The Web

The Web
Aliases	The Spider The Great Spider The Mother of Puppets The Mother The Spinner of Schemes The Hidden Machination
Fears	Arachnophobia, Fear of being controlled
Manifestations	Webs, web patterns, weaving, puppets, spiders, addiction, tape recorders

The Web is one of The Entities. It is the fear of being controlled or trapped without knowing it, and your will not being your own, of being manipulated. It manifests as spiders, webs, web-like patterns and puppets.

ATTENTION! SPOILERS AHEAD!! This article contains information from later episodes of The Magnus Archives and may contain major spoilers for the setting and plot. Continue at your own risk.

Episodes

Statements

• MAG 3: Across the Street (Web table)
• MAG 8: Burned Out (House on Hill Top Road)
• MAG 16: Arachnophobia (Spider)
• MAG 59: Recluse (Hill Top Road, Web table)
• MAG 69: Thought for the Day (Annabelle Cane)
• MAG 81: A Guest For Mr. Spider (Book)
• MAG 100: I Guess You Had To Be There (Partially, Brian Finlinson's statement)
• MAG 110: Creature Feature (Neil Lagorio)
• MAG 114: Cracked Foundations (Hill Top Road)
• MAG 123: Web Development (Annabelle Cane)
• MAG 136: The Puppeteer (Neil Lagorio, Annabelle Cane)
• MAG 147: Weaver (Annabelle Cane, Weaver)
• MAG 167: Curiosity (Partially, Emma Harvey)
• MAG 172: Strung Out (Domain)
• MAG 196: This Old House (Annabelle Cane, Hill Top Road)
• MAG 200: Last Words (Statement)

Other Appearances

• MAG 19: Confession (Hill Top Road)
• MAG 32: Hive (Partially, Web mentions)
• MAG 35: Old Passages (Partially, Web lighter, Web table)
• MAG 37: Burnt Offering (Partially, binding ritual)
• MAG 38: Lost and Found (Partially, Spider)
• MAG 51: High Pressure (Partially, Web table)
• MAG 56: Children of the Night (Partially, person filled with spiders)
• MAG 78: Distant Cousin (Partially, Web table)
• MAG 79: Hide and Seek (Web table)
• MAG 80: The Librarian (Possibly, Web lighter)
• MAG 121: Far Away (Partially, Web mentions)
• MAG 128: Heavy Goods (Web artefact, mentioned)
• MAG 163: In the Trenches (Partially, Annabelle Cane)
• MAG 166: The Worms (Annabelle Cane)
• MAG 180: Moving On (Annabelle Cane)
• MAG 181: Ignorance (Annabelle Cane)
• MAG 187: Checking Out (Spiders, mentioned)
• MAG 193: A Stern look (Spiders, Spiderwebs, mentioned)
• MAG 194: Parting (Annabelle Cane)
• MAG 197: Connected (Annabelle Cane, Hill Top Road)

Characters

• Annabelle Cane: Avatar of The Web who has been observing The Magnus Institute and subtly influencing events.
• Raymond Fielding: Servant of The Web and former owner of the house on Hill Top Road.
• Neil Lagorio: Special effects artist who specialized in advanced puppetry. Servant of The Web.
• Emma Harvey: Assistant to Gertrude Robinson who became aligned with The Web.
• Geoffrey Neckam: Paranoid man who became a servant of The Web, past resident of Hill Top Road.
• "Sculptor of Puppets": Past resident of Hill Top Road, made puppet strings from the tendons of people who "did not appreciate his art". Killed by a "crusading hunter of the Reformation." (possibly an avatar of The Hunt)
• "Writer of Anonymous Letters": Past resident of Hill Top Road, killed during a civil war by a "man whose teeth were always stained with mud." (possibly an avatar of The Buried)

Artefacts

• The Web Table: A table with a hypnotic pattern design with a small removable box in the middle of it. Used by Adelard Dekker to bind NotThem. Was often carried and delivered by Breekon & Hope.
• Web Lighter: An anchor of The Web’s power in the form of a Zippo lighter with a cobweb design. It allows The web and its tape recorders to track John.
• A Guest for Mr. Spider: A children's book that enthrals the reader and leads them to a door where they are taken by a large, spider-like creature.
• "A thrumming silk-wrapped object:" An artefact of unknown abilities used by Breekon and Hope to torture an unspecified woman.
• Original cuts of Neil Lagorio films: Effects of watching them is unknown but the statement giver was trapped for five months until Annabelle Cane let her out.
• Tape Recorders: The tape recorders follow the archival staff, mainly Martin Blackwood and Jonathan Sims, recording statements and important or interesting happenings. Annabelle Cane used them to spy on the Magnus Institute.

Locations

• Hill Top Road: A stronghold of The Web with strange features such as the tree in the backyard, a Gap in Reality in the basement, and its former owner Raymond Fielding. The house was later destroyed by Agnes Montague and seemingly 'cursed' by the Desolation.
• Domain in the post-Change world: A large theatre with many stages in which 'actors' are forced on stage to be controlled by hooks, pulleys and addictive substances, conducted by a large spider lurking above.
• The Upton House: Though overall shielded from the entities and therefore not tied to them, Annabelle Cane resided inside "spinning her webs."

Ritual

There is no record of a ritual for the Web. Peter Lukas speculates that it prefers the world as it is, where it can manipulate people against each other. It appears to actively dislike the post-Change world.

In MAG 197, it is revealed that the Web is aware that a successful ritual would ultimately lead to the Entity's deaths due to the depredations of the End, and has been actively working to prevent this occurring.

Connection to other Entities

• The relationship between The Web and The Eye are unknown, as it may be affecting Jonathan Sims specifically rather than the Archives or Beholding itself. Due to John's encounter with The Web at a young age, he may have been targeted by The Web his entire life.
  • John attempting to crush a spider on the wall of the Archives leads him to break through the wall, finding Jane Prentiss and her worms planning to attack the Archives.
    • This might be The Web helping to protect the Archives from The Corruption.
  • A lighter with a web design was delivered to John, and he admits he is not sure why he still holds on to it, as he has quit smoking. After his encounter with Jurgen Leitner, John steps out for a cigarette, an action that allowed Elias to kill Leitner.
    • This may imply that The Web is assisting with Jonah Magnus' agenda.
  • The Web sent Oliver Banks to give his statement to John to encourage him to wake up from his coma.
  • The Web directed John to the statement leading to his encounter with Jared Hopworth.
• The Desolation and The Web seem to have an antagonistic relationship.
  • When Gertrude Robinson discovered and attempted to counter the Desolation's ritual, The Web metaphysically bound her to Agnes Montague, thus stalling their ritual.
  • This may be why a young Agnes was placed under the care of Raymond Fielding at Hill Top Road. While there she thwarts Raymond's attempt to trap Ronald Sinclair and eventually burns the house down.
    • While the house is still strongly connected to The Web, The Desolation seems to have also left its mark on the place.
    • In MAG 196, The Web seems displeased that Agnes burnt down Hill Top Road.
  • In MAG 67, Agnes burns a cobweb, and another agent of The Desolation held a box filled with spiders.
  • In MAG 147, Daisy mentions that The Web "doesn't get on great with fire", according to John, hence why they used magnesium flares when searching Hill Top Road.
  • Despite their antagonistic relationship, The Web's plan to escape through the Gap in Reality relies on mass destruction of the archives by fire.