i really am convinced at this point that, despite everyone freaking out over elias being able to hear the tapes, he actually has no control over them and its jon who has control over them. elias never seems to turn them on during moments where im sure hed rather not jon hear things, like leitners murder or daisys statement or melanies dad. and when elias does acknowledge them, its always something like 'Jon will want to hear what we say' or 'jon when you listen to this back' or 'we can record this for jon later.' I just feel like jon has control of the tapes, not elias.
I actually saw a theory that the tapes and recorder are an extension of Jon specifically. No other Archivist seems to have used them like he does, and, like OP said, they act for no one but Jon, especially in situations where Jon wants more (or any) agency or awareness. (Which makes the lack of recordings from Jon between his kidnapping by the circus and his escape... very upsetting). What's more, the way other people view the tapes often parallels how they view Jon (Martin sees them as endearing, Tim sees them as an endless, terrifying frustration, Elias sees them as a necessary annoyance over which he has no control, Basira sees them as useful and slightly endearing, etc etc). I like the theory, so that's how I choose to view it.
The one thing that keeps me from believing this theory myself is how Elias managed to put off the effects of Jon's persuasion when asked to confess his murder, despite even Gertrude not using it on him. Compared with the traffic guard who was instantly spilling his "dark secret" or the others swayed by Jon. He seems powerful in a way, perhaps not as connected to the Eye as Jon but in another way?
@@minuspi8372 its clear he might die but he might come back or something amd i dont want to lnow is something like that happens, also its nkt spoiling its quessing
He will probably never want to bring it up, because both he and Martin are idiots who will dance in a slow burn forever if anyone lets them, but I am certain he knows
Now I'm just imagining Jon wearing one of those hyperspecific targeted ad shirts but it's wildly off. 'Don't mess with a hard-ass grandma who loves fly fishing with a secret passion for tiny teacups and was born in November!'
Fun fact! Due to audio issues, Jon is actually voiced by Alex for a few seconds in this statement. At 3:45, if you listen closely, you can hear the change. It goes back to Jonny at around 3:50.
Burying slows down decomposition, partially because flies and other carcass reliant critters from above ground can't get to the body. Add a coffin or a body of water and it slows down even more, in that case the skin acts a container for the rotting organs because it's the last thing before the bones to decompose.
I am SO happy that there is the beggining of communication between Tim and John again. Also, Daisy's definitely fallen to the Hunt. Basira's suspicion last episode and now the fact that she was weirded out by the shirt? Did she felt the blood in a way? Deker talked about apparently Hunt's followers/avatars/whatever have a strong link with blood...
i know this is an older comment but it made me think of trevor in his most recent statement talking about how "he couldnt hear what his attacker (darkness nightshift worker) was saying because of the sound of blood in his ears". most definately a connection with blood and hunt
whenever the title is even vaguely related to buildings i go "oh man!!! is tim coming !!!!! am i gonna hear tim!!!" i love tim keep thotting it up king
Super proud of Jon for doing his damndest to not Compel his friends/coworkers. Talking like that must be super hard, but he's doing it because he knows and that's so good of him.
Yes! I really loved the statement, a new weird mystery. And it's kinda a new thing, because it doesn't seems to be connected to the entities. It got me really excited about it. But I think it got lost in Daisy and Tim stuff...
@@rchifbirdboyBro I'm relistening for the 3rd time and I only now realized that this episode confirms that people can survive the trip to other universes!.
I really love how the tape recorders have developed a habit of just turning themselves on at opportune moments. It's a very fun way to explain why certain conversations are recorded.
@@evilcatv Considering the theory that ADHD helps ppl escape/avoid all the supernatural evil stuffs, perhaps it could be said that ADHD is inherently supernatural lol
i love that when John was asking how Tim was doing, he caught himself and deliberately phrased it so it wouldn't be a direct question. respecting his coworkers' privacy
"it's not like they were building over ancient burial grounds" oh, honey. what makes me curious the most is that the tree in this story was still standing - did the owners put it back up? did it regenerate? whats with the tree and the obligatory TIM!!:") im happy they had that talk AAAAA
I think the tree didn't regenerate since it was never destroyed, never destroyed in HER universe. Anya seems to be from a universe where the Magnus Institute doesn't exist since she doesn't remember the building ever being in London, it also explains her friends seeming off and her non-existence from any records here. She got grabbed into that crack in the basement and got thrown in "this" dimension. Fascinating! sooooo moral of the story: the Web can do some extra dimensional stuff? that's hum new!
@@folykl makes sense. makes me wonder, maybe the crack is due the web ritual already being completed? since its the most subtle of powers it shouldnt change the world that much i think, and every house has its spiders... its most likely not the case ofc but its an interesting thought
I was so sad Jon's trying so hard to not Ask questions so that he doesn't accidentally compel Tim into saying anything. Restating everything so that hhis friends can CHOOSE to tell him things instead of being forced to. It's about trying to keep the relationship balanced by giving them agency
I have listened to 114 episodes in a little over two weeks time and to say I'm obsessed is to put it lightly. Lol This channel is amazing and the whole team is an absolute wonder. The story is compelling and the actors are excellent. Well done all. That being said I have two questions. The first being are any of you Warhammer or 40k fans? I get Chaos Gods vibes from the 14. The second being have you ever considered making your series into a graphic novel? I really think it would be a great medium for your work and I for one would throw my money at it. Thanks for the amazing content and keep it up!
