56 pages • 1 hour read
Tamsyn MuirGideon the Ninth
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Act 1, Chapters 1-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Act 1
Act 1, Chapter 1 Summary
Gideon is an orphan living in the Ninth House. The Ninth House is one of Nine Houses under the Emperor, the “kindly Prince of Death,” a necromancer who has become God in the eyes of the Houses (10). The Ninth House was created on a desolate planet at the far edge of the Dominicus solar system to watch over the Locked Tomb, a grave that contains an enemy of the Emperor who cannot be killed. Since Gideon was not born on the Ninth, she is considered a foundling and thus property of the House. Gideon has been abused her entire life by the Ninth, especially by Pelleamena Novenarius and Priamhark Noniusvianus, the Reverend Mother and Reverend Father that rule the Ninth House. Gideon grew up beside their only child, Harrowhark Nonagesimus, who also torments Gideon. The two are the only young children left after a plague wiped out all the other Ninth children shortly before Harrow was born. Unbeknownst to Gideon, the children were intentionally killed by the Reverend Mother and Father to make Harrow the strongest necromancer possible.
Gideon ascends through the “enormous hole cracked into the planet’s core” up the Ninth Houses terraces to a landing pad, where a shuttle she illegally purchased will take her off planet (18). The Ninth House is a dreary and foreboding place, full of crypts, graves, and nuns praying over rosaries made from human bones. The food is cold, gray mush farmed by skeletons. As Gideon waits for her shuttle, the normal activities of the day begin and Drearburh’s bells ring for morning prayers. A second bell rings, which Gideon recognizes as the muster call for important business. Shortly afterward, the House’s marshal, Crux, confronts her with the intent of bringing her down to the central keep, Drearburh, for the muster call. Gideon offers Crux a copy of the pornographic magazine “Frontline Titties” to let her escape, introducing Gideon’s identity as a lesbian (13). Crux is disgusted by what he views as profanity against the Ninth House and threatens to kill her if she does not come along. Gideon calls his bluff, and he storms off.
Aiglamene, the Captain of the Guard and Gideon’s mentor, tries to persuade her more gently than Crux. Gideon asserts that she is “indentured, not a slave” (15). Aiglamene considers Gideon’s inability to serve the Ninth as a disgrace. Gideon insults Harrow, and Aiglamene slaps Gideon for it. Gideon feels she is a disgrace to the House and refuses Aiglamene’s pleas to come to the muster call.
The chapter ends with Gideon contemplating the circumstances that led her here. Eighteen years ago, a woman presumed to be Gideon’s mother fell out of the sky with Gideon strapped to her. When her ghost was wrenched back to the world of the living, it only screamed “Gideon” before leaving, leading the nuns of the Ninth to name the infant Gideon (19). The Ninth House planet houses only two structures: a prison floating in the atmosphere for the worst offenders of the Empire and Drearburh, home of the Ninth House. Gideon’s mother did not come from the prison: her origins are a mystery to Gideon and everybody of the Ninth House. Gideon has attempted to escape the Ninth House 86 times before and has been foiled 33 times by Harrow. She began her attempts at the age of four.
Act 1, Chapter 2 Summary
Harrow confronts Gideon after Crux and Aiglamene fail to stop her escape attempt. Harrow always calls Gideon “Griddle” instead of using her actual name (20). Gideon describes Harrow as somebody who has “cornered the market on wearing black and sneering” (20). The two despise one another and have fought many times. Gideon tells Harrow that if she interferes, Gideon will “squeal,” a reference to Harrow’s dead parents (21). Their deaths are a secret that could collapse the Ninth House, so Harrow uses necromancy to keep their corpses preserved and animated.
Harrow promises Gideon official documents signed by her dead mother that will release her from the Ninth House’s service into the Cohort, the inter-House military of the Empire. She only wants Gideon to attend the muster call. The terms are too good, and Gideon suspects a trap. Harrow is furious and challenges Gideon to a hand-to-hand fight: If Gideon wins, she walks away with the signed papers, and if she loses, she must attend the muster call but still keeps the documents. To lure Gideon, Harrow removes every piece of bone on her person; as a necromancer of the Ninth, Harrow requires human bone and “thanergy,” or death energy, to work her magic. Without access to bones and thanergy, Harrow is no different than anybody else. Gideon, who previously combed the landing pad for traps, takes the bait and fights Harrow. Harrow reveals she planted dozens of bone fragments in the field the night before: Skeletons spring from the ground and take down Gideon, causing Gideon to forfeit the match. Harrow, victorious and covered in the blood sweat in which necromancers break out when they exert their powers, drags the semi-conscious Gideon down to the muster call.
