There are going to be oblique and explicit spoilers in this post, so do not read it if you mind being spoiled! Also, please hop into the comments to chat with me about the conversation God and Harrow have in chapter 14, because I have… some ideas about it.

“I didn’t think this was the time for dirty talk, but I can roll with it,” [Ianthe] said. “Choke me, Daddy.” (p. 16)

It’s a meme!

“Each time, the news that you have not spent your life in acquiring martial virtues comes as a little less of a shock to me. But have a go. Surprise me. My body is ready.” (p. 21)

(thanks to dreadhorse actually for this one!)

“My body is ready” is also a meme! I am most familiar with it with the gif of Snape, but your mileage may very.

[Ianthe] said, “Well, I tried, and therefore no one should criticize me,” before ducking through the arch to the foyer beyond (p. 16-17).

I guess theoretically this is a reference to an SNL skit Dan Radcliffe was in, but as an extremely online person myself, I am prepared to state with optimistic confidence that it’s mainly just a reference to the relevant reaction gif.

“And what has a soul?”

You weren’t going to last the distance. The questions were beginning to sound stupid, or sophistic. The Body watched you with careful, filmy eyes. “Anything with a thalergetic complexity significant enough to… have a soul. So, humanity.”

The Emperor drummed his fingertips atop the plain coffin, and he said, a little whimsically: “Why have we not an immortal soul? I would give gladly all the hundreds of years that I have to live, to be a human being only for one day.” (p.40)

This is one of the ones I had to look up! The italicized bits are from “The Little Mermaid,” by Hans Christian Anderson, and it occurs during a conversation the little mermaid is having with her grandmother, in which the grandmother tells her how she could get a soul, which mermaids don’t currently have:

“Only if a human loved you so much that you meant more to him than father and mother. If he were to love you with all his heart and soul and let the priest place his right hand in yours as a promise to be faithful and true here and in all eternity — then his soul would glide in your body and you, too, would obtain a share of human happiness. He would give you a soul and yet keep his own. But that can never happen.”

I don’t really have any conclusions to draw from this, but it’s thematically interesting!

“And just as when a soul is ripped untimely from a human being, when a soul is so rudely taken from a planet–” (p. 42)

Macbeth shout-out? I’m unsure. However, “Macduff was from his mother’s womb untimely ripped” is a line that occurs when our hero thinks he’s completely safe, and then someone he’s written off as a threat kills him dead.

“What’s more, now we are about to embark on what promises to be a truly beautiful friendship, with me the lone fruitful thing in your salted field, et cetera, so I’ll thank you to not embark on the I have been hard done by act.” (p. 63)

Never don’t have a Casablanca reference if life offers you the opportunity to have a Casablanca reference!

She hoped he never finished it. She hoped there was never world enough or time. (p. 71)

“Had we but world enough and time” is the first and most famous line of Andrew Marvell’s poem “To His Coy Mistress.”

“And you, you Ninth House child, are not remotely qualified to fight an outside predator. You are like a little baby.” (p.98)

ETA: Will Sargent notes that this is a reference to the Layers of Irony meme. Check out the comments for additional suspected video game references by Will — I haven’t included them in the list because they are in games so I can’t verify them and they aren’t specific page-numbered textual references to identify. Which is very annoying for me! I apologize for not being a video games person and being unable to check these. My failings are many.

You found yourself saying, “Someone’s crying, Lord,” but he just made a nonsense sound beneath his breath, a mumbled word that you didn’t recognise. (p.104)

Is this a “Kumbaya” reference?? Feels like it.

You said, “A Seventh House flaw. A fatal longing for the picturesque.” (p.155)

When I tell you I screamed. This is from The Secret History, my beloved The Secret History!

Does such a thing as “the fatal flaw,” that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature? I used to think it didn’t. Now I think it does. And I think that mine is this: a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs.”

It’s the first paragraph of the first chapter of The Secret History. Bless Tamsyn Muir.

“Blood of Eden,” he’d said slowly.

“Who is Eden?”

“Someone they left to die,” said God wearily. “How sharper than the serpent’s tooth, et cetera… Harrow, if you bother to remember anything from my ramblings, please remember this: once you turn your back on something, you have no right to act as though you own it.” (p. 159)

The line from King Lear is: “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is / To have a thankless child!”

