one thing that tma does really well (and, coincidentally, also the thing that the locked tomb book series does really well tma fans please go read the locked tomb PLEASE-) is characters that we never get to meet. some of the most important events in the entire series happened long before the series even started. we get to hear recordings of gertrude robinson, the ghosts of gerard keay and eric delano, letters from adelard dekker, recollections from people who knew agnes montageu, but we never get to meet any of them. not really. and that’s important.

because this story isn’t about jonathan sims, he’s just the perspective we’re following. this is an entire universe of characters, all of whom played their own parts in the story before we even knew there was a story at all. the magnus archives starts in the archives, with the archivist testing out a tape recorder. the story of the magnus archives starts with the first animal that ever felt afraid. the story of the magnus archives lasts the entire span of humanity, and more.

you, the archivist, every character you get to actually meet- they’re all just the smallest fraction of this story. and everyone you don’t get to meet has already played their parts, their actions in the past are actively affecting the present.

uhhh tl;dr: love me a good haunted narrative