The Dark Explained (The Magnus Archives Entities)

[@fourkings7968]

What always struck me as odd was the fact that the Still and Lightless Beast had a *musical* element to it. Its growl sounded like a song, which is an odd detail to come up over and over again. There's a repeated musical element to the Dark, and I have a hard time figuring out why.

[@richardiv385]

Maybe it’s related to echolocation and people’s sense of hearing becoming more sensitive in the dark

[@l.raphaelnery7299]

Agreed...the blindness aspect of the dark lends itself the confusingness of sound of hearing things you can't see

[@lucasisofdarkness5423]

​​@@richardiv385 i agree with you, its probably related to how when you are blind your other senses, especially hearing, attempt to compensate as much as possible. Its why people who are fully blind are said to have better hearing than people who can see.

[@lalas181]

Lullabies, maybe? Echolocation, yes, but like... The Dark is also very much a common childhood fear, so lullabies are definitely a thing to factor into the musical element of The Dark imo.

[@richardiv385]

@@l.raphaelnery7299 Mr. Pitch would love a Lyrebird

[@lucasisofdarkness5423]

I relate to the dark. I am not afriad of shadows. I am legally blind and suffer from a condition known as retinitis pigmentosa. It slowly strips your vision from you as you age. I also grew up religous, so therefore you know, the religous connection exists. I can understand why others are so afraid of it. I too am a bit afraid. The darkness appeals to me. I can navigate fine through it. I like darkness as it is described. I would follow the forever blind where it would lead me and do its will. If i were more evil I would conduct a ritual to blind the world. It would feed into my rage at society for playing to sight so much. I as a blind individual would join or set up my own base of operations through the national federation of the blind and facilities for the disabled. I would praise the shadows. I would induct as many of my fellow blind people into the forever blind. I suppose whatever it would need of me. The simple reality of eternal darkness doesnt scare me. Things in shadow are spooky i suppose. The eye is something i truly despise. Its terrifying to imagine my secrets being stripped from me and exposed to the world. Now what is the opposite of exposed? Cloaked, blocked, unobserved. Safe. The dark is fantastic. Sincerely, A maybe dark avatar.

[@AngelCakes1997]

Hell yeah, king. Interestingly, I think the Fears require that you do fear them in order to be an Avatar. All the Avatars express that they do feel some fear for their patron. Peter Lukas, as an example, tells us he feels an unnerving dread, but he finds it comforting.

[@marigabyteyssier2279]

My headcanon is that the entities worked so hard on their rituals to cross into the material world so they could bully each other on Twitter.

[@golesh-ow5dp]

The spider (talking about the distortion): is that your mortalsona? That's cringe!

[@SeerOfTime577]

AFTON!!! THIS IS PHENOMENAL! As always. I first heard of the whole "People’s Church of the Divine Host" and "Cult of the Lightless Flame" thing from you and, from then on, agreed COMPLETELY; the names work infinitely more when they are switched. I also really love how Jonny throws in historical figures; I think it just makes the TMA universe feel that much more real for me. Like, who knows how many scientists or philosophers or religious figures of past centuries were, in fact, avatars. It's such an interesting rabbit hole to dwell on.

[@ghifariasoka8272]

Every surrealist artist is an avatar or agent of the Spiral

[@ComradeLuka]

I love it! “Oh you know this one 19th century architect that you’ve never heard of? Turns out he was actually really important and kinda new a lot of about these eldritch fear gods”

[@ghifariasoka8272]

@@ComradeLuka Going further back since most of the fears are really old, the architect of the Colosseum is an avatar of the Slaughter

[@ComradeLuka]

@@ghifariasoka8272 It’s always the Colosseum

[@ghifariasoka8272]

@@ComradeLuka The Slaughter sits down and gets a bucket of fear popcorn as it watches a human build a circle for glorified murder

[@willhibbard6903]

I think Manuela’s dichotomy between faith and science isn’t hypocrisy, but where faith and science converge. Both want to address what we don’t know, what is in the dark if you will. Faith and Science go about it in different ways, but both seek answers to the unknown. The Dark, as a fear and entity, fills that darkness/unknown with monsters and horror.

