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Post by Oneiros on Jan 12, 2017 9:00:20 GMT
Doors opening and doors closing; foreboding and finality - and is Helen's fate what awaits all us wanderers?
Well, today's episode definitely threw wide the portal to terror incognita (sorry, I'll get my coat) and we discover (again) that the Institute is not quite the sanctum the Archivist would really like. Given the denouement I don't think I'm gonna say much other than kudos to Helen's voice actor for fantastic job on that statement delivery - the distress level coming through was pitched just right.
So, what say you all to these events?
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Post by spooniermist on Jan 12, 2017 10:26:28 GMT
Oh my god it's Michael!!!!!! EVERYONE IS MICHAEL!! Okay, madness aside, this was a really good episode. The mystery was nice and curious, but the revelation of the figure as the entity known as Michael was really amazing. I was actually driving and listening to this and I almost crashed when it appeared at the Archives because I was so enthralled! I feel like this is another piece of one of my theories, my Uncanny Dimensions theory! Essentially that there are various esoteric dimensions that are based on the cases of TMA. Specifically: * Sky Blue - the infinite sky dimension from Freefall
* Meat Pit - the meat factory from Killing Floor* Foggy Graveyard/Moonlit Grove - the place that the chapel lead to in Alone. They're all tied to places of power, like the passages in Old Passage. This episode has made me wonder if each of these dimensions has a consciousness, and if Michael is one of them. Identifying that the corridors are one part of it, and the entity that inhabits the body of Michael as another. I'm not sure how my other (more vague) theory that there are two warring cults each worshiping different demons (Asaag being one), but that's much more uncertain for me at the moment. |
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Post by Oneiros on Jan 12, 2017 10:54:34 GMT
I was actually driving and listening to this and I almost crashed when it appeared at the Archives because I was so enthralled! Okay, our anecdotal tally for this sort of thing is up to the double digits. Please, please be careful when consuming RQ material! We want all listeners to stay listeners. This is a Public Service Announcement on behalf of the Podcast General. |
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Post by captainhowdy on Jan 12, 2017 11:17:44 GMT
I quite liked idea of a malignant thing consuming people by manifesting doors which it then then somehow digests it's unwitting victims?? Beautifully weird! Reminded me a little of a recent British horror film called Borderlands
This was my first up to date MAG and a thoroughly enjoyable one at that. Traces of House of Leaves, Jame's Mezzotint and Lovecraft's Non-Euclidean geometry or like spooniermist says 'uncanny dimensions' all there, but still very fresh and original. Genuinely creepy descriptions of the thing that 'shifted like moving through rippling water' add to a genuinely unnerving experience. Really enjoying following the Mag as it goes from strength to strength :-)
Keep up the great work!
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Post by spooniermist on Jan 12, 2017 11:42:57 GMT
Lovecraft's Non-Euclidean geometry Welcome to the present, CaptainHowdy! What's Non-Euclidean Geometry? |
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Post by captainhowdy on Jan 12, 2017 12:34:56 GMT
Lovecraft's Non-Euclidean geometry Welcome to the present, CaptainHowdy! What's Non-Euclidean Geometry? Sure :-) It's a way of describing things that go against the natural laws of physics and geometry, to such an extent that the human mind snaps. Admittedly Non-Euclidean geometry is a slightly poncy turn of phrase, but the way we open with Helen trying to scribble out a map of where she's been and realising all those turns on top of each other and door on an outside wall just don't make sense is a great example of this in horror. Dorothy's a long way from Kansas, and it aint Oz! |
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Post by cannonlongshot on Jan 12, 2017 14:56:35 GMT
Best example of non-Euclidean geometry is standing st the North Pole, walking a mile south, a mile east, and a mile north, and ending up back where you started  |
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Post by rosie93 on Jan 12, 2017 15:31:29 GMT
It was a great idea to listen to this episode at 3:30 am with the lights off and my bedroom door shut. I didn't want to open it afterwards. Great episode!!
