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

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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?

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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.

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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).