Episode 19 TMP Quick Thoughts
Housekeeping and Prologue
Hello, this is Douglysium and you might not know me as that guy who wrote over 100 pages of analysis on the Eye (which can be read on Tumblr here (https://douglysium.tumblr.com/post/735599414228484097/the-relationships-between-the-dread-powers-the) or Google Docs here (The Relationships Between the Dread Powers: The Eye- Knowledge is Fear and Ignorance is Bliss)) or as that guy who wrote an article on the Extinction (which can be read on Tumblr here(https://douglysium.tumblr.com/post/717929126195003392/what-would-avatars-of-the-extinction-be-like-a) and Google Docs here(What would Avatars of the Extinction be like?: A TMA Speculation)). Suffice to say I might be a bit of a TMA fan. Also, spoilers for TMP up until episode 10. You can read my ramblings on the last episode here (Episode 18 TMP Quick Thoughts).
However, Protocol offers a very unique opportunity and experience for me because I didn’t actually get into TMA until after it was over and I binged all of it. So this is my first time experiencing something even remotely similar to what the original TMA fans probably experienced when waiting for each episode week by week and slowly having to put everything together with the limited information they had. So I decided to throw my hat into the ring since this might be my only chance to do something similar. However, I’m working on some longer form TMA content so I can’t spend as much time on these articles giving a bunch of super detailed thoughts. I will try to keep these short and that inevitably might mean some could have questions about why I think or predict certain things and in those cases I would probably recommend you read at least some of the two articles I mentioned above to get a better idea of where I’m coming from. This also means I won’t be giving you a play-by-play of every single thing that happens in the episode so I encourage you to listen to or read them yourselves and feel free to comment if you feel something is important.
These reviews are probably going to end up focusing mostly on the Entities and their manifestations as they are what I have thought about the most and spent the most time interpreting and there’s been a lot of… interesting theories floating around about how the Entities are manifesting that I want to go over.
Finally, I’m just going to say it right now, spoiler warning for all of The Magnus Archives. I know that Jon and co said one could start with Protocol and be fine, and while that’s probably true, media like this tends to be made in conversation with or take into consideration what came before it in the irl chronology in order to connect them. While I’m sure you could skip The Magnus Archives, I don’t really see the point of skipping over it when we are already getting characters from TMA showing up in TMP in Protocol. So to me it’s pretty clear that if we want to understand the full picture of TMP and all the things it is trying to say then we can’t just try to pretend TMA doesn’t exist or scrub it away. Just because you could understand what’s happening without the context in broad strokes doesn’t mean you’re getting all the nuances.
These articles are meant to be quick and short so sorry if there’s typos and if I don’t address every possible question or possibility. I don’t want to repeat myself too much in this series outside of the prologue so be sure to skim some of my other articles.
Episode 19 “Hard Reset”
I’m actually SUPER excited to dive into analyzing this episode because I feel like it validates some of the major themes and points I made in my essay about The Eye (The Relationships Between the Dread Powers: The Eye- Knowledge is Fear and Ignorance is Bliss). So I’m just going to cut the preamble and dive into the episode.
We start off in the OIAR break room as something / someone observes Sam pouring himself a coffee. He walks over to Celia as she looks at some papers and comments “Looks like you raided every photocopier in the building this time.” Implying that Celia has an absurd amount of papers at the moment. Sam comments “The papers? There seems to be more of them every time I come in here. You’re lucky Lena hasn’t noticed, she’s pretty uptight about how much stuff we print.” which is an interesting note about Lena’s personality or priorities even if it isn’t much. It goes without much saying that Lena seems to care a lot about the company and the employees to some extent. Although, I think Lena’s attachment to the staff is completely business related and not some kind of personal attachment.
Sam notices the papers Celia is looking through and says something that so many fans, such as myself, have been waiting for since the second we saw the Protocol logo.
“Is that… alchemy?”
Celia asks if Sam recognizes the alchemy stuff to which Sam says “Some of it.” and explains that he ran into some alchemy related stuff when looking into the Magnus Institute and even says “Turns out they were pretty deep into all this stuff.” He also comments on one of the papers: “This one’s something to do with transference and this one… yeah, it’s all about spiritual substitution of elements although looks like its incomplete.” I wonder if this is some kind of hint to what the Institute was trying to achieve in Protocol. I could see transference somehow being related to Darien’s case or the transfer of people from other universes but I’m not sure.
The Institute being mentioned causes Celia to ask Sam how his research into the organization is going. Sam answers with “I dunno. I think I’m going to drop it.” and explains “Yeah, Alice keeps saying I’m getting obsessed and- don’t tell her I said this- but I think she might have a point. I’ve never been good with loose ends.” The conversation then continues with-
CELIA
“If you’re sure. Seemed like you were handling it ok to me…’
SAM
“You think? Well either way, I’ve got enough cases piling up I doubt I’d have the time anyway.”
CELIA
“Tell me about it.’
SAM
“(standing) Speaking of, I should probably get back to it. Enjoy… whatever this is.”
CELIA
“Will do. And if I find anything to do with the Institute, I just keep it to myself yeah?”
SAM
“Oh, well, I mean… I wouldn’t go that far…”
This interaction has me wondering a bit more about Celia’s motives. I’m not sure if Celia is good or evil yet and if she plans to stop the Entities / Institute or enable them but I get the feeling that the reason she is helping Sam isn’t completely altruistic or just out of love for the guy, and she has something to gain from him looking into the Institute. Celia is looking into multiversal travel and we know that at the very least the Institute was aware of and seemingly present when Darien jumped universes Episode 17 (Saved Copy), so it’s possible that the Institute had looked into what Celia is searching for previously or the two subjects overlap greatly. So I do think Celia is using Sam but that doesn’t necessarily mean she doesn’t care about him at all (so that’s still up in the air).
What Even is The Eye?
