#it SOUNDS like Dulcinea

[mayasaura]

I just got to the compliment-sandwich line of The Unwanted Guest. If the voice from the back of the auditorium isn't Dulcinea I'm going to do something unspeakable

[lastflowerofyourhouse]

snorting fiberglass as we speak.

[winksasleeplesseye]

Luis naming characters from Don Quixote in his dialogue was not on my bingo card but I love it

[eaden]

some parallels between the og lyctors and their Canaan House counterparts:

• G1deon and Dyas dying in the same unwinnable fight they willingly threw themselves into out of Duty

• 'chickenshits don't get beer' sounds like a Pyrrha aphorism

• Judith served in the Dve Territorials

• the chances of Coronabeth & Ianthe painting nude portraits of each other and gifting them to people are not zero

• we know very little about Cyrus and Valancy but what we do know explains A Lot about the Third House in general

• Ulysses the Fourth launching himself into hell via Resurrection Beast/Isaac welcoming the opportunity to be a human peg board

• Magnus 'my wife practically issues written invitations to breakfast' Quinn vs Augustine 'here is a formal invitation to witness a threesome with God' Quinque

• Augustine waited 10 000 years for a biographer only for the Houses' most renowned historian/lyctor researcher to be murdered by his colleague precisely for having those interests

• Cassiopeia & Nigella being in charge of the Teacher Project where they fit many souls into one body/CamPal fitting 2 souls into one body

• Cassie being a River expert/Sex Pal creating an unprecedented River bubble

• both Sixth House pairs have a 'wedding' just before the climax of their respective emergencies

• Literally everything about Cytherea/Dulcinea

• unloveable Mercymorn, critical Mercymorn...... certainly no one could accuse Silas Octakiseron of being loveable and uncritical

• 'you will be forgiven' / immediately attempts murder: possibly the only thing Silas and Mercy would agree on

• they also both give Gideon Nav explosively vague revelations about her origins before trying to kill her

• Anastasia/Harrow having a complex and potentially horny dynamic with The Body

[firestorm09890]

do you ever see someone being incorrect about something you care very much about and you know you can’t do anything about it and so you think “well, guess they’ll just have to be wrong” but instead of dissolving into nothing it just continues to haunt you?

anyway in his Canto VII part 2/3 video ESGOO said that Dulcinea’s boss theme was just normal epic boss music and it would’ve been cooler if it incorporated the parade song and NOPE NOPE INCORRECT can’t you hear the flourishes and the bassline? the cymbals crashing and snare ratatating constantly and bass drum booming in absolute lockstep? IT’S NOT GENERIC EPIC ORCHESTRAL BOSS MUSIC IT’S EMULATING A MILITARY MARCH. I can't say it's actually a march because real marches have a very specific form that must be followed and it does not lend well to looping, but it is meant to sound like a military march, the kind that marching bands will often play in parades (I'm American it's very normal here), and it is perfect. Dulcinea is the leader of the band. If you listen to any of John Philip Sousa's marches and pay attention to the percussion and bwomp bwomp type bassline (it's really hard to convey without actual sound) you'll hear the resemblance. they generally don't use strings the way Dulcinea's theme does, but then, epic orchestral pieces don't use percussion the same way a military march and Dulcinea's theme do. just had to get that off my chest

[starberry-cupcake]

back by popular (?) demand, I am now starting chapter 28 of gideon the ninth and I guess I'm sharing updates to the general public now ( @lady-harrowhark this is your responsibility). I think I'm gonna put them under this tag because I am being told I will want to look back on them later (sounds threatening ngl).

previously, in gideon the ninth:

isaac was ended by some junji ito shit

jannemary was ended by a stealthy junji ito shit

very pointed messages were written for them

which is too dramatic to be a random monster killing, if you ask me

gideon took a 15 minute nap and was startled awake in hell

gideon most definitely did not look much at the room before she took said nap, nor did she remember the paper she's still carrying around