I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS. Who’s the thankless child in this scenario? Is Eden the parent, and Blood of Eden is the thankless child to Eden? Is Eden the thankless child of God?

“We’re puppies, you and I: I with my lame paw, and you with three legs missing insisting you can make it on your own. And God help us both, because we are surrounded by wolves.” (p.170)

ETA: ten_tangents notes that this is a reference to Li’l Brudder, the name of a one-legged puppy that Strong Bad uses to make people cry.

“Here, I’m going to pretend to read this one off my tablet, when in fact it’s been with me for over ten thousand years. Here’s my favorite part…”

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee. (p. 196)

“Annabel Lee” is a beautiful, lulling, creepy poem by Edgar Allan Poe about a dead girl in a tomb. It notably contains the line “And neither the angels in Heaven above / Nor the demons down under the sea [!!!!] / Can ever dissever my soul from the soul [!] / of the beautiful Annabel Lee.”

ETA: Long after writing this post, I remembered that in Nabokov’s Lolita, Humbert Humbert refers to his first love (a girl he knew in adolescence, who died of typhus) as Annabel Leigh. In the book, he claims that his sexual and romantic interest in young girls is a result of his love for Annabel and the trauma of her early death. If Tamsyn Muir is doing this allusion on purpose, it’s very fucking effective. I got an absolute shiver when I thought of it. John is so sinister.

(Here’s something Humbert says about Annabel, presented without comment: “That frenzy of mutual possession might have been assuaged only by our actually imbibing and assimilating every particle of each other’s soul and flesh.”)

“It is a drawing of the letter S,” said the deep, solemn voice from over her shoulder, and she realized she had stopped midstride. “The letter in question is constructed from six short marks stacked vertically three by three. There are two triangles on the top and bottom, which, along with some diagonal strokes, form a calligraphic S.” (p. 205)

Okay, I can’t swear to it, but I think this is a reference to that weird letter S you used to doodle on all your homework pages. I don’t actually know how to google for that item, so I have just done one and photographed it. You’ll know exactly what I’m talking about once you see it.

“Never mind that. Was he actually…?” (Here she made an evil gesture with her hands, which you took a moment to comprehend. “You know. Waxing necrolagnic? Committing the love that cannot speak its name?” (p. 216-17)

Ugh this is a reference to that poem by Oscar Wilde’s horrible boyfriend Bosie, ugh. You can read it if you want. Fuckin Bosie.

Then she said: “Children as fists! Infants as gestures! Yuck! Pfaugh! I live in the worst of all possible worlds!” (p. 257)

Leibniz, a philosopher, came up with the idea that we live in the best of all possible worlds, ipso facto, because if God is able to create anything, and God chose to create this specific universe, then God did so because this specific universe is the best of all possible worlds. It’s a very well things could be worse solution to the problem of evil. Thanks for nothing, Leibniz. YES I INCLUDE CALCULUS IN THAT.

(Ugh, no, fine, okay, thanks for calculus I guess, Leibniz.)

ETA: Jeanne and Sparrow both identified that Voltaire’s Candide (which I haven’t read!) makes fun of the concept of “the best of all possible worlds,” and suggested that this passage aligns the Lyctors with the kind of naivete and ignorance of broader context that Voltaire is critiquing in Candide.

[Augustine] looked at you, and relieved your mind by not kissing you anywhere; he simply raised his eyebrows and said, “And so the crow can be a swan!” (p.267)

Romeo and Juliet reference — Benvolio says to Romeo, “Compare her face with some that I will show, / And I will make thee think thy swan a crow.”

PS Augustine is so rude!

“Just believe me when I say that when I want Ortus to go, he’ll be giddy-gone.” (This did not make much sense to you, as a joke.) (p. 268)

This isn’t a reference to anything, but since I missed the joke on the first two readings of Harrow, I wanted to flag it for y’all. He’s not saying Ortus, he’s saying Gideon. When I want Gideon to go, he’ll be giddy-gone. Get it? Ha!

“Stop drawing this out! Tell me!”

He cleared his throat and said: “Dios apate, minor.” (p. 269)

I resent Dios apate for being Greek and not Latin, which meant I had to google it instead of knowing it in my very bones. Anyway, it means “deception of God” and it’s a reference to a thing that happens in Book XIV of the Iliad, where Hera sneakily gets various gods to help her seduce Zeus until he falls asleep, giving Poseidon the opening he needs to help the Greeks succeed in battle against the Trojans. Amusingly she performs the seduction on Mount Ida! (Ianthe is the Princess of Ida, in case anyone has forgotten that detail.)

