i'm sure it's been said a thousand times before but relistening to the magnus archives knowing all what is to come is a really funny experience.
while everyone was running around like a headless chicken, scrambling for any information and trying to even start to understand what's going on, elias was having the time of his life, that man was in sitcom and was aware of it.
mag 17 the bone turner's tale:
elias, fully knowing that martin is a prisoner in his own flat: have you seen martin? 🤔
mag 39 the infestation:
elias: there isn't much i can do sasha, I'm sorry I've been kinda negligent but you have to make choices now 😔
mag 40 human remains:
elias seeing jon prioritising statements and recording stuff over his health: ohh noooo jon please go home don't ask me about gertrude 😔
mag 48 lost in the crowd:
elias: apparently you've been SPYING on your colleagues jon, that is unacceptable 😤
and so on
i imagine it was so difficult to remain pokerfaced for him in certain moments, he sounds DELIGHTED in mag 92 nothing beside remains, i'm sure if he wasn't so dedicated to maintaining this professional bureaucratic evilman image elias would giggle and kick his feet.
everyone: tense, panicked, angry and scared while daisy pulls her gun on elias
season 4 of malevolent is definitely my favourite because it's hilarious to think about all the characters arthur meets. yeah yeah we all joke about season 4 being just all the men obsessing over this british wet cat with a piece of god in his head but let's just think about it:
• butcher: you get a "commission" to kill that one guy, nothing new, typical tuesday same shenanigans yk, but then you actually see that guy, and wtf is wrong with him. yeah he falls in your trap with name+ticket+note, goes to the back of the train and just when you think you got him, he fights you, tricks you. he's strange but he's interesting. you get to new york and by sheer luck get the adress, so YOU GOT HIM. little sad that you didn't get to kill him in the end but you've got loose ends and it's damaging the reputation so ok let's go kill the other guy. but there's just more trouble, what the hell - there's police and somehow they're onto you, HEY. and after all that trouble the said "commision" comes to you, and starts DEGRADING you in front of the whole hospital wing. only for you to get hit with a bedpan. humiliating. moreover, you get released from the police custody not because of larson's lawyers but b ecause the same 80-sopping-wet-british-supposed-to-be-your-victim comes to you and offers the deal to help him deal with the cult. apparently gods are real????? guys i just wanted to kill arthur lester why are we fighting cosmic horrors. and THEN there's THIS GUY, who appears out of nowhere, talks like he knows everything about anything AND THEN YOU STOP HEARING MUSIC. what a bad day for butcher
• marie: she should write a book called "unexpected consequences of renting out the room to british people". you get a call about the ad you posted recently, the guy is suspicious as hell but ok he's here in new york to make amends with his family and family is important (you would know). the same night your possessed sister, who did make trouble but never this severe, escapes. you panic, but said suspicious guy offers his help and you're desperate, so you agree, the priest who had helped before isn't really keen on helping now. so give this "parker" a chance. and he, against all odds, succeeds. you've got your sister back (apparently now she's not possessed), oscar lacks an arm and not really willing to share this story, but "parker" is mixed with all this. what a bizarre man. you're grateful, he's leaving, ig it'd be cool to exchange letters. imagine telling someone how posting an ad for a renting out solved your demon-related issue. insane.
• oscar: oh oscar, there's little to be said about this priest that's hasn't been said before. you're contacted about mr. scratch escaping, then this man shows up, threatening you (???) but when you're finally ready to be confrontational, he's... pleading. willing to help, and oh you're melting. you exchange information and depart after discussing what to research and how to contract one another. you find relevant info but when you call given number 1) uknown man answers and tells you that there's no one with the name parker; 2) said parker answers but then there's absolute chaos, screaming and shooting and wtf. you call for help, get to the hospital and then there's an absolute deranged parker showing up and thanking you for saving a life, he's hugging you. just this morning he acted like he held all the power over you, all-seeing and confident, but now he's worse to wear, beaten up and near-crying and muttering his gratitude to you. enter whole ep35 hospital scene that ends with you hitting a fucking serial killer with a bedpan. the man you saved arranges a little playdate for you and "parker". arthur is obviously strange: he talks to himself, doesn't notice some things that should be easy to notice, falls into sinister ramblings, but after you spilling your guts and him basically saving you from a relapse you see him as your purpose. yeah he lied to you, you're hurt that he didn't trust you it it all doesn't matter - god has put arthur lester in your path so you have to walk it. even if the said arthur lester has to cut your arm off with a rusty axe. and then arthur lester leaves. muttering excuses and apologies. drops you off near the hospital and leaves. did you fail? were you not enough? was it god's decision? god's punishment? what are you going to do now? write a letter. yeah, you should write a letter, surely despite a messy goodbye arthur will read it and understand your perspective. surely.
