Harrow Brainrot Time @harrowharks-iliac-crest - Tumblr Blog

Welcome!

This is my sideblog for The Locked Tomb liveblogging. My main is @lilyliveredlittlerichboy.

If you wanna read the liveblog from the start (starting from Harrow the Ninth), click here!

If you wanna read my liveblog of Nona the Ninth from the start, click here!

To see my current theories, click here!

Please feel free to reply, ask, interact in any way. I welcome it!

My liveblog has been featuring a lot of anatomical analysis (using my degree for good, see) and a bunch of theories.

I'm currently reading Nona the Ninth chapter by chapter. Posts are in a queue posting once a day, and I'll add to the liveblog when I can - don't panic if there haven't been any posts in a few days or even weeks, I'm gonna get back to it!

I have read Gideon the Ninth and Harrow the Ninth, as well as any bonus material up to this point.

No spoilers please!

Enjoy your stay!!

#harrow the ninth #harrow the ninth liveblog #htn liveblog #the locked tomb #pinned post

Your reading comprehension is piss on the poor and you just ignored the people trying to help without spoiling you

I've sat on this ask for months at this point, and I'm gonna be honest:

This one, single, stupid, annoying, baffling hate message took much of the joy out of keeping this blog active for me.

Yes I've also been hella busy irl. Liveblogging is effort, and when I've had time, I've needed to just sit and stare at the wall or scroll or play on my phone. You know how it is.

But not gonna lie, to be doing something for fun and so others can enjoy my reading progress, only for some random anon to come in and shit on my effort, makes it a whole lot less enjoyable.

And for the record, I'm not reading a mystery book in order to figure out all the mystery as soon as humanly possible. Part of the joy is being surprised. I don't need help or hints - in fact I'd rather you keep them to yourself and follow my journey of discovery with earnest enjoyment.

If you're not enjoying my liveblog, the unfollow button is right there. I'm not forcing you to read any of this.

And if you can't be nice, maybe don't say anything at all.

#asks #Anonymous #i will get back to liveblogging. eventually #I've just been bouncing between too busy to breathe and too burnt out to do anything at all #am i doing too much? almost certainly #am i going to stop doing any of the things?#definitely not #I'm in a bad mood today so you get reflections on hate anon and rambles in the tags. sorry #not liveblog

strattseva

Hey! sorry to trouble you, and I hope you're well.

I was reading through your Harrow and Nona liveblogs and really enjoying them. I got to the last post in your Nona liveblog (9 weeks ago?) and was wondering if you're going to continue with it or not in the future.

I loved your reactions to everything in Harrow and hope you've continued to enjoy Nona in the mean time!

Aw hi, thank you so much for this!! This was a really nice ask to receive.

I do intend to still continue the liveblog - sorry it's been so long, I've been super busy irl! I was hoping to get back to it soon though 😁

Thanks again 💖

#fyi 💖#not liveblog

9

And we're back to Nona, who's just waking up from a midday nap. Hence the dream.

Sixth skull - more Cam/Pal content? I hope so.

Anyway, they're not here to record what Nona remembers of her dream. Is she going to tell them when she gets home?

(It occurs to me, belatedly, that what Nona tells them is very different to what we're reading in John chapters. I assume there's a good reason for that.)

“What happened? When I talked on the radio?” Hot Sauce hesitated, then said: “The watcher took off.” “Well, that’s good, isn’t it? Right?” “I need to investigate.”

The watcher heard what Nona was saying, without reading her lips, or reading her lips only in the few words before she covered her mouth; the most they could have gotten from this was Crown.

Someone from Blood of Eden seems likely. In which case, they're almost definitely watching Nona.

Unfortunately, these days if she said, “Cam, can’t we go swimming?” Cam would say, “Remember what happened the last time,” and won every argument that way. That was because what happened the last time was that Camilla had got sick, and less important, Nona had got shot.

Hey, that's not not important!

I assume the water's poisonous or radioactive which is why it's safe for Nona to swim but not Cam.

And that someone shot her because they don't want people in the water?

and her jandals, and then after masks were tied and hats put on they walked to the beach in the low dusk.

Jandals?

Jean sandals?

Lmao.

That was why Nona had always swum at dusk, because Cam said the jellyfish sting killed most people within minutes.

