#i wonder what nonas secret is...

[technicolorxsn]

oh...

[yourheartonfireblog]

So, I've been thinking about The Locked Tomb as a whole, particularly about how Tamsyn Muir pulls off the trick of making a dramatic tone and perspective switch with every book, yet it still feels cohesive as a story and a series.

Something that just clicked for me after a reread of Harrow the Ninth is noticing that a motif obviously present in HtN is actually running through all the books, in a way that supports this constant resetting at the beginning of every novel. And that is Alternate Universes. As in, like, the fanfiction concept of AUs.

Massive spoilers ahead for the first three books of The Locked Tomb:

Probably the biggest link between the books is the structure. All three books of The Locked Tomb roughly follow the same narrative pattern; the narrator/protagonist starts the story hopelessly outclassed and the least informed person in the situation in which she finds herself. At first she is passive or blocked from action, but there's a realization/revelation that she is not as helpless as initially thought. She builds in power and action (and this is rewarded with exposition dumps to catch her and the reader up on what is actually happening). The final act is a fight to the death and as she is dying the narrator makes a sacrifice of her own body in a way that manages to preserve at least part of her consciousness outside herself.

(The secondary narrative in Nona the Ninth -John's confession- loosely follows this pattern too. Except of course John makes a different decision in the final act of his story.)

More than just the structure, each story is a variation on the same themes. Some of them are obvious. Power and how people use it/ abuse it. The narrator's relationship to their own body and how it becomes an expression of trauma.

But another less obvious theme, right from the first chapter of Gideon, is the narrators all have some connection to an Alternate Universe version of themselves/ their lives.

I'll admit this theory is weakest in GtN. But I don't think it's a coincidence that Gideon's entire life plan is inspired by military-themed porn mags - a smut AU, if you will. She's also the only one of the narrators who regularly indulges in daydreams that give her the strength to fight and struggle forward. Also not, I believe, a coincidence.

In HtN things start getting more on the nose - unlike Gideon, Harrow has magic. Rather than accept reality, Harrow uses her power to lobotimize herself into creating and living in an alternate reality, while retelling an alternate version of the prior book. This of course is the book with the infamous role swap/ Regency ball / barista AU sequence, just in case you didn't get what's going on.

But NtN is equally about AUs - Nona is the story where the universe conspires to give Harrow and Gideon the alternate universe of the life they both wanted. Gideon (or at least her body) does turns out to be the daughter of the emperor and the crown prince of the universe. Harrow (or at least her body) gets a found family who love her and a brain that is 100% free of the horrible truth of her abominable origin. We spend most book wondering just who is in that body, Harrow or Gideon, and that's part of the point. The trauma is so deep Harrow and Gideon are unrecognizable as people if their slate is wiped. So of course Nona turns out to be a secret third option.

More to the point, NtN is the book where we learn that the Nine Houses are, in fact, John's shitty self-insert AU. Harrow had a little power a and lobotimized herself, John had more and lobotimized all of humanity he could get his hands on, remaking them into this bizarre and baroque universe centered around worshipping him as a god-emperor. The planet of New Rho, outside John's direct control, is bursting with life and chaos and mess and humanity that is missing entirely from the glimpses we get of John's universe. It's no wonder the other survivors call everyone in the Nine Houses zombies - they are, in fact, brainwiped slaves to John's whims whomever he will pick up, put down, resurrect, and murder exactly as he thinks is best.

I'm very excited for Alecto the Ninth and how this is going to play out now that we've met all three of the people in this relationship, and everyone is in the same place in the right body.

[lemon-natalia]

Nona the Ninth Reaction - Chapter 20

Oh god day 5 already. i really hope ‘the saddest girl in the whole entire world’ isn’t Nona, Nona does not deserve to be sad. also ‘Paul gets born’ … what. what the fuck does that mean is someone going to have a baby??

hello ominous portrait of Gideon’s mum, we meet again

i mean tbf Nona hasn’t had an awful lot of chances to tell them about Gideon being the one in her dream, more important stuff has been going on 

Nona loves magazines :( :( once again the mere mention of magazines is making me sad

oh Nona. something’s not just wrong with her health, she’s literally dying. that’s why she wanted a six month birthday so bad, this is going to make me cry

also, presuming this is 'The Secret’™ that Nona told Hot Sauce … i can imagine that only added to the betrayal, as Hot Sauce, after seeing Nona recover from getting shot, might have thought that Nona was lying to her about it

hmm Palamedes feels pretty certain that Nona is Gideon now, but i really don’t think its going to be that simple - maybe Nona isn’t one singular person but some kind of soul jumble of Harrow, Alecto and Gideon? 

‘the one who wasn’t startlingly handsome’ excuse you Palamedes Gideon is startlingly handsome. to me. 

i feel bad for Hot Sauce as well as Nona, she’s gone through some serious trauma and is only fourteen. that being said, i’m nowhere near as confident as Palamedes, who seems to have a very strong moral code, that Hot Sauce will regret shooting Nona 

ohhh god i desperately hope that Nona manages to survive in some shape or form. i’m so attached to her, i don’t think i can handle her dying 

We Suffer’s name is very apt given how insufferably cryptic she’s being right now 

oh no Corona’s going to Ianthe, isn’t she. i’m very worried about her motives, i’m not convinced that she is as on BoE’s side as she outwardly appears 

