#i haven't had the chance to talk about sophie's arc in a while!!

[bookwyrminspiration]

do you think sophie's character development in unlocked will stick for the rest of the series (more specifically the next book)? Or do you think she'll go back to the way she was after she sees how disappointed/upset everyone else is with her decision?

additionally, there's the possibility of having the constant disappointment around her, the disapproval, that she'll just decide fuck it and do what she wants. if she doesn't do it, they won't get anywhere and everyone will feel downcast that nothing is working and she'll feel guilty for not accomplishing more, if she does it they'll be disappointed in her for accomplishing too much in the wrong way. she looses both ways so why not take the actions that she thinks are making a change, despite what everyone else says

i think at the very least, right now she feels guilty and confused. she made a decision she thought was right, accomplished something she was proud of, but received all this negative, judgemental backlash. so i think she'll enter a state of questioning, if that makes sense, trying to figure out what she should do next.

so I don't think she'll immediately jump into making more bold decisions and committing more arson, but I don't think she'll ever go back to being the person she was before she made that leap. the seed, the idea that she can do more has already been planted, and as much as she tried to ignore it it's going to grow and take up space in her mind. to her, nothing negative came out of this action. she won, she got what she needed and went even beyond that, messing up her enemies too. to her that's progress!

i think she'll try and understand where everyone else is coming from, try and understand what she did "wrong," because she's made mistakes before and wants to learn from them. but as hard as she tries, I just don't think she'll be able to see it the way they do. her own goals and understanding of the world don't align with theirs and she'll get uncomfortable following a set of rules that aren't her own.

we saw in book one that she values her own morals over the law, so I'm assuming the same can be applied here. she tried to accept what Alden and the Council were saying, that the Everblaze wasn't a problem and that it wasn't her responsibility and nothing needed to be done, but she couldn't get the little voice in her head to go away telling her to take action. I think we'll see something similar here. The Black Swan and her parents and her friends and the entire world is telling her that she shouldn't attack offensively, that they're only supposed to be defense, but she did it once and she'll want to do it again. it worked out for her, so that means it could work again.

additionally, there's the possibility of having the constant disappointment around her, the disapproval, that she'll just decide fuck it and do what she wants. if she doesn't do it, they won't get anywhere and everyone will feel downcast that nothing is working and she'll feel guilty for not accomplishing more, if she does it they'll be dissapointed in her for accomplishing too much in the wrong way. she looses both ways so why not take the actions that she thinks are making a change, despite what everyone else says

(note: this would be a good segue into a corruption arc, the idea that no one approves or is proud no matter what you do so why bother with them. don't think the story is going here, but fanfic writers, here's some angst inspo if you want it)

and from a writer's perspective, shannon put all that effort into that drama and into that decision, building it up and putting tension there. it would feel like a waste not to take advantage of it and do something with it, otherwise unlocked essentially becomes just pages of filler, useless words. yes, keefe also ran away, but he's only part of the story. i think it'd make more sense to take advantage of the situation she created than let it fizzle into nothing

to summarize: i don't think she'll jump headfirst into being a little destructive arsonist, but I don't think she's back where she started either. She went ten steps forward, took five back, and is now still working her way forward to get back to where she was, if that makes sense