#i am quite torn between gethen and fintan

[bookwyrminspiration]

in one of the earlier books i believe vertina (and maybe someone else? idk) said that sophie looked a lot like jolie. which seems like too big of a thing for shannon to not explain. so what do you think’s happening with that?

also gethen being sophie’s father seems pretty likely but why didn’t forkle recognize him? unless he was lying to keep sophie from knowing he was her father but it doesn’t seem very hard for him to say he knows gethen without revealing anything about that

Great questions! I can only theorize, but I think the primary reason for people saying Sophie looked like Jolie (it was more than Vertina, including Edaline, and said multiple times) was as part of suspecting her of being Sophie's bio mom/the confrontation with Brant.

The constant comparison planted the seed that they might be related, kinda as a very early intro to the bio parents search. She doesn't start a real search till much later, but it continues the ruminating on it brought by Prentice so we can get there. And by looking like Jolie, she enters a unique situation when dealing with Brant, bringing his/his and Jolie's story to light and forcing him to confront it. It's like Jolie's brought back to life in spirit, which affects how Brant responds and kicks off his reveal/betrayal

But we don't see much if any mention of the similarities between Jolie and Sophie after those things happen, so I assume it's served its purpose and the similarities between them are coincidental, if convenient.

As for Gethen, of course there would be a lot of questions for Forkle about how he managed to get a Neverseen member in on Project Moonlark. But I presume you're referring to the scene on pgs 595-597 ish in Everblaze? Rereading it, and this is being very particular, Mr. Forkle doesn't seem to say anything that suggests he doesn't know Gethen. He doesn't say much at all, just that he remembers fighting off Gethen when he came for Sophie, and that they'll move him somewhere he'll feel more like talking--because he does have info Mr. Forkle doesn't know and would want, even if they've met in the past. And what he says could be an intentional move to not reveal what he does know, while also not faking ignorance. Because even if he does know Gethen, everything he said still stands. Perhaps he thinks the less Sophie knows about Gethen in general, the better, so he doesn't mention anything the kids don't find out themselves

So perhaps he did recognize him, and just didn't say anything because that's safer than lying and potentially being caught. Especially since the kotlcrew are really pushy at times. Simpler to just keep them out of the loop on that one--after all, the Black Swan has no problems keeping secrets and withholding information, which is especially true when it comes to her parentage. He can do what he needs to do with any additional information he has separate from the kids; they don't need to be involved in his behind the scenes work.

I think one of the main questions for the Gethen theory is: why? Why would Mr. Forkle pick him, and the answer would probably involve him having a regular identity Mr. Forkle thought he could trust before it was revealed he was Neverseen. Basically same as the Fintan theory, we just don't know that for Gethen so there are more questions.

There are gaps and questions in every theory, so none of this is certain, it's just a potential explanation.