Ohhh, that's why - it's not the water that's poisonous.

Salt water had always relieved her: salt water made her feel as though, if there was someone in there with her, she would suddenly know the words to tell them everything.

Throwback to Harrow only being told secrets in salt water - the pool scene of GtN. Nona's dreams of being in water. Was Harrow's family tradition of only speaking secrets in water an Alecto thing? I'm so curious.

Anyway, I feel Nona here, I also love being in the water.

Camilla was crouched down, wiping her knives on one of their jackets. When she looked up, Nona was electrified. One of her eyes was a pale, pearlescent grey; the other one of her eyes was a deep, cool stone colour. Nona understood in a sudden shiver what she was looking at. “Stay calm,” said Camilla-and-Palamedes. “Five breaths, if you need it.”

So this is why Camilla had gotten sick; Pyrrha aluded to it in the conversation a few chapters ago. They can both be present at the same time, but not without a cost.

That was a tense little moment there!

The worst part was that the blood was coming from everywhere, with no wounds, or bullet holes, or stab marks. It was coming out of her skin.

Camilla-and-Palamedes did necromancy to incapacitate the people who cornered them, and Cam's body isn't designed to take that kind of strain. Terrifying.

“Hect, you’re not listening. It’s killing him too—” “It was good,” said Camilla, and her eyes closed. “It was good. We were happy.”

For just a moment, they were together again. Oh, this pains me.

“Here’s to Camilla Hect, yet another of devotion’s casualties,” and knocked back the glass. Then she said to the light, quite gently, “No, I don’t blame you, man … He was always looking for things to throw himself on.”

Pyrrha is talking to the blue light as if it's a person...

I can't make much sense of what she's saying, though.

#nona the ninth #nona the ninth liveblog #ntn liveblog #tlt liveblog #ntn spoilers #nona the ninth spoilers #tlt spoilers #the locked tomb #the locked tomb liveblog #the locked tomb spoilers

John 15:23

Another John chapter, so soon?

Okay, hang on, we're looking up these bible verses now.

First John chapter (20:8):

Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed.

A few things here; the disciple who had reached the tomb first - the empty tomb - seeing and believing.

John Gaius's first "disciples" were the last to see and believe?

The tomb is empty. Alecto is (sorry to homestuck reference) already here.

Anyway,

Second John chapter (5:20):

For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.

I can't help but be reminded that John told Harrow that he'd be honoured to have her as his daughter. He is telling her this story, in a way - he is showing her his works, and will show her even greater works, so she will be amazed.

Alternatively, he showed the living people of Earth his work (on the cryotubes) and will show them even greater work (resurrection/necromancy) so they will be amazed (undead).

Either way, this verse makes sense for this chapter.

Now, this chapter we're about to read is John 15:23:

Whoever hates me hates my Father as well.

Short and rather ominous in the TLT context.

Let's read.

By the third day everyone believed, because of my eyes. [...] The morning after the lights went out they lightened to dark amber, then they went the colour of new lager, and on the third day they were gold. [...] He said, And all around us, those corpses refused to rot.

... *sits in mildly stunned disbelief*

... at, you know, Augustine and Mercymorn not knowing that John had Lyctored with Alecto. They clearly knew him before; they saw his eyes before.

Did he lie to them about what happened? Did they actually believe him?

Below them the waters were rising, [...] The rain would turn on and off. The clouds were strange, and in the far distance, a twister danced on the neon surface of the sea.

The waters were visibly rising? The sea neon? A twister - a tornado?

Something deeply fucked up has happened here, and it's still not really been explained exactly what.

He said: I’d been sleeping in the facility already. I refused to go home. A— and M— moved in with me, and G— set up outside; he was sleeping in his ute.

Whatever is happening to John, he's willingly subjecting his friends to his presence, which seems extremely ill-advised.

I started knowing what room they’d been stashed in even if no one told me. C— said it was psychological clues in their body language, but I wasn’t convinced. I could feel them—I could feel everyone in the building—it was like having the lights turned off. [...] It wasn’t that I hadn’t been able to hear them before, but I couldn’t separate the noises. Like hearing a chord without knowing what notes go into it.

That sounds a lot like necromancy to me. Did John just kinda... spontaneously develop necromancy as a mutation after being exposed to a bunch of radiation? As good a theory as any, at this point.

