“The only thing that ever stopped me from being exactly who I wanted was the worry that I would soon be dead…and now I am dead, Reverend Daughter, and I am sick of roses, and I am horny for revenge.”[2]
Dulcinea Septimus (Dul-sin-AY-a SEPT-i-mus) is the Heir to the House of the Seventh. Diagnosed with the hereditary Heptanary blood cancer, she has spent much of her life critically ill and in the close care of her family. Duchess Septimus accepted The Emperor's summons with the full knowledge she would most likely not live to see the end of the competition.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Dulcinea had spent nearly all of her life gravely ill, and had been removed to "high-atmosphere facilities" [3] to convalesce multiple times in her life. Throughout her teens, she corresponded with Palamedes Sextus, who used the Sixth House Library to study medicine and create a number of necromantic solutions to raise her quality of life and extend her lifespan.
One year prior to the events of Gideon the Ninth, Palamedes proposed a marriage between them.[4] Dulcinea refused, although (according to Camilla Hect) not for a lack of feelings for him. A number of factors seem to have contributed to this decision, including Imperial rule against necromancers marrying outside of their house, but they are not explicitly named.
The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex[]
Dulcinea has a particularly bad flare of her illness and has been sent to Protesilaus' home on a mountain far outside of Cypris to recover. There, her cavalier's children look after her as she rests, bringing her roses and tea (which she does not like). She writes to Palamedes and Camilla, keeping them informed on her progress with the latest treatments Palamedes has devised.
Gideon the Ninth[]
Act I[]
Dulcinea Septimus answers The Emperor's summons and boards her shuttle with every intention of coming to Canaan House and participating in the Lyctor Trials. Her ship is intercepted by Cytherea the First. As per his cavalier primary duties, Protesilaus Ebdoma immediately engages the Lyctor and is killed.
Dulcinea and Cytherea have a conversation, but Dulcinea refuses to participate in Cytherea's coup, and Cytherea is forced to kill her. Before her death, Dulcinea neglects to mention her complicated and close relationship with Palamedes Sextus and his cavalier, Camilla Hect.
Cytherea proceeds to steal Dulcinea's identity and impersonate her throughout the trials. Dulcinea's true body, is stored safely in Cytherea's rooms.
Act III[]
The body of Dulcinea Septimus, previously stored in Cytherea's rooms, is consigned to the incinerator after the beguiling corpse spell is broken.
Harrow the Ninth[]
Nine Months and Twenty-Nine Days Before the Emperor’s Murder[]
Harrowhark Nonagesimus undergoes a necromantic surgery to abort her lyctoral ascension and falsify her memories of her cavalier, Gideon Nav. In the process, Harrow unknowingly creates a version of Canaan House in a River “bubble,” and pulls the ghosts of the victims of Canaan House into the bubble. Eventually, the ghosts remember their deaths and must choose whether to remain and assist Harrowhark or depart back into the River.
Nine Months Before the Emperor's Murder[]
Dulcinea stands with the other postulants to Canaan House as Teacher hands out one key attached to a key ring to each cavalier.
Six Months Before the Emperor's Murder[]
As part of the autopsy and preparation of Palamedes Sextus and Camilla Hect's bodies, Dulcinea is called upon as the flesh adept in residence to identify their bodies. Stopping first at their rooms to gather a sample of their bacterial thalergy, she joins Fifth and Ninth in the mortuary. She introduces herself to Harrow, who marvels at her medical device (a pulmonary drain designed by Palamedes), and begins taking samples from each of the corpses. Moments later, she identifies the bodies as Sixth House. Magnus Quinn and Harrow posit that the killer was again the Sleeper, and Ortus Nigenad questions what can be done about it. Dulcinea is the first to suggest fighting and her cavalier, Protesilaus, agrees.
Magnus suggests that they gather as many of the remaining postulants to their side as possible and make a stand. Dulcinea warns that she is rather frail, but that has been looking for the opportunity to prove herself. Harrow discounts her abilities, but Dulcinea insists. Abigail Pent takes control of the planning, asking that Dulcinea attempt to win over Silas Octakiseron, Magnus to get Marta Dyas, and Harrowhark to bring the Third House to their side. She suggests they gather in whichever room is least flooded by the rains. Before she leaves, Dulcinea asks Abigail "Is this how it happens?" and "Does it get—better than this? Do you know?"[5] seemingly aware of her former death.
