also the most interesting part of the dynamic between harrow and ianthe in htn is that, in retrospect, ianthe spends the whole book in this one-sided relationship that harrow is incapable of even recognizing is there. from ianthe’s pov, she shares this intimate secret with harrow, she has been brought into harrow’s confidence, she understands the gravity of knowing this deep private thing about harrow that not even harrow knows…how can you not feel some kinship with someone when you’re in that situation? love is knowing, and she knows harrow now. in some way. and the fundamental conceit of that situation is that ofc harrow doesn’t. ianthe is literally the only person in the universe who can even begin to understand what harrow is going through, and the narrative has completely isolated them from each other. taz muir if you’re reading this i’m single
I’m sorry, I’m just cringing horribly at the suggestion that CHARLIZE THERON should play an older Gideon. What? What???? She is EXACTLY the worst case scenario, and not because of her age. She’s white, dainty, feminine, conventionally Hollywood in every way. Her being cast as Gideon would absolutely devastate me. You might as well cast Scarlett Johansson
For @ghostmartyr , who said and I quote, “I just want them to hug.” Art by the lovely and talented @suchbluesky who I thank for giving such care to my commission.
I think one of my favourite understated moments from Gideon the Ninth is the scene before the dinner party, when Gideon and Harrow are getting ready, and Harrow is being all shifty and nervous, constantly fiddling with her hair and changing her outfit and redoing her makeup like three times, and Gideon assumes it’s just because shes feeling tetchy about having to wait so long to go back to the hatch and that shes upset because Necromancy and she hates living people, but we as the reader can see that Harrow is just nervous because shes a 17 year old nerd who’s never been to a real party in her life and doesnt fucking know how to socialize like a real person. Like Gideon just assumes shes being all dark and mysterious, but in a perfect move of dramatic irony, we the readers see through her posturing bullshit and whirling capes that she’s just feeling social anxiety and doesnt know where her hands are supposed to be in order to pass as a Normal Social Person and Not A Human Mess. Its beautiful. So relatable.
a relationship should be 50/50: i martyr myself so you can ascend to demi-godhood and you refuse to accept my sacrifice and give yourself a lobotomy to preserve my soul
THANK YOU ANON SAME but what’s funny about that scene is that of all the people Gideon threatens revenge against for hurting Harrow she harms…exactly none of them, because for all they suffer themselves at the hands of others, Gideon and Harrow (with her elaborate plan to kill Gideon Prime actually resulting in her saving him/Pyrrha, bless her) really never seriously hurt anyone (except each other! ha! zing! it hurts!) unless their hands are forced, as with Cytherea.
dumb as rocks. not gullible or naive or airheaded like is usually the case with dumb female characters just give me ladies whose decision making is abysmal and whose ideas are as bad as they are awesome
scars that aren’t sexy or hideous or that have some dark backstory they’re just there
not that conventionally attractive and doesn’t actually do anything to her appearance but thinks she’s hot as fuck and is actually pretty correct
curses like a sailor
filled with rage
eats everything. has the metabolism of 12 horses
very talented or skilled but not insecure about talents in fact probably a little TOO confident about them
just a little shit
kind of unhinged mad scientist or wizard
BIG. tall. Large
always unkempt and covered in grime and dirt. has not washed socks in months. just a greasy piece of garbage
always loud and taking up space. manspreads. snores. props feet up on table to lean back in chair and then falls backward and takes the tablecloth and everything on it with her, screaming
chaos incarnate. causes problems on purpose and not in a cute way just thinks explosions and murder are fun
impractically large weapon
flirtatious but mostly flirts with people by punching them
covered in sickass tattoos
buff
an expert in something that’s not particularly useful
grey hair, still sexy
loves spiders and creepy crawly things more than anything
alcohol tolerance of a mule but still gets absolutely plastered and gets into bar fights
just really, really, really weird
pretty and spends time on her appearance but sometimes gets covered head to toe in blood and is fairly chill about it
snarls and growls at things
scientist that gets really excited over slime molds or something like that
did I mention buff
middle aged, has seen it all, sick of your shit
fat and chubby and not for tiddies reasons
enjoys affectionate brawling (especially with other female characters who also enjoy affectionate brawling)
motorcycle
will fight everything including god
lowkey stumbled out of the woods not knowing how to wipe her ass. will bite you if you look at her funny
edgy but not attractive. no sexy brooding she just sulks over the city looking like shit
i'm reading the last like, 150 pages of harrow the ninth and tamsyn muir really went like i'm going to just pre-emptively write all the AUs of my own damn story before the fan fiction writers get to, huh. okay then.