‘It was Camilla trying to be Palamedes’ this largely seems to be on purpose by Camilla to get We Suffer to do what she says, but given that Palamedes and Camilla have been body sharing for a good six months now, i wonder if some of their mannerisms and bits of personality are bleeding over unconsciously. also this bit is very reminiscent of Camilla-and-Palamedes together, which i feel like has to come back at some point given how it was set up in the beginning

ahaha Ianthe puppeting Naberius’s body is so fucked up 

Ianthe’s line about hoping the expert in puppeting bodies is ‘out there somewhere admiring my handiwork’ … if she’s referring to Harrow here, then she’s somehow discovered Harrow’s parents died and were being controlled by her. i can’t recall if thats something Harrow shared with her during HtN or not, but if it’s not then i’m concerned about where she got that info 

oh fuck me ngl i totally forgot about the ‘Pyrrha being missing’ part of the plot. i wonder how much Ianthe knows about Pyrrha’s real identity. she’s clearly pretending to be G1deon here (i think) but unless Pyrrha’s also wearing sunglasses rn, Ianthe’s got to know something’s up, surely. even then, she was with Gideon-in-Harrow and saw Pyrrha grabbing sunglasses to cover her eyes at the end of HtN, and i feel like its unlikely Ianthe didn’t notice that?

also i’m sorry is it John that she’s calling Poppa. nobody liked that 

and i think Pyrrha’s gotta be doing some kind of act/infiltration. it doesn’t really line up with her previous actions in HtN to be siding with Ianthe & John now, even if she’s not enthused about BoE

[thechekhov]

Nona Liveblog. (2/5)

Warning: THIS LIVEBLOG WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THE WHOLE BOOK. I have finished reading and am posting these notes after the fact. Therefore, it will also contain blurbs about things I missed on my first read. Please be cautious.

Once again, big thank you to @elexuscal for reading my rants and reacting with frustratingly vague emojis~

Seen here: two people who don't know the names of flowers

Post book notes: Damnit. It was. Right there.

............................. (looks into the camera like I'm on the office)

Realizing what this secret must have been in hindsight...... I wonder what Hot Sauce thought in that moment.

(Is...........is Hot Sauce's real name.......... Tabasco???)

[paradoxcase]

Harrow the Ninth audiobook, Act 2

John somehow knows that Harrow's parents are dead before she tells him any of her secrets, I think I mentioned it before, but I'm still wondering about it. He didn't bring it up as if he thought it was a secret, either, but he did address the letter at the beginning of Gideon the Ninth to them. So he must have only learned of this somehow after he sent that letter, right?

When talking about how Harrow's parents harnessed the thanergy from the deaths of the 200 children, he says that they "committed resurrection" and then goes on to say that he also "committed resurrection" using the same language, again talking about there being a "price". That's a funny way to talk about something that's supposed to be literally the best and most holy thing ever in this religion. I'm wondering again if there was also something horrific about the Resurrection itself that only John knows about. We don't actually get to see it happen in Nona - was there some reason he didn't want to show Harrow that part of the story? How much worse could it get?

John's response to Harrow's story about the 200 children, where he says that Harrow and her parents are completely absolved and that it's his sin now seems extremely Christian/Jesus-based to me, but it kind of sounds like he's just saying that because that's his only reference for what a god does. I can't tell if we're meant to take this as something genuine that really puts Harrow's mind at ease, or if it's like his later reaction to her story about opening the Tomb where it was clearly the wrong thing for him to say

I like the Alecto voice. A genuinely deep female voice? I'm here for it. I think there have been a few snatches of dialog in it previously, but this is the first part where she says something longer

Harrow tells Alecto that she is afraid of John - I wonder if this is just because she's afraid of what he'll do when she tells him about the Tomb, or if it's something else

When Cytherea's body is first mentioned in this part, it says that something about it troubled Harrow, but that she just assumed it was schizophrenia. Harrow could sense Wake's hatred of her when Wake was trapped in the sword - since Wake is now in Cytherea's body, I guess she is sensing the same thing

John's voice is actually growing on me. Ortus's is not. I'm really enjoying listening to Magnus and Abigail's voices though, I still stand by what I said that it would have been more accurate to give them posh accents, but I'm glad she gave them the Welsh accent instead, because it's very pleasant to listen to

I'm again noting that they're talking about the hugeness of Number Seven like it's a black hole or something, and saying things about how it would leave "flattened galaxies" in its wake, but the dimensions they give for it are only the size of Neptune or Uranus, which are huge, but they're not flattening any galaxies

Augustine says "I removed the part of [Alfred] that [was afraid of Heralds] when I became a Lyctor" but the Herald madness only seems to affect necromancers, and Alfred was never a necromancer, so that's kind of odd

Did the Sleeper use the exact gun that Gideon found in G1deon and Pyrrha's room to kill Judith? I think it was described as the same type of gun. I wonder if she went and got it out of sentimentality

G1deon claims to want Gideon's sword - I had forgotten about that. I don't think it was ever resolved why, was it? Aside from previously containing Wake, there isn't anything particularly special about the sword, and at this point Wake has transferred to Cytherea and he has no way of knowing that the sword used to belong to Gideon or anything about who Gideon was. Maybe there are still residual bits of Wake left in the sword? The Sleeper has the sword with her in the River bubble, and there was that scene where Pyrrha addressed Harrow as if she were Wake. I wonder if that means that Wake is not actually completely gone even as of the end of Nona and some part of her is still hanging out in Gideon's sword

I can't remember right now if Dulcinea's and Protesilaus's voices are the same as Cytherea's and Protesilaus's were back in Gideon the Ninth, but they do at least sound similar to what I remember. I think it would be better if Protesilaus sounded more like an Arthurian knight, but honestly this is fine

Ortus says the Sleeper would be better known as the "Waker". Haha

I notice this time around that the ward Harrow puts on her door when she's escaping from zombie Cytherea (Wake) was supposed to react to "foreign magic". Does that mean it was actually only meant to protect against necromancy, or necromancers? If so, that makes sense that Wake wouldn't trigger it, since she's not a necromancer and I would guess just being a revenant isn't an inherently necromantic state of being, since it's something that happens naturally without needing a necromancer or a thanergenic planet or anything like that

[sea-salted-wolverine]

Having marinated in the locked tomb brainrot for a bit, Here are some things I would really like to see in the next book.

Pash and Gideon meet each other, Get along startlingly well, Realize they are half sisters, And then hate everything about everything.

