What is up my dudes. This is @levaagrace. I’ve decided to make a Magnus Archives side blog for unknown reasons. Not like I haven’t been a full on TMA blog for years now but I guess I just wanted to separate it out.
Anyway.
I don’t know how to do intro posts I guess. Uhhh. You will see a lot of salt here. An unconscionable amount of salt. Just so much. Be aware of your sodium intake I beg of you. I will not have your sanity on my hands.
Also a lot of fanfics and fanart. Potentially. Depending.
If any of what I did on my main blog interests you, go ahead and give a follow. I will likely start off by reblogging older meta and stuff. Maybe even consolidate some thoughts into new ones. Eventually.
Melanie King and Jonathan Sims are very similar characters. This is pointed out in Melanie’s conversation with Georgie in Season 5. when she acknowledges that their similarities probably have something to do with why she dislikes Jon so much. However, I’d like to point out that they’re so alike they even have similar backstories using the story Melanie tells Jon about why she got kicked out of the ghost hunting community.
Melanie realized that there was a huge list of places that her colleagues stayed clear of and decided to investigate. = Jon spends the entire series poking his nose into things most people would stay clear of.
Melanie’s friends started to distance themselves from her because she started crossing unspoken lines = Again, Jon through the whole series really, but a good example of this is when Jon awakes from his coma. His survival crosses an unspoken line, and everyone except Martin and Daisy push him away because of it.
Melanie started hearing not so subtle warnings about straying from the path but she felt like she couldn’t go back after she had seen something strange. She couldn’t ignore the call. = Jon gets told by EVERYONE at some point that he’s walking a path he can’t easily find his way back from, and yet he keeps going because he can’t ignore a call once he’s heard it say his name.
She started talking to people less. She stopped sharing her research. By the time something bad happened to her and needed support everyone had already given up on her partially as a consequence of her own reclusive behavior = This is just Jon’s arc in Season 2. He stalks his coworkers and doesn’t hide at all how little he trusts them. He hides the things he’s investigating from them, and when the time comes when he DOES need their support, Tim has already given up on him and he and Martin aren’t as close as they could have been.
Melanie and Jon are the same person, just in different fonts. Which was basically a death knell for any friendship that could have been between them. Both of them are too filled with too much self-loathing to be able to look at another person and feel comfortable seeing a mirror back. And that’s really the biggest cause of conflict between them.
So funny that most fear organizations usually have their people know they are serving something divine that will bring some kind of cosmic concept into the world, meanwhile the entity of having knowledge that wants it’s people to know everything has the “You don’t have any idea of what’s going on at any point unless you work here for like five years and piece the weird shit together yourself” like… Does the eye enjoy watching the employes go down a matpat like spiral or is that just Jonah?
Most avatars know they are making a decision and what it will bring before making it, the Magnus Archives employees, who had been working their usual 9 to 5 for years when they realized they were feeding the eldritch entity of knowing, do not get to know.
Houghhh saw some takes about Martin and Basira that turned my stomach acid into roiling hot magma.
Martin isn’t ‘infatuated’ with Jon’s ‘freak.’ He hates it. He dehumanizes Jon because of it. Basira wouldn’t ‘rationally and intellectually’ decide to hug Jon for any reason whatsoever. She would sooner stab him.
You’re both morons that have no understanding of the characters you act like you’re authorities on. Die.
Interactions like this make me understand perfectly why Gertrude wanted Sasha to be her successor.
Sasha not a cruel person. We see that in this interaction when she takes valuable time to specifically ask about Martin and Jon’s safety. However, she is a person who’s willing to make a sacrificial play. Even after she’s told that it’s “almost certain” Martin and Jon will be hurt in her plan, she’s still willing to go through with it to stop the big bad.
And in all fairness to Sasha, this isn’t even close a Michael situation where she’s just leading people through doors. The only other option she had was to wait around for everyone (Including Martin and Jon) to be eaten by worms, which would have been the wrong choice. Yet, it’s worth noting that A: Gertrude likely didn’t become the way she was overnight, and B: Sasha had an immediate follow through in this situation that I don’t think we’d see from many other characters in the series. In that regard, I can see why Gertrude looked at her and saw the potential for her to be a head Archivist who could make tough calls.
I think it’s easy to see why Gertrude saw so much potential in Sasha, and I even wonder if she saw her old self in her, the person she was when she still had a bit of naivety. I think that’s the most interesting interpretation of Gertrude and Sasha’s dynamic personally, because it makes me wonder who Sasha would have become if had a more time.
