I wouldn’t say it’s as primal as those two and the flesh. I would say it’s a little bit more advanced, maybe on par with the Slaughter, The Stranger and say the Dark? Like it’s hovering in that liminal space between primal and semi primal?
With its domain over toxic relationships and identity, I think the Corruption can definitely beat the primal allegations. I do agree that most invocations of the corruption appear to be primal since they just "grab a foothold wherever and start growing" but it's just advanced enough that I think it escapes that handily.
I personally believe it’s more in the middle of the entities creation wise, probably only emerging around the time cities started to emerge, a bit before the eye, around the same time as the buried, deselation, and web, and a good bit younger than the hunt and dark
I would argue its basic for humans but not as quite as primal. A lot of animals don't really fully understand what is disguisting and what's not. Sort of like how a dog eats out the trash because it doesn't understand or something. Not to say animals can't find stuff gross, especially if they eat something bad tasting, I just don't think it would have the level of fear necessary early on. Plus, when it comes to humans the concept of hygiene has gotten better, more complex, and evolved overtime and likewise fear of what is dirty has gotten strong and more impactful as we gain a better understanding of how unsanitary things can hurt us.
Genuinely. Sickness and parasitism have been around probably since close to the beginning of life on Earth, and whether through fear or other mechanisms, life has always needed ways to protect against parasites.
The description of "Le Petite Scarabée" crawling out of the bartender's fingernail, really stuck with me. Also Agape's episode "Love Bombing" inspired an enjoyable, almost existential fear, with people meeting the same mysterious, irreversible, visceral fate one by one.
I feel like the corruption doesn’t really have set rituals like The Slaughter, The Eye, or even the Stranger. The Corruptions rituals just…..spring up….like an infestation or a disease. The conditions just have to be right. Could Amhurst have been working on one? Maybe. I do love the toxic relationship aspect of the Corruption and were I an Avatar of the corruption? That would be my angle!
Skittering my beloved! So totally the power I would become an avatar to. The whole vibe of just taking what is good and letting it Rot is just so damn compelling. It's the only fear which one can look back on and see the objective good that was a part of it's early stages as it finishes decomposing you. And the objective good of your afterward. I think I was predestined to fall for it tbh. I remember back in highschool, reading short stories about the civil war and about a soldier finding a dead soldier's body being taken over by an ant colony, and being in absolute awe. Fully arguing against it being a symbol of the horror of war that the teacher was arguing was the intended meaning. I think I argued that he was removed from humanity's petty squabbles to rejoin nature under the iggus of the emergent being of the colony. What an awesome terror it must be. To experience decomposition while still aware of ones body. To feel yourself being reclaimed by life and to be cycled forever onward in its horrid majesty.
Gordy's dump was an odd episode to me. I was confused thinking that the boy was a victim to the old lady he was helping out, but you calling him her apprentice makes more sense. Also, cool idea for what could count as The Corruption's Ritual.
It's interesting that you (understandably) present The Corruption as diametrically opposed to The Lonely. The filth and rot associated with The Corruption very effectively isolates people from most people who may have gave them healthy connection. While the community offered from insects and worms is undeniably, I wonder if an Avatar that caved to one of the vivid molds in the series would still feel some amount of loneliness abated by the mold itself. On a different note, when you took back over from The One Who Was Covering For you, the phrase "Let me talk about the podcast", brought to mind the same compulsion the archivists felt to read statements. Well, maybe not a compulsion, but I wonder if just allowing the lore of the podcast to permeate your mind and spill out into a video gives you some of the relief that Gertrude has when saying statements outloud to herself.
Ivy Meadows was definately corruption! John Amhurst was there, and the issue was sickness and flies, his two favourite things. Honestly one of the more difficult episodes for me because of the descriptions, the fact that I'm interested in the same profession as the statement giver, and the fact that Melanie's father was there. Her connection especially made it seem so personal
Oh absolutely. Ivy Meadows is one of those stories that fades into the background a bit, but when you put it front and centre to get a good look at it, you realise how deeply unsettling it actually is. Definitely has to be pieced together from a few different episodes, but it's worth it.