😂😂 Firstly, congrats on making it to the best part of the book anon!! Only good things ahead. Secondly, you bet the fanfic writers have got our back. Check out zoicite’s Bachelor AU and cavalier Harrow AU and also pipistrelle’s cavalier Harrow AU!
I do love that everyone who has written a harrow cavalier AU is like 'listen. harrow... but she somehow hates herself even more'
😂😂😂 Why is this so true like…. Harrow getting regular exercise, sticking to a routine and forced to like eat proper meals??? Somehow even MORE anxious, depressed and manic
Meanwhile Gideon is like scarily close to well adjusted, making friends and unquestioningly having Harrow’s back. Wild
harrow is the kind of depressed that would manage to turn eating healthy, exercising, and fighting into ritualized self-harm. she's just Like That, unfortunately.
Fuck you’re so right. Every time she feels the muscle burn she’s just like “you deserve this pain” or some shit. She’d be the kind of jock who pushes herself too hard and gets repetitive strain injuries. She’d feed herself exclusively on protein shakes in a flavor she hates. Why is she like this. Ugh I’m in pain
harrow nova: wait. there's a trial where they *expect* me to die???? I thought this lyctor thing was supposed to be hard // gideon: harrow no
Sssshut up anon!!! Ohhh my god. It’s 1000% true but you don’t have to say it 😭😭😭 Why is she like this why has she only gotten 3 hugs in her entire fucking life who do I talk to to get her within Gideon’s arms right this very second
Finally have had the time and peace to finish reading Harrow the Ninth and just, you were not wrong about the "get through 2/3 of the book" thing you said in your comment. I still have a little bit to go but I had to come by and scream I MISSED GIDEON. I MISSED HER SO MUCH AND SHE'S BACK AND I'M JUST ALSKJALKSDJLAKSDJ!!!!!!1 I can't believe I missed that asshole's voice so much, her talking to Harrow LIKE THAT. I'm just, overwhelmed. Also, still very much on board the "WTF is going on" train.
Omg I knowwww 😭😭😭 I was crying and grinning and fist pumping and just losing it all throughout Gideon’s section. My darling dickhead baby how I’d missed her and how much she elevates the reading experience to a whole other dimension. And the way she’s come to terms with her feelings for Harrow in the most heartbreaking, self effacing way while she was half-awake, misunderstanding Harrow’s feelings completely and making all these assumptions, ugh my heart. Also just wait til you get to the part where she meets a certain horrible romantic rival, their chemistry is offfff the charts.
Also don’t expect to get off that train any time soon lol!!! Having finished it weeks ago I’m no more knowledgeable about wtf is going on. But the twists are sure fun
gideon makes white haired harrow buy beer bc every space cashier looks at her and thinks shes 34, divorced, and going thru a rough time so they don't ID her
😂😂😂 They’re like “good luck with your crippling caffeine addiction ma’am. I can see you’re not currently smoking 5 cigarettes at once and I salute you. I heard the kidney transplant went well? Give my warmest regards to your step son”
I missed protective Gideon so much 🥺 Her wanting to kick everyone to the next dimension because they so much as looked at Harrow the wrong way. I'm-- also ALSO, I don't know if it's been mentioned, but obviously there's a body swap of sorts au in this too. Okay, so it's like less swap and more cohabitation or like sublease? Anyway, I'm like taking my sweet time with the ending of this book because it's been so long and I don't want it to end and I missed Gideon's tomfoolery.
