#because that's what's expected of a Vacker

[nejitenotp]

I can't decide if Della contributed to Alden's abuse or was just a bystander or maybe even an enabler

[synonymroll648]

y’know how some people have service dogs? fitz deserves a service dragon. if alvar gets to have a pet raptor then fitz should get to have a dragon to help with his echoes. (bonus points if he names them after mr. snuggles)

[ahoyimlosingmymind]

i think about this all the time. there isn't a moment I don't think about this.

Guys we always talk about fitz's pressure issues and stuff about being a vacker buttt

What about the fact that Fitz was the youngest Telepath to manifest, the best of the best, he had worked SO HARD to get to this point, then...

Sophie happened.

[unaside]

best friend i hate when people try to criminalize fitz to make other characters the victim in every situation. it’s so annoying. like he’s such a good character and barely anybody actually sees what a complex person he is. we think there’s nothing wrong going on in the vacker family? seriously? i mean if biana felt invisible and ignored her entire life and alvar joined the fucking neverseen there must have been something that was happening. you cant tell me they were just like that. the plot twist of alvars betrayal was actually so shocking because, like, you would have had no fucking idea. he must have been a good person, but he could have just snapped. biana wants to create her own legacy. she wants to break rules. she wants to tear away from the norms. idk where this is going i’m just rambling about random stuff at this point. but BIANA FEELING INVISIBLE HER WHOLE LIFE THEN MANIFESTING AS A VANISHER IS SO IMPORTANT TO ME. alvar and biana escaped. for better or for worse. fitz cant. and omg i fucking hate when people get mad at fitz for ending things with sophie after the matchmaking thing. he literally said and i quote, “i would never hear the end of it. my parents and sister would never hear the end of it. and i don’t think i could deal with that.” FUCKING GOD. GOD FORBID A TRAUMATIZED TEENAGE BOY DOESNT WANT TO DISAPPOINT HIS ENTIRE FAMILY. FUCKING HELL. fitz cant escape from whatever fucking legacy he’s in. he’s stuck there. he always has been and he always will be. he’s the perfect child. the golden child. the favorite child. i swear i should start counting how many times he’s been called perfect. he’s been put on a pedestal his entire fucking life and the second he tries dipping a toe in the water below he gets attacked. there’s nothing he can do but stay. he’s not allowed to be anything but perfect. he can’t stray from that. he’s been at it his entire life. HES NOT ALLOWED TO BE ANYTHING BUT PERFECT. and now here’s the part where i get talk about keefe. don’t worry guys he’s a cool guy i just don’t rlly like him😔 keefe is allowed to be imperfect. he’s allowed to be messy. fitz isn’t. i know it hurts him whenever someone(mostly keefe) makes a comment on him or his family being perfect, when they’re anything but. but he tries and tries and tries. he can’t be imperfect, but he can’t be too perfect. there’s nothing he can do. he’s put under all this pressure at a very young age and he’s expected to succeed at everything. and it makes me mad that keefe is so ignorant about it. he makes jokes and i know that he knows it hurts fitz. he’s literally an empath. bye i’m not taking any criticism 🙏

(i found this in my notes and i genuinely can’t remember when i wrote this help)

[dragoncookies]

Y'all

The emotional trauma Fitz has by this point in the series is insane.

When you consider:

-Him growing up as a Vacker, always expected perfection and taught to bottle emotions, and that you are only worthy of love if you perform well enough, never learning to really have his OWN voice, just whatever was given to him.

-Alvar and Keefe betraying him, two of some of the closest people to him, giving him some DEFINITE trust issues.

-His echoes FORCING him to bottle his emotions and just straight up deny them (so he didn't die) during one of the most emotionally turbulent situations of his life.

-just the entirety of his injuries in general, the limp he is insecure about, the echo that probably gave him some minor heart problems when you think about it, the damage done to his mental state from repressing so many intense emotions (doing that can seriously do some mental damage and also show up physically in many ways)

-Seeing people (his loved ones) get hurt by his horrendously unchecked emotions, but him being likely unsure of how the heck to deal with them.

-The girl he trusts most and genuinely likes essentially emotionally cheating on him with his best friend while leading him on saying she wants to try to make the relationship work (I love Sophie though, she has a zillion other problems to deal with), then the reason they "broke up" being a morally ambiguous situation where he's torn between the girl he was ready to spend his life with and the system that his family must uphold, the family he owes his power and existence to, and it being seen as a bad thing that he cracked and couldn't NOT choose his family (like he always does), but it also would have been seen as a bad thing if he chose what he wants because his family would likely call him "selfish"

And all of this being completley overlooked because he's a Vacker and he had the perfect life, so why would he have any reason to complain?

The constant undermining of his entirely real and mind-fucking emotional trauma has got to be the worst part of it all, because what's worse than hurting like crazy and then everyone calling YOU crazy for believing that you're hurt?

[kale-of-the-forbidden-cities]

Just thinking about Fitz and Keefe. They're both so jealous of each other. It spiraled into more and more talking about fitz and vacker imperfections and stuff, enjoy :>

(I rambled out the draft on discord, but I did change a few things and add on a bit at the end, so if you feel like rereading it might make more sense now)

tw: breif mentions of ed, suicidal thoughts, and implied sh, but they're all like very brief and not descriptive just want to put a warning

Remember in Flashback when Sophie and Fitz were going all Fitzphie on Keefe's mind, and they found the memory of Alden telling Keefe he was proud?

Imagine it hurt so bad for Fitz when he watched that. Because Alden never says that to Fitz even when he came out on top, no matter how perfect he was, so why did Keefe get that kind of praise?

