Okay but like genuine question. Saw someone bring up the scene immediately after Jon smites Not!Sasha and like. Bring up the guilt and shit. And my question is. Sure he enjoyed it. Why does that erase the disgust he felt? Why does that enjoyment in the moment override the self loathing afterwards? Why does everyone act like that Jon’s true nature is to enjoy smiting things and not his reaction to it? Blah blah blah those emotions don’t stop him from doing it in the future blah blah blah. Yeah okay. I’m still confused. Cause Martin basically gave him carte blanche to continue doing it. Until he decided it was bad. What other signals is he supposed to listen to when everyone told him his were wrong? This isn’t about culpability this is about me being confused about what Jon was even supposed to do? What was the win scenario here? What was he supposed to do to prove his humanity when they kept changing the rules? Cause I’m starting to think they never were going to. I’m starting to think he could’ve done everything they told him to and it still wouldn’t have been enough.
i hate when ppl act like the only reason to not like a “sad” ending is because you can’t take it or whatever. personally as a tragedy enjoyer, i hate a poorly written ending. i hate an ending that is just kind of a bummer. i hate an ending that feels mean-spirited to the audience. i hate an ending that’s redundant. i love a sad ending that is thematically consistent, poignant, and bespoke to the rest of its narrative.
Looked back through my now defunct Twitter for the prediction I had about how I thought TMA would end. This was before the final hiatus of season 3, so it’s. Highly inaccurate. But I do find it interesting where my mind was at during that point in the series.
I do find it interesting how that was never an option they came up with. I mean. He did technically end up subsumed by the Eye when he became its pupil. And the whole point was that the ritual came through cause of his marks. And they even mentioned cutting the tethers. So like. What if he had just leaned a little into every aspect of the whole of Fear. Like. I don’t know. He was able to affect the people and swap who controlled what domain. Could he not have made himself the master of every domain at that point?
I don’t know, I just think that the ‘nuke sandwich’ metaphor doesn’t account for the fact it was JON who was the nuke. And that the sandwiches were the launch codes. But maybe that’s just my perspective.
I relate to Jon The Archivist Sims because I too was a deeply annoying child that grew into an abrasive and off putting thirty something who is haunted by self fulfilling prophecy because of The Horrors.
Anyway. I had made a list of songs to connect to every episode and I just found it again and I was absolutely cooking when I chose ‘Your Fault/Last Midnight’ for Ep 199, Seeing It Through.
Frequent reminder that no one liked Jon. Not even his boyfriend. Jon was friendless throughout the entirety of the podcast and potentially his life. Hope this helps.
i know i’m chronically jonpilled as a person whenever i listen to tma 65 binary bc of how genuinely mad i get at tim for that argument at the end. like bro f you why are you telling your boss he should get fired and crawl into a cave and die and then acting personally victimised when he tells you to quit. what did u think was going to happen bud. verbally abuse the boss and face no consequences? in ELIAS’ archives? yh right
the “the archivist spells his name john” thing is so funny. i assumed at the time that after the show had been finished for several years, a new crop of listeners would replace the ones who still aggressively call him “jon,” and it would quietly be replaced
but that hasnt happened, because we’re all still here aggressively normalizing “jon” despite all official sources begging us to stop lmfao
No but the fact that Melanie went back a THIRD time to give a THIRD statement is exactly what I’m talking about.
We know, by the end of season 3, that from the start Jon has been dream hopping. That all of the ones who gave him live statements see him in their nightmares. That it’s as regular to them as sleeping at all. We can’t know if it got worse after The Unknowing but from what I recall, it definitely sounded like the way Elias was describing those dreams was how it had been since Naomi.
Here’s my point. Considering this. And considering how Melanie specifically sought out Jon once she got back. With two nightmares for him to visit and retraumatize her with. I just… can’t see how we’re supposed to think of the dreams as horrible, life ruining things that deserve death.