YES! Listen!!!!! The bodyswap shenanigans have been ruling my brain for weeks!!! The idea of them sharing a body… communicating through notes and messages on the mirror…. Gideon making breakfast for Harrow with like smiley faces made of bell peppers and olives and leaving it for her to find when they switch over…. Harrow being horrified as her body becomes beefier and beefier but slowly warming up to it and actually feeling more secure, more comfortable, in this new body that Gideon has helped create….. the intimacy of physically inhabiting the body of the person you love, the way the very act of taking care of it or touching it is an act of caring for your lover…. I have so many thoughts I’m dying
thots on an AU where gideon manages to go off to serve in the cohort and, eventually, even manages to earn a few souls for the ninth and harrow is like... 'you know what, gideon is a fucking idiot but she might be onto something with this cohort thing' so as soon as she can manage it, harrow goes off to the cohort as well to start wrecking shit w/ her crazy ass necromancy and gideon is so mAD bc the cohort was her thing and its not fair that they fight so well together bc thats a tHING for her-
Harrow sees a sword slash through Gideon’s armor, hot, familiar blood splashing in an elegant arc, and leaves her safe spot at the back of the regiment, protected by a wall of meat (and bone) shields, to rush to her side—she’s not even a flesh magician, what is she thinking—she stumbles next to Gideon, grabbing her uniform in a white-knuckled grip, but Gideon is already on her feet and shoving Harrow back behind her, shouting something Harrow can’t parse—
And then Gideon and Harrow realize the cohort are a bunch of imperialist asswipes, blow up a spaceship and dip
my very professional review of gideon the ninth is: a) jeannemary is now my daughter and b) we needed more bicep-flexing shenanigans between gideon and jeannemary, with harrow slowly losing her mind in the background
What if... what if we got an animated series of the Locked Tomb series instead of live action? Would you want the voices to be someone totally unknown or known voice actors? AND if you could decide, any stylistic approach you'd prefer? I feel like with an animated series there'd be a lot more creative freedom to truly let the characters pop, you know? Or maybe it's just me, I've been seeing some really spectacular fan art and it's got my mind like 🤯
I always personally prefer unknown actors, both cuz it gives a chance for new people and voices and cuz it just feels fresh and fun yknow. I’m not like an acting aficionado anyway so I can’t say I’ve ever been particularly moved by the big name stars.
I definitely think the character designs could be a lot of fun in a more cartoony style! There’d be more freedom to make em look weird or unconventional. And I think it’d work a little better as a series than a movie. But it’s still not very suitable for adaptation. I’m content to just look at the amazing fanart. It could make a pretty interesting game tho maybe
the locked tomb mass effect style rpg open world game where your choices actually matters and you could replay a bunch of times with different kind of scenarios.
And most importantly you get to romance all the nerds, wizards, jocks, ghosts, and jock ghosts in nerd wizards
People on the Discord server were very nice about this so I decided to post it here, especially because the sequel fic is now complete!
Please find enclosed 8,000 words of fraught tenderness between lesbian dumbasses, set in the modern world + necromany, at a New England university in the fall.
Summary: Harrow, along with a good percentage of Canaan University’s necromancy students, has the flu. Gideon has a lot of feelings that she is in no way equipped to handle. It’s a tough week.
(sequel link will be up at some point for the sake of completeness)
Just wanted to pop in and say THANK YOU for recommending the Bachelor AU Locked Tomb fic. I've read the three chapters that have been posted and I never thought such a concept would work but here we are, it's so fun! I'm still a little hesitant to really start diving into the fan fiction side of things because the books have such a distinct style and voices but I have to admit I was positively surprised by that one.
