also i know that dubc/noncon is just really appealing for people esp in ships where any sort of power imbalance is involved but i really can’t vibe w how much jonelias content is so explicitly dubcon
like eliss’ whole thing is emphasizing that the watcher’s crown only works if jon chooses to press onward and develop his true nature, and jon’s whole thing is that he chooses to do so every single time
every choice they’ve made for the whole of their lives brings them closer to one another
i also just think it’s sooooooo sexy for jon to want to give up control more than anything bc he doesn’t want this he doesn’t want to be responsible for this please just make me do it just make me do whatever you want… and elias just smiles and strokes his hair and makes him choose to do it instead
take it if you want it so badly, archivist. it’s just within your reach, but i won’t move an inch.
also jon sexy compelling elias is unparalleled like imagine u are in love with a man who you are secretly using to craft a world of your own making and this vessel of your patron deity can channel the whole of its power and influence through himself and into you
People think “gray morality” in fiction is about Both Sides Are Partly Right Actually but so much more often it’s about choices having inescapable negative outcomes that have to be weighed against the benefits, or it’s about having to choose between a series of bad options, or it’s about making hard decisions about what you are willing to sacrifice to achieve the outcome you believe is good.
So often, I seem to see people angry that a story in a video game didn’t present a Good Option with no collateral damage and no negative outcomes whatsoever, and if there are any downsides it’s seen as the writers punishing you for the decision, because they see the primary purpose of stories to be moralizing rather than exploring the complexities of human experience. Or they argue that the collateral damage didn’t really happen, or that the negative outcomes weren’t really that bad actually, and thus miss the point altogether.
And I feel like it’s important to remember that a narrative telling you a decision is difficult is not the same thing as the narrative telling you it is wrong.
Jon was a better pick for head archivist (the profession not the godhood) than Sasha according to me, a Jon apologist/Sasha stan with a masters degree in information science
1) a disaster pit of an archive like Gertrude’s requires a work horse like s1 Jon, not someone easily lost in the weeds like Sasha. For a body of information that huge, with subject matter that broad (even just 15 fear subjects is broad when you consider the overlap and highly subjective, contrasting nature of the statements), you want to create as little work for yourself as possible until you’ve built a foundation. Ergo, in this early stage you want a project manager who has the ability to burn through busy work, resists distractions, and remains open to his team’s input for future endeavors while keeping them on track.
I also have a hc that a disorganized archive bolstered the Eye’s hold rather than undermined it because that meant that only Eye-aligned people had the ability to navigate it. So in a normal case, I’d assume they could just call up one of their sister archives and borrow their database or taxonomy, because why reinvent the wheel, but here I suspect that messy records were an industry standard designed to lure in people with a craving for tidy answers. It’s possible that no-one at any location had successfully organized their statements, or at least not before getting indoctrinated with some mark or another and abandoning the task.
2) Referring to statements by their dates isn’t a bad idea when first tackling a project this unclear. When you create a spreadsheet map of your body of information (literally just a giant inventory list), I was taught to also provide an ID column to designate each collection item with a uniformed shorthand for easy, clear communication and notes. Think dewey decimal. It can be something simple as sequential numbers or dates. Why use dates and not statement giver names? Confidentiality is likely a behind the scenes factor in statement acquisition. Some of the statements are anonymous. Some names double. And the series demonstrates that statement givers rarely visit twice in one day, much less twice a week or month, and even if there are, they can tack a .1 on the end or something. This shorthand ID key will likely change no matter what once they familiarize themselves with the content enough to build a more thoughtful catalogue. So since that makes this a placeholder anyway, dates as a good-enough-lets-keep-moving ID would be my pick, too, ESPECIALLY because of point #3
every single letter to jonah magnus is really just “the dick has been amazing man but it is literally ruining my life at this point. straight draining my soul away, man. this cannot continue.” and then it’s like “hm, supplemental. he died. really badly by the looks of it. to shreds, actually. he died to smithereens.”
I need to do a top 10 jonelias moments for real but honestly #1 is all of mag92 like all of it is just too good. the way that the two of them push and pull during the course of the episode…jon and elias are the two people with the most information/power in the initial confrontation, everyone else is just getting up to speed about leitner’s murder and sasha’s death but jon really does think he has something to leverage over elias in that moment before it’s maneuvered away from him…but at the same time he actually also does have the power of compulsion ! it’s not enough yet but it should be starting to scare elias a little bit!
and of course [pleasured exhalation] is just so iconic I feel like it would’ve deserved the single #1 moment alone if it wasn’t followed up by their private conversation after the thing with daisy. like. whew. elias really does just say ok everyone! if you’ll all give me and jon a moment alone im sure we have some things to discuss (actual quote) tee hee everyone get out. AND EVERYONE DOES ?! LIKE it’s honestly kind of funny that after all that they just leave him alone with elias again like not even martin is like umm no let’s go jon don’t listen to this crazy guy. hilarious. like guys did you know that after you left they had an incredibly intense conversation about the monster that jon was becoming and the nature of their twisted humanity (and then elias wrote jon a nice little return to work form kissed him on his cheek and sent him on his way)? and the PRAISE the MANIPULATION the GOADING?? jon BEGGING elias to tell him what to do??? “what are you” “I…the archivist” <-???? CRAZY!! “Am I…elias am I still human?” (vulnerable) “Jon, what does human even mean?” (in control) <- !!!! INSANE??
I’m critiquing a story, not giving romantic advice to my real-life friend who works in an archive and is being manipulated into ending the world. Toxic intimacy is a common feature of dark, gothic literary relationships that we’re drawn to because of how romantic (as in idealised, remote, and dictated entirely by turbulent subjectivity) they are. With Jonmartin, there’s no intimacy, toxic or otherwise. My problem with Jonmartin isn’t just that it’s toxic; it’s that it’s (1) toxic in a tediously mundane way and (2) rewarded by the narrative.
Kissing someone who conspired to unwillingly turn you into a god and stripped you of your autonomy just to hand you power is a scenario that is both thematically juicy and enticing in its lack of mundanity. Staying with your whiny, manipulative boyfriend who doesn’t even see you for who you are is a Hallmark Christmas movie.
Friendly reminder that Elias was strong enough to effortlessly swing a metal pipe that Jon had trouble even lifting. The man is at the very least fit, if not ripped.
i will never run out of unhinged rants about this but do u actually know the kind of strength necessary to bludgeon a man to death? idc how heavy the metal pipe is, killing someone through repeated blunt force trauma takes a significant level of resolve and physical strength to accomplish. that is a cold, iron willed, terrifying thing to be able to do. especially on a whim because the man whose head you’re beating into a paste got slightly in your way a bit.