So I brought them into the room with the bodies and I was all, Let me introduce you to … Ulysses. Let me introduce you to … Titania.

... Hang on hang on those names sound familiar.

!!!!

Ulysses the First Titania Tetra, his cavalier SIXTH SAINT TO SERVE THE KING UNDYING

From Harrow the Ninth's Dramatis Personae.

These kids became a Lyctor.

He said, Well. When I said, Ulysses, I moved each of his fingers and his thumb into a fist, curled them into the palm. And when I said, This is Titania, same thing, I placed each of her fingers and her thumb into a fist. And I was laughing and laughing like I’d kicked out a chair before someone sat down. Like, good joke. But M— threw up. “Because, Harrow, I’d done it from the other side of the room.”

Puppeting the bodies -

Just like Harrow did her parents, just like Cytherea did Protesilaus.

This has extremely disturbing implications about humans post-Resurrection; are they really all just puppeted by John?

No, there must be more to this.

I wanna know more.

#nona the ninth #nona the ninth liveblog #ntn liveblog #tlt liveblog #ntn spoilers #nona the ninth spoilers #tlt spoilers #the locked tomb #the locked tomb liveblog #the locked tomb spoilers #New International Version translation for the bible verses. btw. for the record

8

Third skull - Ooooooohhh are we gonna see some of Ianthe or Coronabeth?? I really hope so. I didn't think I'd say this but I miss them! Especially Coronabeth, but even Ianthe.

When you’re out there today, I want you to pretend to do something.” “Okay. What?” “I want you to pretend you’ve got a radio,” said Hot Sauce, “and you’re making a call.”

Ohhhh, a challenge, presumably to see if they can find out anything more about the mysterious stranger who's been watching them.

Then Nona tried to put the shoes on Noodle. It was by far the most difficult thing she had ever attempted. It would have been easier to do the weird bone things that Camilla and Palamedes loved her to attempt. Noodle didn’t want to have his pattens put on.

Having attempted to put harnesses and tiny clothes on my cats, I know the struggle.

This is so precious.

“How are you, Crown? Things are fine over here. I wish you were around more. [...] You don’t have to bring me a present, but please wear your hair down. Anyway, I love you, so, bye.”

This explains the Third skull; Nona is pretending to call Coronabeth.

Also, she's so gay for her. (Who isn't? It's Coronabeth.) It's adorable.

And... nothing happens, and that's it. A very short chapter! I've come to expect longer chapters.

Oh well!

#nona the ninth #nona the ninth liveblog #ntn liveblog #tlt liveblog #ntn spoilers #nona the ninth spoilers #tlt spoilers #the locked tomb #the locked tomb liveblog #the locked tomb spoilers

harrowharks-iliac-crest

John 5:20

That's a different number to the one we had before. Which one was it before?

John's first chapter was 20:8. Are the numbers an indication of time? In which case, it is likely that this chapter refers to events happening even further in the past.

He sat down on a patch of brown grass and laughed a little, and said, “Beloved, it wouldn’t be over—it wouldn’t begin—for a year.” He said: It was the thin end of the wedge. He said that official paperwork claimed they’d decided to pull back and think things through again, but he’d always known they’d reinvested in something else, he just didn’t know what. He said when the leak happened everyone suddenly knew everything, their project was all over the news, everyone had a fucking opinion.

Yeah, in terms of timing, this is before the resurrection, regarding the ending of the project they'd been working on. The one where they tried to get everyone out.

It really sounds like John wasn't the one to kill everyone, rather - he was working on a way to save everyone, but it was the rich fuckers who cut the funding before they managed to save people.

C— was panicking because with the project over she was getting recalled to England and didn’t want to go, she’d got N— and didn’t want to leave her, refused to admit they were dating even though we all knew.

C was Cassiopeia, then, based on this, with N being Nigella, her cavalier. And partner.

He said, It was the last one that was getting to me. I knew all those bodies by name. Funny to say, but they were my mates, you know? I’d worked on them for such a long time, and they’d given us so much, and now they were going to get dumped in some concrete skip because after what we’d done to them they couldn’t be cremated or buried safely. I hated that.

Um

Yikes????

