| “ | I’m going to wear you, John. I’m going to wear everything you are. Like you never existed. No-one will even know. And it will hurt. Oh, yes, it will hurt. It hurt Sasha. | „ |
| ~ The NotThem threatening Jonathan Sims. |
| “ | Once upon a time there was a monster, but no one realized. Sometimes someone did and then they were scared, so that was good. But one day a nasty man came along. A nasty man who tricked the monster and wrapped it all in webs and tied it to a table. So the monster got its friends to carry the table all around, and it still got to take faces and scare people. Then one day it was sent to the house of its enemy, which had the biggest eyes you ever did see. The monster was sent there to steal all its secrets, but it was sad because it couldn’t scare anyone any more. Then finally, after what seemed like forever, a stupid, arrogant, little man cut the webs and set the monster free. Free to kill and scare whoever it wanted. | „ |
| ~ The NotThem preparing to kill Jonathan Sims. |
| “ | Do you know how it feels? To be – anonymous? And yet known! To have all the sweetest dread I can create tainted by the relentless gaze of that damned Eye. I’ve suffered enough. | „ |
| ~ The NotThem after the Change. |
The NotThem, often called Not-Sasha, is a major antagonist of the Rusty Quill horror podcast The Magnus Archives.
It was a shapeshifting creature created by the godlike entity known as the Stranger. Seeking to spread random chaos and fear, it was known to kill average humans and replace them. Not actually changing itself to appear like its victim, it instead changed itself to appear a person of a similar age, gender, and race to its victim, and then altered the memories of those around to make them believe that the person had always looked and acted the way they do now. It would always leave at least one person's memories unaltered and then torment that one person with their unique knowledge.
After killing and replacing for centuries, it was eventually trapped in a table of the Web, forcing it to join forces with other servants of the Stranger, specifically the Circus of the Other, who sought to bring about the Unknowing, a ritual that would twist reality into a surreal hell and let the Stranger take true form. To this end, it was tasked with infiltrating the Magnus Institute, a paranormal investigative agency with an important aspect to the ritual. Replacing Sasha James, it spent a year spying on the institute and its archivist, Jonathan Sims, before taking a more direct approach.
While impersonating Sasha, it was voiced by Evelyn Hewitt.
Appearance[]
| “ | And as I stared at it, it moved. It started to bend, slowly, and I realised I was looking at an arm, a long, thin arm. As it bent the joint close to where the arm ended, I think I saw another joint further down, also moving, and bending what I can only assume were elbows; it hooked the end of the limb over through the window. When I say moved, that’s not quite right. It shifted. Like when you stare at one of those old magic eye paintings and you change from seeing one picture into seeing another. | „ |
| ~ Amy Patel describing the NotThem. |
The NotThem generally took the form of a human of a similar race, age, and gender to its victim. When impersonating Graham, it looked like a man shorter than Graham, with curly blond hair where Graham's had been short and dark. When impersonating Rose Cooper, it looked like a shorter, more rounded woman, who had longer hair than Rose. When impersonating Carl Moore, it is not described in detail but apparently had yellow-stained teeth.
It's natural could be seen if one looked too hard at one of its disguises for too long, or if it wanted to reveal itself. When shifting into this form, it would stretch out until it was monstrously tall and thin. It had stick-like arms and an abnormal number of joints.
Personality[]
| “ | There is more suffering than you can ever experience, so much more. The horror of your victims, their constant, senseless agony. Feel it now. Understand it. You have drawn out so much despair, and now finally, it’s your turn. Ceaseless Watcher, turn your gaze upon this wretched thing. | „ |
| ~ Jonathan Sims killing the NotThem. |
When acting human, the NotThem put on a blandly kind persona. It was always pleasant and exceedingly polite, regardless of how the person had acted before being killed. It almost never took down a facade of cheerfulness, and when it was recognized as an imposter by the one person whose memories was left untouched, its joyous behavior only increased. Although it was never known to openly threaten the person who recognized it, it would constantly make pleasant, easily overlooked remarks that taunted their inability to do anything with their knowledge.
This was because, at its core, the NotThem was monstrously sadistic. Its only purpose in existing was to cause discomfort, which gradually turned to fear, which gradually turned to horror and agony. It was hedonistically horrific, and only truly cared about scaring and hurting others as much as it physically could. It took great pride in its work, and it was prone to violent rage when it was somehow made unable to complete its purpose.
