Part 3/3 I think that the pre-apocalypse world lends itself to this kind of manipulation much better. So why help Jonah succeed? This has been bothering me for a while, and the closest thing I have to a theory is that helping Jonah’s ritual succeed was just a first step in a much larger plan, that the current apocalypse world is a stepping stone to something else, but beyond that I have no clue. Anyways, I just wanted to hear what you thought about all this or anything you'd add. Love your blog!
Thank you so much for the mail! And for reading the blog. I know I don’t really update it much, but it’s so sweet to know people still look through and get a kick out of it.
My thoughts on The Web are complicated. It’s the entity that I have the hardest time understanding, but I love it all the more because of the enigma. I can’t promise a satisfactory answer, but I’m more than happy to share my current theories!
I think you’re spot on in guessing that The Web knows there’s more to come. However, I don’t necessarily think it’s a foregone conclusion The Mother of Puppets wanted Jonah to succeed. I think it’s a possibility. A strong one, but I think it’s equally likely it saw the ascendance of The Archives as something inevitable and planned accordingly - not moving to stop it, but putting plans in place to survive while keeping a close eye on the important players. Maaaaybe pulling a string every now and again to make sure it was in a position of power when the time came.
We know TMA is a tragedy. What we don’t know is what form that tragedy will take - whether personal, global or something in between. If global, I think it’s likely that the world might just be screwed. There might not be a way to change it back, and as Oliver Banks pointed out in his “report to prevent future deaths” - with no new humans being born, eventually, the pool of people to feed off of will shrivel up, killing the fears in the process. The fearscape is an unsustainable existence. A world in decline.
If there’s truly nothing to be done? A portal to another world, another reality, seems handy. And The Web has one waiting at Hill Top Road.
But why not leave? Why hang around? There’s a case to be made that The Web’s gorging itself before the inevitable decline, but I don’t think that explains Annabelle or The Web’s interest in Martin and Jon. For all that I’m not a Web!Martin truther, I do think there’s a reason the theory is so beloved. The Web’s shown an active interest in both of our protagonists, and I think it’s likely it needs something from them before it absconds. It’s possible that everything The Web’s done to manipulate the plot has been to ensure that these two people would be there the moment it needs them most.
Everything else I have is shaky. I’ve wondered if the tapes might be an evolved version of the Leitners (used to gain a foothold and seed fear into the world on the other side of the portal - assuming there’s only one). I’ve indulged in a wacky theory that the bleeding, eight-branched trees outside of HTR and Albrecht von Closen’s home in Schramberg might be part of the horrifying creature Annabelle talked about when she told us “when a spider reaches a certain size, it is often not entirely made up of spider anymore”. I have also wondered whether or not this is the first world The Spider’s watched burn before starting anew. Maybe the world-that-was always belonged to The Mother of Puppets. It was just so subtle no one knew.
There’s so much I don’t understand. So much I can’t explain (like the overlapping imagery throughout the show between The Spider and The Eye), and I genuinely don’t know if Jonny will give us answers to it all. Part of The Spider’s charm rests in its ambiguity, but yeah. Long answer short? I agree. Elias was just a stepping stone, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
[I just realized this made a whole-ass blog post instead of just replying to the lovely anon who asked my opinion. I know how to Tumblr. Tumble? Blog! Let’s go with blog. Anyway, here’s part 1 and 2 of the question in case anybody wanted to read the whole prompt:] Part 1 of 3 Can I hear your thoughts on this? Ok so at this point I think there’s plenty of evidence to prove that throughout the first four seasons the Mother of Puppets has been working to make sure Jonah’s ritual succeeded. We can see the Web’s influence every step of the way, as Jon becomes Archivist and gets marked by each of the powers. I also think the best evidence that the Web wanted Jonah to succeed is that Jonah did in fact succeed, and the Web tends to get what it wants.
Part 2/3 Loads of people have broken down all of its subtle manipulations, but the part I get caught up on is why. Peter Lukas said that the Web has never attempted a ritual of its own since it likes the world as it is, and I think this makes sense. We’ve seen a domain of the Web in the apocalypse, and while becoming a human puppet is scary enough, it doesn’t seem to fit with what the Web has always preferred, which is subtle manipulations that breed paranoia and make you question your free will
Notes From the Hiatus Bunker:
Pre-Season 1 Materials
Realized I have been neglecting this blog, and thought it might be fun to revisit earlier episodes from the perspective of someone already broken by Mr. Sims a TMA veteran. No idea many how many of these I’ll manage before the hiatus is over, but feel free to say hey if this comes across your dashboard! Would love to hear if other folks are doing the same thing.
