1:38 the lady asks Jon in *CHINESE* “do u speak Chinese?” to which he replies “no”…. I rly like how the podcast still manages to put humour even during these dark times😭🥹
@@oak_w00d89 not sure how that's much of a spoiler m8 but in the future if you don't like spoilers I would suggest maybe not checking the comments till after because most of them talk about the ep :)
@@oak_w00d89 it isn't a spoiler as we already know he can speak other languages remember the statement all in French about the petite scarab his ability translates it. This podcast is full of little Easter eggs this is just one of them
@@f_mva No, I'm pretty sure they'd kill him anyway. Almost all of them hate the Archivist as a symbol, so I don't think it would matter to them how good he was. That's just my opinion obviously.
Lots of avatars have problems with the notion of time. I think they compare John now with Gertrude before her death. I mean, of course 50 years experienced Gertrude was better equipped than 3 years experienced John.
I feel like for now it seems to "fire up" randomly. In the French statement he realised he can read the statement but not the french label on the invitation since it was not part of the statement
There's something weird about that because even though he read the French statement in English he still read some of the phrases like the little beetle in French and then apparently an English translation of it, so what the heck was going on there @@MineYamato
@@Drotdog they even weirder part is that he then translated into English, in the middle of the middle of the story that was supposedly written in French and then entirely automatically being translated to English by John's magic translation power
@@ZaphodJan A little late to this, but I think it's possible that she speaks a dialect and not a native Mandarin speaker (or at least doesn't speak Beijing accent). Because her accent is very authentic but her Mandarin pronunciation is a little shaky even though she clearly knows what she's talking about. This is just based off of my experience as a native Cantonese speaker.
@@ZaphodJan I got confused too and went to check out the script, apparently the note says 'used here as best translation for Archivist' and I got more confused
I'm pretty sure Jon can't _speak_ Chinese but _can_ comprehend anything spoken to him. It's shown in MAG 102 that he can understand a statement written in Freach but not a card. So, his abilities scope is limited to being able to read/take statements and know the meaning of spoken language.
really thought the corpses following him were metaphorical until very later. absolutely adored this line "prisoner of the very opium I helped to force upon its people"
1:38 "you speak chinese?" 1:56 "i think its no problem, right?" 2:06 "no problem" (she's basically saying "you're welcome") 17:37 "not a problem (english), archivist" (but if you use google translate it'll say architect so whatever floats your boat)
@@spontaneouspentagonalweird7404 i personally think she's saying "archivist", but google translate says it's "architect", however i think i know chinese a tad bit better than google translate
eyyy I can understand everything except for "archivist"!!!! (You have to take the small victories. I still have to guess half the time on the rare occasion when my grandfather tries to speak Chinese with me.)
Jon: This has nothing to do with The Stranger, just war and death... Whatever power that may be Me: I mean it's The End right? Jon: Just DEAD END after DEAD END.... Me: ......JON.....
definitely slaughter, but as the show points out many times, the fears are like colors/cabt iexist without eachother. as a side note I think its just the inherent flaw in trying to make fears solid/seperate to such a degree. try separating love into its "13 main entities". its an impossible task, but it makes a fun story/world and is well writen so we look past that
also the end can blend with slaughter depending on its flavor, and the slaughter can blend with the flesh depending on the method of slaughter. hell they even mentioned cannibalism in this one. every fear is conected to every other dear no matter how slim the connection is. emotions in general are blurry amorphous concepts that defy being placed in little boxes
It’s unlikely that too many people will see this, but this little fandom inside the comment section is such a lovely place lol. I have so much fun seeing familiar names and pfps making jokes and observations! Everyone’s so helpful and respectful, it really makes me happy to be a part of the TMA fandom :)
i seriously hope Gerard is alive and well i vividly remember in first aid that he "apparently died from a brain tumor" and since then always had hope i think he's hot
okay, so like I know they're talking about the Taiping Rebellion but the way Jon says it I keep hearing the typing rebellion and every time all I can think about is the typing of the dead but as a gritty war game...
Finally someone online knows about that game. I swear I thought it was something I dreamt up as a kid because a bunch of people walking around on keyboards amidst a zombie outbreak was absurd. It was installed in the computer labs back when I was in middle school and that's how I came to know it lmfao.
i didnt expect it but i really like the war related statements, there's something just chilling and human about them, about coming face to face with death after you sent others to it, and about being unable to die even though you want to. which, typing it out, makes me realize - did all the war statements have something related to immortality or prolonged life? the guy that met the piper lived longer than he would have, the soldier that gambled with death went immortal, this guy wants to die but cant - is there some cases i'm missing, or?
I am a bit late but yeah you missed the statement about the field hospital and the restless guy who either couldnt or wouldnt die. I think you might be onto something.
I'm like, SUPER late to the party here but also the guy who went into a tunnel and the tunnel slowly became made entirely of corpses? At the end of the tunnel he encountered a dude who *really* should've been dead, and he encountered some other dudes who were like, zombies earlier in the same statement
I think a large part of it is that the statement has to get told somehow. They have to not only experience it for a while but also survive (unless there’s a rare workaround like this episode). From there, it’d be almost impossible not to draw on survivor’s guilt. Surrounded by death as it’s aimlessly tossed about, yet you yourself being unable to meet it.
I'm just so surprised and excited for the background works for this! I don't see anyone mentioned it in the comments but Pu Songling, name of the research center in Beijing, actually came from a famous Qing Dynasty author who wrote (or collect) tons of supernatural stories into a book. A great reference here!
The American organization dedicated to The Eye is named The Usher Foundation in honour of the Edger Allen Poe story _The Fall of the House of Usher_ . I like to imagine there are several other sister organizations of The Magnus Institute that are bastions of The Beholding scattered around the world.
1:35 i'd like to point out that 見鬼 translates directly to 'seeing (a) ghost' it can mean seeing something fantastical/absurd, or dying and going to hell (hence seeing ghosts) so it relates quite literally to the contents of the statement i know im a bit of a late first time listener but hey :D
I'm listening to this episode on YT for the 5th or 6th time, and it always makes me really happy to read someone's cool thought or piece of information that I couldn't have known on my own!
Nice job getting someone *who is actually Chinese and can speak it* to play a Chinese character! I was going to say something about the only Asian character having an accent, but I think it's just the actor's natural accent so I can't complain about that lol. [thumbs up] (Also they're in China, so it makes sense haha. It's just a point I want to make in general.) edit: she's not the only Asian character but half of them (like there's the Han meat family) are a bit stereotype-y anyways.
@@mimkyodar I think jude grew up in the UK while obviously this person is a Chinese citizen that knows english. Makes sense why one doesn't have an accent while the other does
I love that this series like is so serious but so funny at times like him straight up, not noticing she's speaking Chinese. I'm low key Excited to see him become less and less human
Another setup for a future conflict, episodes like this, may not be related to the current arc, but it is one of those episodes that are simply tied to the future ones after this "The Unknowing Arc".