When it comes to the relationship between the Buried and Corruption the connection to dirt and bugs they share is true. But I think there's something to be said about gross things becoming a lot more disgusting when you are trapped with them or forced to touch them. Seeing a roach on the street is disgusting but you can avoid it but if someone locks you in a small room and throws a bunch of roaches in there now you feel to deal with them crawling all over you and stuff which becomes a more terrifying thought. The same can be said about a lot of stuff we find disgusting, usually we want to keep our distance.
I feel like there is also an undertone with the hive of wanting love right?? Like you have the sexual encounter and you have the wanting to belong to a group. Everybody stereotypically speaking loves puppies right? And the puppy was named agape which is a type of love. I could totally see it as a stealth mission to create fear after creating a bonding experience
oh this is wild. i absolutely love you filling holes in the tma video essay genre, and then adding in a story??? im actually really interested in not just your continued analysis, but to see whatever web youve weaved
Corruption is described as having a 'song' to call out to victims who crave companionship like Jane....do you think that lonely, early days martin heard that song or felt that pull for two weeks while in his flat?
I think you're right about Agape... but not about Clankspool. The people throne was built on the fear of every infected person walking towards their doom with full knowledge of what was happening... they were essentially sacrifices. Amherst was essentially gathering fear and crafting it into a throne where he could become 'King'. Which in turn seems to me him attempting a Ritual which is using the idea of community and hierarchy to call his god INTO him.
I always read Jane Prentis' attack on the institute as an attempted ritual. The creeping rot that builds and builds and then suddenly there's a horde of filth
What weird to me about Crawling Rot is its association with 2 other emotions disgust and love(side note Fear Disgust and Love is one heck of a combo ) sure you can for instance associate Lonely with sadness or Slaughter with anger but who else? Narrative wise its also in weird space. Significant in season 1 as first real enemy(first contact goes to Michel) but then nothing in the present Sure Amherst is lurking but he is dead anyway as it turns out at the last minute. So in PCW our only representation was: We just met the guy (leto) was made into avatar last minute to ease suffering(Kennedy) nobody at village no Gordie, Benoît Maçon, Agape(will come back to it) Sure there are statements but due to Amherst, arguably most spotlighted Filth Character being already dead, Corruption after season 1 fells like background noise. It not just characters tho, even arguably most neglected fear, Buried , at least had coffin/artifact,but corruption? No plot relevant character, artifact, leitner, monster,place nothin! We even don't have Ritual name even though I believe we could have seen 2 attempts! Circle of Rot(Jane Prentiss) and Infectious Love(Agape){ because i think agape was some sort of ritual, it fells like it witch is important with fears dream logic.} Even though I am not personally not super big on Rot,Crawlies and Disease angle of Corruption and like metaphorical Toxicity part it still feels weird for something one so important to vanish completely out of the plot. I hope that it won't get same fate in Protocole and along more Plot neglected one will get some more focus.
Duuude no way I missed the next episode of my most anticipated series on RUclips! Saving it for later when I get home, thanks for all the great content afton!
I think this video marks a turning point and should be your template going forward. This is an excellent analysis. Concise, funny but still thorough. It'd probably be redundant at this point and I do think seeing your growth over the series stands as a testament to your commitment but I still can't help but want to see you redo the first few videos in this series with this marked growth.
I like the idea that there are multiple types of ritual for some entities as maybe sometimes there can be different catalysts, like with jane prentis it can be an avitar of an entity trying in her own warped mindset to do a ruitual, while in love bomb i dont think outside of the dog there where actually any avitars mentioned, like yeah sure you could say the cult leader was an avitar because the corruption in his case could be more mental rather then physical but that brings into question a fair bit of stuff so i dont think thats the case, for the cult it seems more like their own corruption was taken adventage of a sort of conduit in the form of the dog, easily able to latch onto these people and warp them to metaphorical and litteral unrecognizeability, and so in their case i do think it was also a ruitual but was done in a less direct and a less intentional mannor that got the same unsuccessful result as the people participating where both not avitars and not truly aware of what was being done, who knows, maybe the less aware the more inclusive a ruitual becomes twards other entities as the people participating may start to fear other things while its happening.