Keefe may have come out second to Fitz with Foxfire grades, but Fitz has always felt second to Keefe in everything. No matter how perfect he tries to be or how much of a people pleaser he is, it seems inevitable that everyone likes Keefe better anyway.

And how could they not? He's funny, he's messy, he's imperfect.

Fitz could never be like keefe. His family would hate him. But they still like Keefe better.

Alvar always liked Keefe better than his actual little brother. Even though Fitz looked up to Alvar more than anyone! He admitted that in Neverseen!

Alden told Keefe he was proud of him?? for coming in second? Even after all the studying and work Fitz put into being first, being top, being perfect, people always choose keefe, Which is one of the reasons Fitz was so insecure about Sophie spending a lot of time with Keefe while she and Fitz were dating, he was scared she was going to leave him for Keefe, like people always do, because he's just better. he's nicer, he doesn't lash out at people, he doesn't have as much pressure on him because he never cared about pleasing his parents.

AND SHE DID! Sophie did leave him for Keefe. Even though Fitz promised to take things at her pace. Even though he said he'd wait. But it was the match lists that ended up breaking them apart. But what was Fitz supposed to do?? Not care about the match? There had never been a Vacker bad match, and Fitz beign the first one, after everything Alvar did and how much all the Vackers already hate these five in particular, it would bring a whole new level of shame on the family. Not just him, but Biana and Alden and Della too.

Keefe is allowed to not care about this stuff, because he's not perfect. Fitz is so, so, so jealous of Keefe because he GETS TO BE IMPERFECT. HE'S ALLOWED TO MAKE MISTAKES. He's allowed to feel things.

Keefe's parents are awful, Fitz's parents are fine. Anytime Fitz dares to think "hey maybe my parents are manipulating or using me or putting unrealistic expectations on me" he also remembers that he has it GOOD. He's so lucky compared to everyone else. So he has no right to be upset about anything.

In Flashback, Fitz actually says something like this to Sophie: Sophie had to grow up with humans, Keefe has his whole thing with his parents, Dex was bullied for being the son of a bad match, Tam and Linh were banished… so he's had it easy! He has no right to feel sad when his life is just. so. perfect.

And the thing is, everyone thinks his life is perfect. Especially Keefe! Keefe is always talking about how the Vackers are perfect and lucky and he wishes he was one, when inside, Fitz would secretly rather be Keefe. Even with the whole everything with his parents, at least he doesnt have to be perfect! At least he's allowed to disappoint his parents, because theyre bad parents! And people always like him more. Without fail, Fitz has always felt second to Keefe. Every time he thinks he did good, people go to keefe for being imperfect.

Why did keefe get Alden's praise when he came out second in the level? Fitz barely slept to make sure he came out on top! If Fitz had gotten 98/100, he wouldn't be yelled at, but he'd get a disappointed talk. Why is it different with Keefe, who isnt even Alden's son, why does Alden like him more?

So Fitz ends up spiraling and obsessing more and more.

He can't be imperfect like Keefe, he wouldnt dare. So he does what he can to be as perfect as possible. Maybe he just needs to get a hold on his temper. Wait till he's behind closed doors to do anything but smile. Maybe he needs to eat less, get a perfect number on the scale. Maybe then he'll be good enough.

But he's never good enough.

Nothing he does will ever be good enough.

Keefe is reckless, imperfect, and messy. but even though Fitz does his best to not step a toe out of line, he does everything he can to be perfect...... They keep picking Keefe. without fail, no matter what.

Fitz knows he shohld accept defeat, accept that he'll never be good enough for anyone because of everything he's done to try to be perfect, but he can't stop trying.

He'll keep pushing himself, he'll stay up for hours studying, looking for clues about the Neverseen, going through Alvar's old room, he'll do ANYTHING for someone to say theyre proud of him. For someone to tell him that he did good, for once in his life, but they never notice.

It's never "Wow, you've been working so hard, good job!" or "You look good, did you lose weight?" or "Thanks for helping out, thanks for at least trying"

EVEN THOUGH HE DOES NOTHING BUT TRY. HE'S TRYING SO HARD

Instead, people are saying things like "You look awful, you've got bags under your eyes" (maybe he should put on some makeup to hide that) or "You never join us for dinner, it's like you hate us" (he does. he secretly hates his family so much) or "You've gotten so distant that you're ruining all your relationships with your friends and family" (what else is he supposed to do? they dont like him anyway)

He's driving himself insane over being perfect, only to have people like Sophie say that he's "too perfect." HE JUST CANT WIN!

He's not allowed to make mistakes, but maybe the worst mistake he made was being too perfect!

But how does he stop?

He can't. he trapped himself here. He's convinced he brought this on himself, but he cant get out of this cycle,

And nobody else will get him out,

Because he's not perfect enough.

If they havent noticed his struggling, maybe they dont care enough. But Fitz has gotten so good at hiding it. Nobody will notice until he passes out in the hall or just fucking kills himself because it's too much.

Fitz thinks, why is it that Keefe's allowed to be open about hating himself, and yet as soon as he makes the slightest self deprecating comment, he's suddenly "being dramatic" or "looking for attention"?

And we're back to talking about Keefe again.

None of this is Keefe's fault but he will still feel so so guilty. He felt Fitz's jealousy and hurt when they watched the memory of Alden saying he's proud of him.

Keefe and Fitz are constantly comparing themselves to each other, but by the end of the story, Keefe will be getting the help and support he needs to move on from it. Fitz never showed it and wouldnt dare admit it. So he does not.

