Jon’s phrasing describing avatars as things that “barely remember how to be human” demonstrates a view of humanity as a skill or a set of actions, signifying that he does not feel an inherent connection to the concept and so would understand what Jonah is about. In this essay I will
i understand why they only speak once in season four but to circumvent that impossibility of a face to face meeting because jon would pry his secrets out of him, elias really should’ve sent jon statements as a means of communication (i mean. he’s done it before). season four jon has been abandoned by his maker after he made him (which is both beholding and elias, because elias is the only one that understands what’s happening to him and the only one who will tell him to not kill himself about it). contrast it with season three where elias is at least somewhat of a guiding presence, jon is frustratingly out of his depth once again. even the beholding won’t let him Know anything useful because after stopping the unknowing jon’s interests no longer align with elias’s (I am the avatar of awful knowledge and revealed secrets, so what does it not want me to know? - MAG 154). and most crucial detail of all, he’s so very lonely. they should’ve done something with this! not that elias has ever been a repository of particularly helpful advice but he would’ve managed to say something that would simultaneously reassure jon (no you can’t stop, this is what you’re meant to do) and fuck him up enormously (this is good! this is a promising development, i’m proud of you) because is this what he’s doing he’s seeking absolution from elias of all people. that’s how i would write it. establish a pattern with two or three statements masquerading as conversational letters, and then break jon’s (and in turn, the audience’s) trust with the 160 statement. so like. where’s the episode of jon learning he’s received a note from elias in prison and it begins like this
can’t stop thinking abt how when Jon was comatose Jonah narrated his dreams. how Jon was said to have cerebral activity but no heartbeat. how Jonah is the beating heart of the institute.
Jon canonically states that he doesn’t know much about the founder of the Institute, and I think we were robbed of the possibility of him being very interested in Jonah as someone who dedicated his life to making sense of the things that lurk in the shadows of the world. Since, really, making sense of things is the reason why he works in the Institute.
the biggest proof of Elias’s clinical nonchalance is his ability to maintain his composure when his Archivist keeps brazenly flirting with him every interaction they have
REAL. their canonical relationship already lends itself very easily to that interpretation. elias functions as the gothic villain threatening jon and he achieves this through entrapment within his seat of power (the institute) where he restricts and controls both jon’s access to knowledge and movement. this is all standard patriarchal dominance, i.e. the power he wields over jon is that of a husband-father (1:1 match with harker and the count in the opening of dracula)
and even outside those genre trappings, over the course of s1 elias establishes himself as a reliable authority figure jon can trust and seek out for advise, then during s3 elias is the only one who understands what is happening to him. because he made him. he’s his creator. god the father. which is also canonically a mark of violation - “i did this to you that leaves you isolated from everyone else and with only me to turn to”, a theme that is carried over in s4 when elias is Not there and jon’s developing powers continue to be the source of alienation between him and his friends and once again when he’s outed to colleagues it’s elias he turns to - “i thought maybe if he was more like me than we realise"—"he might have some advise?” (148)
and then there’s dialogue like this alll over the podcast.
he exhibits a clear sense of paternalism towards jon which is condescending obviously (because on some level he absolutely considers jon his object of possession. and he’s violating jon’s bodily autonomy. you can talk a lot about how jon chose to do a lot of things, i do, but the whole you are a chronicle of terror i’m going to have you marked by 14 different fears is also that. and i feel it’s dishonest to handwave what he did to jon) but also affectionate because that’s his boy! he’s very transparently proud of jon’s progress whenever he gets airtime during s3 and s4 and yes you can chalk that up to vanity about nearing his two centuries’ long goal but i dunno you don’t talk like this for no apparent reason -> he went from MY institute in 158 to in this world WE have made and the time of OUR victory is here <- guy who’s always going on about using and watching and discarding people. he primarily wanted his ritual but what he saw in jon was someone who was remarkably similar to him and he spends a not insignificant amount of time trying to turn jon into a mirror image of him (92. that’s what this place is jon) and well, at the end of the day the podcast was never all that preoccupied with their relationship, even before s5. but i’ll always have this ^__^
Time travel au where Jon travels back in time and, needing to think of an alias on the spot, settles om Jonathan Fanshawe. This way both jonelias AND 19th century simps can Keep Winning
I wanted to give a thoughtful reply to this, but I kept overthinking the mechanics of time travel and going off on tangents, so I’ll present this genius ask with no further comment.