• noel finley: you leave dreamlands with a promise of this blind man with a familiar voice in his head and your partner's lighter showing up and needing your help. as you wait for two years i assume you form some vague expectation from said man. and then arthur lester shows up in the hospital after you yourself were called there about the butcher. he's standing here, rambling about the butcher, and he's acting str- wait a minute, could it be? care for a light? wow. deranged, beaten up, on a verge of collapsing from panic, but now is not the time to fall on your knees and kissing this man' boots saying "I've been waiting for you for two years, of course i will help you to take down a serial killer, i will help you with anything really". again, enter the whole ward scene when arthur lester unprompted acts as a distraction for dennis "butcher" collins, calls him dog, confesses his own crimes, his murders. when the butcher is dealt with (good work with a bedpan, father), you chat a little and oh. arthur gets it. "you already know about all the horrors beyond human' comprehension." doll, you have no idea. anyway, let's meet up later and have a proper conversation, you use time to find some information on arthur lester and yeah, toss all your expectation on your purpose out of the window. but that doesn't matter - you promised lorick. next day you talk to the guy again, he confesses to being blind and having a voice in his head and it's kinda funny how nervous he is. and then there's john. cool guy, they could be friends, right? fuck me, king in yellow? right after you met your purpose and relived all your past by telling its story to said purpose? no, nope, fuck this, anyway, why's arthur so cagey about john's identity? oh, oh. oh no. okay, anyway, hurts like hell but you get it. kinda unnerving to see how arthur talks to the reason of your nightmares like that, using the nickname "yellow" to literal god. "let down"? what are you, exes? well, it's obvious now that arthur has a lot of history he did not care to share with you. fuck you yellow fuckface. fuck you larson. come on let's take this assholes down. and what a rollercoaster it is. from hanging down the balcony to seeing john manifesting, to getting shot in the neck, to witnessing another god showing up, blowing collins' head up with a snap of fingers, sending larson and king in yellow to dreamlands and then he snaps again and you're gone as well. arthur lester, for fuck's sake, who are you?
i think we all know i rambled enough so i won't bother to describe Daniel's part "son-in-law shows up after several years of no-contact and literal minutes later you get confirmation that supernatural is real, and then you get shot by the guy who hunts arthur down. what a day huh" in details. you get the point, great season.
I've been seeing all these debates (/silly) about who would win in a fight/survive in other's setting - jonathan "the archivist" sims or arthur "middle c" lester and chat are we suuuure we want to give arthur any MORE entities to interract with?
someone said that arthur survives the whole series because of insane plot armour (i.e. gods like him) and YOU'RE NOT WRONG BUT THERE'S A BIGGER PICTURE - we place this man in a tma he brings his plot armor with him, this man doesn't die he gets MORE POWERFUL
• the buried - the man who always falls into holes, claustrophobic and was buried alive (/dark world)? eat him up
• the corruption - remember that moss thing from part 16 and how quickly it was consuming arthur? or insects in part 19? or witch's maggots? or horig? or how quickly arthur felt like he belonged when kayne showed him "draft" of this new reality?