Okay, as excited as I am to dive into the case I think it’s important to do a bit of explaining about my research and understanding of The Eye in TMA, as I feel this case shares a lot of themes that I mentioned in a previous essay. If you want to read the full essay you can do so here (The Relationships Between the Dread Powers: The Eye- Knowledge is Fear and Ignorance is Bliss) but for now I’m just going to copy and paste a snippet of the essay… look these “quick” thoughts end up averaging like 15 pages each week and I can only keep typing the same 2 points over and over, corners are going to be cut (also I put a LOT of work into my research on The Eye).
“Before we can dive into some of the comparisons and contrasts between the Eye and the other Entities, we must first define the Eye by understanding the fear it embodies and some of the imagery associated with it.
The Eye is an entity that is stated to have been born from, and feed off of, the fear of being watched, exposed, followed, of having secrets known, but also the drive to know and understand, even if your discoveries might destroy you. Getrude also mentions it feeds off the fear of being judged in MAG 161(Dwelling). With entities such as this, some of the fears may seem random or not quite connected to each other so I thought it would help to try to find not only what connects all these together but boil them down to their core essence. This is surprisingly easy since the fears of most Entities can usually be connected by very basic words or phrases.
Basically, it appears that the Eye revolves around fears that have to do with knowledge. Whether that be the fear of someone knowing about you, someone attempting to understand something about you, or the fear of coming across a piece of knowledge you would rather not know. One way this can manifest is by something trying to reveal or gather knowledge about you. Which can be done in ways such as watching someone, exposing their secrets, listening to private conversations, etc. This is also where I think the whole following aspect of the Eye comes from. It’s the idea that someone is observing you, which is a form of gathering information, for any sort of purposes. When we think of why someone would be following someone / something else it is usually connected to information. Maybe they are trying to follow you to your house, maybe they are trying to see if you go to a place where they KNOW you’re alone, or maybe they are just trying to spy on you. Typically, when someone is following you they are either gathering information or waiting for the right moment to strike (which also involves getting information.
The Eye’s theme of being exposed also connects to what Gertrude said in regards to it and the fear of being judged. If you are being judged then something is not only watching and / or paying attention to you but they are also trying to understand you or expose who / what you are. A lot of the time, when we are being judged, people are looking for faults and shortcomings or something they can exploit. Which is something that many find scary. There is also the fact that if someone is judging you then they could come across some fact about you that you don’t want them to know about (Imagine if someone went through your house to appraise how clean it was just to point out how dirty it is or if they found something you hid). Someone judging you may also be looking for something bad to do to you. Maybe they noticed how valuable your jewelry is and are thinking about stealing it now.
Something that I feel many miss is that the Eye not only focuses on the fear of someone / something gaining / exposing knowledge and secrets about you but also the idea of forbidden or cursed knowledge. In essence, there are some things that people don’t want to know about, something that the TMA wiki lists as “horrible knowledge.” This kind of fear also feeds the Eye, it’s the reason why Jonah Magnus can shove information into people’s minds. Has anyone ever told you some weird disgusting fun fact that you didn’t need or want to know? Have you ever heard the phrase “ignorance is bliss,” “out of sight out of mind,” or “what you don’t know can’t hurt you?” Have you ever seen something that you wish you didn’t and just want to forget about, or maybe you just walked in on your naked grandma? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/752Tb059OH8
There is also the stereotypical setup where someone witnesses a murder and immediately realizes that they weren’t supposed to see that and by merely knowing what they just saw a target has been put on their head. There are people who really don’t want you to know stuff and if they realize you know it you might be in trouble. These are all things that connect to aspects of the Eye.
What I’m trying to get across with all these examples is that knowledge in and of itself can be scary and a burden. Something that in turn feeds the Eye. This is also why we have weird Eye related statements like the one in MAG 23 where one by the name of Albrecht von Closen sees a man with missing eyes. To some of the more astute viewers this seems pretty weird. Usually, the lack of eyes or missing eyes is associated with the Dark because it has to do with blindness and being unable to see. However, while it is stated that the man in question could seemingly still see clearly (which is what made it weird), I believe that when the Eye takes away someone’s eyes it has to do with the idea that the person in question saw something that they weren’t supposed to or didn’t want to know. That whatever they saw and knew led to them getting put in danger either physically or mentally. Either that or the idea that someone would rather go blind and remain in ignorance than see / know something.
Imagine witnessing something so terrible it makes you want to claw your own eyes out. I think many can also relate to the idea of wanting to ignore a problem or not even think about it instead of addressing it. There’s also the idea of some sort of forbidden knowledge that can drive you mad as a common trope in horror.
Connected to this point is the drive to know and understand, even if your discoveries might destroy you. What this basically refers to is sometimes we want to know something even if we know it might hurt us. Think of wanting to know what happened to a loved one or friend even if you know what you are about to hear is going to be terrible, or being unable to look away from a horrific accident or brutal violence uploaded onto the internet even though it traumatizes you. The Eye has a big “curiosity killed the cat” and “ignorance is bliss” theme that I think a lot of people overlook. Something that is also reflected in what we learn in regards to the Eye’s creation in MAG 200(Last Words). When we learn in what order the Fears were born and the fears that led to their creation we get this: “and struggle at learning, so too did they learn to fear that their eyes might deceive them, or show them too much.” Here the “fear that their eyes might deceive them” is the Spiral while the fear of being shown too much is the Eye since none of the other fears mentioned in that statement match up with the Eye and clearly correspond with the other Entities.”