I'm losing my mind at the paper

I'm like watching another d&d player choose to never look at something the dm gave them

were we are now:

gideon is back, now with More Trauma

harrow has the compassion of a feral kitten

this is a bad combination for me, personally, in particular, because this means gideon is going to look for comfort in my mortal enemy dulcinea

she gives her a talk that is trying to distract me from the fact that I don't trust her, but I will never trust her

she was like "it'd be better to die here than to be living longer and trapped" and I was like "wanna let me help you with that?"

palamedes has also been carrying a dulcinea boner, which also makes things difficult for me

because if my mortal enemy ends up being bad and dangerous, and palamedes is in danger, it would force camilla to be in danger, and we don't want, under any circumstances, to put camilla in danger

mayonnaise uncle has been gossiping in the eighth and ortus's mom (where I'm from, 'orto' means 'ass', so I will never forget his name) spilled the beans on the ninth

he offers gideon literal tea with a side of the metaphorical tea

here's where I went "boy, I sure hope harrow doesn't push gideon away and gives her a reason to turn to these guys"

harrow proceeds to do just that

with clockwork precision

I cannot emphasize enough how meticulously she did this

if pushing people away was an olympic sport, and if that was the way to judge this competition, this book would be 10 pages long because harrow has mastered the craft

you could hear gideon's psyche becoming dust

needless to say, we're having tea with the eighth soon, everyone bring your scones and poison

which, you know, fine, at least gideon will be told information

and btw, protesilaus is still live reacting from an unknown location

idk what regina george twin, yandere simulator twin and chad the third are doing but, at this point, I don't know what anyone is doing, really

except for dulcinea, I JUST KNOW she's up to no good

and the second is probably still dealing with the fact that they lost to Camilla The Everything

[delusinalandpassionate]

man i was gonna type something out here but nothing came to mind

part 3 was so good its left me speechless

Thank you very much for opportunity to write my thought down, without thinking about intro.

I LOVE 7 CANTO.

It was amazing. I feel rewarded for all my love and faith toward Don.

AND THE FACT I PREDICTED A LOT OF THINGS ALSO FEELS AMAZING

I loved how Sancho abandons us walking forward, and for the first time, sinners follow her, listening. Paying attention.

I loved to see that story about that Bloodfiend family and how Bari changed everything. I loved to see how he changed his mind and how he tried to change everything around him. I love how when he sees "fruits" of his absence, he tries to bring justice himself, punishing his Family for crime and himself for allowing that to happen. (Also also the fact that while he speaks about his family, the fact that his relationship with Sancho is special. One he takes with him for adventure, one who allowed to run away from this prison, one who allowed to kill him, one who inherits his name. If I were Dulcinea, I would also hate Sancho. Imagine being so obviously second favorite for eternity.)

I loved that Don Quixote did so much to save Sancho from this prison and torture from hunger, and yet the first thing she does after getting saved is lock herself in a prison, ignoring her hunger. She did not want to be saved. She wanted to die here with him, and in some way, she did.

I love that Don that we meet in a beginning a prisoner who for a first time in two hundred years sees world and speaks with other people. Of course, she's weird. Genuinely, she could be weirder.

I love that she confronts sinners and their answer not to beat her into submission but talk with her.

Some of them I believe some of them not but it still was great. Seeing Sinclair stopping circle of violence and being first person to say "hey our friend is hurting, maybe WE WON'T BEAT THEM?!"

I love how desperately Yi Sang and Heatcliff don't want to see their new family to fall apart

I love how Hong Lu says the most correct things

I love how Outis SEES HERSLEF IN DON(not in a way I predicted BUT STILL), and I love how she doubts her.

I usually dislike timetavels in story, but there was something so beautiful in a way that Dante changed only a bit, only a few words, rejecting their fear to help Don.

