#gideon is 7 here and harrow is 6

[thechekhov]

ah, childhood.

[kosalus]

everybody knows that teeth are where your heart was, love

you can get the prints in red or gray

[17-million-years-of-pining-poll]

Here's our roster!!!

These are all 32 pairs (or trios!) that will be competing in this bracket :> In no particular order, they are,,, 1 - Barry Bluejeans and Lup (Blupjeans) from The Adventure Zone 2 - Aziphrale and Crowley (Ineffable Husbands) from Good Omens 3 - Phoenix Wright and Miles Edgeworth (Narumitsu) from Ace Attorney 4 - Hua Cheng and Xie Lian (Hualian) from Heaven Official's Blessing 5 - Catra and Adora (Catradora) from She-ra 6 - Princess Bubblegum and Marceline (Bubbline) from Adventure Time 7 - Merlin and Arthur (Merthur) from Merlin 8 - Dean Winchester and Castiel (Destiel) from Supernatural 9 - Rashmi Jamil and Amelie Macon (Rashmelie) from Entropic Float 10 - Tim Drake and Conner Kent (Timkon) from DC 11 - Wei Wuxian and Lan Wanji (Wangxian) from Mo Dao Zu Shi 12 - Raine and Eda (Raeda) from The Owl House 13 - Mike Wheeler and Will Byers (Byler) from Stranger Things 14 - Pearl and Rose Quartz (Pearlrose/Rainbow Quartz) from Steven Universe 15 - Benjamin Kondraki and Alto Clef (Clefdraki) from SCP 16 - Dream/Morpheus and Hob Gadling from The Sandman 17 - Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase (Percabeth) from PJO 18 - Madoka and Homura (Madohomu) from Madoka Magica 19 - James T. Kirk and Spock (Spirk) from Star Trek 20 - Han Sooyoung and Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk (Yoohankim) from ORV 21 - Utena and Anthy (Utenanthy) from Revolutionary Girl Utena 22 - Red and Blue (Reguri) from Pokemon 23 - Nozomi and Mizore (Nozomizo) from Liz and the Blue Bird 24 - Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye (Royai) from Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood 25 - Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito (Rysposito) from Castle 26 - Basil and Sunny (Sunflower) from Omori 27 - Candace and Jeremy (Canderemy) from Phineas and Ferb 28 - Gideon and Harrow (Griddlehark) from The Locked Tomb 29 - Dana Scully and Fox Mulder (Msr) from The X Files 30 - Naruto and Sasuke (Narusasu) from Naruto (replacing jonmartin) 31 - Akane Kurashiki & Junpei (Junepei) from Zero Escape 32 - Yue Wuhuan and Song Qingshi (Yuesong) from Mistakenly Saving the Villain Bracket will be out ,,, some time this week <3 (dont trust me)

[chilly-weirdo-in-a-tomb]

How I see it, there are a few ways Griddlehark’s body/soul situation could shuffle out by the end of Alecto.

1. Stays the same. The boring option, but still provides some opportunity for angst. Harrow, non-lyctor, her soul in her mortal body. Gideon/Kiriona, revenant spirit, possessing her own incorruptible body. Angst can come from Gideon trying to cope with being an incomplete soul (I’ve gone into this elsewhere, so I won’t here) in a very damaged body that so many people have experimented on. It’s a violation that I don’t think anyone would get over easily or quickly. I know it would mess me up. Another point of angst could arise from Gideon/Kiriona not aging and Harrow getting older and them having to cope with the fact that Harrow is mortal and Gideon will have to live without her. I find this one unlikely.

2. Harrow and Gideon do a Paul. They, like Pal and Cam are inexorably linked. They cannot exist without the other. My prediction for a new name is George. Simply so we’re one step closer to having John, Paul, George, and Ringo. I find this one unlikely, but more likely than number 1.

3. Harrow pulls some god shit and rebuilds Gideon’s body. Fully resurrecting Gideon as opposed to John’s half-assed resurrection. I think John botched it on purpose to keep Kiriona dependent on him. Honestly, I feel like this ending is the most unlikely.

4. Gideon fully dies. I also think this is a more plausible scenario. She’s tired and once she knows that Harrow is safe, I think her revenant’s purpose will be gone and she’ll either beg Harrow to finish the job and fully consume her/just let her go or she’ll just fade away. (Likely)

5. Grand lysis. Doing whatever John and Alecto have going on but doing it better. Doing it properly. (Unlikely)

6. They both die. Classic kill your gays. I HOPE NOT.

7. Harrow dies. Gideon/Kiriona has to cope with this. AGAIN I HOPE NOT.

8. Tamsyn Muir surprises us all and figures out a completely different ending for Griddlehark that no one saw coming. (HIGHLY LIKELY)

[ardentbonkers]

If you’d like to know the opinion of a rugby player, I’d say Cam would be a good 6 or 8 but Harrow would actually be a good 9. Or 10? They tend to be bossy, mean, smart, and very in charge.

Someone on Reddit commented on my post and they made their own list of the cast with details! You both said the same thing for Harrow, here is the full list they've made if you're interested or would like to give your own opinion :>

1 - Crux - The old Warhorse. Absolutely irreplaceable and immovable, is so bloody stubborn that it's beyond a joke.

2 - Marta the Second - battler, a crack shot with her line-out darts.

3 - Magnus the Fifth - just solid. Also got that dad bod all good props should be carrying.

4 - Coronabeth the Third - the athletic lock, much nimbler than her engine room partner.

5 - Protesilaus the Seventh - Ball carrying lock, in the mould of Big Will Skelton. Just a lumbering beast who will ruin you.

6 - Gideon the Ninth - she's big, she's strong, she's really fucking annoying. All the qualities of a flanker.

7 - Judith the Second - battle-hardened and crafty in a way that all good openside should be.

8 - Aiglamene - hard as nails, no nonsense, will fuck you up. She's got years on her, but age is just a number.

9 - Harrow the Ninth - Diminutive, but canny. Shrewd decision maker, and is swift and incisive when she needs to be.

10 - Dulcinea the Seventh - is playing 4d chess with everyone, can see 5 steps ahead, and knows how to manipulate an opposition defence.

11 - Isaac and Jeannemary the Fourth - both of them because the jersey is too big for just the kne. Full of beans, loves a cheeky wee side-step, and are a lot tougher than they look.

12 - Palamedes the Sixth - strong link with Dulcinea comes in handy here, but it's the almost telepathic connection with his outside centre that makes him dangerous.

13 - Camilla the Sixth - runs hard lines, and is excellent in both attack and defence. Almost telepathically linked with Pal, her inside centre. Loves Going Loud.

14 - Babs - doesn't do a great amount of work, and loves to just be passed the ball so he can score and take credit after everyone else's hard work.

15 - Abigail the Fifth - calm, cool, and collected, the definite traits of a good fullback.

EDIT: Switched Ianthe for Corona, she'd make a much better Lock. Same height, but with more weight behind her carries.

Ianthe is more of a 10/12 hybrid in the mould of Owen Farrell for England. I'd put her on the bench, and bring her on for Dulcie in the second half.

[harrowharks-iliac-crest]

Who is Nona?

Plot/Characters

<< Previous: Plot Predictions | Masterpost

-

From what I've seen, I'm certain she's the girl from the epilogue. The last line in HtN's epilogue suggests that they don't know who she is. Does anyone? I assume the three who live with her are Camilla, Corona and Judith. Did they "escape" the Blood of Eden? Did Eden give them a charge? Decided they were trustworthy enough to look after a questionably powerful girl? woman?

A peek at the cover reveals a confidently smiling girl or young woman, with a long (red?) hair in a plait, not particularly buff but also not particularly pallid. The epilogue already is set in a much more familiar environment, quite the contrast to our previous settings - Ninth House, Canaan House, Erebos, Mithraeum, The River. Here, in the epilogue, there are cars, hot afternoon heat, apartment vibes; they have sausages at the local food place, one of them goes to work. There are obviously many people around, but also a war of some kind. Maybe this isn't the Sixth after all - mentions of a planet in the sky, so on a moon?

And who is Nona? Her hair looks red and the hinted-at powers make me go a bit wild with theories. Here's some of them, in no particular order.