Something desperately needs to be written down, and Harrow coughs up the pencil, eraser, and a piece of paper that Nona ate. Paul says they did their best.

I really liked Hot Sauce, so I would love a scene with her and Harrow. Whether or not Harrow remembers who she is is a question. And honestly both the options are good. Existing as Nona while being the secret weapon of a terrorist cell is probably the closest thing Harrow will ever have to a normal childhood where she was loved.

Hot Sauce and Gideon having a conversation would also be very good. Wonder why she likes this 14 year old orphan girl beholden to systems far greater than she is who solved her problems with violence. It already happened once. Also Gideon is the kind of person to ask why Hot Sauce is a named Hot Sauce and the conversation about naming yourself whatever you like just because you like it, is probably something that needs to happen.

Noodle. Noodle for everyone. Especially if he recognizes Harrow as Nona and licks her face paint off.

Judith Denteros trying to figure out what the fuck is going on because she's been either sedated in a coma or possessed for almost a year. She will have some opinions.

Those 500 people resurrected to rejuvenate the house of the ninth. Those people are pre initial Apocalypse. Jod- did you just grab a whole bunch of people whose last memory was nuclear fire to go be death nuns on Pluto?

Someone needs to go apeshit with a double handed sword. I don't even care who. In fact, I think every character in the series has the motivation to go apeshit with a sword.

Commander Wake doesn't seem to be the rules following type, so I think she should come back and make everyone's life worse.

Notice I said nothing about happy endings or reconciliation or whatever the fuck is going on with Ianthe. Or even Alecto beating the ever living shit out of God like she deserves.

There will be angry women. There will be swords, there will be bones. Everything else is up for grabs.

[birchtreecat]

yk what always made me wonder about Oxenfree? How long it took for everyone to notice that this isn’t reality. How long it took for people to go “oh, shit, this is a loop”

For Alex I feel like she was one of the first to notice, considering she was the one who “started” it all in the first place, especially considering her loop consisted of her dead brother Micheal.

But Nona? Rex? Clarissa? Jonas? What about later on, with Olivia? Would the loop have changed once they realized it was a loop to the horrors it seemed to be? Or would it just always *be* the horrors? Because at the beginnings of a loop, it almost seems to trap you with what’s on your mind- for Alex, it was her biological brother. For Olivia, it seemed to be her parents at the center of it. For Riley, her unborn kid Rex, and the future that would come with them. But what about after they get trapped? Are they stuck in the same hell day that they were trapped in the loop? Or do they blissfully enjoy things until something happens to break that, be it inner guilt or realization of what’s going on?

there’s so much about this game that I have so many questions for but all the devs just go “teehee secret :3” and I swear they enjoy the fan base’s ramblings and theories.

[oldladymapleseed]

NtN spoilers!

the reveal that Alecto is Earth’s resurrection beast has me reeling. I wondered why, if the ghosts of planets killed to built the nine, the Earth was never specially mentioned. Fuck, oh boy.

from the very first chapter of GtN, what stood out to me about the world it was setting up was the worship and prioritization of death. I learned that Gideon was a serf, and that death was celebrated and skeletons did the menial labour, and I knew that I would not get along with their Emperor Undying. Death is convenient, valuable, sacred. Death serves Gid. Life has no importance in the ninth house. There is no trace of our Earth there, no green things, no one who would mourn them. In all of the houses, thalergy is an occasional necessity and frequent inconvenience. The true source of life, not God’s power over death, means nothing to any of his children.

Harrow is the perfect child of the ninth, the perfect student of the Necrolord Prime. She embraces secrets, and darkness, and coldness, and the sanctity of death. She accepts the conventional teachings of necromancy diligently and unquestioningly. She was made to serve him through horrible, indiscriminate sacrifice of innocent life for the sake of power to feed a perverted universe fuelled by guilt and a tyrannical scale of value. She is everything that John’s empire is, and he and I both believed she did not belong to the Earth anymore.

then she goes against everything she had been taught, chooses survival despite her intentions, chooses curiosity, and she finds the world that was ruined just like she believes she was, without either of their consent, to the detriment of both of their sanity. Harrowhark, the cold, colourless, skeletal, bone-crazed student of death and daughter of genocide looked at the source of life and adored her. And when Alecto was removed from her anger and the pain of her body and became Nona, she looked at Harrow’s face and found her beautiful too. Nothing could stop them from loving each other, even if they din’t really understand how to love anything else anymore, and that is a fucking statement, and it could not be more satisfying.

[dragonologist-writings]

Title: Crown of Fire Fandom: Pillars of Eternity Rating: G Status: One-Shot Characters: Original Character (Nona) Additional Notes: Backstory for TTRPG Character, Family Drama & Betrayal, Leaden Key Recruitment Word Count: 1200 Summary: “You have been praying for justice, haven’t you? We are the true followers of Woedica. Justice is what we deliver.”

read below or here on AO3

State your name and purpose.

My name belongs to the gods and my hand to their service.

Even as a child, Nona spends many of her days in the temple. At first she is taken there by her mother, along with her baby sister Decima, as they go to visit her father while he works. But even as time passes, after her mother stops taking her (after Mother is gone), Nona still finds herself returning of her own accord.

It's a wondrous place, with grandiose architecture, chants that feel like magic, books and words and history memorialized in long rows of heavy tomes. More than that, the place carries a sense of belonging, of certainty, of rightness, and though at her young age she doesn’t quite yet have the words to express it, Nona feels it all the same.

Her father encourages her interest, of course.

“Would you like to become a priestess one day, Nona?” he asks with a smile. “You could lead the temple and help the erl in court, like I do. It’s a lot of work, of course, and you’ll have to study hard. But the priesthood runs in our family. It could be your calling just as it was mine.”

And Nona looks up with wide eyes at the crowned statue of Woedica, so resplendent and wise. Once again she feels that belonging, that certainty, that rightness, and she eagerly nods in assent.

What company do you seek?

