#Harrow the Ninth

[drawerbread]

oh gideon, i was just starting to dream the silliest and softest of dreams

another homage to my favourite book scene ever

[mothmanforreall]

[fawntastic]

Harrowhark makes “worst soup ever”, asked to leave mithraeum

[wicketcityart]

harrowhark nonagesimus ⚔️

[rosenkranz-does-things]

it's my 4th locked tomb-versary today, so I did my own spin on HtN cover to commemorate that

[cutetanuki-chan]

sometimes I see people being confused where alectostasia ship came from so here's a little bit of run down

I'm not really good with words so it might be clunky

what we know from the text

Anastasia tries to achieve 'perfect lyctorhood', something goes wrong during her ascension, John kills Samael, Anastasia fails her attempt

Anastasia moves to the ninth, continues working on the house or only founding it at that time

John asks Anastasia to help build the tomb 'I built that tomb with Anastasia, designed every inch of it.'

somewhere between working on it and Alecto's entombment, Alecto and Anastasia make a vow where Alecto basically swears as a cavalier to her 'Alecto said, I remember my vows. As I swore to Anastasia I swear to you. I am in your service until you bid me the favour, and whatsoever you appoint I shall perform, and consider the vow rendered. This is what I promised, until such a time as you deal with me as you see fit.'

as John leading Alecto to the tomb, she asks to see Anastasia 'She had said, There are almost no beautiful things left. Where is Anastasia? Let me talk to Anastasia.'

presumable Anastasia is the one to inflict to the ninth house importance of keeping her bloodline and worshiping of the tomb through all of those years

Anastasia's bones are in the tomb 'She looked back beyond, and she saw Anastasia, tucked where nobody would find her: Anastasia, all bones. Not really Anastasia. But Anastasia’s body without the meat on it, snuggled right into the curve of the rock, ready to close the door whenever it was opened. She remembered Anastasia.'

Alecto immediately getting chill after tasting Harrow's blood 'The child was silent; but her blood was on Alecto’s lips, and through that blood Alecto was made to understand what it was, and was astonished exceedingly. Alecto put away wrath and said: Thou art the blood of the tomb-keeper.'

Alecto saying sorry for Samael

the implications

the vow on itself is very interesting, at first we all know how usually normal cavalier and necromancer relationships are. then for Alecto to comply to that, indicates she should be pretty trusting of Anastasia, and their relationships at least somehow better than with other lyctors who were terrified of her

then there's also the tombkeeper blood thing, what serves as a check note for Alecto after waking up, and means the initial purpose of the ninth house was actually waiting for rock to roll away

and one part of the vow seems to imply 'if anyone beside a tombkeeper wake you, slay them as they came to hurt you', as could hinted on a protection from other lyctors who wanted to kill Alecto? (Then Alecto remembered the vow, and turned back upon the altar to face the second child and raised the sword with wrath in her heart, for they meant to bring destruction upon her.)

then the matter of Anastasia's bones laying in the tomb next to the rock. not sure if it's just her skeleton or she made herself a some construct mechanism from her bones. and not clear if she got entombed on her own volition or John closed them both there, but being entombed together five feet apart cause we are not gay

there's also some oddness in Alecto immediately after waking saying she's sorry for Samael, but I won't go into that here, anyway Anastasia was trying to find a better way to lyctorhood and I think in her more close relationships with Alecto she figured out something that John wasn't telling them, before or after her ascension

and some theories

I think I first heard this theory from @/mayasaura, that ninth house tradition of telling secrets while submerged in the salt water could've corelate with Anastasia trying to have a talk like that with Alecto since she feels the most at ease in the salt water, so means pool time for alectostasia too

another one that I really like but not sure how much legs it actually would have in canon, one of the reasons Nona was so enamored with her body cause Harrow is a spitting image of Anastasia, first saw @/corvophobia talking about it

coming back to Harrow, could there be anything more to her taking immediate affection to the Body a la some fuckery with Anastasia's spirt/tombkeeper's blood

more people explained it better, I try to reblog most of the theories in my side blog, you can check it out there but some of it explicit just in case

anyway in conclusion, as I keep procrastinating with my work, I don't think they were making out 24/7 in Canaan house in canon but something for sure happened there between them

[thanergetic-hyperlinks]

One thing about this is… Commander Wake believes in Heaven!

Which is interesting. Is she Christian? she speaks of her “long lost natal sun”, which would imply she's originally from Earth, presumably a revived cryo woman from one of the latest trillionaire ships to materialize.

Regardless, IIRC there is no Heaven in Ninth religion, although the concept is apparently intelligible. The dead go to the River, where they lose their memory and await in madness until they're restored in some far-off Second Resurrection by the God Emperor.

Of course, Abigail and some other people are aware of the River Beyond, which might be their equivalent.

What does Commander Wake believe? She certainly believes her soul has a place in Heaven, while the lyctors' doesn't.

"but when i am in heaven i will remember your mouth, and when you roast down in hell i think you will remember mine" is such a beautiful line but it's made even better by the fact that it's said by a vengeful ghost named after an eminem song haunting the brain of a lobotomized lesbian nun

[privodoro]

sunset nap zzz mimimi

details because I can't let tumblr quality hide my effort

(they exchanged necklaces) (gay)

[sfaiberh]

Thanks to all of you for reblogging my art! It inspires me to do more. Now I'm almost finished with my first read of 'Nona the Ninth', and I'll do more art in the hear future.💜 I love you!

