Memes in Harrow the Ninth

[@GinaLuciaReads]

Did I miss any memes or references? Post then in the comments!

[@gabrielasaichuk6496]

There's a LLamas with hats reference! "I admit completely that this was my bad, but these motherfuckers had a hunger that only thumbs could satisfy." Act 5 chapter 46.

[@and.lofredo1627]

Hot take: “none house, with left grief” plus all of John’s other memes are great bits of world/character building. He’s just some guy from the early 21st century, and not a particularly emotionally intelligent one.

[@catnerdadrian7601]

"Captain wake me up inside"

[@falconstudios146]

I've occasionally made a joke to my friends that God needs Lyctors because if he didnt have immortal friends, nobody would understand his references.

[@DysonificationZone]

The meme of ‘ jail for mother’ always cracked me up, it’s a cat meme 😂

[@cyrite5558]

That one is probably my favorite

[@Terik17]

the high schooler S made me chuckle, but my favourite has to be jail for mother, Miette has made it into literature!! mwahahah

[@blobfishrsmexii]

The none pizza with left beef reference honestly killed and brought me back to life

[@pinkartwitch]

of my favourite moments in HtN was such a small joke that I don't know if anyone else got it (I've never seen anyone talk about it), but at some point Harrow is making a "weeny" construct, very small, which in GtN, Dulcinea mentions Harrow could get through her second trial by making and Harrow says "The Ninth isn't practiced in Weeny constructs". Such a great pull.

[@kaygirl10101]

Another classic reference is in chapter 2, where Jon says “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.” I'm pretty sure this is from the original version of The Little Mermaid, who envied humans because they had souls while mermaids didn't. Also, Annabel Lee being from an Edger Allen Poe poem. Fitting for the theme.

[@alexba1ley]

Yes Annabel Lee is a major reference! I suspect Muir is not only quoting the Poe poem, but also Nabokov's 'Lolita.' In Poe's poem "Annabel Lee" the speaker has lost his childhood love who lived by the sea and for years to come dreams of her every night and lies beside her corpse in her tomb. In 'Lolita' Humbert tells a story of a childhood love "Annabel Leigh" whom he almost had sex with in a seaside cave before they were interrupted and who soon after died young. He claims that as an adult he becomes a p3dophile because he was transferring his feelings for her to underage girls. Analysts often point to this as evidence that Humbert may be an unreliable narrator because the story is so similar to the Poe poem and feels less realistic than the rest of the narrative. By Jod calling Alecto Annabel Lee he is comparing their time together to an innocent childhood love and saying her death continues to haunt him. If Muir is referencing Nabokov, she may be implying Jod had a predatory s3xual relationship with Alecto. And actually, Poe was a real life p3do too, so that makes it even more likely she's implying that. Muir may also be foreshadowing Jod is an unreliable narrator like Humbert, which he is revealed to be in the end of HtN when he confesses to having lied about the destruction of earth and the true Lyctoral process. Narratively the poem also parallels Harrow's love for Alecto which began in childhood, the hallucinations or possession she experiences like "dreams," and visiting her in her tomb. NONA SPOILERS The sequences of Jod and Harrow/Alecto in ruins of the earth surrounded by water because of the climate crisis are a bittersweet interpretation of lovers "by the sea."

[@littlepinktiger3891]

Oh man you missed some of the ones that got me the most! Both Gideon and John make "your mom" jokes at some point in the book. Gideon: "Which is, coincidentally, what your mother said to me last night" John: "Though maybe not quite such a bombshell as your mother." And of course, all of the references to fanfiction tropes. The female protagonist who's apparently unattractive because of very conventionally attractive traits, and the infamous messy bun in Palamedes' river bubble. The coffee shop AU that Harrow creates near the end of her river bubble. And the Royalty AU that Harrow creates just before it, which is probably referencing something more specific but I don't know what unfortunately. I know I'm missing plenty of others, those are just the ones I remembered off the top of my head.

