The podcast is initially presented as a horror anthology, following the efforts of Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, to record on tape a number of statements of paranormal events that have proven impossible to record through conventional, digital means. Over the course of five seasons, a more complex metaplot develops, revealing the nature of the Magnus Institute, its head, Elias Bouchard, and the nature of the paranormal events recorded in the statements.
Season 1 Season 1 of
The Magnus Archives ran from 24 March 2016 to 13 October 2016. It covers episodes 'MAG 1 - Angler Fish' through 'MAG 40 - Human Remains.' Jonathan Sims is installed as the new Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute's Archives, his predecessor Gertrude Robinson having gone missing and is presumed dead. As he attempts to digitize statements about supernatural incidents, he finds that some statements can only be recorded on
cassette tapes, as opposed to the preferred digital recordings. Sims maintains a
skeptical view of the statements' potential authenticity. Eventually, the archival staff are directly threatened by Jane Prentiss, a woman who became host to a sentient hive of worms. Prentiss stalks the Institute for several weeks until Sims accidentally damages a wall while attempting to kill a spider, revealing millions of worms hiding behind it. In the ensuing worm attack, Sims and archival assistant Tim Stoker are partially infested while another assistant, Sasha James, is killed by another creature called the Not-Them, which assumes her identity. The attack is ended when Institute Head Elias Bouchard activates the building's
carbon dioxide fire suppression system which kills Prentiss and all the worms. In the aftermath, the third archival assistant, Martin Blackwood, reveals that he has found the remains of Robinson in secret tunnels beneath the Magnus Institute.
Season 2 Season 2 of
The Magnus Archives ran from 1 December 2016, to 31 August 2017. It covers episodes 'MAG 41 - Too Deep' through MAG 80 - The Librarian.' Following the revelation that Robinson was shot to death, Sims becomes
paranoid that one of his coworkers is responsible and begins spying on them for evidence, and his failure to remain discreet prompts them to stage an
intervention and give him solid alibis. In between digitizing more statements and exploring the tunnels for clues, Sims encounters a being called the Distortion which has named itself Michael. It maims him and hints that "Sasha" cannot be trusted. This notion is reinforced when Sims takes a live statement from Melanie King, a
ghost hunter who had previously interacted with the real Sasha and is able to recognize that the Not-Them is not her. Sims researches the Not-Them and learns that it is bound to a mysterious table in the Institute's artefact storage. He destroys the table in the belief that doing so will kill the Not-Them, but instead it is set free and attempts to kill Sims before being entombed within the tunnels by Jurgen Leitner, a man who had kept hundreds of supernatural books in a library until its destruction by monsters in 1994. Leitner explains to Sims that monsters and supernatural occurrences are the manifestations of beings known as the entities or Dread Powers, each representing a different category of fear, and that the Magnus Institute serves one of these beings,
the Eye. Leitner reveals that Bouchard had killed Robinson to prevent her from destroying the Institute. While Sims steps outside to calm down with a
cigarette, Bouchard kills Leitner with a metal pipe to stop him from revealing any more. Finding Leitner's body, Sims believes he will be held responsible and goes on the run.
