thinking about jonathan sims being asexual. thinking about how most ace/ace-coded characters in media are represented as cold, distant, unfeeling, too busy, smart, or ambitious for sex, “barely human”, sometimes literal robots or aliens. thinking about jon, who first comes off as cold and rude but who we gradually discover to be compassionate, anxious, kind of a dork, funny, lonely, stubborn, brave. who struggles so much with his own humanity. thinking about the aces who feel different, disconnected, broken, who lack or have a complicated relationship with “the thing that makes us human.” thinking about jon, who even in his worst moments, cares so much and loves so deeply. who, on the surface, embodies the asexual stereotype of a character who’s too cold and inhuman for sex, and yet who subverts that stereotype over and over again by being a complex character struggling with his disconnection from other people in a way that beautifully ties into the unfortunately common asexual experience of feeling broken and yet who remains so very human, despite everything. thinking about how jonny probably didn’t consider all this when he wrote jon as asexual but fuck it it’s 3am and i’m emotional over the jarchivist. uh, in this essay i will-
jon for an art trade with @polyphonial! thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to draw him in pretty clothes
[id: a digital drawing of jon sims from the magnus archives sitting cross legged and smilling warmly. he is depicted as a brown man with wavy, graying hair. he is wearing a white sweater with a green cardigan on top, a long black skirt, white socks, and green boots. the background is filled with stars. end id]
every time i’m listening to tma and an eerie sound effect comes on in the background i involuntarily picture jon sitting there turning dials on some kind of device with recorded creepy ambience noises to create Tension. scaring students that try to listen to the recordings for research is part of the job
“That’s… That’s quite nice, actually. Tingly… but sort of freeing. [Chuckle] You know, even Gertrude never properly tried to compel me. I always wondered –”