I seek the company of shadows, that our labors may remain secret.

Nona knows what the papers say. She knows what they mean. But still she checks her work, over and over again, until she can no longer deny the truth.

Her father doesn’t believe her at first. “The erl would not be involved in such things,” he insists, but Nona shows him her research, all carefully documented and organized. It’s all there, undeniable proof of her suspicions and accusations.

Corruption. Deception. Even animancy experiments, the kind that have been outlawed in Aedyr for decades. Nona doesn’t know exactly how long it’s been going on, but it’s clear that the erl is using any means he has to collect a very forbidden type of power. More than that, it’s clear he has no intention of stopping, no matter how many of the gods' laws he breaks along the way.

It is the type thing the Church of Woedica simply cannot stand.

“Let me take care of this,” her father says. When Nona tries to protest, he stands firm. “You do not have the authority to convince the court of such things. I do. My voice will not be ignored. I will see that the right thing is done.”

And Nona, fool that she is, believes him.

Tell me of your labors.

To see that the craft of kith and wilder does not disturb what bones the gods have buried.

Nona knows everything has gone wrong when the guards come for her.

She does her best to keep calm, even as she hears the temple-goers whisper loudly, even as she sees Decima’s terrified face in the crowd. She tells herself that this is a simple mistake, and that her father will ensure everything is sorted out.

But her father only watches, stone-faced, as the erl reads out the charges of treason. And when the charges have been read, it is her father who declares her guilty.

“He is protecting you,” Decima tells her later, in the short time they have together before Nona must leave the city for good. “Had he done nothing, you would be facing execution rather than exile.”

She says this as if it is a good thing, and Nona has never felt such anger in all her life.

How do we know your purpose?

You shall know it by the confession of my tongue, the deeds of my hand, and the oath on my soul.

When the cloaked figures appear, Nona wonders for a moment if someone has finally been sent to kill her.

But the leader of the group, a woman with a stoic voice and sharp eyes, only smiles at her. “We’ve heard tale of a city,” she explains, “where a man rules through corruption and taints the land with animancy. We have heard of a Woedican priest who ignores his duties to The Queen That Was. And we have heard of you.”

Nona can only stare, speechless, and the woman’s smile widens. “You have been praying for justice, haven’t you? We are the true followers of Woedica. Justice is what we deliver.”

And how is your oath guarded?

“What are you going to do now?”

Nona is startled by the question, and by the reappearance of the hooded woman that she’d assumed would be gone by now. Perhaps she shouldn’t be surprised- they are standing in Woedica’s temple, after all. Where else would Her servants be?

“I don’t know,” Nona answers honestly, and tries not to show just how much that answer scares her.

“Are you not planning on returning to your place here?”

“Here?” Nona laughs, but there is no humor in her tone. “There’s nothing for me here. Everybody in this city either still believes the lies or hates me for revealing the truth.”

The words leave a bitter taste in Nona’s mouth, but they cannot be denied. Nobody wants her here. Even her sister- (and she thought Des, of all people, would understand, would always be on her side)- even her sister is furious at her for destroying the façade of respectability her father had built.

But Nona destroyed it anyway. At the very least, she helped. And now, because of her and these strange agents, the erl is dead and his followers have fallen with him. Some had attempted a surrender, had begged for mercy, but there is little mercy to be found in The  Burned Queen's justice. Nona does not claim happiness at this, but there is a catharsis in knowing that the scales have finally been evened.

(Father had fallen to his knees, had been one of the men to beg, and that was when Nona knew he had never been worth of a place here.)

Lost in thought, Nona nearly forgets the other woman’s presence until, after a long moment, she says, “Come with us.”

Nona looks at her, surprised and slightly alarmed. “With you? Where?”

“Wherever we are needed,” the woman answers simply. Her eyes continue to study Nona as she speaks, although she never loses her steady tone. “The Queen always has a place for those who serve her well, and you have proven your faith.”

Nona opens her mouth to answer, but before she can speak the woman holds up a hand in warning. “Be aware- this is not a responsibility to take lightly. This life is difficult, and dangerous. There are many places that do not accept the worship of our Queen, let alone our work for her. If you are to do this, you must be certain.”

Nona takes a moment, and thinks about what she will be leaving behind, and what has already been lost, and whether it will be worth it to keep walking down this path. She does not need long to find the answer. “I am certain.”

It is sealed by the Leaden Key.

[harrowharks-iliac-crest]

4

Seventh skull... that bodes well; everyone we've ever met from the Seventh is dead, and we are firmly in the realm of the living.

The plants filtered out some of the clinging smoke, and Nona loved to look at the trees and the bristly, curving shapes of the shrubs and bushes.

Me too, Nona. Sounds like you don't have a lot of plants there.

Another place had been cleared and ineptly concreted over, and they put the cages there. The cages were bone-cold and they’d been almost fully cleaned, but Nona didn’t like looking,

Cages... for what, Nona?? Or... for whom???

Then the teacher said, unexpectedly: “Hot Sauce is here too.” Not even the teacher knew Hot Sauce’s real name. Nona said, “That’s early.” “Yes. I asked her why, but she wouldn’t say. Check on her, won’t you?” As though Nona could check on Hot Sauce. “I’m worried about her, living alone. I’ve tried to tell her about the sheltered accommodation, but she’s too independent…”

We're finally getting to see Nona at school!

Honestly, I'm with the teacher on this one. As much as Hot Sauce is a leader and independent and all of that, she's also an orphan of like, fourteen.

Hot Sauce said, “Don’t let them see you from the window.” “Who’s watching?” “Don’t know. Green building. Fourth floor.” Nona was smart enough to catch herself getting up to look, which she privately congratulated herself upon.

Someone is watching. Hot Sauce doesn't think they're watching for Nona, but you can never be sure with these things. For all we know, the Emperor and/or Blood of Eden have lost track of Harrow's body and might very much like to get it back, no matter who is currently residing in it.

