#tysm aust for the screenshots and your thoughts!!!

[g1deonthefirst]

i was wondering how you and a lot of the fandom came to the conclusion about cristabel & alfred’s suicide pact?/gen

i totally see looking back how you could get that but i never picked up on it. i was wondering if tamsyn said anything or if people are just rlly smart about it lmao

ok credit for this answer goes to @diosapate who is the Expert on all things mercymorn augustine cristabel and alfred. i'm just paraphrasing. but basically it's not explicitly in the text but it comes pretty damn close:

first of all there's the fact that cristabel is described as a "fanatic" who led alfred astray and augustine saying he built an entire myriad on the idea he could've made him come around — i think both these lines refer to lyctorhood and alfred's choice to kill himself to force lyctorhood on augustine. other parts of htn indicate that augustine was not prepared to ascend; he says he did so under "scrambling pressure." of course, this doesn't in itself mean it was a suicide pact with cristabel, but the fact that augustine ascended first and mercy ascended second does indicate that cristabel and alfred died around the same time, particularly since cristabel was the fanatic and you'd expect her to be the first to go...especially considering her willingness to kill herself pre-resurrection.

and then there's the fact that augustine explicitly mentions hating suicide pacts and name-drops cristabel and alfred in the very next breath, which pretty strongly indicates that they did have a suicide pact and augustine forcing mercymorn to live is the "reckoning." plus there's an interesting sort of thematic parallel (and maybe even a hint of soul permeability!) in cristabel and alfred making a suicide pact that resulted in mercymorn and augustine's ascension to begin with and augustine later refusing a suicide pact with mercymorn when it comes to ending john's reign. i hope that answers your question!!