Four Months Before the Emperor's Murder[]
At some point following the death of the Sixth House, Dulcinea approaches Silas about joining with the other postulants to combat the Sleeper. It is unknown what his response is, only that he declined to join them and that he "was horrid."[6]
The Night Before the Emperor's Murder[]
Harrow's murder on Mithraeum breaks apart her River "bubble." Dulcinea and the other revenants are pulled through different scenarios—Castle Drearburh, a formal event ballroom, and the Cohort cafeteria—before Abigail pulls her back to Canaan House and she stabilizes. When she wakes, Harrow remembers Gideon Nav and begins to cry. Abigail sends everyone from the room, and Dulcinea and the rest return to X-203, the Lyctor lab of Gideon and Pyrrha Dve. They work on their plan for fighting until writhing organic tentacles begin breaching the walls of Canaan House, and Magnus leaves to fetch Abigail and Harrow.
An Amount of Time Before the Emperor's Murder[]
Magnus, Abigail, and Harrow return shortly after Dulcinea has discovered the last piece of their planning—candles. Abigail explains her theories on the River, the River beyond, and the potential that something has gone wrong with the River, but they have little to do with the current plan. Harrow goes up to talk with Ortus, and Marta, Abigail, Magnus, Dulcinea, and Protesilaus make their final assessments. Judging them ready to begin, Abigail gathers everyone to go enact their plan—the exorcism of the Sleeper.
Harrow, Ortus, Abigail, Magnus, Dulcinea, Protesilaus, and Marta all return to the Facility and the coffin of the Sleeper. Abigail draws a chalk diagram while the rest place candles warded by Harrow. After, Abigail puts counter-wards on the dead—everyone but Harrow. As they work, Dulcinea, seeing Harrow's confusion, explains why she and Protesilaus have stayed to fight: Protesilaus because he is "dorkily noble," and Dulcinea because this is her fight—for her own death, for Palamedes, and for being able to do what she as she pleased which she was never allowed to do in life. They finish the preparations and Abigail pairs them and places them around the candle circle. Abigail pours a libation over the foot of the coffin and begins the summoning. Abigail notes that spirit is tied to two places and that its banishing in the River will not necessarily banish it on the Mithraeum. A panel of the coffin shatters and they see it is empty. The Sleeper emerges from the corridor.
The Sleeper fires on Harrowhark, who blocks with a bone shield and is dragged to safety by Ortus. As she speaks, Harrow realizes it is a woman's voice. Protesilaus engages the Sleeper and knocks her gun out of her hand. Before he can disengage his chain, she handsprings past him and shoots him in the back. She fires twice more, and Protesilaus is still. The Sleeper demands that Harrow turn herself over and begins counting down from ten. Dulcinea breaks cover and the Sleeper easily shoots her in the leg. Magnus makes his move, grabbing the Sleeper and holding her in place. Marta picks up her gun and shoots her three times, but she does not bleed. Marta comes at her with a knife, and the Sleeper kicks out dragging all three of them down. There is a quick dirty fight that ends with Magnus shot and Marta disarmed with a gun in her face.
Protesilaus rears up, having learned that his will not to die again can influence the River world, grabs the Sleeper and wraps the chain around her neck. The Sleeper causes two more guns to appear, shoots Protesilaus again and knocks out Marta. Harrow tosses bone at the Sleeper, but she shoots it out of the air and causes it to go inert. Harrow asks what the Sleeper wants, and she replies that she wants Harrow's death so she can take her body. As the Sleeper reaches one, Ortus begins to recite poetry.
