#marshal crux

[adamicoarts]

One of my friends started the locked tomb series recently and it gave me the itch to draw my take on the ninth house cast. Lots of goth old people, just my style! :D

#the locked tomb #tlt #Gideon the ninth #harrow the ninth #Nona the ninth #tamsyn muir #gideon nav #harrowhark nonagesimus #marshal crux #aiglamene #Nona the ninth spoilers #harrow the ninth spoilers #tlt spoilers #fan art #artists on tumblr #queer artist #skull #goth #bones #ortus nigenad #kiriona gaia #character design

[the-sword-lesbian]

As a follow up to my Locked Tomb milf poll which Pyrrha Dve won by a landslide, welcome everyone to

You might be asking yourself “why Pyrrha is here?”, well despite her completely stomping the competition in the milf poll, a lot of folks pointed out that she’s actually a dilf.

So I will not at all be surprised if she also wins this poll lmao.

Please reblog to spread this to as many unwilling people’s dashboards as possible.

#the locked tomb series #the locked tomb shitpost #tlt shitposting #magnus quinn #magnus the fifth #augustine the first #protesilaus ebdoma #pyrrha dve #john gaius #priamhark noniusvianus #mortus #marshal crux #tlt posting #poll #the locked tomb

[jennelikejennay]

Sometimes I think about Marshal Crux. What a totally different guy he is to Gideon and to Harrow. Isn't it always the way, that the same person in a family or a cult is an angel or a devil depending on whether you were one of their favored ones?

And then in the third book we learn he actually loves Harrow more than God. Gideon being God's child means nothing to him because she wasn't Harrow.

Personally, I suspect Crux lost a beloved grandchild, or perhaps many grandchildren, to the massacre. Harrow was what he had left. And he poured all his grief and love into her. Giving her lemon water and boosting her up to see the mass and helping her remember who she was.

Gideon, though? Gideon was the one who survived the thing that killed his grandchildren. The reminder that he had known about and probably consented to what happened to them. Of course he hated her.

#the locked tomb #gideon the ninth #harrow the ninth #nona the ninth #marshal crux

[lady-harrowhark]

hey so about your marshal. yeah your nursemaid. um we needed some fresh thanergy to open the tomb. and i insisted i be the one to kill him. yeah no it didn’t even feel good. no i don’t know why it didn’t feel good. yeah he could’ve lived for you but he didn’t know how. sorry.

#nona the ninth spoilers #nona the ninth #marshal crux #the locked tomb #kiriona gaia #tlt #tlt txt #tlt memes #my tlt thoughts #greatest hits #tlt shitposting

[mayasaura]

Found another one of those funny little moments of possible foreshadowing in the first chapter of Gideon the Ninth:

The day Crux died, he'd been infected by a extradimensional force powered by sheer malice that will have his possessed corpse back up on its feet again in no time. And Gideon—who had herself already died and kept going anyway—knew it was going to happen when she killed him.

#the locked tomb #gideon nav #marshal crux #ntn spoilers #nona the ninth #to be clear the only problem I have with Gideon killing Crux is the psychological harm it caused her to kill someone she knows #narratively it's *chefs kiss* and morally its fine #but my baby has suffered enough

[spacerockband]

a disappointment to the ninth house and a disappointment to god.

#lines that make you want to eat glass #gideon the ninth #nona the ninth spoilers #nona spoilers #tlt #the locked tomb #the locked tomb spoilers #harrow the ninth #gideon nav #harrowhark nonagesimus #griddlehark #marshal crux #aiglamene #john gaius #commander wake #wake remembrance of these valiant dead #fan art #art tag #digital art #the locked tomb fanart #also gideon nav i. feel so many thoughts about you. #prince kiriona gaia #also if this isnt clear thats gid holding herself as a baby. i wanted to draw a seperation between kiriona and gideon and also in terms of #different pieces of the same soul. she was just a baby :( #she had to grow up without really anyone but herself. and so did harrow #AUGHFDJGH #sorry couldnt make this piece less chaotic. its how i feel

[iamnotshazam]

On Cassiopeia the First, Grand Lysis and the Locked Tomb

Spoilers for Nona the Ninth: This may be an important theory for Alecto the Ninth.

In Harrow the Ninth's conversation where Harrow tells John about the Ninth House infanticide, John says something interesting-

[John addressing Harrow] "You generate too much light, or too much darkness, for me to look at you [. . .] You were awake during your first time in the River, and you performed necromancy, and believe me when I tell you the only one other person has ever done that their first time in. Keep in mind that she was an adult necromancer who went on to found the Sixth House. [. . .] How did they get you?"

