The Locked Tomb

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Name: The Locked Tomb
Abbreviation(s): TLT for The Locked Tomb
GTN for Gideon the Ninth;
HTN for Harrow the Ninth;
NTN for "Nona the Ninth"
Creator: Tamsyn Muir
Date(s): 2019, 2020, 2022
Medium: Novel
Country of Origin: New Zealand
External Links: at Wikipedia
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The Locked Tomb series is a SFF lesbian horror book series written by Tamsyn Muir, consisting of Gideon the Ninth (September 2019), Harrow the Ninth (August 2020), Nona the Ninth (September 2022), and Alecto the Ninth (upcoming in 2023).

The series was initially intended to be a trilogy, but in July 2021 Tor.com announced a fourth book in the series.[1]

Overview

Novels

The series consists of:

  1. Gideon the Ninth (published September 2019)
  2. Harrow the Ninth (published August 2020)
  3. Nona the Ninth (published September 2022)
  4. Alecto the Ninth (upcoming in 2023)

A related short story, The Mysterious Study of Dr. Sex, featuring Palamedes Sextus and Camilla Hect solving a mystery at age 13, is available for free on Tor's website.

A second short story, As Yet Unsent, depicting Judith Deuteros writing a journal of her experiences following the ending of Gideon the Ninth, is also available on Tor's website after having originally been published in the back of Harrow the Ninth's paperback release in 2021.

Synopsis

The Locked Tomb series primarily deals with the evolving and complex relationship between Gideon Nav and Harrowhark “Harrow” Nonagesimus against a backdrop of necromancy, intergalactic war, and the mysteries of Lyctorhood (aka: how one becomes God's Dead Best Friend, a functional immortal with extremely powerful necromantic abilities? And what if doing so is a Very Bad Idea?). The series is incomplete, pending the release of Alecto the Ninth.

Gideon the Ninth is told primarily from Gideon Nav's point of view; Harrow the Ninth is told from Harrow's, and Nona the Ninth is told from the point of view of a new character named Nona.

Characters

In order of House (not series prominence):

  1. The First House
  2. The Second House
    1. Necromancer: Judith Deuteros
    2. Cavalier: Marta Dyas
  3. The Third House
    1. Necromancer: Ianthe Tridentarius
    2. Necromancer (?): Coronabeth Tridentarius
    3. Cavalier: Naberius "Babs" Tern
  4. The Fourth House
    1. Necromancer: Isaac Tettares
    2. Cavalier: Jeannemary Chatur
  5. The Fifth House
    1. Necromancer: Abigail Pent
    2. Cavalier: Magnus Quinn
  6. The Sixth House
    1. Necromancer: Palamedes Sextus
    2. Cavalier: Camilla Hect
  7. The Seventh House
    1. Necromancer: Dulcinea Septimus
    2. Cavalier: Protesilaus Ebdoma
  8. The Eighth House
    1. Necromancer: Silas Octakiseron
    2. Cavalier: Colum Asht
  9. The Ninth House
    1. Necromancer: Harrowhark “Harrow” Nonagesimus
    2. Cavalier: Gideon Nav

Lyctors

  • Augustine the First (cavalier Alfred Quinque)
  • Mercymorn the First (cavalier Cristabel Oct)
  • Gideon/Ortus the First (cavalier Pyrrha Dve)
  • Cytherea the First (cavalier Loveday Heptane)
  • Ulysses the First (cavalier Titania Tetra)
  • Cyrus the First (cavalier Valancy Trinit)
  • Cassiopeia the First (cavalier Nigella Shodash)
  • Anastasia the First (cavalier Samael Novenary)

Non-Empire Characters

  • Commander Wake, aka Commander Awake Remembrance of These Valiant Dead Kia Hua Ko Te Pai Snap Back to Reality Oops There Goes Gravity
  • Commander We Suffer and We Suffer
  • Lieutenant Our Lady of The Passion
  • Hot Sauce

Other

  • John Gaius, aka God, aka the Emperor Undying, the Necrolord Prime, the Kindly Prince, etc.
  • Alecto a.k.a. The Body of the Locked Tomb
  • Ortus Nigenad, former Cavalier Primary of the House of the Ninth
  • Mattias Nonius, a renowned Cavalier of the Ninth House from ancient times
  • Teacher, of Canaan House
  • Nona

History of the Fandom

The fandom for the series spans both books released thus far.

The fandom has tracked Tamsyn's use of memes throughout her novels, and there are several posts on Tumblr where users react to finding a familiar meme in a passage. Some fans consider the shitposts of TLT to be unparalleled. A number of Discord servers have also been created for fans to interact with one another in.

Reading The Locked Tomb series like:

Heart wrenchingly beautiful prose - TEN YEAR OLD MEME - descriptive language so visceral and brilliant you feel it through your whole body - HORRIBLE DAD JOKE - a paragraph so original, poignant and resonant it’s like nothing you’ve ever read before, to the point where you’re sure you’re reading the work of a genius, the likes of which have never before- HOMESTUCK REFERENCE. ANOTHER EVEN WORSE DAD JOKE. TWENTY YEAR OLD MEME. FUCK YOUR IMMERSION, GET RICK ROLLED BITCH. [2]

By September 2020, there were a little over 300 works in the AO3 tag for the series. By January of 2021, that number had more than doubled to 750+, in part thanks to the books' popularity in fandom exchanges such as Yuletide. Spoilers are common in fanfic for the series, and are difficult to avoid. An overwhelming majority of the fics are for femslash pairings just like the canon of the book, with genfic the next most common category.

Shipping

The most popular pairing for the series (juggernaut ship) is overwhelmingly Gideon Nav/Harrowhark Nonagesimus (also called Griddlehark), the main canon ship.

There are also small showings for:

In universe, relationships between a necromancer and their cavalier are considered taboo. A necromancer and their cavalier are inherently a team, live in each other's pockets, and pledge to each other: "One flesh, one end." But they're not supposed to fall in love, because… Arbitrary.*** Canon does not take this taboo very seriously, with Abigail and Magnus being married, and Harrow and Gideon being the main ship. Fandom doesn't take the taboo seriously either, and ships necromancers and their cavaliers all the time.


*** Note: while it is generally not very well elaborated on in canon and often shown as arbitrary, and definitely ignored often in both canon and fanworks (or used for forbidden spice). There is some thematic reasoning behind the prohibition on relationships between linked cavaliers and necromancers. Namely that there is some commentary on colonialism/empire and it's links to relationship control and heteronormativity. The cavalier and necromancer "relationship" is simultaneously shown as the most ideal, most pure and important bond in society, but at the same time wanting to have explicit physical relations, or even romantic feelings for your "other half" is seen as a issue because the relationship is supposed to be about helping the empire (and what you can do for it) and conquest and not your personal feelings. This is shown to be... at least somewhat unsustainable, as many of the pairs that are well bonded and fight well together do engage in relationships and may refuse to do the "ideal thing" that pairs are supposed to do in the end, or to do it only on their own, different, terms.

Common Tropes

Example Fanworks

Fanfic

Fanart

Zines

Meta

Playlists

Cosplay

Communities & Archives

Resources

References

  1. ^ "Announcing Nona the Ninth, a New Addition to The Locked Tomb Series From Tamsyn Muir!", Tor.com, 30 July 2021
  2. ^ phemiec (Jun 9, 2021). "Reading The Locked Tomb series like:". Tumblr. Archived from the original on Oct 30, 2021.
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