I would have said "Philomena The Ninth" but that wasn't as funny.

y’know i’m writing this fic and it’s making me think that maybe we don’t recognize enough as a fandom that a lot of harrow’s guilt and shame, which make her light years more sympathetic as a character, are a.) not actually that moral, b.) directly caused by the ninth, and c.) probably shared with her parents, the only characters in the whole series that i’ve never seen a single post trying to humanize/analyze as complex. like. harrow hates herself for what her parents did and honestly? the most likely reason for this is just that kids subconsciously recognize themselves as extensions of their parents, and *her parents probably hated themselves for what they did.* regularly explaining your crimes against humanity to your five-year-old but only being willing to discuss it in the terms of it being a horrible sin and having to take a ritual cleansing bath every single time is the action of a very guilty person. i have to imagine that those saltwater baths probably included some really intense self-flagellation on the part of harrow’s parents that she internalized. i’d venture so far as to say that their suicides were motivated by guilt over the massacre just as much as by shame over the opening of the tomb.

harrow’s sense of constant guilt is so often seen as proof of her having overcome the imperial morality pushed by the houses, and that makes sense given the fact that she *has* taken a viewpoint by the end of the series that opposes imperial morality, but also, guilt is like the main export of the ninth house. harrow’s relationship to it, even once it stops being something she projects onto gideon or otherwise externalizes, is fundamentally ninth and ties her to what she herself acknowledges as “the worst flaws of her house.” ultimately it is something she inherited just as much as the 200, which to me provokes a lot of questions about how her parents actually coped with the consequences of their own fucked-up actions. gideon experienced that coping as just straight cruelty, but we know that harrow got a much more complex window into their feelings and behaviors, and my guess is those behaviors bore distinct resemblance to hers.

i have to wonder what sorts of systemic pressures were falling on them and their house that led to them killing off a whole generation, and what sort of transformations they underwent. how *do* you live with yourself knowing that the blood of so many innocent people, people you were responsible for *protecting,* is on your hands? how could you possibly raise a well-adjusted child when she’s basically a mirror into an atrocity you could’ve hardly fathomed up till the day you committed it? do you think they tried to? i think they probably tried to, but ultimately being a good parent doesn’t change being a mass murderer, and it’s impossible to pull off at all when the mass murder is so directly tied to your hopes for your child. the ninth’s entire purpose within the empire is to carry the weight and memory of one of the most horrible things john ever did, to *inherit the mass death and necromantic subjugation of the earth.* in this capacity, harrow’s parents are *victims* of the empire and its doctrine around death who proceeded to perpetuate both the mass death and necromantic subjugation AND the task of bearing the burden of shame onto their next generation. i don’t really know where i’m going with this aside from “the ninth’s cycle of violence is based in shame and is an extension of john’s disbelief in forgiveness, which means harrow can’t break it without forgiving something unforgivable; it’ll be interesting to see how she manages such a difficult task,” and “i think we oughtta talk about the politics of guilt as it applies to the entire reverend family dynamic”

My theory of what The Message is

AIM mentions that the message "It's too simple for humans to understand.". My guess is that it's data stored in the form of DNA sequences. Most people think of DNA as just genetic material inside the cells, but for years now scientists have been studying it's application in other areas.

With DNA you can storage a lot of information in a very small volume using nitrogenous bases A, T, G, and C (or U instead of T for RNA). This information can be preserved for myriads and wouldn't degrade like our normal methods of preserving information does (paper, HDs, SSDs, tapes, print, etc.). As long as there are humans that can read and write genetic codes, we will be able to decode it. (https://www.science.org/content/article/dna-could-store-all-worlds-data-one-room)

This explains why BOE picked a veterinary, because they have the knowledge to read and decode a DNA sequence. We know that Blood of Eden has the technology for that, and I think that it's mentioned that they had a project to clone Wake.

While this seems to contradict that it's "too simple for humans to understand", I think it's like the "you can't enter a door that you don't have permission" riddle. We can't understand ATGACGGATCAGC...just by looking at it, but it is what defines life on Earth. We understand it by decoding, which require our mind and memories that work on proteins, so there is level of separation already.

I think they are carrying information about life on Earth (and also maybe, other planets that they inhabited) in the form of DNA. Kind of like a Noah's Ark, but with also all the history, music, literatures, internet memes, etc., that humanity produced. That's why the BOE names are all pre-resurrection references.