As he declaims from the Noniad, Harrow struggles to cover them with bone shields. The Sleeper pushes her way through Harrow's shields, crumbling them to dust, and shoots Ortus. Harrow pushes the Sleeper back with a wall of bone and sends skeleton constructs after her which are also dissolved. Harrow takes over for Ortus, finishing the lines as Abigail summons. The Sleeper reaches Harrow and fires a shot into her head, but Matthias Nonias solidifies between them. The Sleeper attacks, but Nonias counters with superhuman speed and manages to wound her. As Nonias fights the Sleeper, the postulants begin to regroup. Harrow stabilizes Ortus's wound, and all the pairs watch in awe of the fight. Harrow and Dulcinea make moves to bring their necromancy into play, but Ortus stops them convinced that breaking the rules of his poetry would sink them. Nonias drops his rapier, but manages to catch the Sleepers arm, disarm her, and drive her back into the wall. Protesilaus tosses Nonias his rapier, and he plunges it into the Sleeper's chest.
They all regroup, Protesilaus in awe of Matthias and Ortus in awe of Abigail's ability to summon him. Abigail cannot figure out how she was able to summon him purely through Ortus's art. Harrow tells Nonias she has to other enemies here, and Abigail confirms the invasive soul is gone. As she speaks, the "bubble" begins to rumble, falling apart as the scenario has concluded and in response to whatever is happening above. Matthias Nonias shares his desire to go help the Lyctors battle the Resurrection Beast and Protesilaus, Ortus, and Marta decide to join him. Harrow release Matthias, and Abigail sends the four of them to aid Gideon the First. Harrow asks Abigail what will happen to her now, and Abigail gently explains that she can risk the River or she can return to her body—likely finally absorbing and destroying Gideon's soul. Abigail and Magnus attempt to convince her to return to her body and honor Gideon's sacrifice, and Harrow unwillingly agrees to live. They leave, re-entering the River.
Half an Hour Ago[]
Dulcinea stays behind informs Harrow that she has a sense that Harrow's body is not being puppeted or possessed by a revenant or fragment. She explains that she doesn't know what it means and has never seen it before, but she couldn't leave Harrow with only part of the truth. As Canaan House collapses, Dulcinea slips back into the River.
The Unwanted Guest[]
While Camilla Hect physically duels Ianthe the First on New Rho, Palamedes Sextus duels her mentally for control of Naberius Tern’s body. This mental duel is set on a theatre stage with seven coffins on it. Bored of Palamedes’ repeated attempts to win the body, Ianthe offers him a deal: if he can deduce which coffin Naberius is in, he’ll win the duel. Ianthe allows him five questions, one of which he uses to ask if she will play fair. At her response in the negative, the curtain falls on her and the coffins, leaving Palamedes alone with the audience. Dulcinea’s disembodied voice sounds from the back of the auditorium. She advises Palamedes to treat it as a psychological riddle, rather than a logical riddle.
After Ianthe and Palamedes bicker about the permeability of souls, the curtain falls once more and Dulcinea offers a less-than-impressed response to his strategy. Dulcinea warns Palamedes not to underestimate Ianthe, as she’s likely putting on an act, and is smarter than she seems.
Palamedes asks Ianthe if she regrets killing Naberius. After a long, convoluted discussion of Babs and his role as a cavalier, Ianthe claims that she does not regret it. As the curtain closes, Palamedes is aghast that Ianthe seems to regard her cavalier as a mere resource. Dulcinea interrupts him to joke that Naberius is “a perfect tool,”[7] then playfully scolds Palamedes for not laughing at the joke that “Cam would’ve smiled at.”[7] Dulcinea is surprised to see that Palamedes is smoking a cigarette, then tries to comfort him before he has to ask his next question.
The last time the curtain goes down, Palamedes apologizes to Dulcinea for not being able to save her or Protesilaus. Dulcinea reciprocates, apologizing for her failed attempt to sabotage Cytherea’s plan. Palamedes expresses doubt that the voice is actually Dulcinea, since it seems impossible for her to have traveled there. Dulcinea explains that she “gambled on the truth,”[8] and died a second time for the opportunity. She confirms her identity by recounting a drawing that Camilla had made based on a silly description from one of Dulcinea’s letters.
