September 2025

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.

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.

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:

Jon -

Martin -

More Undercut

Tim -

Sasha -

Georgie -

Basira -

Peter -

Gertrude -

Gerard -

Michael Shelley -

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.