locking-the-tomb

[locking-the-tomb]

Gideon Nav somehow has a 20 perception and a 6 insight and idk how she did that but God she notices everything and interprets it entirely wrong every time

[locking-the-tomb]

What's cool about Gideon I think is that she's actually, in-universe non-conforming, rather than just being "butch" or "masc" to our sensibilities but relatively passé within the universe. We read Gideon as masculine, yes, but it's not like Gideon acts like Ortus, or Mortus, or Crux. Nor does she act like Aiglamene, for that matter. The Ninth to me presents a kind of monastic androgyny - everyone shaves their head, everyone wears baggy black robes, everyone paints their face. Gideon, with her "ridiculous" hair and aversion to skull paint, is therefore non-conforming to the gender of Ninth. She's also non-conforming to the gender of cavalier, it's not something she was raised in, it's something she struggles to "pass" as. Gideon is basically transcavalier. And I think that's cool! I've seen a lot of people posit basically "what would it even mean to be 'butch' in a post-gender society" and I think Gideon solves that equation nicely by being "butch" to us in the real world and being decidedly nonstandard for both Ninth cavalier and a cavalier in general within the text. You need to look beyond what we consider arbitrarily "masculine" and "feminine" in order to effectively analyze gender in tlt, and I for one think that's very interesting

[locking-the-tomb]

finally tried my hand at a twin cinema poem and yaowza !! took me a couple hours to figure it out but i'm very happy with this one and i wanted to share. you can read gideon and harrow's thoughts separately to see their perspectives on their own and each other's actions, and putting them together supposedly reveals the truth of the lengths they would go to but can't communicate to one another :3

i just think that a form where they are talking to one another without hearing any response and yet are intertwining so perfectly is deeply on theme and makes me ill

also sorry for image quality i formatted this on canva and idk how to put such a complex form into an image description so apologies </3

[locking-the-tomb]

"Camilla Hect, yet another of devotion's casualties"

[locking-the-tomb]

my friend wanted more locked tomb content so I started a pinterest board where I save stuff (mostly tweets and tumblr posts) that have nothing to do with tlt but fit perfectly and it’s just for our amusement but it’s becoming a masterpiece

[locking-the-tomb]

omfg I'm such a doof. mother of pearl. it's the nacre excreted by the mollusk to protect itself/its shell. the same nacre that coats the intrusive debris from which the mollusk is protecting itself.

since, y'know, mollusks can't self-lobotomize.

Repeated words and phrases of The Locked Tomb: an ongoing list

Pommel.

There's a narrative reason for that one that starts to be revealed midway through HtN

... detailed accounts of eye color ...

There's a narrative reason for that, that we learn by the end of GtN but get more on through HtN

Continued

take a hammer to the oxygen sealant machine

I feel like I'm not remembering something about this from later in the series but I'm only halfway through my second read so that's ok.

liminal

definition: occupying a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold ... I think this one has some great meanings to be applied to HtN

nacreous

related to mother of pearl ... I think of the clouds ... I think this is just a description she likes without an apparent second meaning

[locking-the-tomb]

cant decide if i want noodle to Instantly Know that alecto in all her 9ft avenging angel of god barbie form is nona, or if he follows harrow around for a while and harrow has to pretend that she's Not a dog person. both are wonderful tbh but also i cant get over the mental image of harrow scowling fiercely while noodle walks next to her, and then on closer inspection he's wearing a collar lovingly made out of ribs

[locking-the-tomb]

thinking about this again today

"She was nine, and she’d made a mistake. She was seventeen, and she’d made a mistake. Time had repeated itself. Harrow would be tripping over herself for her whole existence, a frictionless hoop of totally fucking up."

my heart just cracked idk

[locking-the-tomb]

best part of the locked tomb is if it was ANY other story naberius would be the number one guy. he’s a prince and somehow also a bodyguard and he’s a gifted fighter and devoted to the princesses and he has swoopy hair and dreamy eyes and no one gives a shit, because they’re all married/gay/focused on the actual plot. naberius is the lost love interest from a shitty ya fantasy novel that culminates in a love triangle between him, corona, and silas. this man is harry styles in a room full of lesbians

