I have Thoughts about Augustine and Mercymorn’s titles. Saint of Patience and Saint of Joy. Augustine isn’t patient. He doesnt tolerate what he perceives as incompetence, and he can be kind of a dick. Mercymorn isn’t joyful. She’s a bitter, unhappy woman who‘s been alive for far too long. The patience and joy came from Alfred and Cristabel. It’s both a memorial to their cavaliers and a reminder of their failures. They literally took everything from Alfred and Cristabel, their souls, their lives. But they couldn’t preserve the traits they were known for, and most likely, the traits Augustine and Mercy loved them for. Like, yes, horrible old necromancers, but I feel sorry for them.
I’m so sorry for anyone who followed me for Not-Locked -Tomb content, but I keep having thoughts. So Mercymorn and Augustine call their plans Dios Apate Major (seducing John to conceive Gideon) and Dios Apate Minor (seducing John so Harrow can kill Gideon Prime.) These are very thematically appropriate names. Dios Apate refers to an event in the Iliad where Hera seduces Zeus to give an advantage to Greece in the Trojan War. So, plans that involve sex in order to accomplish a larger goal. My thought is, how the fuck do they know what Dios Apate is?
In the final showdown, John makes reference to the fact that pre-resurrection Augustine would have killed post-resurrection Augustine for saying that they don’t have to fight the Blood of Eden, and no one needs to pay for Earth dying. So they don’t remember anything pre-resurrection. So like, did John sit them down and read the Illiad? Did he just have story time in Canaan House so he could make literary references and have people get it?
So, here’s more Locked Tomb thoughts, cause brainworms. So one of Wake’s note in Harrow’s River bubble says “THE EGGS YOU GAVE ME ALL DIED AND YOU LIED TO ME SO I DID THE IMPLANTATION MYSELF YOU SELF-SERVING ZOMBIE” Obviously, this is talking about Wake having to impregnate herself with Gideon instead of using donor eggs and i‘d assume an artificial womb, cause we know the Nine Houses have those. But who donated the eggs?
Most likely, it was Mercy, cause this was all top secret, and why risk stealing some rando’s eggs vs. just using your own. Mercy being a lyctor is probably why the donor eggs didn’t work. Mercy is a fucked up lyctor, whereas Wake is just a human woman. That, and I think Harrow’s backstory tells us it’s hard for necromancers in general to conceive, that’s why they had to kill all those babies instead of just pumping out kids till they got a necromancer.
My point is, how fucked up would a biological child of John and Mercy be? Horrible little goblin baby.
Ok, since I’m now a locked tomb blog kinda now, and I Have Thoughts, I’m gonna share them with you. What would happen if Cytherea hadn’t shown up? I don’t mean like “everyone has happy fun times and works on necromancy together!” First of all, Silas Octikiseron is there, and he always gonna be No Fun. A non-Cytherea Canaan House would still be full of petty sniping at each other. What I’m saying is, the necromancers of Canaan house are some of the most brilliant to have ever existed.
We’ve got Ianthe , Abigail , Palamedes, and Harrow, who could all make claim to being the best in their respective fields. You honestly think these four couldn’t figure out perfect lyctorhood together? Hell, in canon Palamedes figured out Something that allowed Cam to both survive and get his eyes, and they had this planned out before his suicide attack on Cytherea. Ianthe figured out imperfect lyctorhood without any help, Cytherea killed Abigail first explicitly because her spirit medium abilities and knowledge of history could figure out who Cytherea was! And then Harrow, who managed to preform the lyctoral process while being attacked by a much older lyctor! If we get into Harrow the Ninth, she’s one of two people in canon who can manage theorems in The River! You honestly wanna tell me if they put their heads together, they couldn’t figure it out?
So my idea is that the Necromantic Dream Team over here figures out perfect lyctorhood, thinks “Oh yeah, this is probably how we do it.“ Then everybody who wants to be a lyctor becomes one, cavaliers intact, and they send a call to God like, ”Ok everybody’s done”. Could you imagine? Everybody just walking on the ship with their cavaliers like it was nothing? I can’t decide if it would be funny or absolutely heartbreaking. Funny from an outsider’s perspective, but Augustine and Mercy and maybe Gideon the First would just break. Pyrrha, Cristabel, and Alfred‘s sacrifice meant nothing, and these children figured out what they couldn’t! The angst potential here!
[video description: a minute and a half sketchy animatic of a scene from Harrow The Ninth book where Mercymorn hates everyone because they mockingly interpret her scribble of the Beast in not-beastly shapes. ] I got procreate and I thought: what if I draw mercymorn like fifty times. and then i did. edit: audio is from the audiobook! voiced by Moira Quirk!
“Bury me next to you in that unmarked grave, Joy (…) we have hated each other too long and too passionately to stop … but my bones will rest easy next to your bones.”
[video description: a minute and a half sketchy animatic of a scene from Harrow The Ninth book where Mercymorn hates everyone because they mockingly interpret her scribble of the Beast in not-beastly shapes. ] I got procreate and I thought: what if I draw mercymorn like fifty times. and then i did. edit: audio is from the audiobook! voiced by Moira Quirk!
[id: sketches of Mercymorn, a woman with greyish-peach hair and skin lighter but simular hue. She wears opalescent robes and a sash with a rapier. She has an annoyed expression in one sketch, looks interrupted in another, looks at blue whiteboard marker in third and in the middle one, angry, holds a box upside down. end id]
“Bury me next to you in that unmarked grave, Joy (…) we have hated each other too long and too passionately to stop … but my bones will rest easy next to your bones.”
[ID: A drawing of Augustine and Mercy framed against a black background, except for a halo of red that sorrounds their heads, with a glowing reddish light emanating from it. Mercy and Augustine are portrayed from the waist up. Augustine looks solid and emotionless, while Mercy is gritting her teeth and crying angrily, her eye aglow. Mercy is in profile, clutching Augustine by the shoulders, while he looks down at her emotionlessly. They are both being strangled by two pairs of red skeleton arms that are reaching from out of the frame, and cluctching around both of their throats. Augustine is a man with light skin, blond hair, and he is wearing a light-coloured shirt and purple striped tie. Mercy is a woman with tan skin and peachy pink hair, and she is wearing a light-coloured shirt and iridiscent white cloak. They both have a slice of ridged bone over their head which almost resembles a laurel crown, but the bone is bleeding down into their heads, and their skin and hair is tinged red in the places where the blood drips. End ID]
[ID: Augustine and Mercymorn lie together on top of flowers which grow in a field, positioned as if they were dancing with each other. They are either dead or asleep. Mercymorn wears a long, pink dress and rests her head on Augustine’s chest, while Augustine wears a purple vest and pants and a tie that matches her dress, with his arms wrapped around her. They are both pale.]
(404): All is fair in love and war and toga parties
[ID: Drawings of Mercymorn and Augustine from The Locked Tomb. In the top left, Mercy scowls. Her hood is pulled over her head. She is a thin woman with long straight hair. Next, Mercy and Augustine glare at each other. Augustine is much taller. He is a thin man with short straight hair. They both wear hooded robes. End ID]
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