But Nona is so precious. I love her. She's so bright and full of love for plants and animals and people around her and herself. Have I mentioned that she's precious and that I love her?

Hot Sauce’s failure to ask anyone’s opinion on anything she did was probably the reason she was the unquestioned authority in the school, over and above the teachers. Nona had told Palamedes about it and Palamedes had said, Lead researcher material, certainly.

Lol, having worked in research, this is most certainly a diss against some kind of lead researcher Palamedes has worked with in the past. Maybe even himself.

She was a gallant little person of fortyish who gave the impression that she had learnt a lot early in life and discovered late that it was no real good to her or anyone else. This lent her teaching a weightless, secretive feeling, like it was really all for fun at the end of the day.

We meet "the Angel" for the first time properly, and this whole thing is a big mood. Same, Angel.

Nothing Pyrrha drank could really hurt her. She had even drunk the contents of the bleach bottle once. When Palamedes had asked why, Pyrrha said she had realised she wasn’t used to being tortured while immortal and wanted to get a head start, and Palamedes said bullshit because he thought Nona had not been listening. Nona wondered if the Angel had been drinking too, albeit not bleach, which had given Pyrrha some sensational hiccups.

Hold on. Pyrrha drank bleach?? Is she. Is she okay?

I mean, if you think about it, she's really not; she's stuck in Gideon the First's body, Gideon is dead, all Pyrrha's friends are dead, and she can't go back to the Emperor, and she can't go to the Blood of Eden, and she's here working her arse off for these kids, which is really what Nona and Cam and Palamedes are to her. Hard, thankless work day in day out, with very little idea of when this will end.

Oh, Pyrrha.

Everyone turned to look at Nona, who writhed beneath this judgement, and they agreed that she had not looked well for, like, weeks. “I do,” she said indignantly. “Look at my braids—I look wonderful,” which thankfully replaced their worry with a group effort to squash her vanity. They often took it in turns to squash Nona’s vanity, which never worked.

Good.

Anyway, she looks like Harrow, who's never looked particularly healthy in her life. Sorry to break it to you, Nona. She's in a Lyctor's body, which means very little can truly hurt her - I bet she could survive drinking bleach like Pyrrha - but if the other kids think she hasn't looked well in weeks, but she was looking better before then, is there something going on?

Even if they all assured her that she was nothing to write home about, she could say, “Who cares? I can’t write,” and then they had to switch tack and squash her for being proud that she was so goddamned stupid.

This is so fucking precious. Keep being proud of your dead-body looks and your above average stupidity, Nona. We love you.

Anyway, this kinda points to Nona's sickly looks just being general Harrow-ness.

The most interesting sight was someone lounging in an alleyway opposite the school building, sitting in a busted-up chair next to an overflowing bin, and Nona watched intently, trying to decide if they were dead or not. She decided not dead, because they were wearing quite a good jacket and faceguard and nobody was coming around surreptitiously trying to take either.

I'm sure this isn't of any importance whatsoever.

[jbm04]

Oh hell. Why am I dumb?

This whole time I hadn’t thought that Pal and Cam probably thought Nona was Harrow because they knew/found out what Harrow had done to her own head. Probably thought it was severe enough that she’d forgotten everything completely.

I mean, I had understood that Cam/Pal could have probably thought it was Gideon because Pyrrha told them that was the last person piloting Harrow’s body.

No wonder Pal was so certain it was Harrow until that redhead comment.

It is easy to think Nona was Harrow and not a secret third thing when all Pal had to go on was, “Well…. She DID give herself a homemade lobotomy…” and probably thought her complete memory loss was a side effect.

It’s a little thing to realize but it does make a big difference.

[jods-duplicitous-sluts]

Alecto the Ninth News

Part Two

If you haven't read part one, click here. If you are looking for part three, click here.

Another bunch of screenshots and links after the cut

If you enjoy this post please reblog so more people can see it!

Source: The Portalist Interview

• wonder who all this could reference...let's see: Gideon, Harrow, Ianthe, John, Judith, Coronabeth, Pyrrah, Aiglamene, and Sarpedon are who I can think of that match this in the literal sense of not being dead[well...] at the end of Nona. But if we start including souls we've seen in the river and deaths we've only heard about or were in any way ambiguous....it gets more interesting. I'd imagine the BOE who were on the Ninth will continue to be involved like AIM and Pash. I'd assume Paul will be a major player despite not technically appearing in two books and maybe Juno Zeta and Kiki?

Source: The Library Journal

• this kind of ties into the above but also ties into the harrowing of hell/what's wrong with the river plot line. I'm still saying John did something to damn the river and feeds off the energy of all the ghosts of the past 10,000 years being unable to cross to the beyond. I'd also venture that it has something to do with needing to restore the soulnof Earth as the rightful power/God of their universe. But eh. Maybe that's too simple. Again, all just speculation on my part.

Source: In the Margin

• This whole interview is great but this part about tragic figures in the locked tomb stuck out to me. It definitely seems like the third temptation will be a subject for Alecto and yet again heading into the Catholic allegories. Obviously referencing to the third temptation of Christ.

For the third and final temptation in Matthew (presented as the second temptation of the three in Luke) the devil takes Jesus to a high place, which Matthew explicitly identifies as a very high mountain[or a tower], where all the kingdoms of the world can be seen. The spot pointed out by tradition as the summit from which Satan offered to Jesus dominion over all earthly kingdoms. The temptation to assume leadership over the kingdoms of man. The kingdoms Jesus would inherit through Satan are obtained through love of power and political oppression. Barrett characterizes this "the old but ever new temptation to do evil that good may come; to justify the illegitimacy of the means by the greatness of the end." [From Wikipedia]

Basically the temptation to overthrow God.

Source: In the Margin

• A return to Canaan House and its mysteries. Is this in regards to the devils and the tower, Abigail and her theory about the secret private chambers of the Emperor, Palamades being systematically lied to about the ages and psychometric signatures in Canaan House or Harrow and her secret door theory? Or something else entirely...but I'm glad that we may get another glimpse into Canaan House.

