I have no meaningful comment for this

actually one of the craziest things about harrow and gideon's relationship is the fact that they're like, unhealthily obsessed with each other but also both think the other does not care as much as they do. gideon literally died for harrow and thinks that harrow hates her so much that she erased her from her memory. harrow lobotomized herself because she couldn't allow herself to destroy gideon's soul. and they're both still just like, "she could never love me." ARE YOU BOTH FUCKING STUPID??????? (the answer is yes)

Listen I’m sure someone has already talked about this scene, and way better than I ever could, but it makes me so feral and I need to talk about it too

This is hands down the most depressing scene in the entirety of NtN in my opinion.

Surface level it’s Gideon yelling at Crux, but the significance here comes from the exact word choice. “You could have lived for her. But you didn’t know how.”

She uses past tense.

It’s not about Crux (who arguably did live for Harrow, considering his purpose was raising and protecting her, and could by all means still do this if he changed his mind about dying for Harrow.) It’s not about the congregation who worshipped her.

It’s about Gideon, who can’t live for Harrow anymore, because she’s dead. It’s about the promise she broke at the end of the first book. She’s talking about herself.

Harrow made her promise that when it comes down to it, Gideon needs to save herself. If only one of them can survive, it has to be Gideon.

At the end of the first book, Harrow is actively planning to sacrifice herself so Gideon can live, bringing up the promise and then diving into what this is actually about. Namely, how she owes Gideon her life back.

And Gideon breaks that promise, instead deciding to sacrifice herself for Harrow.

“I can’t keep my promise because the entire point of me is you. There is no me without you.”

Gideon doesn’t know how to live for Harrow, how to exist without her, even though it’s the most important thing Harrow ever asked of her—and so she dies for her instead.

“You could have lived for her. But you didn’t know how.”

And the sacrifice ended up being rejected by Harrow, because it’s not what Harrow wanted. It never was. So Gideon ended up feeling rejected and like her life and giving it up wasn’t worth anything. And she still immediately offers herself up again without hesitation. She’s ready to die for Harrow all over again, even now that she’s already dead.

“Die. Die for her. It’s the only goddamn good you’ll ever do her.”

Gideon is fucking furious—so much that Nona can’t even place her voice anymore—but not at any of the people who would rightfully deserve her fury. Not at Crux. She’s furious at herself. This whole scene is so damn heartbreaking to me.

And out of all the cruel things Crux has done to Gideon throughout her life, this might be the worst one: telling the girl who died for the Reverend Daughter once and was ready to die for her a second time that she couldn’t even get that right. That she managed to screw up the one purpose she was actually supposed to serve, the only good she’s ever done for Harrow.

Gideon is dead. She can’t do what Harrow asked and live for her anymore. What the hell is she supposed to do if she can’t die for her, either?

yeah sorry your girlfriend is dead. yeah she impaled herself on iron spikes so that you could eat her and absorb her soul and ascend to lyctorhood. yeah she didn't want to live for you she just wanted to die for you. yeah sorry. at least she warned you that the universe would be less hot and less sexy without her! perhaps you could get a lobotomy to cope?

alecto the ninth is just gonna be harrowhark nonagesimus and the bad bitches she pulled by being swagless and insane

added Harrow to this Au ✨

main love language is touch x touch-starved is the ultimate character dynamic btw

this is it folks! for the title of #1 Tumblr F/F Ship

(in this tournament, based on the people who voted in this)

I see a lot of discussions about whether relationships in the locked tomb are romantic or if it’s platonic, and here’s the thing: it doesn’t matter

that’s kind of the whole point. love is beyond labels like that, it doesn’t need them. it doesn’t matter if it’s platonic or romantic or a secret third thing - what matters is that there’s love, love to the ends of the world, love in carrying someone’s soul, love in making soup of your brain so that you don’t destroy the person you cannot fathom an existence without. love that transcends death.

Griddlehark ‘s cute gay shit

The Ninth 💀

My 10th “now totally last tlt fanart”

finally hopping on The Locked Tomb series and i'm OBSESSED with these two and their fucked up dynamic

Something something fingers still clasped around each other’s throats

Lovely soft Griddlehark commission I got from @sexybread-png, posting this now to preemptively apologize for an angsty comm I’ll be posting sometime in the near future :P

harrowhark 'but i don't even remember about you most of the time' nonagesimus to harrowhark 'i cannot conceive of a universe without you in it' nonagesimus is the prime example of what happens after you start simping for girlies with bad rizz (gideon)

BEST LONG-TIME PINING SHIPS: ROUND 3 MATCH 2

(The Griddlehark art was made by @henreyettah!!!)

Reasons to vote for each ship underneath the cut!

Griddlehark: The Messiest, Most Complicated Lesbians. Basically destined to both love and hate each other since the day Harrow was born (Gideon is approximately one (1) year her senior). You can fit so much guilt, codependency, rage, miscommunication, devotion, and complicated emotions into this relationship. I wish I could go into more detail without writing an essay and filling it with spoilers, many of which probably wouldn’t make sense even in context, but that’s the Locked Tomb series for you. Royai: They met when they were younger because Roy was learning alchemy from Riza's dad, and were close friends for a long time. Eventually, they both joined the military, Riza only because she wanted to protect Roy, and endured a terrible war together. Both of them trust only each other and both of them have killed for each other. Because they're in the military, they aren't allowed to actually date (hence the endless pining), but once Roy takes over as the leader of the government he gets rid of that rule and they live happily ever after. Riza literally says that she would follow Roy to hell and back ("Don't go where I can't follow" is literally the most romantic sentence in any ship ever are you KIDDING me) just. hsudugnh i love them :(<3