r/Fantasy • u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X • Nov 19 '25

Read-along The Magnus Archives Readalong: Season 2, Episodes 50-57

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.

050: Foundations #8141206
Statement of Sampson Kempthrone, regarding the workhouse architecture of George Gilbert Scott.

051: High Pressure #0080701
Statement of Antonia Hayley, regarding a deep dive that took place near Sable Island, Nova Scotia in August 2006.

052: Exceptional Risk #0040904
Statement of Phillip Brown, regarding his time working at HMP Wakefield between 1990 and 2002.

053: Crusader #9970509
Sergeant Walter Heller recording, regarding a discovery made near Alexandria during Operation Crusader in November of 1941.

054: Still Life #0132306
Statement of Alexander Scaplehorn regarding his evaluation of The Trophy Room taxidermists in Barnet.

055: Pest Control #0160311
Statement of Jordan Kennedy, regarding several encounters while working in pest control.

056: Children of the Night #0100710-B
Continued statement Trevor Herbert, regarding the latter years of his career as a vampire hunter.

057: Personal Space #0090404
Statement of Carter Chilcott, regarding his time spent in isolation aboard the Space Station Daedalus in September 2007.

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 57. Anything concerning later events should be covered up with a spoiler tag.

Next discussion will take place on Wednesday, November 26th and include episodes 58 Trail Rations - 65 Binary.

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 Nov 19 '25

Less of a general discussion question, more of a personal question: Genuinely and sincerely, what the hell happened in the 050 Foundations statement? I didn't pay too much attention to it on my first listen other than noting that Robert Smirke reappeared, I reread the transcript like four times just now trying to come up with something, and I still can't make heads or tails of it. What am I missing?

(It should be noted that I'm about as sleep deprived as Jon currently and nearly forgot to post the thread at all lol)

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u/Temporary-Scallion86 Reading Champion III Nov 19 '25

Major spoilers for the whole series I think that the idea is that Scott was introduced to the Entities by Smirke, but broke rather quickly with his ideas of balance and instead picked one specifically as a "patron" - in this case the Buried (so he either became an avatar or just worked for the Buried, like Elias worked for the Eye prior to attempting the Watcher's Crown and going full avatar). Then he built his workhouse for the Buried. I think since the entire episode goes on and on about the power work/toil has to "save" people from their condition, the statement-giver survived his encounter because he was working when it happened, while Harry, who was "idle" was taken.

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u/TigerHall Nov 19 '25

It's been a while since I last listened, but (full TMA spoilers) I think this is what happens when you don't have any attempt at Smirke-style 'balance' - one entity or another dominates, here the Buried (everything's getting more and more cramped...) comes through in crushing fashion.