The unfortunate truth is. The only reason I dislike the final three surviving TMA characters (Melanie, Georgie, and Basira) is because of specific people saying you have to like them or else you’re misogynistic because they are mirrors and foils of Jon and therefore not liking them doing things he’s done is because they’re women. And not. Y’know. Because those things are seen by both the narrative and the fandom as good when they do it but bad when he does.
Free my man he did do those things but he didn’t ask to become an avatar of the Eye and he literally walked into the cursed coffin of eternal doom to save one of you guys (whose only notable prior interaction with him was trying to murder him) and his sense of self-worth is invisible to most microscopes so. Shut the fuck up maybe
Martin’s so caught up in his self-loathing that anytime he manages to pin down a genuine flaw of his, he brushes it off as irrational and overexaggerated. Like yeah man I’m glad you realized your own issues in MAG 186! Now you can try and work on yourself! But nooo of course it’s just the depression talking and also you’re totally perfect and cool and sexy and you deserve to be rude to people just because you can!! Being mean to your boyfriend for things out of his control really showcases your growth as a person!!
Anyway. Reminder. The morally correct choice at the end of The Magnus Archives was to prevent multiversal suffering by any means necessary as it was their duty to prevent the spread of something they unintentionally caused to happen. The others spent most of the prior seasons driving accountability for actions into Jon, then spat on it once he learned his lesson. All because accountability meant murder, and the idea that there would be repercussions was untenable. To the bitter end they refused to SEE that their actions also had consequences, and survival is not the same as living. Acceptance of guilt and remorse means NOTHING when it BLINDS YOU to acting on the KNOWLEDGE of what you are capable of doing to others. Because understanding is not the same as doing. And doing nothing is not an option.
Actually. I’m genuinely curious. What is some of y’all’s ‘evidence’ that the girls didn’t treat Jon like garbage and were in fact civil or otherwise understanding.
Agnes Montague will always haunt me. What do you mean all we know about her is all told by some secondary person and not really about her at all. What’s her favourite colour? Red? Orange? Or maybe a cold colour? What was her favourite animal? What did she want to be when she was a child? Surely, she wanted something other than this at one point. Did she know her spark wouldn’t return? Was that her way of escaping? Or was she truly a faithful servant, wanting to actually be useful? Why was she? What was she? Who was Agnes Montague, and why do I mourn her?????
jmart is codependence by circumstance to me, and I 100% agree fanon Martin is a huge mischaracterisation. That being said, I’m also with you on exploring the canon-accurate relationship there — what does it mean to be clinging on to each other as a last-ditch effort to keep a semblance of humanity?
Jon is with Martin because Martin keeps him grounded. Martin only likes the “human” part of Jon - the part he can easily wrap his mind around - and so belittling the “monster” part of the man is no problem to him. Without Martin, Jon would’ve succumbed to avatarhood wholly. With Martin “keeping him in check”, he’s only toeing the line and can be (harshly) pulled back a bit, if necessary.
Martin stays with Jon because it offers him protection. Without Jon, he would be likely to succumb to his own little Lonely domain (which we get a brief view of). It’s also stated that by staying with Jon, Martin is shielded from the physical aspect of the horrors - he’s still scared by them, but they cannot hurt him or wound him, and so he can walk freely through the Fearscape in the role of a viewer. It’s the best case scenario for him.
Also, by staying with Jon, who is by default more monstrous than him, Martin gets to reassure himself - by looking at Jon being very far gone, he feels more stable in his own slowly deteriorating humanity (he’s ashamed and afraid of the fact that he, too, has a domain, which makes him the perpetrator following the Fear-infested world logic - he cannot bear the thought of being just as harmful as the other avatars, who he deems terrible monsters that should be killed)
They don’t have many other reasons to stay together, because they simply hadn’t had the time to get to know eachother as people outside of their grotesque eyepocalypse hiking trip in which Jon is actively being consumed by an eldritch being.
In the half an episode we got of them pre-apocalypse, their relationship seems to have had only started blossoming. There is nothing more than the usual kind exchanges between two friendly people. It’s a nice beginning for something bigger, but it certainly isn’t love, not at that time.
After the apocalypse starts, there is suddenly a lot of weight put on their bond - they are quite literally the only ones left. They cannot afford to be casually lovey-dovey when their wellbeing and sanity are at stake.