[@kmrose4741]

I used to have an intense fear of the dark that I only recently got over. Now I can hang out in the dark without feeling like some awful, gangly creature is gonna jump out at me. It's actually nice now, the dark. I think after fearing it for so long, my brain just had enough. But don't get me wrong. I still don't feel as safe as I would in the light. but at least my heart doesn't beat out of my chest anymore when I turn off the lights in my house.

[@BiblicFurby]

What's funny about the Flesh coming next time is that I'm currently running a d&d game using the fears in post-apocalyptic forgotten realms. My players are about to fight a boss duo who represent the Flesh and the Stranger. (Also thank youfor your videos. Both your content and the Wiki have been instrumental and irreplaceable for inghelp explain things to my players, as I feel like I have a good understanding of how they work but struggle terribly at putting them into words)

[@l.raphaelnery7299]

Mystery that is something that is actually a good point... mystery is more than a genre when you think about it since it is present in any and all stories have it since it is the depth that is brought by plot twists...the mystery and confusion in the story especially if written in 1st pov and we feel the direct confusion of the characters...that said the dark on some small level does also lend itself to genre...

[@evagand]

I love your use of layer modes for this piece!!! very well done!

[@doctorjay8673]

Ive been waiting for this episode, the Dark has always been such an anomaly in TMA for me

[@dfastillo]

Let’s go one of more intensely explained entities. But that just mean less work to you. Also it’s one of my own fears

[@casvaneck6419]

Really love your Magnus content and hope you keep making more, cheers!!

[@delongjohnsilver7235]

I find it interest as well how, when you study and become familiar with a topic, the more you realize how little you know about it and where information in your field is lacking. In a sense, Manuela reveals the enshrouding inherent to enlightenment

[@drnoname2098]

my fav drawing from you so far!

[@DG_Toti]

Hey Afton idk if anyone else brought this up (they likely did and I’m just late to the party) but Lost Johns Cave had quite a few dark elements as well as buried elements to it, considering the statement-giver saw an anomalous lantern flame in the distance of what should’ve been a lightless natural tomb and that she also seemed to have an odd love for the natural darkness of caves more-so than the experience of spelunking and cave-diving itself, in fact the dark wasn’t scary to her, it was the idea of being trapped that was. I feel like the eponymous ‘lost Johns’ of the cavern could be individually buried and dark-related while the statement-giver of the episode itself could have been a dark-dweller in the making, especially considering she seemed to willingly sacrifice her own sister in order to escape the entrapment of the cave through the darkness itself. I mean, she was more scared of a lantern than she was of pitch darkness… that kinda says somethin’ odd to me at least.

[@FinalFantasmagorie]

I didn't even realised I forgot to mention Lost John's Cave in this one, but, yeah, it's got a LOT of Dark to it. Thanks for pointing that out!

[@DG_Toti]

Also I am dying to hear your opinions on whatever the heck was going on with extinction. I get why you weren’t a big fan of the numbers station episode (which I myself enjoyed and aside from the semi-random imagery of total human obliteration and the coded message within the statement itself I think would’ve fit better as a stranger or spiral episode), and I personally can’t wait to hear your thoughts on any possible extinction-affiliated content in the series. I do personally see ‘Binary’ and ‘Thrown Away’ as early extinction episodes in hindsight (mostly due to my own desire for more extinction content) but I also enjoyed what little confirmed tidbits we did get in the series itself

[@DG_Toti]

@@FinalFantasmagoriethanks a lot for the comment man! Lovin your MAG content a lot!

[@seanboyd7118]

I honestly think the main reason Desolation got "Lightless Flame" over Pitch is cause "Lightless Flame" sounds like sourceless heat

[@FinalFantasmagorie]

Oh yeah, I totally get why it is the way they have it, I just find it funny that you can switch them and still have it make just as much, if not more, sense.

[@eb33]

love this series btw!! I adore magnus but it doesnt have nearly enough literary dissection content, and your videos always give me a new perspective. I'm a big fan (is that the right word?) of both the flesh and the vast, so cant wait for videos on those.

[@saylemevelyn]

this series is so awesome. despite the fact that i already know a lot of the things youre saying, nothing quite beats the feeling of watching videos about my hyperfixation

[@hircenedaelen]

I wonder what would've happened to Calum and night street if the post-change world continued. If no new children are born, but the children on night street age and are shipped off to other domains, eventually Calum's gonna run out of victims. As Jon speculates would happen to the ant tunnels if he smited the ants, I suspect night street would turn Lonley, as it has associations with streets. But I think Calum might've just gotten eaten by the eye, there's not alot of ways for a child to torment an adult through the dark, so I think, with his purpose complete, the eye would eat him as Lonley consumed his domain.

