the way this is the first and only time jonah compels jon and the fact that he can do it implicitly through written text but without ever explicitly stating an order to continue onward in that text 😩😵💫
the way even with the tremendous amount of power jonah has to make jon read this in the first place it’s still just a tug in a direction he was already leaning
the way that like any voyeur (like any comic book villain ;) jonah’s greatest wish at the culmination of his many lives’ work is to be seen. to be known. by the one person in the whole world who was fit to be crafted in his master’s image.
mag160 is truly so intriguing to me as the potential turning point of jon and elias’ relationship where the power dynamic totally shifts so that jon is more externally powerful and the power of the ceaseless watcher flows through him etc but at the same time elias has finally revealed the extent of his manipulation of him as well as the truth of how much jon was susceptible to it from the beginning. and I mean like how jon was so curious about what elias had to say that he would end the world for it. “I wouldn’t try too hard to stop reading, there’s every likelihood you’ll just hurt yourself” — it’s so gentle. it’s a sweet admonishment. elias up until this point has done a lot of manipulation but has never really directly forced someone to do something (that’s more the web’s vibe anyways) so I really don’t buy that “elias forced jon to read the statement” like cmon. he literally locked himself up for a season because he was concerned that just BEING NEAR jon might reveal all his secrets. the truth is jon wanted to read that statement and the beholding wanted it too and all it took was a little push from elias to trap him.
and also! I may be delusional but I so believe the affection elias has for jon, telling him that it’s OUR victory and that he’ll get used to it in the world that WE have made. this is the guy that spent the entire podcast treating so many people like disposable playthings but he tells his dear archivist that he couldn’t have done it without him and that he hopes he enjoys it tee hee <3 it’s such a wonderful twisted up final stage of their relationship and it’s SUCH a shame that s5 seemed completely uninterested in showing any of that!!
i’ve been thinking of nothing but @sm0kebreaks dear jonah au lately and how 2018!jon x 1818!jonah brings up these feelings in jon which i don’t think he ever really let go of
I’m just so so weak to time travel jon/jonah aus I know that young ambitious jonah would just be absolutely crazy for jon…and jon would hate him for being Jonah Magnus but also still be drawn to him for how similar he is to elias but also softer, less arrogant, more desperate…but then he’d also hate how much he still wants him. this time jon holds all the cards in their relationship so maybe things can be different and jon can be the one who molds jonah into someone who won’t start the apocalypse for his own gain…or maybe they’ll both trip headfirst into becoming kings of a ruined world together <3
Someone smarter than me please make a post about how like. Jon spent most of season 5 five correcting people when they referred to Jonah as Elias, but when he actually spoke to him again himself, he fell back into those same patterns as well and instinctively referred to him as Elias because I feel like there’s some excellent points to be made there but alas I lack the braincells to make them myself
