i love the way that the tridentarius twins parallel gideon and harrow in the “two girls growing up with only each other and in weird positions of power” way. i think especially in nona we got some insight into a lot of the ways that ianthe and corona would… hurt each other. the threats of suicide, of abandonment, of choosing someone else. imo, it makes gideon and harrows situation growing up so much. clearer.
the tridentarius sisters were allowed to say what gideon and harrow never were. they were allowed to love and despise and need each other in some incredibly open and blatant ways. to the point where their main threat to one another seems to have always been “i’m going to leave you alone.”
and the thing is! these exact things are true for gideon and harrow as well, they just were never under any circumstances allowed to say it. they fought, they hurt each other, but what was gideons very first threat to harrow in the very first book? she was going to join the cohort. she was going to leave harrow alone. and harrow to gideon? she wouldn’t provide any support from the ninth, she was going to leave gideon alone.
it’s the same tableau. we get to see with the twins what we didn’t get to (and probably won’t ever get to) see with harrow and gideon. we get to see what would have happened if they were allowed to grow up admitting how desperately they needed each other in a world where they didn’t have anyone else.
ooooh, this is a fascinating take! the same kind of codependent need, but none of the ability to admit it even to themselves?
you might be able to take it a step farther - the twins can each believe (inaccurately) that the other could give up on them, while gideon and harrow both wrongly believe that they themselves could be the one to leave?
still feeling that last bit out. but thank you! very neat.