Okay, I fucking LOVE The Magnus Archives (will be reffered to as TMA from now on.) This page will be dedicated to my thoughts on individual episodes, art, themes, and exploring characters as in-depth as possible with my peanut of a brain. While I will try to stay-as spoiler free as possible, it will be kind of hard to cover the metaphors and plot points of a show that is so complicated, and with the way the story progresses if you listen to it from the beginning you start to piece things together yourself which is altogether more enjoyable than being told what things mean. So, if you haven't listened to it, be warned if you wish to go into the podcast truly blind, which I whole-heartedly recommend. Enjoy reading! :-)

THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES...

is a UK-based audiodrama that revolves around Jonathan Sims's work at the Magnus Institute, a pillar of academia which investigates statements about the supernatural. After the passing of his predecessor, John becomes the new Head of the institute's archival system, and he dedicates himself to organizing the archives by committing select statements to tape. It is written by Jonathan Sims, and directed by Alexander J. Newall.

The further down you go the more spoiler-heavy it will get!

CHARACTER ANALYSES

JONATHAN SIMS

Jonathan Sims is our beloved protagonist. He is Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, which makes him responsible for commiting statements to tape. I really enjoy how his character grows betwen seasons. He starts off as a tired yet skeptical researcher, committed to doing his job, but as the statements begin to weave together he tries to piece things together, though his success is limited. After the Season 1 finale, he is paranoid

ROBERT SMIRKE'S 14

The Fears that Robert Smirke categorized into 14(?) often have overlap. For example, The Eye and The Lonely are often overlapping, for you cannot feel the weight of loneliness if you do not know how lonely you truly are. The Desolation, Hunt, Flesh, Slaughter and Corruption are often grouped together as the more gorey Fears, though each of them has their own domain, their own 'specialty'. The Fears.

Eye

Desolation

The fear of fire, sort of. While typically manifesting itself with fire, The Desolation is not specifically the fear of fire. It’s more a metaphor for the fear of pointless destruction, chaos for the sake of it. For an Avatar (or even victim, on occasion) of The Desolation, this senseless destruction is seen as beautiful, and often results in the destruction of the self and others close to them. There’s usually heavy masochistic or sadistic themes portrayed with The Desolation, which can overlap into the Flesh’s domain (ex. your skin searing and bubbling after coming into contact with something very very hot.)

Flesh

The fear of the body, and my personal drug of choice. Body horror, the fear of mutilation, etc. I think the name is kind of self explanatory. The Flesh deals in all things bloody. Changing the body in drastic, violent ways— losing parts, gaining parts that probably shouldn’t be there, cannibalism, all of that kind of meaty thing. The Flesh, predictably, often manifests itself as a pile of meat, but I think as The Desolation is fear of destruction, The Flesh can be more seen as the fear of change, or even aging, which is where it overlaps into The Corruption’s domain. A sack of meat cannot stay the same, and just as your steak in the fridge will eventually grow mold, you will too.

Corruption

Vast

Hunt

Lonely

Buried

Dark

End

Slaughter

Spiral

Stranger

Web