“The Cohort took the rest of him away. And I don’t know where they have put him.” (p. 306)

This is a call-out to the Gospel of, ironically, John (John 20), and the saddest line in it or, possibly, any other book. It’s so fucking desolate. The line actually occurs twice: Mary Magdalene first notices that Jesus’s body is gone from the tomb (the rock has been rolled away, incidentally) and tells the other disciples:

Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.

Then the disciples all go home, except for Mary Magdalene, who hangs around the tomb crying. Then these two angels show up, and the line occurs a second time, but sadder:

And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.

Oh, Camilla.

“It’s a Resurrection Beast, honey! Thank you! Next!!” (p. 335)

The Ariana Grande song!

ETA: Finn has pointed out that the number of exclamation points after “Next!!” make it near-certain that this is a reference to “Next!!” lady. Even better, honestly.

These next two are on the same page, which I think is truly and magnificently emblematic of the high/low culture shit that Tamsyn Muir pulls.

And I reignited the central star, and I called it Dominicus. As a reminder. Dominus illuminatio mea et salus mea, quem timebo? God is my light. (p. 344)

Being Catholic, I of course do not know Bible things, but I do know Latin and church songs! This translates: “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom will I fear?” and it’s the first line of Psalm 27.

On the previous page, God actually says the whole thing in English: “I am your salvation and your light. Who should I fear?” And incidentally, in the climactic scene, Augustine calls it back: He tells God about a time when Mercy said, “What is God afraid of?”

(It’s Alecto, right? He’s scared of Alecto?)

I have capital-T Thoughts about John’s use of Dominus rather than Deus — Dominus has connotations of lordship and ownership that Deus really doesn’t, and Dominicus, the name of the sun of the Nine Houses, means something like “belonging to the Lord.” Soooooo if this is a reminder, it’s an pretty creepy one! He named Dominicus as a reminder to the Nine Houses that their sun belongs to him. Eurgh.

ETA: Sparrow adds to this that Dominus illuminatio mea is the motto of Oxford.

THEN ON THE SAME PAGE:

So I’m shut in here — walled in, really — to prevent the Nine Houses becoming none houses, with left grief. (p. 344)

I’m so mad at this one. Mad at myself, really, for knowing it. I regret everything that has led me to this moment. This is a meme about pizza from Domino’s, and truly, my life has been misspent that I know this. She rhymed beef and grief. I want to quit the gym.

“[A.L.] stood for a couple of things. A joke, mostly. I often called her Annabel Lee. Annie Laurie. When I first met her I just called her First, One. She had a real name, but I buried it with her, and nobody says it anymore.” (p. 345)

“Annie Laurie” is a Scottish ballad about a beautiful girl. John is just… really extremely fucking sinister.

The Heralds of Number Seven — the ghost of a swiftly murdered planet in the demesne of Dominicus — arrived that evening, around forty-three minutes before the habitation lights were due to go off. (p.357)

Lunula points out that “a swiftly murdered planet” is surely a reference to Madeleine L’Engle’s book A Swiftly Tilting Planet, which is one of the sequel books to A Wrinkle in Time.

“Continue that sentence,” she said, “and I’ll make it to the pain.” (p. 369)

A reference of course to The Princess Bride, amongst the greatest pieces of art in our time.

Poor Ortus doesn’t really deserve Harrow’s wrath.

I’m not sure if or how best to gloss chapters 40-42, but they’re all making reference to popular AU (alternate universe) premises in fanfic. Chapter 40 is doing the AU where the two main characters switch jobs (so if it were Supernatural, you might have an AU where Dean’s the angel and Cas is the hunter, etc.). Chapter 41 looks like a royalty AU situation. Chapter 42 is of course a coffee shop AU, and Gideon is the barista (BARI star).

I’d read any of those fics.

“If I forget you, let my right hand be forgotten,” her mouth was saying. “Add more also, if aught but death part me and thee.” (p. 380)

That first part is from Psalms 137 (which is about weeping by the river): “If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill.”

The second bit is from Ruth, when Ruth is vowing never to leave Naomi: “Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.” It’s also a callback to the last thing Gideon says to Harrow before dying at the end of Gideon the Ninth.