I find it interesting to see Jon go from being fed on by the eye to kind of feeding from it. This was really shone in the America episode where we find out that he has gone from being drained by statements to needing them. In this episode, I loved seeing some actual communication between Jon and Tim also.
God, my brain just goes wild when I listen to these by this point in the story. Podcast: Hilltop Road Me: The Desolation! Podcast: I don't know who you people are. Me: The lonely! No, the stranger? Podcast: Used to cleaning disgusting things Me: The corruption, right? Are we getting the corruption in here? Podcast: Had to brush cobwebs out of my face on the way down. Me: THE WEB.
So I think that the desolation and the web are both at odds on hilltop road and as we see that every person has their own fear controlling them, this women was probably taken by the spiral because she was more affiliated to the madness part of it.
has anyone noticed how jons mentioning martin a lot more now and how he said he listened to all of the tapes meaning he probably heard about melanie and basira talking about martins crush on jon. love the fact im more fixated on the relationship lore atm lollll
i really really liked the narrator. "do they expect me to clean this?" god, yeah, i feel that. tim... at least youre talking. do NOT need the canon implication that im trying to go after the circus too i dont have the skill for that bud. daisy... oof
This episode is retroactively one of the most crucial lore building moments by the time you reach the end of the series. But on the first listen through, it just seems like shenanigans from the Web and the Stranger. But ultimately it was just the Web, secretly spinning its web in ways you don't recognize until you see the full picture.
They were all involved over the years, but the Web orchestrated the whole thing. In the episode where we learn how Agnes ended up on Hilltop Road , the narrator mentions that they brought her there specifically because the Web had up to that point always suffered losses in confrontations with the Desolation. Considering how the Web is otherwise portrayed as the invincible mastermind, this heavily implies it got into clashes with the Desolation and lost them on purpose to lure them into Hilltop Road.
"Whatever is on the other side of those tapes is just as invested in stopping the Circus as you are in avenging your brother." Yes we are! There is nothing we can do to help you but we are indeed invested. Thank you for keeping the recorder running.
it might just be a convergent spot, lots of diferent entities bleeding into each other. The whole crack thing and her not knowing where she was seemed like she hoped from one dimension to this one, made a statement and then hoped out.
Hilltop Road has been a big site of Web and Desolation in the past, but there's too much Spiral influence here for me to completely ignore it. I say Spiral/Web
We know there have been confirmed appearances of Desolation, Web, and Spiral on Hilltop Road. This one definitely seems more Spiral than anything, but there may be... threads of Web laced throughout?
I think it was definitely Web, since she said "just a little look" twice in relation to feeling compelled to open the door and go into the cellar (like she was being controlled 👀) and Spiral then warping her sense of reality after she woke up. Idk about Stranger though, unless it got the NotThem or something else involved to mess up her friends' and employers' perception of her??
Just want to note, the door handle of that door in the statement being warm is similar to the coffin from breekon and hope. I think warm handles and other inanimate objects seemingly unrelated to the desolation may have appeared elsewhere too
This comment summons this whole comment section 😅 (Although I wish we'd be taking more about the statement itself. I mean, THAT LADY JUST GOT PUSH THROUGH AN ALTERNATIVE REALITY)
ok i know this is like a serious moment but jon listened to that tape where basira and melanie talk about martin's crush and im just talk to each other already please
Jon listening to all the tapes (including the one where Melanie and Basira gossip about Martin's crush) and then at the end where he asked Daisy if Martin specifically was okay with the plan...little sus Jon👀
My theory from this episode and what we know so far: John heard the tapes! I repeat, John heard the tapes! So he definitely heard when Basira and Melanie were discussing about him and Martin! The fact that the real Sasha has been forgotten by almost everyone that knew her and all their memories are replaced with the Not!Sasha really breaks my heart each time. As for the statement itself, it's quite obvious that this place is related with the Web through out the years. Now, was this place somewhere where the Web tried to do their ritual but it was stopped? And that's why it's still "tied" with the Web still? But there are also mentions of warmth which makes us think about the Desolation, so is this place also linked with that fear because of the ritual Agnes had done with the tree? Was the ritual that she hurried to do with the others of the Flameless Fire(?) cult but they didn't finish because she died (did others die too? I can't remember, it was the episode where someone had fallen in love with Agnes) actually the ritual to bring the Desolation in the real world? Is this why the Web and the Desolation are always against each other, because they both need the same location or something from the same location for their own rituals? The witness stating again and again that it was her choice or it was her own thought to do something shows that she was under the Web's powers of thought control and manipulation, but her losing her mind mostly implies the Spiral instead, so what is going on here? I mean, here not existing in this world and most of the info she gave being false point to either mass memories and history changing (which we have saw from multiple fears so far) or just her own memories being changed or her not actually being from that world; like parallel universes sort of thing. But the latter sounds unlikely for this series, so it's most likely one of the two things that are mentioned first. Still, this location in the Hill Top Road seems vital in the story for (at least) some of the fears, so this episode was alot confusing for us, listeners, who still don't know fully what's going on with everything. Finally, when John asked Tim who he thinks is using the tape recorders to listen in, I think it shows that John already suspects what's going on with them. Or, at least, that he suspects that they are not fully related with Elias and the Eye and they are related with someone else who, in my opinion by now, is either Gertrude, John or us.