Source: Nerd Daily Aug. 2020 interview

• Now this interview is pre-Nona as its own book, but I can't think of any 2 characters that interact in Harrow that would have had a moment that fits this in Nona. Brutal sincerity? It feels like it has to involve Harrow, John, Ianthe or Gideon in some way.

Source: The Nerd Daily 2020

• Again on the theme of love which relates to Nona, but TazMuir has said in other interviews to expect that theme to continue onto Alecto.

Also don't expect everyone to get what's coming to them which doesn't shock me.

Source: LA Book Review

• Pre-Nona interview. But talking about Gideon and Harrow’s relationship dynamic changing as their standing changes. Obviously we're going to see some fallout/paradigm shifts with Gideon being the heir aparent of God and Harrow basically becoming a heretic of sorts.

Source: The Library Journal

• Broad strokes here about character growth and a painful but begrudging happiness that some characters will find. But there is a chance at happiness. So that's something a lot of haven't been counting on.

Source: Vox Bookclub Podcast transcript

• while this is a reference to Harrow the Ninth it does mention to look out for more biblical allusion in Alecto. Now, I'm pretty sure this is pre-Nona announcement and obviously we got all the John biblical references but from the other interviews we've been talking about we know there is so harrowing of hell and temptation of christ in our future. Maybe someone more upon Bible study can chime in with other Biblical passages or stories that may come into play that fit the same theme?

Source: The Coode Street Podcast

• Paraphrasing but On episode 598 of the Coode Street podcast, Tamsyn Muir said that Alecto the Ninth was completed but hadn't been edited yet and that she doubted it would be out by the end of 2023 as it was a "chonky boy" or a "chungus" (her words). That podcast was released in December, so I'm assuming recorded in November or earlier.

Seems to me like any listed dates right now are probably placeholders until Tor announces an official release date.

PHEW! That was a lot so far. To be honest there are some other podcast interviews I know I've listened to in the past but haven't had time to revisit for this project so I may be missing some things.

We have one more roundup of interview screenshots to go, but it will have to be its own post. And the theme of part 3 of ATN news is: CW: Ianthe Tridentarius. Yep. There are so many mentions referring to Ianthe in Alecto that they will be their own post. [Yikes]

Click here to see part 3 of this post

[liesmyth]

Why do you think Pyrhha never tried to communicate with G1deon and let him know she was still in there? Seems kind of messed up to let him think for 10k years that he killed the person he cared the most about while she was still there the whole time

Congrats! This made me sad <3

I'm honestly not sure HOW much Pyrrha was able to communicate, or even how often she emerged. I tend to believe that she became more aware as time went on, but that especially early on it was a struggle for her to make conscious decisions, as opposed to just piloting G1deon's body while he was in the River or something. I can believe that it took a couple of millennia and that Pyrrha only really became able to take over G1deon for longer periods of time (hours as opposed to minutes or seconds) relatively before canon. Probably his mental condition deteriorating contributed to that, or maybe Pyrrha's presence was actually fucking with his brain. Maybe she feared it making it worse?

I also think that it was a real concern that if G1deon became more aware of her it would complete the integration, and that's why he didn't Think Too Much about it and why she was hesitant to make herself known, but yeah, at some point she would've realised it wasn't as big of an issue as she had feared.* Maybe by that point she had witnessed enough that she didn't trust G1deon would have their best interests in mind and go to John? I find this unlikely though because G1deon "had an affair with Wake for 2 years" would IMO have kept a secret from John if Pyrrha asked him to.

(Re: awareness of Pyrrha and integration. My pet headcanon is that actually the reason why Pyrrha "remained" was because she regained her pre-Res memories since John's mindwipe was tied to the brain and not the soul, and she became aware of an identity that was "broader" than just Pyrrha Dve. Sort of how Harrow removed her memories of Gideon to avoid consuming her soul; the fact that Pyrrha's soul and her sense of identity did NOT match G1deon's memories of her could be WHY she remained even if G1deon clearly remembered her)

Anyway YEAH I truly don't know! Even with all these limits, she could have found a way to leave a sign. But IMO there's a lot we don't know about Pyrrha, and it may come out if we move out of the very narrow frame of Nona's POV in AtN.

(I also wonder what made Pyrrha get SO invested in Wake when realistically they couldn't have interacted that often, and why Wake out of everyone G1deon came into contact with over the centuries? So MUCH to think about)

[lemon-natalia]

Nona the Ninth Reaction - Chapter 32

ngl i thought Crux was a total goner at the beginning of last chapter, but he’s still kicking somehow. he's probably fuelled by pure spite at this point

‘the Reverend Daughter has no cavalier living’ just imagine having to walk around with the knowledge that you are literally dead. like not just that you came back to life or anything, but that your body and you are literally still dead. that's just insane. also what the fuck must Aiglamene be thinking right now, given she has no idea about how Gideon ended up like this

FUCKING IANTHE IS BACK. i fully thought she had finished her ominous appearances in this book, how the hell did she get here so quickly 

i love that she’s apparently adopted Augustine’s smoking habit. it really adds to her James-Bond-Villain flair for the dramatic, which is coming out in full force here 

speaking of the fact that what’s happened to Pyrrha - namely, surviving - isn’t normal, and none of the other Lyctors’ cavaliers nor Naberius survived in a similar way. it might be unlikely given that G1deon is dead and can’t exactly say anything about what went differently during his ascension, but i hope we eventually get more information about how exactly that happened at some point 

yeah the fuck is up with Ianthe, actually. there are so many descriptions of Ianthe looking horrifically pale, and the specific mention here that she looks almost dead and pretty close to Kiriona, who is actually dead, it makes me wonder if there’s something genuinely weird going on with her?

