Having just wrapped up Harrow the Ninth on my Locked Tomb series reread, I find I'm struck by the parallels and foils contained in Mercymorn and Augustine's arcs. Specifically after having context from Nona the Ninth.
Felt like doing a bit of ramble about this topic to get my thoughts out, so bear with me and my perspective here...
(spoilers for both Harrow the Ninth and Nona the Ninth, clearly)
First I want to point out how interesting it is that while we get loads of explanation and reason for their perspectives and behaviors, we don't truly *see* any of their arc because its all happened hundreds to thousands of years before we "meet" them. An unseen character arc is fascinating by itself.
Anyway, as addressed in NtN we know that both Mercy and Augustine were extremely ride-or-die with John, even literally so! John's cause becomes their cause or simply was from the start, and everything they're trying to accomplish revolves around saving humanity and the earth itself, at the defiance of the trillionaires who would rather take their wins and leave everything else behind. They address and deal with lies and betrayal over their science, over the FTL travel, and over the waves of ships that are to provide the exodus of humanity. In the face of this they are willing to die for what might be their only answer left, Johns necromancy. At the end of it all, John goes on an uncontrollable power and vengeance trip to stop the trillionaires from leaving, destroying and killing the solar system in the process, while failing to catch his prey.
Thus skipping ahead (in time) to HtN, we come to John, Mercymorn, and Augustine, ten thousand years or so after the resurrection. We come to understand that after tens of thousands of years they have been carrying the weight of a lie that killed their friends. Living an immortal life burdened by lies and betrayal, with grief overlaid on top. This, This is where it happens. Mercymorn and Augustine, wiped of their memories and understanding of their pre-resurrection selves, maintain an attitude that would come to make them foils of themselves, and perpetuate a theme of vengeance that brings only more grief. They form a plan to learn the truth, form a plan that requires a perfect scenario that will never happen to kill their god emperor. The truth stumbles into their hands and with grief in their hearts from Johns lies, the very man they died to protect ages before, Mercy ends up killing him. Even in the creation of this plan and the execution of confronting him, they both become foils to their original selves, which John even points out before his death; declaring that Augustine's old self would, "tear [his] throat out" for trying to stop Johns crusade, for trying to cease his fighting back against the lies and betrayal which John still remembers, that his friends died in front of him for.
On this path of vengeance they are somewhat blinded to the fact that the Nine Houses will suffer for it. They take action, suggesting after the fact that they instead salvage what's left, and help it gently fall apart. Mercy declares after the Emperor is dead "We always planned for a mass evacuation … but I had my moment … and I took it." echoing (in my mind) a parallel to John himself, who had his moment and took it, dropping every other plan, letting bombs fall on the world he was trying to save and eating it instead; choosing to save it after the fact. The grief is real and it is myriads strong, but in some way it feels petty and hollow. Mercy pursues vengeance in the face of this grief, against one man, at the cost of her people; at the cost of very real lives, diminished as they may be.
We never see how they really got here. We don't see the years intervening between the apocalypse that killed everything and the arrival of Harrowhark. But with many of the answers told in the framework of the timeline, its interesting to see them seemingly repeat themselves in such a wholly different context.
I acknowledge that this merely my own perspective, and its bound to be flawed. I also want to acknowledge that the scenario presented in these books would realistically be bewilderingly difficult to navigate. These are thoughts that came into my mind about it, and if you read all this id be open to any discussion about it.
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