[@GinaLuciaReads]

Oh gosh yes. The tropes I absolutely noticed! I bet you could put together a video that would last hours with all the references, jokes, and memes combined!

[@swirlingsun]

the best part is that the ur mom jokes may well have been foreshadowing......

[@AutomatonicChairman]

Gideon as the “BARRY star”

[@arielgalles2107]

Royalty au is foreshadowing Gideon being the daughter of Jod

[@catnerdadrian7601]

​@@AutomatonicChairmanOH MY GOD I JUST GOT THAT THANK YOU FOR LITERALLY SPELLING IT OUT

[@eagereyes5013]

i think my comment didn't send because it included a link, but i found a meme at the very end! when pyrrha and gideon are trying to decide what to do as the mithraeum is crashing pyrrha says "your mother would have picked the bullet" and gideon says "yes, well, jail for mother" - "jail for mother" is a meme that came from a viral tweet by poet patricia lockwood about her cat getting offended at having to move out of the way. love these videos and the production quality is always so impressive!

[@GinaLuciaReads]

Yes! I was going to include that one in the video, but I removed it in the end because the video was getting a bit long for the amount of time I had 😆. I honestly had no idea about the tweet but I made a note in the book because it sounded like a reference and googled it later.

[@fionamclary7631]

Jail for mother took me out when I read that

[@Strezlecky]

This was literally my favourite reference in the entire series.

[@laurennicole3507]

Omg you missed my favorite one on pg. 16 (paperback) in the Prologue!! Ianthe says "Well, I tried, and therefore no one should criticize me". This is a direct reference to Daniel Radcliffe in the SNL sketch "You Can Do Anything".

[@GinaLuciaReads]

Ohhh I did miss that, you're so right!

[@jakepotts1935]

The one where Gideon gets her thumb bit of and says it had a hunger only thumbs could satisfy. I thought was a llamas with hats references.

[@livingsoul12066]

The concept of the River and the bubbles and the ghosts acting out parts _in_ the bubbles is a Homestuck reference :)

[@nopenoperson8964]

Surprised not to see anyone mention Teacher quoting “What a time to be alive!” from the Simpsons

[@MikeEns306]

Early on Harrow goes to the River for the first time. She says unto John “Someone’s crying, Lord”. That’s a gospel song.

[@leena1842]

and then he says kumbaya😂

[@stellarsecretkeeper5139]

Kumbaya...

[@stellarsecretkeeper5139]

My favorite part of this one is the fact that right after Harrow says that and John mumbles a nonsense word she doesn't understand, which I firmly believe was him saying "Kumbaya".

[@glynrh8892]

@@stellarsecretkeeper5139I thought the same

[@BrokenDarkFire]

This is amazing! So many references I missed. I think of these, my favorite is Commander Wake’s name and how John puns on it, because it didn’t even occur to me that NO ONE ELSE IN THE ROOM would understand or laugh. I was too busy laughing to even realize that. But my absolutely favorite is “jail for mother” because I was on Twitter for that one and it is so egregious that Tamsyn Muir took a meme straight out of publishing Twitter and put it in her book. Especially because it’s so recent, I’m pretty sure it became a meme between books.

[@GinaLuciaReads]

So glad you enjoyed it! I didn't really think about him being the only one who got it until I read it for a second time because they just don't react to it at all 😆

[@emilyaw3831]

Awake Rememberance of These Valiant Dead is also a reference, this time to the Shakespere play Henry V. Meanwhile, I was unaware that Snap Back to Reality Oops! There Goes Gravity was anything other than a lyric from an Eminem song (specifically Lose Yourself for those unaware)

[@GinaLuciaReads]

Yes! I realised after doing the Nona memes video that she has a naming convention. Something like literary reference, Maori reference, meme.