1. Gideon. She's strong, red-haired, and confident. I rate this extremely unlikely, as Gideon is still a corpse. Unless they found a way to pluck her soul out of Harrow's body and make her lose all her memories, (theoretically possible, but... why?) I just don't see this one. Would her hair have grown that much in a short time? Did it grow while her body lay undecomposing? Still dead, though, and dead hair doesn't grow. Even if they alived her again somehow - or did a revenant move in? - six months after the Emperor's murder is when the Epilogue is set; it can't have been much more than that in time. Not long enough to grow a waist-long braid's worth of hair. (Unless there was necromancy involved of similar type as what Ianthe did to make Harrow's hair grow faster.) It all just seems like so much effort, and for what? No, I don't think this one is very likely.

2. Wake had another child?

2.a. Gideon's twin? She realised she was having twins (or somehow manipulated the process in order to have twins) and decided to leave one baby behind - with Gideon the First, or the Blood of Eden, or just adrift hoping someone would find her?

2.b. Gideon's sibling? Wake had another child before Gideon, perhaps actually Pyrrha's/Gideon the First's?

2.c. Gideon's clone? Somehow managed to clone baby Gideon from material taken within the first hours of her life and got Eden to grow another baby from the genetic material somehow?

3. Another one of God's children - perhaps there was some "sample" left and someone from Eden decided to just. Yknow. Grow another baby to have a "backup" of sorts?

4. Alecto's child? It's questionable whether Alecto could have reproduced with humans - Mercy says it's questionable whether she even had genetic code - but what if she could reproduce, and somehow got wind of the plan to lock her away, so managed to somehow get some genetic material saved outside the tomb, and for some reason it's taken all this time to grow a child from it?

5. Actually Alecto, somehow??? (Rated unlikely.)

6. A random revenant who moved into Gideon's body somehow, and doesn't know who they are, and for some reason the hair's just very long now? (Doubt it.)

7. Some poor random girl with memory issues who they just happened to picked up??? (Also unlikely.)

So yeah, I cannot tell you which one of these is actually the most likely to be it. I have been very disciplined in not reading the blurbs or summaries or feedback found on and in Nona the Ninth, so I can go in with as little information as possible.

It is very likely that Nona is important somehow, though, which is why I doubt she's just some random girl. She looks like she could be about Gideon and Harrow's age.

I'm very excited to find out more.

>> Next: Starting my Nona the Ninth liveblog!

[the-grey-hunt]

Nona the Ninth chapter icons

it's time. i have my paperback, and i have the will, and this post will contain very many spoilers if you have not yet read Nona the Ninth. As usual my chapter notes contain what I think is relevant and/or the cause of the choice in icon

(note: the John chapters do not have icons. therefore they will be skipped, but their presence is noted).

gideon - harrow

(john)

DAY ONE

1- The locked tomb icon. General introductions are made. I assume the locked tomb stands for us meeting Nona.

2 - still locked tomb icon. General Nona backstory. It is implied that Nona doesn't have much longer.

3 - A tree with a single apple on a branch. Potentially an apple-of-Eden icon, especially as this is the chapter where school (knowledge) is introduced. The Angel and Noodle are also introduced.

4 - Seventh house skull. This plagues me as much as the fourth house skull in Harrow the Ninth's chapters. Why the seventh house? "For beauty as it blossoms and dies". This chapter features the Angel being worried, and Hot Sauce watching.

5 - Ninth house skull. Palamedes and Nona practice necromancy and talk about the blue light.

6 - Sixth house skull. Camilla tells a story, which includes how the Sixth House escaped.

(john)

DAY TWO

7 - Second house skull. Pyrrha bribes someone for Site C.

8 - Third house skull. Nona pretends to make a radio call to Crown.

(john)

9 - Sixth house skull. Flashback to the last time Camilla took Nona swimming.

10 - Slashed Second house skull. Pyrrha gets caught in a riot. But why slashed? In Harrow the slashed skulls represented false memories/Harrow's bubbles, but what's false or not happening or in the River about the Second here?

(john)

DAY THREE

11 - Fifth house skull. They discuss what's sexy. Blood of Eden storms the apartment. (again, the skulls of house members not present in this book plagues me. Traditions and debts to the dead. does pyrrha's opinion of "landmine people" being sexy count as a debt to dead Wake, enough to invoke the Fifth's skull? Is it something to do with Augustine?)

12 - Apple tree again. The meeting with We Suffer.

13 - Third house skull. Crown/Corona takes them to see Judith Deuteros.

14 - Locked tomb icon. Crown claims to know "what" Nona is.

15 - Seventh house skull. They hear about the broadcast. Nona tells Hot Sauce that she's dying.

(john)

16 - Icon of a tower with a pointed roof and shallow projecting windows, and a base with three arches. Presumably, meant to indicate the Tower in the river. The shadows are drawn as if to indicate there is space inside the arches where they're being cast across a floor.

The broadcast happens. Ianthe refers to herself and Kiriona as the Tower Princes.

(john)

DAY FOUR

17 - Icon of a plant with a few shallow side leaves and one large front-facing round leaf at the top with a pointed tip. The Angel has the kids at school make emergency shelter plans. Nona draws an animal.

18 - Eighth house skull. Palamedes asks the Angel if she has a House implant. The Angel considers this a fuckup and tries to have him and Nona killed. Hot Sauce shoots Nona for being a zombie (okay, I can kind of see the "salvation no matter the cost" in this).

(john)

19 - Opened tomb icon (broken chains, unshaded/white interior). Nona has a tantrum.

(john)

DAY FIVE

20 - First house skull. Corona reunites with Ianthe.

21 - Slashed Third house skull. Corona has a secret wire and is maybe betraying Ianthe to Blood of Eden with it.

(john)

22 - Slashed Ninth house skull. Nona is disguised as Harrow.

23 - Sixth house skull. Palamedes fights Ianthe for Naberius's body and wins.

24 - Gideon's skull icon (crossed-out IX, sunglasses, open jaw). Kiriona is found and starts participating.

25 - Slashed Gideon skull. Kiriona "brags" about what John has done to her and makes some demands.

26 - Fourth house skull. (Fidelity? Kids?) Nona talks to Honesty and Hot Sauce about the Convoy. Hot Sauce permits her to remain in the gang.

27 - Second house skull. Pyrrha reminisces about Wake to Pash. Number Seven sends in the heralds.

(john)

28 - Slashed Sixth house skull. Paul.

29 - First house skull. They prepare to return to the Houses. We Suffer issues them Protocol One.

(john)

30 - The Tower. Nona drives through the River.

31 - Ninth house skull. Back on the Ninth House. The devils are here too.

32 - Opened Tomb. Nona returns to her body.

Epilogue - First house skull. Alecto seeks out John.

you know what i've noticed? the john chapters only occur when Nona is asleep, unconscious, or similarly incapacitated.

[augerer]

DEATH AS A FETISH: A fanmix for Her Most Serene Highness, Crown Prince Kiriona Gaia, heir to the First House, the Emperor’s only daughter.

Dead!, My Chemical Romance | Succexy, Metric | Propaganda, MUSE | Beekeeper, Keaton Henson | Death as a Fetish, STRFKR | Oxen Hope, Mirah | Take Me Back, KONGOS | England Made Me, Black Box Recorder | I Miss That Feeling, Tennis | I Want It All, Arctic Monkeys | Wrecking Force, Voxtrot

[Listen on Youtube]

Album art: [credit 1] [credit 2]

[separate fanmix for Harrow the Ninth] [separate fanmix for Gideon the Ninth]

Track notes under the cut.

1. Dead!, My Chemical Romance

And if your heart stops beating I'll be here wondering Did you get what you deserve? The ending of your life ... Have you heard the news that you're dead? No one ever had much nice to say, I Think they never liked you anyway

2. Succexy, Metric

Invasion’s so succexy Let’s drink to the military The glass is empty ... Passive attraction, programmed reaction Action distraction, more information Flesh saturation, lips on a napkin Ass ass ass

Note: she does show up for the first time in the book in military propaganda.

3. Propaganda, MUSE

Propaganda Propaganda Propaganda

You ate my soul just like a death eater I'm the ocean you're an oil slick now But I'm choking on your thought pollution

4. Beekeeper, Keaton Henson

Cause I'm just getting started, let me offend The devil's got nothing on me, my friend All I want is to be left alone Tact from me is like blood from a stone

5. Death as a Fetish, STRFKR

Ghost dad, keeping the secrets And float the dead ones home ... You’re born (death as a fetish) Your sins (death as a fetish)

6. Oxen Hope, Mirah

You sent me off without a warning Wasn't just a threat and man, that was no joke Did you know you'd struck the final blow To my faithful oxen hope?