Palamedes confesses his ongoing love for her. Dulcinea agrees that it would have been beautiful, but she wanted something real. And while she didn’t have time in her life to wait for a lasting love, her friendship with Palamedes and Camilla was a “real, ugly, unfinished thing”[8] that she loved. Palamedes promises to find her on the shore of the River, then asks if he can see her. She agrees and Palamedes is dazzled by the sight of her. As her parting words, Dulcinea asks, “Was I cute?” and Palamedes responds, “You’re perfect.”[8]
Appearance and Personality[]
Appearance[]
“She smiled that dimpled, wasted smile that was the only thing that Cytherea had come close to parodying with any accuracy.”[2]
Dulcinea has short, brown, curly hair cut short.[5] Her soft eyes are blue[9] and make her look like a child in some lights. Conversely, her face is “heavily lined with marks of pain and care,”[2] which make her look older than her years. Her body is frail from her years suffering from heptanary blood cancer, and it gives her an otherworldly quality. Harrowhark describes Dulcinea as looking like “a dead body,” a "ghost,”[5] and a “wasted, hot-eyed wraith.”[9] But her tip-tilted grin shows off little white teeth and breathes life into her, transforming her into more of a “malign fairy.”[2]
Dulcinea wears ruffled white skirts, a white crocheted scarf, and carries a lacy umbrella. She uses a wheelchair and a pulmonary drain as accessibility aids, as needed. At fifteen, Palamedes designed the tubing for the pulmonary drain out of a mucous epithelial tissue.[5]
Personality[]
“There was nothing much to prove, on Rhodes. When I came here I thought it might be my chance to do something.”[5]
Contrary to her appearance, Dulcinea has a robust personality. Intelligent, charming, and personable, she does not fall prey to the same histrionic decorum as many of the other necromantic scions. In fact, she is so vivacious in the River bubble that Harrowhark is “ready to denounce her as a lifelong hypochondriac,”[10] rather than the terminally-ill young woman that she is. Her House's belief that “there’s a kind of beauty in wasting away…half-alive, half-dead, within the very queendom of your power,”[11] has given Dulcinea an isolated, boring, and death-centric childhood. Dulcinea rejects this lie and makes up for that loss any time she is able. She forges a friendship with Palamedes and Camilla on the basis that they value the truth as much as she does, despite or perhaps because of the many lies she’s been told in her life. She claims, “Pal and I were always zealots, in that line,” and that they sought “truth unvarnished and truth unclean.”[9] With this attitude, she seizes the opportunity to go to Canaan House for the Imperial summons, intending to make more of her life than her intended death. Despite this plan going slightly awry, Dulcinea carries this passion into the River with her when she dies. She chooses to remain in the River bubble to assist Harrowhark, and she tackles the task at hand to the extent of her abilities, aided by Protesilaus. To Harrow, Dulcie seems childish or naive, but behind her stubborn adventurousness is a stable and wise woman. In a final act of defiance against her House, she remains behind in the crumbling River bubble to avoid the sin of the white lie, saying, “I’m going to risk staying here for a moment and getting squashed into nothingness instead, actually. The Seventh says nothingness is the only truly beautiful thing anyway, so nyah.”[12] Although she likely saves Gideon’s life by informing Harrow of her movements in the real world, Dulcinea dies, again. Of her second death, she later only comments wryly that it’s “truly wonderful news for [her] haters.”[8]
Relationships[]
Camilla Hect & Palamedes Sextus[]
“Goodbye, Palamedes, my first strand—goodbye, Camilla, my second…One cord was overpowered, two cords could defend themselves, but three were not broken by the living or the dead.”[5]
It is difficult to separate Dulcinea’s relationships with Camilla and Palamedes, since Dulcie tends to regard the three of them as one integrated unit. In their youth, Dulcinea exchanged letters with Palamedes and Camilla, addressing them both with the greeting “to my dearest pals.”[13] The relationship is obviously important to her—while her own House treats her as a wilting flower, she is allowed to express her drier and more profane self to her Sixth friends. The friendship spans more than a decade, surpassing even Dulcinea’s death, and even though she wanted more from it, she is willing to accept and love it for what it is: a “real, ugly unfinished thing” and a “gracelessly uncompleted thing.”[8]
