History Literature / GideonTheNinth

[[caption-width-right:350:''The most fun you’ll ever have with a skeleton.'']]

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Camilla Hect is implied to be in love with her necromancer Palamedes Sextus, who only has eyes for Dulcinea Septimus, who is fixated on Gideon Nav, who definitely has the hots for her, too, but gradually develops deeper, truer feelings for Harrow, [[spoiler:who's been in love with the body in the Locked Tomb since she was 10 years old]]. When Gideon learns about Palamedes's history with Dulcinea, she lies face down on the floor and sobs at the messiness of it all.

** Magnus is pretty much the TeamDad to the young teenagers Isaac and Jeannemary, who accordingly see him like an {{Amazingly Embarrassing Parent|s}} and act very embarrassed by his dad jokes and proud parent-like boasting about them. [[spoiler:But when he and Abigail, their TeamMom, are murdered, both teens are absolutely devastated, and their number-one priority from then on becomes avenging their deaths.]]

* NotTheFirstVictim: The investigation into two murders in the ClosedCircle of the Lyctoral Trials is complicated when they find [[FurnaceBodyDisposal two burnt bodies]] who were killed before their arrival. One turns out to be an entrant whose [[KillAndReplace identity the murderer stole]].

* HeroKiller: Invoked by [[spoiler:Cytherea]], who plans to take revenge [[spoiler:on the Emperor by killing ''all'' the heirs and cavaliers at Canaan House to deprive him of new potential Lyctors for his army. And while she doesn't succeed in this entirely, she does manage to directly kill ''six'' of the heroes--Protesilaus and Dulcinea the Seventh, Magnus and Abigail the Fifth, and Isaac and Jeannemary the Fourth--and causes the deaths of two more, Palamedes and [[TheHeroDies Gideon]], who are forced into {{Heroic Suicide}}s to try to stop her.]]

* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler:Ianthe]]'s right arm is chopped off in the battle with [[spoiler:Cytherea]].

** Along the same lines, as people start dying at Canaan House, several characters use a variation of the phrase "No necromancer/cavalier should have to see their cavalier/necromancer die."

''Gideon the Ninth'' is the first book in ''Literature/TheLockedTomb'' Series by Tamsyn Muir. It was released on September 10th, 2019.

* MergerOfSouls/ TwoBeingsOneBody: * TwoBeingsOneBody: It turns out that [[spoiler:a necromancer becomes a lyctor by killing their cavalier and absorbing their soul into their own,]] leading them to acquire skills [[spoiler:like sword fighting]] that [[spoiler:the cavalier]] had.

* HeroicSuicide: [[spoiler:Both Palamedes and Gideon end up killing themselves to try to stop Cytherea. Palamedes detonates his thanergy reserves in a FantasticNuke, and Gideon skewers herself in the heart so Harrow can [[MergerOfSouls extract her soul]] and become a Lyctor powerful enough to kill Cytherea to save both Harrow and Camilla.]]

* RunningGag: Several characters run through multiple synonyms to sarcastically make a point to someone throughout the book. Gideon's take on it, in the form of addressing Harrow as "my [creepy adjective] [leader/witchy noun]" [[note]]e.g. tenebrous overlord, night boss, midnight hagette, etc.[[/note]] also crops up several times.

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Camilla Hect is implied to be in love with her necromancer Palamedes Sextus, who only has eyes for Dulcinea Septimus, who is fixated on Gideon Nav, who definitely has the hots for her, too, but gradually develops deeper, truer feelings for Harrow. When Gideon learns about Palamedes's history with Dulcinea, she lies face down on the floor and sobs at the messiness of it all.

* TheDogWasTheMastermind: With a twist. As more and more of the heirs and cavaliers at Canaan House turn up dead, the surviving cast attempts to find and stop the killer. Said murderer seemingly turns out to be [[spoiler:Dulcinea Septimus, considered probably the least likely suspect because she's such an IllGirl that she spends most of the book unable to move around on her own. But then it's revealed that the woman they all knew as "Dulcinea the Seventh" has actually been an imposter the whole time, Cytherea the First, a Lyctor who [[KillAndReplace Killed and Replaced]] Dulcinea and used her necromancy to commit the murders (or at least some of them) remotely while remaining bedridden.]]

* IllGirl: Dulcinea Septimus, who has leukemia or some other form of blood cancer. [[spoiler:This applies to both the [[DeadAllAlong real Dulcinea]] and [[KillAndReplace her imposter]] (Cytherea, who is also originally from the Seventh and has the same disease).]]

** The only [[AvertedTrope exceptions]] that we see are TeamMom Abigail (who's given no spoken or seen indication that she's a fighter), IllGirl Dulcinea (understandably), and [[spoiler:Coronabeth (who at least knows a lot about duels, but doesn't seem to be much of a dueler herself)]].

* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler:Although Camilla, Judith, and Corona are still alive when they're last seen by Gideon's narration, the latter two also being heavily wounded and incapacitated, they're nowhere to be found when the Emperor's forces search Canaan House.]]

** It's especially noticeable in the final battle. [[spoiler:Right before it begins, final male character still alive at Canaan House, Palamedes, [[ActionBomb blows himself up]] [[HeroicSuicide in an attempt to stop Cytherea from killing everyone else.]] By the time the fighting starts, all the characters still alive to participate in it are women.]]

