THEY AREN'T THE FEARS ANYMORE!! THEY'RE DESIRES

(SPOILERS for TMA, and all of TMAGP episodes so far)

Okay, here me out

Tmagp1: Darla wants to hear Arthur's voice again. She even says: "I just couldn’t face the thought of the rest of my life never hearing him again, I had to try" and later on she even says: "But I had to know, so I went to the cemetery."

Tmagp1: RedCanary wants to know about the Magnus Institute. They want to know why it's listed under 'cleared' when there's no evidence of it. Hence why they go and explore it.

Tmagp2: Daria wants that absolute perfection. She wants to change who she is and get out of that dark place. When she talks about the thing that she felt was missing, she says, "... and that’s when I decide I need a tattoo. I had a couple already – just little things on my shin and my wrist – but I decided I needed something big. Something that really changed my look." She also mentions when talking about Ink5oul that "they just kept pressing me about my life, about why I wanted the ink" instead of asking what design she wanted. And when she got the tattoo she describes herself as now being, "Someone I wanted to know more about." Afterwards she even says how "For the first time ever [she] wanted to attempt a self-portrait. Something real and physical, [she] wanted to feel the brushes in my hands and the oil on [her] fingertips." I think a lot of her statement is about her desire and impulsive need for that perfection and that wholeness that she has been aspiring to for her whole life.

Tmagp3: Samuel wants to stay hidden. He wants and he "need[s] to get up, get out of here for treatment." He wants to get better and most of his delirious thoughts are the things that he wants, or feels like he needs. E.g. "I so much want to see it [the sun] again. This night seems endless. I want to be warm again. I am terribly afraid. Thank god for Maddie. I need to treat her better."; "I just need to rest."; "I need to be careful or we’ll drift apart." And then obviously as the narrative continues, Samuel wants to grow and 'put down roots'.

Tmagp4: The narrator wants to be revered and accepted into the Royal Court Orchestra of the Palatinate. He wants to show off and impress. The violin "was a creature with needs and purpose of its own. The needs were simple enough. Blood. Flesh." It has these needs and desires.

So far, I'm interpreting it to be that everything so far can be interpreted as a desire of sorts, varying in the strength and intensity of it. Obviously, fear is still a big part of it all, because if you want something so badly, aren't you afraid of it being stolen from you? Of it being out of your grasp? Of it being unachievable or impossible in some capacity? Of it being a lie?

Even Sam wants to find out more. He wants to know the why and the reason for things. Gwen wants Lena's job. Collin wants to fix all these bugs and keep Freddie running. Alice wants to just get on with it because she found out that wanting to know the 'why' of things is dangerous.

I think that somehow when the Web took all the Fears into a different universe, they morphed into something else. Or they changed to fit what was the most prevalent thing in that universe, because after all, everyone wants something, even if it's something small and inconsequential. Life and aspects of it has always been characterised by that desire for something. Like people wanting food, shelter, safety, love, warmth, happiness, etc. And I think since the Web was so intwined with Jon and Martin, it absorbed some of their emotions when it found its way into this new world, because after all Jon and Martin wanted to stop Jonah/Elias, to stop the apocalypse, to destroy the Panopticon, to be safe, and they wanted each other. I think the wanting and fear of things are really entwined in it all, though this could be absolute bullshit haha

Gwendolyn Bouchard has always loved her little brother.

Sure, she was overprotective, but Elias was always… fragile. He was scrawny and nerdy and got into trouble far more often than Gwen ever wanted for him. And at the core of all of it, he was good. Sweet, if not a bit naive, and incredibly foolish. And incredibly lonely ever since Allan died. 

Gwendolyn loved her little brother. How could she not be protective?

Gwen was a few years into her own academic career when Elias came knocking on her door, stinking of pot and asking for a place to stay. Apparently, he’d been evicted from his flat for not paying rent. He was “too busy” to find a job. 

Gwendolyn loved her little brother, so she knew that look in his eye. It was the same look he had after he lost Allan. 

Gwen, of course, took him in. They both knew he could never go to their parents, both too rich and cold to care that one of their kids was suffering. She helped him apply to places, but the only interview he went to was one from The Magnus Institute. Gwen had heard of them, and she didn’t trust the institute. It wasn’t the most well respected in the academic community, and she told Elias so. The only thing her little brother said was, “I think it’s where I belong, Gwen.” And she replied, “Just be smart, Eli.”

