2025-01-23 1:43:35 ¶ ●

The Magnus Archives ends with Jon’s tapes, and therefore the fears, being released into our reality. It’s a really clever ending because A: It explains why TMA is a podcast. Because we’re listening to the “tapes.” B: It’s one final jolt of horror before closing the series. C: It makes us really consider Jon’s choice, and if we still agree with it knowing that our universe would be one of the one’s affected by the fears being unleashed.

However, something else I think this ending implies is that the audience as a whole is connected to The Eye. (Which is ironic because TMA isn’t a visual media. But I digress)

We’re listeners who have spent five seasons learning forbidden knowledge about another universe and the entities that reside in it. But not just that, we’ve interacted with that universe in the worst ways. We’re shown in the series that the more someone learns about the world of TMA the further they’re pulled into it, and the best thing to do is “turn a blind eye” and walk away. Yet, like Jon, we’ve kept listening/reading anyway. We’ve pushed the limits of our knowledge until we’ve reached the final conclusion: that, in-universe, the fears are real and now we’re aware of their existence.

We ceaselessly watched until we learned everything there was to know. We fed the The Eye just as much as Jon did.

All of us are eye coded. It came free with our Magnus Archive subscription. But on a real slightly less memey note: I think it’s neat how TMA decided to wrap up the story in a way that gives the audience a real role as a watcher. In universe we are characters just as much as Jon, Martin, Tim, and Sasha are, and I love that from a writing perspective. However, that could just be my eye coding.