Had each of them been on their own, I’m sure that witnessing the sufffering of countless people would have its effect on their mental health; it’s also very likely that they would’ve turned into avatars of their own. By staying together, they are also distracting eachother from the horror surrounding them.
Their days are spent walking through fear-filled landscapes, not to mention that each of them has to deal with their own problems - Jon has suddenly found himself in a position that makes him both very powerful and very fragile, and Martin is fighting off his desire to isolate himself and his fear of Avatar-Jon. Every time they say “I love you”, all I can hear is “please don’t leave me”.
Which characters from the magnus archives do you dislike and why? Just curious
There’s…… levels.
On the bottom we have the ‘I don’t dislike or like them’ ones. Your Jurgen Leitners. Essentially, they don’t usually cross my mind. If they’re an antagonist and I haven’t mentioned them, they’re here.
Then you have the 'I dislike them cause they irritate me to listen to’. This is where Jared Hopsworth and Peter Lukas reside. Especially Jared. They just grate on me. Auditorally. I do not want to hear it.
After that is 'I hate you because of your fans but otherwise don’t care.’ Your Micheal(s) and the Victorian era freaks. Please stop talking. You are missing the plot of the podcast. It’s kinda embarrassing.
Way higher is the 'I hate you because people constantly post about how I shouldn’t and I don’t like being told what to fucking do’. This is where the surviving girls and Martin are. And they will never leave it.
Jonah Elias Magnus Bouchard has his own little spot in hell.
Now, if you’d like, I could elaborate on any of these you want. I would be glad to go into more specifics. Might even have nuanced takes.
Hi prev anon here. Please say more about the characters whose fans you hate and the ones you hate because of fandom idolizing/"purifying" them
Okay, so, let’s start with the idea of me disliking the fandom ‘idolizing/purifying’ these characters. I don’t necessarily believe that to be. True. Mainly because I am aware it would make me a hypocrite. I cannot be objective about my opinions on Jon. That’s fact. So it’s not so much that I believe the fandom is acting in a way that glosses over their faults… it’s that the narrative and the fandom make their flaws into things that should necessarily be forgiven and therefore make them out to be entirely irreproachable.
This got super long so I will now put a read more.
Now, when we look at where the story leaves them off in the penultimate episode, where we have gotten perfunctory apologies from Georgie and Basira regarding their actions towards Jon and their place in the Mass Ritual by that eleventh fucking hour, we do not see any actual change in their perspectives. We get Jon telling Georgie she didn’t need to apologize, and we get Jon apologizing TO Basira as their final exchange. We don’t even get any kind of back and forth between Jon and Melanie in this final season that isn’t antagonistic. We get her misplaced hatred of him being validated and justified by his 'betrayal’. We get their opinion of him being a self-centered, egotistical, power-hungry monster being validated and justified.
In other words, if we are supposed to believe that we are NOT supposed to see their actions as being in the right and that they are morally just in everything they chose to do with and without coercion, then the narrative fails on that in every aspect. Regardless of what the fandom reads into it and regardless of the writers intent.
When Jon pushes against Basira’s perspective regarding her time as a police and her using both Daisy and Melanie as a metric of what is and isn’t justice, it is immediately invalidated by his own actions and Basira is back to being morally center, if not good or bad.
When Melanie has consistently verbally and physically attacked Jon, it’s justified by his own acts against her in retaliation being presented as worse. And no, despite how the narrative tried to gaslight us, no one on voice in podcast told her to look at things from his side. Ever.
When Georgie drops Jon like a hot potato after his coma, both telling him he needs people to anchor him AND the person he chooses to be anchored to that he should be cut loose, her autonomy and boundaries are all that matter and he is the one that oversteps.
This is the perspective the narrative gives, this is the perspective the fandom goes by. Basira is a fixed, level-headed point and this is good. Melanie is righteously angry and this is just. Georgie is the queen of setting boundaries and this is unquestionable. Any deviation in thought from this will be labeled as misogyny rather than simply pointing out how these characters have flaws. That these flaws are allowed to be acknowledged and not excused.
I’ve only spoken about the only surviving girls at this point but this also goes towards Martin and Daisy. And, least I be burned at the stake, Tim and Sasha as well. But I won’t be talking about them at this moment because the original archival team (and Daisy) is an entirely different beast than this. That side of the fandom doesn’t seem to hold Jon in the same contempt as the aforementioned one so my emotions towards them are more complex.