Season 3 Season 3 of
The Magnus Archives ran from 23 November 2017, to 27 September 2018. It covers episodes 'MAG 81 - A Guest for Mr. Spider' through 'MAG 120 - Eye Contact.' While being harbored by his ex-girlfriend Georgie Barker, Sims records the story of his first encounter with the paranormal, which he now recognizes as a manifestation of an entity called
the Web. Bouchard anonymously mails statements to Sims which hint towards the Unknowing, a
ritual that will allow an entity called
the Stranger to fully manifest. Following leads from the statements, Sims meets with Jude Perry and Michael Crew, two individuals who serve entities called
the Desolation and
the Vast, respectively, who both maim him in turn after he unintentionally compels them to give their own statements. Sims is apprehended by Daisy Tonner, a former police officer and servant of
the Hunt who has been
blackmailed by Bouchard. Tonner's partner, Basira Hussain, convinces her to use Sims' budding abilities to compel Bouchard to confess his crimes, but Bouchard proves immune to Sims' abilities and instead commissions him to stop the Unknowing. Soon thereafter, Sims is abducted by Nikola Orsinov, a living
mannequin who leads the Stranger's forces and intends to use Sims' skin in the Unknowing. The Distortion returns to intervene by killing Sims after giving him a statement about how Robinson stopped its own ritual to summon
the Spiral, however Sims is spared after the Distortion suddenly rejects its "Michael" persona and takes the form of Helen Richardson, one of its previous victims, who helps Sims escape instead. Sims retraces Robinson's steps, traveling around the world and discovering that he is developing the ability to spontaneously gain knowledge and that he now becomes weaker if he does not read statements regularly. Eventually, Sims encounters Gerard Keay, a man who died of a
brain tumor while assisting Robinson and is now
undead. Keay explains that the entities, rather than feeding on fear, are literally fear, and must cause supernatural phenomena to sustain themselves. Keay directs Sims to a supply of
C-4 that Gertrude had intended to use to stop the Unknowing. Sims arranges for himself, Stoker, Hussain and Tonner to blow up the Unknowing while Blackwood and King, who had been hired on as Sasha's replacement, steal compromising material from Bouchard's office to get him arrested. Stoker is killed in the explosion and Tonner is trapped in a supernatural coffin while Sims is sent into a
coma. Shortly before his arrest, Bouchard brings in Peter Lukas, a servant of
the Lonely, to act as interim head of the Magnus Institute.
Season 4 Season 4 of
The Magnus Archives ran from 10 January 2019, to 31 October 2019. It covers episodes 'MAG 121 - Far Away' through 'MAG 160 - The Eye Opens.' Six months after the previous events, Sims is awoken from his coma by Oliver Banks, a benevolent servant of
the End. Returning to the Magnus Institute, Sims learns from Hussain that Lukas has taken Blackwood on as his personal assistant and King has become increasingly violent. Sims deduces that King is being influenced by
the Slaughter as a result of her previous encounters with its manifestations and extracts a 'ghost bullet' from her leg, and she wounds him after waking up mid-surgery. Breekon, a servant of the Stranger who survived the Unknowing brings a coffin to the Archives, explaining that it trapped Tonner within the coffin before the explosion. Sims resolves to save Tonner, but since the coffin is aligned with
the Buried he plans to leave a part of himself outside of it to find his way back to, and has the Boneturner, a servant of
the Flesh, extract one of his ribs. Following his successful retrieval of Tonner from the coffin, Sims researches the other entities' rituals along with Hussain, who has been secretly meeting with Bouchard to take advantage of his near-
omniscience. Bouchard convinces them to travel to
Ny-Ålesund to stop the ritual of
the Dark, only to find a single servant who explains that the ritual failed three years earlier despite it having seemingly been unopposed. Sims destroys the former ritual's catalyst, an artificial
dark-energy star, before they return to the Institute. Meanwhile, Lukas and Blackwood research the emergence of a new entity,
the Extinction, and plan to gain all knowledge about it by using the
Panopticon of
Millbank Prison, which has been preserved within the tunnels and was the catalyst of the Eye's ritual centuries prior. Lukas releases the Not-Them to cause a distraction. In the Panopticon, Lukas and Blackwood are met by Bouchard guarding the remains of the Institute's founder, Jonah Magnus. Bouchard reveals that he is the fourth incarnation of Magnus, who has been
body swapping as a form of
life extension, but offers to allow Blackwood to kill him in order to use the Panopticon's power. Blackwood refuses, explaining that he pretended to follow Lukas' lead to keep his attention away from Sims, who he has fallen in love with. Furious, Lukas banishes Blackwood into the realm of the Lonely but is followed by Sims, who extracts a statement from Lukas before killing him. Sims rescues Blackwood and they retreat to a
safe house in
Scotland. Because Sims is now sustained by reading statements and cannot stop reading once he starts, he is tricked into reading a statement written by Magnus. Magnus reveals that a ritual can only succeed if it summons all of the entities simultaneously, and that to enact this ritual, he has orchestrated the events of the past three years to get Sims to directly confront and be marked by manifestations of all fourteen entities, allowing him to be the catalyst of a new ritual to summon them all into the world, with the Eye as the supreme entity. Magnus' statement ends with the ritual's incantation which Sims cannot help but to read aloud, transforming the world into a
hellscape.