SPOILERS Listening back after having listened to the whole thing... this statement about hilltop road is so clever, being where everything spatial interweaves its entirely likely the cleaner in this statement came through the tear from another universe - perhaps even the same one the magnus protocol is set in.
(spoilers!!!!) i genuinely love this statement so much. its so... uninteresting, in a way. it seems like just your average normal statement on spooky happenings, the most lore-relevant it seems is confirming hill top rad was very weird, and its overshadowed by the conversation right after. you have to scroll more than usual to find a comment referencing the statement, and the first one (at least for me) isnt even about anything that actually happened. yet, it somehow contains possibly the MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF LORE, a whole lot of very important set up for the ending. on my first watch (after i was done being excited that *finally*, there was a dimension jump, something i was hoping for from the begginng), i completely forgot about this, then on my second i was like the tv pointing guy meme, remembering what annabelle said. now, just... i was so excited to hear it again.
George Icarus, the unmentioned name of the folk in the previous episodes, the one who came first before Gertrude. Another archivist? But yeah, maybe not, decomposition stuff...
I'm listening to this show again (so spoilers I guess) and I'm fairly certain Anya came from another dimension through the crack in hilltop road, I've been skimming through the comments and I'm surprised noones thought of this. Although I suppose, unless the fears exist in other dimensions too, this wouldn't explain the spooky stuff happening in her version of hilltop road
I never thought about it but this statement takes a different turn when considering the finale of the series. And the possibilities of the Magnus Scrotocol
This is my second listen through. *BIG SPOILER* I didn't catch this before, but that poor woman was pulled through realities by the Web, maybe in a way to test it's theory about escape. That's why she didn't know the institute, why she couldn't find her friends.
Spoilery speculation: ... ... ... ... ... I can't help but feel that Hill Top Road and the warping of reality there is going to be important in fixing... uh... things. In season 5. Particularly given the web connection and how involved Annabelle has been with our dynamic duo's journey.
MORE SPOILERY DISCUSSION: I feel like there's no way to put the world back from where it currently is tbh. The best they can hope for is a reality shift like the one in this statement. Also it bugs me that the spiderweb lighter STILL hasn't come into play beyond Martin burning statements... Anabelle keeps trying to contact Martin... she has access to Salesa's camera that reasserts reality... idk how it all fits together yet but this espisode is certaintly interesting to re-listen to knowing what we know now!
i think that we are over looking the fact that the lady from the statement traveled dimensions/parallel world in a similar manner to the monument mythos quite an interesting detail id like to know more of it
Poor Tim. I just want my himbo bicon to be happy :( I also noticed Jon has to actively try not to compel his friends by accident and it makes me sad. Someone hug this scrungly little Archivist.
**Spoilers** Re-watching after finishing the entire series.... God damn it.... this episode is FULL of foreshadowing and I practically forgot about it... Like the Statement... A man goes to Hilltop Road, finds a crack in the foundation the spider pulls him through.. And then he wakes up in some place similar but not. And where he came from, the Magnus Institute doesn't exist.... It's so easy to think maybe his mind and memory was manipulated..... But it wasn't, was it?... He was a friggen test dummy. Oh, and don't think I missed that whole 'I don't think the Eye is using the tape recorders, but whatever is behind it wants to stop the unknowning' bit. He says it and forgets it right after. Damn it Jon! (the writer) You Manage To Add Aaaaalll The Plot Points As Foreshadowing Somewhere Didn't you??!! AAAARGH *flips table*
The rain knocked at my door while I was listening to this! I mean, it can't be anything outside of the rain, there was no one behind the door. What malevolent entity would knock on the door anyway.
IT JUST HIT ME THAT - (Spoilers) (Spoilers) (Spoilers) She was pulled through the other world. The one with no Magnus Institute because *it has no Fears*.
damn, i wish elias could do this "'putting knowledge into head" thing and show tim how real sasha was looking, they cant bring her back ofcourse but he deserve to know how her face looks like.
@@Matheus-ql7mn I cant remember but I think it was in first or second season when they mentioned somr continuity issues pointed out by fans and the characters complained about gertrudes labeling system
Jon squeaking in defiance that he was kidnapped and that’s why he couldn’t be a spy has the same energy as “I COULD BE ON DRUGS!”
what episode was that?
@@sarahmccausland7035 #83, drawing a blank
I like to imagine Jon did something really stupid to get away from some weed or something in uni.
daisy: tired, deadpan, vocally emotionally drained
daisy, after being shown explosives: :o !!!!!! :D !!!!
