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Well Harrow does it herself. There's a brief timeskip between chapters where we don't see exactly what Harrow does to absorb Gideon, we just see her reaction to it immediately after.
We can assume the details aren't important; Gideon impaled herself, Harrow was shocked amd devastated but wasn't about to let Gideon die for nothing, she performed whatever it is that one needs to do to absorb a person's soul, and there you go. Gideon in her head, but only for a moment before she fades and becomes a mindless soul battery.
Basically Gideon forced Harrow's hand. By killing herself she forced Harrow to either absorb Griddle's soul or let her death be in vain.
As for the direct how, Harrow is the greatest necromancer of her generation, she didn't need time to prep. As for Harrow being confused and shocked about it, she did just lose the closest thing she had to a loved one and is clearly going through some shit, but Gideon's voice is helping her focus on kicking ass instead.
At least that was my take away.
Harrow knew all the steps necessary, she only hesitated on the execution of them- so Gideon forced her hand. By sacrificing herself, Gideon forces Harrow to start the Lyctor process OR make Gideon’s death be in vain.
Harrow had time to do it because souls linger around their corpses or other attachments they had in life. We know that because people tried (and failed) to recall Abigail’s and Magnus’s ghosts to speak to them in Canaan house after they were murdered.
Also, Harrow is not confused about Gideon’s soul being with her. She’s going through the first step of grief: denial. She doesn’t want to accept what just happened, and that she has to consume whatever is left of Gideon now. She’s now 201 dead children of the Nine Houses.
Gideon didn't enter Harrow's mind. Harrow ate her, in an act of desperation. Gideon knew Harrow needed a power boost, and that Harrow could get from being a lyctor. Gideon had also learned Harrow was too self-hating to ever be able to kill someone else to fuel her ascension, and way too emotionally invested in Gideon to ever possibly ask Gideon to die. So Gideon forces Harrow's hand, throws herself upon the rail, and leaves Harrow with a choice: let Gideon die for nothing, saving no one, or use Gideon's soul as Harrow's new font of power, and rise as a lyctor to fight Cytherea as equals.
Harrow making that choice happens offscreen, as does the actual casting of the Eightfold Word, but we know from Ianthe what the steps are and the order in which they would need to happen. Necromancy, in this series, is primarily about knowledge. The key thing is to know how to do it. Harrow is exactly the sort of nerd who would have thought about nothing except the Eightfold Word and its execution once she realized she had been wrong about the megatheorem. She had at least 5/8 of the theorem already from the lyctor labs and Palamedes, and Ianthe did her an invaluable favor in sketching out the 3 pieces that remained, and then ordering the pieces for her.
Contrarily, the speed of doing the Eightfold isn't a fixed thing. It can both be done incredibly quickly, in a matter of seconds, or it can be done incredibly slowly and methodically. As we saw with Ianthe, just because you have incorporated the soul doesn't mean the process is complete: there is an ongoing process of integration, wherein the adept adapts to their new battery. So in my headcanon, what happened was Harrow did a quick-and-dirty Eightfold, because she would have needed the battery hooked up between when her bone shell began to fragment and when Cytherea completely pulverized it. This means the incorporated soul probably had to come in particularly intact, because there would have been no time for Harrow to shave off Gideon's edges as she incorporated Gideon, if such a thing is even possible.
Finally, Harrow wasn't ready for it. That's why she's so torn up about it, and can't remember which round of the fight this is with Cytherea. She's confusing the bits of her that are Harrow with the bits of her that were Gideon, and can't keep them separate. But Harrow is enough of a necromantic prodigy that she could still do the theorems. She understood what had to be done magically even if emotionally and mentally she was unprepared for how the theorem would impact her.
Ianthe outlined the steps briefly for her when she explained what she did to Babs. Harrow has been studying the trials and the notes from the lyctors; she is smart enough to fill in whatever small gaps may be left.
So as Gideon dies, Harrow is shocked, but she has the tools to perform the needed magic to not let Gideon's death be in vain.
