[Theory] Crux is Samael, and Aiglamene is probably Anastasia
This is my first time posting a theory, and my thoughts on this are a bit scattered. I’ve done my best to include textual references for parts of the story used in my argument. I’ve been sitting on this one for a very long time, so I hope you enjoy and also share insight!
As is mentioned in a recent post, the beginning of Gideon the Ninth foreshadows most of the series that follows. Based on what we read in the first 100 pages of Gideon the Ninth, I believe that Crux and Aiglamene are actually Samael and Anastasia.
I will talk about Aiglamene first, since it feels like a bit more of a stretch for her to be Anastasia. The first and largest hurdle for this theory is that the end of Nona we see Anastasia’s skeleton
“She looked back beyond, and she saw Anastasia, tucked where nobody would find her: Anastasia, all bones. Not really Anastasia. But Anastasia’s body without the meat on it, snuggled right into the curve of the rock, ready to close the door whenever it was opened. She remembered Anastasia.” NtN, page 474
This is mixed evidence to begin with, as Nona very clearly describes the skeleton as “not really Anastasia.” Considering it is the second to last thing Nona thinks before Alecto wakes up, it may be that it is a delirious thought, or it may point to some falsehood in the skeleton. The very first description of Aiglamene may give some clues here
“The captain of the House guard had a head of melty scars and a missing leg which an indifferently talented bone adept had replaced for her. It bowed horribly and gave her the appearance of a building with the foundations hastily shored up. She was younger than Crux, which was to say, old as balls: but she had a quickness to her, a liveliness, that was clean.” GtN, page 20
We see that Aiglamene is missing her original leg. For the first bone adept, it is not inconceivable that she could have created a fully formed skeleton from her leg to leave in the tomb. This may account for Nona’s description of the skeleton as “Not really Anastasia.” Additionally, the line “gave her the appearance of a building with the foundations hastily shored up.” May point to the hasty altering of the lyctoral process we hear about in John’s account.
“She panicked midway through. She hadn’t got his soul inside her all the way - if she hadn’t, Samael dying would have killed her too… they were both in danger. I killed him for her benefit, and she knew that at the time.” HtN, page 482
Obviously this came out of the lips of the necrolord prime, so, huge grain of salt, but what does seem clear is that John interrupted her lyctoral process, and she had to change it on the fly.
Of note also about Aiglamene is that she is able to consistently best Gideon in a fight. On a first read this seems normal, as she is Gideon’s teacher, but after the first book we know that Gideon is an unparalleled swordsman. It would not make sense for a woman who is meant to be past 80 with a bad leg to so consistently thrash her.
The last piece I’ll say about Aiglamene is a trait she shares with Crux - they are both missing an eye. On pages 22 and 19 of GtN respectively, we learn that Aiglamene and Crux are both one eyed. Considering the heavy use of eyes as indicators of lyctorhood throughout the series and the uniqueness of missing one eye in the books, I find this to be one of the most compelling pieces of evidence connecting Aiglamene to the lyctoral process.
Now for Crux, and hoo boy is there a lot here. One of the first things that Alecto says to Harrow after reawakening is
“Alecto said, I am very sorry about Samael.” NtN, page 477
That is very odd coming from Alecto, particularly when we previously have from John that he was the only one present, and the one who killed Samael. What would Alecto have to apologize for? Returning to John’s description of Samael’s death,
“She hadn’t got his soul inside her all the way…” HtN, page 482
To fully understand this, its necessary to look at Harrow’s dream sequence as well: here we see Crux as a lucid character, the only “living” soul to exhibit this trait in Harrow’s bubble in the river. The fact that Crux exists in the real world and in the river, and John claims that Samael’s soul was in a partial state when he died, may indicate that a part of Samael’s soul did die and is in the river, and the other part was returned to his body out of sight of John. It is a bit of a stretch, but there is evidence in Gideon’s initial description of Crux.
“Gideon suspected that - even though he had not a whit of necromancy in him - the day he died, Crux would keep going anyway out of sheer malice.” GtN, page 19
Then perhaps Alecto is apologizing not because Samael died, but because he came back some kind of revenant partial soul, similar to what we see happen to Kiriona in NtN.
The last bit of evidence I’ll offer is the one that convinced me to write this post. When Gideon is agreeing to duel with Harrow before the muster call, she notes
“Crux stared back at her with the hate of an exploding star: the empty hate of pressure pulled inward, a deforming, light-devouring resentment.” Gideon, page 31
This description feels so deeply paralleled to what we know of John that it jumped out at me as I reread. I think this line foreshadows a deep relationship between Crux (Samael) and John, and may have foreshadowed Crux using his death to open of the tomb, or perhaps even something beyond in the next book.
TLDR: I am pretty sure Crux is Samael, and Aiglamene may be Anastasia who spoofed her own skeleton.