Jon: gifts explosive
Daisy: +5 friendship
I like hearing jon catch himself before he asks a direct question
getting people to trust you is hard when you have creepy compulsion powers
I didn't- I actually didn't notice, thanks
it makes me sad
13:10
It's kinda sweet
John: Hilltop road has been bothering me.
Also John: Going there seems like a bad idea.
John is learning, only took him 4 near death experiences.
John: goes there anyway a few years later
What really sells this comment is the fact that Rusty Quill hearted it.
Jon and Tim finally talking it out was so cathargic
Cathartic 😉
nothing more cathargic than that
i really am convinced at this point that, despite everyone freaking out over elias being able to hear the tapes, he actually has no control over them and its jon who has control over them. elias never seems to turn them on during moments where im sure hed rather not jon hear things, like leitners murder or daisys statement or melanies dad. and when elias does acknowledge them, its always something like 'Jon will want to hear what we say' or 'jon when you listen to this back' or 'we can record this for jon later.' I just feel like jon has control of the tapes, not elias.
Oh my I think you're right!
If he does he certainly isn't aware of it.
I actually saw a theory that the tapes and recorder are an extension of Jon specifically. No other Archivist seems to have used them like he does, and, like OP said, they act for no one but Jon, especially in situations where Jon wants more (or any) agency or awareness. (Which makes the lack of recordings from Jon between his kidnapping by the circus and his escape... very upsetting). What's more, the way other people view the tapes often parallels how they view Jon (Martin sees them as endearing, Tim sees them as an endless, terrifying frustration, Elias sees them as a necessary annoyance over which he has no control, Basira sees them as useful and slightly endearing, etc etc). I like the theory, so that's how I choose to view it.
The one thing that keeps me from believing this theory myself is how Elias managed to put off the effects of Jon's persuasion when asked to confess his murder, despite even Gertrude not using it on him. Compared with the traffic guard who was instantly spilling his "dark secret" or the others swayed by Jon. He seems powerful in a way, perhaps not as connected to the Eye as Jon but in another way?
Russell Lahna i really love that! thats such a sweet theory! god i hope its true
"Buy one spooky manager, get one free!"
I love Tim so much
Edit: "That's not fair! Sometimes I get kidnapped!"
"Let's just aLl tRuSt ELiaS."
Tim is very quotable
Tim is the best
remember when tim was like "statment of **joe spooky** regarding **suspicious happenings** and now he's just... bitter?
Trauma will do that to you
*sinister happenings
I wish we got/get to see more of that kind of Tim. DONT SPOIL ANYTHING
@@lonewaffle231 you literally just spoiled it
@@minuspi8372 its clear he might die but he might come back or something amd i dont want to lnow is something like that happens, also its nkt spoiling its quessing
I miss when he was happy :(
no need to be scared of whoever is listening in to the tapes, tim. it's just a bunch of nerds who want you alive and well
Hahahahahahahah
Pretty much
Straight up the most consistent 'please fucking live. Dont die dont die dont die' comes from us listeners.
truu
Yeah
Kind of funny how Tim refers to Basira by name but calls Daisy "that weird murder cop"
Sooo....Jon listened to all the tapes? All of them? Even the one where Basira and Melanie are talking about Martin's crush on Jon??????????????????
that is EXACTLY what I was thinking of
He will probably never want to bring it up, because both he and Martin are idiots who will dance in a slow burn forever if anyone lets them, but I am certain he knows
I wanna hear his reaction to that information
That...Would explain a LOT actually
HMMMMM... jon what do you have to say for yourself
I love the little moments where Jon catches himself about to ask a question and then rearranges it to give Tim free will to tell him how he feels.
Now I'm just imagining Jon wearing one of those hyperspecific targeted ad shirts but it's wildly off. 'Don't mess with a hard-ass grandma who loves fly fishing with a secret passion for tiny teacups and was born in November!'
SORLSLF'SK
PLSSS THIS IS SO FUNNY THANKS FOR THE MENTAL IMAGE
The entities meant for Gertrude to get it in America, but fate handed it to John.
@@fruitygarlic3601 lmaoooo imagine gertrude sipping from a tiny teacup as she shoots a fucked up mannequin
Jon's got some grandma energy
THEY'RE FINALLY COMMUNICATING OH THANK YOU
Fun fact! Due to audio issues, Jon is actually voiced by Alex for a few seconds in this statement. At 3:45, if you listen closely, you can hear the change. It goes back to Jonny at around 3:50.
You are right i thought it was a glitch or something for jon's voice to get so thin suddenly
How did I not notice-
Thank you for this delicious fun fact :D
That’s actually really smooth editing, I didn’t even notice
I love that I keep learning new things about this series even several listens through--I never caught this before! But I totally hear it now
I'm surprised Gertrude had any skin to take. Figured she was mostly decomposed
Burying slows down decomposition, partially because flies and other carcass reliant critters from above ground can't get to the body. Add a coffin or a body of water and it slows down even more, in that case the skin acts a container for the rotting organs because it's the last thing before the bones to decompose.
@@alchemicpunk1509 not to mention, if she was buried, They most likely went through the process of preserving her body
@@alchemicpunk1509 Yeah but like, did't she sat nearly a whole year in a tunnel before she got burried?
