Do You Think The Trend “would You Still Love Me If I Was A Worm” Is Banned In The Archives Since

(departure from my usual content, apologies for the self-indulgence)

SPOILERS FOR THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES - SEASON FINALE Lyrics under the cut:

Find a Leitner when you’re eight  Take a job at a spooky place Start smoking again way too late Run back toward the worms to grab a tape Dumb ways to die So many dumb ways to die Spun by the eye-eye-eye So many dumb ways to die Wander tunnels after dark Chop a fractal table into parts Let yourself be framed Shake the hand of an angry living flame Dumb ways to die So many dumb ways to die Spun by the eye-eye-eye So many dumb ways to die Don’t let Michael Crew be polite Find yourself facing Daisy’s knife Get skincare advice from a plastic face Decide Distortion is a good escape Dumb ways to die So many dumb ways to die Spun by the eye-eye-eye So many dumb ways to die Steal a ghost from the hunter’s den Bring a bunch of C4 to The Stranger’s dance Let a man dig in your chest You know, who said you need all your ribs?  Dumb ways to die So many dumb ways to die Spun by the eye-eye-eye-eye So many dumb ways to die Walk into a coffin to save someone Look into the heart of a blackened sun Gouge out your eyes in a half-baked flight plan Step into the Lonely cuz it’s taken your man And when it all comes down the that last ending At Martin’s hand, it’s quite possibly The roughest way to die The roughest way die Roughest way to die-ie-ie-ie So many dumb- So many dumb ways to die Be safe around webs. A message from the Archives.

Daisy and Basira :DD my babes on the Strength Tarot Card❤️❤️❤️

art by @lailas-in-space (from pinterest)

One of my favorite things about The Magnus Archives is how we're initially introduced to two characters: One who is an Archivist who is very scholarly, curious, and observant. And the other is a kind man who likes to make tea and is said by multiple people to have no survival instincts.

Then as the series goes on the kind man with "no survival instincts" is slowly reveled to be someone who is quite cunning and manipulative when he needs to be. He's consistently shown to be one of the smartest characters in the series, and he pulls off some pretty impressive feats like playing Peter like a fiddle for the majority of season 4 and having enough foresight to put an end to the apocalypse in season 5.

Then there's the Archivist. While he is very book smart, most of his street smart plans rely on ✨vibes✨ and the phrase "Gee. I sure hope this works!" He got lost in the tunnels where his boss was murdered. He has been kidnapped an unreasonable amount of times. He read a statement about a binding ritual trapping a creature to a table and decided to hit said table with an axe.

Martin and Jon are such good subversions of their character archetypes and it's so fun to think about. Martin, who tends to be portrayed as the worst assistant in season 1, ends up making logical choices even when they contradict with what his heart/gut instinct wants. Meanwhile, Jon, who is first portrayed as this guy who is "logical to the point of skepticism," ends up spending most of the series making choices with his heart and/or gut instinct. He's not great at using his head when push comes to shove, but he's usually trying to make the choice that feels right in the moment.

Jon and Martin's growth throughout the series takes them in opposite directions that break their archetypes, and that makes the series so much more enjoyable to me. It wouldn't be the same if Martin hadn't burned the statements in front of Elias or if Jon hadn't broken into Gertrude's flat, and I do love how the "logical Archivist" is genuinely one of the most unhinged characters in the series by like... season 2.

Wait wait wait, so you're telling me, that not only did Stan win the Tumblr Sexyman contest on Weed Day, BUT HE ALSO SOMEHOW KILLED THE FUCKING POPE?!

There are like 5 rules to follow in order to survive a bunch of creepy mosters and entities who want to kill you.

One of them is NOT GOING INTO A CREEPY COFFIN THAT WILL TRAP YOU ALIVE.

ARE YOU LISTENING JON!??!?!?!

[Audio ID: edited clips from The Magnus Archives and Magnus Protocol.

ELIAS: I warned you, Peter. GWEN: I thought you’d want to see this. It’s really quite amusing, actually. ELIAS: He played you like a… like a cheap whistle. GWEN: I’m in charge now. You heard. Lena’s been let go on multiple counts of negligence, incompetence, possibly even corruption. (Elias and Gwen’s laughter overlap. The Mr. Bonzo Theme begins playing in the background) (computer beep) /end ID]

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Looking forward to Protocol Season 2!

The thing about watching TMA is that you spend 200 episodes being told that Jon's fatal flaw is his inability to "turn a blind eye" from anything, and yet, when you hear about a women who wakes up in a fresh grave on her every birthday, you, like Jon, want to hear that story too.

You (or otherwise known as the audience) know just as well as Jon that by taking statements he loses a bit of humanity and dooms the statement giver to relive their trauma every night in their sleep. But... that knowledge is tempting. It's so hard not to want to know. I mean, which birthday did it start? Which entity causes it? How does the statement giver feel about what's happening to her? You want to know so many things, despite understanding that's all for worst.

I think the point of TMA is that audience IS Jon to a certain degree. I think we're supposed to be just as bad as he is when it comes to the pursuit of understanding and knowledge, even when it's something that should be left alone. And the moment in the screenshot above is when I first had that thought, because when I first saw this conversation I went "Is he not going to elaborate on her story? That's kind of disappointing. I would have loved to get a full statement on that." Only to realize "Oh. Yikes. That's the exact same mindset that has lead Jon to this point."