I think John may have been speaking more literally about light and dark than I assumed at first. Gideon saw weird auras during one of the trials at Canaan House. But more importantly, Cassiopeia kept awake and used theorems during her first time in the River, too. But her connection to necromancy and death cannot have the same origin as Harrow's, because Cassiopeia was born before the rise of John as God and the death of the Earth. She was a lawyer and Nigella was an artist.

John is taken aback by Harrow's explanation. He wasn't expecting anything to do with eggs, birth, or possibly even thanergy:

"This was . . . all so different . . . before we discovered the scientific principles." "[. . . ] your mother and father committed a type of resurrection," he said. "They did something nigh-on impossible. I know, because I have committed the same act, and I know the price I had to pay. Thalergetic modification of an embryo is difficult enough, but to achieve the same thing with thanergy . . ."

Was Harrowhark Nonagesimus already a Lyctor? There's more than one type. Palamedes called his theory the Grand Lysis or megatheorem, and Harrow rejected it out if hand at first, possibly because she was already familiar with a similar concept and thought it couldn't be that. Her own existence would have been open for discussion if the joining of many souls into a true new soul was possible - so it can't be that, because she's an ordinary necromancer, right?

John ends the topic with:

"Harrow, nobody has the right to know," he said fiercely. "Nobody has the right to blame you. Nobody can judge. What has happened, has happened, and there's no putting it back in the box. They wouldn't understand. They don't have to. I officially relieve you from living in fear. Nobody has to know."

Is God panicking about Harrowhark revealing something to other people? Is God projecting some of his own justifications and anxieties onto Harrow?

The Body (Alecto) is very quick to tell Harrow to lie about her age to Mercymorn. This would have kept Mercymorn from asking questions about the plot to create a child of God to break into the Locked Tomb, but on the first read it's assumed it's Harrow's mind hallucinating a self-defense against investigating the infanticide. But if the true answer might have led to Mercymorn unraveling the success of Dios Apate Major, why would Alecto want her to lie? Why would Alecto want to hide a key to her Tomb? Alecto can't lie. Does Alecto like Harrow that much, to continue her own imprisonment?

Why?

What we know about Cassiopeia as of Nona the Ninth could barely fill a page. She:

Was gay with Nigella but had to keep it secret (why in near future 21st century NZ, though? The nun?)

Was in the original followers, witnessed everything at the cryo-lab, was resurrected, and had her memories erased

Married Nigella, as officiated by John, then turned right around an hour later and told John he was making bad choices

Was at Canaan House with the Lyctors and the Cavs researching how to . . . Lyct. The wiki said she worked closely with Anastasia (?), who had a more complete idea of Lysis, a tripod theory.

Ate Nigella and became the Fourth Saint

Founded the Sixth House, a research library

Left the Sixth House a note 6,000 years ago that eventually led to the Sixth House seceding from the Empire. (Blood of Eden made contact with the Empire 5,000 years ago.)

Is heavily implied to be another Lyctor source for BoE at one point (TV tropes, can't confirm)

Spirit magic and Resurrection Beasts were her specialty

Died in the River fighting a Resurrection Beast, lasting seven minutes under - except Palamedes while being ~mysterious~ implied maybe she didn't die

I'm wondering if pre-resurrection Cassiopeia (truth-teller, secret-keeper) made a note somewhere about how concerned she was about John's mood and possible actions. If she somehow found it again after the Resurrection. If the note was vague in hindsight and she didn't understand the full implications until after Lysis. If she was the first person to understand John was hiding something but also learned that he couldn't read their minds. If she created a moveable research facility and library that held itself separate physically and emotionally from the rest of the Empire, with the ability to move with enough stele, for a reason.

She wasn't like the rest of the Lyctors. She checked in on her House every now and then. She left them a note. Maybe she didn't have to avoid Dominicus like the others. Maybe she didn't have to fear the madness of a Resurrection Beast, where other Lyctors did. The first, broken type of Lyctor. Gideon the First and Harrow both managed to unintentionally make a bodge of their attempt at Lysis. Did anybody else? Would they know how to pick up the pieces and put them back - in a different way?

And was Cassiopeia doing something else during those seven minutes in the River?