@@i.cs.z If the tunnel has the right temperature it can conserve for a bit but a whole year? I don't think she would have much skin too
Honestly if it was cool and dry or warm and dry in the tunnels she very well could have been partially mummified.
I am SO happy that there is the beggining of communication between Tim and John again.
Also, Daisy's definitely fallen to the Hunt. Basira's suspicion last episode and now the fact that she was weirded out by the shirt? Did she felt the blood in a way? Deker talked about apparently Hunt's followers/avatars/whatever have a strong link with blood...
The shirt thing is explained later. ;)
But yeah it’s been established at this point that Daisy is definitely of The Hunt.
i know this is an older comment but it made me think of trevor in his most recent statement talking about how "he couldnt hear what his attacker (darkness nightshift worker) was saying because of the sound of blood in his ears". most definately a connection with blood and hunt
whenever the title is even vaguely related to buildings i go "oh man!!! is tim coming !!!!! am i gonna hear tim!!!" i love tim keep thotting it up king
transported to an alternate universe where she doesn't exist. fun.
Yeah that’s what I thought too
oh wow i hadn't even considered that possibility
Wait that's what happened?
@@epsyblue7714 Sure is
This was def the web. Because the web is like, the connections between people? And the web just severed this gal’s connections with others
Super proud of Jon for doing his damndest to not Compel his friends/coworkers. Talking like that must be super hard, but he's doing it because he knows and that's so good of him.
Literally NO ONE talking about the protag who got stuck here from another dimension
Yes! I really loved the statement, a new weird mystery. And it's kinda a new thing, because it doesn't seems to be connected to the entities. It got me really excited about it.
But I think it got lost in Daisy and Tim stuff...
seems like PERHAPS this info might come in handy somewhere near the finale
@@rchifbirdboyBro I'm relistening for the 3rd time and I only now realized that this episode confirms that people can survive the trip to other universes!.
I really love how the tape recorders have developed a habit of just turning themselves on at opportune moments. It's a very fun way to explain why certain conversations are recorded.
How much is the tapes being turned on supernaturally vs Jon just having ADHD?
Why not both? :)
Supernatural ADHD 😎
@@evilcatv sounds fun and terrifying but go off i guess
@@evilcatv Considering the theory that ADHD helps ppl escape/avoid all the supernatural evil stuffs, perhaps it could be said that ADHD is inherently supernatural lol
Yes :)
I heard "Daisy" as "baby" and almost had an heart attack
unless...?
I heard it as "basi" for basira
Jon's "I'm still me, Tim" hit me SO HARD the voice acting is always top notch for everyone but that line hit different!! my heart..
i love that when John was asking how Tim was doing, he caught himself and deliberately phrased it so it wouldn't be a direct question. respecting his coworkers' privacy
Daisy being all excited about blowing things up, i love that woman
"I knew sasha for years we-" pain nothing but pain
Were they exes? 😗
Listening in my car I was like "we... we what? We were friends, we dated, we had a conection, we understanded each other...we WHAT?
Man Hearing Tim and Jon talk to each other again is a relief to me.
I still miss my good girl Sasha 😢
I don't think we've ever heard Daisy sound genuinely happy before the revealing of explosives.
"it's not like they were building over ancient burial grounds" oh, honey. what makes me curious the most is that the tree in this story was still standing - did the owners put it back up? did it regenerate? whats with the tree
and the obligatory TIM!!:") im happy they had that talk AAAAA
I think the tree didn't regenerate since it was never destroyed, never destroyed in HER universe. Anya seems to be from a universe where the Magnus Institute doesn't exist since she doesn't remember the building ever being in London, it also explains her friends seeming off and her non-existence from any records here. She got grabbed into that crack in the basement and got thrown in "this" dimension. Fascinating!
sooooo moral of the story: the Web can do some extra dimensional stuff? that's hum new!
@@folykl makes sense. makes me wonder, maybe the crack is due the web ritual already being completed? since its the most subtle of powers it shouldnt change the world that much i think, and every house has its spiders...
its most likely not the case ofc but its an interesting thought
I had to watch nearly the end of the series to figure out why.... But yeah, they do answer your question in a round-about way.
tim and jon finally talking healed something inside me :')
I was so sad Jon's trying so hard to not Ask questions so that he doesn't accidentally compel Tim into saying anything. Restating everything so that hhis friends can CHOOSE to tell him things instead of being forced to. It's about trying to keep the relationship balanced by giving them agency
As a janitor who has seen and experienced some shit while on the job, I was basically screaming to run as soon as she mentioned the closet.
So if Jon listened to all of the tapes, did he hear Daisy and Basira gossiping about Martin's crush on him?
yeeeesss??? Although considering how dense he is on the matter he probably brushed it off.
I don't remember that episode!! What episode is that
@@curechiancamelia8704 im not sure, i just remember that it happened
@@curechiancamelia8704 towards the end of 106: A Matter of Perspective
@@suzerainty4192 thank youuuu
love how every character's relationships are improving just from explosives lol
I have listened to 114 episodes in a little over two weeks time and to say I'm obsessed is to put it lightly. Lol This channel is amazing and the whole team is an absolute wonder. The story is compelling and the actors are excellent. Well done all. That being said I have two questions. The first being are any of you Warhammer or 40k fans? I get Chaos Gods vibes from the 14. The second being have you ever considered making your series into a graphic novel? I really think it would be a great medium for your work and I for one would throw my money at it. Thanks for the amazing content and keep it up!