‘Are you ever too late to come into my life and say that’ ooof the relationship between Pyrrha and Gideon is just so painful on both sides

oh for fuck’s sake Kiriona, i can’t believe she’s friends with Ianthe of all people. like they even have a secret handshake, i would kill to know how that relationship developed. these two actually getting along might be the creepiest moment so far actually 

okay, so there’s some interesting insight into Kiriona’s motivations here - if we take her at her word here, she’s got a new primary goal of wanting to be John’s cavalier. again i’m really curious as to how Kiriona and John’s relationship developed to the point that this is something she seems to genuinely want. although it could also be less that its something she really wants and more that she literally has nothing else going for her right now

and more importantly for the overall plot of the series, John is the one who told her to open the tomb and kill Alecto, two things that seem pretty opposed to his motivations earlier in the series. he’s told Kiriona that only she can do it, but given Alecto’s not so much a person as she is a Resurrection Beast in a human body, could anyone even kill her? so if John has the ulterior motive of unlocking the tomb, that makes me very concerned as to the reason why 

and once again like the end of HtN, if Ianthe is openly horrified by something it seems pretty damn dangerous. she seems to know what will happen if Alecto is released and be genuinely terrified of it, which given the look at how powerful John can get when working with Alecto (see: literally killing the entire solar system), I can see why she seems so afraid. plus i might be reading too much into this, but Ianthe’s (most obvious) major goal, becoming a Lyctor, was achieved all the way back in GtN - from the fact that she wants to keep John ‘nothing’, she seems to be pretty desperate to hold onto that status as his only Lyctor 

‘Nona unravelled’ oh no i am not even close to being emotionally prepared for this, even though i knew it was coming 

John really went all out on the religious imagery with the whole tomb thing, like he even sealed it with a rock for pete’s sake 

Palamedes complimenting (presumably) young!Harrow’s efforts at disabling the traps leading to the tomb is everything to me 

also absolutely killing me this chapter are the little hints at Gideon’s continued devotion to Harrow after everything; Gideon begging Harrow, even though she doesn’t know where she is, to ‘keep it together’, the fact that she is so willing to give up all of her blood and die for Harrow a second time. i am so obsessed with these two 

wow I cannot believe that Crux of all people is coming in clutch at the climax of this book

oh wtf Gideon DID end up killing Crux, fucking hell!! rip Crux you died as you lived: being a complete hater. he really made sure his last words were to emotionally destroy Gideon as much as possible huh 

these whole couple of pages are like a microcosm of all of Gideon’s biggest emotional hang ups really. her projecting pretty hard onto Crux about how he ‘could have lived’ for Harrow but can only die for her, her whole moment of boasting to someone who treated her awfully her whole life about how she actually is someone important. and then ending with killing Crux, which of course doesn’t 'feel good' - killing him doesn’t give her any of the parental love that she missed as a child, or remove the emotional abuse she suffered from him, or actually solve any of her emotional issues 

the running narrative in the background about Alecto remembering John leading her to the tomb is pretty disturbing i won’t lie. it's just so creepy to read about him reassuring Alecto as he leads her to essentially what is a jail cell

also i am fully aware that there’s a subplot about Anastasia and Alecto’s relationship in this last chapter, its just that there’s been so much else going on that i honestly just have not been paying attention to it at all

‘Well, happy birthday to me’ oh poor Nona, her wishing herself a happy birthday before she dies just … hurts so bad. she started out genuinely happy and optimistic, and i knew full well it wasn’t going to last, but it still hurts

[19burstraat]

six of crows x the locked tomb au concept?

I feel like this is a fairly narrow crossover area but I've been obsessed with both lately and I wanted to throw shit at the wall and see what sticks. Pretty sure there's no Nona spoilers, since it's a crossover AU. I don't know how many people have read both of these series but to hell with it someone must have done lmao. This is less plot and more concept but anyway

Kaz (the Ninth, for the tomb and all that was lost, Heretical Secrets, The Sewn Tongue. The Reverend Son out of We Have No Young People Left process of elimination.)

If Kaz is going to be any house it's got to be the freaks with the elaborate black costumes and the constructs that have no flesh on them (lucky for Kaz...), that tell people fuck all about anything and have scary customs.

Jordie died in the pursuit of lyctorhood; @bloodbroox just suggested to me that he could have been talked into being Pekka's cav without knowing what he was getting into, and then was killed and consumed so Pekka could ascend, so Kaz is now out to get up to that fucking Mithraeum and kill Pekka himself.

I imagine Kaz has a very similar backstory to the one in the books, since it's not like there's a shortage of corpses in this series hh. Probably tried to save Jordie and got left in the aftermath with his corpse and many, many others. I wonder if I could pull in a very literal appearance of the River... maybe Kaz interfered and briefly got stuck in the River (i.e. nearly died) before he clawed back out, out of sheer insane willpower.

(Yes you can tell I don't entirely understand the more scientific aspects of TLT just go w it lmao)

No one dares to point out to Kaz that some rando with no necromatic skill cannot kill a Lyctor, because they're worried he might acc find a way. He's literally only a badly trained cav, but he's... determined. By the time everyone else works out he's the one to get rid of it's too late.

(Matthias, Kuwei and Inej, well trained and courteous cavs, are eventually horrified to find out how Kaz fights lmao.)

I'm not sure how he'd have broken his leg but there's a lot of perilous bits on the Ninth. Maybe training. It just makes his cover better though. How could he be the cav, he's clearly the necro...

No he's not. He's being covered for by...

Jesper (the Fourth, fidelity, facing ahead, The Hope, The Sword Ninth)

Jesper escaped from the Fourth because he and his dad didn't want him to get sent onto the battlefield to be a living weapon and then die, like most Fourth house kids. He got caught, and got thrown into the Ninth house jail. He emphatically insists he is not a necromancer. Yes he is.

