2021-10-25 8:22:10 ¶ ●

I was going to say that Jon has whatever the opposite of plot armor is, what with him getting traumatized roughly once every 9 episodes up until 160*, but he actually has the best plot armor you can give a character without making it unrealistic. The plot armor of a tragedy.

I’m remembering The Song of Achilles, where the prophecy goes that Achilles will not die until Hector dies. Flip it around, as Patroclus does, and if Hector lives, Achilles cannot die.

Jonathan Sims is the protagonist in a tragedy. That being said, he must die at the end. (I’ve actually no idea if this is a real rule of a tragedy, but it sure seems like one.) Flip it around, and he cannot die until the end.

He has plot armor of adamant with a chink in the Achilles heel. Nothing can kill him until the end, whatever that may be. He will survive what is thrown at him until, well, until Jonny finishes spinning the web around him. Once the story is spun, he shall die. (I sound like the podcast hasn’t finished yet. But you know what I mean.)

*159/18. All the marks, and I counted the Web in there because he does talk about it. The Stranger gets him thrice, the Spiral thrice as well. The Hunt twice? In any case he was very afraid of Trevor and Julia. And he kind of got marked by the Eye over and over again, but I’m not counting that multiple times.