Jon’s choices and Jon’s issues are all on him. We are never allowed to point out the consistent manipulation from childhood, his upbringing as an orphan, and any neurodivergence he may have as being the reason for those choices without having to append that it is no justification. We cannot be sympathetic towards him, as to be sympathetic to a ~man~ in any degree at all means you cannot be sympathetic to his women peers in any aspect.
I do admire Basira for how secure she is in herself and her choices. Even if those choices are self-serving with no regard to others.
I do know how Melanie feels when it comes to her anger and how she cannot recognize her own kindness or give it to Jon in any capacity.
I do think Georgie had the right to decide what she was willing to handle. Even if it was callous and dismissive of everyone else.
These characters are multifaceted and nuanced and make some of the most insane decisions due to this and if I took away the voices trying to flatten them into 'girlbosses’ I could find myself enjoying writing about things from their perspective and writing about their healing and growth. As it stands, though, I cannot. Because all their nuance flies out of my brain the minute anyone tries to say that they are morally better than Jon.
Spicy take and I would absolutely love to hear other peoples opinions on this but I genuinely think that Martin and Jon would break up Somewhere Else. No matter where they end up, their relationship formed during a highly traumatic time and the few “domestic” moments we got and especially the apocalypse made them feel incompatible to me. Jon doesn’t like being fussed at and Martin seems to need to care for someone in that manner, not to mention (I know it was because the last season had problems for many reasons but still) Martin was often highly hypocritical and there was never any communication about that?? They never got the chance to really interact except in highly stressful situations and I feel like it would be unhealthy afterwards
Idk just my thoughts but im interested in hearing other peoples reasons why they like them together
I personally think that this take isn’t even spicy, just being mature adults and realizing you just Aren’t Compatible. Ngl I honestly think they should have never gotten together in the first place. Even if they’re trauma-bonded. Martin in MAG 163 was wholeheartedly ready to force Jon to never speak about what he was seeing, despite it clearly hurting Jon to See that much. He had to let it out and Martin said “Yeah well, tough. I am not going to be that for you.”
He didn’t even offer Jon an alternative, just told him he can’t speak about it to him, and it wasn’t like he was going to give Jon space. Jon had to offer up a different solution to placate Martin.
Like, I get you’re in a nightmare hellscape, but Jon is literally Seeing all the terror and feeling it and Knowing it while Martin is only seeing what is in front of him. Like, at least offer *something* up to help him.
Another thing I have noticed with their dynamic is that Jon helps Martin all the time, while Martin never offers anything to Jon unless it is to use him to kill someone he doesn’t personally like.
Wait there are fans of the victorian era men? I never encountered them
What are they like? Why do you dislike them?
Ah. Yeah. To be fair, they’re not really around anymore and weren’t all that obtrusive. They just. Existed.
Basically, they just liked the idea that Jonah was fucking all these different men (or each other) and all that shit. Called them ‘Jonah’s Harem’ and wrote fic and smut about that time of Jonah’s life.
Mostly I just found it weird that anyone found anything interesting enough about any of those guys to care about. And yeah okay they might’ve been everywhere for a bit there so they got annoying FAST.
When you think about it, Jon and Martin’s experiences with the Institute were roughly the same. The only difference is in their behaviour, and in how each of them handled themselves.
Oh Martin had to work alongside Peter Lukas and fulfill all his wishes and orders, even if they didn’t sit right with him? Jon had to do the exact same for Elias.
Martin worked his ass off to protect his coworkers from a big unknown evil, and isolated himself from everyone in the process? Jon went through the same with his Gertrude murder investogation.
Martin had no one left in the world to care for him, especially after his mother died? Jon was alone too - at a certain point everyone in the Archives resented him, he was an orphan without any living family members, and the only person he could turn to was an ex girlfriend who really didn’t like him all that much.
Jon and Martin even have similar self-esteem issues. They are both depressed.
But somehow Martin always ends up as the fandom’s poor mistreated boy, and all Jon ever gets to be is a wet blanket antichrist boyfriend whose only redeeming characteristic is his undying love and devotion for the former man.
Sometimes I genuinely wonder if Jonah had a plan for Jon in s5, because surely mr Jonah I-have-a-plan-for-everything Magnus wouldn’t have just gone “mmmh yes, imma create an extremely powerful Archivist and trick him into bringing about the apocalypse” and not sit back for a moment and realise all the glaringly obvious flaws in that plan.