I love how Don Quixote is broken, but there are still some embers of his ideals. I love dynamic between him and Sancho, I love his weak laughter in battle and how it's almost impossible for Sancho to lose. I love that so many skills Sancho learned from him, but in final action, he copies her, creating a lance.

I love how he dies in her hands, and Sancho keeps crying, explaining how, in the end, she changes. She wants to live, and she wants to be a hero. And how he dies almost happy seeing how his Sancho finally found something worth living besides him.

I LOVE THIS CANTO

But of course, there is some unsatisfying stuff.

We still don't know what's the deal with Sanson.

We still haven't learned what "Promised Timepiece" means.

I also think her sprite SHE HAVE BEEN CHANGED TO HAVE HER SANCHO HAIR

But not everything could be a win for me and that's fine.

I only hope that, at least in the next event we will see Sinners getting used to the idea that ancient vampire is traveling with them and that it's a conscious choice to keep sounding like that.

Also, I want them to use Don's voice actor range because SHES AMAZING

[diminuel]

For Mini-mingo I really like the name of Dulcinea but yeah it's too related to Donquixote and that's why I've been thinking about the name "Candy" just because Dulcinea comes from the spanish word "dulce" (sweet)... and Mini-mingo dressed in all pink looks like a giant candy haha c:

Other name I was thinking about based on Mini-mingo's colour is "Rosa" (Pink or Rose in spanish, it depends the context) and they would call her "Rosie" because cute nickname. This one would give Doflamingo an aneurism because Rosie sounds a lot like the Roci in Rocinante (at least in LATAM spanish)

Imagine

Doflamingo: what's your name kiddo?

Mini-mingo: You can call me... Rosie

Doflamingo: Ro-roci...?

Haha! Rosie would make Doflamingo walk into the ocean maybe and maybe rant at Crocodile about his bad naming choices. One might be tempted to think that Rocinante was somehow involved in her creation. Is that it, Crocodile? Is that why she's blonde? (He's being an idiot of course)

But I'm still not entirely sold. Dulcinea (or Nana) are probably still my favourite ideas but I can't settle on anything X'D

I just wonder what name Dragon would choose if he's given the option. Would he pick Dulcinea or Celeste or Rosa? Maybe he'd pick Bananawani, the madman.

(Considering Robin's the "light of the revolution" he might also use some cheesy name like that? I don't speak Spanish, just a bit of Italian but Luce would be an option. Lucia, something like that. Aaaand a different form of Lucia is Lucy and now we're back to Lucy which was a popular option for Baby 2 and a name Luffy uses in Dressrosa?)

[ultimate-marysue]

I know that all the names of The Locked Tomb Series have a lot of deep meaning but I just love the Seventh house. Like, the way you can figure out the plot twist just by reading the names. (Spoilers for Gideon the Ninth).

Dulcinea is named after Dulcinea del Toboso from El Quijote. The titular Quijote lives in a fantasy world due to reading too many books about Knights, so he starts imagining the world around him as the one from his books. He kinned too close to the sun. Dulcinea del Toboso is his lady love, the most perfect woman in existence. Obviously Don Quijote's "squire" Sancho Panza doesn't believe Dulcinea exists. She's part of Quijote's fantasy. So to try to snap him out of it he brings him a peasant woman named Aldonza Lorenzo, ugly and stinky, saying it's Dulcinea. Quijote assumes she must be under some curse and bows to free her (he never gets to). So obviously when I read Dulci's name in Gideon the Ninth and she turns out to be too perfect to be real...yeah, I figured out that wasn't the real necromancer from the seventh. Tbf, I'm from Spain so Dulcinea immediately triggers my second grade memories.