Yes!!!! It’s a fantastic fic, it’s such a beautifully realized au! Also you should check out the author’s other works they’re all amazing but also please read Behind the Locked Door by UnseelieWench it’s one of my favorite fanfics of all time in any fandom, it’s just pure joy, please you owe this to yourself (robotics college roommates/fake dating au go go go)
I was going to quote some spots, but then realized I just want to copy and paste this entire interview right into this box, so – No, okay, I’m still going to quote some spots:
I wrote Gideon focusing on an inevitably homoerotic relationship between every woman who stands next to another woman for more than five seconds. It’s an expression of the fact that in the early Noughties when my lesbian mates told me: “You’ve gotta see this movie, it’s gay,” — the understanding was that nothing was going to be gay, but we had to put on our lesbian goggles. In Gideon, the lesbian goggles are fused to your face.
and
Ianthe is my Draco in leather pants. I’m playing with the idea that you expect the Draco in leather pants character to change: My love will be the magical thing that changes Ianthe. It’s not. Nothing will change Ianthe, but you really want to believe it might.
I wanted that relationship to be femme-queer rather than masc-queer, because Draco in leather pants is inherently a male figure. You never get girl Dracos in leather pants. And they’re wonderful! Ianthe sucks, but I hope that my deep affection for her shows.
and
Harrow’s feelings for Gideon are more transformative than not. They are a redemptive force for Harrow
and
There are undeniably elements of the love story between them and if you’re not noticing that in the narrative, either I’m not working hard enough or you’ve got blinders on. But it’s not just a love story; it’s a story about being enmeshed. They are the rock and the hard place: Harrow’s the rock and Gideon is definitely the hard place.
I didn’t want the books to be about two girls where one of them is cruel to the other and the plot turns on whether that cruelty will be redeemed. It’s two girls who have been sometimes unequal, sometimes not, in a terrible position with each other. I want that story, that love story, that relationship story, to go to a totally different place in the third book as well, because I want to turn the tables and show what it looks like when Harrow no longer has the upper hand.
“I have always admired your facility for repartee, my lady. Oftentimes someone will say something to me, and later I will think up the perfect riposte — so perfect the hearer could not help but wilt, and be ashamed that they had set themselves up to receive it — but by that point it is often hours after the fact and I am lying in my bed. And in any case, I hate conflict, all kinds.”
— Harrow the Ninth, The Locked Tomb Trilogy
Ortus over-analyzing social interactions down to the bone is a Mood™
Okay I'm like 5 chapters into this Robotics College Roommates AU thing and O M G You were not wrong! You were NOT wrong! I wanna like quote everything and they are all dumb babies and I just want them to get to experience all the things and and and. AND THEY WERE ROOMMATES! Cause Harrow wanted to make sure Gideon's application got in so she sent it with hers aslkdjalsdkj That's so soft?! Anyway, thanks so much for yet another winner of a rec.
Yes 😭😭😭 I started reading this fic shortly after finishing HtN and it was so healing, I just needed so bad to see em just get to be kids and make friends and have fun and work through their trauma and this fic gave me that in spades and so much more. Also this Harrow is the best Harrow, oh my good, I could wax poetic about her intense longing and her careful, calculated, covert kindness and her meticulous, well meaning but painfully awkward approach to social interaction ugh. So good. What a fic. So much love. (Behind the Locked Door by UnseelieWench, check it out if you haven’tttt)
"The hostile that had just exploded up out of the ground had a really big mouth, so I felt I needed a really big gun." NOAM! Murderbot is just fucking Gideon if Gideon was a bot.
Sarcastic protective dickish emotionally dishonest self-sacrificing cocky badass with a love for trashy media who appears to be much cooler than they are and will loudly proclaim their utter disdain for you and then quietly save your life? Spent the majority of their life in a position of servitude, fought to reclaim their agency, voluntarily devoted the rest of their life to the service of others? Honed their fighting skills to the detriment of all others, experienced a massive amount of trauma they refuse to acknowledge, deflect their emotions via dark humor?
Yeah. Except for their diametrically opposed levels of horniness, basically the same person
