#alecto ships griddlehark

[mfdoombox]

yes this is a redraw of my other piece but I feel like it works bc both of them are big ‘WTF’ moments for gideon

[butchmiles]

i think i hauve covid

[bruisekiid]

not to be pathetic on my very own blog even though that is my right both as a dyke and an american but after so many years of unfulfilled gay ships from media made entirely for a het audience and alllll my myriad years of dutiful stanning I really think i might lose my last marble if we don't get griddlehark in alecto.... i.... know not... what it is like... when my pet ship actually winds up together... i have never known the warmth of dominicus...

[gideonisms]

Because I'm annoyed tlt didn't make it to any of the ship brackets (<- delusional) have a poll

[notedchampagne]

Is now the right time to ask even though it was a while ago about the Pyrrhawake pirate au you did😭I still think about it the designs were soooo good

teehee id gladly speak about it! a lot of these are cooypasted from discord so its a little disorganized but anyway

btw this au is now called nonapelagic zone. "The pelagic zone includes all ocean waters away from shores. The term pelagic is derived from the Greek word pelagos, meaning "open sea."" and they have nine seas now just because

in this au necromancy is a thing. harrowhark has a literal skeleton crew and gideons onboard it as a sort of prisoner as well

before gideon was with harrow she was raised by john like his little princess. she does rapier and normal swords because she needs the enrichment but god shes so depressed. one day she grabs some of johns money and tries to get one of his boats to ride around on. maybe to never come back in maybe to die in she doesnt care. then harrow ransacks her. kiris held hostage and made to swab the decks because she might be the prince BUT. shes not staying on that boat doing nothing

harrow has a davy jones type thing going on with alecto, who is kept in a well in brackish water underneath johns castle. harrows been looking for alecto for years

the other ship groups on here are pyrrhawake (broken up bc wakes in prison), the rest of boe (riding with pal and cam because theyre on their own atlantic type adventure to go to islands and log research), and the tridentarii (they are rich and have a silly yacht)

boe is a group of smaller ships with the hopers, wakers etc and they all have an "alliance" but only out of mutual distaste. all the houses are Lands but ninth was a little shitty island so after the death of harrows parents she took her loyal ones and made a ship

wake stole one of johns ships and ransacked him a few times before. she also sinks his other ships for the hell of it until she got captured and is behind bars. pyrrhas been trying to get her back

pyrrhas ship temporarily took over harrows and thats when pyr bonded with gideon, then returned her to john so that she could sneak in and release wake. a beautiful reunion + betrayal combo

some years later kiri runs away AGAIN. shes really truly so desperate bc johns trying to set her up for marriage to the third to see if itll make her normal. shes on the boats shes about to go off but then she sees a boat explode. and then another. hi wake. you picked a bad time to try and leave gideon. her revenge era where shes really intent on racking up bodies

gideon gets onto wakes ship, realizes shes her mom and that shes crazy, takes her leave and dips before she gets killed. she finds harrow in a cave with a little tattered sailboat still searching for alecto

harrow: aww. did the prince try to kill herself again

gideon: yes

harrow: say it

gideon: i dont WANT to go on your stupid ship

harrow: i will cut your blood on the tide pools and watch the sharks cut you holes

gideon: SHUT UP!!! just give me the fucking mop and a sword ok

after a few more brief adventurings w the sixth and second (john sent them to find kiriona) they go back to johns castle and harrow tries to rescue alecto, chained to the bottom of a well

you have to do cpr on alecto to wake her up harrow keeps trying to swim down there but ooooh. its so deep. shes trapped shes asleep harrow has to hold her breath and breathe it into her and then come back up alive. its tough

gideon comes in now because its been 2 hours and harrows not back and she finds alecto out and harrow half dead. harrow breathes life into alecto gideon does cpr on harrow ok. ok. its the rituals

meanwhile the sixth have been speedrunning treason in the bg like a fun cameo. theyve been imprisoned too and they helped griddlehark break out

johns mad at them i think this is about as far as it goes. alectos free YAY

there was a previous sidequest where the fourth are baby sailors trying to capture gh and they had to fucking return them back to land where theyre allied w the fifth laaaame

[askanaroace]

The Locked Tomb: Gideon and Harrow - Aro Perspective

Any Locked Tomb fans here?

Just wanted to chat about Griddlehark. It's kind of amazing to be in a fandom where the same ship is end game for like 100% of the community, myself included.

