Jul 31
hehe :D
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hehe :D
Ok so just finished rereading Nona the Ninth and a thought occurred to me as I was reading the epilogue:
In the epilogue, Alecto claims she is indebted to Harrow because of Anastasia, that she owes her one favor because of it, but only one. I missed this the first time over because I was too distracted by "get in line, thou big slut", but now that I'm thinking about it, that is a Chekov's gun just waiting to be fired. And since Muir isn't one to leave guns unfired, I'd bet a lot of money Harrow's gonna cash in that favor before the end of Alecto. So what do you guys think the favor will be?
Here's my theory:
John can't resurrect anyone without Alecto, I don't think. I'm pretty sure it's her power that lets him do it, tho I know he says he avoids doing it to not make new RBs, but I'm pretty sure the real reason is he needs Alecto right? (Correct me if I'm wrong, I could very well be wrong). Like he resurrected the entire planet when he blew it up, but couldn't properly resurrect his own daughter, instead making her a ghost in her own dead body. Anyways, that got me thinking, what could Alecto do on her own? Surely, as the spirit of the Earth incarnate, she can resurrect people too?
So, what if, hear me out, Harrow asks for Gideon, properly alive and not tied spiritually to either John or her. And look, I know I'm biased because I really want a happy ending for them where everything's perfect and they're in love and alive and happy, but I also think it could be really fulfilling for both their character arcs! Because think about it, what did Harrow promise at the beginning of Gideon the Ninth? That at the end, Gideon could walk free and go where ever she wants. And Harrow still hasn't fulfilled that promise. Also, Harrow choosing Gideon over everything and everyone else in the universe, when she could ask for anything? If that isn't the most romantic shit ever, I don't know what is, and let's be real, Gideon deserves it. So not only would Harrow set Gideon free to choose her own life in a way she never could before, Harrow would also be choosing Gideon in a way she's never been chosen before. And I think that would be beautiful
Also if anyone else has any ideas of how Harrow's going to call in the favor please tell me!
I know I've said some offhand before, but thinking again about the parallels and foiling between John and Palamedes, especially when looking at pre-Resurrection John.
Both very Messianic figures. "Six for the truth over solace in lies" versus John who was so damn convinced that if people just understood the situation they'd do something about it, so convinced that eventually the truth would win out. Both having very strong feelings about The Rules but very willing to break them when they disagree with them, especially if they see it as being for the greater good. They both end up fusing with a [woman/feminine entity] who they'd long been devoted to, who they wanted to protect but know they hurt; Pal knows Cam's love for him hurt her, John knows Earth's love for him gave him the power he ultimately used to hurt her. In both cases she's the most important thing in his universe but it's also extremely nebulous whether it's at all romantic. Both were also romantically involved with a now-dead woman who they feel like they failed miserably (M— vs Dulcie) and end up having a complicated dynamic with a woman who is effectively a facsimile of the original (Mercy vs Cyth), and ultimately end up killing (or in Pal's case helping kill) the latter.
People who love so much but can absolutely be zealots about it. One who can be incredibly reckless about it and one who's learned to be very very careful. One who's done heinous things for a myriad in pursuit of an end that justifies his means and one who was still so young but always tried to stick to his principles.
"Good morning, Gideon" versus "Annabel, good morning" and even... how Kiriona is technically going by a different name now but Pal uses an older one, and one she still seems more comfortable with or at worst indifferent. Versus we don't actually know how the entity formerly known as Earth feels about any of her assigned names but the one she seems to have been called longest while she was around in this form is Alecto and John uses a newer one he's assigned to her.
Even their fucking appearances. Both very plain and nondescript until they aren't, and except for very remarkable eyes. Short brown hair, strong square jaws, notable smiles. (John's is me squinting at a few debatable implications but it feels likely he has the same lopsided one as both Gideon and Alecto. Pal's is strange alchemy that makes his otherwise plain resting bitch face suddenly lovely.) John starting out with light warm brown eyes and ending up with golden eyes like the sun. Pal starting out with silver eyes like the moon and ending up with Cam's dark cool brown. John's rainbow eclipse eyes versus... I can't think of anything specific Paul's resemble but they're definitely the second-most obviously-unnatural eyes in the series, with the brown pupils against gray irises, and simple drab colors versus John's fucked up mess of rainbow.
But on top of all that I was just thinking about the academia side of things, and I'd already considered how they were both so ridiculous about their studies, but it occurred to me more specifically...
Palamedes made a crusade of his whole life and pushed himself striving for extra credits and everything to become head of his House younger than anyone ever primarily out of his desperate desire to save Dulcie. And John had made a crusade of his whole life pre-magic pushing himself through three different universities and spearheading this project and securing the funding for it all by his 30s out of his desperate desire to save Earth.
And even worse, John ultimately hurts Earth with bombs and somewhat turns her into a bomb, in an act that turns her into a different person. Pal turns himself into a bomb to avenge the one he'd loved, attacking the imposter who'd killed her.
And Jod it kills me how many lists like this you can make between so many groups of characters in this series. But also now on top of the John and Pal list I am...
Considering Alecto vs Dulcie... "I died once... no, twice." / "You died... again?" "Truly wonderful news for my haters." The love they have for ugly messy imperfect things. Alecto's divinity vs the celestial being Dulcie seems to have become... I hope AtN gives us so so much new fuel for this list.
There's just, so much everything forever, I so deeply love Alectopause and the space is allows to obsess over and realize all these things.
Alecto was angry, and raised her up, and kissed her. The child did not cry out, though blood fell from her lips and tongue, and she was wounded sore. For Alecto knew not how to kiss, except such as it involved the mouth and teeth. And Alecto said to her, Why are you not appeased? That is how meat loves meat.
I love u Alecto 💛
Something I "knew" but only just realized this connection for today...
The beginning of Nona the Ninth:
You told me, Sleep, I’ll wake you in the morning. I asked, What is morning? and you said, When everyone who fucked with me is dead. When everyone we loved has gone or fled, That’s morning.
And, in the midst of his six-month mid-dismyriad crisis after losing all the remaining people and so many of the things he'd been clinging to since the beginning all in one night...
The end of Nona the Ninth:
"Annabel, good morning."
So if I said there sure is another way you could read John shaping Alecto—with whom he shares a single soul and to whom he's so connected that they share physical hunger pains—into the unattainable ideal of a woman at the same time that he's shaping himself into this idealized Biblical Patriarch—a role he's distinctly uncomfortable performing ... and then making that feminine half of them as dead as he could make her and burying her in a deeply hidden yet sacred and beautiful place that can only be opened with his blood, in the most secured part of the deepest darkest hole on the darkest coldest planet in the farthest reaches of his home system, over which he also installed a maximum security prison for good measure...
Something about his chambers on the Mithraem resembling a closet, the implication they did at Canaan too. Having neither conformed to gender expectations nor believed in a Christian God as a kid but having had both pushed onto him his whole life; being fed a very specific idea of What God Should Be. Refusing to allow himself but yearning so deeply to be reunited with her. Both having associations with and ties to the sun, but John being a man-shaped eclipse.
Burying it/her/them while he remains just him...
The Locked Tomb x Knights of Guinevere sketches. Barbie Alecto! 💖💖💖
hello
Harrow's song to Alecto
thank you for your attention