Protesilaus. This one's crazier and I didn't get it until the end of the book. You see the name sounded familiar and I was sure it was from some Greek myth or tragedy. Turns out in the Iliad the Oracle tells the Greeks that the first man to set foot on Troy would die. That's why Odysseus jumped on his shield to not "set foot on trojan soil". Protesilaus was the first one to actually disembark and, as such, was killed. Just like TLT protesilaus was the first one to die (protecting Dulci). Also in some versions of the story his wife, wracked with grief, asks the gods to see her beloved again. The gods take pity on her and allow her five minutes, after which they both die. This reminds me of how the real Protesilaus was brought back by Harrow's bubble, created by her grief for Gideon.

Cytherea is another name for Aphrodite and Gideon's very obvious lust aside, this tracks too. Not only is Cytherea described as really beautiful, she's a Lyctor which makes her godlike. It's also her love for her cavalier that makes her lose her head a bit. And even while she's Killing everyone in Canaan House she makes it a point to state that she still loves all of the contestants. She even admits to still loving John (much like Mercymorn). Also, the one that finds out she's not who she says she is is the man in love with the real Dulcinea.

Gotta love Tamsyn spoiling her book with names. This series is so fucking good.

[apostleofgreed]

My friend's thoughts on read Gideon the Ninth (she's doing audio book)... Spoilers obviously

Oh my God I'm less than an hour in and I'm sick of the word ass

The gals have just arrived at wherever it is they've gone to

Like it's taken 7 chapters to get the information of "I tried to run away, did not succeed, that Slag I hate who killed her parents wants me to be her guard dog, were off lets go"

I can't believe this bitch just said "yo"

Gideon is full cockney

"He had upsetting biceps" mood

I need you to know he's incredibly Welsh (regarding Magnus)

Yeah Magnus is my fave tbh I'm like just make the book about him

Oh what the fuck (Magnus died)

Are you joking me this is a travesty it's rude (Still Magnus)

I think I like Harrow because she's just unapologetically a bitch and Im here for that

70% of this book is everyone arguing

If they were that committed to killing like 200 other kids why not just... Stab her???

I'm like Gideon you just had a bath for the first time are you sure you wanna try the pool babygirl

Cause she sounds like she's old Gideon stop being a gentraphile (about Dulcinea)

I've been listening to this whole thing like weird flex that you fancy her but ok

(At this point she told me I'd need to give her the plot for the next two books as she wasn't invested enough to get them)

Nah I got like 2 hours left. More people have died and the CEO of the universe is en route

To be fair I'd be fuming if I was the emperor and I'd paid for all of my world rules to go on an all expenses paid trip to my second home and they all start dying for real and ruining the house

V glad Naberius Tern is dead

Oh lawd everyone really do be dying

"I want to die! Why was I born so attractive?" Is such a big mood

She has bought and finished Harrow. I'll collate her thoughts soon.

[slyandthefamilybook]

The Nine Houses texting styles

(I haven't included any characters from Nona the Ninth bc I Haven't Read It Yet)

Harrow: Starts every text with "Dear [name]," and ends with "Harrowhark Nonagesimus, Reverend Daughter of the Ninth House" like a forum signature

Gideon: Lots of keysmashes. Lots of typos. Uses txtspk liberally. Harrow spends most of their conversations correcting Gideon's grammar

Ortus: Responds every time with a video message, no matter what he's replying to. Hasn't yet figured out where the microphone on his phone is so the audio is always muffled

Judith: Will call you

Marta: Will call you on Judith's phone

Coronabeth: So many emojis. Will sometimes reply in just emojis. Ends every text with a 🌹 or "xoxo". Thoughts are broken up into multiple texts (e.g. "Oh don't" "worry about it" "it's fine")

Ianthe: Forgets to text you back for at least 12 hours every time. Screenshots every convo for drama. Refuses to save anyone's number and so always starts a convo with "who is this"

Naberius: Doesn't own a phone

Isaac: Replies exclusively in reaction images. Will not text first

Jeannemary: Will spend 20 minutes agonizing over the proper response, before finally deciding on "Sounds good"

Magnus: Will laugh out loud rather than sending "lol". Doesn't understand slang terms (will follow up a butt dial with "sorry didn't mean to booty call you)

Abigail: Uses way too many gifs, all from her favorite show that went off the air 20 years ago. Texts are signed "Sent from my iPhone"

Palamades: One word replies with periods. Frequently sends random videos (like sewage treatment techniques) with "thought this would interest you"

Camilla: Somehow has a meme for every situation. If she doesn't have one she'll make it herself with a shockingly quick turnaround.

