Melanie King

Melanie King is a paranormal investigator who runs the Ghost Hunt UK YouTube Channel.
== Personality ==
Melanie's personality has had major shifts over the course of her time with the Magnus Institute; several traits remain consistent however, including her pride, need for autonomy, and dry sense of humour.
During the time she was running Ghost Hunt UK, Melanie went to great efforts to get along with her co-workers and peersMAG 28: Skintight However, she would not tolerate being talked down to, manipulated, or dismissed. Melanie "fought tooth and nail" to earn the respect of the paranormal community and took great pride in her work.MAG 117: Testament She was prone to holding grudges, but would express forgiveness and humility where appropriate. She was dismissive of the research done by the Magnus Institute and took great offense to John presenting it as superior to her own paranormal research.
After being shot by a war-ghost and beginning her work as an archival assistant, Melanie began to suffer the effects of the slaughter-infused ghost bullet lodged inside her body.MAG 125: Civilian Casualties Initially her personality was largely the same, albeit with a shorter patience, and she was able to identify and respond to a hostile work environment as well as express kindness to a distraught statement-giver.MAG 100: I Guess You Had To Be There However, as time went on she became increasingly aggressive and felt she no longer knew who she was without her anger. As her condition worsened Melanie took on an obsession with self-sacrificial violence in the name of securing her own freedom and would come very close to physical violence with little provocation.MAG 123: Web Development Melanie regained the ability to feel emotions other than anger and became notably calmer after the ghost bullet was removed, but felt emotionally defeated.MAG 127: Remains to be Seen She began attending therapy.MAG 136: The Puppeteer
Since making progress in therapy, Melanie is more direct in expressing her needs to peopleMAG 147: Weaver and is more willing to prioritise her own safety and well-being.MAG 150: Cul-De-SacMAG 155: Cost of Living Although she still struggles with her anger and can be sharp at times, overall she is happier and relaxes more easily.MAG 190: Scavengers She is fully aware of her own abilities as a blind person and does not tolerate the attempts of others to undermine her autonomy or to ascribe grand, fetishistic meaning to her disability.
Melanie is not known to use a specific label for her sexual orientation, but becomes romantically involved with Georgie Barker, a woman.MAG 149: Concrete Jungle
== Description ==
Melanie has a scar on her shoulder from being sliced by a scalpel,MAG 76: The Smell of Blood and she is implied to be thin in a way that Martin and Basira are not.MAG 131: Flesh After severing her connection to the Eye, she has damaged eyes from blinding herself and uses a white cane.
== History ==
===Early History===
Melanie has no known family outside of her deceased mother and father. Her father previously resided at Ivy Meadows Care Home with dementia, but he always remembered Melanie. He died shortly after John Amherst took over the facility.
Melanie King was the host of a YouTube channel, Ghost Hunt UK, where she and her team went into haunted buildings or sites with scientific equipment in order to look for ghosts and evidence thereof. In January 2015, Melanie's friend Georgie Barker put her in contact with Sarah Baldwin as a replacement for the group's sound engineer for an investigation of Cambridge Medical Hospital.
=== Season One ===
She eventually visits The Magnus Institute on April 17, 2016 and gives a statement to Jonathan Sims. The two of them end up in a heated argument after John undermines the validity of her experience.
=== Season Two ===
After the aforementioned incident, Ghost Hunt UK gradually folded and Melanie began doing independent research. Her focus is "war ghosts", hauntings at locations connected to historical conflicts. In her research, she realises that other paranormal researchers focus on the same few locations, the ones "confirmed as safe", and starts investigating locations others avoid, predicting that those will be far more likely to be "real."
She sneaks into a train graveyard to investigate a train that smells of blood. Upon finding the train she is stabbed by a ghost, captured by security guards, and caught on video screaming about blood and ghosts. The video goes viral and is briefly a meme, costing Melanie the rest of her professional reputation. Doing follow-up research on the train car, she realises she needs a book available in the library of The Magnus Institute, and asks John to vouch for her so she can access it without having the usual academic credentials.MAG 63: The End of the Tunnel With the book, she realises there is another similar haunting in India, and comes back to the Institute to give John another statement about her train adventure before leaving to investigate it.
At this point, she asks where Sasha James is so she can say goodbye to her but John insists Not-Sasha is the same person. They have an argument as Melanie can tell the two Sashas are different people and thinks John is trying to gaslight her.
In Amritsar, India, Melanie predicts when the ghosts of British troops that massacred almost a thousand civilians in 1919 will manifest. The enormous mass of fused flesh and guns shoots her in the leg before she escapes but when she goes to the hospital afterwards, the scanners show nothing there.The ghost bullet remains lodged inside her and infects her with The Slaughter. 
=== Season Three ===
Melanie comes back to the Institute thinking to give another statement to John, but finds him missing as he is on the run wanted for murder. She declines to give her statement to Martin instead. Elias then offers her the job recently vacated by Not-Sasha. Despite Martin's warnings, she begins working full-time for the Institute as an archival assistant.MAG 84: Possessive
After John hears Melanie is working for the Institute, he comes to her to ask her to be his "source on the inside" and help him research leads using Institute resources.MAG 86: Tucked In She helps him track down Jude Perry and inquires about the calliope organ that is supposed to be in artefact storage.MAG 88: Dig
When she learns that the Archives' staff are bound to the institute, Melanie repeatedly tries to kill Elias. He retaliates by implanting in her mind the knowledge of her father's true death at Ivy Meadows Care Home.MAG 106: A Matter Of Perspective She had been told that he had died peacefully of smoke inhalation during the fire but actually The Corruption had infected him and he died suffering.MAG 36: Taken Ill Elias threatens to implant the image of Melanie's corrupted father deep in her brain if she makes any further attempts at his life.