I think the Great Twisting was before 2008. The only source we have for the date of the Great Twisting is someone whose mind is falling apart. It’s not a stretch to think she forgot about the letter for years
It really is and, having spent a few weeks scouring the Corruption while researching this video, I really do think that the only thing even coming close was Prentiss' attack on the Institute, and that was snuffed out before it could even begin in earnest. MAYBE Amherst's attempt at melting an entire town, but that mostly seemed out of his own desires, not to service some greater eldritch god's attempt to emerge in reality. Maybe it was, and it certainly would be fitting, given it's what ends up "killing" (still not totally sure he's not out there somewhere as the first avatar of the Extinction) Dekker, but I feel like the description of Agape is just much more in line with the other Rituals we hear about. I think someone else here in the comments mentioned that the Corruption may not have Rituals per-se, so much as it just "pops up" whenever conditions suit it, and I definitely think that that could be the answer as well. Compared to the other Entities, the Corruption is simple, it's about insects and disgust, so it makes sense that it's Rituals are equally simple. Perhaps as a result of having simpler, smaller-scale Rituals, the Corruption is able to have more Ritual attempts at any given time, like a mould cropping up wherever its darkest and dampest. Since less "energy," or however Ritual attempts work, is being expended in each attempt, it may be easier for the Corruption to get to work on a new attempt, so maybe Agape, Amherst, and Prentiss were ALL trying smaller scale Rituals. Who knows, just a theory I saw down here that I'll definitely have to mention whenever I do the "recap" video.
The Corruption holds a weird place. I think it's just as primal a fear as The Hunt, or at least The End, but the series never treats it like that.
I wouldn’t say it’s as primal as those two and the flesh. I would say it’s a little bit more advanced, maybe on par with the Slaughter, The Stranger and say the Dark? Like it’s hovering in that liminal space between primal and semi primal?
With its domain over toxic relationships and identity, I think the Corruption can definitely beat the primal allegations. I do agree that most invocations of the corruption appear to be primal since they just "grab a foothold wherever and start growing" but it's just advanced enough that I think it escapes that handily.
I personally believe it’s more in the middle of the entities creation wise, probably only emerging around the time cities started to emerge, a bit before the eye, around the same time as the buried, deselation, and web, and a good bit younger than the hunt and dark
I would argue its basic for humans but not as quite as primal. A lot of animals don't really fully understand what is disguisting and what's not. Sort of like how a dog eats out the trash because it doesn't understand or something. Not to say animals can't find stuff gross, especially if they eat something bad tasting, I just don't think it would have the level of fear necessary early on. Plus, when it comes to humans the concept of hygiene has gotten better, more complex, and evolved overtime and likewise fear of what is dirty has gotten strong and more impactful as we gain a better understanding of how unsanitary things can hurt us.
Genuinely. Sickness and parasitism have been around probably since close to the beginning of life on Earth, and whether through fear or other mechanisms, life has always needed ways to protect against parasites.
The description of "Le Petite Scarabée" crawling out of the bartender's fingernail, really stuck with me. Also Agape's episode "Love Bombing" inspired an enjoyable, almost existential fear, with people meeting the same mysterious, irreversible, visceral fate one by one.
I feel like the corruption doesn’t really have set rituals like The Slaughter, The Eye, or even the Stranger. The Corruptions rituals just…..spring up….like an infestation or a disease. The conditions just have to be right. Could Amhurst have been working on one? Maybe. I do love the toxic relationship aspect of the Corruption and were I an Avatar of the corruption? That would be my angle!
Agape being an attempt at a ritual does make sense....it doesn't act like a monster since it moves to make a sort of group
Skittering my beloved!
So totally the power I would become an avatar to.
The whole vibe of just taking what is good and letting it Rot is just so damn compelling. It's the only fear which one can look back on and see the objective good that was a part of it's early stages as it finishes decomposing you. And the objective good of your afterward.
I think I was predestined to fall for it tbh. I remember back in highschool, reading short stories about the civil war and about a soldier finding a dead soldier's body being taken over by an ant colony, and being in absolute awe. Fully arguing against it being a symbol of the horror of war that the teacher was arguing was the intended meaning. I think I argued that he was removed from humanity's petty squabbles to rejoin nature under the iggus of the emergent being of the colony.
