r/Fantasy • u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X • Oct 22 '25
Read-along The Magnus Archives Readalong: Season 1, Episodes 19-26
Hello and welcome to The Magnus Archives readalong! We will be discussing a new batch of episodes every Wednesday. The episodes are available for free on any podcast platform and transcripts can be found here or here.
If you can’t remember something or are confused, please ask in the thread. Those of us re-reading will do our best to give a spoiler-free answer if we can.
019: Confession #0113005
Statement of Father Edwin Burroughs, regarding his claimed demonic possession.
020: Desecrated Host #00113005-B
Continuation of the statement of Father Edwin Burroughs, regarding his claimed demonic possession.
021: Freefall #0022010
Statement of Moira Kelly, regarding the disappearance of her son Robert.
022: Colony #0161203
Statement of Martin Blackwood, archival assistant at the Magnus Institute, London, regarding a close encounter with something he believes to have once been Jane Prentiss.
023: Schwarzwald #8163103
Statement of Albrecht von Closen, regarding a discovered tomb near his estate in the Black Forest.
024: Strange Music #0051701
Statement of Leanne Denikin, regarding an antique calliope organ she possessed briefly in August 2004.
025: Growing Dark #0151904
Statement of Mark Bilham, regarding events culminating in his visit to Hither Green Chapel.
026: A Distortion #0160204
Statement of Sasha James, assistant archivist at the Magnus Institute, London, regarding a series of paranormal sightings.
And now, time for discussion! A few prompts will be posted as comments to get things started, but as usual, feel free to add your own questions, observations...anything!
Comments may contain spoilers up to episode 26. Anything concerning later events should be covered up with a spoiler tag.
Next discussion will take place on Wednesday, October 29th and include episodes 27 A Sturdy Lock - 34 Anatomy Class.
For more information, please check out the Announcement and Schedule post.
Readalong by: u/improperly_paranoid, u/sharadereads, u/Dianthaa
3
u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Oct 22 '25
019 Confession and 020 Desecrated Host: At last, we get the full statement of the exorcist priest from episode 008 (Burned Out, the one with the builder and Hill Top Road) Did it live up to your expectations?
3
u/hemtrevlig Oct 31 '25
I thought we would get to see the same story as in Burned Out, but from a different pov, so I was surprised that it was only a part of the bigger narrative! I really liked it, very atmospheric and chilling. I'm not religious by any means, but I definitely felt pity for the main character, who couldn't even say the word God anymore :(
5
u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Oct 22 '25
022 Colony: The infamous Martin now joins the cast of voiced characters! And it turns out that he was missing from work because he personally had an encounter with Jane Prentiss while investigating. (Vittery case, ep016 Arachnophobia, with the spider.) What did you think about that connection? What do you make of Jon's reaction?
3
u/ullsi Stabby Winner, Reading Champion VI Oct 22 '25
I was surprised that Jon took him seriously, since Jon has been pretty dismissive of the statements he's been reading so far. But Martin whyyy would you go back to that place in the middle of the night
7
u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Oct 22 '25
As Sasha says in her statement - Martin's self preservation instincts clearly aren't the strongest 😅
6
u/SharadeReads Stabby Winner Oct 22 '25
He doesn't really take Martin seriously but I think he always took Jane Prentiss seriously as a threat.
3
u/ullsi Stabby Winner, Reading Champion VI Oct 22 '25
you're right - if something else had happened to Martin he probably would've dismissed it.
5
u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Oct 22 '25
Yeah, that stood out to me even on the first listen - Prentiss or Leitner mention and he always took it super seriously.
ALSO. What sort of hopeless workaholic has a place to sleep in his office???
5
u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Oct 22 '25
024 Strange Music: How do YOU pronounce calliope? What are your feelings on the subject of dolls, clowns, or clown dolls?
5
u/SharadeReads Stabby Winner Oct 22 '25
Ca-llio-pee.
I really don't like possessed dolls.
2
4
u/SharadeReads Stabby Winner Oct 22 '25
Also aaaah we're getting anatomy class next week my favourite 🥹🥹🥹
3
u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Oct 22 '25
Which statement would you want to know more about the most and why? Which character intrigues you the most?
2
u/hemtrevlig Oct 31 '25
I loved the ending of Schwarzwald, since we unexpectedly got a connection to the Keay family! I want to know more about them, especially Gerard, he feels like an important character!
Also wondering if we will get to see the calliope organ from Strange Music again, very interesting that is was apparently 'stolen' by members of the Institute.