Surprised to not see any comments about this but I suppose it might be psedo spoiler so below for theories: Reading the transcripts as I listen, it becomes very clear that The Nemesis was destroyed by another power, The Buried if I'm not mistaken. Could be The Vast though. "All I remember is waking up to the screaming of buckling metal, the louder screaming of doomed men in the decks below, and that third, deeper set of screams, that sounded for all the world like a cry of triumph." "When I plunged below the surface and watched the hulk of Nemesis, twisted, and disappearing into the deep, deeper than the Canton River should have been" While almost being drowned it can be easy to lose track of depth or even 'up', both real history and Magnus Archive history mention that the Nemesis was so effective because it could sail in shallow rivers. Hard to find good answers for the depth of the Canton River (Pearl River in modern days), shouldn't be enough to fully vanish a battleship though. Given the large amount of indiscriminate slaughter The Nemesis and especially the captain of that ship were dealing, I wonder if they were effectively doing a ritual for The Slaughter and (as we see they do in later episodes) was stopped by the other power? It clearly wasn't natural whatever happened. Oddly I do know The Nemesis shows up for a Slaughter ritual later too, so I guess they get it back somehow. As a final thought, while the captain clearly served Slaughter. The statement giver (Charles Fleming) is more complex, I suspect he did too until the ship was destroyed. I believe at that point and for the remainder of the statement that he is in unwilling service to The End. Hard to say obviously but I think it fits better.
Yeah definitely. I also really like episode 99 Dust to dust, the concept of dust pneumonia, of people drowning due to their lung's being full of sand, I just find it morbidly fascinating 😅
My theory from this episode and what we know so far: This episode reminds me Leitner's statement about how there are books that are tied with more than one entity and I feel like that is also the case in this episode too; it's not only just one entity present. Now, the dead that are following our witness, they are most likely manifestation of one entity only, but through out this episode we hear about things that may or may not have been manifestations of other entities as well. All in all, I believe that in this episode we hear about the Piper/war entity, the End and the meat entity (the cannibalism mentions). But I can't figure out which entity is messing with the witness, the End (since the dead are the ones who follow him) or the Piper/war entity (since the dead that follow him are dead from his own actions, from his own aggressiveness, and thus they are the result and consequences of war/killing). It's funny that John can't figure out he's understanding chinese :P
I need to do some research about the Taiping rebellion. Seems like there’s a lot going on in this story that a history lesson might help me grasp better.
If you are watching completely and also not seeing spoilers, well, you are basically Jon in a sense. Learning and gaining more knowledge over time, piecing things together etc etc very cool indeed!
I'm starting to think people think they have to post this on every episode. I mean, it was interesting when the show began but this is season 3 and we're over a hundred episodes.
@krishadyn5211 *playfully and gently smacks you on the back of the head not enough to really do anything but get a point across* Please be nice to the people having an epiphany :]
Jon not knowing he understood Chinese was eerie, but Zhang Xiaoling immediately responding “how long have you been The Archivist” is even creepier. She knows.
[CLICK] ARCHIVIST You’re sure you don’t mind? XIAOLING Of course not. Recording is what we are here for. ARCHIVIST And this is the same statement that Gertrude checked out? XIAOLING I will check again with my assistant, but it’s the only one we have from 太平天国运动 1 written in English. ARCHIVIST The Taiping Rebellion? I assumed it would be about a circus or, uh…? XIAOLING I have not read it, but I would be surprised. I seriously doubt there were any circuses at the time. I believe it was like a, um, 见鬼 2. ARCHIVIST [Snorts] I-Isn’t all war like a nightmare? XIAOLING Oh, 你说中文 3? ARCHIVIST I, I don’t, why? XIAOLING … How long did you say you have been Archivist? ARCHIVIST Uh, about two years now. XIAOLING Well, Elias made a good choice. I did offer him someone, but he thought the language might be too much for him. ARCHIVIST Huh. XIAOLING 我相信没关系是不是. 4 ARCHIVIST I-I suppose not. XIAOLING Anyway, I will leave you to your work. Let me know if you need anything. ARCHIVIST I will. Thank you. XIAOLING 没关系. 5 [XIAOLING LEAVES] [DEEP SIGH] ARCHIVIST The details I got from Gertrude’s documents lead me to believe that, before she made her way to New Zealand, she paid a visit here, to the Pu Songling Research Centre, Beijing. The centre is something of a sister organisation to the Institute, and while that means I have some… reservations about their motives, it does mean gaining access to their collection is relatively simple. According to Zhang Xiaoling, the librarian here, this statement was the one that Gertrude checked out during her last visit. So… Statement of Second Lieutenant Charles Fleming, regarding his experiences during the Taiping Rebellion. Original statement undated, but apparently written in early 1862. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London. Statement begins ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT) Yellow reeds and white bones. Yellow reeds and white bones. I hear it said so often now it almost has the rhythm of a joke. How can one have poetic clichés for a massacre? How can unspeakable carnage become so tired and repetitive? Even the most trite and poorly written of the penny bloods would, at least, make some show of a plot, or a purpose to the horror and the suffering. But here, beyond those pages, it seems the dead simply pile higher and higher on both sides, and nothing changes but the number of ghosts. On one side atrocities in the name of one who claims to be brother of Christ; on the other, slaughter in the name of the supposedly sane men who would stop him and his Heavenly Kingdom. And I find myself walking through the still and bloody landscape that has consumed all of China, scrawling my confessions on any paper I can find not yet saturated by mud and death. I am a stranger here, yet if you told me I were dead, and this place my just reward, I would not for one second doubt your honesty. I have seen no vision of hell that can compare. Neither could I say I have not earned it. Not for nothing do these drowned and murdered faces pursue me. Nemesis was my ship, under Captain William Hall. I was so eager to serve my country, how could I question what they asked us to do? The trade in opium was a cornerstone of the Empire, and when called upon to defend it against those Chinese that would threaten Britain’s rule of the waves, what could I do but answer? Was ever a man so eager to have his country beseech of him his violence? And there was violence aplenty aboard Nemesis. First of its kind. An iron warship. Small, lightly armed, but able to go where other British vessels never dared, far upriver to strike at the very heart of the Qing forces, where their defences were weakest, and the damage we could inflict most brutal. Captain Hall had a particular zeal for the work. He was a petty man, bitter, and never missing an opportunity to mention how long he had waited to command a ship of his own. Were I to judge solely based on the orders he gave, I would have been forced to conclude it was the Chinese who had slighted him, and now he exacted his vengeance. Truth be told, I simply believe he was possessed of a great cruelty. A cruelty I shared. I remember we sank a Qing ship off First Bar Island. Cambridge it was named, an old East Indiaman sold to the Chinese some years before. When she sank, a few crew made it aboard Nemesis, half-dead and utterly defeated. I cannot honestly recall whether Captain Hall ordered them drowned or whether I took it upon myself, confident in the Captain’s approval. Either way, it was certainly forthcoming. Theirs were the first faces that began to follow me. I would never have admitted that was why I paled when I passed by a looking-glass. Or why I shook my bunkmates awake, demanding that they stop singing. Truth be told, no one knows how Nemesis sank. I certainly have my own beliefs, my own dreams of what may have reached up towards us and taken its price, dragging that dreadful iron curse to the bottom of the Canton River. All I remember is waking up to the screaming of buckling metal, the louder screaming of doomed men in the decks below, and that third, deeper set of screams, that sounded for all the world like a cry of triumph. I managed to get to the deck, and leap from the bow into the waters of the river. When I plunged below the surface and watched the hulk of Nemesis twisted and disappearing into the deep, deeper than the Canton River should have been, I saw the water around me full of corpses, but when I finally broke the surface, I was alone. These corpses follow me still, though I am hard-pressed to see them now, surrounded as I am by death in all its myriad forms. If you ever wish to escape your pursuing guilt, there are few places so apt to hide it as a land devastated by unimaginable war. At least I shall not go hungry. I lost that particular moral qualm in Anqing. I believe thirty-eight fen was the going price for a pound of human meat by the end of the siege. Such a profound will to survive. In the end, it did no good. Zeng Guofan’s army breached the gates, and they put everyone inside to death. Sixteen thousand more corpses, soldier and civilian alike. There’s no difference anymore. Hide your hair braid beneath your hat, proclaim your allegiance until you have no breath left, compared to the danger of enemy spies or saboteurs, one more cadaver is nothing.