Alden and Cassius both seem to prefer the other's son.

Even with Fitz and Biana. There's still a bit of jealousy there, because Biana is starting to seperate herself from her family, and start her own "Vacker Legacy," whatever that means.

After Nightfall, biana has grown more comfortable with herself, she is challenging what it means to be a Vacker, realizing that their family isn't all it's claimed to be. She has no shame in being her fun confident self, and crying when she needs to, and showing off her scars, while if Fitz showed his scars, he'd probably end up in a psych ward or something (or at the very least getting yelled at).

Fitz is jealous of Biana almost as much as he's jealous of keefe. She's never been quite perfect either, but it's always in a good way, isn't it? she's managed to keep her friends (not including the earlier books) and she used to be a bit of a jerk to people, so people can look back and see how far she's come.

Fitz has only gotten worse over the years, and he knows it. he hears what people say in the halls. their whispers hardly hide it. He's presented himself the way he wanted to be - perfect. But it gets harder and harder to hide his imperfections, and people only notice the bad things, don't they? They don't worry, they only judge.

Biana's probably dealing with her own issues, as everyone in the Vacker family does, but she can be more honest about it. She's starting to break the habit of plastering on a smile and saying everything's fine. She's working on her relationship with people. She's like reverse Fitz.

Fitz fears he's going down a similar path of destruction to Alvar, but he counters those fears by being Alden's perfect golden boy like he was always supposed to be. Alden has such a hold on Fitz, he'd do anything for him if Alden worded it right. Ever since he was a kid he always knew he'd do anything to please his parents, even if it was potentially dangerous. But nobody has seemed to even bat an eye when they hear how young Fitz was when he went to the Forbidden Cities. So he must be overreacting, right? Because how could Fitz's childhood be anything less than perfect?

See, when Sophie started learning a little bit about Fitz's past and how things were actually not perfect in the Vacker house, she started to ignore him more and more. She had her other reasons, but to Fitz, it seemed like she was seeing how imperfect he really was, and he's not everything she hoped for. So he panics, and does his best to prove to her that he is the perfect boyfriend she wanted, but it didn't matter anyway because... she. liked. Keefe. better.

And Fitz hates himself so much for wishing he was keefe because Keefe has it so bad with the legacy thing, he hates how he wishes his parents were worse so he didn't feel so guilty every time he made a mistake that would disappoint them.

Not one person in Fitz's life has ever chosen him first. With everyone. There's always someone they love more.

Della loves Biana more, Biana chooses her friends, Sophie chose Keefe, Keefe chose Sophie.

Alden seemed to favor Keefe, or his work, or even just the ways he uses Fitz instead of loving him as his son or as a person. Maybe that's why Fitz is so desperate to listen to Alden, to please him, because he's the only person who seems to even care, even if he only cares when he's doing good or being perfect.

Alvar would choose Biana or Keefe over Fitz any day, even before the betrayal. Fitz still looked up to him, despite his vague dislike for Fitz. He likes Biana better because he thinks she'd understand better what the Vacker legacy is, Because FITZ IS PART OF IT. HE'S ADDING ONTO IT, WHATEVER IT IS!

Yep that's all I have, feel free to add your own ideas :3

tags:

@fitz-avery-vacker @autistic-daydreamer

[myfairkatiecat]

Sometimes the Vacker sibling dynamics break me.

Because there’s Alvar, whose respected parents in a respected family in a world where having only one child is the trend had another child, and suddenly, he was forever old news. Fitz was the replacement, the new, better Vacker child.

And then there’s Biana, who came after Fitz and has remained after Fitz—the expectations were set higher when Fitz turned out to be more powerful than Alvar, but she just. Can’t. Live. Up. Sometimes it feels like her talent is fitting for how invisible she feels

And then there’s Fitz. The golden child. The youngest telepath to manifest. The perfect Vacker……slowly crumbling under the weight of expectations because what if someone really looks and sees that he isn’t perfect at all. What then.

@ahoyimlosingmymind @kale-of-the-forbidden-cities THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT YOU PUT ME IN A VACKER ANGST MOOD

[ahoyimlosingmymind]

we can argue day and night whether or not Alden and Della were emotionally abusive, if the Vacker kid's lives really were perfect, if Fitz was just born with the coping mechanisms he has, or if they were created etc...

But here's the thing. When you take into consideration WHAT is valued in the lost cities, what is expected of imperfect people, all of the boundaries and barbed wire around what makes someone 'good'- nobody, and I mean NOBODY is coming out of that world emotionally unscathed.

Lord Cassius is not the only elf in the lost cities who cares about the status of himself and his children, and keeping up appearances. We know he has a warped view of his desire for Keefe to succeed being a form of love. We know how he has pathologized his self-absorbed need to keep his ego intact. He's a piece of shit. But part of the reason is that he values what his world has taught him to value. Prestige, sophistication, power etc...

There's a reason Mr. Forkle had to keep his twin a secret his whole life. A reason the Song Twins were rejected. Why Stina was raised to bite before assessing the danger. Because they were born 'imperfect' to their 'perfect' world's standards. They were born with the short stick. The scorn built in. There's a reason the school, Exullium, exists. For rejects, for people who don't meet the standard. Bad matches, being talentless etc... because their world rejects people who are 'chips' in the facade.

which means, that regardless of what you value, your world will punish you for anything that doesn't meet their quota. Sure, there's elves who choose their values over expectations (Dex's parents) but there's still a lifelong social punishment that comes with it.