General warning: these notes are from the perspective of someone caught up to TMA as of the latest mid-season break (Nov 26th, 2020). There be spoilers ahead!
MAG 0.1 “Seed”
SUMMARY: “Viglio. Audio. Opperior” on repeat. I watch. I listen. I wait. ANALYSIS: Jonah, is that you? While I still have an attachment to Web!Tapes as a theory, I’ll admit this could be a clue they were under Elias’ control all along. I’m not sold on the idea, but it could be corroborated by Jon’s opening “Elias […] if you hear this” at the beginning of the next trailer, and fits in with Orsinov’s “Can I call you Elias?” monologuing later on. Would make the birthday tape a real dick move, huh?
MAG 0.2 “Pre-launch Trailer”
SUMMARY: “Statement of Jacob, no second name given.” ANALYSIS: This is potentially Leitner’s disappeared assistant. Potentially someone else with the first name Jacob. It happens. I’m more interested in who they’re being ominous at.
Is this a warning for Gertrude? Elias? Jon? At this time the statement’s given (July 15th, 2011) Gertrude is still alive and kicking, but 2011 is the year Jon starts working in research. Just how prescient is this doom and gloom herald? I mean…the world kinda is “all darkness and butchery now”. Also worth noting we have “distortions” (Spiral), “spins” (Web) and “beholding” (Eye) before the show even gets off the ground.
Jonny Sims: 1 - Audience: 0.
MAG 0.3 “Launch Trailer”
SUMMARY: Not much new in this one. Jon hears a thump. Leaves his desk. We’re treated to the spooky chant once more (priming the tapes for The Magnus Archives ritual?), and Jon makes a joke about peeling Martin. The Stranger would approve. We also learn that the Archives are full of cheap shelving. Cheap shelving that will collapse, causing a dent in the wall that will let Jane Prentiss into the building. Can anybody say foreshadowing? ANALYSIS: All in all I’m just sore I skipped these on the first listen through. Rookie mistake.
SUPPLEMENTAL: The hiatus bunker seems nice and roomy. Had to sweep up a few cobwebs, but oddly no spiders in sight. I almost thought I saw a web that read ‘gone to Rusty Towers’ off in a corner, but I think I just read Charlotte’s Web too many times as a kid. Funny how your mind can play tricks on you in the dark.
General warning: these notes are from the perspective of someone caught up to TMA as of the latest mid-season break (Nov 26th, 2020) on a self-indulgent relisten. There be spoilers ahead!
SUMMARY: A drunk frat boy (if the UK had any such equivalent) narrowly avoids becoming a walking piece of taxidermy through sheer dumb luck.
ANALYSIS: We learn some important things about the Archives. We learn that the statements have run the gamut of the Institute pipeline “when an investigation has gone as far as it can, it is transferred to The Archives”, which makes it a little odd that we have any live Statements at all, but this is episode 1. I don’t know how strictly Jonny adhered to that conceit. If forced to rationalize it, I imagine Elias might have cut corners to encourage Jon to go down specific avenues and Jon could easily have been too overwhelmed by the new position to notice anything was amiss re: protocol. We also learn that the Institute was founded in 1818, and there’s trouble digitizing the records - even typing them electronically. All statements are either handwritten or plonked out on a typewriter. Oh! And speaking of distortion, during Nathan Watt’s account itself we’re treated to definitive tape static each time Jon quotes the creature asking “Can I have a cigarette?”, and in typical Jonny Sims fashion the literal phrase “the stranger” appears three times to tell us why.
Overall great standalone episode that is not very standalone at all. Specific shout out to future recurring characters: Sarah Baldwin and Daniel Rawlings, and the Archivist pronouncing “lol” phonetically. He’s trying so hard to be a professional academic, guys. It’s cute.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS: How much you wanna bet Elias forced Jon to perform the Archive ritual on the 200th anniversary of the Institute’s founding? More importantly, was there cake?
Also, why did The Stranger position Sarah to have a career in sound design? Taxidermy I get, but sound design? Maybe I’m wrong, but I got the feeling the Anglerfish’s victims weren’t avatars as much as they were stuffed puppet-like extensions. What did it gain?
And how does one spell Angler Fish. I know there’s technically no such thing as a fish, but it’s two words in the episode title, one word on the transcript, and Google is giving me both. Any marine life experts floating around here?
SUPPLEMENTAL: The bunker has wifi! This should have been apparent by the fact this is my second post, but I’m so used to taking it for granted, I didn’t stop to think why that was odd. I might have to explore these tunnels. Thank whoever was kind enough not to password protect their hotspot.