We thought we knew we wanted what we had But you busted your side of the yoke So I left with almost nothing but a gaping hole Yes, I did really went for broke ... And I don't question, no, I don't doubt Now that I've tried living with and without That was a hard, hard muscle to grow And harder still to let go ...

And the ride we rode had danger in it We thought we could last yeah we were real strong swimmers But we got flooded, yes, we got rolled And we both went down soon as you cut the rope

7. Take Me Back, KONGOS

And once again the question's asked I answer yes! but the moment's passed I'm guess I'm always tomorrow-bound How many more till I'm underground?

“Kill me,” said Kiriona./“No. You’re dead,” said Paul.

8. England Made Me, Black Box Recorder

I need my privacy, I lead a secret life, Sleep with the enemy then betray both sides, I traveled all my life, But never got away from the killing job, And the garden shed,

“Then do it, coward,” Crux said. “Do it--the knife is before you; the work has been done.”

“Did you know I’m God’s child?” Kiriona demanded. “Did you know all the things you did--all the shit you pulled--every single thing you did, every lock you snapped on me, every cuff you put on me, every--every crappy plate of food you put in front of me, every word--every look--did you know I was the real, true-blue daughter of the Emperor? I want you to know that--I want you to know what I am!”

“You remain--what you are,” said Crux.

Note: Also see Ianthe accusing her of being a “little three way double crosser”. “England” here representing an unpleasant place in the imperial core to grow up.

9. I Miss That Feeling, Tennis

I can be true to you, even when losing Every little thing I've ever known And all of the love I've ever shown Something like pleasure, you'd never believe it Every little need dismantling Recorded by the needle of an EKG I miss that feeling Flicker hot and hovering Like my own discovering Eagerly, tenderly

And Kiriona kept saying--”It didn’t feel good. . . Fuck. . . It didn’t feel good. Why didn’t it feel good?”/A rising, hysterical note. “Why didn’t it feel good? You fucking old... You hideous, cruel... you bastard... Why didn’t... Why can’t I...”

10. I Want It All, Arctic Monkeys

Blind faith, heartache. mind games, mistakes My sweet fireball, my sweet rigmarole I want it all, I want it all

Old dogs, new tricks, can you feel it? Space age country girl, stone cold miracle I want it all, I want it all And then suddenly it hit me, it's a year ago Since I drank miniature whiskey and we shared your Coke Say, ain't it just like you to kiss me and then hit the road? Leave me listening to the Stones' "2000 Light Years from Home"

11. Wrecking Force, Voxtrot

'Cause somebody once said when I was young That playing dead is just no fun But these days I am a man, I'm not a boy

And you can be anyone Or just some mother's wasted son Oh you can be your own god if you want to

Come on to my side you will define me with a knife Spare me all the miseries that tear apart your life Oh you can lose yourself in art Or you can break somebody's heart in two Jump on in, the water's fine for swimming

Go on split the scene and let the dirty half come clean You are the wrecking force, you are the wrecking force In me, in me 'Cause I'm a soft machine, I was hard when I was sixteen You are the wrecking force, you are the wrecking force In me, in me

Note: More of a general theme for the series than for Kiriona specifically.

[iviarellereads]

Harrow the Ninth, Bonus Content, As Yet Unsent: Cohort Intelligence Files.

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For detail on The Locked Tomb coverage and the index, read this one!)

Originally published in the Harrow the Ninth paperback, later republished for free on Tor.com. A bridge between Gideon and Harrow, to help explain some events and occurrences that were heretofore not elaborated upon for us on the page.

The Cohort has procedures in place as regard the gathering of intel if a member is kidnapped or taken hostage. Judith was fitted with an implant that can hold data, which she programs into it.

This report has been assembled by Captain J. Deuteros (Dead Fleet, Dve(1) Territorials 12th Necromancer’s Unit). This report is created during Hostage Doctrine Phase Three: the period of captivity.

UNTITLED ENTRY

Judith is five months into her "forced captivity".(2) She details what she has and hasn't been able to gather by way of intel on the unit keeping her, and her location. Her guts were megafucked in the altercation on Canaan House, but what her captors haven't been able to regrow (stomach and bowel), they have been able to provide apparatus to outsource the functions of.(3) She has had multiple infections, but not died yet.

The stomach pouch was removed on a previous excursion to what they said was an abandoned "steal planet." I understand that they use the word "steal" for what we would term "shepherd."(4)

The doctors were eager to see Judith help with the surgery, and Cam told them what Judith could do, but was unwilling to help Judith convince the surgeons to leave more than one hand free to work with.

The corpse has stil failed to rot.(5) The princess(6) says they are leaving it outside in significantly fluctuating temperatures, under observation, and it still fails to rot.

ENTRY: CAMILLA HECT

Judith fears Camilla is going over to the other side. She's certainly being kept under less confinement. The breakthrough was a discussion with the BOE commander known as We Suffer. Judith cannot describe anyone's features, as she's never seen them unmasked. Still, Hect has been listening to propaganda.

The crucial element was from something they call Source Gram, which Hect told me about firsthand. To believe Hect, Blood of Eden has been consorting with elements from within the Nine Houses for much of the last myriad. As this is exactly what Blood of Eden would want us to believe, I remain sceptical. Hect repeats We Suffer’s claim that Source Gram came from within the Sixth House around six thousand years ago, an incident that apparently even We Suffer admits has fallen into Edenite mythology. We Suffer and Hect often mention a “break clause.” What this refers to I will not speculate.

Hect has told Judith that the BOE know things that no one could possibly know, but their references are beyond antiquated. She wants to know why the Sixth House would give away so much to insurgents, even in the House's infancy. Judith still doesn't understand, so all Camilla can add is that the Warden would want to find out. Judith finds Cam's ongoing attachment to Pal to be problematic.

During their mutual hospitalization, Judith and Cam played semi-imaginary chess on the ceiling tiles, with Cam having to remind Judith where the pieces were when her sedatives were fresh. Judith recalls that Lieutenant Dyas also enjoyed chess.

ENTRY: CORONABETH TRIDENTARIUS

Corona has definitely gone over to radicalization. She was an easy mark for the BOE. She cries at every sob story and gets angry at every perceived injustice,(7) and she was "weakened from a life spent pretending to be a necromancer". Judith is ashamed at not having seen through the deception in all these years. Still, Coronabeth never did anything she didn't want to do, and never executed a plan she didn't come up with.

The captors played them off Corona, particularly by letting Corona receive their meals (making her see them as caregivers) and letting Corona nurse Judith through her recoveries. Corona would tell Judith all the things the BOE had told her, and at first Judith argued, but then she realized Corona was just using her "to sharpen her own reasoning."(8)

Their main grievance is the resettlements. They are outraged that thanergenic conversion of a planet makes it no longer habitable for its previous organic life. Given that conversion happens over centuries and that all inhabitants are moved to a new planet with full economic support from the Nine Houses, I argued against sympathy.(9) They accuse us of unprovoked war. [...] The princess and I debated that one until she had to be removed from my bedside. Their other line of attack is the business contracts. They claim that the services asked of them by the Emperor were set down in lifetime contracts by previous generations, who assumed the contracts would be terminated upon the Emperor’s death. When I pointed out that his primary title is the Emperor Undying and that this was a crime of assumption the princess called me a number of names I will not reproduce here. The main takeaway, that I am a shill and a stoolie, only serves to demonstrate how open she was to this, and from how early on. She didn’t want to be convinced, but to convince me.

Judith does speak somewhat in Corona's defence in her report. She points out that Corona was abandoned by her twin for Lyctorhood, witnessed her sister kill their lifelong friend before her eyes.

Judith goes into some detail about her own failure at Canaan House, and the embarrassment she's made of her honour. If even she was unready to serve, then how can Corona be expected to hold out against trained conversion agents?

Cam says that Judith is wrong, that Corona's apparent willingness to turn kept them all alive, in hopes that the others would follow her lead. Judith isn't so sure. She knows that the tips of Corona's ears turn pink when she gets "genuinely impassioned",(10) and feels confident in her assessment that Corona's support of the BOE cause is heartfelt.

Note to self: rewrite this. The sedatives are making you discursive and worse.

UNTITLED ENTRY

The corpse is still as it ever was. I asked Hect if the scavengers had got at it. She said that animals refused to touch it even when encouraged. My corpse, however, has decided to live.

Judith imagines that learning to accept a body that doesn't work is a lot like amnesia. Hect is intensely confident that Judith will heal, that walking will someday not endanger her external mechanical organs, that she'll be independent again. Judith can't picture this future. The Second House's thalergy drain doesn't burn her energies the way most necromantic acts do, so she's always been considerably healthier than other adepts, never experiencing "the physical vitiation"(11) that some do.

