Gertrude Robinson

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Character
Name: Gertrude Robinson
Occupation: Head Archivist of Magnus Institute
Relationships:
Fandom: TMA
Other:
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Gertrude Robinson is a supporting character from The Magnus Archives. She was the Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute before Jonathan Sims.

Canon

Spoiler Warning: This article or section may contain spoilers. If this bothers you, proceed with caution.

Gertrude is described as an older woman with glasses who wore her gray hair in a bun. Timothy Stoker described her as "like a hundred years old and more cardigan than woman." [1]

Gertrude was first mentioned in episode 1, and is described by Jon as ineffectual and a bad archivist, due to her leaving the archives in a state of disarray. This notion is not challenged much during season 1. However in the last episode of season 1 — episode 40 —Martin found her corpse in the tunnels beneath the institute.

Season 2’s plot is dedicated to Jon’s increasing paranoia and finding out who killed Gertrude Robinson. Early on in season 2, Jon makes a deal with Basira to gain access to Gertrude’s tapes, and in episode 44, Gertrude makes her first appearance.

Similar to many other characters in The Magnus Archives, Gertrude is a posthumous character who appears exclusively through recordings made prior to her death. Through these recordings, Gertrude is revealed to the audience as a constant stumbling block for the various entities and their servants, including her own boss, Elias Bouchard, who eventually murdered her. Gertrude was willing to go to extreme lengths to stop rituals, binding herself to Desolation avatar Agnes Montague and murdering Vast avatar Jan Killbride to prevent their entities' rituals. She is clever and pragmatic to the point of cruelty, and many of her past acquaintances resent her treatment of them.

Relationships

Gertrude's enemies outnumbered her positive relationships. Elias Bouchard hated and eventually murdered her for her constant interference in rituals. While Agnes Montague and Gertrude's relationship was less antagonistic than most, other members of the Cult of the Lightless Flame hated her for tying herself to Agnes. At the same time, those cultists would often protect her from other entities to prevent her death from having potential negative effects on Agnes. Avatars of other entities, including the Vast and the Lonely, also resented her interference in their rituals.

Most of her assistants either died or met fates worse than death in the service of thwarting the entities. Most notably, she sacrificed Michael Shelley to the Distortion to prevent its ritual, leaving the resulting incarnation of the Distortion with a deep resentment towards her. Additionally, her assistants Fiona and Sarah were murdered by another assistant, Emma Harvey, who was taken in by the Web, without Gertrude noticing. Although she initially considered Emma a confidant, once she was aware of Emma's treachery, she worked with Agnes Montague to kill her.[2]

Her involvement with the Keay/Delano family is also notable. She took a statement from Mary Keay, and hired her husband, Eric Delano, as an assistant. Delano was eventually killed by Keay, who sealed him in the Catalogue of the Trapped Dead. Gertrude spoke with him posthumously using the catalogue, and promised to destroy his page and take care of his son, Gerard. It is unclear whether she burned the page or not,[3] but she took Gerard on as an assistant, though she also made the choice to bind him to the same book as his father following his death.[4]

Fandom

The revelation of Gertrude's actual personality and her deception of Elias prompted a lot of enthusiastic fan response. Although fans hold a range of opinions on her morality and actions, she is consistently popular with them.

Gertrude is often a supporting character in fanfiction, similar to her role in canon. She frequently features in time travel fix-it fics and as a supporting character in shipping fics featuring her various assistants.

Shipping

Gertrude is sometimes shipped with Agnes Montague, due to their metaphysical connection. Less commonly, she is shipped with her assistants (usually Gerard Keay or Emma Harvey), or with Elias Bouchard. Outside of Agnes, most Gertrude pairings are rarepairs.

Example Fanworks

Fanfiction

  • two cups salt by Avonya - "(Sometimes old statements don’t cut it. What’s an archivist supposed to do?)" - gen, Gertrude & Jon, background Jon/Tim, oneshot, complete, posted 2020
  • drove away tossing a lit match by haunthouse - "Safehouse honeymoon, the GertrudeAgnes remix." - Gertrude/Agnes, oneshot complete, posted 2020
  • what you were, what you are, what you still have to be by fairyhill - "Gertrude Robinson walked into her office on a dreary mid-December morning to find the thing that might once have been Michael Shelley already sitting behind her desk." - Gertrude & Michael, gen, oneshot, complete, posted 2020
  • anachronism by faridsgwi - "In 1976, Gertrude Robinson finds James Wright dead on the floor of his office. There is a strange, angry avatar of the Eye knelt over him, covered in blood, claiming to be from the future." - Jon/Martin, Gertrude & Jon, time-travel fix-it, complete, posted 2021
  • never love an anchor by herewebloodygo - "Before it was Jonathan Sims' war, it was Gertrude and Agnes'." - Gertrude/Agnes, explicit, ongoing, posted 2022-2023

Fanart

Fanvids

Cosplay

Meta

References

  1. ^ TMA 162 Unofficial Transcript, accessed 3/7/23
  2. ^ TMA 167 Unofficial Transcript
  3. ^ TMA 164 Unofficial Transcript
  4. ^ TMA Wiki: Gertrude Robinson, accessed 3/7/2023
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