I’m lucky I still had my British uniform. Almost twenty years lost and abandoned in this country, a prisoner of the very opium I helped to force upon its people; I barely recognised myself putting it on. I’m lucky I never thought to sell it. It was an old design, a long way from the uniforms I see among my old comrades today, but it served well enough to get me through the Qing forces as they stormed through the streets. I am lucky, I suppose, that the only ghosts that chose to follow me were the ones I had to kill as I fled the city. I know there are others that see those behind me, and sixteen thousand lonely souls would be too much for them, I’m sure. They would be too much for me, but I’m not sure what that means anymore. After the fall of Anqing, I wandered this desolate country, though for how long I do not know. Days went by with not a single living creature to be seen, and only the dead for company. Yellow reeds and white bones. It struck me then how few of the fallen had died by the hand of another. War kills just as surely with hunger and sickness, and for every one bloodied and murdered, there were ten wasted to nothing or black with disease and rot. I suppose there must have been a terrible smell, but there is nowhere here the wind does not chase me with that scent, and I can no longer tell the stench of decay from the air itself. They are one and the same. Some months ago, I was captured. Not by the Taiping or the Imperial forces, at least they weren’t anymore. I believe they were once peasants, they had clearly never owned the building in which they kept me. There were three of them; one tall, who clearly spoke for his companions, one walking with a noticeable limp and an eye that refused to stop watering, and a third, whose right arm was so discoloured from a spreading infection, that he looked at me with a mixture of hate and helpless terror, as though I could do something to fix it. I did not fight when they barred my way with crude weapons levelled, and demanded my surrender. I have not fought since I left Anqing, and saw the true scale of the devastation. Believing me to still be a British officer, they intended, it seemed, to ransom me, but they knew of no British forces in the area, so were arguing as to whether to offer me to the Qing army or the nearest rebels. The tall one was adamant that the Imperial Army, now allied with the British, would pay them for my safe return, while the limping man was horrified at the thought. He had cut off his braid, he kept saying, and they would think he was loyal to the Taiping. The third man just watched me, listening to his companions arguing, and laughing softly whenever they mentioned money. I believe that he was the only one who truly understood. When the dead that follow caught up with me, they broke those poor fools apart like twigs, and dragged all three of them below the ground. And they were gone. I found water among their possessions and a small bag of rotten rice, and relishing the chance to wash the taste of blood from my mouth, I ate. I could still hear my would-be captors’ voices, and I wondered how long it would be that I still had to wait for death. Some choose not to wait, of course. I passed by the city of Hangzhou after it had fallen to the Taiping. The gate still stood open, as they were unable to close it for the dead. When the city was taken, the people had rushed out and thrown themselves bodily into the West Lake. It was solid with them. For three hundred yards you could have walked along their still bodies into the middle of the waters. I did, hoping against all hope that an arm might reach out and finally pull me down into that great mass of quiet death. But the waters of the lake were still and dark, and as I left, some who lay upon it rose to join me. I have no idea where to go now. I have walked so long my feet are bleeding, and I see nothing upon the horizon but more slaughter. More days without the living. So I write this, that some small record of what I have done and what I have seen may continue on. I sit here upon the steps of a Manifest Loyalty Shrine, a small provincial one, erected by a local governor who wished to cement his power now the more central shines can no longer keep up with the number of the dead. But this one is mine. I look at the names of the fallen engraved on the walls, the long and storied lists, and I know that each name is borne by one of those that follow me. It is the list of those that wait for me at the bottom of these steps, though whether they wait to follow me further or to finally descend upon me, I do not know. But my name will never be carved upon this stone. Though war and death have found me in this land, I have no place here. I came for no cause but violence and greed, and have been humbled by the unimaginable brutality of true and total war. I have nothing left, except to hope that what remains of my own life is neither long nor memorable. ARCHIVIST Statement ends. Good Lord. I had heard that the Taiping Rebellion was… but that… I wonder how much of what Lieutenant Fleming says is true and how much is, uh… I almost hope it’s all supernatural. Some hideous hallucination or otherworldly hellscape. Part of me really doesn’t want to look it up. It looks like Xiaoling was right though. No Circus. Nothing even that resembles the working of The Stranger. It… it seems to be purely war and violence, whatever power that might be. So why did Gertrude want it? I feel like… I’ve chased dead end to dead end until I finally give up. I-I mean, what am I actually looking for? Gerard Keay, after he faked his death? Some long confession he left tucked away in a library somewhere, telling me the ancient chant I need to stop the Unknowing from coming to pass? [Sigh] Maybe this is pointless. I should head home, help the others in their research. If I knew Mandarin or Cantonese, maybe I could look here for more answers, but as it is these files… Hang on, I think… I think this says 2004. Yes, 1992… 1997… 2004. If I’m reading this right, this file hasn’t been accessed for… wait. Ohhhh… [CLICK] [CLICK] ARCHIVIST So it’s been a waste of time then, has it? XIAOLING It was a very simple mistake. She did read that statement. ARCHIVIST I mean, in 2004, yes, but I-I need information about her visit three years ago. Did, did your assistant find anything about that? XIAOLING Yes. There were two accounts that Gertrude took out in 2014. ARCHIVIST A-And can I read them? XIAOLING According to our records, we don’t have them anymore. ARCHIVIST [Sigh] Well, Wh-what happened to them? Where are they? XIAOLING Apparently, they were sent on at the request of the Magnus Institute. ARCHIVIST Gertrude asked for them t-to, to be sent to her? XIAOLING I believe so. ARCHIVIST To the Institute or…? XIAOLING No, we have other channels of delivery for that. ARCHIVIST Then where? XIAOLING I believe it was an American destination. ARCHIVIST Oh. Oh, would you still have a-a copy of the address? XIAOLING I think we do. ARCHIVIST Thank you, Xiaoling. XIAOLING Not a problem, 建筑师. 6 [CLICK]
i'm going back to this and this one is really impressive and one of my favs, but i'm wondering wheter charles fleming was an avatar of the dead or of the slaughter
Almost certainly the slaughter. He focuses more on the senseless slaughter, and in fact it seems like death would be a relief to him in comparison to being harrowed by the slaughter
Personality wise he should have been an avatar of the slaughter. But I think that's what's incredible about this episode, the devastation feels so much more visceral because the description is coming from such a cruel, violent man who has been overwhelmed and destroyed by cruelty and violence he could never have conceived, and the slaughter has just gone out of him.
hey, i know i'm four months late, but 1:38 "you speak chinese?" 1:56 "i think its no problem, right?" 2:06 "no problem" (she's basically saying "you're welcome") also put a separate comment
@@tempusmars6272 I think the transcript you can access via the wiki page of the episode also have the translations if that's helpful. I'm not sure if other languages pop up in the future, but if they do that might be a good place to look.
