i’d say “sorry for swinging a bat at the hornet’s nest,” but i’m not, actually! it’s been almost five years since harrow the ninth was released, and i STILL see people insist that harrow isn’t schizophrenic; she’s just being haunted. fandom takes representation of an intensely stigmatized mental illness (that the author candidly says she has!) and ignores it!!!
what’s crazy is there’s so much depth to explore with Harrow being both schizophrenic AND haunted (i.e. not knowing whether something is real and a byproduct of the haunting or the psychosis) but people seem to think the two can’t coexist.
YEAH. Like that's part of the POINT. Harrow straight up didn't notice there was anything weird about her being haunted because she was used to hallucinations already.
“You have kept that close to your chest,” she said. “I would like to hear more sometime, if you are ever inclined to tell me. But, Harrowhark, that squares perfectly with another theory I have, if all this time you only looked to your own frustrations—have you ever considered the fact that you might also be…” “Here it comes,” said her husband wearily. “The ghost agenda.” “Magnus! Haunted,” his wife finished, in triumph. “Harrowhark Nonagesimus—I really think you should consider the idea that you might also be haunted.”
Abigail specifically says ALSO, and points out that the hallucinations are why Harrow didn't clock it. You don't even have to look to interviews or social media comments. Directly in the text IN the reveal of her being haunted, it says that's not the only thing going on.
The acknowledgments in the back of HtN also have Muir saying,
Harrowhark Nonagesimus did not have anyone to put soluble banana-flavoured antipsychotics under her tongue for her condition. I do, and therefore I would like to thank every key worker in my past who had to administer me medication, because they were always nice about it and often I was not.
This is such an important part of Harrow, and it's so important in general to have mental health representation that is raw and messy and not sanitized and still have that character be someone the audience can relate to and love.