Gwendolyn loved her little brother, so she knew immediately that this was not him.

It was a week after his interview with The Magnus Institute, and he was completely changed. He stayed with her for only two more days before he moved out, with little warning. He hugged Gwen when he left, but it just felt wrong. Everything Elias did from that moment on was wrong. 

Gwendolyn loved her little brother, so she knew he was dead, even before that cursed institute burnt down. 

That’s the only good thing that The Magnus Institute did for her. It gave Gwen her baby brother back, even if it was in death. 

Gwendolyn loved her little brother, so she quit her job and went to the only place she could find answers for him. The Office of Incident Assessment and Response.

I love the ambiguity of whether or not Colin works in software, hardware, or perhaps both. All we know is "computers." I've seen so many different takes on what Colin does and I love each and every one of them.

So full disclosure, I actually listened to episode 7 on Saturday, but this episode had so damn much to it and I got a bit side tracked by a theory that I'm still working on but I really want to get this out before episode 8 comes out.

As usual, if you want to see the continuously updated and reblogged version of my red string board, you can find it here.

Today is Tuesday, 2/27/24. Episode 7 came out 5 days ago on 2/22/24.

“Talkers”

Norris (Voice: Martin?/ Alex)

Episode 1: “Reanimation (Partial) -/- Regret [Email]”. The Stranger? The End? The Dark? The Lonely? The Flesh? Arthur (Nolan?).

Episode 3: "Infection (full body" -/- Arboreal [Journal entry]". The Spiral? (Paranoia? Auditory, visual and olfactory hallucinations) The Lonely? The Corruption. The Flesh? (Callbacks to the Flesh Garden from S5)

Common Themes: Hearing the voice of a dead/ missing loved one?

Chester (Voice: John?/ Jonny)

Episode 1: “Transformation (eyes) -/- Tresspass [chat log]”. Magnus Institute, The Eye. (Involves a forum; the Web?).

Episode 5: "Disappearance (undetermined) -/- Invitation [Internet blog]". The Eye (Movies. Movie name: "Voyeur" "Must be seen to be believed"...). The Web? (Another website?). (Very reminiscent of Mag 110: Creature Feature.) The "poor old guy" at the theater is totally an Eye avatar, right? Kinda gives me "Simon Fairchild when he was first introduced" vibes.

Episode 7: "Agglomeration (miscellany) -/- congregation [email]". The Stranger. The Burried. The Desolation. Possibly all of them if my theory about the items the Volunteers brought in is correct...

Unsure if this is Eye related like the other statements were. This is also the first "Chester" statement where the source material wasn't from a website or blog, which don't have the same expectation of privacy that the sources of the other statements do. Email, though, so still internet related, and this seems to be an open letter rather than personal correspondence, so it still might align with the theme.

Agustus: (rare?)

Episode 4: “Collection (blood) -/- musical [letter]” The End. The Lonely? The Slaughter.

Letter writer thinks passing on his violin might allow a part of himself to live on in his nephew. Very Jonah Magnus of him.

Music teacher hears “faraway music”, then goes crazy and throws himself out of the carriage and dies. Reminiscent of Mag7 and the Piper? The merchant’s wares include dice (Mag 29?). Got the violin from him (took his blood?). Effect of the violin reminiscent to Grifter’s Bone (Mag 42).

(Oliver Bardwell lol very funny guys)

Non-Talkers (?)

Episode 2: "Transformation (full) -/- dysmorphic [video call]". The Spiral? The Flesh. The Stranger. Ink 5oul (avatar/ entity?)

Episode 6: "Injury (needles) -/- intimidation [999 call] "Corruption? The Spiral? The Flesh? The End?

"Needles" reminds me of Michael!Distortion.

Notes and Thoughts:

"It's not like we're dealing with Tape Recorders..." I'm side eying you real hard, Celia. And what's with all of the questions? The "looking for patterns" question is 100% fair but those examples are AWEFULLY SPECIFIC. I wasn't entirely sure I bought the idea that Celia was the same Celia from TMA, but no this is totally her for sure. "DO YOU KNOW WHO JOHN" IS EXCUSE ME? WHAT REAL STUFF?