Did John know them when they were alive? Was he working with their bodies only, or with their revenants as well? Clearly he was conducting some kind of necromancy-resurrection research, and it did something to the bodies.

What the fuck did you do to the bodies, John?

Oh no but he felt bad about it and he knew them by name and they were his mates and that means it was ok for him to experiment on their bodies - but not burying or cremating the bodies, now THAT would be going too far.

Fucked up little man.

we had a pet cop, P—. She’d made detective by that point; was going on to big things in the MoD. Knew G— from way back, and G— and I were both hometown boys, so P— kept the heat down for us.

Pyrrha was a cop? Makes sense, I guess. And she'd been friends with Gideon for a really long time.

M— and A— could’ve walked into new jobs in a heartbeat but I was irradiated, I’d never work in the industry again. I sure as hell wouldn’t be allowed to work on anything else to do with you.

The word "irradiated" catches my attention here - metaphorically, the public "needed someone to blame" and John might have been the most high-profile person involved with this project - but, really, I think he's being quite literal here.

His research was quite literally radioactive.

And the last bit here implies that he was working on resurrection only to save Alecto. There was mention of cryotubes before - the other project, the one to save everyone else, wasn't a resurrection project, it was a preservation of life project. Maybe similar methods were used but ultimately for different goals.

Interesting.

but it was like the crisis had been announced all over again. Like you’d sprung this on us out of nowhere, like you’d never said you were sick. [...] It was about giving you breathing room, you know? I knew I wouldn’t live to see you get well, but I wanted to stop you hurting.

Let's backtrack a second here. This here highly implies that the imminent crisis was not just caused by Alecto, but caused - or exacerbated - by Alecto being sick.

That shows everything in a slightly different light, huh? John wasn't just selfishly wanting Alecto to be well because he loved her, and damn everyone else - Alecto's presence, or her sickness, was imminently threatening humanity.

Wow.

Before I started reading this book, I had some theories about who - or what - Alecto was. Let's revisit for a second.

She could have been an alien, or a genetically modified human; this whole thing seems to suggest a volatile, radioactive nature about her, as if she'd been made only from radioactive isotopes of the atoms that make up a human body. The idea creeps me the fuck out. This, here, suggests that her fate was inextricably tied to humanity's as a whole, which suggests more than just a radioactive body.

She was definitely an experimental subject, that one is very clear now.

Augustine calls Alecto a "monster" only after her resurrection. Her pre-rez personality is... honest to a fault, sweet, a little bit stupid.

And that REALLY sounds like someone we've been following in this book so far. Until further notice, we're going with Nona Is Alecto (minus memories) theory. She's dreaming her memories.

Sorry, almost forgot we were still reading a chapter here with all the theorycrafting. This one has been extremely interesting and illuminating so far.

But I wasn’t taking anything. I was sleeping like a baby. I was looking at those guys on the slab and something in me was like, I know you, I know this. He said, Told M— that. Huge mistake. She was like, Oh my God, you’re drinking, aren’t you. You’re on amphetamines. You are on coke. You are on amphetamines and coke. I was all, Yeah … Coke Zero. She didn’t laugh. I laughed. He said, I guess I’ve always thought any pun was automatically funny.

Sorry Mercymorn, but that IS funny.

Mentions of a "canister" and a "mixture". John kept working on the cryo-experiment which was tangled up with the saving-Alecto experiment.

“Most of the bodies got the melt, like we thought they would,” he said. “Damaged beyond repair. Their brains liquefied almost immediately. But, Harrow … all the ones I touched, all the ones I loved … they stayed incorrupti

Aha-!

Another dead-cut off chapter, just like the poem in the prologue.

Another clue.

Interesting that he says their brains liquefied - not their entire bodies; it was an experiment very much focused on the brains. Lends credibility to my brains-as-river theory.

John hadn't done anything special at this point - other than research. And being, ah, irradiated.

Maybe not actually just nuclear radiation. Some kind of necromantic radiation. And touching the bodies, or being near them, somehow spared them from degrading instantly once their power was shut off.

Also - he's clearly talking to Alecto as you here; he's recollecting memories that include Alecto, and yet he addresses her as Harrowhark. And he's telling the story, she's not just reliving memories.

