[hilbertslargepowerfulmagnet]

I am rereading Gideon the Ninth and one of the funniest scenes in the whole book gotta be the scene where Gideon (has never had a hot beverage in her life) knocks back half a cup of boiling tea. And then just stands there suffering in silence. Imagine being Jeannemary Chatur or someone and seeing the super cool and mysterious Shadow Cultist from the Ninth House just absolutely SHOTTING a cup of piping hot tea. and then trying to play it cool. I would lose it.

[tooturtly]

Rereading gtn and Im stuck on Colum's missing finger. What happened to it?

Was it a battle injury? Do the Templars truly live up to their name and see actual battle?

This, to me, seems incredibly risky. To go through all the effort of getting one heir with a matching cav and then risk them both potentially dying in combat, after going through the trouble of making three potential cavs to get a blood type match, is just not worth it. I mean, Judith, heir to the official military house, hadn't ever seen actual combat. And Isaac was going to join, be we know the fourth uses stored genetic material, and is an appendix of the fifth, so his personal survival didn't matter as much. So if it wasn't likely a battle injury, and cavs of the Eighth need to be a blood type match, I have a second theory.

What if Silas ate it? (Or, at least, has it)

I admit, it seems waaay too much like something heretical for the eighth to do, but, they're also soul siphoners. What if the necro having tasted/consumed a small part of the cavs flesh allows them to call them back easier? Maybe this is why a blood type match is so important, because the flesh is more involved than it would appear. We know Ianthe uses a similar practice to boost thanergy, and while the others think it's gross it's not said to be openly heretical. And it's an essential part of the Lyctoral process, a requirement to merge souls. And we know that souls, to return from the place beyond the physical, need a link back. The link to the corpse is the strongest.

So even if Silas didn't eat it, it's not ridiculous to think he wouldn't at least have a preserved Colum finger on him. Or somewhere on the Eighth. To make it easier for Silas to "bid him return"

(This line is so specific too, and the way he mentions how long it took Colum to come back... hmm... the things we don't know)

Im not sold on this theory, personally. Im not putting all of my eggs in this basket. There could be plenty of other explanations. I think it's reasonable that Colum could once have gotten into a scuffle meting out the "Emperors Justice", but would it not be mentioned? The detail of his missing finger keeps jumping out at me. And I likely missed a line about it. But it's like a gap in my teeth.

[katakaluptastrophy]

I fear I've always gently assumed the Eighth take a rather Gileadean approach to justice and perhaps Colum was rather more exuberant in his youth...

Though I could be over-reading into the fact that we learn that Colum is missing his middle finger and that the Houses use giving a middle finger as an insulating gesture in the same paragraph: "at least one finger on his left hand was a gross-looking stump, which she admired" and later, that's specified to be his middle finger: "is “your kind” people who aren’t nephews and who have middle fingers?... If it had been Crux she would have given him the finger."

It would certainly add an interesting dimension to Colum watching this hot-headed kid chafing against expectations.

[butchbrav]

ortus died for the ungodly

[nymphwood]

the lament for gideon

i haven’t done a master study in a while, this was so fun!! based on the lament for icarus by herbert james draper. obviously, i had to make it griddlehark

[mouldybrie]

[mouldybrie]

choripan camilla

[vividciggy]

Domestic doodle

[micahulrichdraws]

Every kings end. (Ink on paper, 2025.)

[jugglingjujube]

considering Mercymorn worked with John for 10,000 years she's actually doing fantastic. I would have started killing wayyyy before that

[lizanthropy]

truth over solace in lies

finished one of the most amazing reading experiences in my recent memory! these two are my very favourites.

keep the notes spoiler-free! thank you!

[dillusion-art]

- Nona loves the beach.

ig: d.ill.usion

[naberiusternt]

mostly harrow the ninth is about meeting your in-laws

[wolfycoffee]

This was definitely worth drawing

[birdplushie]

i love when a story lets you see a woman having the worst day or week or month or more of her entire life. yay :)

[grynwood]

When they're both Orpheus and Eurydice>>>>

An exercise in making animatics that absolutely kicked my ass

[katakaluptastrophy]

“Step one,” she said, singsong, “preserve the soul, with intellect and memory intact."/"I cupped your soul in my hands."

"Step two, analyse it—understand its structure, its shape."/"I mean, I tried. There was so much of you."

"Step three, remove and absorb it: take it into yourself without consuming it in the process.”/"I opened my mouth and tried to cram you inside."

“Step four, fix it in place so it can’t deteriorate."/" I needed a house to put you in."

"Step five, incorporate it: find a way to make the soul part of yourself without being overwhelmed."/"Fuck knows what would’ve happened if I tried to absorb you all the way; I probably would’ve burnt to death."

"Step six: consume the flesh. Not the whole thing, a drop of blood will do to ground you."/"I scooped dirt into my mouth…ate until I vomited."

"Step seven is reconstruction—making spirit and flesh work together the way they used to, in the new body."/"I conjured up a beautiful labyrinth to house you in. I was terrified you’d find some way to escape before I was done."

"And then for the last step you hook up the cables and get the power flowing."/"As the world went up I remade us both. I hid me in you…I hid you in me. And when we were together…once the shaman had claimed the sun…I became God."

[geminivenusgirl]

something i think about a lot is how in gtn, gideon spends most of the book oblivious/in denial about her feelings towards harrow, but when we finally get her first person narration in htn, she’s a lot more direct about it.

like sure, she’s mostly cracking jokes, but the concept of her spending all those months dormant just thinking about the depth of her love for harrow makes me lose my mind a bit…

especially when you consider the fact gideon assumes harrow could never feel the same way, and that she lobotomized herself for the sake of her independence instead of overwhelming grief </3