That isn’t to say that they aren’t. That it isn’t fucked how they get no respite any more after telling him. That isn’t to say that what he did was at all okay. But when you’re touting the idea that Melanie blaming him for trapping her there and perpetuating a cycle of torment was justified. When you’re saying that Basira had every right to see Jon as a monster who needed to be on a leash, considering her hypocrisy regarding Daisy AND her own nightmares she brushed off to Daisy’s face. When you’re believing that Georgie’s boundaries were more important because he hurt her feelings by not wanting to tell her everything under the wrong impression that it would protect her. The text, no matter how it doesn’t question these views and doesn’t let Jon’s actions be forgiven, doesn’t do enough to show that he deserved it.
This isn’t me infantilizing Jon. This isn’t me saying ‘oh those mean women beating down the poor man 😢’. This is me pointing out that it isn’t entirely a wrong read to look at the way they treated him before season 3, during season 3, and through season 4, and think MAYBE they didn’t have much of a leg to stand on. And should’ve MAYBE been a bit kinder than ‘I don’t think you really ruined my life but I’m going to hate you forever regardless’, ‘I will take some blame for the apocalypse but I’m not going to apologize for saying I’ll kill you at the slightest provocation’, ‘me not being around you was the right thing to do but I’m sorry that meant you were left alone’. Like. When Daisy is the only one to realize MAYBE he’s not at fault for everything that happened… you MAYBE need to reprioritize yourself.
Y’know. I get how Jon and Tim and Sasha were supposed to be, like, bffs in Research… but also, like… do best friends really act like that? Cause I get Tim resenting Jon. I do. But saying that he wouldn’t care about Sasha if she ‘disappeared’??? To her face??? And her not refuting it??? Before there being any reason for either of them to actually hate him??? As if Jon conspired to get Sasha’s rightful position out from under her??? Like. I’m sorry. But that scene just. Really gets to me and is an example of why I will always be a Jon ‘apologist’. Jon isn’t even in the scene, did nothing to them aside from ask them to do their jobs, and he’s still being shat on for simply existing.
No one was ever on Jon’s side and the narrative never examines or points this out. In fact the narrative highlights this as being symbols of virtue.
love being in a fandom with a canonical ace character who “just doesn’t” and still feeling incredibly alienated bc of the amount of nsfw content for him. I’m not even against it entirely, I’ve tried to read some that I thought might handle it tactfully if there’s enough other stuff in it to interest me, I’ve just encountered too many that have the unfortunate implication that ace people just haven’t met the right person or just need to have better sex to change their mind or whatever and at this point I don’t trust any of it. I’m just so tired.
I’m having Thoughts about Jon and Daisy and it’s not gonna fit in my fic, so here.
He bears the scar he got from her and the internal scar he got FOR her. She has his blood on her hands, but also the dirt he saved her from. She will never repay the debt she owes him, and he will never forgive what she has done. She loves him and he loves her, but he will not trust her and her trust is all she can give him.
They are so similar and so different. She saves herself in the way that matters, and then she falls, and hurts him one last time. His final act is to mirror hers, and give in to the blood to protect someone he loves. He did not say her name when he listed those whom he loved who fell, but she never asked forgiveness either, because they both knew it would be unfair.
She was his watchdog, and he was her guardian. They shared nothing and they shared everything. When she comforted him after nightmares, did she know she featured in them? When he haunted her dreams, did he know he was her lifeline?
I’m watching Big Hero 6 and realizing something about my opinion regarding the concept of tragedy in The Magnus Archives.
SPOILERS FOR BOTH
So in Big Hero 6, the whole inciting event is Tadashi’s death at the Expo. At the end we learn that it could’ve been completely avoided on every level. Tadashi didn’t need to go in and save Callaghan cause Callaghan had stolen and used Hiro’s microbots and CAUSED the fire in the first place. Callaghan didn’t need to steal the microbots to rebuild the teleporter in an act of revenge for his daughter’s death cause she hadn’t actually died! If Tadashi hadn’t gone in to save Callaghan and survived, MAYBE they still would’ve gone after whoever stole the microbots and save Abigail. And it would’ve been a mostly happy ending for all involved, barring recovery and jail time. But anyway. It genuinely could’ve been avoided if not for who they were.