Alecto-as-Nona is super far away from John right now, as far as we know - unless John is emitting the blue light, but his presence doesn't normally hurt necromancers; it's far more likely that the blue light is a Resurrection Beast, or related to one at least. (Mercymorn described the RB attacking the Mithraeum as "Blue like Loveday's eyes"...)

Does he have a psychic connection to Alecto? Does he address her as Harrow because she looks like Harrow? In order to not invoke her name? Is this real? Is it a memory?

All of this is extremely curious, cannot wait to read more.

harrowharks-iliac-crest

@stranded-cryptid As of the end of HtN, we don't actually know that much about either of them, and they are described in kinda similar ways. Cristabel was kind - but Augustine describes her as a "fanatic", and stupid, and a bad influence on his brother. She did something he found unforgiveable, that is not any more clearly defined. We know very little about her.

I've gone into more detail about what we know about Alecto here. In summary; she is only described as a "monster" post-resurrection, as far as I can tell, she is described as honest to a fault, sweet, and a bit stupid.

I don't consider Cristabel as relevant to the current Nona (as opposed to John) plot. I do however know that Alecto is absolutely relevant here, and that she did take up residence in Harrow's body. Hence my conclusion that Nona is Alecto.

@jods-duplicitous-sluts Yeah okay, but the chapter isn't written in Latin. I'm gonna continue assuming that this chapter was cut off in some way, just like the poem/prologue at the very start.

It didn't sound like John's project was a bomb or necromancy in the first John chapter. What was described there made it sound like they were working on creating pods able to put a person in cryogenic sleep

Apologies for the late reply!

Yeah no absolutely, but they were working on the cryogenic sleep project BECAUSE of what was happening with Alecto, which was some kind of bomb-nuclear-necromancy explosion waiting to happen, by the sounds of the 2nd John chapter. The two were separate, but absolutely related.

#asks #dreanner95

harrowharks-iliac-crest

Harrow the Ninth: Appendices

Glossary

I don't actually have much to say about the Glossary here, except for remarking on this one sentence in the entry for the Blood of Eden:

On Wake's death, Blood of Eden withdrew somewhat out of the eye of the Houses to regroup, but were enlivened by the reappearance of their legendary commander in the form of a revenant.

It's news to me that Wake was a revenant! Revenants, if I followed the lore correctly (rudely, there isn't a Glossary entry for them here or in GtN), exist when planets are killed (or resurrected - as the Resurrection Beasts are revenants). Is Wake's form as The Sleeper a revenant, and could she possess Cytherea's body as a revenant? This might be the first mention or inkling that people can become revenants as well.

(Hang on, I have to look something up -)

Ah, here it is, right at the beginning of the book:

"What happens to the soul?" "In the case of gradual death [...] transition is automatc and straightforward. [...] In cases of apopneumatic shock, where death is sudden and violent, the energy burst can be sufficient to countermand osmotic pressure and leave the soul temporarily isolated. Whence we gain the ghost, and the revenant."

This was early enough in Harrow the Ninth that I didn't pay much attention to it, I didn't know what it meant, but I remembered revenants coming up in this conversation. Though the mention I remembered was a little later:

"[...]when a soul is so rudely taken away from the planet--" [...] "A revenant," you said. "Always a revenant," he said. "Every single time, a goddamned revenant."

So I remembered revenants in the context of planets and resurrection beasts, but not people. But people very much can have revenants, and that's what was going on with Wake. Interesting!! Something to look out for for the reread.

Let's move on.

Blood of Eden Memorandum for Record

Oooohh, a look into some of the inner workings of Blood of Eden: The underlying ideology, strategies and plans of this group of rebel insurgents. Should be a fun read!

Your first tactical consideration should always be to identify present necromancers with the highest achievable degree of certainty.

Sounds easy, is anything but; the section directly after this goes into dispelling a bunch of myths regarding necromancers.

I'd look for someone who is physically small, unimposing, even weak or easily overlooked; possibly someone who is with a cavalier (armed, physically larger and stronger). This is by no means a fool-proof method, though.

Necromancers cannot "resurrect" the dead, [...] They often can animate human corpses--whether recent or heavily decayed--and use them as puppets [...] if a comrade is killed in battle, and their body is later seen walking around, they are not "alive." [...] They cannot be salvaged; they can only been avenged.