There's a backdoor from the Tower in the River that connects directly to the Locked Tomb. Paul-amades thought he knew how to get to the Locked Tomb via the River. Harrowhark began walking towards the Tower as soon as her conversation with God ended. And in the conversation about her parents committing infanticide, Harrowhark told God:

"I am assured they had no previous research to go by. They came up with it themselves."

When her parents learned their daughter had brought Armageddon upon the Nine Houses, they reacted eerily calm. They killed themselves and may have expected her to as well. About a decade before, a person in a haz-mat suit appeared on the Ninth with a baby assumed to be named Gideon. Where did she land, outside of the airlocked Ninth? Who would have gone out to get her? Who gathered up the baby? Who eventually learned this was the same baby that lived through the nursery massacre?

"You remain - what you are," said Crux. "A worthless millstone hung around my darling's neck. You were born to make her suffer. You died as you lived, Gideon Nav - a disappointment to me - and to God."

Did someone put the idea in the heads of Harrow's parents that they needed a necromantic heir so assuredly they would risk the slow death of their house with no children? That maybe the survival of their House would soon not matter? Was there an indication using necromancy that way was even possible?

Mercymorn and Augustine had abandoned Commander Wake after Dios Apate Major. Space is big and stele are hard to come by. Was there someone transporting Wake to the Ninth? Someone with access to the River? Someone with the ability like Nona or Paul

Anastasia was locked in the tomb, as ordered by John. Samael died and Alecto was sorry for him. An oath existed to bind Alecto to Anastasia's blood.

What have Cassiopeia and Anastasia been planning?

#the locked tomb series #harrow the ninth #gideon the ninth #nona the ninth spoilers #harrow the ninth spoilers #alecto the ninth #i have no idea what im doing #tlt theories #john gaius #cassiopeia the first #anastasia the first #pyrrha dve #commander wake #harrowhark nonagesimus #gideon nav #marshal crux #horrible god man #oh yeah it's all coming together #nona the ninth #the locked tomb

[harrowharkninth]

The contrast of how Crux treated Gideon and how he treated Harrow is still shocking to me. I’m rereading Harrow the Ninth, and like he took care of her the year she spent traumatized after her parents died. Later she says he made her hot lemon sugar water because she didn’t like tea. Crux is such a conflicting character…

#the locked tomb #marshal crux #harrowhark nonagesimus #harrow the ninth

[nona-la-nona]

There’s something about Marshal Crux loving Harrow and being abusive to Gideon. Something about how Harrow believes that even in a universe where she is Harrow Nova and Gideon is the Reverend Daughter that Crux would still love her. Something about how Crux learning that Gideon is John’s daughter doesn’t change anything, but learning that Harrow needs the Tomb open or she’ll die immediately does. 

#harrowhark nonagesimus #gideon nav #marshal crux #locked tomb spoilers #ntn spoilers #htn spoilers

[canniefish]

In the garden 🍃

#if 1 thing can be said about me its that i can come up with a hell of an au. ok. #the locked tomb #secret garden au #alecto the first #harrowhark nonagesimus #marshal crux #gideon nav #silas octakiseron #DONT ask me to explain a plot or a backstory for this things would fall to pieces SO fast #i am just having my fun

[ortustheninth]

Don’t think any of us are appreciating the horror of Crux being left in charge of the Ninth at its time of replenishment, when it is being filled with hundreds of new penitents aged 17-40 who are completely unpenitent just because they do not know who or what the locked tomb is.

All those ‘imagine being killed in a nuclear fission chain reaction and then waking up on a goth catholic cult on pluto where the only allowed hobbies are devotion, violence, and suffering. would that suck or what.’ joke posts were very funny but also now that that is actual canon. I am thinking about that sullen teenage girl with the spear from Nona, and how many times Crux tried to murder Gideon, how he really DID murder Ortus; I am thinking about these things and I am filled with the spiritual craving to be able to call space Child Protective Services

#tlt #the locked tomb #nona the ninth spoilers #marshal crux #tlt spoilers #the ninth house #no fr crux is seriously my least favorite character in this entire series #gideon may be horrified over killing him which is very narratively satisfying and all; I love when the daughter succeeds where the father #failed #HOWEVER. however. gideon could’ve given the sword to me and I would’ve done it in a heartbeat no qualms whatsoever #the pros of crux being dead VASTLY outweigh the cons (harrow being sad) #(the pros being crux can no longer continue to emotionally&physically abuse upwards of 200 people if Im remembering right. #including Yet Another teenage girl. fuck crux fuck the ninth all my homies hate crux and the ninth

[twobitsandanibble]

do you suppose crux came up with the idea to plant a bomb on that shuttle before or after gideon suggested saying it blew up?