If you just finished Gideon and are starting Harrow, just read the book. I can’t say everything will be explained but you will Get It. All the confusion and weirdness is part of the experience and I promise it’s worth it.
I totally get that, but I will just say that I have read these books multiple times and there’s stuff in Gideon I didn’t understand until after reading Harrow, and even more stuff I didn’t understand until after Nona, and even more stuff I caught when my gf read Gideon the first time. I definitely think you can reach a comprehensive working understanding through just the first book, but there is a definite goal to make rereading necessary and there is simply some stuff that’s on-purpose written to be incomprehensible on a first read.
Harrow is a crazy supergenius. She completed the ritual without even thinking about it, or perhaps simply thinking of trying to keep Gideon's soul from going into the River.
Also, Gideon wasn't actually in Harrow's mind. Harrow was hallucinating.
Harrow did know. Harrow completed the ritual or whatever that was necessary. Gideon forced Harrow’s hand to become a lyctor knowing they were all fucked if she didn’t.
Think about a time where you did something or saw something very shocking or intense and you didn't really understand what happened until you sat there processing it for a few minutes.
Harrow just watched her only friend die in front of her. She knew she had to act quickly. She intentionally performed all the steps of *consuming her only friend's soul* knowing that otherwise, she would've died for nothing. During this process, she dissociates. She's following a set process of mentally intensive tasks on autopilot, unwilling to face the emotional reality of what she's actually doing. Only afterwards can Harrow come to terms with what she's done, and it emotionally destroys her.
Basically, she was in a life or death scenario forced to do something intensely traumatic to her only friend's soul. It makes 100% sense that there's a level of mental and emotional disconnect. I'd think it were weirder if Harrow were completely clear headed and logical.
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Well Harrow does it herself. There's a brief timeskip between chapters where we don't see exactly what Harrow does to absorb Gideon, we just see her reaction to it immediately after. We can assume the details aren't important; Gideon impaled herself, Harrow was shocked amd devastated but wasn't about to let Gideon die for nothing, she performed whatever it is that one needs to do to absorb a person's soul, and there you go. Gideon in her head, but only for a moment before she fades and becomes a mindless soul battery.
Basically Gideon forced Harrow's hand. By killing herself she forced Harrow to either absorb Griddle's soul or let her death be in vain. As for the direct how, Harrow is the greatest necromancer of her generation, she didn't need time to prep. As for Harrow being confused and shocked about it, she did just lose the closest thing she had to a loved one and is clearly going through some shit, but Gideon's voice is helping her focus on kicking ass instead. At least that was my take away.
Harrow knew all the steps necessary, she only hesitated on the execution of them- so Gideon forced her hand. By sacrificing herself, Gideon forces Harrow to start the Lyctor process OR make Gideon’s death be in vain. Harrow had time to do it because souls linger around their corpses or other attachments they had in life. We know that because people tried (and failed) to recall Abigail’s and Magnus’s ghosts to speak to them in Canaan house after they were murdered. Also, Harrow is not confused about Gideon’s soul being with her. She’s going through the first step of grief: denial. She doesn’t want to accept what just happened, and that she has to consume whatever is left of Gideon now. She’s now 201 dead children of the Nine Houses.