I get it! Life has been terrible for them. And I feel SO bad for everything that happened for for everything they went through! Seriously!
But it was not Jon’s fault and they can stop acting like it was.
Melanie acts as id Jon forced her to join the institute. HE WASNT EVEN HERE!! And Tim and Martin tried to stop her from doing it! It was her own, free decision and yes, she had no idea what she got herself into, but again: NOT JON’S FAULT!!!
And yes, I dont even want to imagine what pain she went through from the bullet lodged into her leg for months. But Jon had her best wishes in mind when he and basira took it out and she said herself, that there was no other way.
But she still treats him HORRIBLY for it!!!
And Basira!
I get that she was alone and had to stop trusting anyone. I get that she was grieving and hurt and scared.
But, once again: not jon’s fault.
Yes, he asked for her help with research for gertrudes death but nothing more. The fact that she is trapped in the institute is Elias fault and his alone.
And yes, Jon is not completely human anymore and that scares her. I get that!
But he DID NOT ASK FOR IT!!!
Neither did he choose to be away for 6 months!
He was in a COMA!!!
Basira is acting like he CHOSE to be away and leave them alone!! He did NOT
So can she PLEASE stop keeping everything a secret from him??? He wants to help but he CANT!
Especially since he’s the only one who wants and actually tries to free Daisy!!
If you disagree with me, PLEASE tell me! I want to like them!!! And I did!! In the last season I loved them!!! But this annoys me soo much!!!
Basira and Melanie's bullying motivating him to self harm, to take responsibility for things he has no control over leading to him using his powers and thus creating the Archivist is my thirteenth reason why ngl.
Weird as hell that mister "i guess im good at telling people what they want to hear" blackwood decides to be bluntly honest in moments during which pointing out the truth is straight up needless and cruel. Yeah man its a great idea to tell jon hes a monster while hes metaphorically wrestling with his avatarhood! What a discovery! Im sure that helped his self esteem a lot! You are soooo supportive!
Jon’s soulmate died in 2014, before he ever got to meet them. Years later, he hears the first and last words his soulmate will ever say to him in the same day.
“His words, his grandmother always remarked as being particularly unique. She was convinced they were sarcastic or a joke, but the longer Jon spent reading these statements day after day, the more he thought it wasn’t sarcasm.
Very few people realize how tragic post s5 jmart would actually be. Provided they really end up Somewhere Else, Jon possibly would’ve been freed from the Eye. He would be without the thing that made him the person he knew himself as. Having to find himself again. Not even knowing if he has the strength to do so.
Imagine how Martin would’ve reacted to that. At first he would be happy with it - after all, it’s the Beholding-less version of Jon that he grew attached to. But after some time he would realize how little of that Jon is actually left. How much of Jon’s very being was intertwined with the Eye, and is now lost forever. A part of your beloved is dead and you will never get it back, not as you had known him.
Still, that helpless Jon would be Martin’s favourite Jon. He could finally dedicate his time to taking care of him, just like he always wanted. His perfect little scenario of them living a domestic life could finally be realized.
The thing is, Jon doesn’t like being weak and helpless. He had always taken care of himself, and he can do it just fine. It’s mental support that he needs. Those “monsters” may be gone, but the Fears, their statements, the suffering - they all linger in his mind still.
But Martin has already left those events behind. He doesn’t want to go back to them, because why would you want to relive those awful moments? You’re fine now! Here, I’ll make you some tea. It will make you feel better. Just try to sit down and relax.
Was it ever stated explicitly that Melanie is an avatar of the Slaughter? Because I think that the Desolation would’ve suited her very nicely.
She hurts everyone around her, damaging herself as well. It was not exactly out of a desire for violence and the need to kill. Her hostility was a result of her being… lost, in a sense. An animal, trapped and afraid, ready to gnaw its own leg off just for a moment of freedom. She was trapped by her own grief, unable to move past it.
Her anger consumed her, just as the flames consumed her unsuspecting father.
The anger was technically foreign; it came from the bullet lodged deep in her body. But as it ingrained itself deeper, she could no longer tell where the bullet’s anger ended, and she began. Maybe it had always been there, simmering quietly, waiting for an opportunity to set her ablaze.