While Martin distracts Elias in the Archives, Melanie breaks into his office and obtains the tape of Jurgen Leitner's murder as well as other incriminating documents to hand over to the police.MAG 118: The Masquerade
=== Season Four ===
When The Flesh attacks the Archives two months before John's return, Melanie single-handedly protects the others using a knife.
Upon John's return to the Institute after awakening from his coma, Melanie reacts violently and attacks him, accusing him of being to blame for Tim's and Daisy's deaths when stopping The Unknowing.
John's powers let him realise the ghost bullet Melanie mentioned is still lodged inside her leg, above the tibia. The bullet is "pumping violence into her", infecting her with The Slaughter. He and Basira decide to do surgery on her while she is asleep to remove the bullet, as she is currently too violent to react well to being asked. John, who can see the bullet and something rotten inside her, removes the bullet. However, she wakes during the procedure and panics, stabbing John. She later asks Basira to apologize to John for her, and notes that she is now able to cry again.
Melanie walks in on John trying to chop off his finger in an attempt to create an anchor for himself. She tells John about how the surgery broke her trust and made her feel unsafe in the Archives. She did not want it out. Melanie has used righteous anger her whole life to persevere and the bullet in her leg finally validated her anger and told her it was okay. As a better way to obtain an anchor, she takes John to Helen's door, where Jared Hopworth is trapped in the corridors after his attack on the Archives.
Some time later, John catches Melanie on her way out the Archives and accidentally compels her to say she's going to therapy. Georgie Barker accompanies her.MAG 145: Infectious Doubts In therapy, Melanie explicitly states she does not want the sessions to be recorded.
Melanie is with Daisy and Basira when they confront John about his 'eating habits.' She accompanies the group as they investigate the house on Hill Top Road. While there, she admits to trying to be more open with her feelings. Melanie and the other ladies seem to be having a good time together.
Continuing her journey of personal growth, Melanie seeks out John to tell him she will no longer be doing work at the Archives. She cannot be a part of it anymore, as the Institute is working for The Eye. She admits to initially being paranoid about a potentially evil therapist.
John informs Melanie that blinding herself would free her from the Eye and she comes to the conclusion that it is a fair price to pay to get out. She uses an awl from the book repair suppliers in the Archive's library to do so and moves in with Georgie, her girlfriend. She welcomes John visiting as a friend and appears to be recovering well but refuses to help him with anything related to the Archives or the Entities.MAG 157: Rotten Core
===Season Five===
When The Change happens Melanie, along with Georgie, remained unaffected. They make their way to the Institute, figuring John would know what is going on, but by the time they arrive, the world has fully turned and the Institute is inaccessible. With nowhere to go, Melanie brings them into the tunnels beneath the Institute, which still seem to offer some protection from The Eye.
Over time, they pull some people out of nearby domains and unintentionally form a cult of sorts. In order to provide hope to these people, Melanie falsely claims to have received a prophecy of the world returning to normal. This results in the members of the group starting to worship Melanie and Georgie to various degrees, much to the pair's dismay.
They find out about John and Martin's return to London as the entire city is excited about the Archivist arriving. They find the two of them by the Institute and bring them into the tunnels.
== Episode Appearances ==
Bold marks episodes where Melanie given a statement. Underline marks episodes where Melanie has read a statement.
Episode Appearances
* MAG 28: Skintight
* MAG 63: The End of the Tunnel
* MAG 76: The Smell of Blood
* MAG 84: Possessive
* MAG 86: Tucked In
* MAG 88: Dig
* MAG 92: Nothing Beside Remains
* MAG 98: Lights Out
* MAG 100: I Guess You Had To Be There
* MAG 102: Nesting Instinct
* MAG 106: A Matter Of Perspective
* MAG 110: Creature Feature
* MAG 113: Breathing Room
* MAG 117: Testament
* MAG 118: The Masquerade
* MAG 123: Web Development
* MAG 125: Civilian Casualties
* MAG 131: Flesh
* MAG 136: The Puppeteer
* MAG 146: Threshold
* MAG 147: Weaver
* MAG 149: Concrete Jungle
* MAG 150: Cul-De-Sac
* MAG 155: Cost of Living
* MAG 157: Rotten Core
* MAG 164: The Sick Village (mentioned)
* MAG 177: Wonderland (mentioned)
* MAG 180: Moving On (mentioned)
* MAG 188: Centre of Attention (mentioned)
* MAG 189: Peers
* MAG 190: Scavengers
* MAG 191: What We Lose
* MAG 192: An Appointment (mentioned)
* MAG 194: Parting
* MAG 195: Adrift (mentioned)
* MAG 198: Precipice
* MAG 199: Seeing it Through
* MAG 200: Last Words
==Trivia==
*Melanie was named after Stephen King.MAG 120.1 - Season 3 Q+A (Extended Cut)
*Melanie starting her recording with a little clap in MAG 86 was a decision made by Lydia Nicholas, her voice actor.
*Melanie's D&D class would be a ranger.Season 4 Q&A Part 2
*Lydia Nicholas stated in a RQ stream that Melanie's favourite game would be Among Us.
==References==
Category:The Magnus Archives Characters
Category:Institute Employees