Dulcinea: Sends one-word texts with no clarification. Criminally misuses emojis (e.g. "Movie? 🍆"). Will not clarify when asked

Protesilaus: Is dead. Hasn't figured out how to get a ghost phone yet

Silas: Sends selfies from way too low an angle with text overlayed like a Snapchat. Will spam you if you're a minute late

Colum: So many ellipses... Ends every text with them...

Mercymorn: Still has a flip-phone with a pre-paid plan. Gets mad when people send her multiple texts in a row because it costs her $0.15 to open each one

Gideon the First: Does not text. Will instead show up at your house asking you to explain yourself

Augustine: Over-relies on speech-to-text. Texts are full of "what no I said duck not duck you stupid machine no duck oh John damn it"

Cytherea: Waits for you to text first. Gets mad when you don't.

John: Long rambling voice notes where he frequently gets distracted, leaving minutes at a time of awkward silence

[mayasaura]

why do you think cytherea targeted the fourth the way she did? we know why she killed the fifth, and we know why she killed people generally, but the writing in blood and the chasing jeanne after killing isaac feels weirdly personal

It does seem personal, yeah. I'm sure it was intended to. I'm also sure it wasn't. I doubt Cytherea even noticed they were people enough to have beef with them.

Let's look at her goals:

She's using the heirs as bait to get John's attention, but doesn't want to make the real stakes apparent. So she kills them off, one by one, slasher movie style. She's playing with them, creating a narrative so that when the terrified survivors call for help, John is curious enough about whatever theory they've come up with to come take a looksee.

That's probably why she planted the idea of vengeful angry ghosts so early. She knows it's something that's bound to get John's attention without alarming him enough for him to be on the defensive. His old house is haunted by violently angry revenants? That doesn't sound right, but you never know with ghosts. Seems both interesting and a bit concerning, he'd better take a look.

The Fourth specifically were targeted because their investigation into Abigail and Magnus' murder posed a threat to her plan. They had found Dulcinea and Protesilaus' ashes in the incinerator and raised the alarm, which put them way too close to asking the right kinds of questions. Like: "Whose ashes are these?" and "Is this connected to the other murders?" They had to die, and they had to die in a way that drew attention away from their investigation and lent credence to Cytherea's angry ghost narrative, or the story they had to tell when they called John might be a little too close to the truth to get the intended effect.

So. Giant bone monster in the basement laboratory, a sleeping child skewered in a locked room, and ominous writing in the victim's blood. A tableau designed to be so horrifyingly personal it doesn't occur to anyone it might have been pragmatic.

[lemon-natalia]

The Locked Tomb Reaction - The Unwanted Guest

it’s taken a while, but finally I’ve been able to get around to liveblogging this! my understanding is that The Unwanted Guest takes place in that period of time where Palamedes is ousting Ianthe from Naberius’s body? so i’m intrigued to see what actually happens, as well as how Muir writes in a new theatre-play format

‘kissing or feeding; we can’t be sure’ haha what the fuck. we’re really going in right off the bat with the surrealist horror here. i had a feeling that Ianthe’s mindscape might be a disturbing place, and apparently i was right

ok so i’m willing to suspend my disbelief that this is just a description for the reader to understand the concept but … does either Palamedes or Ianthe’s subconscious know what a 20th century English butler is?

ohhh my god Ianthe’s in a French maid costume, is this because Palamedes considers it sexy. this is so cursed. once again suspension of disbelief, but do either of these characters know what France is?

