History Podcast / TheMagnusArchives

** [[spoiler:Several details in the plot point to the entire setting being in a slightly alternate universe. For instance, Robert Smirke (a fairly major PosthumousCharacter and real-life architect) died in April 1867 in the real world; he dies writing a letter to Jonah Magnus mid-February.]]

** MAG 142 reveals that Jon's been an UnreliableNarrator - [[spoiler:he's stated on tape that he's only been using his powers for the greater good (i.e. on [[KickTheSonOfABitch villains]] and people with information so crucial that the benefits of learning it outweigh the costs of hurting the person), but in reality he's been going out between episodes and [[HorrorHunger feeding on innocents]]]].

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: A non-translation related example. Whether the main character is Jon or John is surprisingly controversial, due to clashes between the official answers (John with an H) and the fandom consensus (Jon without an H).
** The in-universe WordOfGod reason is apparently that since Johnathan (with an H) is more common than Jonathan (without an H) in Britain, everyone has assumed the H is there and Jon has resigned himself to this.
** Jonathan Sims (the author) has also stated that the Doylist reason for this is to [[TheDanza maintain separation between himself and his character]].

** Even on the tapes there a frequently bursts of static, ranging from faint crackling when significant phraaes are said to screeching when [[HumanoidAbomination monsters or particularly far gone avatars]] show up.

* TokenGoodCop: Overall the police aren't exactly presented in [[BadCopIncompetentCop a positive light]], being at best {{Punch Clock Hero}}es, with nearly every character example being presented as [[DirtyCop corrupt]] or needlessly [[PoliceBrutality brutal]] in one way or the other. [[RabidCop The Inspector]] framed numerous innocent people, Detective Robert Montauk was a disciple of [[HunterOfMonsters the Hunt]] and [[SerialKiller murdered forty people]] (albeit under duress), an unnamed patrolman was secretly taking bribes to let people off tickets, and even [[FriendOnTheForce Basira]], who is genuinely well meaning and honest, looks the other way at [[KillerCop Daisy]]'s extrajudicial murders out of personal loyalty to her. Furthermore, the London Police in general deal with the supernatural by lumping all problems on officers who have already been exposed to it, refuse them any extra support, and happily ignore the fact that solutions regularly result in deaths, even of other officers, only caring about the possibility of [[BrokenMasquerade it being exposed]]. However, Sergeant Terrance Simpson and his partner Constable Clara Ross (both of whom notably aren't part of the Met) from "125: Civilian Causalities" are presented as honest and well meaning, with them having to deal with the victims of the HatePlague that [[WarIsHell the Slaughter]] unleashed upon the village and Simpson making it clear he tried his best to ingratiate himself to the locals and become part of their community.

* OneSteveLimit: Averted with the characters of "Michael Crew," and "Michael," both of whom are mentioned in multiple episodes and both of whom [[spoiler:are avatars of one of the Powers (the Vast and the Spiral respectively)]].
** Also Mikaele Salesa; although his name is pronounced differently, it is derived from "Michael" all the same.
** Due to the sheer amount of statements, there are also plot irrelevant characters that share the same name, which is especially noticeable for the numerous Michaels (episodes 5, 13 and 23 at the very least) and Jon/Johns (episodes 2, 15 and 55 at the very least), as there are also plot relevant characters by those names.

''The Magnus Archives'' is a {{horror}} podcast written and performed by Jonathan Sims (of Music/TheMechanisms fame) with a supporting cast and occasional guests. It began in 2016, and concluded in 2021.

->''"End recording."''

In October 2022, a sequel podcast titled ''The Magnus Protocol'' was confirmed to be in development. Rusty Quill intends to crowdfund it as a multi-season story. It is set to premiere in January 2024; a trailer can be found [[https://youtu.be/zN-2bTAYrlg?si=aSJPRikTaHnM592V here]]. They are also doing crowdfunding to produce [[https://www.montecookgames.com/announcing-the-magnus-archives-rpg/ a role-playing game based on the podcast]].

** Whenever the Not-Them performs a KillAndReplace on someone, rewriting reality in the process, there are always one or two people who remain unaffected and realise they're not the same person. However, the Not-Them does this ''deliberately'' since the unaffected people generally didn't know the victim very well and thus constantly question themselves and what they're seeing, creating more unease and dread.

* GlamorFailure: Whenever the Not-Them performs a KillAndReplace on someone, rewriting reality in the process, there are always one or two people who remain unaffected and realise they're not the same person. Of course, this is assuming the Not-Them isn't doing it deliberately to create more unease and dread...

In October 2022, a sequel podcast titled ''The Magnus Protocol'' was confirmed to be in development. Rusty Quill intends to crowdfund it as a multi-season story. They are also doing crowdfunding to produce [[https://www.montecookgames.com/announcing-the-magnus-archives-rpg/ a role-playing game based on the podcast]].

** Static appears on the tape recordings when someone they are recording uses a supernatural power.

* {{Foreshadowing}}:

In October 2022, a sequel podcast titled ''The Magnus Protocol'' was confirmed to be in development. Rusty Quill intends to crowdfund it as a multi-season story.