I was barely into the episode when every scene from the redt of the episode flooded back into my memories, this episode is so well written that i genuinely remembered it in vivid horrid detail, so much so that I assumed it was from a comic or television show. I am once again absolutely astonished 😵
Jon accidentally speaking Chinese is so peak, happy to see him being respected. Lesseee here, another 20 or 30ish episodes another big bad entities names theory list[boy if most of these aren't basically confirmed now] 1.] The Vast 2.]The Buried prolly? 3.] The Desolation 4.] The Darkness 5.] The Lonely/Isolated? 6.] The Corrupted/Hive? 7.] The Web 8.] The Spiral 9.] The Eye 10.] The Stranger 11.] The Flesh/Meat? 12.] The Hunt 13.] The Violent/Slaughter/Bloodshed? 14.] The End (my personal weakness, damn that dead lady's last words effed me up) God this series is so good. One of my absolute favorites already and I'm only half way there.....lets keep going fellow archival assistants
Everyone in the comments talking about The Slaughter, The End, The Buried. And I'm like, did I miss something? Or does it happen that I don't know how many entities are there and which one is which because I listen to the podcast at work? Welp
Год назад
The Slaughter and The End both refer to death, one way or another. This episode like "Absent without leave" (Ep95 about post war Italy) have a lot of the horrors of war, things like death, slaughter, undead, etc. which are the things these entities feast on.
I wonder who Xiaoling suggested to be the archivist ™ and if they still have any connection to the beijing archivists. I'm guessing as this is the sister branch of the magnus archives the beijing archivists also know about the supernatural. Maybe they encountered a leitner or one of the beings as a kid or had a similar urge to consume knowledge like jon did before becoming the archivist. Would be cool to see them as a later character
The Pu SongLing Research Center and the Usher Foundation in the USA are both mentioned by Jon to be sister organizations to The Magnus Institute. They're all places of power for The Eye. It's implied, though, here that there is only _one_ Archivist if Xiao Ling offered to send one of her people to London to become the new Archivist. We can assume Xiao Ling is aware of the Beholding as their patron and the power of the Archivist from both her questions and reactions to Jon's abilities. It's also unknown how old the Pu SongLing center is. It might predate the Magnus Institute.
Silly thing, but I think this was the old british uniform that the merchant guy sold to the antique dealer in the Homophobic Vase episode. First time listener :)
“I offered an archivist, but Elias thought the language would be too difficult for them. 我想是沒關係，是不是？” ("I think it's no problem, right?") "I- I suppose not." 😂😂
I'm not as ignorant as the people who thought he was saying "Typing Rebellion" but I don't know enough to understand why a British officer thought he needed a hair braid. This episode could have used notes for not-British or Chinese.
@@-S.L.It shows that even though there are many places aligned to Beholding there is only _one_ Archivist. @ann-margretparke9525 I don't think she's attracted to Jon. I think she's impressed; even intimidated or awed by him. The Pu SongLing Research Center is another place aligned to The Eye. Jon visiting and casually displaying his power as an Avatar of Beholding would probably be like having the Pope visit.
Jon, in Chinese: “I wish I spoke Chinese :/“
1:38 the lady asks Jon in *CHINESE* “do u speak Chinese?” to which he replies “no”…. I rly like how the podcast still manages to put humour even during these dark times😭🥹
RIGHT
god Jon just having no clue that's she was speaking Chinese is so good omg
Such a cool detail.
What’s even cooler is that *he* was speaking chinese too and didn’t realise
Thanks for spoilers mate
@@oak_w00d89 not sure how that's much of a spoiler m8 but in the future if you don't like spoilers I would suggest maybe not checking the comments till after because most of them talk about the ep :)
@@oak_w00d89 it isn't a spoiler as we already know he can speak other languages remember the statement all in French about the petite scarab his ability translates it. This podcast is full of little Easter eggs this is just one of them
Jon is a very, very good archivist, no matter what any of the other avatars say. But I have a feeling that that's not a good thing.
if he wasn't so good at it, maybe the other avatars wouldn't see a need to kill him...
ah.
@@f_mva No, I'm pretty sure they'd kill him anyway. Almost all of them hate the Archivist as a symbol, so I don't think it would matter to them how good he was. That's just my opinion obviously.
Lots of avatars have problems with the notion of time. I think they compare John now with Gertrude before her death.
I mean, of course 50 years experienced Gertrude was better equipped than 3 years experienced John.
@@f_mva Well at least Michael wouldn't as it said
“Maybe if I knew mandarin or cantonese” did Jon really forget that he read a whole statement that was written in French?
I feel like for now it seems to "fire up" randomly. In the French statement he realised he can read the statement but not the french label on the invitation since it was not part of the statement
There's something weird about that because even though he read the French statement in English he still read some of the phrases like the little beetle in French and then apparently an English translation of it, so what the heck was going on there @@MineYamato
@@lahlybird895 Well that seemed to just be the name/title given so that's my theory
@@Drotdog they even weirder part is that he then translated into English, in the middle of the middle of the story that was supposedly written in French and then entirely automatically being translated to English by John's magic translation power
Jonathan's on a world tour now.
The Magnus Archives goes global.
The break that he really needed (and still needs)
Magnums archives 80 days around the globe
Mr. Worldwide
@@ButterflyColors Mr.305
As a Chinese person, listening to this episode makes me feel like the all knowing Archivist
tho tbh the chinese parts weren't exactly authentic
@@ZaphodJan A little late to this, but I think it's possible that she speaks a dialect and not a native Mandarin speaker (or at least doesn't speak Beijing accent). Because her accent is very authentic but her Mandarin pronunciation is a little shaky even though she clearly knows what she's talking about. This is just based off of my experience as a native Cantonese speaker.
idk why she called jon 建筑师(architect) instead of 档案员(archivist)
@@ZaphodJan I was a little confused when I heard that too, like huh? Why are they calling him an architect?
@@ZaphodJan I got confused too and went to check out the script, apparently the note says 'used here as best translation for Archivist' and I got more confused
*In Chinese:* You speak Chinese?
Jon: No.
I'm pretty sure Jon can't _speak_ Chinese but _can_ comprehend anything spoken to him. It's shown in MAG 102 that he can understand a statement written in Freach but not a card. So, his abilities scope is limited to being able to read/take statements and know the meaning of spoken language.
"How long have you been the Archivist?" Sweet bean, such a prodigy. Or maybe it's just all the more direct exposure
They testing him
he's been flourishing under pressure
If only Jon had magical translation powers. How hasn't he noticed?
It’s not what his eye is focused on.
Didn't he record a statement and then go: "Wait this is written in French? I don't speak French!"
I think he can only read statements in other languages. Regular research would still be not possible. At least for now.
@@summerjuarez2322 He's been responding to people talking to him in Chinese without noticing, so at least that's possible.
@@nanahuatli2144 Good point!
Omg I love Zhang being quietly impressed with Jon
really thought the corpses following him were metaphorical until very later. absolutely adored this line "prisoner of the very opium I helped to force upon its people"
liked how he recognized that war kills more people by the cease of food and hospitals, too. nice touch
1:38 "you speak chinese?"