I think they're making a book of all the scripts for the episodes...? Not sure though and in any case it won't be out for a while.
Yeah, The Fears reminds me of the Chaos Gods
@@sandymcneish7820 that would look great in a proper format
I was telling my brother about them, and he said they remind him of the Dark Powers in Curse of Strahd.
lmao same about the obsession but in just a week. it's so good gdjjsjgs
I feel like the Eye is us and the tape are our lense into the goings on of the Magnus Archives.
I really like this theory
The tapes arn't the Eye, but it Is our lense.. And this implication is actually veeeery important in the end.
How can you feel fear while listening to Spongebob's closing theme?
I have zero context going into this episode and let me just say, this is more mysterious than the entities
I find it interesting to see Jon go from being fed on by the eye to kind of feeding from it. This was really shone in the America episode where we find out that he has gone from being drained by statements to needing them.
In this episode, I loved seeing some actual communication between Jon and Tim also.
I've never heard Daisy be so happy as she was after seeing explosives.
This lady and the girl from Lost Johns Cave need to start a support group for people who fell into a different dimension
God, my brain just goes wild when I listen to these by this point in the story.
Podcast: Hilltop Road
Me: The Desolation!
Podcast: I don't know who you people are.
Me: The lonely! No, the stranger?
Podcast: Used to cleaning disgusting things
Me: The corruption, right? Are we getting the corruption in here?
Podcast: Had to brush cobwebs out of my face on the way down.
Me: THE WEB.
When the crack was described as darker even than the lack of light I thought the dark
Very good catches, all of them... And without spoiling anything, I can say with confidence it's actually a plot point.
So I think that the desolation and the web are both at odds on hilltop road and as we see that every person has their own fear controlling them, this women was probably taken by the spiral because she was more affiliated to the madness part of it.
Maybe its all of them
Maybe that area is just a really good spot for spooky fear monsters
SPOILERS
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NO WONDER HER FRIEND DIDN'T KNOW HER SHE WENT THROUGH A FREAKING PORTAL???? WHAT???
19:35 you can just imagine Jon looking over and grinning while he says this, like a kid showing you what new thing they learned.
I like how Tim and Daisy do a good job distracting you from the biggest piece of foreshadowing in the series
Stop dragging us into the story
Like I’m good it’s scary enough without insinuating we’re part of it too
Like IM GOOD I’m very invested don’t worry
exactly but , what if-
Oh my poor Random boi.. You saw it when so many did not...
@@Nizati ahah I am only now getting this this episode- I am so scared to find out what you’re implying here
Excuse me!? "I listen to all of the tapes"
That means Jon has heard the conversation about Martin having a crush on him!!
Probably still in a heavy state of denial at this point.. lol.
has anyone noticed how jons mentioning martin a lot more now and how he said he listened to all of the tapes meaning he probably heard about melanie and basira talking about martins crush on jon. love the fact im more fixated on the relationship lore atm lollll
i really really liked the narrator. "do they expect me to clean this?" god, yeah, i feel that. tim... at least youre talking. do NOT need the canon implication that im trying to go after the circus too i dont have the skill for that bud. daisy... oof
This episode is retroactively one of the most crucial lore building moments by the time you reach the end of the series. But on the first listen through, it just seems like shenanigans from the Web and the Stranger. But ultimately it was just the Web, secretly spinning its web in ways you don't recognize until you see the full picture.
Technically it is all of them. I believe they said the site has been scarred by all the fears
They were all involved over the years, but the Web orchestrated the whole thing. In the episode where we learn how Agnes ended up on Hilltop Road , the narrator mentions that they brought her there specifically because the Web had up to that point always suffered losses in confrontations with the Desolation. Considering how the Web is otherwise portrayed as the invincible mastermind, this heavily implies it got into clashes with the Desolation and lost them on purpose to lure them into Hilltop Road.
It’s been three days since I started and I’m already here
Ok now that’s skill lol I’ve been at it for weeks
same, how do you do that? I can't imagine losing that much sleep
goddamn thats boss level its been about 4-6 weeks for me
1,5 weeks for me. Unfortunatly I have a report for uni to write and the podcast constantly distracts me :D
I don't know who needs to hear this, but drink some water
I love how a lot of statements, like this one, just click into place after listening through the full series.
"Whatever is on the other side of those tapes is just as invested in stopping the Circus as you are in avenging your brother."
Yes we are! There is nothing we can do to help you but we are indeed invested. Thank you for keeping the recorder running.
Technically that was correct....
sometimes therapy is bringing plastic explosives to a fear summoning ritual involving the skin of your old boss.
i'm guessing this is spiral or stranger, even though web would make more sense for the building.
it might just be a convergent spot, lots of diferent entities bleeding into each other.
The whole crack thing and her not knowing where she was seemed like she hoped from one dimension to this one, made a statement and then hoped out.
