For some reason my brain is really on birds today so here’s the bird symbolism I would assign to some of the Magnus Archive characters.
Jonathan Sims could be symbolized by an owl. Owl’s tend to symbolize wisdom, hidden truths, higher knowledge, guidance, and transformation. They can also be symbols of death in some cultures, while in other cultures they’re symbols of protection. Pretty fitting for someone who both ended and saved the world. (Bonus fun fact: Owl’s also eat spiders.)
Elias Bouchard could be symbolized by a cuckoo bird. Cuckoo bird’s are notorious for their song, and they often represent the power of the voice. They symbolize new beginnings, transformation, mystery, and fate. Though they’re also often connected with betrayal because they don’t tend to build their own nests. They steal the nests from other birds instead.
Gertrude Robinson could be symbolized by a hawk. Hawk’s represent clear vision, intuition, swift action, determination, protection, wisdom, focus, strength, and nobility. Honestly I don’t have a lot to say about this one because it just fits her that well.
Peter Lucas could be symbolized by the raven. Raven’s tend to symbolize transformation, trickery, insight, knowledge, death, mystery, and magic. They can also represent betrayal in certain contexts. As well as loneliness in connection to the famous poem “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe.
Distortion Michael could be symbolized by a crow. Crows represent transformation, change, death, adaptability, and destiny. Interestingly, two crows can represent balance and partnership between opposing forces. Such as light and dark or evil and good or a nice human man and a monster that have been forced together.
Basira Hussain could be symbolized by a duck. Yes, really. Ducks symbolize adaptability, balance, community, emotional navigation, growth, intuition, and new beginnings. Ducks are also associated with teamwork because of how they fly in formation during migration.
Daisy Tonner could be symbolized by the Loggerhead Shrike. These birds are also called the “Butcher Bird” because they impale their prey due to their lack of talons. These birds are known for their hunting abilities and symbolize precision, focus, adaptability, intuition, karmic justice, punishment, and retribution.
Tim Stocker could be symbolized by a rooster. Rooster’s represent aggression and pride. However, they also represent protection, attachment, bravery, courage, vigilance, and honesty. As well as masculinity and attraction.
Melanie King could be symbolized by the Martial Eagle. These birds symbolize strength, power, freedom, bravery, and protection. They’re also often associated with warfare due to their hunting style, and they’re even named after the Roman God of war, Mars.
Georgie Barker could be symbolized by the chicken. Chicken’s represent prosperity, courage, vigilance, new beginnings, loyalty, simplicity, and protection. Chickens are also usually associated with nurturing, which I think fits Georgie since she takes Jon in without question and is also the only character to have a pet.
Sasha James could be symbolized by a blue jay. Blue jays represent, resourcefulness, intelligence, confidence, loyalty, and boldness. They often represent good luck, but they also represent trickery. Which doesn’t fit Sasha herself, but it does fit “her” role in season 2……..
Martin Blackwood could be symbolized by a penguin. Penguin’s represent perseverance, endurance, loyalty, unity, patience, maintaining balance, emotional strength, and transformation.
Gerard Keay could be symbolized by a Shikra. Shikra’s are falcons that are known to symbolize perception, intelligence, bravery, hunting, tenacity, facing adversity, and adaptability due to their ability to thrive in many environments. Which is fitting symbolism for a guy who was so well traveled.
Anabelle Cane could be symbolized by a Fork-tailed Drongo. These birds are known for mimicking the warning sounds of prey animals so that said prey animals will flee and drop their food, leaving it for the taking. These birds represent intelligence, cunning, manipulation, adaptation, and vigilance.
When Jon tells Melanie that he knows what a meme is I’m 100% convinced that this is the type of meme he’s talking about and that he finds them hilarious:
It’s 3AM and instead of sleeping I’m writing TMA sleep headcanon’s to save in my drafts.
Jon - Jon has chronic insomnia and spends more nights doing work than sleeping. When he does sleep it’s usually at his desk because he can go from “not tired,” to “exhausted,” in about ten seconds. It’s really rare for him to have a good night where he can just get in bed and fall asleep, and when he DOES manage to get in bed early he usually wakes up wide awake around 3AM. It’s a curse.
