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Fridge Brilliance
Gideon the Ninth
- Pretty much everything "Dulcinea" says becomes far more meaningful on a reread. It's especially important to note when she's talking about her fake past and her real past, because it's so easy to miss the transition.
- Why does nobody suspect Gideon of murdering Jeannemary, since she was the only person in the room and claims not to have seen anything? Because Jeannemary was killed with enormous spurs of bone, which Gideon wouldn't be able to use since she isn't a necromancer.
- Gideon's comment about not wanting to support Harrow's new fascist regime is deeper than it looks on the surface. In ancient Rome the Lictors' sign of office was the fasces, a bundle of sticks topped by an axe blade, and it's where we get the word fascist. Harrow, of course, jumps at the chance to become a Lyctor.
Harrow the Ninth
- Harrow typically carries Gideon's two-hander on her back, because it's too heavy for her. Swords like that often have very large guards, making them look like a cross. She is literally carrying a cross on her back.
Nona the Ninth
- In John's chapters, one of the last things that happens before everything goes sideways is that he catches the bouquet at C- and N-'s wedding, the superstition being that the one who catches the bouquet will be the next one married. Within the day, he has his perfect lyctor bond with the Earth herself, a bond which has repeatedly (including in this book) been symbolically representative of marriage.
Fridge Horror
Gideon the Ninth
- It really cannot be overstated how much damage was done to Harrow's psyche by killing all the other children. She says "I am a war crime," but that's not even half of it. It's no wonder she's never acted like a child, she never had other children around to interact with. She'd probably be even worse without Gideon.
Harrow the Ninth
- Harrow's Elseworlds say so much about her mental state. The one where her parents dump her for not being a necromancer is merely the most obvious. In the very first one, she swaps Gideon for Ortus because she's always seen Ortus as nothing but a poor stand-in for Gideon—but he immediately starts taking the plot in a different direction because he is a different person. The royalty AU is another sign of how she sees no worth in herself besides what she can bring to the House (in this case, a marriage). And of course the military AU has all the slow horror you would expect from being a story where she joins a fascist army.
Nona the Ninth
- The people of the planet blame the necromancers for the presence of the Resurrection Beast. And they're right. Lyctors, even half-formed lyctors like Cam and Palamedes, attract Beasts. And Nona probably attracted it even more.
- There's been sparse references of Nona's tantrums, including a few times when Nona herself feels that she is about to throw one during mundane situations. Almost funny, right? Then we get her third tantrum in full gruesome detail and now it's not so funny anymore. It's horrifying on reread because few of those edging-towards-a-tantrum were at school. One can only imagine what would've happened if Nona had her third tantrum there and then.
Fridge Logic
On the headscratchers page.