Anger that burns you out, leaving just ash. An invisible force that burns you alive, destroys you from the inside, and yet it’s a source of warmth, of comfort, of familiarity.
Her trying to change for the better was like a phoenix rising from its ashes. A dangerous being, rendered by its own power into a fragile, helpless thing, with no feathers to make it feel that warmth again. What will you do now? Without that fire, that force which defined your very being?
Stupid question, but. What does "meta" mean? Google won't give me a clear answer
No stupid questions! It is never stupid to educate yourself on things you don’t know!
Meta, in this case, is just a shortened way of referring to metatext. Discussing a piece of media within itself, about itself. Essentially, fandom uses it to mean talking through the narrative and character arcs while taking into account the world they are in and the themes attributed to it. Generally accepting that there might not be a real life experience to equate it to.
For example, discussing reasonings behind choices characters made and how they affect the plot because of other plot lines or backstories. Or how a plot or character choice came about at all because of the themes within the genre the media labels itself as.
You’re not necessarily looking at it as storylines and character arcs in a vacuum, you’re looking at them as parts of a whole necessarily informing each other.
On that note. I feel like. A lot of the TMA fandom. Uses Doylist explanations for Watsonian reads.
Which makes sense if I’m being honest. Because we have season end retrospectives and the writers will intermittently answer questions about their choices. Not only that, but there’s also additional content not within the main series. When you have that muddying what is and isn’t canon, it’s obvious that those who only listened to the 200 episode canon will have different opinions than those who consumed everything. Especially when it comes to the characters and what we are expected to interpret their motivations as being.
That being said, this most egregiously rears its ugly head when it comes to discussing the final three girls motivations and places in the narrative. In my opinion. There is a dissonance between what was intended, what was implied, and what was interpreted.
What this means, for me at least, is that I have a hard time believing what the writers say was intended. Which leads to my scalding hot takes. Unfortunately.
Saw you reblogged a post about Jon's asexuality and wanted to add something.
The only info we get about Jon's asexuality is 1) two short sentences and 2) in the form of gossip.
So, while it very much might be 100% true for him, it's important to know that when saying this about him, Melanie certainly didn't have his best interests in mind. While it's completely valid to imagine him as completely disinterested in anything sexual, it's not the ultimate truth. I also wish it were defined more in canon, but i am aware it's completely irrelevant to the story the podcast tells.
I don't mean to pick a fight with you or anything. This is just something I've been meaning to say for a while
It’s chill! I mean. I definitely disagree on principle, but. You’re right. It is just a throwaway line of gossip in the end. We don’t know the context of WHY Melanie and Georgie were even TALKING about his lack of sex life that lead to him being outed. So we don’t know all of what Melanie knows.
Which I guess is why I am so adamant about it being the truth? Like. It feels on theme that something so personal to him would be something talked about BEHIND HIS BACK and only to other him. I’m also ace (aro as well) so I know that feeling of othering over something you can’t control. Having it be not necessarily the whole truth lessens its impact. To me.
It absolves all parties involved in the outing as not actually… outing him. Y’know? It cements it as JUST gossip that truly wouldn’t affect him. Which. It did.
But this is going on a tangent.
I suppose what I’m saying is. I do understand it isn’t strictly the truth. And maybe I could be a bit less rigid in my viewpoint. But him being sex repulsed MEANS something to me. And I don’t like how people disregard that when writing fics or meta.
"Ooh Martin's so smart and cunning" and yet he thinks like a ten year old! He found out the world is infested with supernatural phenomena and instead of trying to understand how it works he went "oh, they're evil and murderous. Got it" and didn't think about it for a second longer.
And because of that he treats his boyfriend like shit and thinks its the morally correct thing to do. He's an avatar now, so he's evil, obviously. I know it's not your fault, Jon, but could you keep it down? Could you stop making statements? They upset me, i don't want to hear them. Yeah, i know that you need to, but just keep it to yourself. Don't try to get me involved in any Fear-related business, i don't want anything to do with it. What do you mean you enjoyed the killing that i forced you to do? That's not okay. You're a monster. You will always be a monster. And I will never let you forget that.
But noo haha they are so in love you guuuys!!! Cute apocalyptic gays!! Martin is soooo a monsterfucker, he wants Jon so bad!!! He obviously thinks obliterating people with your mind is sexy!! He's not repulsed by Jon at all!!