Martin - Martin is kind of like one of those plants that die if they get a single teaspoon of too much water. He has a really specific nighttime routine and he has to follow it to get good rest. For him that means: He has to have the room pitch black, he has to be listening to soft music, he must write in his journal a bit before bed, he has to have a hot drink at least an hour before laying down, and it must be between 55 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit. All of these are non- negotiable.
Tim - Tim has sleep apnea and need’s a CPAP machine. Does he use it regularly? No because he doesn’t like being hooked up to it or all the noise it makes while he’s trying to sleep. Should he be using it regularly? Yes, because he’s flirting with death every night.
Sasha - Sasha is a really deep sleeper. Her most notable incident is when she lived in an apartment and slept through a fire alarm that was set off by another renter accidentally setting their dinner ablaze. It was a real fire. She could have died.
Melanie - Melanie is a terror to share a bed with. She sleeps in the starfish pose, she steals blankets, she kicks in her sleep, she snores like a bear. She is the reason Georgie could be appointed as a saint of patience because she’s had to sleep on the couch once a month since they got together.
Georgie - Georgie has the skill to fall asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow. She’s never really struggled with going to bed at night. She usually just read’s a book, maybe watches an episode of a show she likes, then goes to bed without trouble.
Basira - Basira has had extremely vivid dreams her whole life. They aways seemed so real that waking up could be a bit of a jarring experience because she’d be genuinely confused why she was at home in her bed instead of wherever her dreams took her. This stopped after she got a job at The Institute. She’s not sure if she misses it or not.
Daisy - Daisy sleep walks and sleep talks. Basira crashed at her place one night after a long day, and was startled awake in the middle of the night by Daisy walking into the kitchen, opening a drawer, saying “Damn,” then going back to sleep. In the morning she had no memory of what that was about.
Peter - Peter can only sleep if he’s at sea or has a noise machine going. For a guy who’s whole thing is being lonely, he’s never really been able to handle the stillness of the world while he tries to rest. Though he likes to keep up the illusion by wearing a sleep mask.
Elias/Jonah - Elias Bouchard had sleep paralysis and restless leg syndrome. Which is not something Jonah knew before taking over his body. He’s had a few rough surprises at night.
Gertrude - Gertrude has gotten three hours of sleep a night since she was eighteen. She’s just built like that.
Gerard - Gerard usually ends up sleeping anywhere but a bed. He’ll fall asleep sitting on a chair, or leaned up against a bookcase, or even just standing up in general. His sleeping habits are so awful that he doesn’t even usually end up willingly going to bed. Usually he just goes until his body ends up giving out with the need for sleep.
Michael Shelley - Michael sleeps with so many pillows he could drown in them. He need’s one for his head, a few to be pressed up against his sides, one to rest on his legs, and a few more that are just there for emotional support.
Anabelle Cane - Anabelle sleeps in weird positions. Her limbs always tangle in unnatural ways that make her look a bit like a spider that had been stepped on, and really it’s amazing that she’s never broken or dislocated anything with all that twisting. She could give The Distortion itself a run for it’s money.
Michael isn’t sure how he got sent back in the past. He thinks he went through one of his doors that looked a bit stranger than usual, but his mind is so heavy it’s hard to think.
All he knows is that he stands right where it all started. In Sannikov Land, in front of a yellow door with Gertrude Robinson staring at him with what he now acknowledges as cold eyes.
He could do so many things. He could scream at her for all he’s been through and tell her every nasty thought he’s had over the years. He could take off running in another direction and takes him anywhere but to his fate. He could just sit down and wait for the ritual to either be torn down or completed.
But he doesn’t.
Michael’s fingers feel far too short. His skin feels far too real. So much anger bubbles under his surface that if he tries to let out even a little it’s going to bubble over entirely. And what is he now? Something more than someone who has taken people in his hallway and made them undone. How would he sleep? How would he look at himself in a mirror? How would he see someone become overcome with fear and accept the fact that he could no longer drink in something so delicious?
Michael wraps his hand around the handle and opens the door.
It’s crazy how many headcanon’s I have about this alone:
First off, some of the the crew were way more fine not hanging out much outside of work than others.