Which means the threat of this punishment hangs over every elf's head. Which means that there are undoubtedly elves who adhere to values they don't agree with, solely out of fear of the consequences of choosing what they actually care about. This is their world. This is their lot in life.

And good luck trying to kill out this way of thinking and running the world, when elves live forever, and the people in power are the oldest elves in the world.

Now- imagine you're the Vacker's. You are the spitting image of what perfection is thought to be. You are renowned, watched- YOU ARE THE STANDARD. But even the Vacker's know they aren't perfect. Which means that regardless of how they feel about any of it, if they want to avoid scorn- they have to meet impossible requirements.

And to some parents, loving their kids means 'saving them' from that scorn. Which means heaping the expectations of the world onto their kids tenfold.

standards that are inherently abusive.

I don't think the Vacker's could come out the other side anything but emotionally abused. because the standards of their world. Because the standards they are held to, are so unrealistic, and the punishment for not meeting them is so heavy, the only way to meet them is to die a million deaths and not let anyone see that you are a corpse. You either become exactly what the world wants, or you fall, and everyone watches when you hit the pavement, and then they remark how ugly you look, and how you failed to even be appealing in death.

But guess what- that is your fate. Because it is impossible. And this type of pressure doesn't make diamonds, it creates kids like Fitz Vacker, who's fall from grace was inevitable. Because the standards were always impossible. No soul could meet them.

You can't come out of a world like that without some measure of emotional damage. It's a cycle.

Some elves choose to fight the power, but that resistance is futile when the power is literally ancient, with a relative scale for justice, and an 'objective' scale for judgement.

it just so happens that the Vacker's response was to melt their gold exactly into the shapes asked of them, regardless of how wrong it felt, and how much it hurt.

[crescentpaws]

kotlc sims time 🫡

- added alina

apparently she gets tense really easily…

- had her go to the vacker household to flirt with alden (to be lore accurate yk)

- unfortunately he did not gaf

- she became friends with della though and della asked if she could come over to alina’s house and i was like. ok why not

- i made them flirt as a joke but they ended up hitting it off 💀

they are bffs now fr

- they ended up hooking up LMAO. i guess alina was just disguising her crush on della by dating alden…. anyway i hope alden finds out about this because i want more drama i think it will be funny

- back to fintan… he summoned the grim reaper (of course he did)

- they were starting to become friends but then the grim reaper insulted him and i was like Oh Hell No so i made fintan insult him back

- they got into a physical fight which fintan unfortunately lost (i mean… he fought Death. idk what i was expecting there. at least he didn’t actually die)

- they are enemies now ❤️ fintan is slowly becoming enemies with every single npc and i support him

- i need to stop sending fintan & bronte on dates expecting it to go well. they went to a nightclub which was playing romance music which they apparently both HATE, and of course the paparazzi was there and they ended up getting extremely worked up & overstimulated about everything. they ended up fighting the whole time and somehow made their friendship bar go from full to almost completely empty 💀 in one date. what the hell guys

- alright now their relationship bar is in the red zone again…. greaaat (+ they’re back to the strained relationship dynamic lmfao) (they’re even doomed in the sims world that’s crazy)

[bookwyrminspiration]

ok not to alvar post in your inbox again but liek.

“You want to talk about being left for dead?” Alvar lunged forward, but Sandor and Ro shifted their blades to block him. “ I was left in a pod of orange goo while my brother and sister stood by watching! The same brother who threatened to carve me up with a knife earlier that night! The brother who stopped pressing buttons to try to save me as the pod filled up—did he tell you that? He let the tank fill, waiting for me to drown” (632).

this excerpt makes me want to eat concrete in a good way. we love to talk about fitz stopping pressing buttons, but the way alvar is angry at fitz for stopping isn’t really talked about as much as it could be i think.

i always thought it was so funny because alvar was given the chance to change and come back from what he did throughout flashback. and when his memories came back, he made his choice to turn his back on his family, but he’s mad when said family turns their back on him in return. but i rlly wanted to hear your thoughts on this because you’re one of the most ardent buttonsposters on this site

this is FASCINATING. Okay, so. Looking at Alvar's familial feelings, a lot of his hatred is centered on his parents. He felt drowned in unrealistic expectations he could never live up to as the only Vacker kid, and saw Fitz as a replacement, his parents saying he'd never be good enough. Whether this is true isn't really relevant, as it's how he took it

Fitz ends up in a weird cross section here where he hasn't actually done anything to Alvar but exist. Alvar hates Fitz for replacing him, but it was their parents that chose to have him. Everything Alvar hates about Fitz is a manifestation of his resentment for Alden and Della.

Fitz is the perfect golden boy. A telepath like their father, the youngest to naturally manifest at that. Replaced Alvar in looking for Sophie--actually found her when Alvar passed her by. Fitz enrages Alvar for being everything he thinks their parents wanted that he wasn't

But Fitz doesn't have to be. I think that's key. Fitz could throw it all away, stop being perfect, drown under the pressure like Alvar did, and join him. And I think Alvar wants him to. Then he wouldn't be replaced, and instead Fitz could serve as evidence of how horrible their parents were. If Fitz breaks, too, then the problem wasn't with Alvar

And yet he isn't. FItz is choosing, again and again, his family. His parents. To be on the opposite side. Which means he's now making an active choice to become the replacement he inadvertently always was, proving the problem's with Alvar. Which means Alvar can hate him for being himself now. He's just like them, and he's turning their sister, too. The little sister who was the most likely to get him--so when she doesn't? They're blinded, representing everything wrong with their world. The expectations, the indoctrination of the next generations, everything

Alvar is desperate to be the one hurting. He grew up incredibly privileged and only talks of the burden it was. Keefe said Umber was left for dead and he immediately lashes back with this quote, talking about how he's been hurt just as much if not more because he got gooed. And not only that, his family gooed him.