Here’s another part of the essay I want to show- “If you still don’t get what I mean in regards to the parallels between knowledge and fear the best example I can think of is the story of Adam and Eve from the Bible. For those who don’t know, the story of Adam and Eve revolves around the first humans in the Garden of Eden. In the story Adam and Eve basically lived perfect peaceful lives in the Garden of Eden. In this garden there was a tree and God told them to not eat of its fruit as the fruit was one of knowledge but it would give them knowledge of both good and evil and he warned them that should they eat it they will die. A serpent tricks them into eating the fruit by promising that the knowledge they would obtain would make them sort of like God in the sense that they would have his knowledge of good and evil. Upon eating it they gained the knowledge of both good and evil but immediately became ashamed as they realized they were naked and without clothes. Something that I feel hammers in my point, and the fear of exposure ironically relates to the Eye. Adam and Eve would not have felt afraid or embarrassed about being naked if they hadn’t obtained the knowledge because they would have had no concept of clothes. Also, by eating the fruit they no longer knew only goodness but also knew evil which meant that they were no longer innocent in a sense. Since they now had evil knowledge and could comprehend evil actions they could also perform them to themselves or others and comprehend more ways in which someone could perform those actions on them. I would say that in a weird way some of the themes of Adam and Eve can tie into the Eye and one could argue that at a certain point suffering comes with knowledge. It’s basically the whole idea that “ignorance is bliss.””
The most important thing to take away here is that The Eye isn’t just the fear of being watched or being known but also the fear of being the watcher or knowing too much. There are some things that you don’t want to know. We also get some interesting comments in MAG 111 (Family Business) when Jon asks “R-r-right. I know The Eye. Fear of being watched, right?” Gerard adds “Being watched, being followed, having your deepest secrets exposed. Needing to know, even if your discoveries might destroy you. The feeling that something, somewhere, is letting you suffer, just so it can watch.” So The Eye has some sort of connection to a desire to know and all the terrible things people can do in their search for knowledge. There seems to be a connection to the fear that someone might hurt you in an attempt to learn something, someone is sadistically watching your pain, or that you might hurt yourself in order to learn something. The Eye also loves to prey on or amp up existing curiosity in the same way that The Slaughter likes to feed anger or The Hunt likes to feed the excitement that comes with chasing something.
I’m going to be coming back to a lot of these points as I go through this case so try to keep them in mind. The Eye can easily relate to things like dangerous / forbidden / blasphemous knowledge, or the fear of someone who has gotten too curious.
Case
The case is immediately off to an interesting start with “To my esteemed Colleague and
friend, the honorable Fellow of the Royal Society Robert Boyle, from the bureau of Robert Hooke, Curator of Experiments of the same, regarding enactment of that most regrettable protocol in the service of God, King and Country against the Fellow Isaac Newton, penned in the year of our lord 1684” TMA has had real life historical figures appear in the past and they tend to be pretty important whenever they do (such as Robert Smirke). Also a fun fact about Isaac Newton was that, among other things, he was an alchemist. So what we see him doing in this case might be some attempt at alchemy and Isaac probably was not randomly picked for this plot point. Especially when you consider the earlier conversation Sam had with Celia and we can assume that what the computers decide to show Sam isn’t always random.
Robert’s letter (I assume Robert Hooke is writing this because the letter ends with Robert’s name being penned and the writer references a book they worked on called Microphagia. A book that Hooke actually wrote) is some sort of plea for an intervention in regards to Isaac Newton’s latest experiments. Robert says “I write to you now with intelligence of the gravest nature and a proposal most severe. I pray that my words do not further estrange you from me and that you believe me when I assure you that the suggested action is profoundly necessary for the continuation and preservation of Good Science.” and “We have much discussed the great divide between Isaac’s experimentations and your own essential works and so I have oft found myself at odds with you for, though much of his work is dubious in its moral principle, his studies have always proven most illuminative and have many times assisted my own researches. I fear however, his most recent works have disturbed this precarious equilibrium, turning instead to most improper, perhaps blasphemous, ends and I find myself left with no recourse other than to make it known to you in the hope that I might reawaken our previously close concord, which has lain dormant these long years, in service of a wholesale rejection of his creation which, I am of the firm opinion has finally erred towards the abominable and must be halted.” So Isaac’s experiments have taken some sort of weird turn.
Based on my sparse research, Robert Boyle is another irl figure. One who is a famous scientist that was also an alchemist (kind of like Isaac Newton in that way) that lived around the same time period. Newton’s wikipedia page states “Newton and Robert Boyle’s approach to the mechanical philosophy was promoted by rationalist pamphleteers as a viable alternative to the pantheists and enthusiasts, and was accepted hesitantly by orthodox preachers as well as dissident preachers like the latitudinarians. The clarity and simplicity of science was seen as a way to combat the emotional and metaphysical superlatives of both superstitious enthusiasm and the threat of atheism, and at the same time, the second wave of English deists used Newton’s discoveries to demonstrate the possibility of a “Natural Religion”. The attacks made against pre-Enlightenment “magical thinking”, and the mystical elements of Christianity, were given their foundation with Boyle’s mechanical conception of the universe. Newton gave Boyle’s ideas their completion through mathematical proofs and, perhaps more importantly, was very successful in popularising them.” So there is a prominent historical connection between the two.
Newton himself also had a massive interest in alchemy as the wiki states “Of an estimated ten million words of writing in Newton’s papers, about one million deal with alchemy. Many of Newton’s writings on alchemy are copies of other manuscripts, with his own annotations. Alchemical texts mix artisanal knowledge with philosophical speculation, often hidden behind layers of wordplay, allegory, and imagery to protect craft secrets. Some of the content contained in Newton’s papers could have been considered heretical by the church.” That last sentence is probably what’s inspiring some of the conflict in this case, especially since Boyle seemed super religious.
As Robert Hooke keeps going he mentions a protocol when saying “I recall with much shame that it was myself who pressed you so vociferously for restraint the last time this Protocol was enacted. It was I who begged patience, certain as I was that my work on Micrographia might have rendered a remedy for that most awful plague. It was I who warned that to enact a Protocol against the great city of London itself was a step beyond the rights of our position, but you were, as is so oft the case, correct in your steadfastness and I confess purgation of all that most dangerous and unfit knowledge was both necessary and good. It was only through the Protocol that we were spared from that Dread emission and I fear that such an act is once again required, though it is my fervent hope that on this occasion there is still sufficient time to limit the breadth of the poisonous act.” This could be the fabled Magnus Protocol or what ended up giving birth to the Magnus Institute within the Protocol universe in some way.