1:56 "i think its no problem, right?"
2:06 "no problem" (she's basically saying "you're welcome")
17:37 "not a problem (english), archivist" (but if you use google translate it'll say architect so whatever floats your boat)
what about at 17:37?
@@spontaneouspentagonalweird7404 i personally think she's saying "archivist", but google translate says it's "architect", however i think i know chinese a tad bit better than google translate
@@schattenmorder6279 thanks!
Thank you!!!
eyyy I can understand everything except for "archivist"!!!! (You have to take the small victories. I still have to guess half the time on the rare occasion when my grandfather tries to speak Chinese with me.)
Jon: This has nothing to do with The Stranger, just war and death... Whatever power that may be
Me: I mean it's The End right?
Jon: Just DEAD END after DEAD END....
Me: ......JON.....
This one's got Slaughter all over it
definitely slaughter, but as the show points out many times, the fears are like colors/cabt iexist without eachother. as a side note I think its just the inherent flaw in trying to make fears solid/seperate to such a degree. try separating love into its "13 main entities". its an impossible task, but it makes a fun story/world and is well writen so we look past that
also the end can blend with slaughter depending on its flavor, and the slaughter can blend with the flesh depending on the method of slaughter. hell they even mentioned cannibalism in this one. every fear is conected to every other dear no matter how slim the connection is. emotions in general are blurry amorphous concepts that defy being placed in little boxes
Yeah at the time I posted this I hadn't learned about The Slaughter yet 😂
@@elliottgaylord6212 of fuck bro I'm sorry, hope that wasnt too much of a spoiler. I assumed u knew cause u were naming specific entities, my bad
It’s unlikely that too many people will see this, but this little fandom inside the comment section is such a lovely place lol. I have so much fun seeing familiar names and pfps making jokes and observations! Everyone’s so helpful and respectful, it really makes me happy to be a part of the TMA fandom :)
i seriously hope Gerard is alive and well i vividly remember in first aid that he "apparently died from a brain tumor" and since then always had hope i think he's hot
I've never fully believed that, especially because I'm pretty sure he has a page in Mary Keay's book.
I really hope that he faked his death.
Even if he's dead, I'm quite skeptical about it being natural.
I mean, dying from a brain tumor is too good death for this podcast. So I almost believe he is alive
I mean he's definitely hot
"prisoner of the very opium I helped to force upon its people" OH MY GODDDDD
I was listening to this episode at 1am and, for the first time ever, my laptop did a blue screen. Excuse me while I burn my laptop
Smash it
careful! it might be like the table
As long as you don't eat it, I think you'll be okay...
Careful, it may follow you around if you destroy it.
God damn, first time ever? Just how good is your laptop, and where can I get one?
Uf, that was really horrible. I love how we get an inside into dark historic events from different cultures.
Well, this is an interesting episode to listen to after writing a nine page paper on the first opium war...
not me citing magnus archives
Alrighty avatar of the Eye
okay, so like I know they're talking about the Taiping Rebellion but the way Jon says it I keep hearing the typing rebellion and every time all I can think about is the typing of the dead but as a gritty war game...
Key board wars
I Love your profile picture !
Hitting each other w typewriters was my first thought
Blind person using a screen reader can't confirm that those still sound like the same thing
Finally someone online knows about that game. I swear I thought it was something I dreamt up as a kid because a bunch of people walking around on keyboards amidst a zombie outbreak was absurd. It was installed in the computer labs back when I was in middle school and that's how I came to know it lmfao.
Ms. Ling here has all the answers that Jon currently is and later will be desperately searching for and it's going _completely_ over his head
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE JON'S "oh....OH!!"
i didnt expect it but i really like the war related statements, there's something just chilling and human about them, about coming face to face with death after you sent others to it, and about being unable to die even though you want to.
which, typing it out, makes me realize - did all the war statements have something related to immortality or prolonged life? the guy that met the piper lived longer than he would have, the soldier that gambled with death went immortal, this guy wants to die but cant - is there some cases i'm missing, or?
I am a bit late but yeah you missed the statement about the field hospital and the restless guy who either couldnt or wouldnt die. I think you might be onto something.
I'm like, SUPER late to the party here but also the guy who went into a tunnel and the tunnel slowly became made entirely of corpses? At the end of the tunnel he encountered a dude who *really* should've been dead, and he encountered some other dudes who were like, zombies earlier in the same statement
I think a large part of it is that the statement has to get told somehow. They have to not only experience it for a while but also survive (unless there’s a rare workaround like this episode). From there, it’d be almost impossible not to draw on survivor’s guilt. Surrounded by death as it’s aimlessly tossed about, yet you yourself being unable to meet it.
I'm just so surprised and excited for the background works for this! I don't see anyone mentioned it in the comments but Pu Songling, name of the research center in Beijing, actually came from a famous Qing Dynasty author who wrote (or collect) tons of supernatural stories into a book. A great reference here!
The American organization dedicated to The Eye is named The Usher Foundation in honour of the Edger Allen Poe story _The Fall of the House of Usher_ . I like to imagine there are several other sister organizations of The Magnus Institute that are bastions of The Beholding scattered around the world.
what a visceral account. and jonathan's voice acting just gets better and better, doesn't it? hats off!
Omg I skipped this episode and realized on episode 116. 😂 I was like, Jon went to CHINA? WHEN? WHEENNn? Lmao. Thank goodness I noticed.
John bemoaning the fact that he doesn't speak Chinese meanwhile understanding and Chinese perfectly without even realizing it
1:35 i'd like to point out that 見鬼 translates directly to 'seeing (a) ghost'
it can mean seeing something fantastical/absurd, or dying and going to hell (hence seeing ghosts)
so it relates quite literally to the contents of the statement
i know im a bit of a late first time listener but hey :D
I'm listening to this episode on YT for the 5th or 6th time, and it always makes me really happy to read someone's cool thought or piece of information that I couldn't have known on my own!
Nice job getting someone *who is actually Chinese and can speak it* to play a Chinese character!
I was going to say something about the only Asian character having an accent, but I think it's just the actor's natural accent so I can't complain about that lol. [thumbs up] (Also they're in China, so it makes sense haha. It's just a point I want to make in general.)
edit: she's not the only Asian character but half of them (like there's the Han meat family) are a bit stereotype-y anyways.
Jude Perry doesn't have an "asian" accent though. (From Twice as bright)
as far as i can tell, it's a completely genuine accent. i lived in china a while and the people i knew who spoke english had a very similar accent
@@mimkyodar I think jude grew up in the UK while obviously this person is a Chinese citizen that knows english. Makes sense why one doesn't have an accent while the other does
@@TheShadowlord18 oh yeah, but OP was saying the only asian character
The guy in the father in law story with the mold was Asian too
I love that this series like is so serious but so funny at times like him straight up, not noticing she's speaking Chinese. I'm low key Excited to see him become less and less human
The war statements are the best the dark descriptions are just ugh like god this writing though
I thought they were saying 'typing rebellion' and was very disappointed to not hear a cyberpunk tale of bashing heads in with keyboards
Another setup for a future conflict, episodes like this, may not be related to the current arc, but it is one of those episodes that are simply tied to the future ones after this "The Unknowing Arc".