The NotThem preferred random chaos and suffering to any drawn-out complicated scheme. It was not unintelligent per se, but it was unambitious in its sadism and enjoyed misery on a smaller level. That being said, it did align itself willingly with the Stranger and would help its god's other servants, if need be, while keeping its own needs above the needs of anyone else. In a similar vein, it had a vengeful streak but was easily distracted from it by the option of random violence.
Biography[]
Sowing Random Terror[]
| “ | Beyond that, I find it comforting that this creature appears content to travel freely sowing random terror. I dread to think the damage it could inflict if it had a purpose. | „ |
| ~ Gertrude Robinson on the NotThem. |
The NotThem is an ancient entity, potentially being one of the first monsters to emerge from the Dread Powers. It is implied to have been involved the myth of the Changelings, as a monster who infiltrated a human home to steal children. It is known to have spent a large amount of time killing and replacing random victims and then tormenting the one person who sees through their disguise, potentially killing them if the opportunity arises.
In 1994, the NotThem painfully murdered a woman named Rose Cooper outside of a church in Draycott, Somerset. In then replaced, transforming into a far kinder, more welcoming version of the original woman, and rewriting the memories of Rose's husband and neighbors. However, when Rose's adult daughter Lucy came to visit, she remembered her mother's original appearance. Rose was outwardly kind to Lucy, but made it subtly clear to her that she was correct, and her mother had been replaced, taunting her with the knowledge that no one would believe her. It eventually murdered Rose's husband and moved on.
In 2001, the NotThem killed a man named Carl Moore and took his place, rewriting the memories of all those around him. It remained in this guise for several months until it attended a family wedding, where it met Carl's distant cousin Lawrence, who recognized it as an imposter. Thrilled by this discovery, the NotThem went to Lawrence's house, where it sat at his dining room table and stared at him for several hours feeding on his terror, before leaving.
The NotThem returned the next day, planning on killing Lawrence, when it was confronted by monster-hunter Adelard Decker. Adelard was able to surprise the creature, and bound it to a table of the Web, keeping it inside.
Imprisonment in the Web Table[]
| “ | God, I’m an idiot. Smash the table, kill the monster, stupid! Lazy, sloppy assumption. Of course the table was binding it. The table is webs and spiders. Spiders are something else. They don’t help each other, they oppose, they… they weaken. It was caught in a web, and I… All the pieces were there. And I just… I couldn’t see it. | „ |
| ~ Jonathan Sims on the Web Table. |
The NotThem was trapped in the table for some amount of time, until it was found by Breekon and Hope, fellow servants of the Stranger. Breekon and Hope agreed to transport the table, allowing the NotThem to claim more victims, while still being somewhat depowered and being bound to wherever the table was.
In 2006, Breekon and Hope brought the table to Graham Folger, a man who may have had a connection to the End, who the Stranger wanted out of the way. After he had had the table for several months, the NotThem temporarily broke free, killing and replacing him. He lived in Graham's apartment for several months after that, taunted Graham's neighbor Amy Patel, who recognized it as an imposter and eventually moved.
A few years later, Breekon and Hope brought the NotThem to Nikola Orsinov and her troop, who sought to bring about the Unknowing, a ritual that would twist reality enough to let the Stranger in and turn the world into a surreal hell. The NotThem was tasked with finding the gorilla skin, and important aspect of the ritual that had been stolen by Gertrude Robinson, the archivist of the Magnus Institute, a paranormal investigative agency that worked for the Eye.
In 2016, Breekon and Hope delivered the Web Table to the Magnus Institute. During the chaos while the Institute was being attacked by Jane Prentiss, the NotThem was able to slip out and kill Sasha James, one of the archival assistants, seamlessly slipping into her role once the attack was over, and stealing any tapes with the original Sasha's voice on them to prevent anyone from listening to them and hearing the difference.
Dealings with the Magnus Institute[]
| “ | I… um… I haven’t followed up on Melanie’s statement. I just keep thinking about what she said about Sasha. She was so certain. I mean, it’s Sasha. Obviously it’s Sasha. But… something… There’s more than one thing in the files that can trick you. I can’t just ignore it. So many stories about things that aren’t as they appear to be. | „ |
| ~ Jonathan Sims' beginning to discover the Nothem's infiltration. |
Although the NotThem convinced all of its fellow employees that it was Sasha, it began having problems with Sasha's computer, which would not authenticate it. It also began exploring the passages under the institute, believing that Jurgen Leightner, an enemy of its master. It made no progress on this front, but created arrows to trick the archivist, Jonathan Sims, into exploring deeper.
