2025-02-08 2:28:01 ¶ ●

Michael calling Jon “Archivist” really hits my brain in all the right ways because:

On an analytical note: Michael calling Jon “Archivist” is very likely a Michael Shelley choice instead of a Distortion choice. I say that with a pretty good amount confidence because Distortion Helen notably calls Jon by his name, even in Season 5 after he has become a full-fledged Avatar of The Eye.

So I feel safe saying that it’s what’s left of Michael that calls Jon “Archivist.” Personally, I think that’s interesting enough information on it’s own, but I do have a few more thoughts.

On a speculative note: I wonder if a large part of him calling him that is because, to Michael, the fact that Jon is now in Gertrude’s role is far more important than any personhood he has. It doesn’t matter who Jon is. It only matters that he’s connected to the Institute and the women who betrayed him.

On an analytical note: I think it’s interesting that Michael downplays Jon’s humanity by calling him his role instead of his name…just like how his name got (metaphorically) taken when he was forced to play the role of “The Distortion” instead of just simply being allowed to be Michael Shelley. I wonder if that’s a conscious factor that plays into Michael calling Jon “Archivist”, or if it’s just meant to be a parallel.

Either way, I think it’s an important note on their dynamic, and I do love to take those. After all, the few times Michael and Jon interacted in the series fed my Magnus Archives hyper fixation like a five-star chef. So I am always very eager to analyze them.