Which reveals he does value family to an extent. If it's worse to be hurt by your siblings, it's because they matter more. Again, everything Alvar hates is centered on their parents. Fitz and Biana were supposed to choose him, to see his pain and understand him, leave their parents behind. They're siblings, even if they're bratty and naive.

We see that in the repetition of brother before each point; he's highlighting the connection they should've had--and blaming its dissolution on Fitz. A little on Biana, but mostly on Fitz, as Fitz was the replacement and the spark to the fuel of Alvar's suffering. The last straw. He's furious. And frames everything as if its unbelievable.

Which implies, potentially, that he wouldn't do the same. That he wouldn't take a knife to his sister, or watch his brother drown. That for all his talk, he sees them as different from their parents and that they matter, deep down.

I think Alvar is desperate to have his pain acknowledged, to be seen and understood, which is a valid desire. But he has blown it entirely out of proportion in his quest to be seen--and his siblings were his main hope. Who better to understand what being a Vacker kid did to him than the other Vacker kids? But because of that blowing it out of proportion, even though they're all Vacker kids, they can't understand. Because Alvar's reaction is illogical. He's in the wrong, and he refuses to understand or realize that because there's kernels of validity to his feelings.

so he's simultaneously furious at Fitz for replacing him, being everything he wasn't, and not choosing him, and desperate to be seen and acknowledged and understood by him and Biana.

basically Alvar's a clusterfuck of complications of a man

[famousinfamous]

ok that’s it I’ve seen so much Alden slander and Alden defenders and I’m about to pinch the next person who says ‘he’s a good parent’ or ‘he’s a horrible person’ like I swear. Look ok Alden sent not one but two of his children to the forbidden cities alone. It sounds like alvar was old enough that he’d be mostly ok but Fitz? He would stand in the same spot for one to two hours just watching some random girl and while so much of the fandom over exaggerates that making it sound like he’d be there for days or smth it’s still very dangerous especially for someone that young. In fact staying in the same spot is probably worse that moving around because that way no-one can tell if you’re being followed or watched. It’s still very dangerous and it’s a miracle he didn’t get kidnapped or smth. Secondly I think what literally everyone forgets is going to the forbidden cities is illegal, as in if you get caught you’ll probably be banished. And we’ve seen what the council does they’d probably have no qualms about banishing a 7 or 8 year old if they had years of incriminating evidence. What do you think would happen if Alden went to prison and Fitz got banished? Would Alden leave biana to start the search, because he knew how important it was? Would she agree not wanting to disappoint her father? Would she get caught to? Would the entire family be banished? Probably. Know you might be thinking after all that and countless other things that prove Alden is not responsible or even remotely well prepared for the position he’s in(that I will be making posts about by the way) why don’t I hate him? Because honestly, I get it. If you look at the way Alden puts his work before his family (whether that work is council provided or not) and the way he treats and raises his children almost as if he’s their mentor or teacher, rather than their father I think the answer becomes quite clear he doesn’t know how to raise a child or how to look after a family because he never wanted one. But before Fitz he was the golden child of the vacker family and everyone expected him to have kids and start a family and pass on his ‘pure genes’ as elves like to dub them. So he did. And now he has no idea what he’s doing. And I get that. Being shoved into a part you don’t want to play, that you don’t know how to play is so hard and it hurts when you see people getting hurt because of mistakes that you shouldn’t be making because you’re supposed to know what you’re doing but you don’t because people read you wrong and don’t understand that this isn’t what you were made for. And so to some it up: Alden was supposed to be the irresponsible yet cool single uncle who flies around in a private jet and tries to take you to see the titanic but your parents said no so he bought you a Lamborghini instead but society said no fuck you here have some meat sacks and handed him Alvar Fitz and Biana and now he doesn’t know how to un-fuck-them-up because god damn it Alden stop involving your children in illegal activities and treating them like your their your students or smth and everyone else could you stop shaming children for not reaching your ridiculously high expectations!

[the-witch-of-woods-beyond]

okay, so i already said i don't like keefe, but i want to expand on the fact that him getting all these books of development and NOT developing is so annoying when amazing characters like linh, tam, biana, marella and fitz are all sidelined is so annoying.

his whole family drama was focused on in neverseen and then could have been drawn out in lodestar when he runs away, and then in flashback, we get the vackers, but in sooo much more depth because they're so intricate, and then we get more of the diznees because two chapters in book six was not enough and linh and tam talk about how they're dealing with all that happened in nightfall with their parents, and marella's storyline with her family is expanded.

but instead all this falls to the background and we get constant repetition of sophie worrying about keefe when all these characters have minor lines about all this every now and then.

like, stop focusing on him!!! give me fitz and biana explaining how it was to grow up in a family that expected perfection and always feeling like they were failing only to have their brother betray them all instead of just hinting at it every now and then and moving on, give me linh and tam working through the fact that they were abandoned by their parents and society for something out of their control and continue on from what started in nightfall, give me marella discussing the stress of how everyone views her family. even dex has been sidelined, the boy sophie calls her best friend, and his family are so tragic and interesting. why weren't they given more time to develop???

[ramiethewizard]

I have many critiques on Keeper of the Lost Cities. Don’t get me wrong, I love it as a series. But like any series, there are both obvious and unobvious flaws. Since I finally have a place online to talk about them I thought I’d share my thoughts! (Disclaimer: this is not bashing on Shannon Messenger or the series in any way!)