My theory on how The Angel carries all this DNA information is that someone modified their body by making them like a chimera (with necromancy it seems). That's why they said to Palamedes that "My dead body is designed to deny you answers.". So if he were to examine them, he would find what looks like a bunch of puzzle pieces, each belonging as if to a different puzzle.

By this point I can't help but think of Teacher from the first book. The Angel was presented to us a teacher too, and they refer to themselves as "we", so like Teacher, they are a form of construct (with what I came up). Maybe Teacher is one of the parts of The Message? Cassiopeia was the one that created him and  there is this speculation that she helped create BOE, so AIM being like another construct made by her would make sense.

this girl can fit so many girls in her.

ID: Excerpt from Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir. “You’ve double-crossed God, for one—” Kiriona said, “What? John sent me, you overgilded doorknob.” Pyrrha said, “Like hell he did.” “My sentiments exactly expressed,” said Ianthe. “No. He did,” said the corpse prince. “I didn’t sneak onto that ship for my health. Don’t you see? This is my chance. We go in there, we open up the Tomb, I take down whatever’s inside—Alecto, Annabel, I don’t care, whatever her name is—boom, we’re done. Dad won’t be immortal anymore, but he says he doesn’t care about that, and I believe him, Tridentarius … I’ll be his cavalier. I’m the First. Hell, I’m his child and heir. Isn’t this the neatest way? Are you going to help me, or not?” End ID.

If not pink, than what colour is Mercy’s hair?

Mercy’s Hair is a Light Strawberry Blonde and I Can Prove It – An Essay

I’m putting examples and sources under the cut, but here’s a tl:dr:

Pink is not a natural hair color, if Mercy’s hair were an unnatural hair color, it would be noted like it is with the other characters in the series who have unnatural hair colors. Mercy’s hair color is described nine times with twelve distinct descriptors, and out of those twelve descriptors the word pink is only used twice. Mercy’s hair color is described more often with peach adjacent colors than pink. A light peach color that’s natural is a strawberry blonde:

First, tazmuir has established that people still dye their hair in her universe. When introduced, both Issac and Pash’s descriptions include a remark about the hair being dyed/bleached.

It doesn’t give you the opportunity to think that their hair is just a Different Color since we’re in a fun fantasy series because it’s noted that it’s unnatural. Mercy’s hair color is described nine times, and not once is it described as being unnatural or altered to be the color it is. Therefore, we can conclude her hair is a natural color.

Out of the nine times Mercy’s hair color is described, pink is used twice. Each time the word pink is used, it appears alongside the color red– her hair is described as red as often as it is pink. Both times it’s used as a modifier for another color, it’s adding a pink hue to another color. “that heart of a yellow rose color … that pinkish, reddish, goldenish” / “pinky-reddish”

Her hair isn’t described as pink at all until Dios Apate, and then again once by Gideon who describes her hair color three times in the few minutes she knows her. (She actually also describes mercy’s hair as being “weird hued” but doesn’t use a color, so technically four.) By comparison, the very first time Mercy is described, her hair is described as “dead flower” and “apricot”

and then afterward it’s peach or orange colors until “pinkish, reddish, goldish.” The most common way Muir uses to describe Mercy’s hair is actually using floral imagery. “Dead flower” “heart of a yellow rose” “flower-colored” “rosy” Most curiously, she uses the exact phrase “overripe rose” twice. It’s also described as being a “pale rose gold,” so we know the floral and rose descriptors aren’t of blooming, fresh red flowers. These descriptions all range across peach tones.

courtesy Tiffany Co:

Mercy’s hair is both literally described as peach-colored and also has descriptors for shades of light orange. Whereas pink is used rarely and only with the ish and y modifiers that indicate it's not wholly that color, but rather that color is added to something else. This is done with red and gold as well, using those colors as modifiers for another color. A natural, light peach color that has gold and pink tints to it in certain lights is strawberry blonde.

I have not been posting in the slightest due to many a final exam (this will change shortly!) but I felt the need to propose -> If Gideon is nicknamed Griddle... Is Kiriona...... Kettle? That's all.

well?

they're always in my brain,,, and an open photoshop window... ( wip & more under the cut)

ah fifth house.. how I love you so.. (and how I will need multiple parts to analyze you properly <3)

The fifth, Heart of the Emperor and Watchers over the River... that means a lot more when you... A). Know anything about the Emperor

B). See the word "River" and go "Ohhhh!"

