Small in the scheme of things, but the change in Ortus' descriptions really means a lot to me. When I first read GtN, the way the narration brought up his weight was honestly a big turn-off to me.
Reading it back, there were some hints of his humanity from the start, but mostly it was like, oh, yay, a stock fat character to start off the comedy.
And then, from Harrow, we get not only a filling-out of his personality and role in the story, but we get this passage.
Honest-to-god characterization springing from his physicality, same as Pal's starvation thinness or G1deon's overstuffed musculature. I don't know if it's just the difference in how Harrow sees him, but this is part of why this passage in particular and Ortus as a character is so important to me. All at once, I feel so understood.
Evidence for:
- "Giddy-gone"
- He could introduce her to some of the joys of pre-Ressurection masculinity
- Both would look at the other's girlfriend and go "wow, my relationship is really well-defined and normal :)"
- He was relatively helpful to Harrow on the Mithraeum
- He gets along with Ianthe
Evidence against:
- Age difference
- He hates Cristabel and Gideon is Cristabel-coded
- He'd probably take the "Harrow has two hands" position
- He fucked her dad
- He gets along with Ianthe
Hello, I would like to discuss some implications!
Between the fact that Harrow herself didn't use her sexuality as a reason and this fear about other Houses becoming involved in the Ninth:
I think we can assume that in the Nine Houses everyone is essentially expected to be attracted to people regardless of gender, especially when it comes to political alliances. It's not entirely clear whether the idea was brought up to her or she was getting ahead of it, but either way the possibility of a strategic marriage was floating around.
So, this tells us that at some point Harrow must have had to shield Gideon from marrying Ortus.
Did Harrow ever bring it up as a threat they both knew was empty, or did they both silently avoid it? Would Gideon hit her with the, "What are you going to do, hitch me to Ortus?" when she went on one of her monologues about punishment and House loyalty? Would Gideon ever be genuinely worried about the prospect; would she ever try to thank her, prompting a "I meant what I said, Griddle - I can't have an imbecile like you contaminating my Houses' bloodline"-esque response?
In any scenario, it gives Gideon more evidence that Harrow both understands her and is willing to place her over the needs of the Ninth and raises the question of how Harrow justified it to herself!
#Wanted to include Gideon being trans as an explanation but I think if there was another person young enough to have kids it would've come up#I will say maybe my favorite thing about that is the extra layer it adds to her keeping her as a tribute to her butchness and her mother#Least favorite is that Harrow might be have to defend against marrying Gideon and I don't really want them to confront that possibility yet#Honestly we can never talk enough about this chapter in HtN it's so gorgeous and fascinating in terms of what it sheds light on#The locked tomb#Tlt#Harrow the Ninth my beloved#HtN#Gideon nav#Harrowhark Nonagesimus#ortus nigenad#I feel like he knew it wouldn't be happening. I'm a strong believer in him knowing what was up with those two long before they did.#Griddlehark
One thing about TLT is that there aren't any truly unrequited relationships. Everyone is insane about each other.
#Like yeah sometimes the emotions don't match up exactly but there are always strong emotions.#Certainly no cases of 'I love them but they don't know I exist/just hate me'#Closest thing I can think of is Corona and Cam? And Cam still has Thoughts on her#It's really nice for me bc whenever there's a loser character pursuing an uninterested mc I feel targeted lmao#the locked tomb#griddlehark#harrow the ninth my beloved#Tlt#Gideon the ninth#GtN#HtN#Nona the ninth#Ntn
The funny thing about griddlehark is that yeah they're enemies to lovers ig but within the gideharrianthe love triangle paradigm Gideon is the childhood friend option
Horrible little Ninth gremlins <3
Animated TV show this, stage musical that. I think we all know what medium Tazmuir wants TLT to be adapted into.
#fun fact: I only know what tableaus are from a different sci-fi book about lesbians#the locked tomb#tlt#gideon the ninth#gtn#harrow the ninth my beloved#htn#nona the ninth#ntn#For those unaware a tableau is a kind of still art/wax museum thing with living actors#Also I very much want both an animated show and a stage musical if they turn out even halfway decent lol
Pre-Alecto tlt agenda 2024
- Gideon Nav stockholm syndrome discourse
- Socratic seminar on what kind of car each character would drive
- 200k Naberius Tern/Matthias Nonius enemies-to-lovers fic
- Full Canaan crew ranked by how likely Ianthe would be to use them as the furnace of her lyctorhood (if Babs had eaten a bad clam and died)
- The full audiobooks but every time Harrow or Gideon say something incriminatingly gay about each other it gets faster (20 minute video)
- Art contest: design a dog bed for Noodle
- Placing every lyctor on the butch-femme spectrum
- Reblog chain of things we would do for a proper griddlehark kiss (be boiled alive in fat, etc)
The Locked Tomb sure has an interesting spin on the "will they choose their love interest ... or the world?!" trope.
Gideon Nav, you jealous little pedant <33333333
Possibly the funniest thing about HtN-era harrianthe is the degree to which Ianthe acts as a carbon copy of GtN Act 1-era Harrow. Like
Talk about giving a girl a taste of her own medicine!