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archiverot:

One of my favorite things about Elias is how comfortable he is being underestimated. I think a lot of people tend to write him as prideful and intolerant of disrespect, but he’s really not?

His employees call him by his first name. The very first time we hear his voice it’s Jon talking back and being snippy with him, and Elias barely admonishes him for his mistake in the first place. It was under Elias’s supervision that Gertrude “let” the Archives fall apart, and Jon + his assistants are obviously aware of that.

He stole the body and identity of a weed-smoking failson that was too young for the position he was in and only joined the Institute a few years prior. The Institute itself is kind of a laughingstock, openly mocked by academics and dismissed as “crackpots” that will accept literally anything.

Elias comes off as borderline incompetent until episode 80. He dismisses Jon’s concerns about Prentiss, “admits” that he ran away like a coward and abandoned Sasha during the attack, and then apologizes because he couldn’t figure out how to work the fire suppression system fast enough.

Even in Season 3 he still comes off like a dolt sometimes. He conveniently can’t find Jon after he’s been kidnapped, and then this whole conversation happens:

Screenshot of the TMA transcripts. ELIAS I do regret… Gertrude’s notes on the Unknowing are… lacking. I only shared the statements for a reason. ARCHIVIST S– You didn’t even know why you were sending them to me, did you? Just, what, a box of random files she labelled? You were hoping I could figure out the reason Gertrude chose them! ELIAS There is a possibility some of them were misfiled. [DEEP BREATH]ALT

And a bit later:

Screenshot of the TMA transcripts. ARCHIVIST And you can’t just… See where she put it. ELIAS She was… She got very good at hiding things from me. ARCHIVIST How embarrassing for you. Is there anyone else who might know what it is, or, or where? Aside from Leitner, or Gerard?ALT

And in season four, with Basira!! He apologizes to her after she physically assaults him, and then stutters about a “miscalculation” when Basira demands to know why he sent them to the North Pole.

Screenshot of the TMA transcripts. ELIAS [gasping] No, no, no – it’s fine… I’m sorry? BASIRA Oh, yeah? For which part? ELIAS …all of it? BASIRA You sent us to the North fucking Pole for no goddamn reason! ELIAS A, um, miscalculation –ALT

And then Peter sums it up nicely in 159, after revealing that Elias has “lost” most of his wagers against him:

Screenshot of the TMA transcripts. You know, this is one of the first bets I ever made with him I’ve actually lost. But I guess that’s how hustlers work, isn’t it? They lose and lose until you’re willing to put it all on the line, and then – the trap shuts.ALT

All of this!! Probably for 200+ years! He’s most comfortable being overlooked and underestimated, he doesn’t care about being disrespected or looked down on so long as he wins in the end. And he did.