So, Heart of the Emperor! Once again, I find it interesting just the choice of words specifically. I mean, of the houses, you have "Emperor's Strength", "Emperor's Hope & Sword", "Emperor's Heart", "Emperor's Reason", "Joy of the Emperor" and then just "Keepers of the Tome/Tomb" for the Eighth and Ninth respectively. For the Fifth, heart is a peculiar choice. Of course, I had to consult my favorite method to deduce the meaning ->

But, I had a crisis. Searching for mentions of the word "Heart" in the bible gives you... less specific answers than most would like. Seems like, unless I want to slog through a billion single word mentions, I would have to really switch gears. Incredibly however, I tripped into the right answer (as I have many a time in the past). I was going to go the the Locked Tomb Wiki (that helps me with writing these posts ALL the time), but instead of typing "The Fifth House Wiki" I hit enter too early, and, incredibly, found that sometimes the easy route is the correct route. See I know my zodiac signs off the top of my head, my mom used to pull out the dusty books and explain the details, I know my birth chart, hell, I've READ Homestuck! So, I don't know how it escaped me so long, but I really REALLY should've been going down THAT house route. For those who don't take an idle interest in the goings on of Zodiacs, and also don't have incredibly well read zodiac-believing family members, you might not know that, among other things, the Zodiac signs have bodily associations. Of these, the one we should be interested in is Leo

See, okay, Leo = Heart, what does that mean for our Fifth house search? Well, ANOTHER zodiac thing is zodiac HOUSES. Your in-depth definition of what these mean is probably better received from someone who's much more into zodiacs than I, but all you have to know is there's 12 zodiac signs, and 12 houses. Each sign has a House it's associated with, and wouldn't you know it, the fifth house is Leo! A little messy, but you can see the association is there! I mean, obviously there's some extended explanations I am clearly lacking on here, but look at that! I can find answers sometimes! Now, that's a lot for one post, but y'know, we're getting somewhere. Stay tuned for some more deep deep 5th house diving from yours truly... Also, let me know if you guys are keeping up with these posts! I have fun making them, but the engagement means a lot to me :) continue to reblog, reply, or send in your thoughts, theories, anything!!!

@todd-queen you're definitely right! absolutely keeping that reading of fidelity in mind for when I get to the poem! Tamsyn Muir just keeps packing every line with info in a way that really sets up the whole story from the start. All the names, all the titles, all the houses, everything is so immaculately set up. I also just feel like there's been a running theme with these books about vengeance and the cost of it (we see it most prominently in NTN but all throughout the books it's threaded in there) and the fourth are just such a tragic but apt example of every different side of vengeance. Dying for it, on the sword's end of it, and becoming fuel for it. These books....

Let's go Fourth House!

OKAY! So, firstly, cool titles we're getting here. first off, Hope of the Emperor is sort of darkly ironic, seeing as these are the children of the houses getting sent off to the war mill. Nice hope for the future you have here, John. The Emperor's sword feels pretty apt as well. Now, Baron of Tisis and Knight of Tisis are real interesting... Baron means lord, which makes sense, and knight also makes sense in relation to Isaac being a baron here, but I will also make mention that as someone who has ALSO read Homestuck (at this point, that's essential reading for the Locked Tomb) the usage of Knight is just pinging things for me... not saying this means anything, just making my theory spider-sense tingle. "Isaac is named for Isaac, the biblical character who foreshadows the death of Jesus by bringing wood up the mountain for his own sacrifice." is straight out of the authors mouth, and it brings up some interesting parallels. I mean, foreshadowing the death of Jesus is pretty poignant. I mean Isaac dies from a ton of bone teeth spearing through him, and Gideon dies speared through the heart from a fence. They both left their (cav/necro responsively) partner distraught ... despite the fact that the clearer parallel would've been necro+necro and cav+cav, but y'know we LOVE to make stretches here o7. Tettares just means 4 Jeannemary means “God is gracious” for Jeanne plus "bitter” or “wished for child.” for Mary. Chatur, as per google. means “a person who has studied all four (chatur) Vedas and therefore is learned or smart". So, clearly a four thing, and also very depressing, seeing as "God is gracious" definitely isn't true in the context of this book, at least. Tisis is the one that stumped me, it's obviously the name of their planet but unlike Rhodes or Ida, it was a lot less google-able for me. I mean, Tisis is a place in Austria, it means Tuberculousis, it's also a moth... all of which means very little to me. But, of course, we all know my style of theorizing (throwing EVERYTHING at the wall, seeing what sticks, seeing what would be cool, and inevitably seeing everything I missed), so at the end of my rope I asked my very Greek Tia at the table who said "oh, translate that from Greek and you'll probably find something" and I was like shit... obviously the book that often uses Greek myth would be utilizing Greek words, so I immediately turned gears into THAT track - which was a good idea because wiktionary gave me ->