Season 5 Season 5 of
The Magnus Archives ran from 1 April 2020, to 25 March 2021. It covers episodes 'MAG 161 - Dwelling' through 'MAG 200 - Last Words.' The season was split into three acts due to production delays caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic. Although things are bleak, Sims and Blackwood decide to return to the Institute in London to try to find a way to return the world to how it was before. As they travel, they find that the entities have divided the world into 'domains', most of which are overseen by a servant of the entities. As the Eye's Archivist, Sims is compelled to record his own statements about every domain they visit, and he finds he has the power to replace, punish, and even destroy the entities' servants, though it does little to make things better. He destroys the Not-Them, Perry and the Boneturner, but chooses to spare Banks as well as Simon Fairchild and Callum Brodie, servants of the Vast and the Dark respectively. Sims and Blackwood meet Hussain and lead her to Tonner, who has fully given in to the Hunt and become a monster. Hussain reluctantly kills Tonner, staying behind to mourn. Sims and Blackwood find a house left untouched by the entities, which is inhabited by Mikaele Salesa, a black market dealer who specializes in cursed items, and Annabelle Cane, a servant of the Web. Salesa reveals that he possesses a magical
camera that shields the property from the entities. Sims and Blackwood push on towards London, and encounter a former statement giver trapped in a domain shared by the Buried and
the Corruption, who Sims chooses to save by making him the domain's ruler. During the final leg of their journey, Sims destroys the Distortion to prevent it from interfering in their goal. In London, they find Barker and King leading a band of survivors in the tunnels, which are mostly safe from the entities. They enter the Panopticon and learn that Magnus has become the Eye's 'pupil' with all of the world's fear channeling through his now-unresponsive body, and Sims realizes that the Eye wants him to replace Magnus. Sims and Blackwood argue about what to do and separate, allowing Blackwood to be apprehended by Cane, who has killed Salesa and taken the camera. Cane convinces Blackwood to follow her to Hill Top Road, a house in
Oxford that marks the location of the Gap in Reality which may serve as a gateway to the
multiverse. Sims follows them to Hill Top road, joined by Hussain who he meets on the way. At Hill Top Road, Cane explains that the entities are doomed to perish since humans have stopped
reproducing and the End will eventually kill them all. To avoid this fate for itself, the Web plans to use all the tapes recorded by Jon and his assistants to bind the entities and pull them through the Gap, allowing them access to infinite worlds with infinite victims. This would remove them entirely from this universe, but would require Sims and his allies to kill Magnus and blow up the Panopticon at the same time to briefly detach the entities from the world. Sims, Blackwood, Hussain, Barker and King discuss their options and decide to carry out this plan since in other worlds the entities would be returned to their initial state of only being able to manifest as monsters and supernatural phenomena. However, Sims betrays their decision and kills Magnus, taking his place as the Eye's pupil. Blackwood, having anticipated this, sends Hussain, Barker and King to blow up the Panopticon early but fails to stop Sims from killing Magnus. Regretful, Sims convinces Blackwood to stab him so the plan to release the entities can still work. Blackwood agrees but refuses to save himself, instead wishing to die with the man he loves. Following the entities' removal from the world, Hussain, Barker and King can find no trace of Sims or Blackwood in the rubble. Finding one last tape recorder running, Hussain tells whoever is listening "I'm sorry, and good luck." ==Sequel==