i am very much enjoying the dynamic between the two of them here, especially how unimpressed Palamedes is with, well, everything Ianthe 

oooh okay thats intriguing, there’s another person’s voice here. my first instinct is that it’s Camilla, given Palamedes is currently in her body

wow Palamedes’ immediate response to a game of essentially 20 questions is to immediately get philosophical and start a debate about whether the soul can be changed. he sounds like the kind of person who would be absolute hell to play Scrabble or Trivial Pursuit against 

what they’re talking about here is very interesting though. i like the little glimpses we get, primarily through the Sixth and the Fifth, about what academia and science looks like in a world with necromancy. whether the soul can be changed is kind of a big hypothetical in the real world, but in TLT where you can literally summon or ‘consume’ a person’s soul it would be much more directly relevant 

also a very interesting point (at least what I think he’s saying?) from Palamedes here that just because the Lyctors lived for 10,000 years doesn’t necessarily mean that the thanergy powering them is perpetual, it could just be declining very very slowly

okay so the Voice just started talking about ‘Camilla’s idea’, so presumably not her unless she’s talking about herself in third person? it could theoretically just be Palamedes debating with himself? 

Palamedes briefly trying to play bad cop/Ace Attorney and intimidate Ianthe is hilarious 

Ianthe’s insistence that she didn’t murder Naberius because it was his job to die for her anyway is an … interesting perspective

‘she and I both understand that the goal is always worth the cost’ ngl i think Harrow herself would have something to say about that, given she literally gave herself a Claire’s lobotomy in the hope of saving Gideon. it wasn’t so much Harrow who decided that Lyctorhood was worth defeating Cytherea, but Gideon deciding for her 

once again i feel horribly bad for Naberius Tern, whose worst crime was pretty much just being an asshole

hah has Palamedes picked up a cigarette habit from Pyrrha. i’m enjoying the insight into his thought process here given that he generally comes off as knowing more than other people all the time, so it’s nice to see him actually in the process of figuring stuff out 

‘She wandered around like she was the protagonist’ HAH Ianthe i have bad news for you 

aww it’s sweet to get Pal’s view on Gideon here, namely that he thinks she’s smarter than even she gives herself credit for and that he was initially jealous of her dynamic with ‘Dulcinea’ but came to like her anyways

‘My problem was reminding myself you were a child’ ohhh my god the mysterious voice is Dulcinea! i can’t believe this is literally the only time we’ve seen Pal and Dulcinea actually interact. and isn't this possibly the first time that they've had an 'in person' (so to speak) interaction since most of their relationship was sending letters to each other?? oh i am not okay

okayy i’m interested in what Dulcinea’s saying here about how she seems to have died again and ‘something awful’ happened to her soul … it doesn’t seem to totally line up with what happened at the end of HtN, especially with her mention that there are two shores on the River. again everything seems to point to the nature of the River playing a big part in AtN 

woooh Magnus Quinn reference, my beloved 

oooh i love the contrast between Ianthe’s descriptions of her relationships with Corona and Babs - despite Babs being the one who was actually the cavalier, the kind of co-dependent relationship she has with Corona is much closer to the relationship between the other cavaliers and their necromancers. which is why the fact that she’s apparently the only Lyctor to outright murder their cavalier vs her admission that she wouldn’t have used Corona is very interesting to me

‘Coronabeth herself is part of your goal’ i’m very interested in the long-term goal of Ianthe in general. obviously one part was becoming a Lyctor, but i do wonder if she has something else planned, i doubt she’s content to just sort of do what John wants her to do forever