This entire remark is also interesting because Robert mentions a strange plague and his work on Micrographia. The wiki states “Micrographia: or Some Physiological Descriptions of Minute Bodies Made by Magnifying Glasses. With Observations and Inquiries Thereupon is a historically significant book by Robert Hooke about his observations through various lenses. It was the first book to include illustrations of insects and plants as seen through microscopes. Published in January 1665, the first major publication of the Royal Society, it became the first scientific best-seller, inspiring a wide public interest in the new science of microscopy. The book originated the biological term cell.” Robert also mentions a plague which could have been the influence of something like The Corruption but it could have also just been a normal plague. If this is just a normal plague then it’s probably the Bubonic Plague as Wikipedia states “like many who could afford to, Robert Hooke left London for six months during the worst of the bubonic plague.” In TMA the Entities had strong ties to books and something like Micrographia would make a pretty perfect leitner but I don’t think Microphagia is a leitner or cause of the disease here..
Robert also says “It was I who warned that to enact a Protocol against the great city of London itself was a step beyond the rights of our position, but you were, as is so oft the case, correct in your steadfastness and I confess purgation of all that most dangerous and unfit knowledge was both necessary and good.” This tells us that the Protocol can be enacted on specific areas / targets since it is specifically being used against London in this example. We know the Institute within TMA was located in London so it’s possible the corresponding location has some significance but it could just be that London is an important and big city generally. Robert talks of purging “that most dangerous and unfit knowledge” but what does that mean exactly? I could see it as some sort of book burning or confiscation but we still don’t know if leitners are really a major thing like they were in the TMA universe. It’s possible that what Hooke is implying is the enactment of this Protocol was somehow related to the Great Fire of London in 1666 (shout out to bonzos-number-1-fan for pointing this out in their own (much shorter) analysis: https://www.tumblr.com/bonzos-number-1-fan/752553210414235648/tmagp-19-thoughts-witty-subtitle?source=share). www.historic-uk.com (https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-Great-Plague/#:~:text=In%201666%20the%20Great%20Fire,It%20was%20a%20ghastly%20disease.) says “In 1666 the Great Fire of London destroyed much of the centre of London, but also helped to kill off some of the black rats and fleas that carried the plague bacillus..” We know that in the Protocol universe the Institute was burned down at some point so this could mean that the Protocol in question has some sort of connection to fire. There’s this Great Fire of London, the Institute, and stories of Newton losing 20 years worth of research due to some kind of fire in one of his labs (although a lot of those stories seem dubious in real life). This could also mean that the strange fire seen in Episode 7’s (Give and Take) case could be an example of this Protocol being enacted.
Robert also mentions “It was only through the Protocol that we were spared from that Dread emission and I fear that such an act is once again required.” The transcripts actually have “Dread” capitalized which could just be another error or typo but if you want to take it seriously it could be interpreted as some kind of proper noun or something specific. The Entities themselves went by many names, both individually and collectively, and one such name was the “Dread Powers” which sounds vaguely similar. So, it’s entirely possible that the “Dread emission” is being used to refer to one or more entities or some specific manifestations. Emissions itself isn’t capitalized so perhaps Dread is what they are being referred to as and the emissions refers to some type of manifestation. It’s also possible that in TMAGP some sort of alchemy led to the plague spiraling out of control.
Usually I save talking about potential Entities a case shares similarities with till the end of the case. But there’s kind of a lot to talk about here so I’m going to start now. Hopefully you read my bit on The Eye because I noticed something Robert says: “I confess purgation of all that most dangerous and unfit knowledge was both necessary and good”. As I went over, The Eye is the Entity connected to the fear of knowledge in general. So if someone was afraid of some sort of dangerous knowledge / secret getting out or others learning about it then The Eye would usually be all over that shit. So from the get go we already have some themes that could potentially relate to The Eye here. This isn’t much right now but it becomes increasingly clear as the case goes on.
Robert talks about how “despite Isaac’s standing as a Fellow within the estimable Society, his experiments persist in prying into such knowledge as we both know to be anathema to Good Science. His work on the vegetative propagation of metals has proceeded unabated these recent years and I am now most certain that the fruits of his labor will lead to tragedy, death and damnation if they are left to mature unchecked.” Once again there’s an emphasis on Robert’s fear of knowledge and information. The transcripts have “Fellow” and “Society” capitalized in reference to Isaac which could imply that he is also a part of the “Fellow of the Royal Society” mentioned earlier.
Robert explains that lately they have been visiting Isaac more often. Even more than the person they are writing the letter to may have suspected “and I fear that of the many sins I have committed in my time upon this earth, this may be one of those I come most to regret. I had, of course, no knowledge of the perilous extent of his experiments and had I known such I would never have deigned to further associate myself with him, but his most recent letters promised work of a quite astonishing nature and, may god forgive me, my curiosity could not be assuaged without witness.” If you’ve read even a handful of my articles you’ll know that curiosity is a major theme with The Eye, especially in regards to how curiosity can lead to you or others getting hurt physically or mentally. We also know that The Eye and some of its followers love taking advantage of the curiosity of others or dangling the promise of answers in front of them. Here Robert admits that his curiosity might have gone too far and gotten him in trouble as it led him into sin.