Act 1, Chapter 3 Summary
Gideon comes to in the middle of Drearburh religious services. Harrow’s dead parents are present, as are the cavalier Ortus and his mother, Glaurica. Harrow reads a letter sent by the Emperor, the “Necrolord Prime” (33). When the Emperor resurrected humanity, he did so with the help of eight Lyctors, immortal demi-gods with powers unmatched by mortal necromancers. The Lyctors have died out one by one over the course of a 10,000-years-long war, and the Emperor needs suitable replacements for them. The letter asks that each House send their heir apparent and cavalier to Canaan House, the home of the First House, where the Emperor resides. Glaurica does not wish to lose her son to the Ninth like she lost her husband, the cavalier for Harrow’s parents that killed himself alongside them. Ortus is afraid of dying, so the two flee Drearburh and steal Gideon’s shuttle.
Muster breaks, and Aiglamene tries to instill a sense of duty and obligation to the Ninth House in Gideon. Gideon learns from Harrow that the shuttle is gone and that Glaurica and Ortus stole it. Harrow explains that she has orchestrated all of this simply because she hates Gideon. Gideon is heartbroken over being trapped once again in the Ninth House.
Act 1, Chapter 4 Summary
Gideon falls into a deep depression. She spends her days in the dark, refusing to leave her cell. Harrow offers her a “job” with little explanation and drags Gideon down to the catacombs (41). There they find Aiglamene looking for suitable rapiers and offhand weapons for Gideon to use as a cavalier. Cavaliers traditionally fight with a rapier and an offhand weapon—a buckler, a knife, a bladed glove, etc. Harrow wants Gideon to serve as her cavalier at Canaan House and promises Gideon anything she wants in return for this, with no strings attached. Aiglamene must train Gideon with the rapier so that the other Houses do not suspect weakness in the Ninth. Gideon greatly objects to abandoning her heavy two-handed sword, and she wants no part in Harrow’s “fascist” rise to power (46).
Aiglamene cares greatly about Gideon and wants her to leave the Ninth House, which Aiglamene views as a place “just waiting to die,” and believes becoming a cavalier is Gideon’s only way to escape. She tells Gideon that if she doesn’t get out now, she “won’t even get out in a box” (50). The rare display of affection from Aiglamene pushes Gideon to agree to become a cavalier.
Act 1, Chapter 5 Summary
The Emperor has sent a second letter describing the details of the trip, but Gideon objects to going to Canaan House, “another cave filled with old religious nut jobs” (51). After Gideon foolishly suggests a “sweet space station” as a gathering place, Harrow reminds her that no necromancer would be caught dead in space where there is no thanergy (50). Thanergy is the essence of death, the other half of thalergy, which is the essence of life. Planets and soil are filled with thanergy, which fuels a necromantic adept’s powers. Necromancers can convert thalergy into huge amounts of thanergy, but they cannot convert thanergy into thalergy.
Gideon bristles at the traditions she is expected to uphold. She hates her rapier and the iconic death’s head face paint that every Ninth House member wears. Harrow’s insistence on tradition and her being a “proper” cavalier upsets Gideon. Gideon asks for open and clear communication between them, which Harrow ignores. Harrow’s inability to communicate foreshadows the tension between the two that causes many of their problems in the novel. Harrow believes all Gideon needs to do is exactly what she says: She doesn’t believe Gideon needs any information at all about the ordeal they’re going to face.
Act 1, Chapter 6 Summary
Gideon spends three months training with Aiglamene. Meanwhile, Harrow spends her time locked away in the library, hardly communicating with Gideon. Gideon packs away her two-handed sword in secret. She is given Ortus’ grandmother’s rapier and a bladed gauntlet for her offhand.
When the two set off for Canaan House, Gideon vividly imagines the Ninth House being destroyed. Gideon realizes she might never see Aiglamene again and salutes her. Harrow tells Gideon she “wants to watch her die,” foreshadowing Gideon’s eventual death (60).
Act 1, Chapter 7 Summary
Gideon and Harrow’s shuttle approaches the planet of the First House. The planet is covered almost completely by water, and the bright sunlight blinds Gideon. Now, Gideon dons the sunglasses that she wears for the rest of the novel. Gideon is instructed not to speak to others to hide the fact that she was not raised as a cavalier. Harrow hides this under the pretext of a “vow of silence.”
The First House is a magnificent, sprawling castle in the middle of the ocean surrounded by the decaying remnants of a city lost to the water. The duo is greeted on the landing pad by skeletal servants and the three priests of the First House. One is named Teacher and the other two are unnamed. Gideon and Harrow meet the other eight House necromancers and cavaliers on the landing pad as well. The Third House has brought two necromancers and one cavalier: Coronabeth Tridentarius is secretly not a necromancer while her twin, Ianthe, is the true necromancer of the Third House. Corona is beautiful and radiant whereas Ianthe is withered and pale, like a ghost.