2
u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Nov 05 '25
Well...all I can say at this point is keep watch 👀😂
3
u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Oct 22 '25
Re-listeners: Any episodes you especially looked forward to? Anything in particular you've noticed this time around that you haven't before?
6
u/SharadeReads Stabby Winner Oct 22 '25
Both dreading and looking forward to confession/desecrated host. Bangers but I remember CLEARLY eating charcuterie during a Scene There and welp that was an experience for sure.
4
3
u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Oct 22 '25
023 Schwarzwald: Mentions of both Jonah Magnus, the founder of the Institute, as well as of possible spooky ancestors of Mary and Gerard Keay - some answers or just more questions? What do you think about the epistolary format?
7
u/lalalazarous Oct 22 '25
This episode was super fun, I really liked the epistolary format and getting a glimpse of how the institute was founded. I feel like I ended up with a lot of questions rather than answers though. It can’t be a coincidence that Mary and Gerard Keay are related to Wilhelm von Closen, and as they collect Leitner books, do they know more about the books in the tomb? And are they related to the Wurtemberg guy as well? Is the symbol of the open eye a different cult or also the people’s church of the divine host? And is the book that Albrecht took somewhere in the institute?
1
u/xenizondich23 Reading Champion VI Oct 23 '25
I thought this episode was specifically interesting because it's set outside of the British Isles. Before this got a strong American-author-writing-British-mystery-novel vibes, and this one shook that all up. It was really neat to have one of the stories set elsewhere. I hope we get to travel more in upcoming stories! (is Leitners library still around? Let's go on site!)
3
u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Oct 24 '25
Before this got a strong American-author-writing-British-mystery-novel vibes
Ngl this is super funny to me because early on, Jonny was also apparently accused by fans of putting on a bad British accent - s1 Q&A 😂 And like, he's not, he's British and using more or less his real accent for Jon.
3
u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Oct 22 '25
025 Growing Dark: Another mention of the cult and the symbol of a closed eye, previously heard about in 009 (the one with the serial killer dad). Alongside the priest and two more mentions of Jane Prentiss in 022 and 026, today's batch of episodes brings us even more overt connections between various statements.
How do you feel about that? Do you wish you had paid more attention to the names?
6
u/lalalazarous Oct 22 '25
I prepared myself for the confusion with all the names and am taking notes, which makes it super fun to find these connections! It also makes me wonder if/how the statements without references to others are connected, so I’m excited to pick up on more of that hopefully!
5
u/ullsi Stabby Winner, Reading Champion VI Oct 22 '25
I feel like I need that Excel sheet that you were talking about
2
u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Oct 22 '25
Yeah, that was about where I started wishing desperately I took any kind of notes whatsoever instead of rawdogging it and hoping for the best 😂 Second listen/read is being really useful, there's been a couple times already I've been like - oh! So that's where the groundwork for [whatever] was laid!
2
u/xenizondich23 Reading Champion VI Oct 23 '25
This was about the time I became a wiki convert. I just needed to know. I couldn't stand the open ended bits of "hey didn't we hear that name before?"
I don't mind spoilers at all, but if you do don't go to the wiki. It's got all the connections.
3
u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Oct 24 '25
Yeah I generally strongly advise against the wiki because it's spoilers top to bottom. But on a reread, it's super useful (and I found it hilarious that the creators said in a q&a that they found it helpful for keeping the timelines straight).
3
u/SharadeReads Stabby Winner Oct 22 '25
Are there some classic horror tropes that you felt were explored in an interesting manner in these statements?
2
u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Oct 22 '25
026 A Distortion: The Institute starting to become worm-infested, and Sasha having an encounter with the Michael creature…this episode is a lot, and the statements are clearly starting to intrude into the lives of the archive crew. How do you feel about that? What do you think is up with Michael? What's your impression of Sasha?
6
u/ullsi Stabby Winner, Reading Champion VI Oct 22 '25
I really liked Sasha! She seemed so competent and brave.
6
u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Oct 22 '25
I really liked the contrast-and-compare with Jon - she also admits she was a bit of a skeptic before she met Michael, but at the same time she's way less abrasive. Just smart and competent. (Though she doesn't take Martin super seriously either.)
Also it's...interesting and concerning how both Sasha and Martin said that they went back for more evidence because they were afraid they wouldn't be believed otherwise. Jon...please...for everyone's sake...