At some point Isaac asks Robert to visit “his laboratory in Trinity in a sanguine mood, though this was immediately disturbed by the damnable presence of that stunted dog he keeps, worrying my coat tails as I approached the threshold.” Sanguine can mean blood red or relating to blood but in relation to mood it can mean “marked by eager hopefulness : confidently optimistic” So Isaac is excitedly asking Robert to come over to his lab. I wonder if the lab being in Trinity is some sort of foreshadowing since alchemy draws a connection between salt, mercury, and sulfur with the body, mind, and soul respectively. Note how this symbolism comes in a set of three and is thus a trinity. Isaac fails to notice Robert approaching due to how focused he was on his work “and it was only by declaring myself most forcefully that he could be sufficiently distracted to acknowledge my presence.” This is another episode where I’m going to need to do a lot of copy and pasting because of how many important details there are. Isaac’s intense focus could just be from normal causes but The Eye often has effects that can make it harder for someone to stop looking at or listening something. This is most obvious with the statements in TMA as Jon had a hard time stopping once he started a statement and sometimes he would go into a trance like state (making it harder to get his attention).
Robert sees Isaac carrying a flask and describes it “Forgoing the customary pleasantries, he instead proceeded straight to his laboratory wherein I saw he had a glass flask of great proportions, at least thirty gallons or thereabouts, within which there was an element of such overwhelming radiance that to look upon it directly was to dazzle the eyes and throw the mind into confusion. Composing myself, I queried Isaac on the nature of this creation, whereupon he explained with customary disinterest that he had finally perfected the work of Wilhelm Homberg to produce what he termed the Arbor Philosophorum Perfecta. I was naturally most intrigued but despite my questioning he refused to elaborate, instead passing me a smoked glass that I might gaze upon his creation with greater clarity and when I did so I came to understand that what I was looking at was a small tree ensconced in a clear solution. At first I presumed it to be merely another work of dendritic silver as we have seen before, albeit one of surpassing quality and finesse. However, I soon came to realize this was something altogether grander and profoundly abhorrent.” I’ve never heard the term “Arbor Philosophorum Perfecta” but I recognize some of the root words and by plugging the phrase into google translate we can get “The Complete Tree of Philosophers”.
Wilhelm Homberg is another famous figure who also happened to have an interest in alchemy. His wikipedia page states “Homberg practiced natural philosophy at a time of transition between alchemy and chemistry. Before 1700, most of his work focused on pneumatics and the vacuum, using an improved air pump of his own design. He did attempt chrysopoeia but also he made what are still regarded as solid contributions to chemical and physical knowledge, recording observations on the preparation of Kunkel’s phosphorus, on the green colour produced in flames by copper, on the crystallization of common salt, on the salts of plants, on the saturation of bases by acids, on the freezing of water and its evaporation in vacuo, etc. Much of his work was published in the Recueil de l'Académie des Sciences from 1692 to 1714. He is also supposed to be the first one who proposed distillation at reduced pressure to prevent thermal decomposition. The “Sal Sedativum Hombergi” is boracic acid, which he discovered in 1702, and “Homberg’s phosphorus” is prepared by fusing sal-ammoniac with quick lime.”
Upon seeing the strange tree Isaac had made Robert first assumes that it’s “another work of dendritic silver as we have seen before, albeit one of surpassing quality and finesse.” but “I soon came to realize this was something altogether grander and profoundly abhorrent. It’s branches were exquisite and delicate, swaying slightly from small eddies in the liquid and they shone with every spectra. I must confess that to look upon it, one was filled with profound wonder at its exquisite elegance. I professed as much to Isaac and he replied quite solemnly “as are all of the Lord’s living works.”” The response Isaac just gave gives Robert pause as he believed “though impressive, the tree was quite clearly mineral in nature and as such must be lacking in that essential vitality that only the Lord God can bestow.”
Robert assumes Isaac’s words to be a joke. This would mean Robert is afraid that Isaac is calling himself a god or is comparing the creations of a mere mortal human to that of the perfect God himself, and such comparisons would be very blasphemous. Robert also doesn’t think the tree is on the level of God’s creations even if it’s impressive and the tree doesn’t seem to be alive anyway. However, Robert’s assumption about the supposed “jest” is thrown into question when Isaac asks “…if I would taste of its fruit. I refused, of course, assuming the offer another of his odd japes but his face was grave. He then opened the flask and reached inside muttering as he did so: “de ligno autem scientiae boni et mali ne comedas in quocumque enim die comederis ex eo morte morieris”. Even I, steeped in worldly matters as I am, recognized The Lord’s words to Adam and was much dismayed at the implication. Isaac then plucked the delicate fruit with ungloved hands and held it before me. I began to not only doubt Isaac in that moment but even fear him, for I knew he had finally transgressed the limits of anything within the bounds of mortal philosophy.” According to Google Translate, the words Isaac speaks could mean “But you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on whatever day you eat from it you will die” if translated from Latin. So Robert Hooke fears that Isaac is playing God by quoting him in such a manner.
Okay, elephant in the room, I think this is yet another possible reference to the influence of an Entity such as The Eye. As I have said, The Eye feeds upon fear associated with knowledge. Based on Robert’s belief system and the phrase Isaac says, we can find some parallels between the tree Isaac has and the forbidden fruit Adam and Eve ate in the Bible. For those who don’t know how the story goes, God makes the first humans Adam and Eve before basically telling them they can do whatever except eat of the forbidden fruit of a special tree. At some point a serpent walks up to Eve and is like “if you eat of the fruit you’ll gain incredible knowledge and be more like god or something” and Eve is duped into eating the fruit before sharing it with Adam despite God’s rule. The snake is technically right in the sense that Adam and Eve gain more knowledge as upon eating the fruit they gain the knowledge of both good and evil. However, this causes original sin to come into being because they are now capable of evil acts and know how to perform them. Additionally, they realize that they are naked and try to cover themselves up and hide from God. God eventually finds them, knows what they did, and punishes them by making humans mortal (hence God’s quote about how eating of the fruit causes death) and making women give birth (among other things). God also punishes the serpent by forcing it to slither upon its stomach.