Dulcinea Septimus, the Seventh House necromancer, has a fatal and hereditary blood cancer, which leaves her very weak. She stumbles out of her shuttle and is caught by Gideon. Dulcinea really is Cytherea the First in disguise, the Lyctor who created the Seventh House and has the same illness the real Dulcinea has. Being a Lyctor has stopped her illness from killing her but has caused her to suffer for 10,000 years. She murdered Dulcinea to take her place and puppets Dulcinea’s dead cavalier, Protesilaus, in the same way Harrow puppets her parents. Cytherea has come because she wants to end the Lyctors and the Emperor. By killing off the House’s heirs one by one, she believes she can lure the Emperor down to the First House. Gideon does not know any of this and is smitten with the frail and beautiful Dulcinea.
Act 1, Chapter 8 Summary
The eight Houses meet in Canaan House’s atrium to learn about their task. Teacher gives each cavalier a single, empty key ring. Teacher explains that it was within Canaan House that the first Lyctors were made. He explains that their safety is not guaranteed, nor is becoming a Lyctor. The necromancers of each House expect instruction and lessons on how to become Lyctors, but the priest instead informs them of the one rule of Canaan House: They must have permission to open any locked door (79). There are no further lessons and no directions, greatly disappointing the necromancers.
Gideon and Harrow are shown to their quarters; cavaliers traditionally sleep at the foot of their necromancer’s bed at a perpendicular angle. Gideon, wanting to be nowhere near Harrow, instead sleeps in front of a large window in the central room of their quarters. The landing pad sits just above her window. As Gideon goes to sleep, she hears skeletons working on the landing pad and watches as they throw the shuttles into the ocean one by one. The eight Houses are trapped in Canaan House with no way to leave or contact the outside world.
Act 1, Chapters 1-8 Analysis
Act 1 introduces the setting, characters, themes, Gideon’s characterization, and foreshadows the ending. Harrow and Gideon’s relationship begins with bloody fighting, tension, and Harrow hoping that Gideon dies when they travel to Canaan House (60). Gideon relies heavily on foreshadowing to hint at the hero’s tragic death. The Catholic aesthetics and allusions to Christian beliefs in the Ninth House and Canaan House establish Muir’s Gothic aesthetic sensibilities while hinting at the themes of the novel. Drearburh contains “Reverends” and “nuns,” and muster call takes place with a “congregation,” complete with prayers, an “altar,” and human bone rosaries (31). The Ninth House is deeply Catholic in its aesthetics and organization, creating space for Harrow’s original sin of being born to logically connect with her surroundings. Gideon reveals that Harrow’s parents are dead the first time they appear in Chapter 3 (31), offering a glimpse into the results of guilt and sacrifice.
Gideon the Ninth begins with a dramatis personae. A dramatis personae lists each character that appears in a story and is most often used in theater. Dramatis personae are also used in works of speculative fiction that have a very large cast of characters, like Gideon. Muir sorts her chapters into acts, which are almost exclusively used in dramatic works. Muir’s use of these theatrical elements in the beginning of the book primes readers to read Gideon like a drama-filled play or opera. In the dramatis personae list, Gideon appears at the very bottom of the Ninth House, appended to the House with an “and,” listed simply as “indentured servant” (6). Harrow’s dead parents who appear for a handful of pages, and Ortus, the cowardly cavalier, are all listed before Gideon, and Gideon is not listed as her House’s cavalier. The list helps readers understand Gideon’s motivations before reading the first chapter: She is an afterthought in her own story. The dramatis personae functions as a metaphor for Gideon’s feelings and problems with the Ninth House. Gideon wants to be useful, recognized, and well-liked, so she attempts to run away to the Cohort, where she dreams of receiving medals for her service.
Gideon the Ninth takes place in a world rich with history, cultures, and inventive magic systems. The novel is told through Gideon’s third-person limited perspective. Learning about Muir’s world is difficult because all Gideon knows is sword fighting, which she clings to as her only talent. She is in the most isolated and secretive House in the system, making her mostly ignorant of the larger world’s history, culture, and magic systems. This presents a “double filter” problem to the audience that makes it difficult to learn about Gideon’s world. The first filter is that Gideon is a novel instead of a history book: Information is only given when it is relevant to the story. The second filter is Gideon herself, who is giving readers insight into a world about which she knows little. The audience never learns who or what the Cohort is fighting, despite joining the Cohort being Gideon’s dream. Gideon has no interest in the specifics, only the glory and sense of usefulness. The audience does not learn that necromancers visually see necromantic theorems until Harrow helps Gideon dismantle the bone construct in the winnowing theorem chamber in Chapter 16. Space operas tend to be light on exposition to keep the action fast-paced and engaging. The lack of exposition is also why the heavy use of motifs in characterization is critical to the genre. Gideon the Ninth functions in much the same manner and takes many steps to justify why the reader is given so little information.