Jon never had any real desire to see anyone outside of work. He really wanted to appear professional, and to him that meant not inviting his collages into his personal life. Tim was the same. He liked everyone well enough but he’s a “keep work and life separate” type of guy. Well, for the most part. He did wish he spent more time with Sasha outside of work, but other than that he liked boundaries.
Sasha would have been open to hanging out outside of work, but she never really made plans or anything like that on account of always being busy with something. Martin DID try to make plans since he wanted the workplace to be a friendly space (*cough* And he wanted he to get to know Jon better *cough*) but he always got turned down even though he must have asked at least fifty times. Sasha was always busy, Tim was too though he also didn’t really want to give a weekend /afternoon to work, and Jon just straight up declined out of “I don’t want too.”
As for the curry nights around Christmas: Jon never actually participated much in them. He’d bring a curry then go back to his office and get testy with anyone who dared to speak to him while he was doing some extra work. Tim thought it was hilarious to wear one of those mistletoe hats, though he obviously didn’t expect anyone to kiss him, and the best he ever got from that was a very brief cheek kiss from Sasha.
Martin was fantastic at making curry and he honestly held curry night on his back. He was so good at it that Tim and Sasha would totally have had him cater if they ever had a curry night outside of work. Sasha would usually be in charge of the decorations because she could be a bit of a mirco manager about stuff like that, so she’d spend a lot of the party playfully pointing out the work she put in and making sure it was appreciated.
She would also bring games and one time she brought a dart board that turned into a pretty high stakes competition that even Jon got in on for a bit. Turn’s out Sasha and Martin are amazing at darts. Tim’s fine at them, and Jon is just straight up bad. Sasha ended up winning but it was close between her and Martin.
That’s it for the headcanon’s! Something about reading about the curry night’s set a bomb off in my brain and I couldn’t stop thinking about the concept until I wrote 200 headcanon’s.
I went through my pin collection and obviously I had to drag TMA into it so here’s the pins in my pin collection that I think certain Magnus Archives characters would like. Part 1 because of mobile app limitations:
I went through my pin collection and obviously I had to drag TMA into it so here’s the pins in my pin collection that I think certain Magnus Archives characters would like. Part 2 because of mobile app limitations:
Daisy Tonner -
Melanie King - Note: This pin depicts a scene from the movie “Psycho” before anyone who hasn’t seen it wonders why I have a pin of a women being stabbed.
Elias Bouchard - He wore this one day when the vibes were down in the office. It genuinely made Tim want to fight him.
The Narrator from “Slay The Princess” is exactly how I imagine Jon would be like if he were evil and trying to manipulate people in the same way Elias does.
And by that I mean I think he’d be overly suspicious right off and the bat and instantly give himself away with an “Oh the eyes all over my skin? They’re just…birthmarks. Never-mind all that!” attitude.
In “Recluse” she kisses a boy on his cheek to free him from The Web. It doesn’t burn at first, then at just the right moment it scalds his face so bad that the fears powers over him break just enough to let him flee from Hilltop Road. In “Burning Desire” Jack tells us that he took Agnes’s order many times without incident. The first time he noticed something off was when a man approached her and she made him leave with sweat dripping down his forehead. After that Jack mentions he saw scorch marks on her chair for the first time.
So Agnes’s fire is more like a candle than a wildfire. It’s always lit but she seems to have some form of control over it. If she didn’t she would have burned the boy on Hilltop Road as bad as she did Jack and made him overheat while he took her coffee order.
But doesn’t that observation make the end of “Burning Desires” a bit more interesting? Agnes burns Jack so bad he’s hospitalized. Yet, it does seem like her powers are uncontrolled.
I think the darkest interpretation is that Agnes might have burned Jack on purpose. Either so that he always carried a reminder of her with him, or as a sacrifice to The Desolation since in the end she did feel a duty towards it, and burning Jack could represent the idea of her ever having a normal life falling into pieces.
But I think the interpretation I believe much more than that is that Agnes’s desire for Jack (And an unburdened life) was so strong that she couldn’t control herself. The fire that she usually could keep tempered burned out of control in her grief for herself and what she was loosing, until she was the victim of the desolation she was supposed to cause the world.