Hilltop Road has been a big site of Web and Desolation in the past, but there's too much Spiral influence here for me to completely ignore it. I say Spiral/Web
We know there have been confirmed appearances of Desolation, Web, and Spiral on Hilltop Road. This one definitely seems more Spiral than anything, but there may be... threads of Web laced throughout?
@@TheNitpickChick hoohoo pun
I think it was definitely Web, since she said "just a little look" twice in relation to feeling compelled to open the door and go into the cellar (like she was being controlled 👀) and Spiral then warping her sense of reality after she woke up. Idk about Stranger though, unless it got the NotThem or something else involved to mess up her friends' and employers' perception of her??
The most off-putting part was the fact that there was actual communication going on this episode
The "other side of the tapes" thing was a bit overdone this episode, which is precisely why I think it's *not* us. There's something else out there...
You were right! And maybe slightly wrong too.
ahhh time please I wanna hug you, I'm glad he's finally talking about his problems with jon though. He's going through so much
JON-"Sometimes I was Kidnapped."
Me: I mean yer not wrong but that doesnt build confidence Boss.
*reading the title*
me: ohh i bet its gonna be about hill top road
jon: "regarding a cleaning job on hill top road"
me: ooooh yeah its big brain time.
ok so thats the third time that martin has been associated with spiders in some way (he found the statement) and. hm.
soft spider boy
The web👀👀
Web!Martin rights! 😁
Just want to note, the door handle of that door in the statement being warm is similar to the coffin from breekon and hope. I think warm handles and other inanimate objects seemingly unrelated to the desolation may have appeared elsewhere too
Tim has just been S2 Jon this whole time ;~;
This is my third listen through and I just now fully understood the importance of todays statement. The crack indeed...
I'm happy Tim and Jon are talking again. :D
Daisy sounded excited about the explosives.
This comment summons this whole comment section 😅
(Although I wish we'd be taking more about the statement itself. I mean, THAT LADY JUST GOT PUSH THROUGH AN ALTERNATIVE REALITY)
ok i know this is like a serious moment but jon listened to that tape where basira and melanie talk about martin's crush and im just talk to each other already please
Jon listening to all the tapes (including the one where Melanie and Basira gossip about Martin's crush) and then at the end where he asked Daisy if Martin specifically was okay with the plan...little sus Jon👀
My theory from this episode and what we know so far:
John heard the tapes! I repeat, John heard the tapes! So he definitely heard when Basira and Melanie were discussing about him and Martin!
The fact that the real Sasha has been forgotten by almost everyone that knew her and all their memories are replaced with the Not!Sasha really breaks my heart each time.
As for the statement itself, it's quite obvious that this place is related with the Web through out the years. Now, was this place somewhere where the Web tried to do their ritual but it was stopped? And that's why it's still "tied" with the Web still? But there are also mentions of warmth which makes us think about the Desolation, so is this place also linked with that fear because of the ritual Agnes had done with the tree? Was the ritual that she hurried to do with the others of the Flameless Fire(?) cult but they didn't finish because she died (did others die too? I can't remember, it was the episode where someone had fallen in love with Agnes) actually the ritual to bring the Desolation in the real world? Is this why the Web and the Desolation are always against each other, because they both need the same location or something from the same location for their own rituals?
The witness stating again and again that it was her choice or it was her own thought to do something shows that she was under the Web's powers of thought control and manipulation, but her losing her mind mostly implies the Spiral instead, so what is going on here? I mean, here not existing in this world and most of the info she gave being false point to either mass memories and history changing (which we have saw from multiple fears so far) or just her own memories being changed or her not actually being from that world; like parallel universes sort of thing. But the latter sounds unlikely for this series, so it's most likely one of the two things that are mentioned first. Still, this location in the Hill Top Road seems vital in the story for (at least) some of the fears, so this episode was alot confusing for us, listeners, who still don't know fully what's going on with everything.
Finally, when John asked Tim who he thinks is using the tape recorders to listen in, I think it shows that John already suspects what's going on with them. Or, at least, that he suspects that they are not fully related with Elias and the Eye and they are related with someone else who, in my opinion by now, is either Gertrude, John or us.
SPOILERS
Listening back after having listened to the whole thing... this statement about hilltop road is so clever, being where everything spatial interweaves its entirely likely the cleaner in this statement came through the tear from another universe - perhaps even the same one the magnus protocol is set in.
(spoilers!!!!)
i genuinely love this statement so much. its so... uninteresting, in a way. it seems like just your average normal statement on spooky happenings, the most lore-relevant it seems is confirming hill top rad was very weird, and its overshadowed by the conversation right after. you have to scroll more than usual to find a comment referencing the statement, and the first one (at least for me) isnt even about anything that actually happened. yet, it somehow contains possibly the MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF LORE, a whole lot of very important set up for the ending. on my first watch (after i was done being excited that *finally*, there was a dimension jump, something i was hoping for from the begginng), i completely forgot about this, then on my second i was like the tv pointing guy meme, remembering what annabelle said. now, just... i was so excited to hear it again.
This one is *really* satisfying on a second run through on the series.