What an awesome terror it must be. To experience decomposition while still aware of ones body. To feel yourself being reclaimed by life and to be cycled forever onward in its horrid majesty.
Gordy's dump was an odd episode to me. I was confused thinking that the boy was a victim to the old lady he was helping out, but you calling him her apprentice makes more sense. Also, cool idea for what could count as The Corruption's Ritual.
It's interesting that you (understandably) present The Corruption as diametrically opposed to The Lonely.
The filth and rot associated with The Corruption very effectively isolates people from most people who may have gave them healthy connection. While the community offered from insects and worms is undeniably, I wonder if an Avatar that caved to one of the vivid molds in the series would still feel some amount of loneliness abated by the mold itself.
On a different note, when you took back over from The One Who Was Covering For you, the phrase "Let me talk about the podcast", brought to mind the same compulsion the archivists felt to read statements. Well, maybe not a compulsion, but I wonder if just allowing the lore of the podcast to permeate your mind and spill out into a video gives you some of the relief that Gertrude has when saying statements outloud to herself.
Ivy Meadows was definately corruption! John Amhurst was there, and the issue was sickness and flies, his two favourite things. Honestly one of the more difficult episodes for me because of the descriptions, the fact that I'm interested in the same profession as the statement giver, and the fact that Melanie's father was there. Her connection especially made it seem so personal
Oh absolutely. Ivy Meadows is one of those stories that fades into the background a bit, but when you put it front and centre to get a good look at it, you realise how deeply unsettling it actually is. Definitely has to be pieced together from a few different episodes, but it's worth it.
When it comes to the relationship between the Buried and Corruption the connection to dirt and bugs they share is true. But I think there's something to be said about gross things becoming a lot more disgusting when you are trapped with them or forced to touch them. Seeing a roach on the street is disgusting but you can avoid it but if someone locks you in a small room and throws a bunch of roaches in there now you feel to deal with them crawling all over you and stuff which becomes a more terrifying thought. The same can be said about a lot of stuff we find disgusting, usually we want to keep our distance.
I feel like there is also an undertone with the hive of wanting love right?? Like you have the sexual encounter and you have the wanting to belong to a group.
Everybody stereotypically speaking loves puppies right? And the puppy was named agape which is a type of love. I could totally see it as a stealth mission to create fear after creating a bonding experience
oh this is wild. i absolutely love you filling holes in the tma video essay genre, and then adding in a story??? im actually really interested in not just your continued analysis, but to see whatever web youve weaved
Corruption is described as having a 'song' to call out to victims who crave companionship like Jane....do you think that lonely, early days martin heard that song or felt that pull for two weeks while in his flat?
I think you're right about Agape... but not about Clankspool.
The people throne was built on the fear of every infected person walking towards their doom with full knowledge of what was happening... they were essentially sacrifices. Amherst was essentially gathering fear and crafting it into a throne where he could become 'King'. Which in turn seems to me him attempting a Ritual which is using the idea of community and hierarchy to call his god INTO him.
Hmmmmm... interesting! I actually really like that. Might even have been a pre-ritual, like the creation of Agnes, who knows.
You got me hyped for the desolation video now-Agnes Montegue is a fire ghost??
I always read Jane Prentis' attack on the institute as an attempted ritual. The creeping rot that builds and builds and then suddenly there's a horde of filth
What weird to me about Crawling Rot is its association with 2 other emotions disgust and love(side note Fear Disgust and Love is one heck of a combo ) sure you can for instance associate Lonely with sadness or Slaughter with anger but who else?
Narrative wise its also in weird space. Significant in season 1 as first real enemy(first contact goes to Michel) but then nothing in the present Sure Amherst is lurking but he is dead anyway as it turns out at the last minute. So in PCW our only representation was: We just met the guy (leto) was made into avatar last minute to ease suffering(Kennedy) nobody at village no Gordie, Benoît Maçon, Agape(will come back to it) Sure there are statements but due to Amherst, arguably most spotlighted Filth Character being already dead, Corruption after season 1 fells like background noise. It not just characters tho, even arguably most neglected fear, Buried , at least had coffin/artifact,but corruption? No plot relevant character, artifact, leitner, monster,place nothin! We even don't have Ritual name even though I believe we could have seen 2 attempts! Circle of Rot(Jane Prentiss) and Infectious Love(Agape){ because i think agape was some sort of ritual, it fells like it witch is important with fears dream logic.}
Even though I am not personally not super big on Rot,Crawlies and Disease angle of Corruption and like metaphorical Toxicity part it still feels weird for something one so important to vanish completely out of the plot. I hope that it won't get same fate in Protocole and along more Plot neglected one will get some more focus.