I am always thinking about Gertrude’s time as The Archivist so here are my headcanon’s on what I think OG Archivist Assistants relationship’s were like outside of what we know in canon.
Emma and Michael’s relationship always had the vibes of “putting up with your annoying family member because it’s the holidays and grandma invented them,” from Michael’s side of things. He had noticed all the times Emma didn’t refill the coffee maker after pouring the last cup, or how his pens sometimes ended up on her desk without his permission. But he bit his lip about it. He never wanted to be the workplace drama starter, and besides, if she was always checking on Gertrude then she couldn’t be THAT bad of a person. Just a consistently annoying one who heated fish in the microwave and asked him weird questions like “Have you noticed anything yet?” before walking off when he gets visibly confused.
Their entire dynamic is Emma going “I have him right where I want him. He doesn’t suspect a thing,” and Michael judgmentally squinting his eyes going “What’s her problem??”
Emma and Eric’s relationship was a nonexistent one. Even without Mary involved Emma saw that Eric was someone who could look into the dark and stare back into the nothing without looking for a light, and that wasn’t good for her mechanisms. Eric meanwhile never really talked to Emma. Yet he still felt disillusioned by her. When he started to become resentful of Gertrude he began to resent the people around her too, especially The Assistant who was her closest confidant. He did not trust Emma in the end. And he never realized how right he was to do so.
Emma and Fiona’s relationship was a completely one-sided distaste. Emma never liked Fiona, but Fiona thought Emma was darling. She spent a lot of time cornering her near the water cooler to talk forever about London’s weather, or a shirt she saw on clearance, or the new mole on her back. Much to Emma’s despair their conversations were never particularly stimulating, but Fiona loved that she had a “gossiping buddy” in her own words. Though they never actually gossiped about anyone. Fiona would have found that mean. Emma would have found it a significant improvement.
Emma and Sarah’s relationship was the worst thing Emma ever did. Sarah genuinely looked up to Emma. She saw her as someone who had survived the strange and came out the other side stronger and more cunning for it. She wanted to be just like her when she got older, unaware of that fact that Emma herself would be the one to prevent that. Emma genuinely liked Sarah too. She would slip her snacks from her lunch whenever she complained about being hungry, and she even helped her mend a jacket that got torn by a Hunter. Her fondness wasn’t enough to stop her curiosity. However, she did feel much more guilt for what happened with Sarah than any thing else she did.
Sarah and Michael’srelationship was a genuine friendship. Michael admired Sarah’s fiery spirt, and Sarah found Michael’s kindness to be welcome. They spent a lot of time at each other’s desk talking about tv shows or books that came recently, and there were quite a few times that Sarah almost used those opportunities to tell Michael about the fears. Though she didn’t because she assumed he was being kept in the dark for a reason that involved his safety. Overall they liked each other a lot, and Michael even brought her (And Eric and Gertrude) some fruits for his garden in the warmer months.
Michael and Eric’s relationship was a friendship that went sour. When they first joined The Archives they got along right away. They had a similar intense interest in the paranormal and loved a lot of the same media. This started a friendship that existed even outside of work. They got lunch or went to the local library together pretty often. For awhile. Once Eric started dating Mary his resentment for Gertrude and The Institute grew strong and fast. He began to resent anything tied to it. including Michael who would shut down any all rants about Gertrude before they could really get off the ground.
When Eric fell off the face of the Earth Michael never understood why. But he was still bitter about their abrupt ending.
Eric and Fiona’s relationship was the one thing Eric missed about The Institute. She would always listen to his rants about Gertrude even though it was obvious that she didn’t agree with everything he said. And in return he was more than happy to hear about her cats and book collection. They would even bring cards in sometimes and play a round of poker on slow work days, which would sometimes last long after closing. It was pretty normal of them to go to a bar and finish their game.
Fiona’s smile was something Eric missed very much when he quit.
“I don’t have a preference on how TMA characters are physically depicted. We get so little information about anyone’s appearance that’s it’s really up to interpretation of their vibes.”
-I say, meaning my words but also gazing longingly at my “Martin has grey eyes” and “Georgie has a mole near her eye and lip,” headcanon.
