The exception being the Harriet, but we don't know yet what "caused" ressurection of Arthur. This is important, because in TMA items and "mediums" weren't actually all that common, it was very often stressed that relics were medium for the fears to use directly (with people only doing their bidding), not to be handled by others as a medium.

Lastly each episode talks obsession and/or transformation and oh boy, let me tell you about bunch of guys historically obsessed with tranforming stuff through different mediums:

"It's not very suprising, alchemical symbols are everywhere throughout the podcast!" you might say. True, but let's take into consideration, what excactly is a goal of an alchemist? Well the answer is quite simple and there is actually three of them. The Three Goals of Alchemy are:

To turn base metals into noble ones

To discover the recipe for a Philosopher's Stone

To find the Elixir of Life that gives eternal youth and defies death

All of them refer to some type of recipie of method, so where are the recipies? Under our own noses. The recipies are the DPHW catalogue and the database Freddie is sending the incident reports to is an alchemical cookbook! Each entry is categorized something like that:

CAT$$$R&&#### - theme (specification) -/- subtheme [medium]

Some specifications:

$ - are a conbination of numbers 1, 2 and 3. They do not always appear in threes, sometimes it's just 3, sometimes 12 (as in 1 and 2) so forth. These has been widely theorized to be related to the The Tria Prima, a group of three materials which occupy a position of prominence in alchemy: Sulphur(🜍), Mercury(☿) and Salt(🜔) or as they are also characterized Soul, Mind and Body. If we assign each of them a number with 1 being Soul, 2 being Mind and 3 being body, they so far align with the main "components" of each incident or realms they deal in.

R - either appears or not, it was theorized this is a RANK and that previous files were simply misfiled by Sam, but to me it also could be REGIA as in Aqua Regia (🜆) where we are to assume the R was added to the previous element (Aqua (🜄) + Regia (R)). The meaning behind assigning some some incidents the rank of regia has yet to be explained though.

& - these are letters C, BC, B, AB, A and S signifying a rank (or rang in the Klaus sheet) . Lets ignore that S for a second, but they seem to be stages and half stages, well there can't possibly a concept of four stages in alchemy? Let me introduce you to the Magnum Opus (Great Work). Basically each alchemical project went through four stages: nigredo (black), albedo (white), citrinitas (yellow) and rubedo (red) with rubedo specifically signifying a great discovery was made and Magnum Opus was a success, but it does not necessairly mean an alchemical goal was reached.

To summarize, numbers one C-A signify stage of the project, with S, that appears once on mostly redacted cell in the Klaus sheet, signifying that not only the final stage was reached, but the project has been a success.

This could mean a finished Magnum Opus is out there, developed in the field of the Soul and related to the mysterous Mr. B.

# - these numbers are still a mystery, I do have some theories myself, but to summaries I think they are grades and some type of combination (I think it's either 9999, 0000 (as in all 10s) or perhaps 7777 (7 being the most important alchemical number)). Basically a specific combination could imply the specific discovery could be categorized as a Philosopher's Stone. What that could mean for the narrative? We will see, but I suspect it's an alchemical equivalent to an eldritch nuke in this universe.

Last thing to support my theory, the OIAR logo. The lion and the unicorn are obviously symbols for the United Kingdom, as this is a government office, and the words undearneath are "we will not falter" (probably reference to the paranormal incidents they deal with) the rest though?

Alchemical symbols for Salt, Mercucry and Sulphur are right there, all encompassed by an upside-down version of The Philosopher's Stone symbol; The Greatest Magnum Opus:

As to what the Magnum Opus are in TMAGP, each incident has an item associated with it, I noticed that the characters do not get corrupted by people directly this season, but through the use of items like ink, instruments, plants.

[ashleyeveerson]

CANARIES, NIGHT SHIFT AND THE MAGNUS PROTOCOL (tma/tmagp/arg spoilers)

Along with everyone else in the fandom, I'm also going FERAL after these new ep so excuse this RANT (this is my way of coping with the brain worms, enjoy ;).

Statement begins.

So what's special about the RedCanary story?

