#aiglamene the ninth

[muppetebbtide]

Has anyone ever made the observation that Aiglamene might be a reference to Rosemary Sutcliffe's Eagle of the Ninth? It's an old kid's book from the 1950s but I wouldn't put it past Tamsyn to know it, esp since Sutcliff did a bunch of Arthuriana stuff too and Tamsyn def knows about that. But like... Aiglamene's name literally means Eagle. She is the Eagle of the Ninth. And the summary of the Eagle of the Ninth:

Discharged because of a battle wound that has left him lame in one leg, a young Roman officer Marcus Flavius Aquila tries to discover the truth about the disappearance of his father's legion in northern Britain. Disguised as a Greek oculist and travelling beyond Hadrian's Wall with his freed ex-slave, the British native hunter Esca, Marcus finds that a demoralized and mutinous Ninth Legion was annihilated by a great rising of the northern tribes. In part, this disgrace was redeemed through a heroic last stand by a small remnant (including Marcus's father) around the legion's eagle standard. Marcus's hope of seeing the lost legion re-established is dashed, but he is able to bring back the gilded bronze eagle so that it can no longer serve as a symbol of Roman defeat – and thus will no longer be a danger to the frontier's security. Rewarded by Rome for his services, he decides to settle as a landowner and farmer in Britain with his British wife, Cottia, and his freed friend, Esca.

The leg wound detail has me side-eyeing it I can't lie, it's a little too specific given Aiglamene is missing a leg and then it was regrown badly, and this is mentioned a bunch... and the bits about being disguised and the original Ninth outpost being overthrown and mutinous and finally redeemed through some heroic final stand... I don't know if this could give us either some insight into Aiglamene's backstory, or what could happen with the Ninth in Alecto? I know people have speculated Aiglamene's probably not originally Ninth, or even that she could be a spy/working w BoE? Idk if I agree, but regardless this might make her originally being an outsider and having her own motivations for being on the Ninth hold water a bit more. Or I could totally be chatting shit and this has nothing to do with anything and everyone's going insane waiting for Alecto news. Something to chew on at any rate.

[notedchampagne]

each house gets one rendering style the economy is dire

[rapace-mordace]

I agree

[cora-illus]

Some Ninth House facepaint lore/design headcanons I drew up while working on my last piece :]

[likemmmcookies]

Gideon is my lord and savior but you know Aiglamene would have put a stop to all the Canaan house nonsense in the first 10 chapters

[pierogish]

dude I hate this place *proceeds to draw it*

[undeadkazi]

Aiglamene touching Gideon/Kiriona's face. Aiglamene realizing Gideon was dead. Aiglamene, having just kneeled to who she thought was Harrowhark. Aiglamene turning to Nona and Nona realizing that Aiglamene was angry and BLAMED Harrowhark.

Aiglamene doing her duty to her Reverend Daughter first and foremost is everything I expected of her. I think I expected her to like, nod at Gideon/Kiriona in acknowledgement or something similar.

Her reaching out and touching Gideon/Kiriona's face? Gideon/Kiriona recovering FASTER than Aiglamene? Aiglamene being so affected by Gideon dying that Gideon herself recognizes that Aiglamene has turned her blame and anger toward Harrowhark and informs Aiglamene that it's Harrow's body, but not Harrow.

I just had a lot of feelings about this scene. Especially Aiglamene saying, "They killed you."

I just, I really liked this moment. A moment where Aiglamene's duty to Harrow takes a step back to that anger for Gideon. I won't lie, I cried. It shows that Aiglamene cares about Gideon/Kiriona.

[this-could-be-a-dream]

@torbooks For Jod’s sake, please give us some Alecto news, it’s getting desperate out here

Edit: hfs did not expect any official response but thank you and we as a fandom are very sorry. Class, say thank you to the nice (now scarred) editor and let’s return to patiently waiting for AtN (i.e. fanart, ao3 and crackshipping)

[lunaicfantastic]

fav part of gideon the ninth is for the first pre-canaan house chunk of the book, she's all "ugh I'm so normal surrounded by all these weirdo goth freaks when I blow this popsicle stand everyone will see how cool and normal and charming I am" and then she gets to canaan house and realizes that while she might have been a normie jock in the ninth house she is not exempt from being a goth weirdo who hides important doors behind tapestries and sneaks around in the dark so she doesn't have to talk to people. like we talk about her being a jock forced to be goth but nature v nurture babey she's not shedding that bone freak skin anytime soon

[cornycopeia]

tlt sketch dump!

