A Ninth House Ransom

Honestly kind of fascinated with Harrow’s parents...like obviously they were shit parents and they treated both Harrow and Gideon very poorly, but while Gideon initially casts them as ice-hearted ambition-driven cartoon villains, her viewpoint shifts after The Pool Scene, and then we catch a few more glimpses of them through Harrow’s recollections in HtN...both women by then seem to view Pelleamena and Priamhark as yes, cold and unsympathetic people, but also people tormented with guilt over what they did.

This is why Gideon’s survival is such a problem for them. If they felt nothing about it, would they have cared so much that one kid made it? Sure, it’s freakish that Gideon survived, but her survival wouldn’t mean anything. But to two adults who committed the crime they had just committed, who had ransomed the youth of their House for a chance at revival, Gideon is a constant, walking, talking reminder of what they did.

“Memory took Pelleamena’s steady gaze, and refocused the way it slid through and over Gideon from contempt to dread. It took the stentorious, short-changed breath when Priamhark saw her and breathed it again in horror, not repugnance. One small kid who, to two adults, was a walking reminder of the day they chose to mortgage the future of their House.” (Gideon the Ninth, pg. 353)

They lash out at Gideon because as long as she lives they can’t escape their culpability. Gideon is every child of the Ninth who should have lived to adulthood. Every year Gideon lives is another year all of those children were denied. It’s even possible they saw Gideon’s survival as a sign from God the Emperor, that her survival was a miracle and she was meant to be the flail with which they were beaten for their crimes. To consider even for a moment that the Emperor already knew what they had done would have been terrifying.

This also contributes to why Harrowhark’s little expedition into the Tomb causes her parents to off themselves. For two people who had spent 10 years beating back their guilt over mass slaughter and trying to train their daughter into a necromancer of such surpassing skill and dedication that it would justify their crimes, hearing that she had done the one thing the Ninth House was created to prevent broke down whatever was left of their ability to pretend. They could not face the shame of the Emperor over what Harrowhark had done--and they could not face the condemnation of the other eight Houses over what they had done.

“‘My parents killed themselves because they were frightened and ashamed,’ said Harrow tightly. ‘They thought it was the only honorable thing to do.’

‘I think your parents must’ve been frightened and ashamed for a hell of a long time.’” (pg. 355) 

Harrow also characterizes what was done as an act of desperation--if for no other reason than, even if they felt nothing about the actual murders, Pelleamena and Priamhark realized what it would do to the Ninth House’s future to sacrifice an entire generation of its people.

“‘My mother needed to carry a child to term, and that child needed to be a necromancer to fill the role of true heir to the Locked Tomb. But as necromancers themselves, they found the process doubly difficult. We hardly had access to the foetal care technology that other Houses do. She had tried and failed already. She was getting old. She had one chance, and she couldn’t afford chance.’“ (pg. 351).

This also makes the Emperor’s reaction to Harrowhark’s confession interesting, because John created the world in which Pelleamena and Priamhark felt that not only was this a viable option, it was their best option. He bears the guilt of what they did as well--this world is his, his vision, and this act of mass murder was committed in his name--in the interest of guarding the Locked Tomb for the Emperor’s sake.

Obviously none of this absolves them, either for the murder of the Ninth House youth or for the way Gideon (and frankly, Harrow) was treated growing up but it is interesting I think to imagine these people who were so tormented by what they did that they could be undone by two children.