[locking-the-tomb]

i love how the narrators of the locked tomb series are like:

gideon: is not paying attention

harrowhark: has brain damage

nona: was born six months ago

we love variety in our unreliable narrators

[locking-the-tomb]

bro we’re literally in the end times rn i wouldnt even be surprised if i open the news and hear about some guy in new zealand starting a cult because his cryo project funding got cut atp 🙄

[locking-the-tomb]

The thing that really gets me about the start of Nona the Ninth is how - even though she didn’t end up being either one of them - Cam, Pal, and Pyrrha couldn’t figure out whether she was Harrow or Gideon because they knew how absolutely fucked up their childhoods must of been.

They knew that if they took away all of the horrible things that Gideon and Harrow went through they would be almost unrecognizable as people - how much of their personalities were shaped by what they were trained to do, or how they resented their training. Making them wonder that maybe if things were different Harrow or Gideon could have been the happy and loving little girl Nona is.

Could you imagine having the chance to reparent your friend, giving them the things you think they deserve, that they never got, and realizing they are nothing like the friend you knew?

And then realizing that either way, this must be better.

[locking-the-tomb]

I JUST HAD A TERRIBLE REALIZATION HOLY SHIT WHEN JOD TOLD HARROW "NO ONE HAS TO KNOW" IN RESPONSE TO THE CONFESSION OF THE 9TH HOUSE GENOPHAGE THAT BIRTHED HER, IT WASN'T OUT OF CARING EMPATHY TOWARDS AN EXTREMELY ABUSED CHILD, IT WAS BECAUSE HE HASN'T TOLD ANYONE HOW HE BECAME GOD HOLY FUCKING SHIT MY MAN PANICKED BECAUSE HARROW'S PARENTS NEARLY REPLICATED HIS CARDINAL SIN FROM 10,000 YEARS AGO AND IS TRYING TO HIDE THAT HE'S RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATHS AND SUBSEQUENT CONSUMPTION OF 8 BILLION HUMANS

[locking-the-tomb]

Third Read Notes

Gideon the Ninth Chapter 8 - End of Act One

In which they drink tea and pray

They're taken into the First House and Gideon's description shows both the dramatic differences between First and Ninth, and the sequestered life she's experienced. She's amazed by the fountain, the staircase, the abundance of wood and marble and glass. All old and moldering, abandoned, but immense and rich. It is apparent to her that the best of the Ninth was bad when it was new. You can hear her sense of perspective stretching.

The priests gather everyone. There's tea, which is another new experience: Gideon's first hot drink. Can you imagine, in a place cold enough that your room heat turned off will kill you, to never drink something hot?

Then there's religion. Teacher leads a prayer, and everyone but Pro, the Third House twins, and Harrow+Gideon join in. Gideon has never heard it. Then teacher asks for a Ninth prayer and Harrow obliges. As Gideon watches everyone, she notices how odd the Ninth religion actually is.

They're given one key (given to the cavaliers), and the instructions. Gideon's thoughts are humoring her, imagining the necromancers excited for training with "Dr. Skelebone". Instead they're just told the skeletons would attend to their needs, and they have one rule: don't go into locked rooms without permission.

They're led to their rooms which are huge and musty. Gideon abandons the cavalier bed at the bottom of the adept bed and puts her things down in the next room. She's looking out the window when she sees the shuttles being pushed over the edge into the sea by skeletons. Why? Huge weird waste when they're remote piloted anyway.

We still haven't met the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, or 8th..

[locking-the-tomb]

Third Read Notes & Soundtrack

Gideon the Ninth Chapter 7

In which they arrive

Everything is bright on the First. There are "floating chains of squares and rectangles". It's the first we hear that god hasn't been back in more than 9000 years.

The shuttle has no pilot. It's taken about an hour. Gideon is At the Window staring. Harrow is a mess. She didn't take grave dirt along. Gideon thinks about attacking her, decided it would be embarrassing. Gideon says the planet is gorgeous. Harrow says it's a grave.

Gideon is shading her eyes but amazed by the sight. Harrow is using a veil. She wants Gideon to wear one too. Gideon says, "I came prepared, my sweet".