As months wore on and Not-Sasha continued her infiltration, John became vaguely suspicious. After John encountered the Distortion, he asked the NotThem about Sasha's encounter with the creature, which it was evasive about. The NotThem began going to Madame Toussard's Wax Museum on a weekly basis to report to its superiors, which John asked about. The NotThem claimed it had a boyfriend who liked to meet there and even uploaded some pictures to the internet of this fake boyfriend, which convinced John.
At one point, the Insitute received a statement regarding the Trophy Room taxidermy shop, a stronghold of the Stranger. Not-Sasha volunteered to do the follow up research, and went to the shop, where it met with a shell of a creature of the Stranger, who was working with the Circus to steal skin. Not-Sasha returned to the Institute, saying that there was nothing unusual about the Trophy Room.
Sometime afterwards, she caught John looking through her desk. He found nothing incriminating, but it led help in an intervention with Timothy Stoker and Martin Blackwood, the other archival assistants, and Elias Bouchard, the head of the institute. John was ordered to stop spying on his co-workers, which helped the NotThem, although John remained suspicious of Sasha after seeing her in the tunnels.
When Melanie King, an associate of the Magnus Institute, came to give a statement, she recognized the NotThem as not Sasha, leading to John beginning to discover the infiltration. The NotThem watched as he set about researching its previous activities, and it tried to make him believe that destroying the table would hurt it. This eventually worked, and John sent all his employees but Sasah home before attacking the Web Table with an ax and destroying it, freeing the NotThem. The NotThem hunted him through the tunnels for several hours afterwards, before being ambushed by Jurgen Leightner, who used a paranormal book to trap it hundreds of miles beneath the earth.
A few years later, the NotThem was released by Peter Lukas, and set about having its revenge of Jonathan Sims. It climbed back into the archives of the Magnus Institute, where it was confronted by monster hunters Trevor Herbert and Julia Montauk, as well as institute employees Basira Hussain and Alice "Daisy" Tonner. The four apparently fought for some time, but the NotThem escaped seemingly unscathed.
The Change[]
| “ | Your face is not your face is not your face around the curling carousel it twists in place to take from you and all the tattered stolen souls who sense of me is swollen and distended into nothing. | „ |
| ~ The beginning of the poem about the NotThem's domain. |
Shortly after the NotThem's escape from beneath the earth, Elias Bouchard started a ritual that brought all the Dread Powers into the world, where they set up various hellish domains to torment humans. The NotThem was selected by the Stranger to rule over one of these domains. The domain was a massive carousel, inhabited by faceless humans trying to find identities amongst a limited number of faces. The NotThem tormented them for months, stealing their senses of self and forces them to rip each other apart over faces. It enjoyed this, although it hated that it was all for the entertainment of the Eye.
Eventually, its domain was entered by Jonathan Sims and Martin Blackwood, who were travelling across the Post-Change World. The NotThem could not attack them, since they were servants of the Eye, but jeered them, and tried to make them afraid. It failed, but it did make John angry by taunting Sasha, resulting in him killing it with the power of the Eye.
Powers and Abilities[]
| “ | What puzzles me more is why one or two people can always see through it. The sheer power that it must be able to call upon to be able to rewrite so much of reality, seemingly as a reflex, is staggering. So why does it always miss a few witnesses? | „ |
| ~ Gertrude Robinson on the NotThem. |
The NotThem's ability to rewrite reality was its most dangerous trait and set it apart from other monsters as far more dangerous. After killing a person, it could seemingly instinctively shift any record of that person, including the memories of their loved ones, essentially changing most of creation to fit the new appearance of this singular person. Despite this power, it was not infallible and always left a bit of evidence of the person's previous appearance behind. It is possible that this was on purpose to taunt the one remaining person with their memories intact.
The NotThem was a shapeshifter, although the extent of this power was unclear. It could apparently not mimic specific appearances, instead taking a person's race, gender, and age, and warping reality to account for the rest. It seemed to have superhuman strength and speed, at least in its true form, and had no trouble killing once it found a person. It also seemed to be nearly immortal, never aging in any way, and being extremely difficult to hurt of kill.
