gideon’s unreliable narration and how it supports the twins’ public power dynamic, both in-text and in fandom

sophelstien:

image

in this essay, i would like to discuss two popular points i often seen argued using this passage from chapter 27 of gtn: that gideon’s reporting of the twins’ dynamic is accurate, implying that corona is the dominant twin as stated, and that harrow was taken by the twins’ ruse, as claimed by gideon. this post will not be arguing who is the dominant twin—it is ianthe, as revealed by her in her ascension scene. i also have two essays going into their abusive dynamic and how that manifests: post about tridentarii emotional abuse, post about tridentarii implied physical and sexual abuse. i will also not be discussing which twin is physically bigger, discussed here

below, i discuss gideon as an unreliable narrator and audience surrogate, her extreme bias towards coronabeth that demonstrates why the twins’ ruse is so successful, harrow’s textual questioning of the twins’ power dynamic throughout gtn, and who it is, exactly, that says “i” vs “we.”

Keep reading