HILLTOP CENTER BRANCH?!!! 0 managerial or other support from HR; very reminiscent of the weird circumstances surrounding the house on Hilltop Road. Bear skin rug very reminiscent of the Gorilla Skin in TMA S3. The Volunteers remind me of the medical students from Mag34. The email is about events from 2015. This was the same year Gertrude died and John became the Head Archivist in TMA. Why am I not seeing anyone else talk about this?

I have a theory that I was originally going to put in this post but detangling that giant ball of red string entirely is taking too long so I'm just going to put the TL'DR here and maybe make a proper list later if I can ever finish pulling the string on that particular red sweater. Between the items the Volunteers bring in, and the events of the incident itself, what if every single Entity is represented? The gunshots that were heard were the Slaughter. The fire was the Desolation. The person who wrote the email being crushed by all of the items was the Buried. There are a number of artifacts that get listed off that could represent at least one if not multiple Entities (which might be their purpose; considering how many times the fact that the categorization was imperfect got brought up in TMA, it's probably more helpful to view them as a spectrum more than anything else), including some that are very reminiscent of things from specific TMA statements (The bear skin rug -> The Gorilla skin, Old medical equipment -> the syringe in mag 45? The telescope -> Maxwell Rayner was originally Edmond Halley, the Astronomer, etc. etc). So...okay, hear me out: what if this was all part of a ritual, and that's what the "good cause" was? A ritual that involved all of the fears being represented? Sound familiar? Except instead of it being a ritual to start an apocalypse or reshape the world in the image of one or more of the fears, what if it was a ritual to summon something that was associated with all of the fears? Or, rather, what if it was a ritual to summon someone who had been touched by all of the fears? And that's also why so many of the items seem to be analogous to things from statements and events from TMA? Like....maybe I'm wrong entirely. Or maybe I'm right about this being about summoning someone, or something, (maybe someone from TMA? Maybe Celia?), but wrong about it being John who was being summoned. But, again, this incident took place in 2015, which was the same year Gertrude died and John became head Archivist, and I feel like this means something.

ALRIGHT IVE BEEN HOLDING ALL OF MY INSANE AND DETAILED THEORIES INSIDE FOR FOUR MONTHS AND THEY HAVE GROWN AND FESTERED INTO SOMETHING ENTIRELY THEIR OWN AND I’M MAKING THEM ALL YOUR PROBLEM NOW HERE WE GOOOOO

okay so anyway my current main theory is that Jon Martin and Jonah got schlorped into this other reality along with the fears but the way it happened led to EITHER their weird entrapment in mostly digital media (a lá the Leitners), which ALSO led to Jon and Martin and Jonah also getting stuck in whatever this equivalent of collecting fear-based stories shit is. So obvs they’re those three voices Norris (Martin), Chester (Jon), Augustus (Jonah) (Jon and Jonah are ENTIRELY guesses at present - if it is Jonah he’s the one with the v pretentious-sounding name for SURE tho) I have forgotten what those names are. Apologies.

Anyway I think it’s a weird fusion of whatever the Web was attempting with that website that collected stories, AND the role of the archive AND the creation of the panopticon by a man who was VERY. DEDICATED. TO. SORTING. AND. CATEGORIZING. So they’re collecting data, archiving stories for the Eye (Jon is still the Pupil and the Archivist, after all), but Jon and Martin prolly wanna help. Categorize. Give these people a fighting fucking chance. If I think about them too hard rn I’ll have an emotional breakdown so that’s a post for another time.

But anyway. The forced categorizing (dolls, watching / dolls, skin / all the subcategories under “Reanimation”). The voices reading them out. All of the computers and cameras and mics recording all these convos between the employees. The organization whose job is just reading and filing supernatural data and stories accurately which is important for some reason that no one can really understand or explain. Hahaha. Sounds familiar.

