"When I saw her face I decided I wanted to live. I decided to live forever just in case she ever woke up." [1]
Alecto is the one true enemy of the King Undying, the abyss of the First, the death of the Lord. The companion and first resurrection of the Emperor of the Nine Houses, Alecto was driven insane by her own resurrection. Upon her death at the hands of the Emperor, she was interred in the Locked Tomb. The Ninth House was created to ensure she never woke.
Biography[]
History[]
Alecto is the soul of the Earth, violently created when John killed the world and its ten billion inhabitants, and as such is a Resurrection Beast. In the wake of his mass murder, John crafted Alecto's body from the dust of the earth and his own blood, ribs, and vomit to store the portion of Earth's soul that he could not fit in his own body within hers.
After what became the First House had been destroyed, Alecto was the first resurrection of John, the new God and Emperor of the Nine Houses System. In the beginning, it was only the two of them. She became his companion, his friend, and his cavalier primary. Alecto was not a normal human, though. She was an angry creature, incapable of pretending to be human and unable to be controlled.[2]
Together, the two achieved a perfect Lyctorhood—each taking in the others soul in a manner that allowed both parties to continue living eternally.[3] Later, when John had gathered sixteen other disciples and watched them ascend to their various imperfect Lyctorhoods, they discovered the existence of the Resurrection Beasts and why they were being hunted.[4]
Alecto lived for nearly two centuries, witnessing all that happened at First House without much interest, but after the first assault of the Resurrection Beasts, the Lyctors begged John to kill her.[5] Instead, John "switched her off,"[3] rendering her unconscious and immobile without killing her. He and Anastasia built the Locked Tomb, and then they locked it with an unbreakable pure blood ward and left Anastasia behind to guard it. John proceeded to lie to his Lyctors and fledgling Empire, claiming Alecto was dead.[3]
A myriad later, a ten-year-old Harrowhark Nonagesimus,[6] likely with the blood of Gideon Nav on her hands[3], opened the Locked Tomb and looked inside. She spent a year walking with what she believes to be a hallucination of Alecto, however, it is unclear how accurate Harrow's perception of these events are. Eight years later, after her ascension to Lyctorhood, the hallucination returned.[4]
Nona the Ninth[]
Epilogue[]
In the Locked Tomb, Alecto finally awakens, her soul having spent time in Harrow's body as Nona. As she wakes, Ianthe Tridentarius attempts to kill her, but is stopped when Harrow threatens Ianthe. Alecto strikes Ianthe with her bare hand, knocking her into the water of the Tomb.
Alecto speaks to Pyrrha, but the latter is unable to hear her over the noise of a fight happening in the Tomb. Harrow professes her love to Alecto, who, not knowing how to kiss, bites Harrow in the mouth, saying "this is how meat loves meat."[7] Remembering her vow to Anastasia, Alecto swears loyalty to Harrow. To this, Kiriona Gaia shouts, "Get in line, thou big slut."[7]
Afterwards, Alecto goes to John's ship with Harrow, who has fainted from hunger and dehydration, slung over her arm. Alecto finds John, drunk and asleep, and drives her sword through his chest. John wakes up and greets her: "Annabel, good morning."[7]
Appearance and Personality[]
"Inside the Locked Tomb is the corpse of a girl. They packed her in ice--she's frozen solid--and they laid a sword on her breast. Her hands are wrapped around the blade. There are chains around her wrists, coming out of her grave, and they go down into holes by each side of the tomb, and there are chains on her ankles that do the same, and there are chains around her throat ..." [1]
Personality[]
Augustine the First describes Alecto as a "mad monster" and incapable of "even an unsophisticated con."[3] The Emperor regards her more gently—as a product of his own error in his first attempt at resurrection, though even he admits she struggled to maintain her humanity.
Appearance[]
Alecto's eyes were golden yellow, though only after attaining perfect Lyctorhood with The Emperor, as those were the color of his eyes originally. Previously, Alecto's eyes were a solid black, ringed with white. The Emperor modeled Alecto's body after a Hollywood Hair Barbie doll, a toy from his childhood, with "long yellow hair," saying:
"I made you look like a Christmas tree fairy...I made you look like a Renaissance angel...I made you Adam and Eve...Galatea. Barbie. Frankenstein's monster with long yellow hair."[8]
Relationships[]
The Emperor[]
Little is known about the true relationship between the Emperor and Alecto. Though the centuries she spent by his side suggest some level of loyalty and kinship, she expresses disgust towards humanity, and at the time of her release from The Locked Tomb, resentment towards The Emperor—assumedly for interring her in The Locked Tomb centuries prior, but possibly with knowledge of what he did to contribute to the death of the Earth, from which she was born.
Anastasia[]
Anastasia is one of the few Lyctors established to have had a personal relationship with Alecto. Anastasia was interred in The Locked Tomb along with Alecto, left behind to guard it as the first in the Ninth House line of tombkeepers. As Alecto, in Nona's body, approaches the coffin of The Locked Tomb, she spies Anastasia's skeletal remains against the wall and claims to remember her. Later, addressing Harrow, she "swears to [her] as [she] swore to Anastasia"[7], implying some sort of vow of service pledged to Anastasia by Alecto.
Harrowhark Nonagesimus[]
Harrow is a direct descendant of Anastasia, born for the express purpose of continuing the line of tombkeepers bred to watch over The Locked Tomb, which, unbeknownst to them, housed Alecto. At age ten, Harrow was the first to enter The Locked Tomb since Alecto was interred, discovering her inside and falling in love with her on sight. At the end of Harrow the Ninth, Alecto and Harrow swap bodies and souls—Alecto becoming Nona housed in Harrow's body, and Harrow's soul residing dormant housed in Alecto's body within The Locked Tomb. Upon the reunion of both bodies, their souls return to their respective hosts, triggering the awakening of Alecto after a myriad spent within the tomb. Alecto recognizes Harrow on sight, "for [she] was a face once dreamed in Alecto's dream."[7] She then pledges fealty to Harrow as she once pledged to Anastasia, rendering her in Harrow's service.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Gideon the Ninth," Act IV, Ch. 31
- ↑ "Harrow the Ninth," Act IV, Ch. 37
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "Harrow the Ninth," Act V, Ch. 51
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Harrow the Ninth," Act I, Ch. 2
- ↑ "Harrow the Ninth," Act IV, Ch 37.
- ↑ "Harrow the Ninth," Act I, Ch. 3
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 "Nona the Ninth," Epilogue
- ↑ "Nona the Ninth," John 1:20