• the dark - man who constantly walks into it despite being terrified of it? suuuure
• the desolation - the first two seasons arthur's FIRST-GO-TO SOLUTION IS ARSON (kellin + cauterizing the pinky in the woods + he literally made Molotov cocktail in the ghoul's pit), he brings his lighter with him everywhere, his view of his daughter (the hope) is literally light/fire, he's burnt his bridges with oscar and then chose to forget about him AND THEN BURNT HIS LETTER, HE BURNT HIS FIRST FRIEND'S TOYTRAIN
• the end - my man died so many times and each and every time was terrified, he literally has a bone cathedral made with the bones of ten thousands versions of him + just to add – his parents died his daughter died his best friend died, "death surrounds you"
• the extinction - "we will all go together when we go" + he's literally the last one arthur lester left in the whole multiverse
• the eye - do i need to comment on this? this man's thirst for knowledge and answers rivals if not beats jon's, beholding would eat him up (/affectionate)
• the flesh - "it's just a body" before butchering antoine was said as self-persuation but still + arthur ate a man and enjoyed this
• the hunt - he went into the Hunt™ in the dark world + his whole parallel with dennis "the butcher" collins works because they're both hunters, and arthur constantly gets to be hunted
• the lonely - oh, you wanna introduce the orphan, who felt RELIEF (guilty) after his daughter died because it felt good to "to spend the evening out without anyone worrying about me, without wanting me", who got attached to a piece of god despite hating him (at the time) because "I can't lose another person", who constantly reaches out trying to connect (read: all the creatures, oscar, noel), who felt like he was "a guest in someone else's life"? yeah, buddy, okay
• the slaughter - he brutally murdered a widow under the lighthouse with a rock, he squized faust's eyes out, he put his fingers into larson's gunshot wound
• the spiral - HE CONFUSES LEFT AND RIGHT + the crawling chaos and the king in yellow are obsessed with him, you want to add the distortion to it?
• the stranger - for now i think it's the weakest point of my whole rant here, because it's hard for me to grasp (I'm open for discussion) how arthur fits here - maybe the whole mask thing? or his unbecoming as he loses pieces of himself on his way? hmmmm
• the vast - again, falling + i want to say smth about his love for stars + his feeling about being small and unimportant in the whole grand picture of things when he sees his "fate" laid down in the foliant (part 11) in front of him
• the web - I'd say he's quite prone to being manipulated (hi kiy, john, kayne, manager, lillith), huh
also jmart travelled the eyepocalypse world in their last season while dating and being actively in love, knowing each other for a few years atp + jon was close to god
meanwhile jarthur got to dreamlands* and walked local territory while fighting bickering and hating each other, john literally just a voice, arm (to the elbow) and a foot, arthur is a unhinged blind man. THEY KNEW EACH OTHER FOR A FEW DAYS (well if we exclude 1month coma)
that is not to downgrade jon or jmart, i'm saying the opposite - jmart walked the god's domain surviving and helping each other, they're superior. because jarthur are more like cockroaches - survive at every turn whatever you do /silly
OF COURSE I'm not serious i hate powerscaling with all my heart, jon and arthur should kiss sloppy style but still it was fun to look at arthur's character from this angle
*i think that dreamalnds is more similar to eyepocalypse than the dark world, anyway the post is a joke i had my fun
smth about the fact that these dialogues have happened sequentially with basically no time in-between makes me so incredibly sad. arthur did play the piano parker had got him but only after peter himself died. was killed by the same entity that advised arthur to play to calm down. mere moments later
art is in your name. art is really in the eye of the beholder. look at me.
i often think about how kayne didn't get the opportunity for arthur to see him.
when they first meet arthur is blind and john describes kayne quite vaguely (due to the fear and nervousness), in coda arthur is blind and john is not here to describe kayne. in part 28 arthur is unconscious (+blind), in part 40 - blind. part 52 still blind (although he could potentially see kayne if the latter was there during fight with lillith and "i can see the stars" moment. but in part 58 arthur gets his sight back for a brief moment and sees lillith, larson, john/kiy, some of cascosa. and then he gives his sight up again.
there are a lot of sayings about eyes being the mirror of one's soul or how eyes speak, etc. for the majority of part 59 kayne hides his face and even when it's revealed he lets john describe him, but not the eyes. he interrupts. it's almost like he wants arthur to see and understand him but not entirely, because that would mean kayne must show his vulnerability, and that is beneath him. look at me artie, but not the parts i'm not ready to show.