It a so funny to me that Gerard Keay is the character who gets the most of a physical description in TMA, and it’s all just: “The scrawny man, who btw had a TERRIBLE dye job on his greasy hair, frowned at me. It made his unkept facial hair became even more noticeable on his sickly pale skin. I’m talking about like a solid 3/10 here.”
I’m a huge “you should listen to TMA at least twice” propagandist, so I wanted to share my opinions that changed on my second watch:
I liked Tim and Melanie so much more on a second listen. I liked them well enough on a first listen too, but seeing Tim’s “happy go-lucky, workplace joker,” attitude again in Season 1 while knowing where his character progression was going to go was tragic.
The same can be said for Melanie as well. It’s crazy to listen to “Skintight” and “The Smell Of Blood” while knowing that she’s going to stab Jon and mark him with The Slaughter. She was a super interesting character to look back on because she was always angry, but it doesn’t feel the same in earlier episodes. I could really see her character progress from “pretentious person with a temper,” to “rageful person trapped in all the prestigious knowledge they thought they wanted,” when I knew where it was going, and it gave me a newfound appreciation of her for sure.
I also liked and disliked multiple statements more with added context. I disliked “The Man Upstairs” a little more knowing that Toby had something going on with The Flesh, because personally I think the body horror element of the The Flesh is a lot more interesting than the meat element of The Flesh, and also there’s not a lot done with Toby after this so this isn’t third watch material for me.
However, on the other more positive side of things, I loved “Pageturner” SO much more on a second listen. Dominic’s “random” story about his childhood friend who was struck by lighting made me so excited on a second listen because I know who that’s stories referring to now! Plus, it’s super cool to see how early some of the main plot threads are laid down. AND I loved how “Pageturner” contributed to Gerard Keay’s story when I had the full context of his character. I love seeing how weird and cryptic he is on his first appearance. His humanity is slowly built up throughout the series and that’s much more apparent when you know more about him.
I also fell even more in love with Agnes on a second listen. I loved her in the first too, but listening to her story for the second time really shows all the humanity that Desolation cultists didn’t want her to have. For never getting to make a statement of her own, Agnes’s humanity and tragedy is always there.
What really certified my love for TMA was my second listen, and I’m just saying that fall is coming up and aesthetically it’ll be a great time to listen to TMA.
My autism is treating “The Magnus Archives” and “Slay The Princess” like a cat would treat a garden of catnip, so here’s the first princess I think the TMA cast would unlock along with the princess I think they’d like the most.
Jon - Jon unlocks The Razor first,and his favorite princess is The Cage.
Martin - Martin unlocks The Happily Ever After route first, and his favorite princess is The Thorn.
Tim - Tim unlocks The Prisoner first,and his favorite princess is The Prisoner.
Sasha - Sasha unlocks The Witch first,and her favorite princess is The Spectre.
Melanie - Melanie unlocks The Adversary first,and her favorite princess is The Fury.
Georgie - Georgie unlocks The Nightmare first, and her favorite princess is The Adversary.
Basira - Basira unlocks The Moment Of Clarity route first, and her favorite princess is The Beast.
Daisy - Daisy unlocks The Spectre first, and her favorite princess is The Den.
Peter - Peter unlocks The Stranger first, and his favorite princess is The Stranger.
Elias - Elias unlocks The Tower first, and his favorite princess is The Shifting Mound.
Gertrude - Gertrude unlocks The Razor first, and her favorite princess is The Princess And The Dragon.
Gerard - Gerard unlocks The Razor first, and his favorite princess is The Nightmare.
Distortion Michael - Michael unlocks The Beast first,and his favorite princess is The Wild.
Anabelle - Anabelle unlocks The Prisoner first,and her favorite princess is The Witch.
Tim saying “Honestly, I hope that John learned something from her” (“her” in reference to Gertrude) is crushing in the context I think he means that in.
Tim wouldn’t be happy if Jon took notes from Gertrude’s playbook. We see that in The Unknowing when Tim gets upset that Jon and the rest of the crew want to focus on blowing up the building instead of trying to save the dancers who have already been skinned, which is exactly what Gertrude would have done if she were in the situation.
So Tim doesn’t actually want a Gertrude version of Jon. He doesn’t actually want him to put stopping the fears over having humanity for the people around him.