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Post by Oneiros on Jan 12, 2017 16:03:05 GMT
I feel like this is another piece of one of my theories, my Uncanny Dimensions theory! Essentially that there are various esoteric dimensions that are based on the cases of TMA. Specifically: * Sky Blue - the infinite sky dimension from Freefall
* Meat Pit - the meat factory from Killing Floor* Foggy Graveyard/Moonlit Grove - the place that the chapel lead to in Alone. They're all tied to places of power, like the passages in Old Passage. This episode has made me wonder if each of these dimensions has a consciousness, and if Michael is one of them. Identifying that the corridors are one part of it, and the entity that inhabits the body of Michael as another. I like this theory. Although, maybe rather than a Meat Pit 'dimension', I would posit an Infinite Corridors dimension that the house in today's episode and the factory in Killing Floor both link to and that you can reach other places through them (kinda like the Infinite Staircase from D&D and as a general trope). Also, anybody else feel that strange doors should be sealed by A Sturdy Lock? |
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Post by cannonlongshot on Jan 12, 2017 17:14:04 GMT
Hah, I'd like if the real supernatural element of A Sturdy Lock was the fact that the door was defending its owner from ghosts xD
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Post by Sandstar on Jan 12, 2017 22:42:01 GMT
I dunno if this was covered in the second post, but I was wondering if it's possible that this episode's Michael is the same Michael that was in episode 46. I wonder if he used Jergen's book to become the creature when he jumped out of the building.
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Post by jkrockin on Jan 12, 2017 23:01:41 GMT
I dunno if this was covered in the second post, but I was wondering if it's possible that this episode's Michael is the same Michael that was in episode 46. I wonder if he used Jergen's book to become the creature when he jumped out of the building. I came here to posit this theory- that while the names could be a coincidence, the Michael Crew who gave himself to the lightning monster in Ex Altiora might have become weird bonyhands Michael who eats people with his corridors. The only problem is the timeline. The Boneturner's Tale shows up in Chiswick library in 1996; Michael Crew doesn't give himself to the Lichtenberg figure til 1998, and I think the bookseller chappie would have mentioned if his regular customer had huge sharp hands before then. It's possible that was part of the glamour or whatever that makes bonyhands people-eater Michael appear like a tall blond human man, but human!Michael Crew is described as short. I also came to say AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH OH GOD OH GOD THE ECHOING LAUGH OH GOD |
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Post by Sandstar on Jan 13, 2017 0:55:42 GMT
I dunno if this was covered in the second post, but I was wondering if it's possible that this episode's Michael is the same Michael that was in episode 46. I wonder if he used Jergen's book to become the creature when he jumped out of the building. I came here to posit this theory- that while the names could be a coincidence, the Michael Crew who gave himself to the lightning monster in Ex Altiora might have become weird bonyhands Michael who eats people with his corridors. The only problem is the timeline. The Boneturner's Tale shows up in Chiswick library in 1996; Michael Crew doesn't give himself to the Lichtenberg figure til 1998, and I think the bookseller chappie would have mentioned if his regular customer had huge sharp hands before then. It's possible that was part of the glamour or whatever that makes bonyhands people-eater Michael appear like a tall blond human man, but human!Michael Crew is described as short. I also came to say AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH OH GOD OH GOD THE ECHOING LAUGH OH GOD Okay, let's run the numbers: '96: Michael's a normal human, find a lightner book, becomes interested/obsessed with the idea. '98: uses a lightner book, uses that to become the jagged monster the book seller sees chasing him. Early '16: shows himself to Sasha, gives her the.ifea of using co2, saves her life from a Prentiss worm. Late '16: shows up, looking like a normal human for an open house, traps realtor in an infinite maze, let's her out to warn Sims. Meets Sims in "person". I think the timeline works, and even if not, this story proves he can appear human if he wants. |
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Post by seelingkat on Jan 13, 2017 4:45:35 GMT
*prises fingernails out of palms*
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jonnyb
Alphabet Squire
Posts: 1 
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Post by jonnyb on Jan 13, 2017 9:55:04 GMT
After having a second listen through all the episodes, a thought occurs:
What if the creature chasing Michael in the previous episode was Jared from the Bone Turner's Tale?
Leads me to wonder if part of the power of the Leitner books is a 2 way transference, giving power to the reader while taking from them.
This could explain a few things:
1-Jared's ability to become a "Bone Turner"
2-How Ex Altiora "gained" Michael's scar
3-The obsessiveness with which the readers seek out the Leitner books
This also gives me the thought that Leitner's "disappearance" was more akin to, for lack of a tired minds better wording, Voldemort's horcruxes.
As each gives themself over to the books, they merge with Leitner. Each battling for control could explain the "war" and even how "Michael" has a human form, as well as that of the creature within the endless hallway, most likely Jared. The line "does your mouth own your stomach" makes this even more weighted for me.
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