in part 60:
kayne sounds almost bitter. he SHOULD - imagine finding out that the guy you're obsessed with can't see you, well, NEVER and 1,5 time he could - you're not there. kayne you poor loser. and again - all of that to be reunited with john
I'm relistening to malevolent for the 6th time, currently part 20 and i have to say - CRAZY to listen to all the things kayne says when arthur and john first meet him. things that happened and not yet, things he references so easily, i LOVE kayne and his role in the narrative, him literally shifting it, interrupting it and putting it on upper level, showing it that there's a wider picture
i love to dissect and think about all the things he says and how he says them
• faroe's song (pretty fascinating how he finds it catchy and nice when it's fool of grief and loneliness of ARTHUR)
• "who am i? I'm a friend, the only friend you have right now arthur" (first thing john says to arthur)
• [what do i want] that's more important than who i am" because it's always about what he wants to become and what he wants to leave behind with kayne, not who he is (who and what he was made to be by azathoth)
• "shh, john or whatever you want to be called" ngl it ALWAYS makes me flinch when people/beings interrupt john or show that they can hear them. i flinched when kellin dropped that line about mother not being a whore or when trader argued with them. but NOBODY does it like kayne.
• "you already asked that didn't you god I'm terrible" it's not clear if he says it because he's losing focus in this conversation or because he loses his self of identity, his memories are mashed and mixed with other versions', he met other versions of arthur but some of them went differently, "we had this conversation before" or smth like that
• "want it [music box]? i have it, i have hundreds of them" i just imagine all these music boxes lying around after he took them from all these faroes' graves or from other arthurs' themselves. terrifying image.
• "it was a lure my love" well..... press f
• "fish, Arthur, now caught. "caught" ia such a poor word, you know. you're not caught, you'll leave alive, alone and afraid" yeah that's basically what happens. arthur doesn't die despite cutting his own throat, john leaves him AND arthur is sure as hell afraid.
• "kings are mortal, they are weak. powerful, but by your standarts, artie, not mine" is a great example of what i said earlier about shifting the narrative. so far the king in yellow was above it all, the central antagonist, a god... but here we have a revelation that he's beneath kayne, it's not even an exaggeration because we see it - the way kayne puts yellow in and out of commission with a snap of his fingers.
• "the better half of your better half" is a partial reference to what arthur called KIY when speaking to john
• "i wanna see how this little song plays out" -> "why did you never finish faroes' goodbye" because kayne always wants to see things to their end
• "i don't have a dog in this fight. whether or not hastur gets his heart back - irrelevant to me" that's true, atp in the story kayne is trickster-type of side character, KIY is still main antagonist for now, kayne will change it later, it WILL become relevant to him because hastur's heart (john) plays a big role in his main wager.
• it's crazy to think about how many things we as a listeners get to hear about arthur himself from kayne here, before that, we heard bits and pieces and that's ONLY because arthur shared them willingly although reluctantly - parker, boys' brigade, faroe, his job as composer (story of faroe's death was only shared with john because arthur suspected they may not come out of that trap with ghoul alive, so "i might as well tell"). other than that we know NOTHING about arthur despite him being a main character. and here we have kayne, speedrunning arthur's background like it's nothing (he also references how arthur liked bella but didn't love her) - the way he's oh so occasionally talks about seeing arthur's parents kill themselves (mind you it's the first time we hear ANYTHING about them)
• "and i still don't see what the big deal is" - i LOVE how this plotline of meaning comes to the very end of the podcast - something is only meaningful when WE give it meaning, we are the masters of our fate we are the captains of our souls - john finding meaning in human life lets him finally change from the fractured soul of the king in yellow to john doe, arthur finding meaning in hope and the road he chooses is what keeps him going. as lillith said - kayne is the architect of his own demise, he makes arthur special HIMSELF and he doesn't even realise it, he wants to understand what makes arthur different though HIS INTEREST is what makes it so.
