can you explain tlt lore to me because i (as someone who has never touched tlt) am very confused when i see ianthe (??) and harrowhark because isn’t harrowhark with the lobotomy ginger.. and then who is alecto. wtf
so this is the greatest ask i could hope to receive and i cant thank you enough for sending it 🙏 SO YES allow me to explain to you the anatomy of harrowhark’s harem
(spoilers obvs, but i will go as light on spoilers as i can because everyone should read these books theyre insane and i love them. but if anyone is interested in a more spoiler heavy explanation lmk in the notes and i will be happy to provide)
for starters the basics of harrow and gideon’s relationship: harrow is a necromancer, and gideon is her cavalier, aka like harrow’s bodyguard/loyal knight. and they go to this competition with other necromancer/cavalier duos to become a lyctor, but for the sake of this post lyctor lore doesnt really matter dont worry about the lyctor thing right now
basically yes in book 1 (gt9) harrow and gideon (aka lobotomy ginger (which 💀 oh anon, the layers to this. THE LAYERS)) are certifiably insane about each other but are not technically, through physical or verbal confirmation, romantically involved with each other by the end of the book. but the writing on the wall is CLEAR.
gideon is not in book 2 (ht9) for reasons, and now harrow is essentially trapped in space with ianthe tridentarius, another necromancer who was also at the lyctor competition in book 1. ianthe is a weird freak about harrow (arent we all), and harrow thinks ianthe is gross and lame. but in a way she is also, like, at least an iota of a weird freak about ianthe, but she mostly thinks she’s gross and lame. theyre kind of like reluctant coworkers bc they do collaborate on certain things (👀 THINGS) and they might share a kiss here or there
oh boy and then there’s alecto, stay with me here. without getting too much into dominicus lore, what you have to understand is that for a shit ton of generations, harrow’s family has been tasked with keeping this tomb (a locked tomb, even) shut forever, and they don’t know what’s inside but they know that god put something in there that can never escape. so naturally when harrow was like 9 or 10 years old, she snuck into that tomb and there she finds this chained up, frozen corpse of a smokeshow of a woman, and that’s alecto. and little harrow can appreciate the value of a smokeshow of a woman so she lowkey falls in love with her. meaning that throughout all of that prior fucked up little love triangle, harrow is also thirsting over this dead woman she stumbled across years ago
there’s enough weird nuances and details with all of these dynamics that i could go on and on for ages but this is a most basic understanding. again cant recommend reading the books enough if you like insane dynamics!!
wait wait so harrowhark and lobotomy ginger were never officially a thing? because i swear i’ve seen posts with screenshots from the book where they were a thing. also who is nona. gosh i really need to read this don’t i 😭
i very very very much do recommend reading it yes!!! but i will do some further explaining
right so gideon and harrow’s relationship is very complicated and unique, like they love each other in profound ways but they were never “officially together” but their relationship is intense and complicated?? its kind of difficult to explain their dynamic adequately. its kinda like
NONAAAA i love nona :) but also nona the ninth (book 3) is like a whoooole other can of worms from the first two books, like it focuses on very different things. nona in relation to all the other stuff i’ve explained is like her own person who sort of got dragged into this, because here’s what happened: at the end of book 2, for reasons once again, harrow’s soul sort of vacates her body, and nona’s soul takes its place. the other characters don’t know who nona is because she doesn’t really remember anything from before being in harrow’s body, so it’s like. she is a preexisting soul of somebody else, but she doesn’t remember that, so in a way she’s also a separate person altogether
harrowhark nonagesimus is the character of all time. she weighs 6 stone soaking wet. she doesn’t sleep. she’s 200 dead babies. she puppets her dead mum and dad. she’s a nun. she’s in love with a frozen corpse. she gets a headache when people talk about sex. she wants to die. her bodyguard is in love with her. her weird colleague is in love with her. she gave herself a lobotomy. she’s being piloted by the soul of the planet earth. she loves bones. she wants to live. she makes soup. she watched god have a threesome. she looks like a ferret. this is all canon
coronabeth tridentarius is like. she’s risen through the ranks of a terrorist organization that should want her dead. she cannot deliver a comeback to save her life. she was born to be a cavalier. she cannot keep an adept. everyone believed that she was a necromancer. she was so bad at pretending to be a necromancer. she’s in love with judith. she’s in love with anyone who doesn’t want her. she’s flirting with you. no she’s not. nobody really knows her except her sister. her sister doesn’t know her either. she’s the nicest person you’ve ever met. she didn’t give a flying fuck about babs. she’s incredibly easy to emotionally manipulate. she’s a revolutionary. she betrayed the revolution to reunite with her sister. she’s probably going to kill her sister. she looks like the safer of the two. the author can’t decide who’s worse. she used to casually threaten suicide to get her way. she’s high femme. she’s a king. she’s a knight. she’s cain. she’s dumb as hell. you are going to do exactly what she wants and you’re not going to notice. she expects her every command of jump to be followed by a rave. she’s boobs and hair and talk and a hell of a swordhand.
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