[wyntings]

do you think john has like. whatever the necromancy equivalent of a live laugh love sign is on the mithraem. do you think he’s ever been in a meeting and called an important admiral ‘chat’

[thanergetic-hyperlinks]

This is glorious.

tlt twitter au "the blocked tomb" masterpost

all my tlt tweets in one place! pretty much all of them have spoilers for nona but major spoilers are marked with a *.

1: god's toughest battles / would you love me if i was a worm 2: sex pal pt 1 3: frontline titties 4: coronabeth's side hustle / nona's wish 5: sex pal pt 2 6: standup comedy pt 1 "which came first" 7: jod's reality check / ninth house's hottest person 8: standup comedy pt 2 "best sex ed" 9: sex pal pt 3 10: "i like my women how i like my..." / corona's bad day 11: reanimation / "trauma lives in the body" * 12: pyrrha's name / "a beautiful name for a baby girl" 13: writer's block 14: 'what is a milf' 15: hot girl summer 16: father's day (daddy issues) 17: jod's rebrand 18: save a library 19: go loud 20: vibe check 21: merry navmas 22: coronabeth's new year hot tips 23: royal conspiracy

i'll update this list as i make more :)

bonus content: twitter icons did the lyctors explore each other's bodies? follower counts unexpected rapid disassembly

[tooturtly]

Need to go on a rant about the feudal system (more specifically manorialism) and Gideon the Ninth (spoilers through Harrow the Ninth ahead)

Gideon is very specifically described as living in a feudal system in the Ninth house. She is a Serf. She lives and serves under a ruler, she has specific legal, social, and economic obligations to the House and its ruler as a result of this system.

Feudalism exists within a specific sociopolitical context. It’s not equivalent to slavery, though it can appear that way to a modern audience. Muir wouldn’t have picked the term “serf” to describe Gideon if she didn’t mean it, or if she meant something else (such as slavery or indentured servitude)

Serfdom is not ownership of an individual, like in slavery. It’s more like an intense landlord/employee relationship, if we’re looking for a modern touch point. A serf is bound to the land they live and work on because they are a valuable source of labor. They owe labor, goods, or a payment in equivalency to, the lord who runs the lands they are bound to. If they want to go elsewhere, they have to pay back the lord for what labor/goods they won’t be providing anymore, and the lord could refuse them.

Because this is also a reciprocal relationship, the lord also has certain responsibilities to the serfs, including protection, the maintenance of the law, and maintenance of the lands. The lord runs their holdings as ruler, but also can’t just do whatever they want. This is a social, economic, and political system, if people didn’t like it or benefit from it and had the capability to do so, they would rebel.

(Sorry for this long tangent. It’s important to set context and also discuss this history. Feudalism/Manorialism looked different in different places and times, and originally came from Roman villa systems, but this post is already long enough)

So what does this have to do with the locked tomb?

Gideon is a serf, very explicitly. She is also a ward, which puts her into an interesting spot when it comes to legal and financial responsibilities. This means she owes labor and fealty to the Ninth, essentially in repayment for raising her.

When she tries to head to the Cohort, she would otherwise be allowed to do that as a free citizen of the Ninth House. But, she has prior responsibilities to the House as a serf, so she would need the Lord’s (Harrow’s) permission to do so. Despite these obligations, she is not required to do any particular jobs in the Ninth. She is not forced to be a nun, or to do labor. From what is described, it seems like she’s relatively left to her own devices.

In a system of slavery, Gideon would be forced to enact specific labor, to learn a specific trade, and to generally do whatever the fuck Harrow or the Reverend family wanted. But she’s not.

Again, Gideon can train to join the cohort as much as she wants. She can lock herself in her room and avoid people as much as she wants. She can avoid prayers or choose to go to them. She can do what she wants, but she is not allowed to leave to take her labor elsewhere without authorization, because of her legal and financial obligations in this sociopolitical system.

Ortus puts it very well in Harrow: he must follow her orders and fulfill the responsibilities he socially is obligated to fulfill, but when he lays his head down at night he is allowed to feel however he wants about himself and his actions, he is still a free person. Ortus is in a slightly different situation as his position at birth obligates him to be Harrow’s Cavalier, as opposed to Gideon who is in a lower social position and is the only option left, but he still owes a large amount of loyalty and labor to the Ninth House.

(Sorry again this is so long. I repeat myself quite a bit. But I saw someone say that Gideon is Harrows slave and that is a misconception that brushes over a lot of the complexities of the books. The relationship is complicated and full of social dynamics that we don’t see as modern readers because there are so many layers that require historical context. This is also not a defense of the feudal system or to say that their relationship isn’t toxic. It is. But that’s a different post)

[harrowharksboner]

[mecharose]

harrow the ninth is a great book for fans of people who suck

[thanergetic-hyperlinks]

It might be pure, unadulterated hubris, coupled with Jod/lyctors being wrong (not entirely unusual), and it would make sense given a central theme in Harrow the Ninth (and in Harrowhark herself overall) is hubris, and we've got the example of Ortus and Abigail calling a thousand-year-old spirit back “through sheer passion” but tbh I also think there's something else going on. Wake is simply too weird.

Palamedes could only stick around because he planned for it in advance. The Canaan House servants were called back and bound to skeletons. This level of persistence in a revenant is remarkably rare and is usually intentional. So how does Wake do it?