Well, when you put it like that, necromancy does sound like an absolutely horrifying craft which needs to be opposed at all costs. Yikes.

The offensive technique most commonly attributed to necromancers in popular anecdote - the so-called "death ray" - appears to be complete fiction.

This made me laugh. Though the idea is terrifying, it seems like the idea of necromancers has been rather elevated and twisted in popular culture. This is most likely to be common on occupied planets, where necromancers can't access thanergy and therefore don't have their full powers - and therefore presumably just don't go there very much.

Oh -

Necromancers seemingly do, however, gain energy from proximity to violent death. Although this is a disgusting notion, intelligence sources and tactical analysis make clear that a major House strategy involves trying to inflict multiple ground casualties as quickly as possible at the beginning of an engagement, in order to give any necromancers present a "boost" in their abilities.

Makes sense - if a planet lacks thalergy, just make some.

The actual mechanics of this process are still very poorly understood, and investigating them remains a strategic priority.

It didn't occur to Wake to ask her Lyctor friends about this? They should be able to explain at least the basics of this just fine.

If a necromancer happens to be in the next room - even if it cannot see, hear or in any way perceive your presence - it will immediately know that its minion has been killed, and how. Even if you conceal yourself or leave the room, it will still somehow know where you are.

The use of the "it" pronoun here is chilling. Clearly, necromancers are not quite seen as humans by the Blood of Eden. The act of necromancy - even the aptitude for necromancy - depersons them in the insurgents' eyes. (At least some of them - assuming that this was a collaborative effort - in the next bullet point, necromancers are referred to with singular they.)

Like, I can see why you'd want to deperson them in this way, given how they see necromancy. But hey, necromancers are people too.

Anyway, what they're describing here is definitely scary, especially from a recon/assassination attempt perspective. How the fuck do you even.

Ah yes, by killing the necromancer(s) first, if you can, or just avoiding engagement if you can't.

It would be dangerous to end this memorandum without mentioning the Emperor's most powerful servants, the so-called "Lyctors". Where these creatures are concerned, no normal rules of engagement apply. Avoid them at all costs.

This memorandum was likely written before Commander Wake's time, if they know so little about necromantic theory and caution to avoid Lyctors at all costs. I kinda really want to know how the collaboration between Wake and Augustine and Mercymorn kicked off - did she seek them out? Or did they look for her? She was driven by the desire to find a way to kill the Emperor, and with him the Empire - the Lyctors were driven by the desire to find out what had happened to Alecto, and what was in the Locked Tomb. And they were willing to sacrifice an entire Empire for it.

Which also, still doesn't explain the affair between Wake and Gideon the First/Pyrrha.

This concludes today's liveblog session - we will be back tomorrow hopefully, with As Yet Unsent!!

harrowharks-iliac-crest

@alextarg Interesting question! So the way I see it there's actually a few different explanations for this.

Explanation 1: Gideon the Ninth is written from Gideon's perspective; she's not particularly reliable nor particularly observant, and the necromancers tell her jack shit. It's very possible that the necros in Canaan House did detect the murders and just... didn't tell her.

Explanation 2: The Blood of Eden have incomplete or inaccurate information. This is confirmed in a few different places throughout the books and appendices, so they might be having their own theories about necro "death-sense" which are flawed. I assume it is the thanergy bloom caused by death that BoE are referring to here; which will give necromancers extra power and will be detectable by them, but it's kinda unclear how accurate this sense actually is.

Explanation 3: I'm just thinking about how the deaths in Canaan House went down. Abigail and Magnus were killed not long before Harrow, Gideon and Cytherea were about to be in the area anyway. There doesn't seem to be any mention of how the others knew they'd been killed; just that they all appeared there shortly afterwards. Jeanne and Isaac were both killed in Gideon's view. After this, it got really messy and chaotic. We don't know for sure the necromancers didn't detect any of these deaths. But also, with how impossible Abigail and Magnus were to resurrect, it's possible that whatever Cytherea did to them just extinguished their thanergy, kinda like how Gideon the First did with Harrow when he tried to kill her in HtN; thus stifling the thanergy bloom and making the deaths harder to detect.

So, in conclusion; it's not clear, but there are a number of explanations why this isn't explicitly said in GtN.

#replies