Duuude no way I missed the next episode of my most anticipated series on RUclips! Saving it for later when I get home, thanks for all the great content afton!
14:07 Disco Prentiss!
Let's fucking gooo a video essay on magnus archives
I think this video marks a turning point and should be your template going forward. This is an excellent analysis. Concise, funny but still thorough.
It'd probably be redundant at this point and I do think seeing your growth over the series stands as a testament to your commitment but I still can't help but want to see you redo the first few videos in this series with this marked growth.
Really cool, almost found-footage style, clip near the beginning. I'm excited to see snippets over future videos weave a story.
The Corruption is one of the entities that unnerves me the most. Great job, as always!
Also, it can't be a TMA video without me getting jumpscared. 😂
I like the idea that there are multiple types of ritual for some entities as maybe sometimes there can be different catalysts, like with jane prentis it can be an avitar of an entity trying in her own warped mindset to do a ruitual, while in love bomb i dont think outside of the dog there where actually any avitars mentioned, like yeah sure you could say the cult leader was an avitar because the corruption in his case could be more mental rather then physical but that brings into question a fair bit of stuff so i dont think thats the case, for the cult it seems more like their own corruption was taken adventage of a sort of conduit in the form of the dog, easily able to latch onto these people and warp them to metaphorical and litteral unrecognizeability, and so in their case i do think it was also a ruitual but was done in a less direct and a less intentional mannor that got the same unsuccessful result as the people participating where both not avitars and not truly aware of what was being done, who knows, maybe the less aware the more inclusive a ruitual becomes twards other entities as the people participating may start to fear other things while its happening.
I think the Great Twisting was before 2008. The only source we have for the date of the Great Twisting is someone whose mind is falling apart. It’s not a stretch to think she forgot about the letter for years
Your Agape Theory is a very sharp one. I guess the question to ask to test it would be "are there any greater examples of a instance of corruption".
It really is and, having spent a few weeks scouring the Corruption while researching this video, I really do think that the only thing even coming close was Prentiss' attack on the Institute, and that was snuffed out before it could even begin in earnest. MAYBE Amherst's attempt at melting an entire town, but that mostly seemed out of his own desires, not to service some greater eldritch god's attempt to emerge in reality. Maybe it was, and it certainly would be fitting, given it's what ends up "killing" (still not totally sure he's not out there somewhere as the first avatar of the Extinction) Dekker, but I feel like the description of Agape is just much more in line with the other Rituals we hear about.
I think someone else here in the comments mentioned that the Corruption may not have Rituals per-se, so much as it just "pops up" whenever conditions suit it, and I definitely think that that could be the answer as well. Compared to the other Entities, the Corruption is simple, it's about insects and disgust, so it makes sense that it's Rituals are equally simple. Perhaps as a result of having simpler, smaller-scale Rituals, the Corruption is able to have more Ritual attempts at any given time, like a mould cropping up wherever its darkest and dampest. Since less "energy," or however Ritual attempts work, is being expended in each attempt, it may be easier for the Corruption to get to work on a new attempt, so maybe Agape, Amherst, and Prentiss were ALL trying smaller scale Rituals. Who knows, just a theory I saw down here that I'll definitely have to mention whenever I do the "recap" video.
Ah yes. Of all 15 Fears we finally get to the one I really never want to encounter.
more tasty knowledge for my brain hole!
Ahhh yes. The worm sex episode
i think the weird stuff about the timelines with anges are tied to hill top road?? idk thats how ive always seen it, with all the weird shit there.
Huhhh... that's actually a really fair point. Now you've got the cogs in my brain turning.
Nothing like the Cannon typical worms