So here we have a potential thematic overlap between this Biblical story and The Eye. Adam and Eve’s lives become much worse upon coming across forbidden knowledge and they even become more scared since they start fearing things like being perceived naked (which would relate to The Eye). Adam and Eve gain the ability to perceive how they can hurt others and how others might hurt them and this is all because they weren’t content with what they had and the serpent managed to convince them to succumb to their curiosity in an attempt to know more. So we can see an overlap relating to the fear knowledge can bring between TMA and the Bible. This is all a fancy way of saying that it looks like Isaac is recreating the forbidden fruit that Adam and Eve consumed within the Garden of Eden. The one that granted them knowledge of both good and evil, and the one that led to god punishing them. This point is reinforced when we get “Mayhap Isaac had made a legitimate discovery and was merely indulging in some grand performance before providing some less grotesque explanation. But such was not to be, for no sooner had I seen the fruit upon his palm before he tipped it into the waiting mouth of that cursed dog I had failed to see skulking at my feet.”
The case continues- “Isaac’s eyes never left mine but I could not help but watch as the wretched canine swallowed it. There was a moment’s stillness within which Isaac watched me closely, for my reaction was seemingly of more interest to him at that moment than the fate of the animal. And my reaction was terror. The dog remained motionless, at first seemingly unaffected by its unnatural feast but as the moments passed I espied a growing torpor in its manner, with slowed breathing, sagging posture and drooping jowls. It lay down as if to sleep whereupon it grew ever more peaceful and still. I almost believed it dead, poisoned by my companion, but then I saw something far more distressing. The creature was taking root. Strands of its mottled brown hair were extruding downwards between the floor, seeking the dark earth below. Then, too, its back began to sprout, radiant branches unfurling and thickening before me, reaching upwards towards the sunlight with a seemingly insatiable desire. The dog then opened one eye and stared at me and this was the most disturbing thing of all, for that orb was also shimmering with that unnatural light, but more than that, it looked upon me and it knew me not as a beast knows its master but as one man knows another and though such a creature must by all natural law lack that essential and ephemeral anima that is required for such awful knowledge I tell you here Robert, it saw me and it knew me. I felt myself grow insensible at that violation and before I could restrain myself I had grasped a heavy instrument with which I might dash its skull upon the floor! Isaac however, intervened and for the first time since feeding the animal that accursed fruit he spoke and bade me to remain calm. He then reached back to the flask with a smaller cup and decanted a portion of the solution into it. Then, seemingly without concern, he poured it upon the rapidly growing monstrosity. There was a brief hiss and a release of steam which occluded my vision entirely, quickly followed by a slight tugging at my trouser legs from which I recoiled in horror, fearing the creature had reached out to claim me in its insidious grip, but when the vapor cleared I found myself cowering from nothing more than that mange-ridden dog, no longer sprouting and burdened with knowledge, it was reduced to a mere beast once again. Isaac laughed at this ignominious display and suggested I step away to recover so that I might “better appreciate that which had been revealed to me” I instead took my leave and hurried out of not just his chambers but the entire college as fast as I was able.”
While some may struggle to attribute what we are seeing to an Entity I would argue that thematically this has an extremely strong connection to The Eye. It’s clear that the narrator’s fear is in relation to the dog being granted knowledge or human level intellect of some sort. They also state “The dog then opened one eye and stared at me and this was the most disturbing thing of all, for that orb was also shimmering with that unnatural light, but more than that, it looked upon me and it knew me not as a beast knows its master but as one man knows another and though such a creature must by all natural law lack that essential and ephemeral anima that is required for such awful knowledge I tell you here Robert, it saw me and it knew me.” This comment matches plenty of encounters with The Eye and one of The Beholding’s names is in fact “It Knows You.” Not to mention that The Eye is connected to the fear of being judged, known, and / or perceived. So the dog being able to actually judge what it’s seeing on the level of a human could relate to The Eye. Not to mention that if this fruit is indeed analogous to the forbidden fruit from the Bible it would mean that Isaac might have just granted the dog knowledge of both good and evil before taking it away. Also there’s the obvious eyeball imagery in relation to being watched with the dog’s strange glowing eye.
Additionally there’s emphasis placed on Isaac watching Hooke’s reactions as we are told “Isaac’s eyes never left mine but I could not help but watch as the wretched canine swallowed it. There was a moment’s stillness within which Isaac watched me closely, for my reaction was seemingly of more interest to him at that moment than the fate of the animal. And my reaction was terror.” Which matches up in what Gerry has said about The Eye with- “The feeling that something, somewhere, is letting you suffer, just so it can watch.” Hooke does also mention the burden of knowledge when he says “I found myself cowering from nothing more than that mange-ridden dog, no longer sprouting and burdened with knowledge, it was reduced to a mere beast once again.”
After escaping Ronertbegins writing the letter and says “No doubt you agree with me that I have witnessed something which is far outside that which we could, in good conscience and understanding, describe as Good Science, for if such a transmutation can be elicited from a lower creature devoid of soul or reason I tremble to consider how it might affect the children of Adam, blessed as we are with greater faculty and insight for both good and evil.” For the sake of clarity, what Hooke is saying is that if such a transmutation can bring a lowly beast like a dog to have a mind like that of a man then he fears what would happen if someone who is already human ate Isaac’s fruit. The case finishes with:
Though it pains me to speak so poorly of one so well regarded as Isaac I fear this latest excess is beyond what can be called conscionable. His work must be curtailed for the safety of all. I remain opposed however, to any notion of violence against his person. He is a prominent figure and his work, though misguided, is not wantonly evil.
I propose that we enact the Protocol but limit it only to his laboratory, destroying his research and correspondence for, if we can end this digression from Good Science and divert him with more virtuous work, we might yet take possession of a newly ardent ally in our vigils. This is of course on condition that he never discovers our intervention nor is left to work in such solitude again.
Robert, my dear compatriot, I implore you to consider my plea despite our recent disagreements, for if you fail to act I will instead be forced to intervene alone and by god’s grace I know not if I hold the fortitude to do what would need to be done.
