okay so the more I process the last chunk of nona the ninth, the more I think that functionally it doesn’t matter too much whether kiriona is a fragment of gideon’s soul, or has had her memories altered, or is something to do with her being a revenant. because no matter which, if any, of these things end up being true, it’s going to be a metaphorical expression of the way prolonged trauma and abuse can warp a person and their relationships to other people. how systems of control can make people choose to do things they would never choose if the situation were different.
kiriona’s appearance, her necromantically booby-trapped corpse, and her apparent devotion to the emperor are all expressions of john’s need for control. john’s desire to rename and reshape everything to suit his purposes, regardless of the harm caused, indifferent to the personhood of the people he changes in order to get his way. it’s john promising forgiveness and acceptance and love, as long as you don’t challenge him and do exactly as he says. it’s john’s empire rendered small and personal and heartbreaking.
and gideon is someone who has been starved of acceptance and love her entire life. gideon has lost everything she cared about, gideon died apparently for nothing, and now she’s trapped half-alive in an existence that has no meaning. so if she can turn herself into exactly what john wants then, hey, at least he’ll keep her around.
kiriona gaia is where john’s need to turn everything he touches into an extension of himself meets gideon’s need to be needed, to be useful, no matter how much it hurts her.