ok so i’m sure other folks have said similar things, but here’s the Alecto theory i’ve been thinking about
Jod calling Alecto “Annabel Lee” is a direct reference to the poem by Poe, and the last bit of that poem goes:
And neither the angels in Heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea.First of all, “dissever my soul from the soul” feels. noteworthy. but the part that stands out to me most is the very end, referencing Anabelle Lee’s “tomb by the sounding sea”. We’ll get back to that in a second, but there are a couple of things in both GtN and HtN that I can’t help but notice go unaddressed:
-Teacher insists over and over that there are horrible ghosts/monsters that haunt Canaan house. We assume this is what’s killing people, and when it becomes clear that its Cytherea, we dismiss it. But even if that wasn’t the cause of the deaths, Teacher was insistent that this place, which he had looked after for maybe thousands of years, was haunted by monstrous things, and that just goes nowhere?
-harrow and palamedes have two conflicting theories about what the lyctor trials are pointing them toward. palamedes is more on the right track, saying its leading toward a “megatheorem” (eightfold word), but harrow thinks that the trials are clues leading toward a thanergy source powerful enough to fuel the lyctor trials (in the way that a necromancer needs thanergy or a lyctor needs a cav or, crucially, Jod needs Alecto). We know harrow is incredibly clever, but when pal’s theory is more or less confirmed, harrow’s theory is more or less discarded, even though they’re not mutually exclusive. but what was fueling the lyctor trials in Canaan house? what thanergy battery?
-multiple times, its indicated that Canaan house is much larger than they have access to. there’s a part in HtN where Abigail says offhandedly that she thinks that the “lost chambers of the emporer undying” run sidelong to the facility (meaning Canaan house). This is a conversation in the river bubble, but it struck me as specific and detailed and out of place, especially for something that was never returned to
-we know that after Anastasia and Samael failed to ascend to lyctorhood, she was sent to guard the locked tomb and she founded the Ninth house
there might be more, i’m still mid-reread lol and i probably missed some stuff bc about half of my knowledge is from the first read, when i was considerably more confused by the goings-on. but my theory right now is that the tomb guarded by the Ninth house is a false tomb, and that maybe the person in it is Anastasia (there are some parallels between how she and Harrow look, namely the curve of the lips/philtrum that’s noted more than once in both of their descriptions). I think that Alecto is entombed at Canaan house, in Jod’s old chambers, a thanergy-battery for the lyctor trials and, remotely, for Jod’s power.
Tbh, I wouldn’t be surprised if the series doesn’t find its way back to Canaan house at the end, it would be fitting and circular, and I feel like there’s still a lot there that was dismissed or left unsolved
I’ve been thinking about this as well! A few other points of support: when we first get the Body’s description, she has black eyes, not gold (GtN). And, in HtN, Jod refers to the prison on the Ninth as a dummy site holding nothing, and seems bewildered at anyone heading for the Ninth itself, as what could be there? I also think about when he says to Harrow, What you think you have done, you couldn’t possibly have done (paraphrasing; but this is during her confession of having unlocked the tomb). During the same exchange, he describes the lead-up to the tomb as a series of death traps, which is also the way the introduction to Canaan House is given in GtN.
oooh good point! I hadn’t thought of the thing with the Body’s eyes but you’re so right, why tf wouldn’t they be gold if it was Alecto? And describing the Ninth as a dummy site too, good point. Although, when Jod says the whole “you couldn’t possibly have done” thing I assumed he meant because of the blood ward, bc if he didn’t account for the existence of Gideon there was literally no way Harrow could enter the tomb. but tbh he could have been referring to either. anyways these clues will fit perfectly on my bulletin-board yarn map of evidence