• "but you do [know what makes you special] because if i don't, that only leaves one other person" also correct, but it's not arthur who knows, it's kayne, just not the version currently speaking (i.e. the manager)
• "maybe that's it, maybe someone likes you and they're just fucking with me, knowing it'll drive me crazy, lillith you bitch" NOT-SO-SUBTLE FORESHADOWING I WOULD SAY, but also as i stated in previous point, KAYNE liking arthur is a big part of what makes arthur special (again, kayne wants to find the meaning of arthur which subsequently gives arthur meaning kayne wants to see, a self-fulfilling prophecy, in a way)
• "let's just say i understand you very well" and he wants to be understood in return..... on arkayne what you do to me
• "you think i know the future?" over million variations of it :)
• "divorce yourself from this yella fella" and then he tries to divorce them for the rest of the podcast.
• "I'm a big ol' fan of you two" yeah he's such a big fan he writes fanfiction (benevolent) and gathers merchandise (arthur-orchestra + arthur-wings)
• "of course it's not true, john is grown, he's regretting, he's a hero now he's gonna sacrifice himself for you, OBVIOUSLY" hey, spoilers man :/
• "of course it's a choice" i have a lot of thoughts on kayne's misunderstanding of the concept of choice, linking it back to him never being able to make his own choices, but i can't dress these thoughts in pretty words now. "it's not your choice or his choice" nor it is kayne's (in his opinion), they're all prisoners of azathoth, "everything you desire and you want, you feel" - because kayne HIMSELF is under azathoth's thumb
• "only one of you goes away unscathed and neither of you go home" because without kayne's interference arthur dies and john rejoins king
• it's funny how kayne mocks arthur for trying to manipulate him into helping them by reverse psychology and daring, but only john's genuine dismissal of him is what makes him to pause and admit to starting to like them
• wheelchair joke send post
• "i see the two of you trying to separate yourselves and there is time and place I can't quite envision afterwards, it's almost tantalising - the prospect of not knowing, i like ot, a lot. it's like a surprise party" oh kayne my beloved of course you as omniscient being of thousand forms would LOVE seeing a new concept after aeons of existing BUT LOOK WHERE THIS NEW CONCEPT HAS GOTTEN YOU IN THE END, NOT SO FUN ANYMORE ISN'T IT?
• i love how arthur uses kayne's rhyming later in season 3 when telling yellow what should be in the bag. also lovely of him to tell yellow the wrong name - carmichael, it's the composer and songwriter which arthur also mentions to butcher in part 34
• also yeah the lighter and how kayne doesn't perceive it
• btw in coda kayne drags out "because" as [bɪˈkɒz-z-z] the same way arthur's friend james in part 31 does + him taking nickname "artie" from parker
• forever obsessed with the fact that kayne likes to be talked to, to be asked questions about himself, he's HAPPY to think of his own name to introduce himself with, i wonder why he chose kayne (is there connection to biblical cain, ironic "brother keeper" and all that)
• "i hate this cryptic bullshit" oh arthur honey you have no idea
to sum up i want to tell you the joke i told my best friend after listening to the finale:
malevolent 🤝 supernatural
first season: we have to [small goal like separate ourselves/find dad]
last season: we have to kill god
live laugh like kayne (whether or not to put a comma between laugh and like is your choice 😃)
there's a moment in part 12 the end i keep returning to in my mind
i know intimately what arthur is talking about here. i think i haven't been able to be in silence for the last 5 years. i always have some noise in the background and if i don't - i try to distract my brain - reading, watching, ACTIVELY thinking about smth. even going to bed i turn some youtube videos to serve as background noise.
in rare moments of silence around me it's like a torture, i'm alone with my thoughts and i need to get out. the silence itself is not a state - it's a bridge between noise from the world to noise from my head.
what i'm getting at is that ever since i started thinking about kayne's brain as the always turned on radio - this moment in part 12 is linked to this simile.
i wonder if he felt relief when he had this moment of silence - finally, he's the messenger no more, the outer gods do not speak, the voices are silent. finally, silence. silence which is broken when there's a new voice - otherworldly nyarlathotep and his memories slipping through the cracks and filling kayne's head with a noise so loud he's cringing.
have you ever had your music in earbuds paused, then you forget about that and listen to smth else (e.g. voice message from a friend) raising a volume and then you return to music AND IT'S SO FUCKIN LOUD YOU FEEL LIKE YOU CAN DIE FROM A SHEER LOUDNESS, like your brain will explode?