George Icarus, the unmentioned name of the folk in the previous episodes, the one who came first before Gertrude. Another archivist? But yeah, maybe not, decomposition stuff...
Daisy....... EXCITED?!?!
“Hill Top Road, a nice SIMPLE job” lmao
I'm listening to this show again (so spoilers I guess) and I'm fairly certain Anya came from another dimension through the crack in hilltop road, I've been skimming through the comments and I'm surprised noones thought of this. Although I suppose, unless the fears exist in other dimensions too, this wouldn't explain the spooky stuff happening in her version of hilltop road
Spiders from a dark crack in the fire house going insane?! Damn, this a crossover event?
I never thought about it but this statement takes a different turn when considering the finale of the series. And the possibilities of the Magnus Scrotocol
Oh. Oh! Oooooohhh....
Second full listen-through of this series, and I get this statement. Interesting.
This is my second listen through.
*BIG SPOILER*
I didn't catch this before, but that poor woman was pulled through realities by the Web, maybe in a way to test it's theory about escape. That's why she didn't know the institute, why she couldn't find her friends.
They're enacting a secret plan that Martin devised? Color me intrigued.
Spoilery speculation:
...
...
...
...
...
I can't help but feel that Hill Top Road and the warping of reality there is going to be important in fixing... uh... things. In season 5. Particularly given the web connection and how involved Annabelle has been with our dynamic duo's journey.
MORE SPOILERY DISCUSSION:
I feel like there's no way to put the world back from where it currently is tbh. The best they can hope for is a reality shift like the one in this statement. Also it bugs me that the spiderweb lighter STILL hasn't come into play beyond Martin burning statements... Anabelle keeps trying to contact Martin... she has access to Salesa's camera that reasserts reality... idk how it all fits together yet but this espisode is certaintly interesting to re-listen to knowing what we know now!
You Were RIIIIIIIGHT!
Genius
i think that we are over looking the fact that the lady from the statement traveled dimensions/parallel world in a similar manner to the monument mythos quite an interesting detail id like to know more of it
you'll never fucking guess
Magnus Archives me fazendo teorizar Se existe um multiverso...
Lindo
When I see Tim in the cast list, my heart sings :)
"And easy job… Hilltop road"
HAH SIKE YOU THOUGHT
Nothing good ever happens on Hilltop Road
> strange tree
> travel to another dimension/universe
> tree bending/snapping
MONUMENT MYTHOS?7?7?7?7?
I don't know about anyone else but my favorite recurring episodes have been the ones about Hilltop Road
so much representation in this show, including divorcees! 🎉
Ah yes, the right way to deals with these entities. *explosion.*
Elias: "Tim i don't believe you can help"
Tim: Literally found where ritual is going to happned before others doing alone research
Poor Tim. I just want my himbo bicon to be happy :(
I also noticed Jon has to actively try not to compel his friends by accident and it makes me sad. Someone hug this scrungly little Archivist.
**Spoilers**
Re-watching after finishing the entire series....
God damn it.... this episode is FULL of foreshadowing and I practically forgot about it...
Like the Statement... A man goes to Hilltop Road, finds a crack in the foundation the spider pulls him through.. And then he wakes up in some place similar but not. And where he came from, the Magnus Institute doesn't exist.... It's so easy to think maybe his mind and memory was manipulated..... But it wasn't, was it?... He was a friggen test dummy.
Oh, and don't think I missed that whole 'I don't think the Eye is using the tape recorders, but whatever is behind it wants to stop the unknowning' bit. He says it and forgets it right after.
Damn it Jon! (the writer) You Manage To Add Aaaaalll The Plot Points As Foreshadowing Somewhere Didn't you??!! AAAARGH *flips table*
Oh, i was waiting for this to drop for ALL of season 5. You dont place this much of a plot point without ever using it.
Also, not a man. Anya's a woman.
@@mimkyodar derp.. you're right.. X.x
Just finished episode 200. The foreshadowing was crazy! I would never had seen that coming
The rain knocked at my door while I was listening to this! I mean, it can't be anything outside of the rain, there was no one behind the door. What malevolent entity would knock on the door anyway.
The kind of malevolent entity that likes playing with its food before it eats it
When you're relistening, and realize why everything is just... Wrong for Anya. What the Web used that crack to do.
IT JUST HIT ME THAT -
(Spoilers)
(Spoilers)
(Spoilers)
She was pulled through the other world. The one with no Magnus Institute because *it has no Fears*.
I did not catch that! Amazing! That seems to indeed be the case
This is the connection to TMP episode 17 where the Statement giver finds his way into a different world and meets himself.
My app glitched for a sec, so it sounded like Jon said "audi recordi" and I-
damn, i wish elias could do this "'putting knowledge into head" thing and show tim how real sasha was looking, they cant bring her back ofcourse but he deserve to know how her face looks like.
Hiltoproad and times going wrong was mentioned by Tim on season one so definitely time travel / reality jumping
I don't remember this. What Tim said?
@@Matheus-ql7mn I cant remember but I think it was in first or second season when they mentioned somr continuity issues pointed out by fans and the characters complained about gertrudes labeling system