#gt9 spoilers #gideon the ninth spoilers #gideon the ninth #the locked tomb #gideon nav #gideon #marshal crux #crux

[6th-for-truth]

It’s August and apparently that means it’s fall now. And fall where I live means being cold all the time. So I made some hats!

All available in all 6 colors here

#the locked tomb #the locked tomb spoilers #ntn #nona the ninth #locked tomb #gideon the ninth #tlt #tlt art #locked tomb merch #gideon nav #one flesh one end #go loud #vultures and scavengers #6th house #sixth house #tlt palamedes #camilla x palamedes #harrowhark nonagesimus #marshal crux #book merch #I really hate being cold #maybe that’s why these all have swords #sword attack on the weather #still gonna need a hat

[azurish]

anyways! here’s me sitting in bed kicking my feet up and underlining this bit with a sparkly pen (black glitter ink obvs) 100 times.  because it’s obviously heartbreaking, BUT ALSO it’s reassuring, as proof that, unlike her dad, gideon is already figuring out that sometimes revenge doesn’t actually bring you closure!  

which is a fundamental thesis of Nona, imo: jod’s fatal flaw is his self-righteous laser focus on vengeance on the trillionaires over saving the world, which leads him to escalate the stakes until he damns the world.  to quote cassiopeia, “your problem is that you care less about being a saviour than you do about meting out punishment.”  (which is paralleled in hot sauce’s arc as well, actually - she realizes that “revenge” on the zombies wasn’t worth it when it meant killing nona!)

and here’s gideon, getting some taste of the vengeance she’s always dreamed of (telling crux her dad’s literally God AND killing him) and finding it lacking.  she just (rightfully!) took crux and the whole ninth to task for always being focused on dying for harrow instead of living for her - but gideon needs to live for herself and not just kill for harrow and her past, too, i think.*  i mean, i don’t think it’s a coincidence that the closest kiriona comes to seeming like Our Gideon is in the final scene, once harrow shows up - once gideon isn’t focused on the past and revenge but on building a future.

anyways! this scene is why i’m stubbornly going to cling to the hope that gideon is going to get at least a slightly happy ending in Alecto after all, because she’s going to break the generational cycle of vengeance!!

*i don’t think the parallel is perfect, because obviously killing crux is not just revenge but also necessary for opening the tomb and bringing back harrow, but i still think it’s very interesting and suggestive

image description under cut, because the alt text box ran out of room:

Photograph of two paragraphs from the book Nona the Ninth. Text reads:

And Kiriona kept saying— “It didn’t feel good … Fuck … It didn’t feel good. Why didn’t it feel good?”

A rising, hysterical note. “Why didn’t it feel good? You fucking old … You hideous, cruel … you bastard … Why didn’t … Why can’t I…”

#gideon nav #kiriona gaia #nona the ninth #john gaius #marshal crux #hot sauce #the locked tomb #locked tomb #tlt meta #locked tomb meta #how do ppl tag this sort of thing anyways #alecto the ninth #theorizing anyways #nona the ninth spoilers #ntn spoilers #meta #turns out that ntn is the tlt book that's actually going to make me start posting meta lol #on deck: meta about pyrrha dve and about the harrowing of hell (I HAVE AN IDEA!!!) #i would like to note that my girlfriend ACTUALLY owns sparkly black ink soooo this is a real possibility the next time i see her #oops added more img desc under cut bc it turns out tumblr cut off my alt text! :(

[mayasaura]

So do you think Crux was already planning to blow up the shuttle before Gideon suggested it, or...?

#the locked tomb #gideon the ninth #marshal crux #gideon nav

[ninethousandbees]

so Locked Tomb fandom, I’ve been thinking about this and I’m interested in your opinions: do you think Harrow ever told Crux that she opened the Tomb, or did he assume that her parents killed themselves because the guilt from the baby massacre finally got the better of them and she never corrected him?

#tlt #the locked tomb #locked tomb polls #harrowhark nonagesimus #marshal crux #harrow nonagesimus #imo she never told him #he loved her and I think she knew that #but he was also a Ninth house loyalist to the core #and idk how he would have reacted if he found out that she had betrayed the founding rule of their house #I don’t think Harrow would have trusted him enough to test whether love or duty would prevail