Well, apart from it being a direct reference to the original Magnus Institute (at least the one in this new universe), it's also incredibly fascinating as a narrative tool.

For those who are unaware of their history, miners used to employ canaries in cages while they worked as safety systems. The bird's complexion made them specially sensible to gas leaks which killed them instantly. When a canary stoped singing in the middle of the shift, the workers knew that toxic gas was leaking and had enough time to get out of the mines alive before it got to them.

Now why is that relavant to us? Well, the theme of canaries in cages inside mines could be easily applied to the og tma characters. All of them were contained in cages (that is the Magnus Institute) and placed close enough to danger (in their case the paranormal) that only they were aware of its existence while the rest of humanity remained ignorant. That is until the events of the apocalypse when the gas metaphorically leaks everywhere and all humanity is doomed.

However, this proximity to the fears ALWAYS results in the death of the canaries that stayed inside the mines (no i will never get over my blorbos being killed). Everyone involved with the institution dies EXCEPT from Melanie, Georgie and Basira. That is, the only three canaries that actively escaped their cages before the toxic gas got to them.

Therefore, the use of this metaphor at the start of the ep (especially from none other than the voice of Jon Sims, the character who has walked down the path of learning about the entities) is a warning to Sam against investigating the paranormal.

The statement is encountered by Sam because he, above all other characters, is the one who is most likely to end up like Jon and the others. The species of Red Canaries is human breed, therefore Sam being a result of experimentation within The Magnus Institute means he was RAISED to be a canary. Thus, there is an inherent irony on the warning, for it is what PUSHES him to develop an interest on the statements and leads him closer to his tragic destiny.

Another proof that links canaries and the workers at O.I.A.R. is the nature of their habitat. I haven't seen a lot of people talking about it, but there are multiple references in the first and second ep of them working the nightshift. Now, why would a filing job be carried out exclusively at night? (THERE ARE SO MANY REFERENCES TO IT BEING A NIGHTSHIFT I AM NOT KIDDING)

This one is specially interesting because it's the first thing we hear in the podcast. Also Teddy metaphorically being the canary that leaves the mines and the darkness to escape into the outside world and the sun.

Multiple references to it being just the FIRST night of an eternity of nights. (cosmic horror much?)

In any case, there is a parallel between darkness of night and the darkness inside the mines. (or even the entity of the dark, one of the oldest alongside the hunt and the end). I see what you're doing Jonny Sims....

SO YEAH IN CONCLUSION

canaries = characters close to danger (AWARE OF THE ENTITIES)

the miners = the rest of humanity (UNAWARE OF THE ENTITIES)

cages = The Magnus institute/O.I.A.R (TRAPS the canaries)

the fears = toxic gas (HARMS the canaries and miners)

darkness in the mines = the night shift

Statement ends.

*stands in front of a white board with red string linking everything, and the dark scribbled in black marker in the center* I HOPED YOU ENJOYED THIS RANT *tries to fix my disheveled hair that i messed up during the presentation* I AM SO NORMAL ABOUT TMA AND TMAGP Please feel free to discuss in the comments, I NEED THEORIES, I NEED TO TALK ABOUT THIS WITH SOMEONE!!!

[koratcafe]

TMAGP 23 spoilers

Thoughts and theories on the latest episode (writing as I listen):

More with the response department paperwork, I've been wondering about the purpose of that. I mean Office of Incident Assessment and "Response" could be related to it? Maybe it isn't actually shut down, just ignored or perhaps intentionally abandoned. Or is Sam just grasping for straws and trying to find meaning in the meaningless instead of what is right in front of him

Yippee Chester case! More themes of identity, feel like that'll be very important in the future and also the present.

I love how they go about the cases in TMAGP, I've always been obsessed with ARGs and weird reddit posts and they really remind me of those

Oh the aquarium thing they're talking about is so real. I genuinely lose myself just staring at those sometimes

"The water was crystal blue and at the bottom there it was. Vibrant, electric almost, and… so very much alive." This bit almost reminds me of the descriptions of Michael Crew in MAG 46??