[vaunted-and-vilified]

poor aiglamene

[daenismynd]

First post here in some time!

I'm celebrating the spooky season drawing the Ninth because the books are amazing and I'm obsessed ✨

I'm trying to figure out the designs still, so i have just some concept art for now

[deathbycoldopen]

Gideon Nav can take a compliment so so well, guys.

[ID: A six paneled comic with three scenes from Gideon the Ninth, showing Gideon becoming more and more flustered from compliments. The first shows Aiglamene saying "If she satisfies you, you must let her go," to which Gideon lightly blushes, looking bemused. The next scene shows Dulcinea saying "Oh, singular" as she examines Gideon's eyes, to which Gideon is blushing furiously. The third scene shows Harrow looking at Gideon fondly and saying "You are something else with that sword." This compliment appears to break Gideon, who is blushing so hard it melts her paint, and she has steam exploding from her ears. End ID.]

[blankinsidecards]

thinking about Aiglamene. Like, so

a child crash lands in town. mystery where she came from. the mother is dead. this tiny redheaded thing has no one in the world. the town takes her in because what else are you supposed to do with a orphan dropped on your doorstep, but they don’t love her. the reverend family needs an heir, so they kill every single child on the planet- wait, scratch that, all but one. this one kid is alive, she’s alive, against all odds. so naturally, everyone’s scared of her. everyone hates her. out of all the children to survive why was it the one no one cared about. but they move on, everyone does, and the kid grows. and she starts asking questions. you start answering them. you start telling her stories, and it’s nice to be listened to, even if the kid is just a twerp. you start teaching her, she’s a natural with a sword, but you don’t tell her because it’ll go to her head. you’ve never had a maternal bone in your body, you aren’t mothering her… but she’s got nobody. and neither do you. you train her, you teach her, you tell her she can get out, get free from this place, if she works hard enough, fights good enough. she works hard. she fights well, better than you ever did at her age. she tries to get out. she gets caught. she tries again. and again. and again. and eventually, there’s a chance, a real chance. you’re the only person in the world who could get through this kid’s thick skull, and you tell her: this is your chance, this is it, you’re getting out, you’re leaving me, you’re never coming back, you’ve going to live, you have to get out now. and she goes. she goes, and she doesn’t come back. she doesn’t come back, and then she does… and she’s dead. she’s dead, and she’s back, the two things you prayed wouldn’t happen. she’s back and she’s dead and this is your child, you raised her, and you sent her off, promising a bright future, and it killed her.

[thunderon]

aiglamene couldn’t have been harrow’s cavalier to canaan house because the whole book would have been over within 3 pages after they land, which would be about the time it takes for aiglamene to look around at all the nonsense and start knocking heads together

[witchhazelevesque]

A couple of many possible outcomes under the cut if you’re interested

Option 1: it’d be a bit like Jeannemary and Gideon interacting but So, So Much Worse(tm)

Option 2: I hope Kevin takes one singular bite out of every one of John’s biscuits. Like, every biscuit in every single tin on every shelf in the Mithraeum. How he gets access to them I don’t know. Included in these are the very last of John’s favorite flavor that needs an ingredient only found on a dead world that can’t make it anymore. John cannot retaliate because Alecto is there to protect Kevin. That’s pretty much the vision.

Option 3: “You are literally six seconds old!” Plus, Unlovable Mercymorn v. Loves More Than About Anyone Else Nona

Option 4: I don’t even know how this would go but it’d be funny. Begrudging respect probably. Also, “Oh god, it’s Gideon all over again.” (Irritated) (Devastated)

Option 5: Really contingent on if Cytherea was spot on in her Dulcinea impression regarding the Ninth. If not, they’d still have a LOT to talk about, terrible life wise.

Option 6: A zombie that’s actually pretty normal. They probably talk about ways to dress up a rice dish, maybe the horrors of the world.