“It was the morning of the third day in a universe without her cavalier; it was the morning of the third day.” (p. 399)

Oh Harrow, oh honey.

Obvi this is a reference to Jesus, who was resurrected on the third day.

She opened her mouth to ask her dead second cavalier a question about her dead first cavalier — a pattern that was starting to look less like tragedy and more like carelessness — but downstairs, Abigail was [talking]. (p. 403)

This is a reference to a famous line from Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, where Lady Bracknell says to Jack, “To lose one parent, Mr. Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.” (h/t to Sparrow for this one!)

“What is the plan, Pent?”

“Why, to let ghosts bury ghosts,” she said. (p. 403)

I am not sure about this one, and usually when I have not felt fairly sure, I’ve left it alone. But there’s at least a definite echo here of Luke 9, where Jesus says, “Let the dead bury their dead; but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.”

ETA: On page 311 of Gideon the Ninth, when Harrow is forbidding Gideon to see Dulcinea on the grounds that she’s going to die no matter what Gideon does, she says, “Let the dead reclaim the dead.” Make of this what you will!

Again, let me say: sorry. It was not my thumb to let them bite off. I admit completely that this was my bad, but these motherfuckers had a hunger that only thumbs could satisfy. (p.405)

I went into a weird research rabbit hole trying to figure this one out. I KNEW IT WAS A THING and I was right; I just couldn’t figure out what the thing was. But I eventually figured it out, for I am persistent. It’s a reference to this thing called “Llamas with Hats” that for some reason exists. Here’s the relevant bit. It’s very cursed.

“Call me by my full name, or don’t name me at all. I’ll be damned if I pass up the chance to hear you speak the words.”

The Emperor of the Nine Houses sighed.

“Commander Awake Remembrance of These Valiant Dead,” he said.

“All of it.”…

“Awake Remembrance of These Valiant Dead Kia Hua Ko Te Pai Snap Back to Reality Oops There Goes Gravity,” he recited, all in one breath. “Correct?” (p. 465)

“Awake remembrance of these valiant dead,” is a line from the first act of Henry V, when the men of the church are trying to convince Henry V that he has a claim to the throne of France and should definitely go to war with them. Henry V is one of those plays where you’re always like “wait, so then did Shakespeare like war / beating up women / anti-Semitism or is he critiquing it?” and the answer is always, unsatisfyingly, probably both.

Kia hua ko te pai is a line from the Māori version of the New Zealand national anthem.

“Snap back to reality oops there goes gravity” is — as my friend Julia told me! — a line from the Eminem song “Lose Yourself.”

“Mercymorn the First, Augustine the First, meet Commander Wake Me Up Inside, sincerest apologies if I got that wrong,” said the Emperor. (p. 468)

“Wake me up inside” is from the Evanescence song “Bring Me to Life.” As with the none pizza left beef joke, I somehow regret knowing this one more than I regret most of my knowledge. I think it’s because in those cases, I just deeply wish my brain had chosen to allot that space to something better — but no, here comes Evanescence in my head all like Save me from the noooothiiiiiiing I’ve beco-o-ome! Bah.

Augustine said, “The eyes have it, John.” (p.480)

This is such a silly play on the ayes have it that I am including it here, I found it extremely charming.

Mercy turned around to Augustine. She was not weeping now.

“It is finished,” she said.

This is again from the Gospel of John. John 19:30 says: “When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.”

He murmured, “You said there was no forgiveness.”

“‘I pardon him, as God shall pardon me,'” said the Emperor. (p. 491)

That’s a line from the end of Richard II, where Henry Bolingbroke, who will shortly become Henry IV (of Henry IV Part I and Henry IV Part II fame), agrees to pardon someone who has rebelled against his kingship. He does so because the guy’s mother begged for his life. Then he executed everybody else who was involved in the rebellion

If you are like wow I have never read Richard II and maybe I want to but eh maybe not, can I point you toward the Andre Holland radio play version recently released by WNYC and the Public Theater?

“Yes, well, jail for Mother,’ I said. (p. 498)

This is a reference to a Patricia Lockwood tweet that went sufficiently viral that she did a whole interview on Vulture about it.

Hooooo boy that was a thing I just spent a whole bunch of time on, wasn’t it? I’m embarrassed for myself and you should all be embarrassed with me, but this is what quarantine has done to me apparently.

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