* MusclesAreMeaningful: Cavaliers are all very fit and muscular--Jeannemary is jealous of Gideon's biceps. In fact, it turns out that the tradition of cavaliers using rapiers is because [[spoiler:they need to use a blade that the generally [[SquishyWizard less-fit necros]] can handle. When Ianthe absorbs Naberius, despite getting his fighting skill, she quickly has to switch back to necromancy while fighting Colum, who's twice her size, because she's not muscular enough to handle fighting with a sword for long periods (though Naberius [[FightingFromTheInside actively struggling against her]] certainly isn't helping). It even extends to Lyctors, as despite a myriad of experience, Cytherea too has to rely on necromancy to avoid being physically overpowered by Camilla and Gideon. And although Gideon is able to help Harrow use her two-hander immediately after they merge, she says that Harrow's going to need to do a lot of push-ups.]]

* LoveDodecahedron: Camilla is strongly hinted to have feelings for her necro, Palamedes, who greatly cares for her, but apparently only platonically. He's been in love with Dulcinea for years, who may or may not have loved him back, but at least turned down his marriage proposal. At the Lyctor trials, she seems to have moved on and be interested in Gideon, who definitely has a crush on her too and is unaware of Palamedes's relationship with her until near the end. However, Gideon is also attracted to Coronabeth, and gradually falls for Harrow over the course of the book as they mend their relationship. This is mutual, as Harrow also seems to be falling for Gideon and is hinted to be jealous of the time she spends with Dulcinea, but she's also been enamored with [[spoiler:the girl in the Locked Tomb]] since first seeing her at age ten. [[spoiler:And then we find out that "Dulcinea" was actually Cytherea all along, meaning that the real Dulcinea may have still loved Palamedes after all.]]

* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler:When all the dust settles at Canaan House, out of all the characters, only Harrow and Ianthe are found alive by the Empire, with Coronabeth, Judith, Camilla, and Gideon's corpse having all vanished, later revealed to have been abducted by Blood of Eden.]]

** Furthermore, though she [[spoiler:kills Naberius]] because [[IDidWhatIHadToDo it's necessary]] [[spoiler:to achieve Lyctorhood]] and is completely unapologetic about it, she doesn't seem interested in [[spoiler:killing any of the other guests (her potential rivals) at Canaan House. Naberius is her only kill in the book, she's insistent about not being responsible for any of the other deaths when accused of it, and when Silas prepares to fight her to punish her actions, she entreats the Ninth and Sixth to stop him, even though she knows she'll win the fight, apparently to avoid having to kill him. She also, as mentioned above, saves a cavalier from another House at two different times]].

* BaitAndSwitch: Right before the climax, Gideon catches up with Palamedes outside of Dulcinea's quarters, having just found out about his past relationship with her from Camilla and wanting to make things right with him. As she opens her mouth to apologize, though, [[spoiler:he uses necromancy to pin her in place and keep her silent, while looking at her "cold and dispassionate, unlike himself". It at first looks like he's either betraying her or at least acting out of jealousy to keep her away from Dulcinea, but in fact, he's doing this to ''protect'' her; by now, Palamedes has realized that "Dulcinea" is really an imposter and is preparing to confront her and then try to kill her, and is keeping Gideon safe by preventing her from interfering or revealing her presence and ensuring she's far enough away from his HeroicSuicide that he won't injure her.]]

* BaitAndSwitch: Right before the climax, Gideon catches up with Palamedes outside of Dulcinea's quarters, having just found out about his past relationship with her from Camilla and wanting to make things right with him. As she opens her mouth to apologize, though, [[spoiler:he uses necromancy to pin her in place and keep her silent, while looking at her "cold and dispassionate, unlike himself". It at first looks like he's either betraying her or at least acting out of jealousy to keep her away from Dulcinea so he can talk to her, but in fact, he's doing this to ''protect'' her; by now, Palamedes has realized that "Dulcinea" is really an imposter and is preparing to confront her and then try to kill her, and is keeping Gideon safe by preventing her from interfering or revealing her presence and ensuring she's far enough away from his HeroicSuicide that he won't injure her.]]

* WhamLine: ''Gideon the Ninth'' has quite a few as the reveals pile up in the final act, but the biggest comes when Gideon and Harrow finally reconciling leads to Harrow revealing the darkest secret of the Ninth, one that explains why Gideon grew up hated by her entire House:
-->[[spoiler:"Why leave me though?" [Gideon] demanded. "They murdered the rest of the House, but left me off the list?"]]\\

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Camilla Hect is implied to be in love with her necromancer Palamedes Sextus, who only has eyes for Dulcinea Septimus, who is fixated on Gideon Nav, who definitely has the hots for her, too, but gradually develops deeper, truer feelings for Harrow. When Gideon learns about Palamedes's history with Dulcinea, she lays face down on the floor and sobs at the messiness of it all.

* ImpersonationExclusiveCharacter: [[spoiler:Since the real Dulcinea Septimus was DeadAllAlong, having been KilledOffscreen [[KillAndReplace and replaced]] before the Seventh's shuttle ever reached the First, none of the other characters at Canaan House have ever met her (in person, at least, since Palamedes and Camilla were PenPals with her). Throughout the entiretey of the book, all interactions they have with "Dulcinea" are really with her imposter, Cytherea.]]

** [[spoiler:After Isaac and Abigail spend much of the early days at Canaan House too shy and nervous to talk to Gideon--or to anyone else besides the Fifth, really--they start to get some CharacterDevelopment in Act 3 and gradually join in on the alliance between the Ninth and the Sixth. The two of them, in quick succession, become the next murder victims at the end of Act 3, both dying right in front of Gideon, to boot.]]