Pray reply with all celerity for I fear that time is short in this matter. Yours with the utmost respect and gratitude, for the sake of London, England, and for all of Christendom,
Robert
There’s another reference to the Protocol and like I previously touched on it looks like the Protocol can be used to target very specific things. The writer asks for the Protocol to specifically be used on Isaac’s laboratory. The writer also talks of making Isaac an ally which makes me wonder what that entails or if anyone else will try making use of Isaac’s research for this Protocol.
As far as Entities this case parallels The Eye is the most obvious to me. There is also some overlap with The Extinction here. A lot of fans seem to be under the impression that The Extinction is only the fear of things going extinct but that’s about as accurate as saying The Beholding only relates to the fear of eyeballs. There’s a correlation but that’s an overly simplistic way of looking at it. In MAG 134, (Time of Revelation) Adelard Dekker says this in regards to his theory about the power “But now the fear is not of a rapture or a revelation. It is of catastrophic change. Mankind will warp the world so much it kills us all, and leaves only a thousand years of plastic behind. Technology will strip us of what it means to be human, and leave us something alien and cold. We will press a button that in a moment will destroy everything we have ever been. Animals are witnessing the end of their entire species within a single generation.” So The Extinction is more broadly the fear of catastrophic change. Whether that change comes from a species wiped off the face of the planet, evolving technology, new mutations, or apocalyptic events. Hooke states “No doubt you agree with me that I have witnessed something which is far outside that which we could, in good conscience and understanding, describe as Good Science, for if such a transmutation can be elicited from a lower creature devoid of soul or reason I tremble to consider how it might affect the children of Adam, blessed as we are with greater faculty and insight for both good and evil.” which could very easily connect to an Entity like The Extinction with the fear of animals and humans being changed.
Some other possible Entities include ones like The Flesh, and The Corruption. The Flesh simply loves body horror, which applies pretty easily to the dog’s transformation, and you could maybe argue that the writer finds Isaac’s research and experiments disgusting but that’s more of a stretch.
CHESTER
This case doesn’t give us anything that could recontextualize when CHESTER (Jonathon’s voice) shows up. Considering Sam’s comment about the Institute’s connection to alchemy you could use this as evidence for CHESTER covering cases that somehow involve the Institute. If you want to go with the angle that CHESTER covers cases having to do with extreme curiosity or looking for something the writer of the case does admit that his curiosity got the better of him and he went to see what Isaac was working on.
Rest of the Episode
Sam seems to have started noticing a correlation between whatever he talks about or is looking for and the cases the computers decide to play. I’ve said in previous articles, the computers are extremely suspicious with their timings. They seem to conveniently feed Sam cases relating to the Institute a lot and in a previous episode Celia thanked one of the computers for giving her a case that might have been related to something she was wondering about. Sam asks Alice “Are the computers listening to us?” and “As in, are they monitoring our conversations or something? ” This is actually a bit of a complex question because without a doubt something / someone is listening to Sam and company through various electronic devices. We the audience are hearing whatever said force is hearing as it spies on people (like how both us and The Web listened through the tapes in TMA). However, right now it’s unclear if whatever is listening through all the electronics also has any bearing on what cases the computers are picking. It’s possible that the computers are their own thing that is at least somewhat distinct from whatever is listening through the electronics but they also might all be coming from the same source trying to pull some strings or feed information.
ALICE
“Freddie can barely boot up without throwing an error, so I seriously doubt it’s monitoring your loo breaks. Typical Colin to have a complete breakdown just to get out of fixing the damn thing.”
SAM
“Alice.”
ALICE
“I know, I’m just frustrated. Look, what’s brought this on all of a sudden Sam?”
SAM
“I- I know it sounds crazy but well, it’s starting to feel like I’m deliberately being given cases that point to The Magnus Institute.”
ALICE
“You’re right.”
SAM
“I am?”
ALICE
“Yeah, that does sound crazy.”
SAM
“I’m not making this up! These days it’s like every other case links back to it in some way.”
ALICE
“Sam enough! Can you even hear yourself? Look… This place can really get to you if you’re not careful. And I really don’t want you to go the same way as Colin.”
SAM
“Have you heard anything from him?”
ALICE
“No.”
ALICE (cont.)
“Was that all? Because like I said, I’m up to my eyes over here.”
SAM
“Yeah. Forget I said anything.”
ALICE
“Great.”
Once again, Alice tries to ignore the problem, which is even shown in the fact that she hasn’t checked on Colin until Sam brings it up in this episode. Alice is clearly worried about Sam going down the same path as Colin. It’s interesting that Alice’s approach to Sam’s questions almost completely opposes Celia. Celia tells Sam that he seems like he’s handling it well and encourages him to keep looking for info while Alice says he sounds crazy and tries to get him to drop it. I wonder if Alice saying “I’m up to my eyes over here” is some cheeky reference or foreshadowing.
Of course, Sam’s point about the computers giving him Institute related cases could tie into what I’ve said about Entities like The Eye in relation to curiosity.
The next scene takes place in the manager’s office and the transcripts say “GWEN is in the middle of a heated argument with Lena. Or she would be, if Lena wasn’t so ice cold.” Never change Lena. Gwen is angry that she is being sent out to deal with dangerous Externals without any security but Lena explains that extra security personnel is not an option right now. Gwen responds “This is ridiculous! You’re the one who was laying into me for bringing Lady Mowbray here! What happened to “unacceptable risks to personnel”!?” before Lena (very correctly) points out that the only reason Gwen is in this dangerous situation right now is because she blackmailed her way into it. In fact, Lena didn’t even think Gwen was ready for the position if I recall correctly.