Judith can tell that the planet they're on is a standard thalergy planet. They're still letting her outside for a few minutes at a time, but never unrestrained. Corona sourced paper for writing, as the BOE "have such a wealth of organic textiles at their command that they see no shame in processing it to waste on writing", but Judith, Corona, and Cam all agree that the texture is terrible and Judith refuses outright to use it to write anything.

Corona tries to be charming when she gets them to bring Judith outside, but Judith does her best to ignore her, until they inevitably have an argument.(12)

Her approach varies. I don’t understand it. On one desperate occasion she offered to kill a local animal so that I could use the thanergy to try to heal myself. When I rejected this she offered that she would do bodily injury to herself “if I liked that better.” We had an argument. On another occasion in a particularly foul and quixotic mood she told me that Blood of Eden commandos must each kill a wizard, as they put it, in order to graduate to special operation units. She said she thought I could be her first kill. I indicated she should go ahead if she was so satisfied with fish in a barrel. We had an argument.(13)

Judith asks why Corona has thrown in her lot with the BOE. Corona says the Cohort movements haven't made sense to her for a long time. It would make more sense to infiltrate, intermingle, and absorb people into the Nine Houses. The shepherd planets cost more and more the further out they are. The Houses are burning what they could be using instead.(14) Judith points out that the BOE can't even stand the thought of necromancers, though. Corona says that's the one real sticking point between the groups. When Judith tries to press the issue, Corona says not to talk about this subject, she's still deciding where she lies on it.

Coronabeth Tridentarius is too easily moved by her passions, whatever she says about the theory. She is being taught how to fire a gun by some of We Suffer’s underlings. They give her low-bore ammunition and teach her how to hit a target. Camilla says she has a good eye.

UNTITLED ENTRY

All three of them have changed over the recent months of their captivity. Judith and Cam have semi-bonded mostly over knowing that they do not understand each other's grief. Judith, for her part, finds it difficult to judge a cavalier who made her role her whole life.

I think Camilla the Sixth and her adept failed to reach the critical point that many cavaliers and their adepts have to reach, where they understand the scope and the limits of what they will be to each other for the rest of their lives. I thank the Emperor’s mercy that I had a cavalier who taught me that so early.(15)

Judith reports that Corona flirts with Cam a lot. Judith confronts Corona about it once, and Corona is surprised that she'd enquire about it, answering in the negative. As Corona puts it, "one half plus one half is only ever half." Judith questions her math.(16) Corona asks if Judith has any designs on Cam, but Judith says romance should be the last thing on any of their minds, it would introduce connections that the BOE could exploit. Cam asks if Judith's ever had blood in her veins or only ever graphite shavings.(17) "We had an argument."

The princess said Blood of Eden thinks necromancers keep wide and witless harems of nonaptitude House citizens whom they have sex with, often after their death. We agreed they must have procured a piece of niche pornography and gotten the wrong idea, although she was amused and I was not.

UNTITLED ENTRY

Judith has finally discovered why the BOE gave her doctors to nurse her back to health, and now has to find a way to end her own life. They sedated her, and brought her to a Cohort ship, one of a model that fell out of use before she was born. When she sees the stele, she undergoes "the phantom reaction", an instinctive reaching for necromancy that doesn't exist in space.

They ask if Judith knows how to use it. She gives the standard interrogation response, until they bring in Cam and point a gun at her head. Cam gives them no reaction, but Judith says she understands the principles, but cannot operate it alone. A stele requires at least three necromancers to use. We Suffer comes in and they talk with her, then apply deoxygenated blood to the stele, which splutters. They ask Judith why, and she says she doesn't know, but offers that some of the bone inside it might retain some thanergy. She won't say more.(18)

They blindfold and sedate her again. She hears Cam tell them she's had too much already. She wishes Cam would stop acting on her behalf.(19)

Judith hopes that she's the only necromancer in BOE custody. She takes some comfort knowing if they'd ever had a live one, they'd be taking better precautions than handcuffs and blindfolds against necromancy, which requires neither. Any necromancer in better condition would be able to kill themself, and anyone worse off would already be dead.

But why did they let me live? Why have they kept me other than to use me? They have no interest in my potential as leverage. I hoped to keep my father’s identity from them, but Camilla Hect told me they knew from the start. Why do they know all this? How are they getting their intel? How were they not noticed travelling to the heart of the Nine Houses? You think you live behind a shield and then it comes to light that you have been cowering in a fog, and I will never be able to correct things, I will never be able to tell anyone of the danger. I must end my life as a mystery, not as an object lesson. There is a grace to dying as a prisoner of war.

UNTITLED ENTRY

Judith asks both Cam and Corona to kill her. Cam says no. Corona says she'll think about it.

UNTITLED ENTRY

Judith feels unwell, and sweaty. Cam is getting on her last nerve. We Suffer doesn't seem to be properly in control of this operating cell. We Suffer and Corona have both asked Cam to stop carrying Pal's bones, but she has not responded. Judith has not asked, as she has no desire to act the commanding officer in this context.

She is, however, angry at herself when Cam is treating the bedsores on her legs, and tries to reach out.

Judith tells Cam about serving with Lt Dyas. She and her whole class had admired Dyas from afar, but Judith was particularly vulnerable to hero worship. Even the way she talks of Dyas's last days speaks to some of it remaining. Eventually, Judith even admits to propositioning Dyas romantically. Marta let her down kindly and honorably, and they continued to work together, as well as ever, without the embarrassment hanging between them.

Camilla said, Captain Deuteros, why are you telling me this? I said, I wanted to let you know how lucky I was. She and I could have made that mistake together. It was such a near miss. I wouldn’t hold it against anyone else, except that I would want them to know that such a thing is never determined, never inevitable, like all the things I told myself that night when I was seventeen. If it had happened it would have been wrong and it would have hurt both of us.

Cam eventually suggests she get to the point. Judith says that Pal's bones are going to kill Cam slowly, for the sake of obsession with someone who should have taught Cam better the roles of adept and cavalier.

And Hect withdrew from me and was silent for a long time, if not still. Eventually she said, At least when the Warden acts like he knows everything, he generally does.(20)

Judith insists that talking about him in the present indicates everything wrong with the statement, but Cam leaves. Later, Corona comes to her and asks what the hell she said to Cam. Judith refuses to explain the finer points of the discussion but says she had a healthy relationship with her cavalier and was obliged to help those who didn't have her privilege. Corona says she's lucky to be alive if that's how she put it.

UNTITLED ENTRY

Judith has an infection in her gut. The BOE are trying to decide whether or not to let her die. We Suffer wants to preserve her, but the cell fought at Lemuria (their word for New Rho)(21) and have differing opinions. Corona says Judith has to live, but Judith is ready to die.

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Judith floats in and out of fever delirium. She wishes Marta had been allowed this death.

UNTITLED ENTRY

Judith wakes very calm, to Corona's presence. She asks Corona, by the strength of their acquaintance, not to lose faith in the Houses. Corona says they've known each other since she was eight and Judith was nine, and asks if Judith remembers that meeting. Judith confirms it, and Corona says she was so hard to play with, so stiff and dutiful. Corona fell, and Judith helped her up, and Corona pretended she was hurt much worse so Judith would stay and talk to her. Judith is surprised Corona remembers, she never brought it up, though whenever Judith got a promotion there would always be a delivery of flowers or flimsy folded to look like them.

Corona admits she was allowed one special invitation every birthday and she always invited Judith. Judith always assumed the twins' parents invited her for being the fleet admiral's daughter, but no. Corona loved to see her, to have one person present who wouldn't eat glass to talk to her. She couldn't even get Judith to tell war stories.

Jody, you can’t die on me. I’m so alone now. I said, It’s been a long time since you called me that. She said, You won’t die on me, Jody. I won’t allow it. I said, Better death than being hooked up to that stele.

Corona starts crying, angry that Judith won't be human for even a minute. Judith tells her not to cry over her. Corona starts scouring the room for any sort of antibiotics, but the BOE don't make stupid mistakes and didn't leave anything behind. So, Corona just sits with Judith in silence. Judith admits to her document that she understands Corona better than Corona knows, just not entirely.