1. Too many protagonists

The series was fairly okay with the original gang in the earlier books. That group being Sophie, Keefe, Fitz, Biana, and Dex. There was a chance to connect with all of the characters and grow on each of them. I know I know, characters like Biana and Dex were still pushed aside a bit but they had a better chance at being involved again. But then only more and more protagonists joined. Adding Tam and Linh was iffy, but fine. Then you add Marella, Maruca, Wylie, Stina, all those people. We don’t have a chance to connect with the characters.

2. Obvious favoritism

A few people have pointed this out already, and I thought I’d do the same. Shannon has very clear favorites of the series - which is fine, don’t get me wrong. But sometimes it’s used a little too much. Keefe is a very obvious favorite. We constantly focus on him and his story. At this point, Sophie AND Keefe are the protagonists. I love Keefe, but I want to learn about the injustices and discrimination of Bad Matches from Dex. I want to learn about the expectations of being a Vacker from Fitz and Biana. See what I’m saying?

3. Little plots abandoned

I feel like there have been so many times where Shannon starts this little idea and then throws it away. If you reread the books, you seem to find so many instances where there’s something, and then it’s just abandoned. For example, Magnate Leto (Forkle) says in I think Exile how he doesn’t have a wife and he seems quite sad about it. Or the time in…Flashback I believe where we meet Tinker. Tinker is such an interesting character. She freaks out when Forkle talks about explosives and he said that he wouldn’t make her build them - ‘not again’. HUH? And we’ve gotten no more out of it.

4. Overly focused on romance

Probably my biggest pet peeve with the series is that it is so so focused on romance. Having romance in the series is fine but there’s so much. I feel like Sophie barely even has any character left. You can tell that Shannon was just really excited to write the romantic relationships because even in the first book (WHEN SHES TWELVE) there are already intense moments. And the biggest thing is that characters like Keefe and Fitz (the love interests) are so much more important than characters like Biana and Dex (the friends). It’s a weird thing because Sophie should be apart of both groups but there’s just a weird focus on the guys that she’s into.

5. Lack of diversity

This is something that I think should just be improved in general. Most of the protagonists are very stereotypical and don’t have any diversity. Most of the main characters are white - which is fine but when it gets to be that ALL of the protagonists are, it just gets a little…you know? I mean, Tam, Linh, and Wylie are not white but they’re also not focused on at all in the series. It’s one of the reasons why people headcanon the Vackers to be POC so much. There’s also no LGBTQ+ characters - which again, fine for the most part but also…people of the queer community are incredibly common and the KOTLC characters seem so…not straight. So the fact that it’s been like ten books and there hasn’t been anything is just a little eh. Same with mental health, or physical abilities. Just a lack of diversity.

I love this series a lot, but like anything, it can always improve. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.

[clarissaweasley-10]

Here's my analasis on the character of Fitz Vacker aka Wonderboy(even tho no one asked)He's sadly one of the most disliked characters in the entire series and though l get why you guys may hate him,let's try to understand...

The fact that Fitz was born into one of the if not THE most influential family in the lost cities has a LOT to do with his character.Plus,he was the golden child of the family.His parents obviously favoured him from the start.He was perfect...or so he hoped.Growing up the way he did,he HAS to be perfect.Be the perfect child,the perfect student carry the family's legacy and make his family proud.That was what mattered the most to him it was part of how he was raised as the golden child.Now,in Stellarlune during the Cognate Inquisition,Fitz himself has admitted to Sophie about how he often feels a little jealous of her.Well not exactly "jealous"but yk he used to be the best in everything before Sophie came and now she is always better than him and he is left to be the second best.Like imagine being the best in everything,with everybody looking up to you and then suddenly it all just goes down especially after Alvar's betrayal.That would suck so hard.There are two events which are the turning points of his character development:Alden's mind breaking,and Alvar's betrayal.You may ask why l put Alden's mind breaking here(the other one is obvious),the answer is, it was the beginning of events leading to total chaos in Fitz's life.His father who he looked upto,the one who shaped him and has a lot to do with who he is,one of the strongest people he ever knew..broke.lmagine how that would feel,especially to elves who are just not in terms with the idea of loosing someone close to you,and Fitz just lost his father all of a sudden with no prior explanation.And the explanation is his father had gone to Exile with a girl he knew for a few months at most(tho he and Sophie were very close)without taking his own son with him,and the guilt of seeing the son of a guy he had helped arrest and whose life he had virtually destroyed,finally broke his mind.Imagine how incapable,unworthy and angry this would have made Fitz feel.So he took out his anger on Sophie,though he had no right to and blamed her when HE WAS IN FACT BLAMING HIMSELF.Yes.If only his father had trusted him enough to share this information with him,then maybe Fitz would have made him understand or he and Sophie together could have saved him.But now Alden was gone and who was to blame?But Fitz also knew the consequences of the guilt he was feeling,saw it in the form of his father.If he lets the guilt of not being there get to him then,soon he too would be in Alden's position imagine how hard it would hit Della,Biana and....Alvar(strictly Fitz's pov.)So he did what he could and used his anger as a shield to protect himself and the rest of his family.

