i’m not going to pretend to be certain one way or another about what level of agency muir intends to give gideon in becoming kiriona/in aligning with john, because i think the level of uncertainty we’ve been given is both important and intentional, but i do think it’s specifically interesting how every other character we see be resurrected in some way and renamed by john it’s heavily implied that he also altered their memories and/or personalities; we see the renaming of titania and ulysses when he turns them into literal zombies entirely under his control and we see that the other lyctors, at some point, had different names and that their resurrection involves john altering them, and we see in some ways that kiriona falls right in the middle of those two - renamed like both of them, and still dead like titania and ulysses were and with her body having been altered by john and able to be “turned off” by ianthe at will, but also moving to some extent under her own power and retaining aspects of her personality (or her entire personality, depending on the reading - and i do think there are multiple legitimate, supported readings here)
and i think what’s specifically interesting here is that the set up of the original lyctors forces us to see them as complicit with john even though he does change and alter them - it is impossible to ignore the fact that m—- and a—- and g—- and c—- (and p—- and n—- and the nun and a—-‘s little brother!) stood with john through acquiring the first nuke, through killing hundreds of people, through necromantically piloting a world leader, etc. they’re fully complicit in the nuclear death of earth’s population even though most of them turned on him last minute, which translates over to being complicit in his empire, where we see the exact same pattern of them standing with him until eventually, later, individually deciding to betray him for whatever personal reasons they individually have. they are inarguably complicit, regardless of what alterations john made to them!
in contrast, titania and ulysses, at least prior to the resurrection, had no control, no ability to go against john at all, and so without knowing more about their resurrection and function as lyctors, it becomes almost impossible to say whether or not they had agency, ability to go against him, etc, and so all we know is that john used their bodies after their deaths in a way in which they could not resist against or do anything about
so by placing kiriona in this middle ground between the two, where we don’t know if she’s working with him entirely by gideon’s choice or if john altered her mind in some way, she’s in between total death and true resurrection, her wounds are still there but she isn’t rotting, the question becomes a question not of “is this her choice” but a question of “regardless of if this is her choice, how complicit is she?”
even if kiriona is mentally altered in some way, she’s only in this situation because she learned and embraced the cavalier role to such an extent that she died so that harrow could go lyctor. even if kiriona is mentally altered in some way, gideon was only in canaan house in the first place in order to earn the ability to “go free” and join the cohort. and, in contrast, even if she hasn’t been altered in some way mentally, she literally does not have physical control of her own body. kiriona isn’t a portrait of how people choose to align themselves with empire, but rather she’s the centerpoint of three books’ worth of themes about complicity, imperial corruption, death as something which the empire owns and corrupts, family, and memory. to say definitively that kiriona is only aligned with john because of trauma and her behavior is exactly how gideon always behaves in this situation or to say definitively that gideon would never act like this and so kiriona must have had her memory fucked with or her soul altered in some way i genuinely think is to miss the point - regardless of how much quote unquote agency gideon has in the way kiriona’s behaving and who she’s expressing loyalty to, she both has no power over herself (ianthe can and does shut her off!!! she spent her entire life obsessing over her body as a method of escape and now her body has been physically altered by john!!!) and is complicit, has been absorbed into the imperial seat of power and is being used as a weapon by that seat of power, etc.
additionally, this is a series heavily interested in themes of agency around death and how death is constantly being exploited by john and necromancers. it is important that gideon died on purpose (although obviously under. external pressures lol) and has been brought back in a manner which robs her of control over her own body, and i think being willing to engage with that and with what we’re told about the original lyctors and how john used them is important to a reading of kiriona
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1st July is my bookbinding anniversary so happy 1 year of bookbinding to me! i first discovered bookbinding in the midst of early 2022 but it took me a couple of months to gather enough courage to take the plunge.
boy am i glad that i was introduced to @renegadepublishing where i truly 'found my people', as they say. i've made such good friends in my less-than-one-year of interaction there, where i've stepped out of my comfort zone and been willing to meet like-minded people for IRL meet-ups, organize and participate in group buys in Asia/Australia (and even US) and even consider going on group trips for international bookbinding courses. i've been inspired by some amazing artists who always push me to do better, learn more things and improve my skills and as always, to make more author and gift copies, and i'm so hopeful for many more years with this great bunch of people who've become my friends.
Shall end this off with a sneaky shot of my bookcase (some books made by other renegade members) - missing a couple of author/gift copies I've been working on. I've been a little sparse recently but I've been busy making some books I'm proud of - will happily reveal them when their recepients receive their books.
Post is inspired by @celestial-sphere-press who did a great graphic at the end of their 2 year bookbinding anniversary that I gleefully referenced when making my own.
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Desmond miles as hopes older brother! Des as hopes brother! I don't have much due to my painkillers giving me a crash and burn boost, but I can help offer what little info I do think of.
It's very clear hope has had a lady's upbringing and education, Desmond alreadly had "big brother" vibes after his time near ezio's sister and little brother so he gets soft with the pretty menace that is now his sister. He's sadly not fully aware of how bad things would get in their adult lives under Achilles, but with his time as connor he knows things went horrible enough for Achilles to take things more seriously. So he's ready, but not truly ready
Now growing up before and after the death of their bio family then adoption by the german couple who raised them, he helps set hope up to be a better person once tragedy struck once more. Not just in skill, but her morals, right from wrong and her blind loyalty with plea's and warnings falling to deaf ears.