But - and maybe this is just perspective bias - that ship has never been romantic to me. I've never really read anything romantic into Harrow and Gideon's relationship. To me, it's a very strong non-romantic bond that we, in this non-TLT universe, have no appropriate word for. Absolutely a Jaeger pilot (Pacific Rim) sort of bond. The new sff bond: cavalier and necromancer; sword and adept.

(I could go either way on it being sexual or not.)

"You are my only friend. I am undone without you."

--Harrow to Gideon, pg 356 GtN

"[...] the entire point of me is you. You get that, right? That's what cavaliers sign up for. There is no me without you. One flesh, one end."

--Gideon to Harrow, pg 432 GtN

"You think anything I did has been to make her love me? [...]" "Like I said before. She's just not into you. She's into bones. She gave her heart to a corpse when she was ten years old," I said. "She's in love with the refrigerated museum piece in the Locked Tomb. You should've seen the look she had on when she told me about this ice-lolly bimbo. I knew the moment I saw it. I never made her look like that... She can't love me, even if I'd wanted her to. She can't love you. She can't even try." [...] "If you think anything I did, I did to make her love me, then you don't know anything about her and me. I'm her cavalier, dipshit! I'd kill for her! I'd die for her. I did die for her. I'd do anything she needed, anything at all, before she even knew she needed it. I'm her sword, you pasty-faced Coronabeth-looking knock-off." Always your sword, my umbral sovereign; in life, in death, in anything beyond life or death that they want to throw at thee and me. I died knowing you'd hate me for dying; but Nonagesimus, you hating me always meant more than anyone else in this hot and stupid universe loving me. At least I'd had your full attention.

--Gideon to Ianthe, pgs. 435-436 HtN

So Alecto, wearied of talking, kneeled up on the rock and offered up the sword to [Harrow], and placed the child's hand upon the blade, so that it received also the red blood of the child. This made the child exceedingly faint, but it did not swoon of weariness. Which strength pleased Alecto, who said: Notwithstanding, I offer you my service. To which a voice on the opposite side of the shore was raised, exceeding wroth, and Alecto heard it shout in a very great shout: Get in line, thou big slut.

--Alecto's perspective, pg 477 NtN

Like Gideon knows very clearly that Harrow does not romantically love her. But they are the only two children of the Ninth left. They are committed to each other in "one flesh, one end" by now. They are meaningful to each other, and that is enough.

I don't know. I'm just having a lot of feelings about it.

[todd-queen]

While we're waiting for Alecto to come out, I thought we could have some fun in the tlt fandom :)

I'm not sure if anyone's done this before, but I haven't seen any so I thought I'd make a tag game. just for funsies.

there's absolutely no pressure to tag or to even play, I just wanted to compile all my favorite parts of the series and I thought it'd be fun to share! so without further ado...

_____________________________

My TLT Favorites

Favorite house(s): 4th and 2nd. (my favorite characters are from these houses, but also something about John creating an army in his resurrected empire and having his soulless "dead kids" be in charge of a house that breeds dead kids)

Favorite book: Gideon the Ninth. my beloved. hands down. every page is fully annotated.

Four favorite characters: Gideon Nav (i love all these characters but no one even comes marginally close to how much i love her), Teacher (he's the funniest mf in here), Jeannemary Chatur (BELOVED), John Gaius (he's literally just some guy, but I'm absolutely obsessed with the verse chapters)

Favorite ship: Jodybeth (griddlehark is endgame ofc but there's just something about these two)

A favorite scene: Nonius vs Wake fight (I'm sneaking in more favorite characters, but I just can never get over how Ortus saves the world with fanfiction. king)

Another favorite scene: Nona's 3rd tantrum (I love to see my women screaming and drenched in blood)

A favorite quote: "Won't you say one real thing to me? Won't you show me one single solitary human thing? Or are you going to die talking to me like it's just another party you wish was over already?" (htn pg. 546)

also "Yes, well, jail for Mother" (htn 498) and "...beneath a blue and foreign sky." (gtn 439). I think about all three of these constantly

Favorite ATN theory: Alecto is a hideous corpse. (not sure what this entails yet, but I love Teacher so much, and I don't think we spent that much time on him for nothing)

_____________________________

Thought I'd keep it short and sweet, but please, please, feel free to make it your own :)

I was intending for this to be a tag game, so I nominate:

@onefleshoneend0 @transbutchbluess @orionsystem6 @koshertaako @susurra-el-arroyo-manso

but like I said, no pressure! just for funsies!

