not to draw conclusions that will probably immediately be disproven when I read nona, but I’m thinking a lot about the dynamic of the old lyctors compared to the people at canaan house
imo, this series seems to discuss the way that official and oppressive systems get turned human over time- how a harmful, twisted hierarchy (that of the necromancer and cavalier, for example) inevitably strays from the horrible trap it was designed to be (epitomized by mercy and augustine, who are still trapped within it). over time, people explore that framework, interpret it in their own ways, subvert it, turn it inside out. you get twisted versions of it, like silas and colum, but you also get new and wonderful versions of it, like abigail and magnus or cam and pal.
they didn’t know what lyctorhood was designed to be! they didn’t know how sinister “one flesh, one end” actually is. all they know is that they love each other, and that love kind of redefines what a necro-cav relationship COULD be, and what it is in so many instances. and the proof of that is that of ALL the houses that showed up at canaan house, none of them but ianthe would have gone through with lyctorhood.
did that mean the cavaliers were objectively worse at being cavaliers? maybe! but I think the series is arguing that love is what redefines those horrible traditions, and in light of those new definitions, the old traditions become flimsy by comparison. mercy and augustine are trapped. that’s what being a lyctor means to them and it always will. but the story isn’t written in stone yet for harrow and gideon, or for cam and pal! it’s a tradition that has done violence to them, and they’ll carry that forever. but beside that old and twisted tradition, someone like cam kind of stands out as an even more perfect cavalier than one who would see their entire purpose as sacrifice.
I think it’s also worth noting that if Ianthe had actually had the cavalier she “should” have had—Coronabeth—even she wouldn’t have gone through with it. The only reason she went through with lyctorhood (besides her lust for power) is because she didn’t care about Naberius. He was objectively a perfect cavalier, as evidenced by Gideon’s duel with him, but just like with Gideon’s duel that perfection was only a veneer. He was only technically perfect, just like he was only technically Ianthe’s cavalier. Corona asked why Ianthe took Naberius and not her because “who even cares about Babs,” but that’s exactly the reason she chose to kill him over her. Ianthe may be a cold bitch, but her insistence on making sure that Harrow’s letters specify that Harrow isn’t allowed to harm Corona and her reaction to Harrow suggesting that she should have killed Corona instead of Naberius both show that she wouldn’t have gone through with lyctorhood if it meant killing her sister. So if not for the technicality of Naberius third wheeling the twins due to their parents wanting a “matched set” of necromancers, there would have been no houses present that would have willingly gone through with it
you are SO right and i’m so glad you brought it up. lyctorhood is an impossible framework, that asks every necromancer and cavalier to do an inconceivable thing. the only reason ianthe seemed to conform to that tradition was because her situation, by nature, created a loophole for her.
on paper, she gets away with a griefless lyctorhood! she’s the perfect necromancer to naberius’s perfect cavalier. she excels at consuming people! (and who cares about babs! he excelled at being consumed.) except she’s fucking haunted by coronabeth who she failed to kill, who she loves and needs and is tied to from birth. her circumstances allowed her to escape the trap of lyctorhood, but she ended up in a different trap altogether, where she loses her would-be cavalier anyways.
idk maybe i’m reading too much into it, but i love it as a discussion of systemic power and hierarchy. its an unattainable ideal, and the only sustainable version of it is a subversion (ie every non-lyctor version of necro/cav love), essentially a failure of that hierarchy. and those who do seem to conform successfully are miserable/trapped in the tradition they’ve conformed to. and then, when you look closer, even they are imperfect! idk if this is where the series is going, but so far imo its saying that no one gets out of the system unscathed, and most people don’t even get out alive. except maybe the people who subvert the whole system and in doing so, find something salvageable there. and i don’t think that’s ever gonna be ianthe bc she fits too perfectly into the trap