mix it up with a pure dread of realising your head will never be silent, with each and every new nyarlathotep killed your head becomes more and more "crowded". no wonder kayne was suicidal - live like that for a day you will want to tear out your own ear canal - kayne lived like that for god knows how long.
when i was small we had this big old mp3 player which could work as a radio or you could play your own tapes. it was old even then and the signal, as you can imagine, wasn't the best - one wrong touch could disturb the reciever and all you could hear until you fixed it - loud static mixed with old player screech. i imagine kayne like that.
also it fascinates me how there is a distinct parallel between kayne's wish for silence but inability to gain it versus arthur's "odd sensation" at it.
again with their different sense of self (i talked about it here) now regarding silence in their head - arthur had it but was robbed of it when he met john, and yet when he gained it again (in coda and in 58) he was INSTANT to gain the voice in his head back. for arthur silence = loneliness, he's afraid of it, he's afraid of being abandoned and being alone. knowing what we know of his backstory - I'm not surprised.
kayne doesn't understand it - for him arthur is WEIRD to want that radio turned on, he doesn't understand how arthur can choose to gain john back even if it takes his sight away.
that's because for arthur radio silence is about loneliness and for kayne it's about control. he says it himself during first meeting:
"Look, I often wish I had two voices in my head Instead of, like, seven million?"
he's ready to leave the radio turned on ONLY if he has control of the channel and volume. he wants his own new mp3-player, not the old wreck that his dad got him. and the most tragic thing - kayne threw old one away, and then went to hardware store and bought exact same one.
some time ago i saw a post saying smth like "arthur should get weird about anybody touching the back of this head yk after part 59 and what kayne did" and since then (maybe longer if i'm being honest, i LOVE making arthur miserable and weird) i've been pondering the thought "what if we take it further?"
make him weird BEFORE THAT, make him WEIRDER:
yes of course make him weird about someone touching the back of his head, but not because of kayne, no. because of the creature in larson's mines. yk the one that attached one of its tendrils to the back of his head/neck to absorb arthur into collective consciossness TWICE, the one that had to be carved out of his body with a jagged piece of obsidian. make him twitch when someone gets too close to his neck, give him a tick when his hair get long enough to brush the skin on the neck, like a splinter that you definitely got out but damn it itches it's like it's still here, just let me check again, did you get all of it? are you sure?
make him hate the dry feeling on his mouth, make him panic at the slightest feeling of thirst. john do we have enough water on us? trust me when i say this - you experience a truly dry tongue once, you try to avoid feeling it again at any cost. arthur should feel that after the pits.
not really original but yeah honorable mention - food issues. power it up that he's blind and all he can rely on is texture, smell and taste. ham has a gristle in it? omg is that cartilage, john what's going on? hair accidentally gets in the dish? huh, it's not braided is it? and suddenly the bug that just happened to drown in his soup taste the same from the makeshift grave he dug mr. faust out of. he thinks he can still feel his teeth grinding on dirt.
i actually use it in my arthur's design but the torn skin on his cheek should go to his eye and bulge, idk if anyone noticed but i think it's a cool idea. also good opportunity to make john weird about smth getting too close to his eyes (personal experience again - i can't stand knives and needles pointing at me at arm's lengh, it's hideus, i see a sharp end even remotely turned to me i'm in panic, and considering how many times john had to witness arthur getting hurt i think it's fair for his character to not like sharp object pointed at them even if it's not in threatening manner)
i think it's truly sad that we as listeners didn't get arthur falling out of habit of using his left hand and right foot in season 3. he's so used to not feel them that when he gets to feel them again he just... forgets. e.g. he tells yellow to help him to hold smth and yellow takes a second and then asks confused "how do you expect me to do this?" and arthur is ready to shoot smth salty back but then it clicks. he controls both hands now. furthermore, he stumbles or limps with his right foot, failing at putting weight at it.
i already said it in my post about noel and arthur's relationship so i'm not repeating all of it, make arthur unable to trust easily
and so on and on, make this pathetic british wet cat miserable, i want to watch him getting twitchy like a bug, it's fun!