Surprised to not see any comments about this but I suppose it might be psedo spoiler so below for theories:
Reading the transcripts as I listen, it becomes very clear that The Nemesis was destroyed by another power, The Buried if I'm not mistaken. Could be The Vast though.
"All I remember is waking up to the screaming of buckling metal, the louder screaming of doomed men in the decks below, and that third, deeper set of screams, that sounded for all the world like a cry of triumph."
"When I plunged below the surface and watched the hulk of Nemesis, twisted, and disappearing into the deep, deeper than the Canton River should have been"
While almost being drowned it can be easy to lose track of depth or even 'up', both real history and Magnus Archive history mention that the Nemesis was so effective because it could sail in shallow rivers. Hard to find good answers for the depth of the Canton River (Pearl River in modern days), shouldn't be enough to fully vanish a battleship though.
Given the large amount of indiscriminate slaughter The Nemesis and especially the captain of that ship were dealing, I wonder if they were effectively doing a ritual for The Slaughter and (as we see they do in later episodes) was stopped by the other power? It clearly wasn't natural whatever happened. Oddly I do know The Nemesis shows up for a Slaughter ritual later too, so I guess they get it back somehow.
As a final thought, while the captain clearly served Slaughter. The statement giver (Charles Fleming) is more complex, I suspect he did too until the ship was destroyed. I believe at that point and for the remainder of the statement that he is in unwilling service to The End. Hard to say obviously but I think it fits better.
Theres so much stuff in this statement I'd be surprised if less than half of the entities had a hand in this
Listened to the whole podcast and the war episodes are all my absolute favourites, they're just so...evocative, i can listen to them again and again
Yeah definitely. I also really like episode 99 Dust to dust, the concept of dust pneumonia, of people drowning due to their lung's being full of sand, I just find it morbidly fascinating 😅
My theory from this episode and what we know so far:
This episode reminds me Leitner's statement about how there are books that are tied with more than one entity and I feel like that is also the case in this episode too; it's not only just one entity present. Now, the dead that are following our witness, they are most likely manifestation of one entity only, but through out this episode we hear about things that may or may not have been manifestations of other entities as well.
All in all, I believe that in this episode we hear about the Piper/war entity, the End and the meat entity (the cannibalism mentions). But I can't figure out which entity is messing with the witness, the End (since the dead are the ones who follow him) or the Piper/war entity (since the dead that follow him are dead from his own actions, from his own aggressiveness, and thus they are the result and consequences of war/killing).
It's funny that John can't figure out he's understanding chinese :P
I need to do some research about the Taiping rebellion. Seems like there’s a lot going on in this story that a history lesson might help me grasp better.
Wait. This is unrelated, but I just realized, WE the audience are the Eldritch entity known as The Eye! We HAVE to know it all! We have to see!
If you are watching completely and also not seeing spoilers, well, you are basically Jon in a sense. Learning and gaining more knowledge over time, piecing things together etc etc very cool indeed!
I'm starting to think people think they have to post this on every episode. I mean, it was interesting when the show began but this is season 3 and we're over a hundred episodes.
@krishadyn5211 *playfully and gently smacks you on the back of the head not enough to really do anything but get a point across*
Please be nice to the people having an epiphany :]
Jon not knowing he understood Chinese was eerie, but Zhang Xiaoling immediately responding “how long have you been The Archivist” is even creepier. She knows.
[CLICK]
ARCHIVIST
You’re sure you don’t mind?
XIAOLING
Of course not. Recording is what we are here for.
ARCHIVIST
And this is the same statement that Gertrude checked out?
XIAOLING
I will check again with my assistant, but it’s the only one we have from 太平天国运动 1 written in English.
ARCHIVIST
The Taiping Rebellion? I assumed it would be about a circus or, uh…?
XIAOLING
I have not read it, but I would be surprised. I seriously doubt there were any circuses at the time. I believe it was like a, um, 见鬼 2.
ARCHIVIST
[Snorts] I-Isn’t all war like a nightmare?
XIAOLING
Oh, 你说中文 3?
ARCHIVIST
I, I don’t, why?
XIAOLING
…
How long did you say you have been Archivist?
ARCHIVIST
Uh, about two years now.
XIAOLING
Well, Elias made a good choice. I did offer him someone, but he thought the language might be too much for him.
ARCHIVIST
Huh.
XIAOLING
我相信没关系是不是. 4
ARCHIVIST
I-I suppose not.
XIAOLING
Anyway, I will leave you to your work. Let me know if you need anything.
ARCHIVIST
I will. Thank you.
XIAOLING
没关系. 5
[XIAOLING LEAVES]
[DEEP SIGH]
ARCHIVIST
The details I got from Gertrude’s documents lead me to believe that, before she made her way to New Zealand, she paid a visit here, to the Pu Songling Research Centre, Beijing. The centre is something of a sister organisation to the Institute, and while that means I have some… reservations about their motives, it does mean gaining access to their collection is relatively simple. According to Zhang Xiaoling, the librarian here, this statement was the one that Gertrude checked out during her last visit. So…
Statement of Second Lieutenant Charles Fleming, regarding his experiences during the Taiping Rebellion. Original statement undated, but apparently written in early 1862. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.
Statement begins
ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT)
Yellow reeds and white bones. Yellow reeds and white bones. I hear it said so often now it almost has the rhythm of a joke. How can one have poetic clichés for a massacre? How can unspeakable carnage become so tired and repetitive? Even the most trite and poorly written of the penny bloods would, at least, make some show of a plot, or a purpose to the horror and the suffering. But here, beyond those pages, it seems the dead simply pile higher and higher on both sides, and nothing changes but the number of ghosts. On one side atrocities in the name of one who claims to be brother of Christ; on the other, slaughter in the name of the supposedly sane men who would stop him and his Heavenly Kingdom. And I find myself walking through the still and bloody landscape that has consumed all of China, scrawling my confessions on any paper I can find not yet saturated by mud and death. I am a stranger here, yet if you told me I were dead, and this place my just reward, I would not for one second doubt your honesty. I have seen no vision of hell that can compare.
Neither could I say I have not earned it. Not for nothing do these drowned and murdered faces pursue me. Nemesis was my ship, under Captain William Hall. I was so eager to serve my country, how could I question what they asked us to do? The trade in opium was a cornerstone of the Empire, and when called upon to defend it against those Chinese that would threaten Britain’s rule of the waves, what could I do but answer? Was ever a man so eager to have his country beseech of him his violence?
And there was violence aplenty aboard Nemesis. First of its kind. An iron warship. Small, lightly armed, but able to go where other British vessels never dared, far upriver to strike at the very heart of the Qing forces, where their defences were weakest, and the damage we could inflict most brutal. Captain Hall had a particular zeal for the work. He was a petty man, bitter, and never missing an opportunity to mention how long he had waited to command a ship of his own. Were I to judge solely based on the orders he gave, I would have been forced to conclude it was the Chinese who had slighted him, and now he exacted his vengeance. Truth be told, I simply believe he was possessed of a great cruelty. A cruelty I shared.
I remember we sank a Qing ship off First Bar Island. Cambridge it was named, an old East Indiaman sold to the Chinese some years before. When she sank, a few crew made it aboard Nemesis, half-dead and utterly defeated. I cannot honestly recall whether Captain Hall ordered them drowned or whether I took it upon myself, confident in the Captain’s approval. Either way, it was certainly forthcoming. Theirs were the first faces that began to follow me. I would never have admitted that was why I paled when I passed by a looking-glass. Or why I shook my bunkmates awake, demanding that they stop singing.