UNTITLED ENTRY

Judith wakes with no sight, but she hears voices, one in particular that speaks high-pitched House with a perfect accent.(22) The voice berates them for getting what they ask for and treating it poorly. Judith feels hands on her stomach, and very little pain and then no pain at all as thanergy rummages her organs around to fix things, with commentary. When the voice mentions keeping up a thanergy field for a stele, Judith's mouth won't work quite properly, but she says "No" and reaches out. The voice says this "heroic nonsense" "isn't cute".

The shrill voice and the other voices talk about how to control movement with the stele. She has obviously been in contact and helping the BOE for a very long time and has orchestrated plans with them. Eventually she says she's done, and don't expose "this thing" (Judith) to people. Now, she says, show her to the weird body that won't decompose.

Judith tries to reach up and take off the blindfold, but has been partially paralyzed. She can reach something "wet and cooling" on the bed. Eventually she works out that it was her artificial esophagus.

UNTITLED ENTRY

Judith knows this will be the last entry she can make for a while. She's still very weak, but the BOE have put her in the control seat of the Gorgon. They've made a curious machine that's part open-work heart, part fountain, to fuel the stele. They plan to leave soon.

She can't walk under her own power, but Cam helps her. She tells Cam it was a Lyctor. Cam confirms. Judith thinks the Houses are doomed. Cam says she and Pal know Lyctors can die like anyone else.

Corona took Judith outside on this last evening, so Judith can walk at long last. They stop in front of the table holding the perfect corpse.

I wonder if they will stop the experiments now. The corpse of the Ninth House cavalier is as pristine as when Camilla Hect convinced them to take it on board. She never explained herself fully to me. Some business about a note. When questioned, I confirmed there was nothing on the body to preserve it, no secret process I knew of, no deep flesh magic I could detect—not that I had much ability to detect. Whatever the case, she’s now some object of weird superstition among them. Hect says she was no older than seventeen.

Judith envies Gideon's incorruptibility. Corona admits she has Gideon's rapier. Judith says even a dead cav has rights to that. Corona thinks Gideon wouldn't mind, she was always very nice, and very hot.(23)

The princess turned to me then and took my hands. I kept my balance. She said, Jody, if I offered you that sword, wouldn’t you take it? I know how to use it. I know what it would mean. Lieutenant Dyas is dead. My own necromancer wouldn’t have me. Won’t you let me be your cavalier? Here, now, at the end of the world? Save me, Jody. Bind me to you, or who knows where I will go? What throne will I mount, if you don’t bind me down?

Corona isn't even smiling when she says it.

Judith figures she won't get to make a report in person, and this report may not even be found until long after the technology to translate it is lost.

When I started this report it was in the spirit of optimism. I can now recognise it more as a prayer from a soldier who has never been good at praying. And if it is a prayer, it might as well be a confession.

It is not a confession of temptation. I wasn’t tempted by Coronabeth’s offer. There was never any possibility of it. I committed the understandable crime of desire for Lieutenant Marta Dyas, having joined my hand to hers with the best and most pure of intentions. Why would I ever knowingly take Coronabeth Tridentarius’s, having desired her already for twelve long, stupid, fruitless years?

And I said, Thank you for the offer, Your Highness, but not in this life or in any other.

FILE ENDS HERE

=====

(1) Dve, like Pyrrha Dve. G1deon couldn't leave his name behind but he could leave Pyrrha's. I wonder how Pyrrha feels about that. (2) So, three months before seeing Harrow on that planet. (3) I'm not sure about outsourcing those functions so much, honestly. Well, I know that you can set up a colostomy to serve as an alternative to bowel movement. The stomach, though… you can live without it (some people have had to have their stomachs removed due to injury or presumably some people are born without sometimes) but she seems to be implying that there's an external stomach for her anyway. Not sure if I want to know how that works. (4) Naturally, the perspective from which you view a situation changes how you perceive it. John's Empire couldn't do anything so ghastly as steal a planet from rightful owners, they're shepherding it into the fold. (5) The Corpse! Gideon's, from later in this story. Mercy mentioned observing it at some point, when she was talking to Gideon in the corridors of the Mithraeum. Why would it fail to rot? Is it her genes, daughter of the Necrolord Prime? Or something Harrow did, in her early Lyctorhood power? (6) Coronabeth, of course. (7) I think there's an important distinction to be made here: nothing about the storytelling or narrative framing actually says Coronabeth is bad or wrong for this. Judith, specifically, thinks it's a weakness of character, but Corona's compassion has been shown to be a strength. Just look at how she drew the cavaliers together when they were all bored and lonely at Canaan House. Muir is definitely playing with narrator bias. (8) There's absolutely nothing weak about Coronabeth, for sure. She had to hide herself for her whole life, but I think there are good odds she'd be an equal match for Pal or Harrow's wits. (9) Of course Judith would argue against sympathy there. Never mind that people have made their homes for who knows how long in one place, and there's an attachment we form to the land when we're allowed to do that. They're being financially supported in uprooting the only lives they've ever known, and sent to a place they neither know nor understand nor care for, and since that's definitionally going to be a planet that hasn't been turned yet, who knows how long their descendants will be allowed to stay either? Judith doesn't understand the human side, she's too devoted to the idea of the ideals of her government and her station in life. (10) For someone who's so bent on keeping a logical and emotional distance from literally everyone else in the universe, Judith is awfully focused on Corona's microbehaviours. (11) Vitiate - to destroy the quality, efficiency, or validity of something. So, necromancers are weakly and small and thin because of the effect of thanergy on their tissues. I wonder if this was something Muir had outlined when she wrote the supplementary materials for Gideon or if the conflict in explanations between these sources is intentional. Which are we more inclined to trust? (12) It's here that I think it's extremely clear that Judith is absolutely unhinged and not to be trusted, as a narrator of her own experience in this context. "I ignore her, it's my last defence, and then we have an argument and I end up reopening my wounds." That's not ignoring her, and it's not the careful aloof distance she wants to maintain, either. All of this stuff is not only filtered through Judith's privileged and biased perceptions, it's ALSO filtered through what she's hypothetically reporting to her superiors. The face that she wants to present to those who would remember her, if she can't make her reports herself. Unreliable narrator got nothin on Judith Deuteros.

(13) And again, how much is between the lines of these admissions? Is Corona trying to help, playing the part of a dutiful convert? How do the feelings Corona obviously holds that match Judith's, play into how she's reporting these conversations? What could Judith be skipping? How much is she just refusing to admit that the BOE have some fraction of a good point? (14) Well, we have the advantage of some of the discussions on the Mithraeum about all this! Namely, that the shepherd planets are less about bringing people into the fold, and more about depriving the Resurrection Beasts of food as they chase the Lyctors and the Emperor around. Or… are they? (15) This takes on a very different tone after finishing this story and learning that Dyas had to let Judith down, very very carefully, from a teenage crush. I mean, the whole story, especially the focus on Judith's perception that Corona has betrayed her and herself and her homeland, but also particularly this line. Judith thinks Cam was in romantic love with Pal, and that they just hadn't had to have The Talk yet. I think the context of what we learned especially in the Doctor Sex story really flips our perceptions of that relationship as readers, but Judith doesn't have that context and may know next to nothing about the Sixth besides rumour. (16) Corona has suffered two tremendous losses, and literally lost her twin, her other half, even if she knows Ianthe is still alive somewhere. Cam has also lost her lifelong friend and cousin. Corona is emotionally attuned enough to recognize that they are neither of them whole right now, still grieving, even if Cam is taking some comfort in hoping that Pal might still be soul-glued to his skull. Neither is in a state to enter into any sort of healthy emotional commitment. Judith has been abominably repressed in this area of life lessons and has no idea how to interpret any of it. (17) So, for one thing, burn. For another, recall that Corona invited Judith to every birthday party she ever had. Notice how she gets coy and flirty and then defensive and angry by turns with Judith in these conversations. "We had an argument." For some people, arguing is a love language. Just sayin. Judith's feelings are absolutely returned, which is maybe all the more reason she's defensive about acknowledging it. (18) Won't say more, not can't. She's trying so hard to prove she's a Good Servant of the Emperor and Good Cohort Soldier. (19) None of this can be easy for Judith. She's lost her unrequited love/life companion cavalier. She's lost her position in her society, the only thing she's ever really known. She's been in pain and convalescence for months and months, some of her organs are just machines, and she's forced to rely on the enemy for her life. Now she knows that they just want to get information from her, and will threaten or kill her only companions to get it if they have to. And by giving in this time, she must know that she's given them exactly what she dreaded. Earlier in this very entry, she said she has to find a way to die, but the suicidal ideation was already, in some ways perhaps, running strong. (20) Ouch. But, it's true, I don't get that romantic-pining vibe from Cam and Pal, Judith is maybe projecting way more than she thinks she is. And she can't know that Cam has good reason to believe Pal's soul is still there, waiting. They've made plans for this. (21) Again with the different names for the same things. What happened at Lemuria/New Rho? (22) This, from context of course, is Mercymorn. I don't think this can be the same visit as when Harrow was on that one planet, because Judith was with Corona and Cam at that time, and she doesn't mention Harrow in these missives. But, of course, we were in Harrow's head in her book for that scene, not Mercy's, so it's hard to line things up exactly. (23) Maybe not the thing to say when you're asking the woman you have a lifelong massive crush on to take you as her bonded cavalier.