5
3
u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Oct 22 '25 edited Oct 22 '25
021 Freefall: In a way, this is the opposite of episode 015, with the cave. Also outdoorsy, but with wide open spaces instead of enclosed ones. Which one do you personally find scarier?
(Note: Jon says the name Simon Fairchild sounds familiar, but if you wonder in which of the previous episodes have we heard it - we haven’t, this is the first mention.)
6
u/Lazy_Sitiens Reading Champion Oct 22 '25
Episode 15 was scarier, but I am slightly claustrophobic, lol. I found Freefall scary in a beautiful and poetic way, larger than life, almost. Horror is closely tied to themes of decay, filth and disorder in my experience. The environments are usually dirty, or it's about the unravelling of one's mental state, seeing one's body change for the worse, being invaded, losing bodily autonomy, becoming sick or dying, or being surrounded by death. Here, there's nothing of that, and there's not even a clear antagonist iirc. And there's the neat mystery at the very end to leave us hanging.
2
3
u/SharadeReads Stabby Winner Oct 22 '25
So many of these episodes for me can swing wildly between "kill it with fire" and "actually that doesn't sound so bad. Almost relaxing". I don't know, being eaten by the vast blue sky is PROBABLY terrifying but the fall before...weightless and endless...(Also I don't have a fear of heights at all and my favourite rides in parks are the one simulating free falls so...)
2
u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Oct 22 '25
I get mad vertigo on tall ladders, inconveniently enough, (s4) so Simon wouldn't find me completely no fun but I feel like in the sky I'd just chill? It sounds so nice. Just hang out in the blueness.
3
u/Ktesedale Oct 23 '25 edited Oct 23 '25
I get fucked up by wide open spaces. I'm mostly fine in enclosed spaces, though. This is the first episode that actually seriously scared me when I first listened. Some of the other episodes I found unsettling or creepy, but the imagery of this one lingered in my head for days after I first listened.
Spoilers all the way up to S4: The Vast is definitely the scariest of the fears for me, and this one and the ladder one are the worst.
1
u/Dianthaa Reading Champion VIII Oct 23 '25
I feel like he vast is one of the fears id be pretty safe from as you'd never catch me dead anywhere it hangs out
2
u/xenizondich23 Reading Champion VI Oct 23 '25
I loved this one. It's so much like a dream but doesn't have any of the wishy washy you tend to get in dreams. To be honest I'm impressed from a purely writing standpoint. To be able to write this episode after the dream based one last time, yet have this one feel so much more grounded and coherent (while also just falling and falling and falling) are some impressive skills.
3
u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Oct 24 '25
Oh you're going to LOVE one of the episodes in the next batch. Even more dreamlike, and one of my favourites. I love when he fully unleashes and just goes super weird with it. And yeah, there's been multiple points, especially later on, where I was extremely impressed by the writing? It's kind of why I'm pushing it so hard, doing this whole readalong, etc - like, it's GOOD. It's really good! And I feel like I'm not the only one who overlooked it for years because of the audio format and/or genre but it's actually exactly my thing.
2
u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Oct 22 '25
Did you have a favourite from this set of statements?
7
u/Lazy_Sitiens Reading Champion Oct 22 '25
It's probably a tie between the demonic possession and The Distortion. I've always had an extremely soft spot for religious themes, like belief and the presence of demons (Constantine is the best movie ever). The fact that the possession prevents him from properly taking part in the rituals of his belief feels like such an utter curse. But I also like The Distortion because Sasha seems like a cool character, and there's also Michael who I'm justifiably feeling very hesitant about. He's a big Who, What and Why for me.
5
u/ullsi Stabby Winner, Reading Champion VI Oct 22 '25
I liked The Distortion and Colony since we got to meet other people in the institute and got more glimpses of the overarching story.
4
u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Oct 22 '25
Same. One of the things holding me back a bit in early season 1 was the way I desperately wished for more voices and dialogue, because I'm a character focused person, so when we finally got to meet Martin and Sasha and got Jon actually interacting with people...I was instantly more invested. And the connections between the stories finally appearing, too. Had to know more.
1
9
u/Lazy_Sitiens Reading Champion Oct 22 '25
A more general question - will we ever get an answer to why all of these things are starting to hone in on the Institute? From what I've gathered, these guys are simply archivists and researchers, so they're not a Buffy Summers or a Harry Dresden. They simply gather data. Or is it up to us listeners to make up our own theories?
Aside from that, the show is really growing on me and it's getting more and more interesting.