Truth be told, no one knows how Nemesis sank. I certainly have my own beliefs, my own dreams of what may have reached up towards us and taken its price, dragging that dreadful iron curse to the bottom of the Canton River. All I remember is waking up to the screaming of buckling metal, the louder screaming of doomed men in the decks below, and that third, deeper set of screams, that sounded for all the world like a cry of triumph. I managed to get to the deck, and leap from the bow into the waters of the river. When I plunged below the surface and watched the hulk of Nemesis twisted and disappearing into the deep, deeper than the Canton River should have been, I saw the water around me full of corpses, but when I finally broke the surface, I was alone.
These corpses follow me still, though I am hard-pressed to see them now, surrounded as I am by death in all its myriad forms. If you ever wish to escape your pursuing guilt, there are few places so apt to hide it as a land devastated by unimaginable war. At least I shall not go hungry. I lost that particular moral qualm in Anqing. I believe thirty-eight fen was the going price for a pound of human meat by the end of the siege. Such a profound will to survive. In the end, it did no good. Zeng Guofan’s army breached the gates, and they put everyone inside to death. Sixteen thousand more corpses, soldier and civilian alike. There’s no difference anymore. Hide your hair braid beneath your hat, proclaim your allegiance until you have no breath left, compared to the danger of enemy spies or saboteurs, one more cadaver is nothing.
I’m lucky I still had my British uniform. Almost twenty years lost and abandoned in this country, a prisoner of the very opium I helped to force upon its people; I barely recognised myself putting it on. I’m lucky I never thought to sell it. It was an old design, a long way from the uniforms I see among my old comrades today, but it served well enough to get me through the Qing forces as they stormed through the streets. I am lucky, I suppose, that the only ghosts that chose to follow me were the ones I had to kill as I fled the city. I know there are others that see those behind me, and sixteen thousand lonely souls would be too much for them, I’m sure. They would be too much for me, but I’m not sure what that means anymore.
After the fall of Anqing, I wandered this desolate country, though for how long I do not know. Days went by with not a single living creature to be seen, and only the dead for company. Yellow reeds and white bones. It struck me then how few of the fallen had died by the hand of another. War kills just as surely with hunger and sickness, and for every one bloodied and murdered, there were ten wasted to nothing or black with disease and rot. I suppose there must have been a terrible smell, but there is nowhere here the wind does not chase me with that scent, and I can no longer tell the stench of decay from the air itself. They are one and the same.
Some months ago, I was captured. Not by the Taiping or the Imperial forces, at least they weren’t anymore. I believe they were once peasants, they had clearly never owned the building in which they kept me. There were three of them; one tall, who clearly spoke for his companions, one walking with a noticeable limp and an eye that refused to stop watering, and a third, whose right arm was so discoloured from a spreading infection, that he looked at me with a mixture of hate and helpless terror, as though I could do something to fix it. I did not fight when they barred my way with crude weapons levelled, and demanded my surrender. I have not fought since I left Anqing, and saw the true scale of the devastation.
Believing me to still be a British officer, they intended, it seemed, to ransom me, but they knew of no British forces in the area, so were arguing as to whether to offer me to the Qing army or the nearest rebels. The tall one was adamant that the Imperial Army, now allied with the British, would pay them for my safe return, while the limping man was horrified at the thought. He had cut off his braid, he kept saying, and they would think he was loyal to the Taiping. The third man just watched me, listening to his companions arguing, and laughing softly whenever they mentioned money. I believe that he was the only one who truly understood. When the dead that follow caught up with me, they broke those poor fools apart like twigs, and dragged all three of them below the ground. And they were gone. I found water among their possessions and a small bag of rotten rice, and relishing the chance to wash the taste of blood from my mouth, I ate. I could still hear my would-be captors’ voices, and I wondered how long it would be that I still had to wait for death.
Some choose not to wait, of course. I passed by the city of Hangzhou after it had fallen to the Taiping. The gate still stood open, as they were unable to close it for the dead. When the city was taken, the people had rushed out and thrown themselves bodily into the West Lake. It was solid with them. For three hundred yards you could have walked along their still bodies into the middle of the waters. I did, hoping against all hope that an arm might reach out and finally pull me down into that great mass of quiet death. But the waters of the lake were still and dark, and as I left, some who lay upon it rose to join me.
I have no idea where to go now. I have walked so long my feet are bleeding, and I see nothing upon the horizon but more slaughter. More days without the living. So I write this, that some small record of what I have done and what I have seen may continue on. I sit here upon the steps of a Manifest Loyalty Shrine, a small provincial one, erected by a local governor who wished to cement his power now the more central shines can no longer keep up with the number of the dead. But this one is mine. I look at the names of the fallen engraved on the walls, the long and storied lists, and I know that each name is borne by one of those that follow me. It is the list of those that wait for me at the bottom of these steps, though whether they wait to follow me further or to finally descend upon me, I do not know. But my name will never be carved upon this stone. Though war and death have found me in this land, I have no place here. I came for no cause but violence and greed, and have been humbled by the unimaginable brutality of true and total war. I have nothing left, except to hope that what remains of my own life is neither long nor memorable.
ARCHIVIST
Statement ends.
Good Lord. I had heard that the Taiping Rebellion was… but that… I wonder how much of what Lieutenant Fleming says is true and how much is, uh… I almost hope it’s all supernatural. Some hideous hallucination or otherworldly hellscape. Part of me really doesn’t want to look it up.
It looks like Xiaoling was right though. No Circus. Nothing even that resembles the working of The Stranger. It… it seems to be purely war and violence, whatever power that might be. So why did Gertrude want it? I feel like… I’ve chased dead end to dead end until I finally give up. I-I mean, what am I actually looking for? Gerard Keay, after he faked his death? Some long confession he left tucked away in a library somewhere, telling me the ancient chant I need to stop the Unknowing from coming to pass?
[Sigh] Maybe this is pointless. I should head home, help the others in their research. If I knew Mandarin or Cantonese, maybe I could look here for more answers, but as it is these files…
Hang on, I think… I think this says 2004. Yes, 1992… 1997… 2004. If I’m reading this right, this file hasn’t been accessed for… wait. Ohhhh…
[CLICK]
[CLICK]
ARCHIVIST
So it’s been a waste of time then, has it?
XIAOLING
It was a very simple mistake. She did read that statement.
ARCHIVIST
I mean, in 2004, yes, but I-I need information about her visit three years ago. Did, did your assistant find anything about that?
XIAOLING
Yes. There were two accounts that Gertrude took out in 2014.
ARCHIVIST
A-And can I read them?
XIAOLING
According to our records, we don’t have them anymore.
ARCHIVIST
[Sigh] Well, Wh-what happened to them? Where are they?
XIAOLING
Apparently, they were sent on at the request of the Magnus Institute.
ARCHIVIST
Gertrude asked for them t-to, to be sent to her?
XIAOLING
I believe so.
ARCHIVIST
To the Institute or…?
XIAOLING
No, we have other channels of delivery for that.
ARCHIVIST
Then where?
XIAOLING
I believe it was an American destination.
ARCHIVIST
Oh. Oh, would you still have a-a copy of the address?
