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!!