Kaz springs Jesper from the Ninth jail and makes a deal with him; they'll swap. Kaz isn't a necromancer and Jesper is, but Kaz will pretend to be the necro, Jesper will pretend to be the cav, and they both get what they want-- Jesper can be a cavalier and be free from jail/the Fourth, and Kaz can get out of the Ninth and into the scrum of attempted lyctorhood to hitch a ride somehow.

(Except they don't. because Jesper flat-out refuses to kill Kaz and ascend and Kaz is hysterically furious, because his original plan was to basically trick Jesper into doing it wrong and seize control of his body, but he got attached and abandoned that plan and now doesn't know what to do. Having said that, if anyone could figure out perfect lyctorhood, it would be Kaz... Hope you want brown eyes Jesper.)

Yes his offhand is a revolver lmao

Inej (the Fifth-- tradition and debts to the dead, the Heart, the Watchers over the River.)

Cavalier, ofc, very very dutiful to her necromancer (one of her saints in the books??? Alina? Petyr? idk.) We don't know a whole lot about the Fifth but they seem (SEEM.) the most well adjusted of the lot, instead of the fucking balls to walls crazy Eight and Ninth lmao. I considered making her Kaz's cav but the idea made me want to throw up and lie down for ten hours, also the Jesper one is a bit more out there, and I refuse to give Kaz that much power lmao he needs to be a normal man he'd be too much of a menace with any kind of magic

Respectful of the Ninth and their weirdo monks until Kaz and Jesper open their mouths and reveal that not only do they talk, that they are also really really annoying and heretical

She works out very quickly that Kaz and Jesper are running a con and gets roped into it lol

Again I refuse to eliminate her backstory so it's gotta be in there somewhere, though I haven't worked out how yet. Perhaps she wasn't always part of the Fifth House, and was under Tante Heleen's thumb off-world...

Nina (the Third, for the gleam of a jewel or a smile, The Mouth, The Procession, The Shining Dead. Princess of Ida.)

But of course. The house that looks frivolous but is a deep well of backstabbing politics and intelligence.

Necro with a particular talent for flesh magic, which obviously is very close to her canon power. Not sure who her cav would be tho...?

Kaz hates her for all of those reasons and she makes a sport out of winding up the little uptight Ninth weirdo

But it's not as fun as flirting with...

Matthias (the Second, discipline, heedless of trial, The Strength, The Crimson Shield)

Second sounds like the Druskelle, no? Matthias is def a carefully trained cavalier, I would suggest Jarl Brum is his necro. Until he gets either killed or disposed of before he can kill Matthias and ascend...

Unless he DOES do that, and we keep Matthias dead in every universe. Sorry Nina. You and Kaz now have a common goal which is Get To The Bastards In The Sky And Kill Them.

Wylan (the Sixth, for the truth over solace in lies, the Reason.)

Genius little kid like Palamedes ig! I can see him being more into the theory than the practice and then, like canon, being underestimated. like a lot of the Sixth. Jesper def thinks he's nothing special until... he is.

I did consider putting Kaz in the Sixth soley for the truth over solace in lies but ultimately Kaz belongs in the horrible places like the Ninth and the Barrel, not the civilised academic environments like the Sixth and the merch Districts. Sorry bud. Another life.

No one really knows in the Sixth that Wylan can't read, bc he covers it up so well, but Van Eck threatens to expose it so he legs it to the Lyctor Convention <3

Kuwei can be Wylan's cavalier? Might explain the Jesper beef more lmao if Jesper is also a supposed cav trying to curry favour with Kuwei's necro, Wylan, rather than 'his necro', Kaz

(Giada also suggested that Alina can be Alecto and the Darkling can be John tho I'm not going all the way there other than to say Kaz Would Definitely Open The Tomb Because The Darkling Said Not To because he's an evil little git and also fatefully nosey and possibly bc Inej asked. And a lockpick. why would I put him in the place with the locked tomb without expecting the funniest possible outcome. also that would def make Zoya one of the OG lyctors a-la Mercymorn! Probably Genya and David too)

[paradoxcase]

Chapter 13 of Nona the Ninth

Curious what this is about

I've seen this name on tumblr, but I've always assumed it was pronounced like "posh" which clearly isn't the case if it's short for "passion". I'm guessing she's probably named after something referencing Mary

What Nona is saying isn't that strange, it is possible to tell who someone is by the way they move, and Nona can usually do it with Camilla and Palamedes, and she's also shown herself to be detail-oriented when it comes to people's body language, although then again, it might just be telepathy. Telepathy would also help her identify Pash, though. Anyway, it's only weird that she specifically mentions bones, here

This is kind of interesting. The impression I got from the last book was that it was only the Heralds that had this effect on necromancers, and not the resurrection beast itself, otherwise I think the Lyctors would have had trouble fighting them in the River, wouldn't they? The Heralds are clustered around the outside of the beast, but they seem to be fully instantiated in the world rather than being in the River. And I guess maybe Lyctors are less strongly affected or something? The Lyctors at the end of Harrow the Ninth weren't as incapacitated as Judith is here, they were still able to fight Heralds

Is this based on official BOE promises, or is Corona planning for them to escape with Judith piloting the ship with the stele? Corona seems pretty entrenched in BOE right now, I can't see her really making plans like that

So then it was actually Palamedes who promised We Suffer that he and Camilla would become a Lyctor. That's even worse

Is Judith able to go to the River? I thought only Lyctors were able to do that, or maybe also spirit magicians, but I don't think Judith is one of those, either. I'm not sure what the "green thing" is, unless it's the heart monitor?

This is strange, since Nona has so far only referred to Judith as "the Captain" in all of her POV, never as "Judith"

What secrets of Camilla's has Corona kept? Is she just referring to the secret that Palamedes was still in the bones Camilla kept, or that they got Harrow to make him the arm?

I guess she means the lie that BOE told when they promised the Sixth House would be safe

This is the second time Corona said something like this, I think. I wonder if there is more information about Pyrrha that's yet to come

Looking more and more likely that Nona has some telepathic abilities