The Mass Ritual (otherwise known as The Magnus Archives) is the only ritual to have been successfully completed. It was devised by Elias Bouchard/Jonah Magnus and aimed to bring all entities into the world at once. While all participants believe it to be the work of The Eye, it is implied to truly be the Ritual of The Web, appropriately requiring the manipulation of another party to be performed. While The Web is stated to lack a ritual, apparently "liking the world as it is", The Change is directly caused by The Web and The Web is able to accomplish all of its intentions through it. Magnus is furthermore inspired to perform the ritual by Gertrude Robinson who, while not being directly affiliated to The Web was still manipulated by it for her entire career.
The Ritual utilised The Archivist, a powerful avatar of The Eye, being marked in body and mind by all 13 other entities. Marking them in mind was simple, simply feed them respective statements about each entity, but marking them in body was a lot more difficult. The Archivist for this ritual was Jonathan Sims. After being fully marked, The Archivist is forced to recite an incantation to "open the door", and complete the ritual.
A vital component of this ritual, the tapes created by The Archivist when recording a statement are revealed in Episode 196 to be tied to The Web, not The Eye as many characters assumed over the course of the series. Furthermore, the purpose of Mother of Puppets causing The Change is revealed to not be a permanent alteration of the world. Indeed, the true intention behind the Change is allowing the evacuation of the Entities through The Crack in Reality at Hill Top Road before reverting the world to how it was.
Overview
Marks
The following marks were inflicted on Jonathan Sims with each entity:
- The Web: Encounter with A Guest For Mr Spider as a child. Conspicuously the first step of the ritual had no input from Jonah Magnus.
- The Corruption: Worms from Jane Prentiss burrowing into his body before being destroyed by CO2.
- The Spiral: Several encounters (Particularly entering a Distortion door) and one stabbing by Michael.
- The Hunt: Encounter with Daisy Tonner as well as being hunted by Trevor Herbert and Julia Montauk
- The Desolation: Hand burnt by Jude Perry.
- The Vast: Sent into The Vast by Michael Crew for a short duration.
- The Slaughter: Stabbed in the shoulder by Melanie King.
- The Stranger: Mainly The Unknowing, some aspects of Not!Sasha, being captured and "moisturised" by Nikola Orsinov
- The End: Encounter with Oliver Banks while in a coma.
- The Flesh: Multiple ribs taken by Jared Hopworth when trying to rescue Daisy from the Buried Coffin.
- The Buried: Going into said coffin.
- The Dark: Confronting and destroying the Dark Star in Ny-Ålesund.
- The Lonely: Going into the Lonely to rescue Martin and confronting Peter Lukas.
Incantation
Once fully marked, the following incantation completed the ritual:
"You who watch and know and understand none. You who listen and hear and will not comprehend. You who wait and wait and drink in all that is not yours by right.
Come to us in your wholeness.
Come to us in your perfection.
Bring all that is fear and all that is terror and all that is the awful dread that crawls and chokes and blinds and falls and twists and leaves and hides and weaves and burns and hunts and rips and bleeds and dies!
Come to us.
I – OPEN – THE DOOR!"
Aftermath
The Ritual worked as intended, enacting The Change and bringing all entities into the world. The Eye supposedly Reigns supreme, drinking in the terror produced by the others in their respective domains. The Eye is however revealed to be a mindless, if powerful observer. The Web manages to manipulate the Archivist into violently reversing The Change by allowing himself to be killed while Pupil of The Eye, which results in all the entities being pulled Somewhere Else through the Crack of Reality.
Trivia
- This ritual does not have a canonical name and "The Magnus Archives" is the only name Jonny Sims has tentatively provided.[1]