I also want to talk about the whole matchmaking thing because that's one of the most controversial aspects of Fitz's character.As l've said the fact that Fitz was born into one of the most influential families of the lost cities has a lot to do with his character.He was trained to uphold his families reputation.And we've all seen how bad matches are treated in the Lost Cities.Sophie who has literally spent her whole life outside the Lost Cities couldn't completely accept the fact that she was unmatchable,so what do you expect from Fitz who has spent his entire life being treated like royalty.Ofc he would be upset.Now l am not justifying all the rude and jerky things he said to Sophie l want to give him a solid shake for that,but he is only human(well no but yeah figuratively yk)and his perfect family was basically a broken sandcastle now so let's try to be a bit kind to Fitz too yeah?Now you may say that,Keefe also spent his entire life in the Lost Cities but had no problem from the start about Sophie being unmatchable.Well for this(and a lot of other things)Keefe deserves a LOT of extra points for the whole Sokeefe vs Sophitz thingie but he and Fitz had very different upbringings and characters.Keefe doesn't give a f abt what others think,the only thing he cares about is how Sophie feels,so get yourself a man like him...He had raised himself to be a rebel and went against common norms.And hence has no regards for what the society thinks.He only wants Sophie and if people scorn upon them for being a bad match then they should remind themselves that they would never get a relationship as good as Sokeefe.And he is THE man for this.

[swans-chirping-in-the-distance]

The Root of KOTLC Characters (this is NOT math related I don't fuck with that shit)

This is basically a long rant about the foundation of different characters in my eyes. This is how I see them; feel free to give your thoughts.

Sophie Foster

Sophie is a character who has been built inwardly. She couldn't fully rely on her family because of Forkle convincing her that she couldn't open up about her telepathy. She loved her family, but she was so young that that really affected her head. Sophie is this person who has built a house on no foundation; all she has are these little pieces of plywood holding up a full house. This house has boxes of Things To Do Later, mountains of family and friend moments, and her high expectations subconsciously set by herself because she's always been "better". And when the house eventually caves in, she'll be faced with whatever is down underground, with all the pain and suffering that she buried as a little kid with the only resource for building herself being distraction.

Fitz Vacker

Fitz was never taught how to cope. He grew up seeing his father's own guilt being poorly buried by Alden's self-gaslighting tactics. He grew up seeing his brother, whose anger was held shut by the thinnest of threads. He grew up seeing a variety of humans, for better and for worse. Fitz never knew how to grow properly. I firmly believe that Fitz is built around this backbone of uncontrollable anger. He can be SO kind when he controls in, but it's SO hard to do. It's like this constant temptation, asking for a little bit of his joy until all he's left with is guilt. And he refuses it as much as he can. But that's at his core, and your core is something that is VERY hard to change.

Biana Vacker

I can't see into Biana’s brain like I can see into Sophie and Keefe's and the others', but I can definitely say that her backbone (not foundation, I mean this differently than I do with Fitz) is sadness. That's what she resorts to.

Keefe Sencen

Much like I can imagine Sophie's head as this pretty painted house that's falling apart at the bottom, I can perfectly see Keefe's brain. Keefe is like a Russian Nesting Doll. He's built himself around this empty hole in the middle from being abused and manipulated at such a young age. That empty hole is filled with complete sadness. Keefe has built walls around it to bury it deep. He's focused on little things and cracked jokes, but it's never enough. On the outside layer, he's just a joking guy, but if you knock down that wall, he's angry. And if you knock down more, you see in the window to that bottomless pit, where Keefe keeps trying to fill up on kindness and joy and even anger, yet he can't. Because this sadness is gaseous; it keeps looking like it's empty, but it's full. And in the gaseous hole of sadness, Keefe sees a reflection of himself, an ugly, warped reflection that looks a little too similar to his parents. And that's why Keefe builds up all of these walls; not because he's afraid of the hole in himself, but because he's afraid of having to see himself in it.

Dex Dizznee

Dex is built on anger. No doubt. He can be kind, but he's angry about the Council wronging him, his peers wronging him, and all the suffering his family has gone through. I think Dex's is the most clear out of all of them if you ignore when he randomly became innocent in some of the later books.

Tam Song

Tam is built on this unwavering support of love. When his parents abused him, he had the love of his sister. When Exilium abused him, he had the love of his sister. Even when he and Linh argue, they still have each other. They can argue and still hug it out when they hear rough news. Hell, even if he didn't have Linh, he still has his friends that he deeply cares for. Tam is a much more loving person than people give him credit for. He would kill for them and die for them. He knows he'll be alright because Tam has love, and it's something not enough people see.

Linh Song

Linh looks very peaceful. She's learned to control it. But deep down, she's angry. She's angry like Fitz, and she's bursting at the seems of her smiles. She's angry her brother chose someone else over her, that her parents have the nerve to try to win her back, that no one ever listens to her. Linh is finding it harder and harder to control that deep anger that has been in there since her parents gaslighted her and Tam. Tam seems angry, but he is truly loving, and Linh seems sweet, but is really mad.

[lotusishere]

I’m going to talk about Fitz Vacker in this post because I’m shocked I haven’t shared my feelings about him yet. So here we go. I don’t think it should be a shocker to literally anyone but I actually don’t like Fitz. But I don’t hate him for no reason and I don’t hate him for just his aggression. I just don’t like him as a person but I appreciate his character. He’s a middle child and a golden child at that. He’s was born to live up to highest expectations compared to his brother. Not to mention the legacy itself is tough to keep in good spotlight. I know having his title would make it hard for him to find real friends, as everyone would want to be friends with him because of his family name. He’s smart, attractive, snarky. But as he has good traits he has bad ones too. He’s occasionally aggressive and frustrated (and frustrating). But let’s talk about it.