Except in one case. He does want Jon to be strong as Gertrude when it comes to sacrificing one person.
And that’s himself.
He wants Jon to have the strength to use him to pull the trigger because he’s done, and needs Jon to have a strong resolve in order to see that through. That’s what his speech really boils down to. Tim is saying that he wants Jon to be cold enough to sacrifice him. Not the dancers who were innocent people caught in a nightmare, and not the humanity that went with them.
Georgie is such a funny character because imagine going through hell in the eyeapocalypse and then learning that your favorite podcaster saved the day.
In Magnus Archives fan terms, that’s like if the zombie apocalypse happened and then was stopped by Jonathan Sims.
One of Georgie’s biggest trauma’s is experiencing a dead women walk.
Then years later, Jon get’s blown up and goes in a coma for six months, and yet despite all rational medical science he jumps up from his bed good to go. Not because he’s miraculously okay, but because he submitted to the same fears that brought a cadaver into Georgie’s life. And in an episode that’s titled “Zombie,” for that matter!
So with all that in mind, I think Georgie’s distance from Jon in later seasons makes perfect sense. He’s a dead man walking, and that makes his existence both a representation of the worst thing that ever happened to her, and a contradiction towards the “everything has an end” lesson her trauma engraved in her.
While it was late and we were sleep deprived my friend and I were talking about a TMA cowboy AU, and that turned into a conversation about “Good thing TMA didn’t take place in a cowboy AU because Jon would be challenged to a duel every five minutes,” and that somehow turned into this post which is: Magnus Archive characters, but I rank them from least to most likely to agree to a duel.
Human Helen Richardson - Would not agree to a duel and would be horrified by the suggestion.
The Real Elias Bouchard - He is very nervous.
Georgie Barker - She is normal.
Oliver Banks - He is also shockingly normal considering he’s an immortal with prophetic dreams.
Agnes - My character analysis of Agnes: She does not have the vibes of someone who would like a duel.
Jonathan Sims - He would not agree to a duel, but many people pay to duel him.
Human Michael Shelley - Would refuse in almost every single circumstance because he is normal, but MIGHT be willing to do it if it were to protect Gertrude. MIGHT.
Basira Hussain - She’s a common sense queen but honestly I don’t think anyone affected by The Hunt would be 100% unwilling to duel. Basira’s like 98% unwilling.
Martin Blackwood - It’s not even that he’s against dueling, he just think that’s a stupid way to solve your problems.
Melanie King - Would aggressively someone out for suggesting something as stupid as a duel.
Jane Prentiss - Would not duel unless it was with bugs like Pokémon.
Distortion Helen - Would play with the entertainment value of the idea, but wouldn’t do it.
Jude Perry - Would agree to a duel if she thought it was what would ruin someone’s life the most, but she prefers fire.
Tim Stoker - Would agree to a duel as a joke, then have to backpedal.
Sasha James - I was going to say she wouldn’t duel, but she meets Michael in an cemetery because he implies that Jon is in danger, so there are probably specific circumstances where she would agree to a duel.
Michael Crew - My character analysis of Mike: He does have the vibes of someone who would agree to a duel.
Jonah Magnus -Terrified of death so wouldn’t duel, but would agree to it and not show up.
Anabelle Cane - Would quickly agree if she thought it was what someone needed to hear to be manipulated, but wouldn’t actually go through with it.
Adelard Dekker - Would quickly agree to a duel if it were the only way to save people.
Gerard Keay - Would agree if it had something to do with work and defeating a monster or saving someone.
Distortion Michael - Would play with the entertainment value of the idea, and would agree for fun or hatred depending on the person asking.
Peter Lucas - Would agree on a bet.
Jared Hopworth - Would agree and then punch the person asking because he doesn’t actually understand what a duel is or what the terms of it are.
Nikola Orsinov - Would agree for fun.
Daisy Tonner - Unironically would love to be offered the chance to duel and her hunter’s instinct would take over right into saying yes.
Julia Montauk - Did agree to a duel with Trever using blanks.
Gertrude Robinson - Has agreed to a duel. She won.
Simon Fairchild - Has agreed to a duel. He lost.
Mikale Salesa - Has been in a weird amount of duels.
