(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . The Locked Tomb Read: Gideon the Ninth, Act 5 and Recap [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-13 Notice the cross in the D. Hadn't seen it before, had you? The very brief but packed and tragic Act 5. Chapter 37 (Skull header: Gideon — 9th House skull with a mandible and aviators, and the IX crossed out) “’Okay,’ said Gideon. ‘Okay. Get up’” (p. 435). Gideon is with Harrow, talking and moving her through the next steps in the battle: make sure Camilla is safe, “take down” the bone construct, pick up the sword, and prepare herself to fight Cytherea. We barely notice the fight, though, because the real action is between Gideon, insisting that Harrow absorb her soul, and Harrow, horrified beyond comprehension. Harrow is the bystander in the swordfight. When Cytherea asks, “How do you feel, little sister?” it’s “Harrowhark’s mouth [that] said, ‘Ready for round three,’ and, ‘or round four. I think I lost track’” (p. 437), which is pure Gideon, and a repetition of her words in the Act 4 fight scene. Cytherea is already dying from the augmented cancer, and (apparently) the narrator breaks in once again (first time was the point-of-view shift at the end of Chapter 32): “Cytherea the First vomited a long stream of black blood. There was no fear in her now. There was only anticipation verging on panicked excitement, like a girl waiting for her birthday party” (p. 438) — Eventually we’ll meet another girl waiting for her birthday party; the parallels are striking. As Harrow drives the sword home, “Cytherea the First sighed in no little relief. Then she toppled over, and she died” (p. 439). The referent is unclear; it could be that Cytherea is not afraid, but it could also be Harrow feels no fear now because Gideon is in/with her. It is, however, pretty clear that, after Harrow nudges along the acceleration of Cytherea’s cancer, Cytherea is actively dying, which makes the stabbing a mercy killing. Harrow drops the sword, pulls Gideon’s body off the spikes, and sits beside her in the sun. “’There’s my sword,’ Gideon said. ‘Pick it up — pick it up and stop looking at me, dick. Don’t. Don’t you dare look at me’” (p. 436). Gideon is trying to get Harrow to focus because Cytherea is still a threat. “They were cheek to cheek: Gideon’s arm and Harrow’s arm entwined, holding the sword aloft, letting the steel catch the light. . . . Harrow looked back at Gideon, and Gideon’s eyes, as they always did, startled her; their deep, chromatic amber, the startling hot gold of freshly-brewed tea. She winked” (p. 436). I want to quote this whole chapter, because it’s so powerful and so heartbreaking. “Harrow said, with some difficulty: ‘I cannot conceive of a universe without you in it’” (p. 437). Make a note of this. Also, you’ve got to love the response, “Yes, you can, it’s just less great and less hot.” Gideon tells Harrow she’s basically a hallucination “produced by your brain chemistry while coping with the massive trauma of splicing in my brain chemistry” (p. 437). I don’t believe this for a second, but it’s a thing that Harrow has to believe in the moment. Why don’t I believe it? Because back in Chapter 34, Ianthe has an extended argument with dead Naberius about who’s in charge of her body, and Naberius fights her all the way. “Harrow could touch what Palamedes had done; nudge it; knock it out of Cytherea’s grip. ‘There,’ said Gideon, in Harrow’s ear, her voice softer now. ‘Thanks, Palamedes.’ ‘Sextus was a marvel,’ admitted Harrow. ‘Too bad you didn’t marry him. You’re both into old dead chicks’ (p.438). Harrow has gone from fearing a “grey house” to calling Palamedes a marvel. If I’m not mistaken, this is unalloyed admiration from a woman who left the Ninth House determined to beat all her rivals. Quite an evolution for Harrow. Lovely final words between the two: “The weight of Gideon’s arms on Harrow’s forearms was getting more ephemeral, harder to perceive than the remembrance of an old fever. Her voice was in her ear, but it was very far away….’One flesh, one end,’ said Gideon, and it was a murmur now, on the very edge of hearing. Harrow said, ‘Don’t leave me.’ ‘The land that shall receive thee dying, in the same will I die: and there will I be buried. The Lord do so and so to me, and add more also, if aught but death part me and thee,’ said Gideon. ‘See you on the flip side, sugarlips” (p. 438). The italicized passage is from the book of Ruth, and is Ruth’s pledge to her mother-in-law Naomi. It’s one of a number of passages that have been repurposed over time to mean something it most definitely originally did not mean what we take it to mean today (the Mizpah from the book of Joshua is another that comes to mind). Today the passage from Ruth is, I’ve been told, fairly common in the vows when lesbian couples marry. Although I don’t recall Ruth calling Naomi “sugarlips.’” The mix of funny and heartbreaking is what we’ve come to recognize as trademark Gideon. “Beside her, Gideon lay smiling a small, tight, ready smile, stretched out beneath a blue and foreign sky” (p. 439) Here endeth the Lyctor trials. Epilogue (Skull header: First House) Harrow wakes in deep space and meets God, a.k.a. the Emperor, who tells her he can’t restore Gideon’s life, and he needs her to help him in his war. Most of his Lyctors are gone. Harrow learns that Ianthe has survived, minus an arm, and that Camilla Hect, Judith Deuteros, and Coronabeth Tridentarius are missing. Also, Gideon’s body has vanished. Harrow agrees to serve as a lyctor, and God calls her “Harrowhark the First.” “’Had there been any less need you would be sitting back home in Drearburh, living a long and quiet life with nothing to worry or hurt you, and your cavalier would still be alive. But there are things out there that even death cannot keep down. I have been fighting them since the Resurrection. I can’t fight them by myself.’ Harrow said, ‘But you’re God.’ And God said, ‘And I am not enough’” (p. 441) First off, let’s remember that Drearburh was hardly a garden spot in which to live a long and quiet life. “Things out there that even death cannot keep down”? Related to the Resurrection. Why do I think the Resurrection was not an entirely positive event? In the Epilogue, God is presented as an unpompous, infinitely gentle and patient being. He speaks kindly of Cytherea, and remorsefully about what happened at Canaan House. “It wasn’t meant to happen like this. I intended for the new Lyctors to become Lyctors after thinking and contemplating and genuinely understanding their sacrifice — an act of bravery, not an act of fear and desperation. Nobody was meant to lose their lives unwillingly at Canaan House” (pp. 441-442). You know what would have helped with this? Instructions. Why did all the necromancer/cavalier pairs immediately assume that there was one grand prize that couldn’t be shared? If God wanted them all to become lyctors after study and contemplation, and then intended they would all work together for the next 10,000 years, why set them up as rivals from the start? Remember that the building itself had elements from different ages mashed together. Someone had to strip all the notes from the lab facilities and place the keys to the original lyctor apartments in place. The whole test was set up. These two bullet points have occurred to me this time through: what was the purpose? In case you couldn’t tell, I have questions. If Cytherea hadn’t intervened, imagine how it would have gone. Which necromancers, do you think, knowing they would have to murder their cavaliers — the people most intimately joined to them with the “One flesh, one end” vow — would have gone through with it? Who would have refused? God says, “The loneliness of deep space takes its toll on anyone, and the necrosaints have all put up with it for longer than anybody should ever be asked to bear anything. That’s why I wanted only those who had discovered the cost and were willing to pay it in the full knowledge of what it would entail” (p. 442). He asks this decision be made by people of the average age of 24. The Fourth House is 13 and 14, the Sixth are both 20, the Ninth are 17 and 19. Abigail, Magnus and Protesilaus skew the numbers all the way up to 24. Let us talk about putting this kind of a decision on to the shoulders of a teenager. God tells Harrow she isn’t the first to become a Lyctor under duress. Therein lies a tale. God can’t go down to Canaan House. Harrow asks him why not, since that seemed to be the whole of Cytherea’s plan. “The Emperor said, ‘I saved the world once — but not for me” (p. 443). Notice he doesn’t answer her question. Notice also the ref to The Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, Frodo’s last speech to Sam: “I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them” (p. 309). He promises to renew the Ninth House. He asks her to help him hold on to the universe for a little while longer. Or she can go home to the Ninth (p. 443). Remember the choice he offers her. “If she saw herself in a mirror, she might fight herself: if she saw herself in a mirror, she might find a trace of Gideon Nav, or worse — she might not find anything, she might find nothing at all” (p. 444). This is a gut-level description of grief, your