Anyway I’m obsessed with all of these new characters. I’m so excited to spend all of the time with them!! And be terrified of the horrors that are gonna come after them!!!!

ok i just looked back through my blog and it looks like my big theory from way back last year has just… disappeared?? which i’m pretty annoyed about tbh, but i want to expand on it and update it anyway because the casting announcement and logo all validate it and make it a lot more interesting SO

my big magnus protocol theory and what i think the plot will be

so, this is a world completely without the Fears, until BAM. here they are. and with the arg, the encrypted messages and the glitchy aesthetic they seem to be going for, now further expanded on by the logo literally being a glitchy computer screen, i was thinking what if as the fears entered the universe, there was some kind of mass signal or energy surge.

imagine all the screens and electronics in the world suddenly go static, and a jumbled-up incomprehensible message (like the “statement remains” audio) can be heard everywhere, all around the world. and it goes on for around 20-30 minutes. and in those minutes, every single person in the world is fucking TERRIFIED. just frozen in absolute fear.

and of course this causes thousands and thousands of accidents and deaths and just generally terrifies everyone, so naturally every world government thinks it’s an attack of some kind. hence why we follow civil service workers, specifically those working for Incident Assessment and Response. this would be quite an incident!!

in these first few episodes following the signal, we also hear from the prime minister. and i originally thought it would be REALLY fun if the uk prime minister in this universe is the og Elias. i love this idea with all my heart for many reasons, but it doesn’t look like ben meredith will be in it, so i’ve had to modify it a bit. so, either the prime minister will be gwendolyn bouchard, who could either be a relative of elias or transfem elias (although, trans prime minister?? in this godforsaken country??) OR the tim fearon character, who could potentially be jonah magnus or a similar previously established character. but personally, i’m betting on miss gwendolyn, so keep that in mind as you read the rest of this.

and so at the end of the first or second episode, we hear this prime minister in a big meeting about the incident, and the episode ends on a cliffhanger that reveals what the unscrambled audio really was.

it’s mag 200. which is why jon and martin are (potentially) on the cast list. the fears are ushered into the universe using their voices.

but i think what would be an even cooler cliffhanger is if after this big reveal, after the tape squeals and basira says good luck, we hear something we’ve never heard before.

“oh, hello. are you still listening?”

OR

tim fearon’s voice.

so this is where the REDACTED names really come into play. idk what the actual plot will be, but my idea is that jon, martin, and the tim fearon character, who i personally think is the voice of the original jonah magnus, are:

1, stuck as “ghosts in the machine” of sorts, living on as disembodied glitchy voices and nothing more

2, are huge eldritch entities, who can speak through anything and anyone, maybe possess people, etc, and possibly act as similar entities to the fears in a way, creating their own avatars and suchlike - maybe to fight the fears in jon and martin’s cases

or 3, the fears use their voices to actually speak, probably through recordings and electronics, meaning the REDACTED isn’t just to conceal their characters, they actually just don’t have names

also this is a much smaller point but because her name and presumed age are so out of place in comparison to the rest of the cast, i think lady mowbray is a psychic or mystic woman of some kind rather than an actual noble woman, and will be able to talk to the new jon and martin, whatever they are

so yeah that’s it i guess! i hope all this makes sense, if anyone has any questions, anything to add or challenge, or just want to discuss it please please do!! i want to see what people think of this in light of all the new information because i LOVE this idea so much that if it doesn’t happen i might just write it myself lol

Thoughts on this episode: nothing too special. It feels like one of those “recover and set up” episodes in between story beats. I liked the spooky graveyard sailor statement, and the INK5OUL callback confirmed to me that they’re a recurring important horror, but other than that not much went on

Actually, almost forgot about the dreams. Everyone is having weird dreams. I thought it was just because Sam and Alice went to the institute but then Celia (I think) also said something about dreams and now I’m wondering…

Learning Mr. Bonzo was “sweaty” was viscerally uncomfortable though, good job

So. Norris! Buddy. Is there any particular reason you decided to read that particular file for everyone?

You know, the file about a man consumed by fear and guilt because he murdered the person he loved?

The file about a man who finds himself trapped in a walled garden, cut off from the outside world, with his murdered lover's voice forever whispering in whatever remains of his ears?

The file about a man who finds himself gradually losing his humanity as his new prison transforms him, slowly and painfully, into a part of itself?

The file about a man who finds that even as this transformation ultimately brings him serenity on the surface, even as he can no longer remember what he once was, "deep inside [him] beneath the roots there is something that still shakes with terror"?

