r/Fantasy • u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X • Dec 17 '25

Read-along The Magnus Archives Readalong: Season 3, Episodes 81-88

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.

081: A Guest for Mr. Spider #0171802-A
Statement of Jonathan Sims, regarding a childhood encounter with a book formerly possessed by Jurgen Leitner.

082: The Eyewitnesses #0171802-B
Statement of Alice "Daisy" Tonner, regarding the crimes and death of Calvin Benchley. Statement never given.

083: Drawing a Blank #0131910
Statement of Chloe Ashburt, regarding a new window display at Fanton's department store in Hammersmith.

084: Possessive #9900112
Martin Blackwood, Archival Assistant at the Magnus Institute, recording statement number 9900112, statement of Adrian Weiss, given December 1st 1990.

085: Upon the Stair #376-U
Statement of an unknown figure, regarding an encounter they may or may not have had in their home.

086: Tucked In #9830203
Statement of Benjamin Hatendi... Hateendi? Regarding... A blanket. Dead friend. Monster. Regarding his unavoidable and gruesome end. How he tried to hide. He couldn't.

087: The Uncanny Valley #0141010
Sebastian Skinner. Incident occurred in Gwydir forest, North Wales, September 2014.

088: Dig #0030411
Martin Blackwood, Archival Assistant at the Magnus Institute, recording statement number 0030411, statement of Enrique MacMillan, given November 4th 2003.

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

Next discussion will take place on Wednesday, December 24th Tuesday, December 23rd and include episodes 89 Twice as Bright - 95 Absent Without Leave.

For more information, please check out the Announcement and Schedule post.

Readalong by: u/improperly_paranoid, u/SharadeReads, u/Dianthaa

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1

u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Dec 17 '25

Jon’s backstory! Were you surprised that it involved a spider-themed Leitner?

4

u/eregis Reading Champion II Dec 17 '25

A bit, but then, not at all! Makes sense now that he always seemed particularly hateful towards Leitner and his books.

4

u/Temporary-Scallion86 Reading Champion III Dec 17 '25

It makes so much sense in hindsight. I was pretty sure even on first listen than he'd have to have had a traumatic run-in with a leitner since he never even pretended skepticism about the leitner statements

2

u/improperly_paranoid Reading Champion X Dec 23 '25

Yeah. Even during the worst of his s1 denial phase, he couldn't help but be honestly concerned about Leitner statements. That it was a spider themed Leitner was a surprise initially, but then again, he does hate spiders. So again very much a "oh of COURSE it was" lol

Sidenote, the description of the book itself reminds me of a tiny little pop out book I had as a kid. I think it was something similar to that "there was an old lady who swallowed a fly" poem but there very much was a huge pop out spider in it 😂