fear that the death of someone you love might have irrevocably marked you or, worse, that it might not have. Whew! What a ride! With the introduction of God and the warning of “things out there that even death cannot keep down,” the universe is about to get a lot bigger. There’s a wealth of extra material in the e-book version of Gideon, and next week I plan to spend some time summarizing the parts that are important going forward. Also next week, I want to talk about a short story that Muir published at Tor.com, “The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex,” set in the Sixth House and featuring Camilla and Palamedes, ages 13. You’ll like it, and it has application in the Locked Tomb series. So go read a fun short story! Now, about all those pins…. Here is a list of things I suggested we pay attention to. Let’s see how many have been resolved. Act 1 Gideon’s mother arrived at the Ninth brain dead. No one knows who Gideon is. Themes: inherited trauma, children paying for the sins/deeds of their parents. What happened to the other 200 children? This we know: they were murdered to make Harrow. Theme of delusion: do people see only what they want to see? Yes. The Ninth thinks Harrow’s parents are still alive, Gideon thinks Dulcinea is a half-step from death, everyone thinks Coronabeth is a necromancer. Let’s see if this one will continue to develop. Harrow says in Chapter 3 that Lyctorhood is her “chance for intercession.” We know now that she knows the survival of the House rests with her. And she also needs intercession for the crime of her conception. “ Die in a fire, Nonagesimus.” (p. 47) Die in a fire, Aiglamene: “Things are changing. I used to think we were waiting for something...and now I think we’re just waiting to die.” (p. 55) — How old is she, anyway? “You’ll do what I say, or I’ll mix bone meal in with your breakfast and punch my way through your gut.” (p. 60) Canaan House: “a House both long dead and unkillable. A sleeping throne. Far away its king and emperor sat on his seat of office and waited, a sentinel protecting his home but never able to return to it” (p. 66) — Why can he not return? “’It’s a grave’ said Harrowhark” (p. 68). The Third brings three people, not two: “Only trouble at the end of the line,” [Teacher] said, “and a trouble confined to them” (p. 74). Why trouble? Three can’t make a lyctor. One is going to be left out. The common prayer: “Let the King Undying, ransomer of death, scourge of death, vindicator of death, look upon the Nine Houses and hear their thanks. Let the whole of everywhere entrust themselves to him. Let those across the river pledge beyond the tomb to the adept divine, the first among necromancers. Thanks be to the Ninefold Resurrection. Thanks be to the Lyctor divinely ordained. He is Emperor and he became God; he is God, and he became Emperor” (p. 81) So many things to notice! The Eight Houses worship the Emperor; the Ninth House worships the Tomb. First mention of “across the river.” The river will feature prominently, very soon. The Ninefold Resurrection: we still don’t know what it is, but it sounds important. Echoes of “He was God, and became Man.” Teacher gives the assignment, and says that Lyctors were not born immortal, but were “ given eternal life” (p. 83, my emphasis). “I see no reason not to hope that I may behold eight new Lyctors by the end of this, joined together with their cavaliers, heir to a joy and power that has sung through ten thousand years.” (84) Did you, like me, miss the significance of this the first time through? given Act 2 The mysterious hallway and door: the animal head is a ruminant’s, and I suspect it’s a cow (for reasons that won’t be apparent until Nona the Ninth but, when you see it, you’ll see it) (p. 96). Nona the Ninth Dulcinea: “You’re not the first Ninth nun I’ve ever met” (p. 105). So. Many. Clues. That Dulcinea is not who she claims to be. Dulcinea when Gideon takes off her glasses: “The eyes narrowed with intent, and for a moment the face was all business. There was something swift and cool in the blueness of those eyes, some deep intelligence, some sheer shameless depth and breadth of looking…. ’Lipochrome… recessive” (pp. 105-106). ”Dulcinea” recognizes Gideon and knows who she is. We don’t, but she does. And it’s her eyes that give it away. Tuck this in the back of your mind. Protesilaus returns and says, “It’s shut.” What’s shut? The lock to the Seventh House necro/cav rooms is filled with regenerating bone, which Harrow and Palamedes will eventually remove. Also, when you reread Gideon, the fact that Protesilaus arrives dead will leap out at you. Repeatedly. Palamedes: “Either this entire building was scavenged from a garbage hopper, or I am being systematically lied to on a molecular level” (p. 132). We haven’t made enough of the fact that something is weirdly askew at Canaan House. Palamedes is able to date materials that lie next to each other and are separated by thousands of years. Why has the house been set up this way? “’Down there resides the sum of all necromantic transgression,’ she said, in the singsong way of a child repeating a poem. ‘The unperceivable howl of ten thousand million unfed ghosts who will hear each echoed footstep as defilement….” (p. 151). I didn’t highlight this the first time through, but I should have. A couple things to notice: Teacher describes the facility as a place where “necromantic transgression” took place. We know this is where the lyctor trials were developed. Is that the transgression? Ten thousand million is ten billion. That’s a lot of ghosts. Remember Harrow’s comment: “It’s a grave”? And Isaac’s comment that the facility is mega-haunted? Why are there so many ghosts in Canaan House? Dulcinea tells Gideon, “I liked that dinner….It was useful” (p. 176). Useful because she realized that Abigail is a historian, and a threat, leading to the first set of murders. Palamedes interrupts their conversation to bring Dulcinea a cup of tea. Gideon realizes that something is up between the two of them, but Dulcinea appears to be unaware of it. Is this a test? I think it is, for reasons I’ll explain next week. Somewhere (again I failed to note it — sorry) Gideon and Harrow discuss Gideon’s two-handed sword, and Harrow says, “I never liked that sword. I always felt like it was judging me.” Yet another thing to pay attention to. act 3 The scene where the necromancers try to recall Magnus and Abigail’s ghosts, in retrospect, is filled with tells: Coronabeth doesn’t break a sweat! How awesome a necromancer is she? Ianthe eats parts of Naberius to augment her power. Does she already know what lyctorhood is? Teacher about Silas: “He cannot empty anybody here, lest they become a nest for something else!” (p. 191). Teacher was right. “The First House was no longer a beautiful and empty shell, buffeted by the erosion of time. Now it seemed more like the blocked-up labyrinths beneath the Ninth House, kept sealed in case something became restless. When she was young she used to have nightmares about being on the wrong side of the door of the Locked Tomb. Especially after what Harrow had done” (p. 202). It’ll help to remember that there are labyrinths beneath the Ninth House, and that things there are restless. What does it mean to be on the wrong side of the Locked Tomb door? We still don’t know. “Especially after what Harrow had done.” She opened the Tomb. Gideon’s nightmares are worse than her memories, and that’s saying something. The group photo where all the faces have been scribbled out. Cytherea at work. She doesn’t want anyone to recognize anyone. Our first “ONE FLESH, ONE END,” on a book flyleaf, signed G&P. Who are G & P? The note that Gideon finds: “ut we all know the sad + trying realit / is that this will remain incomplete t / the last. He can’t fix my deficiencies her / ease give Gideon my congratulations, howev” (p. 210). Someone wrote it 10,000 years ago. It’s going to be important. “Gideon . . .you’re so young . Don’t give yourself away. Do you know it’s not worth it . . . none of this is worth it, at all. It’s cruel. It’s so cruel. You are so young — and vital — and alive. Gideon, you’re all right . . . remember this, and don’t let anyone do it to you ever again. I’m sorry. We take so much. I’m so sorry” (p. 226). This is not Dulcinea talking, it’s Cytherea. “We take so much.” Understatement. It’s also the reason I think at the end of this act, Cytherea has no intention of killing Gideon; she knows a lot more about Gideon than we do. young Palamedes to Judith: “Captain, God help you when you understand. My only consolation is that you won’t be able to put any responsibility on my head” (p. 241). Between his refusal to do the siphoning challenge and this conversation, Palamedes has figured out the lyctoral process and wants nothing to do it. Teacher: “Oh, Emperor of the Nine Houses, Necrolord Prime, God who became man and man who became God — we have loved you these long days. The sixteen gave themselves freely to you. Lord, let nothing happen that you did not anticipate” (p. 239). Reads differently now, doesn’t it? Act 4 [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/13/2151291/-The-Locked-Tomb-Read-Gideon-the-Ninth-Act-5-and-Recap Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/