So! Avenge, Payment, Vengeance, Penalty... all very interesting. Don't particularly stick me as Fourth, but we can cross-reference the whole thing with the book. My running theory, as depressing as it is, is just that this really sums up the narrative purpose of the Fourth. They dive into the fray to avenge the Fifth, they die in a work of vengeance from Cytherea that leaves them as collateral, they inspire Gideon to enact vengeance on Cytherea, and even FARTHER back, they're the sword to the Emperor, on his quest of VENGEANCE! God they make me so sad. .

Let's go Fourth House!

OKAY! So, firstly, cool titles we're getting here. first off, Hope of the Emperor is sort of darkly ironic, seeing as these are the children of the houses getting sent off to the war mill. Nice hope for the future you have here, John. The Emperor's sword feels pretty apt as well. Now, Baron of Tisis and Knight of Tisis are real interesting... Baron means lord, which makes sense, and knight also makes sense in relation to Isaac being a baron here, but I will also make mention that as someone who has ALSO read Homestuck (at this point, that's essential reading for the Locked Tomb) the usage of Knight is just pinging things for me... not saying this means anything, just making my theory spider-sense tingle. "Isaac is named for Isaac, the biblical character who foreshadows the death of Jesus by bringing wood up the mountain for his own sacrifice." is straight out of the authors mouth, and it brings up some interesting parallels. I mean, foreshadowing the death of Jesus is pretty poignant. I mean Isaac dies from a ton of bone teeth spearing through him, and Gideon dies speared through the heart from a fence. They both left their (cav/necro responsively) partner distraught ... despite the fact that the clearer parallel would've been necro+necro and cav+cav, but y'know we LOVE to make stretches here o7. Tettares just means 4 Jeannemary means “God is gracious” for Jeanne plus "bitter” or “wished for child.” for Mary. Chatur, as per google. means “a person who has studied all four (chatur) Vedas and therefore is learned or smart". So, clearly a four thing, and also very depressing, seeing as "God is gracious" definitely isn't true in the context of this book, at least. Tisis is the one that stumped me, it's obviously the name of their planet but unlike Rhodes or Ida, it was a lot less google-able for me. I mean, Tisis is a place in Austria, it means Tuberculousis, it's also a moth... all of which means very little to me. But, of course, we all know my style of theorizing (throwing EVERYTHING at the wall, seeing what sticks, seeing what would be cool, and inevitably seeing everything I missed), so at the end of my rope I asked my very Greek Tia at the table who said "oh, translate that from Greek and you'll probably find something" and I was like shit... obviously the book that often uses Greek myth would be utilizing Greek words, so I immediately turned gears into THAT track - which was a good idea because wiktionary gave me ->

So! Avenge, Payment, Vengeance, Penalty... all very interesting. Don't particularly stick me as Fourth, but we can cross-reference the whole thing with the book. My running theory, as depressing as it is, is just that this really sums up the narrative purpose of the Fourth. They dive into the fray to avenge the Fifth, they die in a work of vengeance from Cytherea that leaves them as collateral, they inspire Gideon to enact vengeance on Cytherea, and even FARTHER back, they're the sword to the Emperor, on his quest of VENGEANCE! God they make me so sad. .

the one trope that never fails to Get Me is normal butch x insane femme

Nona Hardcover Acquired!

since you're open to requests about the locked tomb data collection...

a spreadsheet on how many times the book points out someone eye color would be so cool since they are so important to the plot!

i'm rereading GtN and "dulcie" got her eye color named so very often compared to other characters. the fourth interestingly got their eyes described right before dying and gideon's eyes i think so far got only named by dulcie...

anyway don't worry if it's too much work i just thought i'd ask since you said you like tasks!

Tracked down all decriptions of eye colour (in Gideon the Ninth only), have listed (paperback) page numbers here:

for better, more immediate reference, i have also transcribed each description below the cut, as well:

Is It Really Possible for an Emo Girl and a Country Boy to Be in a Relationship?