[@wisewerewolf3131]

Tsk, tsk. I am so disappointed in you. You missed the best one, where Gideon wakes up in Harrow's body, fights the resurrection beast's bug things, and says, "They had a hunger that only thumbs could satisfy". Referring of course to the famous, Llama with Hats short that was by the same crew that did Charlie the Unicorn. But that's ok. I'll benevolantly forgive this terrible transgression as soon as you post your review of Nona the Ninth, lol.

[@GinaLuciaReads]

Oh dang! I've failed the community haha. My Nona memes video is going live on Thursday! Although I've decided not to do a review.

[@autumnalgloom5360]

That was the meme reference that broke me. I read the books blind and pondered so many times if that line I saw was actually a meme reference, but I always put it down to coincidence. But at that line… I just couldn’t. And all the meme references I put aside before just crashed back on me at once.

[@NegligentHero]

Darn it posted mine right before reading yours! Hahah!

[@CrepuscularQueen]

The dad joke part is what I read while next to my brother. My reaction was me laughing so hard I closed the book to take a minute to get it out of my system. My brother was annoyed to bits and didn't like my reaction because we were stuck in a car together and I couldn't control my laughter. I reread it over because it was a dad joke and my sense of humor is messed up. There could have been no other perfect way for a dad reveal.

[@GinaLuciaReads]

Haha that's amazing! You're poor brother 😆

[@saintbullart]

I had to pause after reading "None house, with left grief" because it took me out, ahahaha Thank you for this video and the one for Gideon! There's definitely a lot of references that went over my head

[@GinaLuciaReads]

@@saintbullart I couldn't have done it without help that's for sure!!

[@kaygirl10101]

Another boomerang joke in HtN: Chapter 6: The Emporeror tells Mercy that she's trying to pick a fight to get out of the fight he's already having with her, and it's a "painfully domestic tactic." Then, in chapter 51, Mercy turns it right back on Jon, saying he is now trying to start a new fight to derail an old one and that it's a "painfully domestic tactic." How the turn tables...

[@hellofditties]

omg i had no idea about the church lady reference that is hilarious. i'd forgotten about none house with left grief but i absolutely picked up on that when i was reading it. also omg was SHOCKING to hear you swear. it's a shame nona had fewer easily-recognisable memes because muir does them so well. gold star for the princess bride one. indigo montana would be proud.

[@GinaLuciaReads]

haha the church lady one is probably my favourite. So funny! And I knew you'd enjoy The Princess Bride one. Need Chesky to read Harrow now so she can be proud too 😆

[@twfarlan]

I believe it's on page 170, but Ianthe speaking to Harrow saying, "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," is a reference to the Strong Bad Email cartoon "crying" from Homestar Runner.

[@GinaLuciaReads]

Ohhhh nice spot!

[@presshusfightlady3966]

Hell yes, so glad someone else saw :3

[@notvkn]

love that i didnt even get the reference but it was a fantastic line nontheless, shows how good a writer she is

[@AviatrixDown]

I have a couple, your mileage may vary Page 93 (Kindle edition) in which Jod tries to describe traveling in the river to the new Lyctors "Mercy, either you don't like my previous perfectly good river phrasing, or you do. Pick one" "I will not help you to make hyperpotomous travel happen, thank you for the option, my lord," said Mercy --I took this to be another Mean Girls reference (Make "fetch" happen) Page 337 during a briefing about the Resurrection Beast Mercymorn took her fat-tipped marker and scribbled on the plex, placing her new object squarely in the epirhoic layer. “This is the Beast,” she said. Augustine said, “That’s a muffin.” --I took this as a Gravity Falls reference, in which a teen boy attempts to spray paint a mushroom cloud, but it looks like a muffin to his friends. Or maybe just another reference to bad child art we all drew. But Gravity Falls and TLT fit nicely into the family of absurdist horror and Simpson's jokes. And to the point of the cool S we all drew, the sheer detail used to describe it also gave me Strong Bad email about designing Trogdor the burninator vibes. "I said consummate V's, CONSUMMATE!" Which does not help with Ortus Nigenad sounding like freaking Strongsad in my head.