(*updated to add my own notes bc I love seeing everyone else's!)

[nepenthean-sleep]

for the character thing, harrow!!!

favorite thing about them she is so committed to the evil bit and i love that. she is trying so fucking hard to be the villainous shadowy evil overlord and she IS to gideon!! and to everyone else she's this frankly weird very smart sleep deprived asshole teenager. it's very funny

least favorite thing about them don't think i have one, everything about her makes sense for her character and her role in the story.

favorite line god she has SO many good lines this is really hard. i'm gonna have to go with this one from the prologue of htn:

"O corse of the Locked Tomb,” you extemporised wildly. “Beloved dead, hear your handmaiden. I loved you with my whole rotten, contemptible heart—I loved you to the exclusion of aught else—let me live long enough to die at your feet.”

brOTP harrow and palamedes. god i just love every scene they're together.

OTP griddlehark. duh. i do sometimes enjoy some harrow/alecto tho i will not lie

nOTP i have seen so much weird shit in this fandom so i'm going to say the extremely cursed harrow/john. or really harrow/any man. i mean whatever ship who you want i guess but why does this always happen to lesbian characters

random headcanon she's always wearing trousers under those skirts. it gets cold in drearburh. layers, man.

unpopular opinion mmmmmmmm i like to headcanon harrow as a femme sometimes (still a butch harrow enjoyer) but only as a masc/androgynous femme. i'm really not a fan of people making harrow really feminine in modern aus, like she's so clearly uncomfortable with what ianthe makes her wear to the dinner in htn. idk. that's my opinion!

song i associate with them i have literal entire playlists for this book series so. i'm going to pick one song for harrow in gtn:

fight for me by aliceband. the lyrics are kind of self-explanatory but basically it's very much about homoerotic torture imo.

and one song for harrow in htn:

believe me now by electric light orchestra. idk the level of grief this song is able to portray is just... so intense to me. reminds me of the line "harrow so rarely got to say goodbye." goddamn.

favorite picture of them there is so much incredible fucking art for this series but my favorite for harrow is this art by @killjo-q and this one by @marrowjaw. FUCKING STUNNING. HOLY SHIT.

thanks for the ask this was fun!

[theriverbeyond]

My dream Griddlehark ending will have the same energy as the ending of that lesbian Black Mirror episode, San Junipero- still slightly strange and thought provoking but overall happily ever after and it’s also a pun. They drive off into the sunset and we pan back to the tomb where John and Alecto lay with their hands around each other’s throats.

ngl this is a dream ending.... i selfishly WANT it to end semi open, with questions answered but still horizons left to explore as a fan & fandom. I want it to make me sit and think and maybe cry, I want it to be interesting and make me feel over making me feel *good*. I want griddlehark to be together, not in a All Threads Tied, Happily Ever After way, but in a way that has addressed and honored both their conflicts between each other and with themselves and naturally brought them to the front seat of the same car (or space ship) to gives them at least one breath of peace. I want John & Alecto to both live or both die and be tangled up in each other regardless. sleeping like puppies with their hands on each others throats.

PLEASE @ tamsyn muir. im so drunk tamsyn muirrrrrrrr

[monstrousgourmandizingcats]

For the ship game Griddlehark, Harryanthe, Paldulcie, and whatever Alecto/Anastasia is.

Stop asking me about good ships, guys!

Ask game: send a ship and I’ll put them somewhere on this grid

[over-bi-the-wayside]

Absurd tlt theories until I get Alecto News: day 6

So we have kirianthe, harryanthe, and Griddlehark. What if in atn they become a polycule? Imagine how gloriously fucked up that would be, and how crazy

The name for this ship? You tell me(I have no ideas😬)

[haphazardlyannotated]

AU where Jod decides to fill the Lyctor shaped hole in his heart with his frozen planet girlfriend(?).

Harrow wakes up very confused. Even more so than Jod.

Jod: Harrow, it's not that I'm unhappy to see you, but what the heck are you doing in my anthropomorphic planet?

Harrow: Well, I was at Canaan House with all the dead house heirs and my former cavalier who was blown up by my marshal/first father figure, and we decided to summon a guy from my ex cav's poetry- WAIT, WHERE'S MY ACTUAL CAVALIER; IS GIDEON OKAY?

Jod: Oh yeah, she's fine. She's the Crown Prince now.

Harrow: MY AUs ARE BECOMING REALITY?!?

Jod returns to whereever he left Gideon and Ianthe like "Hey, funny story, guess who else has funky body swap shenanigans going on?"