[inheroes--wetrust]

ok this is based on first read only so it might get crazy but there is no fucking way that kiriona is gideon. evidence below anyone please feel free to discuss i am FERAL over here

(EDIT: no fucking way that kiriona is *full gideon. i am now fully in camp "kiriona is gideon with some very very key pieces missing like oh i dont know her love and humanity")

1) during the broadcast and in the book, it's made very clear that gideon's body is dead. she's described as waxy like naberius (who we all know is dead as a doornail). if it's gideon's body and gideon's soul, they should snap back together no issues. palamedes seems to think that just bringing nona close to gideon's body would draw her soul out and gideon would be whole again, and palamedes is the smartest necromancer of his generation (love you bb). there's a soul piloting a body here. they aren't cohesive.

2) tamsyn said in a recent interview (https://books.tumblr.com/post/693388542787846144/writer-spotlight-tamsyn-muir-tamsyn-muir-probably) there is a pecking order to POV characters. paraphrasing here, but she said that if possible, gideon is first and foremost the POV character. we obviously see this in HtN - gideon is narrating the mithraeum chapters of the book, and as soon as she comes to the surface, she is the POV character. when they first came into contact with gideon's walking and talking corpse, i half expected POV to switch to gideon, but we never got that.

3) a fucking FRIENDSHIP BRACELET? with IANTHE???? hell fucking no. what in the world. why would they even put that there? it makes absolutely zero sense, there's no point to it other than for nona to point out they're working together. chekhov's friendship bracelet. maybe ianthe is controlling gideon's corpse somehow? i have no idea it's four in the morning.

4) the way she interacts with everyone but especially the sixth house. you expect me to believe that gideon nav sees a dying cam for the first time since her sacrifice and is just like oh hey cam looks like you're dying soon? absolutely not. the sex pal thing was also aggressive. very "hey palamedes remember that thing we did together who else would know i called you sex pal once". iirc, she never actually called him that - she was just pointing out a fun gideon fact.

5) she doesn't care about harrow. gideon cares EXCLUSIVELY about harrow. gideon "it was not my thumb to let them bite off" sees alecto piloting harrow's body and just says sure i'm going to let that happen? not in ten thousand years.

this obviously leaves a million questions starting with 1) who is kiriona and 2) WHERE IS GIDEON but these are 100% two different souls. tamsyn i need alecto now please and thank you.

EDIT: More evidence on the second reread.

6) when cam and nona-as-harrow go to see ianthe, ianthe says, "How are you surviving, Harrowhark the First? How can you stand beneath the light of Number Seven? Unless I am addressing..." and then nona screams, there's a general panic, and ianthe is like FINE OKAY FUCKING RELAX and tells nona she's coming back to the emperor with her. lyctors can survive an RB when their cavs are at the forefront. harrow's cav is gideon. and pre-NtN, harrow had a lobotomy that caused her to have a breakdown at the sound of gideon's name. what else would she have been saying other than "Unless I am addressing Gideon Nav", which should make no sense considering ianthe knows full well that kiriona exists. unless of course kiriona is not gideon or at least not gideon all the way.

7) https://www.tor.com/2022/09/13/tamsyn-muir-on-lyctorhood-as-genderfuckery-and-greasy-bible-study-in-nona-the-ninth/ new interview by tamsyn for the nona release. the last question strongly hints that gideon's body and gideon's soul - or at least not all of it - are not in the same place, and at least some of it is still with harrow.

8) pyrrha says john shouldn't have been able to pull gideon's soul all the way back to put her back in her body. she explicitly says that harrow still has a piece of gideon and john could not have gotten it back, AND that john should have been able to do better. he resurrects. that's LITERALLY his thing. he should have been able to bring gideon back perfectly, but he didn't. why?

9) get in line, thou big slut. on first glance, this is gideon nav to a t. i love her so much. however. i find it SUPER interesting that slut, which has (to my knowledge) never been used in the previous two books, is used twice in NtN both by ianthe - once about the original lyctors, once about corona. idk what it was about it, but the use of it three times in the book, when previous insults have been along the lines of "you mutant, you mistake, you great big calf-eyed fuck-up" just struck me a little. iffy. this one is definitely more out there but the use of slut in the book just stood out to me for some reason (a sentence you can only type when talking about the locked tomb).

upon further review i have decided that kiriona and gideon are definitely not 100% the same soul, but kiriona could have a piece of gideon's soul, because a lot of the ninth house stuff is very gideon, especially with crux. i still want alecto now.

[kvothbloodless]

As is my tradition after finishing a locked tomb book, I will now post a list of the various things I did not understand, which made me say out loud “what the fuck”, in the hopes that someone, somewhere, understands what the fuck is going on and can explain to me.

1. What the fuck is up with Gideon and Harrow? Like, my understanding is Nona is Nav's soul in harrows body, with amnesia. But clearly not, since Nav is maybe in her own body? Where the fuck is Harrows soul? Its not in gideons body. She cant be a lyctor, so why does she have super healing? Why was Nona dying? What the fuck is going on?

AFTER READING: Okay so Nona is just Harrow with even more amnesia? Why was Nona dying? What the fuck is going on?

Hold on, wait a second. That might be the saddest thing in any of these books. Like, ever. And thats...a competition. THIS IS A WHAT HARROW WOULD BE IF SHED BEEN RAISED WITH LOVE AND NOT GUILT. 😭

2. What the fuck was up with Cam and Pal pre-Paul? They say theyre not lyctors, and the RB doesnt affect them, but they can heal and stuff, so its not just a normal possession (especially with the eyes).

3. How did G1deon and Pyrra end up sharing a body in the first place? Wht didnt they ever communicate in the 10,000 years? Did they do the same weird half lyctorhood that Cam and Pal have done?

4. How did Jod Get necromancy? In the dreams it just sorta appears after he spends time around corpses. Is he editing the story? Or is there no explanation for how magic suddenly became possible? Like. It seems like getting Jods backstory was gonna explain how necromancy actually works, what its source is, why no one had ever discovered it before. What the fuck is the River?

5. What Are the dreams. Like, is it just Harrow having hallucinations in the River? But then they wouldnt be accurate. Is Harrow going through Alecto/the bodys memories? Its pretty clear that sometimes Jod is talking about/to Alecto in the dreams, but he says Harrows name. Is this just the name replacing, and in actuality hes saying Alecto? Or was Jod also talking to Harrow?

6. What the fuck Was Alecto, why would everyone care about her. Is she the Earths RB, and so when hes talking about people not caring about her, they mean the earth? But that doesnt make sense, since the cryo project was to save people, not the planet.

AFTER READING: Okay so I think i was right here. But can someone please explain how John went full Jod? He killed everyone on the Earth, and used the thanergy to force the Earths soul into a body, yea? Then did some lyctor-esque bullshit, so he could use her soul as his fuel, and uses that to...do what exactly, I couldnt tell? Eat the thalergy from the sun and the other planets? Then rezed everyone on the planet, and gave them amnesia so they woulsnt remember he killed them? Also, does this mean jods lyctorhood is bases on thalergy rather than thanergy? Also, still unclear on how the cryo project was gonna save her in the first place? And how is the resurrection of the planets and sun still linked to Jod? ALSO, i think he lied at some point to Harrow, yea? Like. The reason he refused to resurrect some people isnt becuz of a great cost. He cant rez anyone if they died more than a moment ago, yea?

7. Why is 7 just...chilling in space? Is it because none of the lyctors on planet are acrual lyctors, so it cant find them, but irs attracted to them still? Why not just eat the whole planet? Dont RBs do that all the time?

8. Why can Nona understand the RB, and how was it possessing Judith? Im assuming Nonas big scream had to do with that. But like. How? What the fuck was 7 talking about?