Look, I'm just asking, here, but is there anything you'd like to say to the class, Norris?

TMAGP character designs!!!!

and more art:

->->-> NEW VERSION (fixing the saturation of Sam's skin and with other extra things)

ink5oul would 100% be the type of person to wear those dumb (/j) little cloud/bat sunglasses that have the dangling gems. like there is zero doubt in my mind theyd wear these little shits

they put my bois in the puter...

Okay I've got some Magnus Protocol speculations so

(SPOILERS)

Basically, I think that Augustus is going to be Jonah Magnus, but not necessarily Elias Bouchard mainly because of the trailer.

(this is a screenshot from it)

So obviously J.01 represents Jon in some capacity and M.01 represents Martin or some part of them (like how their voices are used for the TTS program).

But then there's J.02, which shows how it's a different thing to J.01. And which other character do we know begins with a J? JONAH MAGNUS! And whilst Elias was Jonah for the majority of TMA, Jonah has been mentioned to switch bodies. So it's probably Jonah in some other capacity. Also we have Gwens last name as Bouchard which sort of links him and the whole Eye to the OIAR.

(this part isn't my theory, someone else said it, can't remember who though, sorry, but I just wanted to repeat it on here as to me it makes a lot of sense)

Also I just noticed that if you look carefully at J.02, it's OK is written with a lower case 'k' instead of a captial like it is for J.01 and M.01. Maybe it shows how is less common as a voice in the TTS program and a smaller presence in the computer? I don't really know but it might be relevant, or just a computing thing I don't know about haha.

Also I feel like there is going to be some twisted parallel with Sam and the Redcanary story. Since Sam has already expressed interest into their world's Magnus Institute and started researching, I think at some point they will explore or find something out that will put them in danger and probably have really shit consequences. I mean, hopefully not, but it's the Magnus Archives Universe so probably...

Also Gwen is definitely going to take over Lena's job in some way at some point in the series. I think that Lena is going to outsource Gwen's job mainly because of how she was talking so much about Gwen leaving in her Performance Review meeting in Ep1. And since Gwen said she didn't want to leave, I feel like Lena would effectively make her redundant just to spite her.

Also the name of the whole thing is The Magnus PROTOCOL, which gives it a more vague meaning than what TMA had which was literally the archives of the Magnus Insistute. I feel like maybe Chester and Norris will turn out to be a protocol that sort of kicks in when the OIAR becomes more linked to the Fears and entwined in the Eye story like because so far I think the OIAR is really heavily linked to the Eye. Or when something happens that sort of wrecks the current status quo of that world. I feel like both of them and Augustus also have something to do with all the bugs Collins is facing though I haven't really thought that in depth about it yet, but I feel like they will definitely have something to do with it.

Also we have the whole thing of who created Freddy. It could be Gwen? But I can't remember if they declared her age or not so depending on that it could be quite unlikely. But if they haven't, then she is highly organised so maybe creating a whole program which picks out all these statement-like-things to send their way and isn't too farfetched?...

It probably is and I'm probably delusional with all of this but oh well

Jonathan Sims exists in The Magnus Protocol universe, but not the Jonathan Sims we know. This Jon is still prickly, but softer around the edges. When Sam and Alice finally properly introduce themselves to him, after years of working within the same department, Alice asks, “Jonathan Sims, yeah?”

“Yes. Well, Jonathan Sims-Blackwood, technically, but Sims works just fine,” Jon replies. 

And Sam and Alice just nod, because who are they to doubt this man they barely know?

Metawise, it’s reaching the end of the first season, and Jonathan joins them on a certain research assignment because it has to do with spiders. They don’t know much about Jon, but not a single person even hears about Jonathan Sims without knowing how much that guy hates spiders. 

The first time they hear anything more about Jon’s spouse is when they’re out in the field. It’s a passing comment. Jon mentions how Martin always says how good spiders actually are. Sam, not unkindly, asks who Martin is. 

“My husband,” Jon replies, looking an equal mix of smug, proud, and lovestruck. Sam hopes, in that moment, that he falls in love like that one day. Alice just tells the two to get a move on. They don’t think about love in the way the two men do. 

The assignment goes wrong. Jon dies tragically, surrounded by two people who barely know him. 