Gideon loses her shit. Ianthe very deliberately puts out her cigarette and goes "I can work with that."

Harrow meanwhile is unknowingly mirroring Nona by trying to kiss her reflection.

Gideon: (desperately trying to joke through the tears) You know, Harrow, when I told you to go fuck yourself I didn't mean it literally.

Then they have a full blown screaming match that somehow ends with them making out for half an hour.

Gideon: Holy shit, Harrow, you're a necrophiliac.

Ianthe: Guess I should get Babs' body out of cold storage.

Gideon: GROSS!

Gideon: Also, HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WATCHING?!?

Harrow: I am going to kill both of you.

She does not kill both of them.

When Harrow and Nonafinally meet they simultaneously try to negotiate the extension of current body custodies ad infinitum. Both of them are 100% convinced that they're getting the better end of the deal.

Gideon is suffering.

Ianthe is amused.

Harrow has to face the fact that she may be acquiring a harem.

[ianthesmells]

wtf problematic ship poll and it has GRIDDLEHARK as the TLT rep of all ships? not even like. the tridentarii? or john alecto? like girl what. griddlehark is like baby's first problematic ship wtf r yall on about

[renegadeem]

9 people you want to know better

Thanks for the tag, @conditionvarietysilence !

Let’s see what I got:

3 ships: I could list so many we would be all day. Let’s go with the ones that really make me go feral:

Valenwind from ff7. Obvi.

FenHawke from Dragon Age 2. Specifically, Purple Mage Hawke. The rivalmance was unparalleled. A concept so good they had to retire it in the next instalments cause they knew they couldn’t top it.

Griddlehark from the Locked Tomb series. The grip these lesbians have on me. They make me insane. I need Alecto news yesterday.

First ship: Hmmm… I think that honour has to go to Link/Zelda. Ocarina of Time was such a major influence on my childhood. That shot of Zelda in the crystal with Link rushing towards her got me in the feels. And then they reverse the timeline and nothing happened?! SAD. Souls bound to find each other time and time again. I adore them in every iteration.

Last song: Terra’s Theme - TPR & Roxanne Genot

Last TV show: Finished season 4 of The Boys just the other day.

Currently Reading: no book right now ( tho my TBR keeps on growing, who’s buying all these books and not reading them?!) but I am making my way through an excellent Valenwind fic recommended by the discord friends, Journey by Raphaella, which is just fantastic.

Currently Eating: it’s a bit late for food at the mo, but the last thing I had were tasty, tasty chicken wings, and a nice cold beer.

Currently Craving: I have many wants at all times. Right now I wish I didn’t have to work tomorrow. And also a big fat joint would be nice. And a good make out session? lol

I have to tag people now, which always makes me anxious. I definitely don’t have 9 lol.

Feel free to disregard this if you don’t wanna do it :) or if you’ve done it before or whatever.

@dogshit-enchantment @zincknife @hello-galad @thelunadiviner

[thatneoncrisis]

You see but traditional griddlehark smut lacks the proper characterization and complexity necessary for many fans to enjoy it…

you say that but something like. oh i dont know. yellow card. has well over a thousand kudos and over 46k hits. i have come to terms with the reality that what i am selling is Not what the average gh fan is buying

on top of that, due it being the most popular ship by a long shot means there is WAY more variety in between each subgenre of stories. the characterization i dislike tends to crop up more overall but if i dig i can find some stuff i gel with

meanwhile i literally think theres like One pash and alecto fic that isnt mine and pash isnt even in it. also i dont like it its one of those fics where the author got mad someone called their ship problematic and wrote a whole story about how it doesnt matter but also the story itself is incredibly tame

point being. its smut. most of it Isnt going to be complex. the vast majority of people writing on ao3 do it because it makes them happy, and thus write stories that make them happy. i just happen to be one of those people who thinks its really fucking funny if its just strange and off-putting and barely sex at points. one of my favorite fics with those two is just them talking while harrow has her entire fist in gideons chest simulating a heart beat. they start arguing about if most people have ever tasted a bit of bone before. its a riot. my other favorite one is harrow and alecto where alecto acts like a dog. i may not respect the median of tlt porn but i acknowledge the state its in and act accordingly

tldr: if you REALLY want to write in character griddlehark sex you better be prepared to have them stop halfway through because it fucking sucks and nobody cums because harrow kept insisting on doing weird necro shit in bed. also so much talking. like too much talking