Chester saying "smiley face" I love that

How-To forum?? Reminds me of those shifting methods things that were going around a little while ago. So very specific. Theres been a lot (like with both Madam E and Ink5oul) about reliance on the internet for happiness/any emotion, possibly more of that?

"She has my eyes." This line is just terrifying for whatever reason

More loss of identity/generally the concept of identity/reaching for a perfect "self".. this is recurring now :(

Okay the post-case dialogue I have already seen everywhere but these could 100% be different Jonathan Sims and Martin Blackwood. Sam only said they were similar ages and unrelated to the Magnus Institute so it can't be them can it? Celia may have thought of them from memory instead of "old documents" and since Sam got an email from Jon at least I can rule out the fact that he's completely gone. (I am VERY in denial)

BASIRA AND HELEN MENTIONED?!?!? We are slowly collecting more tma characters and I am very happy

DYHARD INTERACTION YIPPEEEE

[fox-guardian]

I have looked everywhere and I can’t get a simple answer. What is the relationship between The Magnus Archive and The Magnus Protocol. Are they set in the same universe? Does the Magnus Protocol contain TMA spoilers? Which should I listen to first?

the magnus protocol is a sequel/side-quel to the magnus archives. tma came first and the events of it did also, but it's not. super relevant?? thus far?? you could go in not having listened to tma and it'd be a different experience, but you'd still understand what's going on. it seems like everything referencing tma would just be another part of the greater mystery within protocol. iirc the creators were like "yeah listening to archives first might hinder the experience" so there's that

ultimately they're part of the same "cinematic" universe, but take place in separate universes.

as far as spoilers go. hm. i would assume (unless they throw a curveball at us) that the end of s1 onwards might be a bit. spoilery. for tma. it is uncertain. but likely. but since the creators said you could go either way in terms of which to listen to first.... ehhhh?? use your own judgement i guess??

protocol is less of a commitment rn since it's only on s1 with 30.1 episodes while archives is completed at 200, so there's that as well

(but if you do end up listening to protocol first do share your thoughts and theories with the world since a non-tma listener's perspective is rare around these parts)

[beauty-and-passion]

Tackling The Magnus Archives

I hope you’re satisfied, TMA fandom.

For a lot of time, I’ve seen this fandom everywhere: posts, fanarts, even more fanarts, people mentioning scary stuff and an overall positive reaction about this series.

At first, I didn’t pay it any attention. It seemed just like any other series, with nothing exceptional about it. But the more time passed, the more fanarts I saw, the more they got my interest. I still had no idea what the series was about, but it looked interesting. Maybe there was something I didn’t notice before.

So… why not give it a try?

Cool, what’s the plan?

From the moment I decided to give this series a try, I ran away from all spoilers. That means I am currently facing a series I have no idea what will be about. I know nothing about the plot, nor the characters.

Well, nothing except for a few things I accidentally learned before:

Jonathan Sims is the protagonist. I think?

There is a Michael somewhere

Also, a Martin doing stuff

There are a lot of names

And a library

I’ve also seen a spider lady

Someone explores a dungeon? Is there a dungeon in this story?

There is a homoerotic story too

I also recently found out there is a season 2 - or a related series? No idea what the plot is about, but we will find out along the road.

How?

I had two choices: to analyze every single episode (and die of old age because it would take an eternity) or listen to the whole series first, then write one/several posts analyzing it. But it would still take a lot of time and I will inevitably forget a lot of stuff or don’t cover things as well as they deserve.

So, I chose a third option: to tackle the series ten episodes at a time and write a post with my impressions about all of them. (a bit like I do for Eurovision, only for TMA). This way:

I’ll cover every episode

I will remember more stuff

I will post constantly, so you won’t have to wait forever for me to finish the whole thing first

It will be funnier and more entertaining

Is there something we should/shouldn’t do?

I want my impressions and comments to be as genuine as possible, but in order to do that, I shouldn’t know anything about what I will read.

That means I will actively avoid every little information about the series. It doesn’t matter if it’s about harmless or well-known info: I won’t read it, period.