9. How did they get Nona away from Jod? How did they lose Gideons body?

10. Why did Pyrra immedietly start cooperating with BoE? Hang on, how did She get away from Jod. Im assuming this will also answer the previous question.

11. What are Jods actual plans? Like, is he legit just trying to rule all of space? Seems like he should have an actual motivation for everything hes been doing. Maybe to save Alecto? But like. How? Also the fact that hes been so hands off and now hes "fragile". Like. This really does not come off as Either "generic tyrant" Or "guy with a myriad long master plan". What the fuck is going on?

AFTER READING: Is jods entire conquest literally just revenge because the source of those people are the rich ones that got away? Is he really That much of a whining baby? Has his entire myriad of life and manipulation of his loved ones been "avoid dying to the RBs, and take "revenge""?

AFTER READING MORE: Okay, follow up: what was jods actual plan (with the tomb)? Has he really become suicidal becuz of all his og friends are dead? If so, why the fuck did he kill Mercy? Why did he get Augustine killed? If hes actually this fucked up over it, it seems like hed have rather forgiven them. But also I dont think Ianthe misread the situation. So is he faking it? Is he trying to get Gideon/Kiriona killed? Why? What the fuck is going on?

12. What the fuck is wrong with Gideon/Kiriona? Like shes acting callous and a bit cruel and just...not Gideon. But she also seems to have similar goals as what Id expect. She really wants to find Harrow, she refuses to ever be constrained. Shes...vaguely helpful towards Coronabeth and Cam/Pal. She even makes the occasional funny dumb comment, and acts mostly like Gideon om the 9th But like. She seems...off. Shockingly, the Ianthe friendship tracks.

AFTER READING: Was that just Gideon after months of depression and repression? That still doesn’t seem right. I feel like Gideon wouldn’t break that fast, after 18 years under Crux. Especially like “the reverend daughter has no living cavalier” Gideon would Die before renouncing her cavaliership to Harrow. In fact, she did.

13. Are the numbers/chapters & verses of Jods backstory meaningful somehow?

14. Okay, so unless Ive missed count, theres like...4 (or maybe 5?) different types of lyctorhood? Theres the og method that kills the Cav. Theres Jods method where both survive in their own bodies. Theres G1deons method that haa both survive in the necros body (is this what Pal ans Cam were doing initially?). Theres the new method that combines both into a single person. And then maybe theres whatever the fuck is going on with Kiriona (unclear if thats lyctorhood or what). Also theres whatever Harrow did to leave Gideon in her body in HtN, which might have just been a shittier version of whatever G1deon did. Did I miss anything, get anything wrong? Also, what the fuck?

15. What do we know about what happened with Jod and Alecto after the resurrection? Like. They clearly had some sort of romantic relationship, but also she went murderbeast and he had to lock her up? Whyd she go murderbeast? And whyd he lock her up? It seems pretty clear Jod was never particularly stable. I mean, he did seem pretty set on saving humanity, but even still, seems very weird that hed agree to lock her up, given how much he loved her.

16. Okay, so Jod is insanely vindictive and fairly controlling. His paranoia explains why he didnt give the og lyctors perfect lyctorhood. But he seems to have genuinely loved them, and didnt seem cruel. Why not, like, one of the other types, that didnt require awful trauma? And why the other dickish stuff, like leaving Cytherea's illness and shit?

17. Huh, so pretty sure we got confirmation Harrow has always beeen schizophrenic, which is super cool. Now I wanna go back and read GtN and see if this changes my reading at all.

18. What else did I miss/not catch? Im sure there was a bunch of clues and info that I wasn’t smart enough to pick up on.

Question still unanswered from Harrow the Ninth:

1. What the fuck is all this about the river and God not knowing about it? What the fuck is Hell? What are these devils? What the fuck?

[mercymorn-was-right]

I really liked the theory that the eightfold word was the Cavalier’s name, but something was nagging me so I had to double check it and

“Please undo what I’ve done, Lord,” she said. “I will never ask anything of you, ever again, if you just give me back the life of Gideon Nav.” (Gideon the Ninth, page 441)

If the key to completing the process was indeed to speak the name of the Cavalier (and I need to reiterate— I love that idea, very romantic) wouldn’t it have happened here?

Ianthe says in her speech at the end of gtn that step seven is to incorporate the soul and eight is to “hook the cables up”. Harrow, if I understood things correctly that is, cut the process at step 7, only partially incorporating Gideon.

In Paul’s ascension/birth/creation we see Camilla doing step 6 — consume the flesh — and then I suppose they do step 7 and 8 but as we watch through Nona’s eyes we don’t really know what they’re doing and how.

And I think this is very deliberately kept away, because each step corresponds with each original necro/cav pair, Ianthe even comments on step 7 and how that’s the Eight’s speciality. So could the final step be connected to Anastasia? That’s just speculation but either way I don’t think the final step is speaking the Cavalier’s name.

[h4rr0wh4rk]

Harrow Cosplay Planning 2: The Hard Part

Friends, the harder yet more fun aspect of this cosplay is designing my version of Harrow's necromancer robes. While one could look at the series as sci-fi and have a lot of fun trying to design something more sleek and futuristic, like Harrow's canonical cover outfit, I have a deep love for historical costuming and overly ornate bullshit of all sorts, and as such will be leaning heavily into anachronism for the Reverend Daughter of Drearburh's more officious garments.

The line from chapter 7 about Harrow's disembarking outfit reads,

"Harrowhark did not care for any herald. She had drifted out like a black ship in sail, a bony figure wreathed in layers and layers of night-coloured cloth with a lace overcloak trailing behind her; adorned with bones, painted like a dead woman, eyes blindfolded with black net."

"Layers and layers" and "ship in sail" are the first things that give me ideas. When I think of the silhouette of a "ship in sail" I think long not wide. Now, maybe most of the train comes from that lace overcloak, but I think we would have more fun if the main gown itself had some volume in the skirt. I want to avoid any horizontally boned skirt supports, (so no drum farthingales, panniers, or crinoline cages) in order to maintain that long not wide effect. Initially, I thought about basing the main gown on a houppelande, specifically the one pictured here:

Rogier van der Weydan, c. 1443-1445

But as I thought about the practicalities of cloth usage in the ninth and this line Harrow has in chapter 6 of HtN, where she notices Jod's all-black attire, "he was dressed simply, as per usual, in a black shirt and trousers. The lack of tint had always pleased you. It was very Ninth, even the collar and the cuffs of his shirt that were scruffy and pilled from too much wearing," it became clearer to me that the houppelande was too wasteful in its fabric use. That fits more with one of the Tridentarii's diaphanous dresses than Harrow. So I looked instead to a much less wasteful garment, the kirtle:

Dieric Bouts, ca. 1455

Specifically, one that has the opening on the side like this example.

Daisy Viktoria Medieval Dress Pattern

But with more of this shape when standing. I like the continuous cut of the front pieces of the bodice and skirt, and we can add volume and length at the rear gore without adding bulk or extra fabric to the front or side gores.

I want to do a side button (because they actually have buttons! Woo not the 13th century!) opening to try and do something stupid. Given Harrow's propensity for turtlenecks, I want to try and add a side buttoning high neck collar, though whether that gets added to the kirtle or lace overcloak is anybody's guess right now. But if it does end up on the kirtle, getting into the gown will probably be easier if all the openings are on the same line.

To create the "layers and layers," the black kirtle will get a black shift and petticoat, an apron, a shawl, maybe a separate collar garment, kind of like a structured fichu, and the lace overcloak, which will objectively be the hardest thing to source. I'm not adding a surcoat because this is my design and I don't feel like it, it doesn't fit my goth 13th-century rococo vibe.

Speaking of rococo, I am tossing around the idea of adding robe-a-la-francaise-style box pleats to the gown to help support the length idea, but that might be too much.

The veil is a tad confusing. The way it's described in the quote above, as Harrow's "eyes blindfolded with black net," implies it may be more of a fascinator or even a true blindfold, but earlier in that same chapter, Gideon describes how, “The expression on the other girl’s face wasn’t disinterest or distraction, as she’d assumed; even through a layer of veiling, she could tell that Harrow was near-incapacitated with concentration,” making it seem like the veil is over her whole face. Out of a deep love of overdramatics, I'm taking the executive decision it's a full-face veil.