We learn that the sun is Dominicus, and that the Houses aren't in planet order: 7th and 6th are closer than 1st. There are 7 other shuttles there. They're all made to wait. Harrow's trembling and sweating. Harrow tells Gideon to hide her "ridiculous hair" and threatens violence.

Gideon says, "But then you couldn't have admired ... THESE".

Thin black frames, mirrored lenses. Then the door opens.

They're on the giant docking bay of a palace with terraces and towers. Gideon thinks it's the most impressive thing she'd ever seen. But it's crumbling. "but hot damn, what a beautiful corpse".

The doors open and seeing Harrow kneel and start to silently pray on the docking bay, Gideon - hood and sunglasses- kneeled silently next to her. "Showtime" she thinks. "The clacking beads almost made her feel normal". That's a big, hidden statement, addressing the fact that the Ninth House was Gideon's only home.

"Teacher" is introduced and his belt is described in great detail.

Both the third and the seventh houses are presenting "inconsistencies". We learn that the third house pushes boundaries.

The other Houses are disembarking. The Third House is described hilariously by Gideon. Ianthe is described as canned butter.

"Yo. Step off. This isn't a warning. I'm just saying, give her some air"

The Seventh arrives, with the starling collapse of the adept. Gideon does heroics.

The Seventh cavelier pokes her with his sword.

Harrow's testy, Dulcinea is apologetic, Pro is hulking. Gideon is wowed by seeing Coronabeth and touching Dulcinea. Teacher is fretful. Quiet politics mostly by means of glares, and one wink. We learn about the Seventh House blood cancer situation.

This is the partial setup for the group. We haven't met the second, fourth, technically the third, fifth, sixth, or eighth.

[locking-the-tomb]

Third Read Notes & Soundtrack

Gideon the Ninth Chapter 6

In which they leave

Gideon is training with Aiglamene to be a cavelier. She's forced to wear the ((goddamn)) paint by threat of her heat being turned off.

She had to train in following Harrow around blankly. She uses the time to try to eavesdrop.

We hear that the third and second house are Aiglamene's worry. The sixth is Harrow's. ((I love you, Camilla))

Eleven weeks pass.

She's given new clothes/robes. She's been putting her big sword into her trunk in a secret compartment.

She's given her weapons, a plain black rapier and plain obsidian knuckles.

Aiglamene is giving her last minute training advice. It includes, "Don't let them get inside your guard". Hrmmm. Says that her hands are sisters, "One executes the primary action and the other supports the move".

It's the equinox.

When it's time to board the shuttle, Harrow announces that her parents have walled themselves off in the tomb passageway. Leaves Crux and Aiglamene in charge.

Gideon is finally a little eager to be able to go, suspicious it might actually happen. She looks around and sees not a single kind face but Harrow seems to have feelings.

They introduce the Ninth House prayer ("I pray the tomb is locked forever...").

Gideon starts to imagine the House dying with joy. She snarkily asks Harrow, "Do you want my hanky?"

"I want, to watch you die."

"Maybe, Nonagesimus, but you sure as hell won't do it here. "

[locking-the-tomb]

Gideon the Ninth is the best Locked Tomb book. It's wildly entertaining with a really cool setting and engaging haunted house mystery plot. And best of all, it has the best protagonist: an immensely charismatic swaggering butch lesbian sword fighter who just gives no fucks

Harrow the Ninth is the best Locked Tomb book. It's challenging and rewarding with fascinating character dynamics, incredibly cool structural storytelling and deeply philosophical themes. And best of all, it has the best protagonist, a fiercely determined, immensely powerful necromancer, who is also an incredibly traumatized useless lesbian who can't deal with the fact that she loves women more than God, who she works with

Nona the Ninth is the best Locked Tomb book. It's a deeply compelling exploration of the effects of war and colonization on the people who it hurts the most, with humanist themes and queer found family dynamics. And best of all, it has the best protagonist, an endlessly optimistic, childlike but never infantalized girl who can't do anything but love every single person that she meets even in the middle of a war zone and also she's friends with a six legged dog