ARGHHH monsterfucker!martin truthers are the WORST!!! they’re the bane of my life (alongside martin kinnies) because also like they always think they’re morally superior somehow for this opinion?? they’re always like “heh… at least in not one of those uwu baby martin kinnies ☝️😎” and it’s like… ok but like not only are you more annoying but you’re also EQUALLY mischaracterising ‼️‼️
This being in the start of one of the Jon and Daisy episodes is uhhhhh sooooooo interesting to me. Like I’m not saying it’s subtext that something weird as fuck happened between them in s4, I’m just saying it’s interesting…… (I think they kissed)
i literally never see anyone properly discuss jon and daisy as a couple (qpr or romantic). my number one moment between them is when daisy confided in jon when they were trapped in the buried. daisy despised jon (rightfully so, really), but in that moment, he was the only one who could understand how much the hunt had consumed her, just as the eye consumed him,,,
i love jondaisy, and i know other people do too, so i will grace everyone with a few fanfiction recommendations i’ve scavenged for on ao3. you’re welcome! :)
Up to Hive (ep 32) in my relisten and. I don’t think I can overstate how. Visceral. It felt. The first time I listened to it. For those fifteen minutes, I wasn’t me. I was Jane. And it was horrifying. When Jon came out of it the way he did, I was right there with him. I think I stopped breathing for a while there. Almost wanted to stop listening entirely. Genuinely freaked me out.
I don’t know where I was going with this. Just. Hive.
I don’t know what fucks me up more when I think about it: Alex and Jonny sticking to the original plan for Martin to be a “spider person” this whole time, and he was just yet another part of the web influencing Jon towards his ultimate fate as lynchpin of both the apocalypse and the proliferation of the Web through the multiverse; or that Martin didn’t even have to be a spider person to be the perfect anchor point to pull Jon into changing his mind at the last minute and fulfill the Web’s design for apotheosis. If Martin had not been there, nor in what could generously be called a relationship with Jon, Jon would have tanked the attempt on the Panopticon and continued his plan of starving the Fears out, and the Web would have been up a creek without a paddle.
Watching Melanie and Georgie attempt to avoid the fact that they basically just chucked the Fears into other universes to get rid of them in their own when talking to Sam is really something
Of course, why wouldn’t she? Time has passed and I’m sure in all that time she’s found a way to absolve herself of her hatred. To see past it and reflect and accept that they weren’t on the opposite sides. That they could have — should have — been friends. I’m sure she’s mourned them and has come to a place where she can talk about them without the hurt coloring it. To consider them as having been. Friends.
It’s too bad it’s meaningless. An empty, useless word that can’t possibly have ever been or become a truth. Not in this universe, and certainly not in any other.
I was a bit confused by the assertion that most avatars presiding over domains were authority figures. My first thought was that’s not true! We see cops and politicians as domain victims and most avatars weren’t in positions of power pre apocalypse. But then I actually went down the list of avatars we meet in season 5 and a lot of them were in positions of power to one degree or another.
Not all of them fit into that mold though. Some like Jared Hopworth and Calum Broady were bullies who achieved power over individual people but never really had any true structural authority until they got their domains. Not!Sasha and Helen were almost entirely non-human and were driven mostly by the pure instinctual impulses of the Fears. Oliver Banks is admittedly a bit of an outlier in initially trying to reject the power he gained from the Fears. As is Jordan Kennedy who had avatarhood thrust upon him against his will.
Still I suppose I see where Melanie is coming from. Among people who become avatars there probably was a disproportionate number of people who actively sought out authority and power. Still I’m not sure if that tracks with the wider group of avatars spanning the entire series. I suppose it could also be that those who were used to and enjoyed power took a more active role in tormenting people in their domains making them the most recognizable and hated post apocalypse. We know from Martin’s domain that an avatar could take a completely hands off approach and people in their domain would still suffer but might never actually be aware of them.
Idk that bit just sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole thinking about all the avatars in season 5 and whether they were people who were “used to living with authority” as Melanie says. Like this line
ALT
Implies a significant number of people in government or business were avatars with domains which doesn’t track to me at all. Avatars we know in TMA come from a variety of backgrounds and most aren’t powerful to any significant degree pre Fears. like I think I do buy a new found rejection of authority amongst most people based on their experiences in the domains. A lot of avatars did have or sought power over people. But most people in positions of power being avatars doesn’t seem correct to me based on the sample we see in Season 5. It’s not that important of a gripe in the grand scheme but it did stick out to me.