The Magnus Archives was never going to not happen the way it did. Jon could’ve never joined the institute, but some other schmuck would’ve and end up in the same position. Jonah could’ve not been a whiny bitch about dying and the Web still would’ve found someone to orchestrate the apocalypse. The players never mattered and it was all utter unavoidable on any level. The only reason the characters acted the way they did and make the choices they did was because the Web set them up to be in those places for maximum effect. They could’ve found anyone else to act those parts. They were chosen because of convenience but they were chosen nonetheless. And that. Is so. BORING. It’s so fucking boring. Their choices never mattered because the Web could plan for whatever choices and manipulate the outcome based on them to its advantage. The question of fate versus free will is bullshit when it wasn’t fate and free will can be predicted. What I guess I’m getting at is that when it’s revealed that the Web was literally behind everything, the whole story lost credibility to me.
Basically, I’ve realized, it’s not that I dislike tragedy. I just don’t like it when it’s so obviously unavoidable.
Anyway. I had made a list of songs to connect to every episode and I just found it again and I was absolutely cooking when I chose ‘Your Fault/Last Midnight’ for Ep 199, Seeing It Through.
Like
Do you seeeeeeee?
Also, though not related to the playlist, related to musicals, I can’t stop thinking about No Good Deed from Wicked in relation to Jon.
You are understanding me, yes? You see the vision I am placing into your head, right? Correct. Of course.
Melanie King design discussion! I’ve always felt that I’ve seen her differently from the rest of the fandom, but until now I haven’t been able to put it into words.
Everyone always draws Melanie (Magnus Archives) the same with the dyed blue hair, function over fashion, queer pins on her jacket, sometimes Asian design. And like. I like it from a visual standpoint. It looks cool. However…
So clearly y’all don’t look through tags or else none of y’all would make the exact same fucking post over and over and over and over and over and over an-
Violent reminder that Jon didn’t have a support system for the grooming that was done to him as a child nor as an adult and that his supposed “”addiction“” was the result of this and the constant degradation and dehumanization as a result of that “”addiction“” he developed as a coping mechanism for the childhood assault was not, in fact, praxis against him being in a position of power and authority.
Anyways you guys ever think about how the only person who ever really apologized to Jon for treating him like a monster was the person who traumatized him the most. And how she never asked his forgiveness, because she had no right to, but she wanted him to know that it was wrong. That she was sorry, because she should be sorry. Because he was always worth compassion, and no rationalizing or justifying can ever take away the fact that he was a person before he was ever a monster.
I think about their incredibly compelling and deeply fucked up friendship a normal amount
Hey hey hey hey imagine if john went to daisy (JUST daisy) after learning about how to leave the institute and martin rejecting the idea. Imagine she realizes enough to ask if him doing it would free the archival team and he’s like ‘i mean worse case scenario only im freed and you guys still have the option available.’ And daisy tells him thats a really dumb really big chance to take but now he latched onto that idea, that just maybe everyone could be cut out from beholding’s grip. But he lowercase-k knows he wouldn’t be able to do it alone (because of the eye or because of the fear of not following through, he can’t decide).
Imagine he tells daisy that her and basira are the most recent hires, if anyone has the best chance of leaving from this it’s them. Imagine he drips their past into the conversation. He can’t forgive her, but she can still do right by him. If anyones hands were to be trusted to hurt him correctly, it’d be hers.
All that to say, imagine john willingly letting daisy do whatever it takes to blind him from the eye, however that may occur.
I think I would be a lot more normal and not filled with hatred and disgust for every other character that isn’t Jon if the fandom didn’t have to constantly call him an idiot and a monster and inhuman and egotistical and a dick at every possible moment for everything he ever does that isn’t the actual BAD things he does.