To most he's mildly serious yet calm and laid back, easiest assassin on the homestead to get along with. Most recruits who get to train with him come out sore and tired, but full of pride with a goofy smile. (I love when desmond gets to act like a big brother, he can't help it- shays his brother, liams a brother, the other's are questionable at best)
(It alsi really got to me in shay's game that hope of all people didn't listen, she seems so smart and clever! Hell she IS smart and clever)
Wanna make it more tragic?
How about when they lost their parents they were separated due to their parents’ actions, who had been kind people but may have gotten in with the wrong crowd or might have accumulated too much debt from the wrong people.
Desmond, being the older of the two, promised to find Hope and told her to wait for him. Hope is left with nothing else to do but believe in her brother and she’s taken away to an orphanage while Desmond is left to ‘pay the debt’.
Hope is adopted and her adoptive parents love her but she still remembered the warmth of her brother’s hand on the top of her head, could still remember the kind smile he always had even when Hope annoyed him.
So she believed him.
She believed him and kept on waiting for him.
Then her adoptive father was killed and she and her adoptive mother were thrown out of their own home.
It’s during the time she tried to steal for medicine to save her ailing adoptive mother that he finally found her.
It’s a bittersweet reunion as she had waited for this moment for so long but she had imagined their reunion to be a sweet one. Where he would appear on their doorsteps and would embrace her tightly…
Where her adoptive parents would welcome him to their home, her adoptive mother cooking for him and her adoptive father teaching him their family business…
Not in this dank alleyway with his hand gripping her arm tightly, the surprise clear in his eyes.
Like he didn’t expect to see her here.
Like this had all been a coincidence.
She had half a mind to push him and run away.
To ask why he had taken so long to find her…
Yet…
“Patricia?”
Just one word.
A name she had not heard for a long time.
Spoken in a much deeper voice than she had grown up hearing.
Spoken with such…
Hope.
Her body moved before she could stop herself.
His hands held her like they’ve always had.
His embrace was just as warm as she remembered…
.
Unorganized Notes:
With Desmond’s help, Hope’s adoptive mother didn’t die.
Desmond had been ‘paying’ their parents debt for years by singlehandedly destroying their group. It took some time as they were all scums who had enough money to pay for decent security and Desmond had no allies or informants of his own so he had to do all the information gathering on his own (aka: the Altaïr way)
During this time, Desmond had also amassed a… following as some of the people he took out had really had sidegigs.
So, yeah, while Hope had been growing up in a safe loving home, Desmond had been ‘unintentionally’ creating his own small gang.
Hope joins the gang, of course, and it’s actually less of a gang and more of a lite Brotherhood that focused more on information gathering and causing distractions for Desmond.
Desmond isn't Desmond's biological name but the name he went with while doing his 'sidegigs'. Only Hope and Desmond know each other's biological names and they only use it when they're alone.
Desmond actually didn’t want to train Hope to be an Assassin like him because he will always see her as his that little kid who would cry for her brother whenever she tripped. Then he realized how his feelings were the same as the ones Ezio had felt about Claudia and knew that he can’t stop her. All he can do is guide her and make sure she grew up to be strong enough.
Hope's first Assassination mission was to hunt down the men who used to be her adoptive father's business partners.
So when Achilles finally finds them, they’re pretty much Assassins by their own rights and he had heard rumors of them and the immense network they held in the colonies. That was what Achilles was after.
Desmond has no reason not to join Achilles. He only heard a bit from Ratonhnhaké:ton’s memories of what happened and Achilles had been cagey, after all, only saying that the Colonial Brotherhood fell into a Templar ‘trap’.
But… Desmond has no reason to see Achilles as a mentor as well so he acts more like an unofficial Assassin (which always left a bitter taste in his mouth), it’s a small price to pay to retain his freedom from the constraints of having to listen to Achilles’ orders.
Desmond usually just visits once in a while and every Assassin in the homestead are immediately swarming him, wanting to learn from him and ask for his advice. He’s friendly to everyone and acts like a big brother to them (especially as Achilles’ recruits are usually younger than Desmond).
Hope and Shay have a more rivalry-type relationship because Desmond told Hope that Shay had potential which Hope took as a declaration of war for her brother’s attention. Shay thinks Hope is just a very… ‘aggressive’ woman.
Liam thinks Shay is dumb for not realizing that Hope only acts like that to him. Everyone has heard of Hope, Desmond’s sister and first apprentice. Among their group, she’s one of the few to actually be on the same level as an Assassin and she’s as cunning and smart as one can get. She’s also usually nice and polite and her treatment of Shay makes Liam mistakes it as… Hope having feelings for Shay!
Desmond knows Hope is acting out because she has abandonment issues but, at the same time, her rivalry with Shay was helping the two of them grow so… he’s not going to do anything other than remind Hope that she’s his own and only sister and nothing will ever change that.
Desmond is close to Achilles’ apprentices and acts like a secondary mentor + older brother to them all. Since he’s older than them (physically and thanks to the Bleeding Effect + his reincarnation bs), he tends to treat them as young ‘kids’.
Up to you if Desmond’s presence have an effect and saves Achilles’ wife and son.
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