so obviously our hint that something is Up with gideon’s physical resilience after the avulsion trial is the revelation that palamedes calculated that it would cause permanent brain damage to the cavalier and gideon is. um. very much not permanently brain damaged.
cytherea didn’t accurately convey to them how dangerous the field was. which means she probably didn’t mean for harrow to succeed.
and. um.
“Sextus has seen this?”
“I asked him first,” said Dulcinea, “And when i told him the method, he said he’d never do it. I thought that was fascinating. I’d love to get to know him better.”
…
“So technically,” said Harrow, acid as a battery, “We’re your third choice.”
“Well, Abigail Pent was a very talented spirit magician,” said Dulcinea, and relented when she saw Harrow’s expression. “I’m sorry! I’m teasing. No, I don’t think I would’ve asked the Eighth House, Reverend Daughter…They could have done this with ease…Maybe that’s why.”
the sixth, voted most likely to figure out what she’s doing, after abigail pent, already deceased. and the ninth, who have nothing whatsoever to do with spirit magic, but who have been establishing themselves as strong competitors and fraternizing with the sixth.
but not the eighth, the ones most likely to successfully complete the trial. because they’re the most likely to successfully complete the trial.
yeah, cytherea fully intended to kill them both here, i think. she wanted them to die. come to think of it, that’s the only real reason for her to be participating in the labs in the first place considering she’s. ya know. already a lyctor.
and.
“Good girl,” the voice was saying. “Oh, good girl. She’s got it, Gideon! And I’ve got you…Gideon of the golden eyes. I’m so sorry. This is all my fault… I’m so sorry. Stay with me,” the voice said, more urgently. “Stay with me.”
that’s remorse, i think. that’s a genuine moment of humanity peaking through. that’s oh god, what have i done.
Gideon was suddenly aware that she was very cold. Something changed. It was getting harder to suck in each breath…Now Gideon was scared. Her body had the soft, drunken feeling you got just before fainting away, and it was very hard to stay conscious. Three seconds before you die, Palamedes had calculated…It felt like all the pressure in her ears was popping loose…When her eyes opened Gideon was distantly worried to discover that she was blind…The air stopped coming. It would have been peaceful, only it sucked…“Ha-ha,” said Gideon. “First time you didn’t call me Griddle,” and died.
no, yeah, i think she did, actually. I am 99% sure that gideon capital-D Died here.
i wonder what cytherea made of her immediately opening her eyes again.
this is actually super interesting, and pretty close to my working theory, which goes basically like:
1. gideon impales herself on a fence and, like with the avulsion trial, blacks out for a while
2. harrow swoops in and starts the process of lyctorhood. as one would expect with a near-death experience, gideon’s soul is outside her body when this happens. harrow speaks to it as it’s being absorbed.
(gideon tells her, during this scene, that she’s basically a hallucination. later, gideon implies that she remembers what was said. it wasn’t a hallucination.)
3. harrow absorbs gideon’s soul. at no point during this process is gideon Gone, because all of the pieces of her are still trying to be functional.
4. harrow lobotomizes herself to try to stop the soul from being absorbed. by all accounts this should not have worked. and yet, it does.
5. gideon remains conscious and aware in harrow’s head.