[@millet_munch5352]

I heard somewhere that the skeletons on the cover are the Loss meme

[@theoddbody1856]

Bless you for archiving these memes 🙏🏻

[@GinaLuciaReads]

*bows* it had to be done!

[@trollkienofficial1225]

Now I'm kinda mad I read it in Hungarian, I missed all these stuff. COMMANDER WAKE ME UP INSIDE, I'M LTERALLY DYING

[@LeKittyGoesClang]

Pretty cool, I never would have seen any of these. In fact, almost every meme shown are new to me

[@lacettfavilla123]

I don't know if this is a meme, but it's an expansion of the Oops There Goes the Gravity - the lyrics of the song are spoilers for the climax of the book! Specifically the second verse.

[@GinaLuciaReads]

You're so right!

[@KasSommers]

Thanks for this, Gina. I'm just about to re-read Harrow the Ninth, and I will have a new appreciation for it as I come across the memes I missed the first time around.

[@GinaLuciaReads]

I feel like you spot new things every time you re-read the books and that's what makes them so good! There were so many I didn't even include in this video!

[@TaylaChan]

This video is great but being called "bone fan" is priceless

[@GinaLuciaReads]

You're welcome 😋

[@Lacrimorta]

The peach syrup reference in Nona was my everything.

[@dukewhisky]

This is some amazing research to have found!

[@GinaLuciaReads]

Awww thank you! It was a lot of work lol

[@gretchenthomas6886]

Dream Bubbles are from Homestuck. Arguably the fact half the book is written in the second person is also a Homestuck reference.

[@GinaLuciaReads]

Oh wow, that's pretty cool

[@gretchenthomas6886]

@@GinaLuciaReads Honestly, you could probably do a whole article on the Homestuck influences on Tamsyn Muir. She's open about writing Homestuck fanfic that you can still find on Ao3.

[@princessthyemis]

whaaaaat! wow!

[@TrishLee]

This is amazing, you did well pointing so much from this book with their reference! Would glad to read this book! Thank you for sharing Gina! Have a wonderful day!❤

[@GinaLuciaReads]

Oh thank you so much! It was a lot of work but a lot of fun too, that's for sure!

[@iiii498]

Thank you! I needed this video, a lot of the references got lost in translation

[@GinaLuciaReads]

You're so very welcome!

[@krisreid3399]

Omg not the s 😭😭😭😭

[@NegligentHero]

How about the lamas in hats reference with "a hunger only thumbs could satisfy"

[@KelciaMarie1]

Paraphrasing here but, my favorites were always John goofing on Commander Wake's name. Commander Wake Me Up Inside, and who could forget, "Awake Remembrance of These Valiant Dead Kia Hua Ko Te Pai Snap Back to Reality Oops There Goes Gravity"

[@notdipperpines6626]

NONE HOUSE LEFT GRIEF

[@stellarsecretkeeper5139]

When Ianthe says "I tried and therefor no one should criticize me": It's referencing something Daniel Radcliffe said in a SNL sketch. kzbin.info/www/bejne/poPdY5yZpdZoicU

[@catnerdadrian7601]

My favorite line from her

[@gabrielasaichuk6496]

Why is no one saying anything abou the LLamas with hats reference??? "I admit completely that this was my bad, but these motherfuckers had a hunger that only thumbs could satisfy." Act 5 chapter 46.

[@hemrashirmohammadli545]

BUT YOU DIDN'T MENTION THE COOL S!!!!

[@AdaDenali]

It was like the second or third example in the video

[@boopa6851]

Hello

[@GinaLuciaReads]

Hello Boopa!

[@theresapeirano7841]

I'm so happy to see someone make a whole video about the references--both explicit, and otherwise--as it does standout against other books. But ma'am, your pronunciation needs a bit of work