‘Jeannemary Chatur regaled me with the story at breakfast’ woooh Jeannemary reference. also this is such a cute detail

ooooh Palamedes's newfound cigarette habit is from Ianthe not Pyrrha, that's very fun

and Palamedes’ final point here that the soul is permeable is not just very satisfying against Ianthe’s general smugness, but has very interesting implications for all of the Lyctor characters, especially the fact that their titles are named after their cavaliers. for example, how much of Mercy’s devotion originally came from her versus the fact that Christabel pre-Res was a literal nun. and what does it mean for John and Alecto exactly - how much of the same person, or even human, is he after literally eating the soul of a planet

ok this isn’t to do with the Unwanted Guest exactly but i am very concerned by the notice at the very end that ‘Hell Will Break Loose’ in AtN. it already sounds ominous enough without considering that the previous notice, ‘Gideon will return’ at the end of HtN was done in the most painful way possible 

overall i really enjoyed this! what i really like about the additional short stories Muir writes for TLT is that you get to see little character moments and explore bits of the lore that would have dragged the main story down a bit, so it was very fun to see Palamedes and Ianthe interact one-on-one and debate a bit

and now i really have run out of stuff to liveblog about these books rip my sanity

[cassiopeiathe1st]

so as a biology major, here's some things i've been chewing on after reading the unwanted guest. this post is brought to you by the part of my brain that saw the 7th's hereditary blood cancer and thought ok but what KIND of cancer is that.

the phrasing of "permeability of the soul" makes me think of semipermeable membranes and diffusion. diffusion is a passive process -- our molecules, when left to their own devices, want to be everywhere because entropy, but the semipermeable membranes that make up cells organelles etc make life possible by keeping things organized. this dividing & filtering process is required to keep things in place. with me so far?

to me, this concept of permeability emphasizes that souls are objects with boundaries. there's a line somewhere, however blurry (clearly very very blurry) or porous, that divides self & other, and! and!! that line only exists because it is somehow constructed, maintained, enforced. see: ianthe working so hard to convince herself/pal/the hypothetical audience of this play she's putting on that she's just ianthe with no babs mixed in. or john's ritual of retelling his story to alecto/harrow in NTN. something something being the unreliable narrator of your own identity.

palamedes calls the process that merges him and camilla to give us paul grand lysis vs. the "petty", incomplete lysis of eightfold word lyctorhood. lysis = the disintegration of a cell by rupture of the cell wall or membrane. the boundaries of their souls are sliced open so their contents can be poured out & mixed together to make someone new. but even in conventional lyctorhood, there's some kind of exchange of whatever material makes up the soul between cavalier & necromancer. as our boy tells ianthe at the end of the unwanted guest,

This is the real truth of Lyctorhood, Ianthe--it's not some bloodless swapping-out of batteries. It's grafting; transplantation. When you absorbed Naberius Tern's soul, you didn't swallow a diamond. You swallowed a piece of meat...and the longer you digest that meat, the more its proteins and lipids and molecules mix in with yours, until you can't tell them apart anymore.

idk where i'm even going with all of this, i'm just rotating it in my head, but:

tamsyn muir is so precise with her necromancy jargon & anatomical terms that i feel like there's definitely meaning to be found in the imagery here. there is poetry in biology, the universe is made of stories not of atoms, etc etc

it turns out lysis is also the title of a dialogue of plato on "the true nature of loving friendship," so if any classics enjoyers have thoughts on that connection i would love to hear them!

if lyctorhood is transplantation, is it possible for that transplant to be rejected? can the graft refuse to take?

souls are contained within their edges not unlike how a cell membrane contains its cytoplasm. or how a capri sun pouch contains its juice. and lyctors slurp that shit up and digest it baby

why choose to link the soul so closely with water? (the river, bubbles, currents & waves in the river, nona saying the water of the river "doesn't want to touch us.") contents of souls = liquid in the same way that the river is a liquid??? the river = spirit version of the primordial soup???

dulcinea refers to the river having two shores, not just a generic "shore", so it sounds like they're different in some meaningful way. but that may be conditional on what happens in alecto ("if this ends well you'll find that out")? is the point of the river the river itself, or is the point of the river to separate those two places?