So please, do not write me anything about this series. I will not read any ask regarding TMA. You can still ask me stuff and write comments, sure. And you can put spoilers if you want, but please: be kind and put a big warning before them. Do not spoil the fun.

What’s the timeline?

Asap: I will write a new post and add it to the main masterlist. This new post will seve as masterlist for TMA and include this introductory post, as well as all other reactions. So If you ever miss one of them, you will read all of them there.

In the next couple days: it will come out the first post with my reactions about chapters 1-10. I’m already working on it, so it should come out very soon.

I will try to keep up a consistent schedule, but can’t promise you anything. I am preparing two exams and my final thesis too, so it might take me some time to post. But I will end this series. By now, you know that when I start something, I finish it.

In conclusion

Thank you in advance to all the people who will follow me in this adventure. If you already know about TMA, you can have fun, by mocking me for my ignorance or wait for the moment I will face the real shit. If you don’t know about TMA, maybe you will find the inspiration to start it - or to do it with me. It’ll be fun! And even if the series ends up being bad, at least we can laugh together at how terrible it is.

See you very soon with the first post about chapters 1-10.

(How about a coffee? ☕)

_______________________________

TAGLIST:

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[valeovalairs]

STATEMENT OF JANE PRENTISS

Very slowly making my way through tma. Currently on episode 11.

So something killed the last archivist, right. Like Gertrude died but something killed her cause all of those tendrils were wrapped around her and she looked scared according to this guy right. (Died in the line of duty- so something killed her)

I love how Jon’s voice gets so much softer when he reads statements and then gets all serious and deep again when he says “statement ends”

Is this where the lore starts?

[theanxiousghostartist]

TMAGP 15 SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

So I drew Lady Mowbray to try to deley art block...

Holy crap, her character is so fun. I definitely want to see more of her in the future! :3

She was very fun design as well. Her outfit is based off of old British hunting outfits that I saw on Google, her gun is based off a rifle, and her dogs are based off of my dog for proportions (she is a lab mix) and a cat hunting pose from Google.

HCs for the dogs:

* She has a ton of dogs, but these two are the oldest and her favorites, so they go everywhere with her.

* When they are not hunting, the dogs play with each other and her household staff

* I've been calling these two dogos Phobos (left dog, greek god of fear and panic) and Artemis (right dog, greek goddess of the hunt)

If not friend, then why friend-shaped? ( I love dogs, lol)

Lady Mowbray HCs:

* She is serves a few fears: the Hunt (she hunts people, like Daisy, and her tatics remind me of the Murder Club TMA episode), the Web (forcing people to hunt eachother, very manipulative setup for the most recent case), and the Slaughter (commits mass violence). She may also serve the Flesh since it's implied that she eats her kill, but I'm not entirely sure on that one.

* Her family is more like the Fairchilds that the Lukass: while she does value blood as a bond, she also adopts a lot of people into her family that have the same goals/serve the same entities. I feel like her family would be sorta like a pack of wolves in terms of how they function.

🖌 IBIS Paint X (Ipad + finger)

⌛️ 6hrs 15min

(Note for time: usually, I take breaks and split up the stages (sketch, lineart, base colors, shading, background, final touches) but for this one, I hyperfixated, so it was me working 6hrs straight 😅)

Also my references from the transcript below:

[apompkwrites]

it's me again :DD

‼️⚠️ spoilers for some tma characters and episodes bc ill be referencing some of them to "reinforce" my opinions

‼️⚠️ also probs body horror (?) the fear gods like warpping the human body into things it probaby shouldn't

~~~~~~~~~~

for rosehearts!name i like pairing them up with the spiral.

the spiral is the fear of madness and that your mind is like fooling you.

with rosehearts!name's dependency on the rules, if we take it away from them and basically toss them into the entity who's literal job description is that it has no rules and that there's no common sense, it's probably going to be very easy to drive them crazy.

plus it kinda fits with the unique magic you guys made up for them where they can create a rule that could basically bend reality to their will, very spiral vibes.

and the spiral for me fits the alice in wonderland theme pretty well, with the confusing hallways of heartslabyul reminding me of the Distortion's domain (the Distortion is an avatar of the spiral that has a domain where its just hallways with doors leading to nowhere and everywhere and its super easy to get lost in and disoriented)

also i really like the idea of a distortion!rosehearts!name, i think they deserve to be tall and have knife hands

(feel free to listen to "mag 47 - new door" for a more detailed/better description for the Distortion (also look up fanart, the artists do like an amazing job at portraying the Distortion))