Despite its power, the NotThem was vulnerable to the Eye, who saw through all of its disguises. It could not trick a powerful enough avatar of the Eye, and even in the post-change world, when the NotThem was near godlike, it still could not hurt servants of the Beholding. It was ultimately this vulnerability that led to its death, as the NotThem could not fight the full might of the Ceaseless Watcher.
Quotes[]
Season 1[]
| “ | Isn't it funny, Amy, how you can live so near and never notice? I'll need to return the visit someday. | „ |
| ~ The NotThem taunting Amy Patel with her knowledge of its replacement of her neighbor. |
| “ | Hello? I see you. I see you. | „ |
| ~ The NotThem's first words upon becoming Not-Sasha. |
| “ | Yes, I dropped it a few times. The eject button must have been hit. I didn’t notice until you pointed it out. It’s probably around somewhere. Is it that important? | „ |
| ~ Not-Sasha lying about the loss of the tape-recorded recording her killing Sasha. |
Season 2[]
| “ | Jonathan Sims: I thought that was… I… whatever crawled through his window. Unless you think they’re linked, somehow? Not-Sasha: I doubt it. It didn’t sound like the sort of thing that would want to be bound to an object. |
„ |
| ~ The NotThem on itself. |
| “ | Please don’t record our conversations. | „ |
| ~ Not-Sasha to John. |
| “ | And let’s have no more of this paranoia. | „ |
| ~ Not-Sasha during the intervention for John. |
| “ | Come, give your mother a hug. | „ |
| ~ The NotThem pretending to be Lucy Cooper's mother. |
| “ | I know it’s been a long time, Lawrence, but surely you haven’t forgotten your cousin Carl? | „ |
| ~ The NotThem pretending to be Carl Moore. |
| “ | Jooooohhhhn… Jooooohhhhn… Come out, come out, wherever you are. It’s okay John; it’s Sasha. Reliable old Sasha. Nothing to be afraid of. You seem stressed, John. You’ve been under a lot of pressure. You should talk about it. Have a real good chat. You like talking, don’t you, John? | „ |
| ~ The NotThem hunting John. |
| “ | I’m glad we got a chance to run, John. It makes it so much more satisfying. Do you have any idea how long I watched you? You and your little… acolytes. I hated it. Let me tell you a story. You like stories; we can even call it a statement if you want. | „ |
| ~ The NotThem after catching John. |
| “ | I must confess, though, I almost enjoyed watching you scurry around. Desperately missing the point. At least I knew what I was looking for. You really aren’t even a shadow of your predecessor. You’re nothing. Even I would make a better Archivist than you. Maybe I will. You’ll miss the Unknowing, of course, but you wouldn’t understand it anyway. I wonder, if I wear you, will I really become the Archivist? Rob the eye of its pupil? Probably not. Better to just kill you I think. Yes. I think that would be best. | „ |
| ~ The NotThem preparing to kill Jonathan Sims. |
Seasons 4-5[]
| “ | So you finally decided to let me out, John? Jooooohn? Who’s there? Who let me out? Don’t be shy… I just want to say thank you. …alright, have it your way. Now if you’ll excuse me… I have some unfinished business. | „ |
| ~ The NotThem upon being freed. |
| “ | Oh, hello! What’s happening here? New friends? Not new friends? Even better. | „ |
| ~ The NotThem upon meeting Trevor Herbert and Julia Montauk. |
| “ | My dearest colleagues. I can’t believe you’d decide to pass through my neighborhood and not say hello to dear, old Sasha. | „ |
| ~ The NotThem upon seeing Martin and John again. |
| “ | Jonathan Sims: Pathetic. Martin, let’s go. Not-Sasha: Not as pathetic as your little friend when I ate her life. |
„ |
| ~ The NotThem accidentally provoking John into killing it. |
Trivia[]
- In MAG 200, John describes one of the first monsters as "long things that wear you like a suit". While this is not explicitly said to be the Not-Them, it does seem to very much describe them. If this is the case, it would make the Not-Them by far the oldest character in the podcast- while the exact timeline is unclear, a creature from this period would be at least millennia old, and very possibly predate civilization itself.
External Links[]
- NotThem on the Magnus Archives Wiki
- Not-Sasha on the Magnus Archives Wiki