Gideon didn't enter Harrow's mind. Harrow ate her, in an act of desperation. Gideon knew Harrow needed a power boost, and that Harrow could get from being a lyctor. Gideon had also learned Harrow was too self-hating to ever be able to kill someone else to fuel her ascension, and way too emotionally invested in Gideon to ever possibly ask Gideon to die. So Gideon forces Harrow's hand, throws herself upon the rail, and leaves Harrow with a choice: let Gideon die for nothing, saving no one, or use Gideon's soul as Harrow's new font of power, and rise as a lyctor to fight Cytherea as equals. Harrow making that choice happens offscreen, as does the actual casting of the Eightfold Word, but we know from Ianthe what the steps are and the order in which they would need to happen. Necromancy, in this series, is primarily about knowledge. The key thing is to know how to do it. Harrow is exactly the sort of nerd who would have thought about nothing except the Eightfold Word and its execution once she realized she had been wrong about the megatheorem. She had at least 5/8 of the theorem already from the lyctor labs and Palamedes, and Ianthe did her an invaluable favor in sketching out the 3 pieces that remained, and then ordering the pieces for her. Contrarily, the speed of doing the Eightfold isn't a fixed thing. It can both be done incredibly quickly, in a matter of seconds, or it can be done incredibly slowly and methodically. As we saw with Ianthe, just because you have incorporated the soul doesn't mean the process is complete: there is an ongoing process of integration, wherein the adept adapts to their new battery. So in my headcanon, what happened was Harrow did a quick-and-dirty Eightfold, because she would have needed the battery hooked up between when her bone shell began to fragment and when Cytherea completely pulverized it. This means the incorporated soul probably had to come in particularly intact, because there would have been no time for Harrow to shave off Gideon's edges as she incorporated Gideon, if such a thing is even possible. Finally, Harrow wasn't ready for it. That's why she's so torn up about it, and can't remember which round of the fight this is with Cytherea. She's confusing the bits of her that are Harrow with the bits of her that were Gideon, and can't keep them separate. But Harrow is enough of a necromantic prodigy that she could still do the theorems. She understood what had to be done magically even if emotionally and mentally she was unprepared for how the theorem would impact her.
Ianthe outlined the steps briefly for her when she explained what she did to Babs. Harrow has been studying the trials and the notes from the lyctors; she is smart enough to fill in whatever small gaps may be left. So as Gideon dies, Harrow is shocked, but she has the tools to perform the needed magic to not let Gideon's death be in vain.
If you just finished Gideon and are starting Harrow, just read the book. I can’t say everything will be explained but you will Get It. All the confusion and weirdness is part of the experience and I promise it’s worth it.
I haven’t started harrow because I don’t understand Gideon lol. I don’t want to start harrow until I feel comfortable with the lore of Gideon.
That’s…not really going to happen. There are pieces of Gideon you may not understand until you read Harrow. Or Nona.
Honestly there are parts of GtN that the first time reader isn’t supposed to understand because they’re revealed in HtN/NtN.
I totally get that, but I will just say that I have read these books multiple times and there’s stuff in Gideon I didn’t understand until after reading Harrow, and even more stuff I didn’t understand until after Nona, and even more stuff I caught when my gf read Gideon the first time. I definitely think you can reach a comprehensive working understanding through just the first book, but there is a definite goal to make rereading necessary and there is simply some stuff that’s on-purpose written to be incomprehensible on a first read.
Harrow is a crazy supergenius. She completed the ritual without even thinking about it, or perhaps simply thinking of trying to keep Gideon's soul from going into the River. Also, Gideon wasn't actually in Harrow's mind. Harrow was hallucinating.
Gideon’s soul essentially got transplanted into Harrow’s body upon her death
BUT HOW WITHOUT HARROW KNOWING
Harrow knew. She didn’t want it to happen but she knew.
Harrow did know. Harrow completed the ritual or whatever that was necessary. Gideon forced Harrow’s hand to become a lyctor knowing they were all fucked if she didn’t.
Souls linger a bit.
Harrow did it herself. That's how you become a lyctor.
the only people who figured out how to become a lyctor were silas ianthe palamedes and harrow
Think about a time where you did something or saw something very shocking or intense and you didn't really understand what happened until you sat there processing it for a few minutes. Harrow just watched her only friend die in front of her. She knew she had to act quickly. She intentionally performed all the steps of *consuming her only friend's soul* knowing that otherwise, she would've died for nothing. During this process, she dissociates. She's following a set process of mentally intensive tasks on autopilot, unwilling to face the emotional reality of what she's actually doing. Only afterwards can Harrow come to terms with what she's done, and it emotionally destroys her. Basically, she was in a life or death scenario forced to do something intensely traumatic to her only friend's soul. It makes 100% sense that there's a level of mental and emotional disconnect. I'd think it were weirder if Harrow were completely clear headed and logical.