why

why is there someone saying Jon was dumb about breaking the table again

and saying Sasha had the most brain cells

they’re both high intelligence low wisdom

Sasha got two marks in one day, more than Jon ever did (in one day)

went and talked to some random spooky dude in a graveyard

like, I love you Sasha, but you’re not that wise

and the table

okay, so if it’s bound to the table, and Jon doesn’t see this thing literally lying on top of the table, bound, it must be literally in the table, by some dream logic

right? right

so if you break the table, you break the not!them

right? right

Michael calls him stupid because with the requisite knowledge, it was stupid, but he didn’t have said knowledge

how was he to know that something which pretends to be something else was Stranger and not Web when he didn’t know about the Fears? the Web is about lying and manipulation, anyway…

plus,

“It was long and thin, the tops of it bent against the ceiling and its stick-like limbs flailed from too many joints and elbows. Wrapped around it were thick strands of what I think was spider’s web“ (MAG 78)

“Against that darkness I could see the thin grey strands wrapped around the limbs of my former bully. And then, from inside, stretched two impossibly long limbs, bony and covered in coarse, black hair.” (MAG 81)

yeah, so the spider imagery isn’t gonna throw him off here. he’ll assume that the not!them is part of the web table. break the artifact, destroy the monster.

actually, given the similarity of this to the very first encounter with the fears he’s ever had, he probably really wants to destroy this table.

acting on all the knowledge he had at the time, that was not a stupid decision