magnus archives’ fear entities are so interesting I wish we got to know more about them. 200 whole episodes and we really just don’t know much about any of them and how they work
we see more of what they do (manifest as supernatural occurrences and haunt people) than get any understanding of what they are.
How do they choose who to target? We see them targeting both people with an aversion to the Fear and people with an affinity for the Fear in question. Is it completely random, or is there something specific that draws them to people?
What qualifies as ‘fear’ by their standards? Based on the series as a whole it seems to be more of any negative emotional response rather than the biological chemical release of the hormones we would classify as 'fear’.
What level of sentience or will do the entities themselves have? Do they have enough 'will’ to actively seek out feeding themselves, or is it more of a reflex, like a plant rotating its leaves towards sunlight?
Do they choose their own avatars? We know that not every person affiliated with an entity who has a near-death experience becomes an avatar, and we can’t just dismiss that as them actively choosing to remain human. And if the entities do choose, that would imply more sentience than we’ve previously afforded them.
What’s the line between Avatar and just being affiliated with an entity? Melanie was affiliated strongly enough with the slaughter that she was able to mark Jon, but she wasn’t an avatar. How does that work? How does 'getting marked’ even work? It’s deeply unclear. You’d think you’d need an avatar or an active manifestation to occur to mark someone.
ALSO. Absolutely stupid question, I’m a bit embarrassed to ask, but.
but the people who didn’t care were still targeted, they just managed to survive. Not Caring is a fantastic tactic for surviving (adjacent to Fiona just fainting whenever she dealt with The Horrors), but it doesn’t impact a person’s likelihood of getting targetting in the first place
and re: Jon’s paranoia spiral, I’m pretty sure that was more of the influence of the stranger via NotSasha, giving off a general feeling of something being Off and Wrong
but on the topic of being off and wrong, I know that I probably am. about all this. because I listen to tma in the background and didn’t catch a lot of details until I started interacting with the fandom.
which is why I’m trying to crowdsource answers to my most burning questions now
well, yeah, the targeting is pretty indiscriminate I think, just whoever’s most convenient.
I’m personally of the opinion that notsasha wasn’t actually causing much subliminal offness and Jon’s paranoia was mostly a combination of “holy crud my predecessor got murdered” and “I still constantly feel like I’m being watched”(because he works at rhe magnus institute) and also finally admitting he thinks some of the statements are real. NotSasha probably had some input, sure, but if that was all from her then Tim and Martin should’ve been similarly affected. But yeah, I am leaning more towards “being an avatar of something means you don’t need to be marked by it”
yeah you’re probably right about Being an avatar exempting a person from needing to get marked (for ritual purposes)
all the people in the comments saying that everyone at the magnus institute and/or archives is marked by default– that’s such an unsatisfying answer. that’s so boring. that would imply that it’s deeply easy to get marked– just be in the vicinity of some avatar for a while and tada! marked!
(and on a side note– how does Elias make his magical contracts in the first place. how does he magically bind his employees to himself. that’s not an eye-themed power at all.)
I’m not even satisfied with 'being an avatar exempts you’– I think Jon deserves to have a personalized spooky eye experience. At least Martin and Melanie got Trauma mind-beamed into their heads by an eye avatar. They’re definitely marked. The people Jon took live statements from are probably marked (by the eye, from their encounter with Jon. In addition to whatever entity traumatized them in the first place).
basically tldr, I don’t think Jon is traumatized enough. he needs to be traumatized just a little bit more for the ritual to work. someone’s gotta go mark him with the eye.