Palamedes Sextus[]
“It would have been very beautiful. Camilla would have had to cook. But I didn’t just want beautiful… I wanted it to last, and I wanted to wait, and I knew I couldn’t have either. It’s not that you were young and foolish, you know? It’s just that you were young…and I didn’t want to steal any more youth from you. It made me feel rotten.”[8]
As fellow necromancers, Dulcinea and Palamedes often collaborated on medical necromancy for the treatment of her condition, a major motivation for his studies. Although Camilla was equally included in Dulcinea’s letters, it eventually became obvious to all involved that Palamedes’ feelings went far beyond simple friendship. He was enamored by the way that she always took him seriously, despite his age, and “treated him as someone who knew what he was talking about."[4] Likewise, Dulcinea was caught up in the way that Palamedes treated her as an intellectual equal and wanted more for her than “the perfect death”[14] that the Seventh wanted for her. She admits that her problem was reminding herself that Palamedes was a child,[8] especially when he treated her with more respect than her own House did. But that seems to be the sticking point for Dulcinea: Palamedes was much younger than her, leading her to dismiss or avoid his advances. Maybe it could’ve grown into something more eventually, but with her terminal illness, Dulcinea didn’t have the time to wait for him, and she didn’t want to drag him down with her. She wanted to save him and he wanted to save her, but in the end, neither could quite accomplish that goal.
Camilla Hect[]
“I knew [Cytherea] was going to take my place—thought maybe Camilla, at least, would figure out something was up…no such luck.”[2]
In their trio, Dulcinea views Camilla as the realist counterweight to Palamedes’ optimism and Dulcinea’s dramatics. She often relies on Camilla to provide the necessary practicalities in their friendship, and expects Camilla to offer a clear perspective of any given situation. Perhaps this is why Dulcinea hopes in vain that Camilla, not Palamedes, will recognize the truth of Cytherea’s farce. Despite never meeting in life, the two women clearly know each other very well and care deeply for each other. When Palamedes and Camilla “die” in Harrowhark’s River bubble, Dulcinea openly mourns them both, stroking Camilla’s hair gently and despairingly asking Abigail, “Does it get—better than this?”[5]
Protesilaus Ebdoma[]
Dulcinea speaks of Protesilaus in the tone of an older family friend. He and his family clearly feel protective of her, and have hosted her in their family home at least once as she convalesced. She describes his poetry-quoting noble warrior side as 'dorky', indulgently.
Trivia[]
- Dulcinea was named for the persona assigned to the prostitute Aldonza in Don Quixote. Muir describes her as "a case of a woman you want to exist, but who really doesn't." [15]
- In Harrow the Ninth, Dulcinea refers to her friendship with Camilla and Palamedes as a three-stranded cord.[5] This is a reference to a version of the Bible verse Ecclesiastes 4:12, though it is unclear if Dulcinea knows it from the Bible or from a different source.
- In The Unwanted Guest, Dulcinea quotes a line from Hamlet Act II Scene ii: “Use every man after his desert, and who should ‘scape whipping?”[8] She likely says this to remind Palamedes to base his decisions on his own ethics rather than anyone else’s.
- Upon seeing Dulcinea for the first time, Palamedes quotes the scripture Daniel 10:6, which depicts Daniel standing on the side of a great river and seeing a vision of the Lord.[8]
References[]
- ↑ tazmuir, Tumblr.com.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Harrow the Ninth Act V, Ch. 47
- ↑ "Gideon the Ninth," Cohort Intelligence Files
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Gideon the Ninth," Act IV, Ch. 35
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 "Harrow the Ninth," Act II, Ch. 21
- ↑ "Harrow the Ninth," Act III, Ch. 28
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 The Unwanted Guest Scene 4
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8 The Unwanted Guest Scene 5
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Harrow the Ninth Act V, Ch. 53
- ↑ Harrow the Ninth Act IV, Ch. 35
- ↑ Gideon the Ninth Act IV, Ch. 26
- ↑ Harrow the Ninth Act V, Ch. 49
- ↑ The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex
- ↑ Gideon the Ninth Act IV, Ch. 30
- ↑ "Gideon the Ninth," A Little Explanation of Naming Systems