XIAOLING
I think we do.
ARCHIVIST
Thank you, Xiaoling.
XIAOLING
Not a problem, 建筑师. 6
[CLICK]
@@petraivan6778 thank you!!!! (ㅇㅅㅇ❀)
You're welcome
Petra Iván thank youuuu
You are welcome!
Of course. Just as I was biting into my gingerbread house, “I didn’t go hungry,” of course.
Being a cannibal must be useful when you seem to create zombies everywhere. Its like delivery!
Oddly enough, I don't think the Nemesis actually sunk. I think it was decommissioned...
In this world, that could be an official cover up.
idk why these episodes about war hit me specifically but the writing was just amazing
i'm going back to this and this one is really impressive and one of my favs, but i'm wondering wheter charles fleming was an avatar of the dead or of the slaughter
Almost certainly the slaughter. He focuses more on the senseless slaughter, and in fact it seems like death would be a relief to him in comparison to being harrowed by the slaughter
Personality wise he should have been an avatar of the slaughter. But I think that's what's incredible about this episode, the devastation feels so much more visceral because the description is coming from such a cruel, violent man who has been overwhelmed and destroyed by cruelty and violence he could never have conceived, and the slaughter has just gone out of him.
You know its going to be a good episode when there's Cannibalism in the notes 🔥
I love this podcast sm
the whole ep,, i've been wondering what brought on the war between (possibly) writers only to find out its "taiping" not "typing rebellion" hhshsh
Did this guy get an actual undead army?
Biography of An Accidental Necromancer
I just love the "no?" XD i live that we can get these language jokes now
"Oh! You speak Chinese?"
"No❤"
Jonathan. My friend. You're cooked.
This is one of my favourite statements in the series, it's so well written
I was hoping there was a helpful Chinese speaker in the comments to translate, but sadly not.
I tried, I really did. I couldn't tell the dialect though.
hey, i know i'm four months late, but
1:38 "you speak chinese?"
1:56 "i think its no problem, right?"
2:06 "no problem" (she's basically saying "you're welcome")
also put a separate comment
@@schattenmorder6279 thanks dude.
@@tempusmars6272 I think the transcript you can access via the wiki page of the episode also have the translations if that's helpful. I'm not sure if other languages pop up in the future, but if they do that might be a good place to look.
When Jon's reading a statement and his voice does that thing where it gets low and quiet and slightly menacing, oh I love it.
i really like Zhang (?) as a character even though we only meet her for like a minute
O John percebendo que sabe Chinês é ótimo
Is the moment when Jon says "About two years" at the beginning a reference to the song "Moves like Jagger"?
I was barely into the episode when every scene from the redt of the episode flooded back into my memories, this episode is so well written that i genuinely remembered it in vivid horrid detail, so much so that I assumed it was from a comic or television show. I am once again absolutely astonished 😵
I love seeing Jon travel the world
sees the title: oh shit. oh no. oh fuck
The War hasn't even started yet.
Jon accidentally speaking Chinese is so peak, happy to see him being respected.
Lesseee here, another 20 or 30ish episodes another big bad entities names theory list[boy if most of these aren't basically confirmed now]
1.] The Vast
2.]The Buried prolly?
3.] The Desolation
4.] The Darkness
5.] The Lonely/Isolated?
6.] The Corrupted/Hive?
7.] The Web
8.] The Spiral
9.] The Eye
10.] The Stranger
11.] The Flesh/Meat?
12.] The Hunt
13.] The Violent/Slaughter/Bloodshed?
14.] The End (my personal weakness, damn that dead lady's last words effed me up)
God this series is so good. One of my absolute favorites already and I'm only half way there.....lets keep going fellow archival assistants
Is this the piper?
Sounds maybe like the Slaughter?? Not sure cause this is the first time ive heard this one before but shdbd
@@gwendolynpeterson5229 It is the Slaughter - The piper is an aspect of The Slaughter
@@mimkyodar oh just like Michael the distortion, is an aspect of the Spiral, right?? idk
@@Arya-el9ps you got it.
Everyone in the comments talking about The Slaughter, The End, The Buried.
And I'm like, did I miss something? Or does it happen that I don't know how many entities are there and which one is which because I listen to the podcast at work?
Welp
The Slaughter and The End both refer to death, one way or another. This episode like "Absent without leave" (Ep95 about post war Italy) have a lot of the horrors of war, things like death, slaughter, undead, etc. which are the things these entities feast on.
responding to the chinese in english and having no idea its chinese 😭
I wonder who Xiaoling suggested to be the archivist ™ and if they still have any connection to the beijing archivists. I'm guessing as this is the sister branch of the magnus archives the beijing archivists also know about the supernatural. Maybe they encountered a leitner or one of the beings as a kid or had a similar urge to consume knowledge like jon did before becoming the archivist. Would be cool to see them as a later character
The Pu SongLing Research Center and the Usher Foundation in the USA are both mentioned by Jon to be sister organizations to The Magnus Institute. They're all places of power for The Eye. It's implied, though, here that there is only _one_ Archivist if Xiao Ling offered to send one of her people to London to become the new Archivist.
We can assume Xiao Ling is aware of the Beholding as their patron and the power of the Archivist from both her questions and reactions to Jon's abilities.
It's also unknown how old the Pu SongLing center is. It might predate the Magnus Institute.
Jon please she’s speaking Chinese I swear
Fun fact this ship did exsist and most of the info is true but it didnt sink. Quite possible that this man lost his mind and fell in to the water
TMA's take on those Chinese civil war memes is predictably horrifying.
Silly thing, but I think this was the old british uniform that the merchant guy sold to the antique dealer in the Homophobic Vase episode. First time listener :)
I won't think he traveled there for nothing...... But did the poor soul read that whole statement for nothing?
quando ha parlato dei rapitori l'unica cosa che avevo in testa era la canzone dei quattro pirati😭
my theory is that this may connect to the rot
“你說中文？”
"I don't. Why?"
Me, who speaks Chinese: 😅😅😅 That poor woman
“I offered an archivist, but Elias thought the language would be too difficult for them. 我想是沒關係，是不是？” ("I think it's no problem, right?")
"I- I suppose not."
😂😂
My 2 years in china coming in handy
Can someone please explain the realization he made at the end? 😭 I feel like I’m missing something
The file was from the wrong year. Gertrude did request the file at some point but it was in 2004 not 2014.
太平天國之亂？！
Start 1:05
I don’t get why this Episode kinda underperformed
I'm not as ignorant as the people who thought he was saying "Typing Rebellion" but I don't know enough to understand why a British officer thought he needed a hair braid. This episode could have used notes for not-British or Chinese.
the chinise character is calle shao ling?
What a slaughter
Lady librarian has the hots for our boy :)
I know, I thought it was really interesting that she'd put foreward a possible replacement for Gertrude, too! That's a super cool detail!
@@-S.L.It shows that even though there are many places aligned to Beholding there is only _one_ Archivist.
@ann-margretparke9525 I don't think she's attracted to Jon. I think she's impressed; even intimidated or awed by him. The Pu SongLing Research Center is another place aligned to The Eye. Jon visiting and casually displaying his power as an Avatar of Beholding would probably be like having the Pope visit.
Hmm, is it just me or does this lady seem to talk as if she understands what The Archivist _is_ ?
Ha!
LMAO 建筑师