[@kook.a.doo.]

I love watching your art improve over these videos!! This one might be my favorite :)

[@Awidferd]

This is genuinely the most terrifying entity. Everyone says that episode 15 is the scariest, but I think Lights Out was awful. I've been afraid of the dark since I was born. For my entire life, I have slept with my blankets over my head. That was the worst possible episode to fall asleep to...

[@basilbrooke4449]

I just found these videos and thank you so much for making them! This is so cool!

[@homunculi0408]

"Did somebody say The Door to Darkness?"

[@mistydevillier2197]

I thought it was Raina or Rayna. That's how it sounded to me just with a British accent.

[@Anon26535]

*And now the darkness holds dominion. Black as death.*

[@Alex-sg1ps]

My only nitpick is that Manuela explicitly states that science and understanding are antithetical and blasphemous to the Dark, and while she is hypocritical about being religious, she had grown to hate science and begrudgingly used her skills to make the dark sun.

[@marigabyteyssier2279]

I know that the entities are eldritch nightmares beyond any comprehension or understanding, but to me they are basically siblings.

[@Nizati]

You know, aside from The Eye, and The Web; The Dark could have had one of the easiest times completing a ritual that would have succeeded. Why? The Dark is a fear that compliments nearly all other fears. The vast? Open-space scary. Open space that spreads into Darkness? Scarier. The hunt? Being chased down by a monster that won't tire? Scary. Being hunted down In The Dark where that monster could be anywhere? Scarier. Lonely? Being alone, sad and scary. Alone in the Dark? There's a reason that's a title. EVEN THE EYE. Knowing someone is watching you? Scary. Knowing someone is watching you But You Can't See Them In The Dark? You get it. I can go on. The Dark is like salt or pepper in the spice rack of fear. It may be basic, but it can be used to enhance darn well Any fear to a certain extent. If Reiner just stopped the neverending ego trip to collaborate more with the other entities, they could have plunged the world into Eternal Darkness.

[@asantaimeep]

I personally think it's so fucking funny to imagine Reiner as a hopeless simp for Jonah but over fucking centuries 💀 Reiner: nooo dont follow the ceaseless watcher ahahah ur too sexy Jonah: 👁️👄👁️

[@douglysium9770]

17:16 I’m actually going to disagree here. If I had to buy your theory I would argue that it’s the Stranger and it’s unknown that represent mystery. So where does that leave the Dark? Well let’s take a step back and think about the medium of TMA itself. It’s a PODCAST what does that mean exactly. Well a podcast is defined as “a digital audio file made available on the internet for downloading to a computer or mobile device, typically available as a series, new installments of which can be received by subscribers automatically.” There’s also the Dark’s association with blindness. The thing about podcasts is that you can’t actually see shit you can only hear and I would argue that if I had to fit the Dark into your theory then that’s what it would represent. The fact that we as they audience are basically blind. We might as well be watching the series with our eyes closed as we are forced to rely purely on audio and imagine what’s happening in our heads. We are basically experiencing the entire series blind… we might as well be in the dark. As for the Dark specifically I would argue that it isn’t always literally the fear of the unknown. I think it overlaps heavily with the Stranger with the fear of the unknown but the Stranger is the fear of the unknown, uncanny and mystery in general. It’s also important to remember that Entities can overlap in fears (like the Eye with being followed and the Hunt with being chased). I think what sets the Dark apart is that it’s not just the fear of what could be in the dark as you pointed out but also the darkness itself. Not to mention things like shadows, exaggerated lighting, and dim lighting can make things creepier even if you can clearly make out what’s happening. Sometimes things are also creepier at night because certain animals or people are active at night or sometimes it’s because less people are active so you seem more alone(which could be a potential overlap with the Lonely). Additionally a lot of people associate darkness with evil or malice in general so there’s that cultural aspect. Also sometimes shadows and shadowy figure can look creepy or scare people. I’m just catching up with these but IMO Eye = the audience or desire to see what happens next, Web = the narrative, Spiral = twists or the idea of fiction itself, Stranger = mystery and not knowing what’s going to happen next, and the Dark = the lack of visual medium when it comes to podcasts.