“I have completed such assignments myself on many occasions, and this is an essential part of the role. If, however, on reflection, you have come to realize you are unfit for the job, you are, as always, welcome to resign. I’m sure your family will be able to find you an easier position elsewhere.” Lena’s comment about the assignments is interesting. I can’t 100% tell if she means she performed them in place of an Externals Liaison before Gwen’s promotion or if it’s something people need to do in order to get to her position. Lena’s comment about Gwen’s family is another one that implies the Bouchard family is rich in the Protocol universe, or at least Gwen’s side of the family.
Gwen says that she knows the OIAR has used Starkwall to provide security in the past and tries to use that as evidence to show that she deserves some basic support. But Lena explains “Starkwall, as with any security force, have an unfortunate habit of escalating situations they become involved in. It’s my professional opinion that you will be safer without their presence.” It’s hard to tell if Lena is a good guy or bad guy but she does seem to care about the OIAR and its employees on a business level. It seems she does what she can to keep them safe since Lena warns Gwen that she is not ready to be a Liaison and only puts her in the position when her hand is forced. Lena is also very upset when Gwen brings Mowbray to the OIAR since it could endanger other employees. So I have no reason to assume Lena is completely lying here and I think she’s probably right even if we don’t have a lot of information on Starkwall yet. The only concrete thing we know about it is that they were somehow related to the “The San Pedro Square Massacre” brought up in Episode 4 and Alice mentioned “The private military contractors yeah.” So they don’t sound like a peaceful bunch who talks things down. I wouldn’t be surprised if their appearance threw certain Externals into a frenzy or made them lash out at a perceived attack. I also have to wonder if Starkwall is somehow connected to their own Entity(s) like something akin to The Hunt or Slaughter.
Gwen does not get the back up she wanted and we see Alice going to check up on Colin. It’s clear that his mental state hasn’t exactly improved. Colin probably isn’t in the best shape right now since the transcripts say-
COLIN opens the door. ALICE reacts to his appearance.
ALICE (cont.)
“Hey mate. You’re looking… here.”
Much to Alice’s confusion, Colin demands that if Alice wants to come inside she needs to give him her phone. Alice correctly deduces “You’re going to throw it in the fishtank aren’t you?” and Colin responds “I have to. It’s the only way to be sure. We can’t let him know how much we know.” Did Alice assume that because it’s a trope or because Colin’s fish tank has a bunch of phones thrown into it or something. I also don’t know why Colin would need to destroy the phone and couldn’t just tell Alice to leave it somewhere far away. It could be that Colin is just paranoid (even if he is right that something is listening through electronic devices) or it could be that Colin knows something about the observer that we don’t yet.
Alice says that everyone is worried about Colin and Colin says “You should be worried for yourselves.” This matches up with the warning Colin gave Sam in Episode 7 (Give and Take): “Listen mate. If you’re going to get this worked up over a weird email you’re going to freak when you see the real stuff.” Sam questions this and Colin only says “Oh you’ll see” and Sam asks Colin if that’s why he taped over his webcam. Alice asks Colin if he’s been seeing professional help and Colin responds “No, what I need is to not be seen. He sees too much already. Doing mummy and daddy Stasi proud, I’m sure. Not that anyone cares as long as it all balances, right? Not too much mercury or the world ends, not too much sulfur or we all go mad… ”
Okay, there’s some obvious similarities to The Eye here with the fear of being perceived or seen and I have pointed out that the OIAR could be connected to an Entity like The Eye. Colin’s comment of “Doing mummy and daddy Stasi proud, I’m sure. Not that anyone cares as long as it all balances, right? Not too much mercury or the world ends, not too much sulfur or we all go mad…” is extremely intriguing. When I searched up Stasi I got “The Ministry for State Security , commonly known as the Stasi (German: [ˈʃtaːziː] ⓘ), an abbreviation of Staatssicherheit, was the state security service of East Germany (the GDR) from 1950 to 1990. The Stasi’s function in East Germany resembled that of the KGB in the Soviet Union —it served as a means of maintaining state authority, i.e., as the “Shield and Sword of the Party” (German: Schild und Schwert der Partei). This was accomplished primarily through the use of a network of civilian informants. This organization contributed to the arrest of approximately 250,000 people in East Germany.” Colin could be speaking metaphorically or saying that there is a literal connection there.
I think it’s very interesting that Colin actually uses pronouns when referring to this mysterious observer. Colin specifically says “him.” This could be an assumption on Colin’s part but it could also be a clue. Considering this episode’s case I wonder if a human did end up drinking Isaac’s potion or there is some sort of “enlightened” person watching over the OIAR.
There’s also “Not that anyone cares as long as it all balances, right? Not too much mercury or the world ends, not too much sulfur or we all go mad…” Once again, is he speaking literally or metaphorically? It’s possible that what the OIAR does is literally trying to prevent some apocalypse or Change from occurring but it’s important to remember that this doesn’t mean the OIAR is right. Smirke learned he was wrong about how to balance out and harness the Powers and it’s possible that while the OIAR thinks they are doing something similar or saving the world they are somehow mistaken. The mercury and sulfur Colin speaks of relates to alchemy. As mentioned earlier, in alchemy salt corresponds to the body, mercury the mind, and sulfur the soul. Maybe something to do with the corruption of mind and soul? The most direct interpretation here would be that too much sulfur messes with the soul and causes madness while mercury somehow leads to the world as we know it being destroyed. I wonder if this trinity also somehow relates to the way certain groups might categorize the Entities in this universe?
Alice leaves saying “Idiots. Idiots all the way down. ”
Conclusion
Very weird episode but also very intriguing. I hope we get to see more of Colin. If you want the case categories from the transcripts they are-
CAT13RBC1137-21031684-11042024
Transformation (canine) -/- growth (Crystalline)
Incident Elements:
- Animal Peril/Threat
- Metallophobia
- Body Horror
- Mentions of: Therapy, Implied Mental Breakdown
If you want to read my other Quick Thoughts you can do so here (TMAGP Quick Thoughts Archive).