The veil I'm taking from Victorian mourning veils. I know it describes it as "net" in the quote, but in HtN, the Lyctor Hood is contrasted with it as such, "your new hood, unlike good Ninth House furze, was transparent enough to let you see quite clearly". I did some googling, and today it seems like "furze" is just a plant otherwise known as gorse, not a type of cloth or veil. However, if Harrow's veil were simply netting, she would be able to see out of it easily. I think this is a case where Gideon's unreliable narration and inattention to detail is kicking in. As such, I feel justified in using a more densely woven fabric for the veil itself.

The Met, Mourning Veil, 1900-1920

While this is technically probably Edwardian, the crepey silk used was common throughout the Victorian era.

I also like this type of headband I keep seeing fan artists (I will try to find sources and links in the coming days) put Harrow in to anchor the veil, so I would make a version that is not 50 dollars and is probably smaller.

ZiptieJewelry

The shoes would just be the shoes I get for the other version of this cosplay.

Adding all of the bone beading to the gown will be a bridge I burn when I get to it, it's going to be rough rough rough. I have no idea what I want to do in terms of rococoing this up, so expect at least a part 4 of the HCP series about that, (3 will be grease paint research) even if HCC (Harrow Cosplay Constructing) begins in the meantime.

If you made it all the way down here, thank you for reading all of that I am excited to work hard on it and show you what I come up with, and if you didn't:

TL;DR Gonna make a black kirtle for the necromancer robes and add some accessories

[elldritch-horror]

13 books

I was tagged by @nikita-not-nikola, and I'm always here to talk books!

1) The last book I read:

Mister Magic by Kiersten White. A fun one! Especially for my religious trauma peeps. Read it for the book club on a horror podcast I listen to, Scaredy Boys, and since I'm a cowardly custard (hence experiencing horror films through the medium of listening to other people talk about them) I was delighted to find this one wasn't too spooky

2) A book I recommend:

Space Opera by Catherynne Valente. Imagine eurovision in space written by a very queer Douglas Adams. What more could anyone want?!

3) A book that I couldn’t put down:

Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. I enjoyed Gideon the Ninth, but Harrow fully ate my brain. It hit at the perfect mid-lockdown crazies and I read it three times the week it came out.

4) A book I’ve read twice (or more):

It would be boring to say Harrow the Ninth again, so let's go with Sunshine by Robin McKinley. Such a sweet spot of both creepy vampires and spectacular desserts, nothing else hits quite the same, so I've read it loads of times.

5) A book on my TBR:

Bunny by Mona Awad. It was a gift from a friend last Yule, but life has not stopped since then, so I haven't gotten to it yet.

6) A book I’ve put down:

The Labyrinth Index by Charles Stross. I liked the rest of the series, but I was in an audio book place when this one came out, and simply couldn't bear the narrator's voice (no hate, I'm sure she's a great narrator, it just wasn't for me) and I haven't gone back to it

7) A book on my wish list:

Gender/Fucking by Florence Ashley. I don't read non-fiction often, but this looks really interesting

8) A favorite book from childhood:

Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce. Well, all of her books are favourites, but I'm picking this because it's the first one of hers I read, and I was a big animal kid.

9) A book you would give to a friend:

Massively depends on the friend! But I'd say Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente is the one I've bought most copies of to lend/give away. It's so fundamentally a part of me, and I love sharing that little slice of my soul.

10) A book of poetry or lyrics that you own

I'm not sure I have a book of just poetry or lyrics, but I have the complete works of Oscar Wilde, which includes his poems.

11) A nonfiction book you own:

Revolting Prostitutes: the fight for sex workers' rights, by Juno Mac and Molly Smith. Highly recommend! A really insightful look at the issues faced by sex workers and how to change things.

12) What are you currently reading:

System Collapse by Martha Wells - I do love Murderbot!

13) What are you planning on reading next?

What Feasts at Night by T. Kingfisher. I really liked the first I'm the series, so I'm excited for this one

I'm terrible at tagging people, but if you're seeing this post on your dash then it's safe to assume I'm interested in your answers, so consider yourself tagged if you'd like to be

[thehollowone16]

9 fandom peeps to get to know better!

Thanks for the tag @myulalie !

3 ships you like : going to list romantic and platonic.

Romantic: Naruto/Sasuke, Harry Potter/Theo Nott, Harrow/Gideon

Platonic: Naruto&Kabuto, Snape&Harry, and Deidara&Sasori

First Ship Ever: Making me think...I think it was Morty/Falkner from pokemon? Bird gym leader helping the ghost gym leader catch the legendary bird ftw.

Last Song I heard: "Courtesy Call" by Thousand Foot Crunch. Eyyyyyo here comes a danger up in this club ~

Currently Reading: Harrow the 9th by Tamsyn Muir, and This Golden Flame by Emily Victoria.

Currently Watching: The Magnus archive by Rusty Quil studios

Currently consuming: nothing, I need to grab breakfast though.

Currently craving: ehhhh nothing tbh. Maybe water. Water is tasty. Maybe udon, or spicy lad thai?

For easy tagging (stealing this):

1. 3 favorite ships

2. First ship ever

3. Last song you heard

4. Currently reading

5: Currently watching

6. Currently consuming

7: Currently Craving

Tagging: @silently--here @mugsdontlie @allalrightagain @tracingpatternswrites @ao3dorian-gay @felixantares that's only 6 but idk who else to ping....so whoever else wants in!

[paradoxcase]

Chapter 8 of Gideon the Ninth

So, confirmed from the non-Ninth prayer that the Emperor is in fact God/John? It also seems to describe him as "The Lyctor divinely ordained", but, as we finally learn in this chapter, the Lyctors are actually a different set of people who seem to be not quite as immortal as the Emperor, and if *he* was "divinely ordained", that means there must be some other god somewhere who ordained him, right? Is that not what those words mean? And now I know why Gideon thinks Harrow is going to live forever. I am placated

The difference in the prayers is interesting. It reminds me of when, coming from a Reform background, my parents enrolled me in a Jewish Day School when I was growing up and then I went to prayers in the morning, and some of them were the same, and some of them were subtly different, and there were just also entire sections of the prayer book that were completely, 100% new to me. Like, "praised be to God who gives life to the dead", "praised be to God for not making me a woman", these are things we say, here? Where are the Mothers of the Torah in this prayer, what is this new prayer about, oh, it is praising God for drowning the Egyptians, that's lovely. Turns out the Reform movement made a lot of (very good, actually) changes to the prayer book, and absolutely no one warned me about this. So anyway, I unexpectedly relate directly to this

I did sort of figure that that prayer might be specific to the Ninth, though, since it mentions the Locked Tomb, which was established as an actual thing on Pluto, and also the Locked Tomb is mentioned in the name of the house in the Dramatis Personae

I absolutely love the sheer trolling audacity of the priest being all "Hey, you guys are here to learn how to become demigods. No one actually has any idea how that's going to work, good luck!" This sounds like a perfect recipe for total chaos

I have to take some umbrage at the whole thing of Gideon not knowing what a day/night cycle is because of the relative rates of the spin of the planets. Pluto's day is only 6 days long. At the beginning of the book, Gideon said there was not going to be light for *months*, which I took to mean that they were somewhere in the arctic circle (which is not that odd, since Pluto has an axial tilt that means that like half the planet is in one of the arctic circles), but like I said before, I don't feel like that particular paragraph actually makes a lot of sense with Pluto's orbit anyway, unless some words are being used in a very strange way. So anyway, I think if Gideon is confused about day/night cycles, it's because she's used to living in the arctic circle and logically could not possibly have ever seen actual sunlight at any point in the past 18 years, and is nothing to do with how slow Pluto spins, and Harrow is being just as dumb as Gideon here, which is frankly impressive

We have reached Act 2, and I think this is the last post on this I make before I get on a plane on Monday. I am queuing this for tomorrow (Monday), but my plane is not until 4 so god knows I will probably be on tumblr in the meantime

Ok, wait, one last thing. I am noticing the skulls at the top of the chapters. Initially I saw the skulls and was like, ok, nine skulls go with nine houses and there are nine chapters in Act 1 and each of the nine skulls with go with each chapter in some way, but that's not how it's working. There are only eight chapters, and all of them have skull 9, except for Chapters 3, 7, and 8, which have skull 1. 7 and 8 make sense, since they take place in the First House and all the rest take place in the Ninth House. But what about Chapter 3? Why does Chapter 3 have a skull 1? Is it because that's the chapter where Harrow shared the Emperor's letter? But there was another letter in Chapter 5, and Chapter 5 has a skull 9 just like the others.

Stealth editing one more time because I just realized what the Locked Tomb prayer makes me think of:

The way is shut. It was made by those who are dead, and the dead keep it. The way is shut.