[galakaz]

Some things i found notable in part 3 of canto 7 (also just an overview tbh)

That zewi story don told at the beginning sounds like fixer 300 ngl (i havent watched 300) Samcho remembering the name don by looking at the bottom of her boots is funny to me ngl that hana fixer has definitely been around the block if they had posters of her back then I predicted correctly that the silver haired don was the original don and made the amusement park it seems as long as dante can prove that they are accessing the situation and things are going well enough to plan it will calm outis' anxiety Surprised we never saw carmilla dispite seeing those distorted by it (rip funny blue haired guy and the west zwei) Silver haired don getting his idea for an amusement park and coexisting with a person due to a promise (for a "tomorrow") and the fact he fought her for so long he just got interested by her and her tales (to the point even samcho listened in) is interesting that duel between bari and silver haired don makes me ask what did fights in the library really look like cause theres no way those lot are dueling harder then some of the star of the city tier fights in ruina POV: fighting sancho phase 1

No seriously who taught that women how to box i thought she would start by using her blood weapons not by going left right goodnight at the first sinner who loses a clash

This image really be kinda how i feel about don after all the time (she did grow on me i didnt hate her at first but i did start finding her more enjoyable as time went on

Ngl my first reaction to reading this was "people self shipping when you tell them their ship is evil", also shows that dante is starting to get a lot more considerate of the sinners and willing to accept them no matter who they are if they are willing to change (also probs why they are called SINNERS) Mili banger as usual BINAH! I just realized we are actaully for once doing the kabbalah in the right direction this time starting from the top and going to hokma, binah ect rather then malkuth Row Row fight the power (i havent watched gurren lagann i really should though)

The qte grabbing me by the throat and going "NO YOU ARE HELPING HER DREAM TOO START MASHING"

HERO IM GOING TO PROVE MY VERSION OF JUSTICE IS MORE JUST THEN YOURS UNO REMAINING ON THIS STAGE I AM THE ONLY ONE I AM MY BIGGEST FAN I AM MY BIGGEST FAN I AM MY ENEMY AND MY FRIEND

Felt uncomfortable (not in a bad way) some of the ways this canto touched me personally (also unbreakable coins are a pain), canto is amazing though (crying samcho now don did get me

Also what the fuck does his blue ass want anyway he keeps popping up

The barber is hotter then dulcinea

[clockedtomb]

GtN Allusions: Page 9

Palamedes Sextus Palamedes was involved in the Trojan War. Palamedes outsmarts Odysseus, who is pretending to be insane to get out of an oath that will force him into the war. By some accounts, Odysseus frames Palamedes with treason in revenge.

Sextus is the house name, a Roman name meaning "sixth." Sextus would be standardly abbreviated Sex.

Camilla Hect Camilla was a warrior virgin in the Aeneid who was nursed by a mare and raised to be a hunter. She is killed in battle by Arruns and avenged.

Hect means "hundred," from the Greek "hekaton." In rare cases hect- denotes 6 as a prefix, which is clearly what TM is doing with it. But yeah, means hundred actually.

Dulcinea Septimus Dulcinea is the name that Don Quixote gives to Aldonza, making her the object of his courtly love. Aldonza is a kitchen maid and sometime sex worker, but Don Quixote sees her as Dulcinea, an innocent and noble lady for whom he can fight.

Septimus is a Latin personal name meaning seventh.

Protesilaus Ebdoma Protesilaus was the first killed in the Trojan War. His wife was devoted to him.

Ebdoma seems to be from ebdomas, meaning seventh in Latin.

Silas Octakiseron Silas was a first century saint who traveled with Paul.

Oct means eight, I don't know what the kiseron bit is doing.

Colum Asht Colum is an Irish given name meaning "dove" from the Latin columba.

Asht sounds a bit like ocht but I can't find any actual meaning for this word in a language that would make sense. Presumably it means eight.