~~~~~

for kingscholar!name i have a top three: corruption, lonely and the web.

the corruption is the fear of disease and filth, and it's also linked to the feeling of disgust and revulsion. it likes manifesting as bugs, rot, decay and infection.

kingscholar name feels like everyone hates them and all that shenaniganery which makes them feel disgusted about themselves and leads them to view themselves as filth.

one of the avatars of the corruption is jane prentiss, who is a flesh hive. flesh hives are basically zombies who are possessed/infested by silvery parasitic worms. jane sees the worms as her "family" and as the ones who love her unconditionally. now pair a kingscholar!name who's been isolated from their siblings and a Thing that claims to love them and doesn't see them as a burden to the family. mix those two and you get a kingscholar!name who has worms silently burrowing inside them and corrupting them inside out.

(see "mag 32 - hive" for jane prentiss)

the corruption is also associated with unhealthy relationships and "being fond of things that others find vile and disgusting". focusing on the latter part i could also make a connection with kingscholar!name's relationship with mwezi miji as the outlands are seen as disgusting and vile by those in the kingscholar territory (correct me if i'm wrong here) and kingscholar!name feels belonging in the village and the other kids.

the lonely is a pretty obvious fear here, it's the fear of isolation and being disconnected from others. this fear will probably stem from the elders who basically isolated kingscholar!name from their brothers. plus a kingscholar!name with fog powers seems pretty cool to me.

the web meanwhile is the fear of being controlled by someone else, having no free will, being manipulated (also spiders, but thats not really all that relevant here). this one's a just for fun one where kingscholar name is like afraid of the elders finding then and dragging them back to the palace and basically monitoring and controlling them every waking hour of their life.

(both the corruption and the web have ties to bugs and creepy crawlies which i could relate to the unique magic you guys made up for kingscholar!name, especially the corruption with the bug manipulation)

~~~~~

for ashengrotto name i don't really have anything for them except for maybe the eye and the flesh (i'm sorry my baby TT-TT)

the flesh is the fear of mutilation and your body changing in a way you don't like (its also a fear in animals that are bred for their meat, but that's not relevant). it's very body dysmorphia centered fear. i'm gonna connect this fear to ashengrotto!name's body issues that were unintentionally caused by azul :(( (this fear could also fit little leech with all the self mutilation and self hatred they have)

and as for the eye, the eye is basically the fear of being watched and having you secrets exposed to everyone and it's also linked to the pursuit of knowledge even if it kills you. i think you guys mentioned a unique magic for ashengrotto!name where they just Know things and it's literally just one of the perks/abilities of being an eye avatar and i thought it was funny.

(i'm gonna stop here for now bc just this already took up an entire page in my doc (which i always edit so the margins are all like .50) TT-TT)

- body horror anon

eeee its here its here! still havent gotten around to actually listening to tma but tyty for the recommendations for specifics :DD

yes yes yes lil rosehearts being paired with spiral fits so well :OO my goal was for lil rose to be portrayed as a child who is so reliant on something that, once it is taken away, they are unable to make any sort of decision for themselves. so yes, in a sense they would be driven mad with the endless possibilities they are being exposed to

i love the idea of kingscholar being paired with the corruption the most mainly because of their relationship with mwezi miji folk in the eyes of the elders, if they ever found out about them, that is. in the elders' eyes, the outlanders are horrid folk that have no business being close to kingscholar territory. to them, kingscholar's new friends are nothing but parasites. and then the image of them being a "home" for these parasites is really interesting :O

and lil ashengrotto def fits the flesh since my main idea for them was how they deal with their body images issues :(( and lil leech too who also shares the same body image issues, albeit for different reasons :((