#the unknowing

[shao-meredith-lynn]

All dressed and ready for the Dance!

Tag yourself, I'm the face on her left boob

(Closeups + lineart and sketch under the cut)

[madame-snail-smooches]

I am once again NOT getting over how the Unknowing reveals each character's most core instincts by stripping away their rational understanding of context.

Strip away Tim's understanding of the situation, and you see that his anger is bone deep and insatiable. There is genuine hurt and righteous fury there, but he no longer cares where that fury is directed. There's a reason Elias called him a "rogue element."

Strip away Basira's understanding of the situation, and she immediately starts caculating how to function with little to no available info. She relies so heavily on her senses and her own judgement of simple *if x, then y* logic that she doesn't need to understand things in order to navigate them. And she knows this, which gives her the resolve to see it through without second-guessing herself, either.

Strip away Daisy's understanding of the situation, and she is left almost ferally defensive. She doesn't trust anything, and she is so accustomed to operating in situations wherein she has the undeniable upper hand that she is immediately set on the aggressive (akin to an animal attacking out of fear) when she is no longer certain of where she stands. You see a similar, if more subdued, version of this in her interview with Elias when she loses her advantage and starts making more and more desperate death threats the more certain she is that he has one over her.

Finally, Jon. Strip away Jon's understanding of the situation and you find underneath it all the same core that has been there since the beginning of s1: an insecure man who is frightened by the significance of the task placed on him. A man who is desperately searching for some guidance and help. A man who is so intrinsically willing to trust if only there isn't some exterior circumstance causing him to doubt.

this podcast genuinely haunts me

[oatmealdoodles]

Now I just want you to join me for a dance

man this season finale altered my brain chemistry

I don’t know if you can tell but I referenced a lot from the “Ashes and Blood” Arcane scene for the distortion thingies

[edettethegreat]

Jon's progression of Marks is so deeply devastating, because the further along he goes, the more Marks he gets from trying to save people.

His first 4 Marks (Web, Eye, Corruption, and Spiral) were things that were done to him. He didn't seek them out. Mr Spider was in the pile of books his grandma gave him. he had no way of knowing The Magnus Institute was haunted. Jane Prentiss hunted him down, and so did Michael.

the next 2 were brought about by his own curiosity. he knew the risks of accosting Jude and Mike, but he went willingly. his desire to seek out knowledge got him Marked by the Desolation and the Vast.

Elias sent Daisy to Hunt Jon, so that would make it the 5th Mark that Jon had no agency in, and the 7th Mark total.

then comes the Unknowing. in an attempt to save the world, Jon's willing to give his life to destroy the ritual. Marks 8 and 9 (Stranger and End) are purely altruistic on his part.

and from there on out, he continues to only get Marked via Protecting People.

Slaughter's from saving Melanie. Flesh and Buried are from saving Daisy. Dark is from trying to stop yet another ritual, something that he still believes could potentially end the world. Lonely is from saving Martin.

[this brings the final count to an exactly even split; 7 from external forces, 7 from Jon's attempts at protecting people]

as Jon becomes less and less human, he tries to save more and more people. and he's willing to give his life to do so!! he's willing to die!

and he succeeds. he successfully managed to save all his friends. it only cost him the world.

[shart-factory]

in my van. straight up "breekon it". and by "it", haha, well. let's justr say. My Hope

[g3ck0o]

Hi question does anyone else have the TMA headcanon that post-Unknowing, Jon doesn't have the precise features he did prior. like. as in the eye piecing him back together Wrong after the explosion because of the stranger's influence during the event. maybe he's taller than before. maybe he has less freckles. maybe he has More teeth. maybe his nose is wrong and his cheeks are raised higher and his eyes are even wider. lol. lots of laughter. maybe the scars are all that remain familiar, even. blinks at u as I get hit with a truck

[danascullysjournal]

“Oh, Archivist.”

It’s finished! Nikola Orsinov kidnapping Jon sent me spiraling so I had to paint it. The horrors he endures😵‍💫🥺 poor Jon. I don’t think the creators meant to have the wax figures melting but that’s how it is in my head

Detail below:

[inhonoredglory]

Save your energy for the dance 🎪

or, jonathan sims has a very bad awful terrible day part 6/? ↳ nikola orsinov & the unknowing

(closeup and thoughts on the reblog)