| “ | Can I have a cigarette? | „ |
| ~ The Anglerfish luring people towards its fake person. |
| “ | We’ve got one down here. Come on, I’ll show you. | „ |
| ~ The Anglerfish trying to lure Alexander Scaplehorn into the basement of the Trophy Room. |
The Anglerfish is a major antagonist of season 3 of the Rusty Quill horror podcast The Magnus Archives.
It was a mysterious being created by the godlike entity known as the Stranger. Living in the shadows of the Edinburgh, it was responsible for luring people towards it using fake humans. Afterwards it would take their skins and use them as bodies for another other creature of the Stranger. It kept the bodies alive after they were flayed and gave them to the Circus of the Other to use as the "choir" during the Unknowing, a ritual meant to shift reality to bring the Stranger in.
Appearance[]
The Anglerfish's lure is the only part of it described in detail. In shadows, it seemed human, but upon closer inspection, it became obvious that it was not alive. Its skin was damp and sunken, and its face was expressionless. It swayed slightly, and if one looked closely, they could see that its feet did not touch the ground, and when the Anglerfish spoke, its mouth didn't move. These lures would only appear to its intended victims.
The lures were not actually part of the Anglerfish and were instead just puppeted by it from the shadows. All that was described of the creature itself were its long, pale white hands.
Personality[]
| “ | For some reason the thought of an anglerfish popped into my head, the single point of light dangled into the darkness, hiding the thing that lures you in. | „ |
| ~ Nathan Watts describing the Anglerfish. |
The Anglerfish was an extremely alien creature, and did not see the world in a human way at all, showing absolutely no respect for human life or dignity. Despite this, it was not animalistic, and did not eat its victims, instead using them for long-term plans. It shared the desires of its creator and master and ultimately wanted to throw the world into a surreal, nightmarish, hellscape, where it and its kin ruled. It seemed to have some understanding of human behavior and tried its best to use it to manipulate them, although it wasn't capable of actually acting like a normal human.
Biography[]
The Anglerfish's exact origins are unknown, but it began to operate around the Old Fishmarket Close in Edinburgh around 2005. During this time, it spent its night sending out its lure to people walking home, usually too drunk to notice any oddities about it. Its lure would bring them into alleyways, where the Anglerfish would take them. During this time, it took Jessica McEwan, Sarah Baldwin, Daniel Rawlins, Ashley Dobson, and Megan Shaw. It was unable to take Nathan Watts, but succeeded in taking another man named John Fellowes, before it presumably stopped its hunt in 2010.
At some point, it began working with other servants of the Stranger, mainly Nikola Orsinov and her circus, who hoped to bring about the Unknowing: a ritual that would twist reality enough so that the Stranger could take a physical form and change the world in its image. In order to help, the Anglerfish took the skins of its victims and gave them to another creature of the Stranger who needed bodies, except for the skin of Megan Shaw, which it for whatever reason gave to Nikola. It kept its skinless victims alive, and moved into the basement of a taxidermy museum called the Trophy Hall, where the ritual was supposed to take place.
When the time came for the Unknowing in 2017, the Anglerfish used its skinless victims to create the "choir" for the ritual: a symphony of pain and chaos that helped reality twist to the Stranger's ideal. The ritual began and reality began to change, but as that happened, a bomb was set off by Timothy Stoker, destroying the Trophy Hall and presumably killing the Anglersfish.
Powers and Abilities[]
| “ | I, I think – I used to call it The Anglerfish. It’s – I knew it took the skin, used it to coat people made of sawdust and stuffing, but now – I suppose I thought it just ate the rest. But no. It had a museum to fill with waxworks. And I guess you don’t need skin to sing. To join the choir. | „ |
| ~ Jonathan Sims on the Anglerfish. |
The Anglerfish had the ability to create and control a lure that anatomically looked human. However, it did not seem capable of making the thing actually seem or act human, and couldn't make it speak, relying on speaking itself to provide it a fake voice. Once a person followed the lure into the Anglerfish's alley, it was seemingly impossible to escape, and the creature would take that person away.
The Anglerfish had the ability to flay a person in such a way that another entity could wear their skin, and in such a way that the person would remain alive while still feeling the pain of losing their skin. These skinless corpses became completely under its control, and it could use their pain and fear to make them sing in such a way that brought the Unknowing.
Trivia[]
- The Anglerfish was the first paranormal entity to be referenced in a statement.
- The Anglerfish was referenced in the penultimate episode of the show, when Georgie Barker asks "Can I have a cigarette?", eliciting a small laugh from Jonathan Sims.