Before Sophie he seemed to be living in bliss. His family’s name wasn’t in ruin. He was in the highest place he could be. He might have been struggling to find good connection and felt the pressure of trying to hold his families name; but it definitely wasn’t like the stress he has now. His brother is literally a terrorist. His great great (a couple greats) grandmother used to experiment on humans and cause trouble. Right now everyone is looking at their family and it’s messing up the Vacker Legacy. Something that he not only has pride in but something that he worships and holds in his heart. I feel like because he was raised (and kinda forced) to be in a big spot light all the time it made him feel like if he wasn’t he wasn’t good enough or failing his name. He was raised to be perfect. He was perfect but I feel like all that perfection caused cracks he didn’t see.

Fitz is a beautifully flawed character. He has passions, beliefs, BIG flaws but most importantly he has feelings. We see it throughout the entire book. He’s emotional and wears what he’s feeling on his sleeve. When he’s angry you’re gonna know. When he’s sad you’re gonna know. He was raised for his family name not tough situations that are in light now because Sophie is in the elf world. He wasn’t raised or prepared for the betrayal of his brother. He wasn’t ready for the breaking of his father. He wasn’t ready for the emotional drain of his mother not being able to let go and move on. He reacts because well because he’s a teenager. I feel like a lot of people forget that he’s also a kid. He might be older but it doesn’t mean he’s any less of a child. He’s hormonal, emotional and going through a lot of stressors in his life. I bet his life is entirely different from what he planned or imagined and he’s trying to hold everything he can to keep it from changing more but is failing. To go from Mr popular to everyone gossiping about his family in a negative way is a big change. I feel like the social pressures of having to be a Vacker gets to him a lot. He wants to rebuild the name they had. He wants to live up to his family title. He doesn’t want to wear it down more than what certain family members has done.

Can you imagine living your entire life based on being perfection for a perfect title only to have both taken away? I know his ass is going through an identity crisis. And it’s sad because I wish people gave him recognition that he’s more than a Vacker. He’s Fitz. He’s his own person. He’s not just Sophie cognate. He’s not just Sophie’s bf or Sophie’s ex. He’s not just Alvar’s little brother. He’s not just Biana’s older brother. He’s not just Keefe’s “best friend”. He’s not just a Vacker. He’s Fitzroy Avery Vacker. He is temperamental, caring, occasionally a good friend. He is selfish but he’s also compassionate. He may not understand things and might be ignorant to a lot but he tries with what he is given. Do I feel like he has acted inappropriately at times? Oh absolutely. Book 2, Exile, with how he treated Sophie. Calling her “broken” absolutely unacceptable. I’m also upset because I feel like they don’t really hold Fitz accountable to just how much what he says or does hurts people’s feelings. He has constantly hurt Sophie’s feelings by saying the wildest stuff to her. She legit began to be afraid to even share her emotions or things with Fitz because she was scared of him being angry at her.

Which is crazy. Especially because they were dating. I feel like because Fitz was drawn out to be Sophie’s love interest it took out what made Fitz in the book couple of books Fitz. Do I like how he treated other characters? No I did not. His relationship with Keefe is something I hold deeply to my heart. Because (not sure if anyone agrees but) Keefe and Fitz were never best friends. At least not real ones. They were best friends by situation. It is said AND shown multiple times that they actually don’t know anything about one another. Or at least it’s one sided. I feel like Fitz was so focused on himself that he couldn’t see Keefe struggling. Which is crazy cuz his ass is abused as hell and for him to know literally nothing to how his parents treat him or what he’s been through is crazy. What’s crazier is that the second Keefe joined Neverseen the switch up Fitz had was crazy. That’s your so called best friend. But at the same time his reaction was slightly justified because his brother betrayed him too. So he has a right to be on edge and to be upset.

It’s just heartbreaking because I feel like Fitz could have been so much more if he was flushed more as a character. I wished he interacted with characters (positively) more. For example I wished Keefe and Fitz were able to develop an actual and genuine friendship ON their OWN terms instead of being friends by situation. I wished i could have seen a mutual respect for Dex and Fitz. Especially after that moment they shared where Dex almost accidentally killed Fitz. I feel like he’s been so condensed to this angry teenager who is hormonal and jealous that it has replaced the good qualities he has. He has a right to be jealous because he’s never had anything of his own before. Sophie sees him for more than just his title. He’s never had anyone like him genuinely like that before. And I know he feels jealous because he wants to be like Keefe while Keefe wants to be like Fitz. But to make that majority of his character and flush him out and make him a douche bag? Do I believe match making papers are important to fitz. Yes I do.

Do I believe he would have made it a big deal causing emotionally turmoil on Sophie? No. Idk some people might disagree but I feel like he wouldn’t have done that. I feel like as much as he WOULD want her to it wouldn’t be pressure. Him getting angry and causing scenes like come on. He’s better than that and I know that. I know he wants to better his family image but book one Fitz would have never said or treated Sophie half of the way he did in the lastest 2 books. I believe the second he would have realized it wouldn’t have worked he would have talked to her and put up with an agreement to pull back. Or at least wait until everything is over to start a relationship. I see the good in Fitz. I do. I know he has it in his heart to be caring even if he doesn’t agree with people. I know he has his own judgements and beliefs and that’s fine. But I don’t think it’s in his character to shame everyone else’s ideas because of it. If it was he would have shamed Dex a LONG time ago but he didn’t. He keeps his opinions to himself (majority of the time). He gets a little quirky during the day sometimes.

But these are just some of my feelings about Fitz. There are more but this post is already long lmfao. Tell me how yall feel? Hate him? Love him? Neutral feelings? Again I don’t love him but I don’t hate him. He’s a good (kinda) neutral character. He’s just not the character for me.