Oddly enough, choking through his actively dying conscience, “Please… please tell Martin that I forgot to feed the cat.”

“What?” Alice questions, dumbfounded. 

“Our cat…” Jon answers, losing energy. “It was my turn. I forgot.”

And Jon dies in her arms, and Alice doesn’t know how to respond. 

Sam convinces them to go to the funeral. Alice sees a tall man sobbing while giving the eulogy. He was Jon’s husband, and they truly were so deeply in love it made Alice’s head spin. 

Sam goes up to Martin afterwards, shares his apologies, and some empty thoughts on how lovely of a man Jon was. Alice doesn’t. They can’t make herself.

Okay I have yet to check the tags for the Magnus Protocol so this is entirely my initial thoughts after listening to the first two episodes.

Have we all connected that the timeline is wrong? Like this has to be either a different universe or an alternate/reset timeline. Because the first statement recorded by Jonathan Sims was said to be (by Jon) in 2012, and the casefile that "CHESTER" read about the Spelunker said in his email/post in 2022 that the Magnus Institute "fire" happened 20 years ago...

So this isn't the future of the timeline we were in for the events of the original podcast.

Also, no one at the office seems to acknowledge the possibility of the case files being real other than Sam, so it's clear that if the apocalypse did happen in this universe/timeline it seems to have been entirely forgotten about (like erased from the minds of the world's population). Maybe it was something akin to the MCU "blip" where everyone just had a gap in their recollection of time and then returned to life as normal afterwards. That is, if the apocalypse happened here at all.

Maybe burning down the Magnus Institute in their universe to stop the apocalypse, Jon & Martin burned down the Magnus Institute in every universe.

Also hearing Martin and Jon's voices again was so sweet. Those damn computer programs are making me sentimental 🥹.

I'll probably reblog this with more thoughts after browsing the tags but I just wanted to throw all my thoughts at the wall first and see if they stick.

So I have this theory about the Entities in TMP. We know that the alternate worlds referenced in season 5 are similar to the world TMA took place in with slight differences. The experiences of the statement giver from Mag 114 (the cleaning lady who worked at Hilltop Road) is an early example of this: none of her friends knew how she knew them, she'd never heard of the Magnus Institute before and the dates were all wrong. Same deal with the Magnus Protocol, where the location of the Magnus Institute is different and the place burned down 17 years before TMA started. We also know that new Entities emerge when enough people fear something enough in a way that's distinctive from the already existing Entities. (EG: The Extinction branching off from The End). So what if those differences in the alternate worlds have resulted in cultures/ values being just different enough that what people fear/ how it manifests and new Entities have arisen from it? Which brings us to the meat of my theory: obviously the Magnus Institute is still a part of the Eye, based on what we heard in the second statement from the first episode. And I've seen some people talking about the OIAR also being part of the Eye. But what if it's not? Colin is convinced something/ someone is listening. In TMA, statements were collected in order to feed the Eye, and in TMP, the cases that get sorted through and documented are sometimes read out loud by one of the three Voices or it's otherwise an audio recording anyone present would then basically be forced to listen to. So what if there's another entity similar to/ split off from the Eye, but instead of it being the fear of being watched/ exposed/ followed, it's tied to the fear that someone's always listening; a fear of exposure distinct from that of the Eye, related to your secrets being heard. Etc. Etc. And what if that's the Entity that the OIAR is tied to? As silly as it may sound, it'd probably be called The Ear or the Listening.

the subtle way that the magnus protocol is building its horror like a apartment complex over the graveyard that is the magnus archives is soooo fascinating to me. I don't just mean the inclusion of gerry and gertrude or the fact that gwen is a bouchard, I mean just the faint brushes of tma everywhere: sam and alice are exes, just like jon and georgie. something about needles and his coy-but-flustered monologuing is reminiscent of michael and the other twinkifiable avatars in tma. sam trying to break through locked doors and what we know about door symbolism. colin and his jon-like descent into paranoia, and his melanie-ish casualness around (probably) doing illegal or dangerous things. alice making corny jokes and sounding ever-so-slightly like Tim. Lena and food versus Elias and cake. the narrative is haunting the narrative...oh dramatic irony, we're really in it now