#k talks too much about kotlc

[svtellify]

the vacker legacy and their golden boy: fitz vacker

welcome to my new psychoanalyzing kotlc characters series! i thought i’d start with fitz because this particular reread of the series has brought up some interesting facets in his character i had previously overlooked. i’ll try to keep this objective (focusing on canon and what shannon has written) but i’ll also include some of my personal opinions about him in a separate section at the end, to keep my bias out of it.

(apologies for how long these are going to get, i’m having a little too much fun with them!)

now.

fitzroy avery vacker.

it’s no secret that sophie is infatuated with him from the moment she meets him. but that’s sophie. this is about fitz (and while i do mention the love triangle situation and how it develops, it’s not really about the ships - that deserves it’s own moment to shine.) it’s also important to remember that the series is from sophie’s perspective. this is an unreliable narrator, and it shows us fitz through sophie’s eyes, but also through the other character’s eyes. 

from the start, we’re told that fitz is the golden boy, the youngest telepath to manifest in the elven world and an incredibly powerful one at that. he grows up as a part of the vacker family, which is quite possibly the most powerful family in the lost cities, regardless of who the councillors are. all the elves grow up with money, but fitz grows up with status. what sets him apart from biana is how this status evolves between the two of them as the vacker legacy itself unravels.

in the first book, fitz is, from a writer’s standpoint, boring. he’s too perfect, never making mistakes, and busy being handsome and smart. obviously, given that the series is from sophie’s point of view, it makes sense that her gateway to the world remain untainted, regardless of her feelings for him. where we really start to get to know fitz is in exile. we get to see that perfection shatter entirely, and as a writer, it’s beautiful. fitz is ugly when he’s mad, shouting and screaming and blaming everyone but himself - outwardly. it’s no secret that he thinks highly of himself as the golden boy of the vacker family, and it’s hard to imagine that he doesn’t place some of the blame on himself for not being his dad’s first choice - or being able to fix alden. 

still, his anger is a remarkable facet of his personality - and just what makes him a great foil to keefe. we’ve all seen his temper flare up in exile, blaming sophie for the memory break going wrong.

fitz isn’t used to things going wrong - as i’ve mentioned in other posts, he’s a creature of perfection of habit. he’s used to being the best, and while he admires sophie’s powers and her strength, that doesn’t mean he necessarily knows how to accept it with grace. in other words, he’s never been second best. 

despite all the kids being young, fitz is the oldest of sophie’s group at the time. and his reaction shows his age, but not his maturity. he’s quick to blame and reacts without thinking - his anger brings out parts of him that he normally doesn’t reach for. fitz is always the one who prefers plans and thinking things out, and rarely do we see him like this. as a reader, it’s easy to hate him for this reaction - because we know that it’s not sophie’s fault. and the rational fitz is supposed to know that too - and he does.

kind of.

fitz’s greatest weakness as a character is that he doesn’t grow from this outburst. it’s not the first, and it’s not the last either. he’s a prideful guy - and with reason, he has a lot to be proud of. he’s not the best at apologizing either - it’s a cycle, where he gets mad, has an outburst, and apologizes with gifts to fix things. 

this wouldn’t be such a big deal, i mean all of us have different love languages, right? but there’s a constant in the people he gets mad at (neverseen and related villains regardless. that’s justified anger, even at alvar, although that’s a little more complicated) and it’s:

1. sophie 2. keefe 3. dex

starting from the last, but not the least, dex. even after it’s revealed in (i believe) lodestar, that dex used to eat alone in his alchemy sessions and the vackers weren’t necessarily the nicest to him, snobby over their status in the elven world etc., we see him get mad at dex for hesitating over the situation with alvar. it’s particularly interesting, considering we never really see fitz bond with dex, just dex tell sophie that he’s going to be nicer to the vackers now that he understands them better. this is apparent to be a little more one sided in their interactions, and it gets worse with the reveal that alvar has “forgotten” his memories. fitz is ready to condemn him, but when dex isn’t, it upsets him. 

remember, alvar was a part of the group that kidnapped and tortured sophie and dex. his supposed crush and his friend. and yet, both of the victims are feeling a little more kind hearted than fitz, who is alvar’s brother, yes, but it’s also been made clear that he isn’t as close to alvar as biana is. and yet.

as for keefe, his reasons for hating keefe make sense. and they don’t. if anything, he should be able to understand where keefe is coming from, especially since he *does* seem to be aware of keefe’s feelings for sophie. and despite the fact that they’re supposed to be best friends, he’s the least sympathetic to keefe’s situation. he’s betrayed, of course, they all are, and he’s angry about it, because of course he is. that’s normal - and it all adds up. where things get weird is when we realize that fitz doesn’t know that much about keefe. sophie’s the first one up to his house and keefe even says he doesn’t bring friends home, but it’s clear that he’s never talked about it with fitz.

fitz also has a tendency to not take keefe seriously, which the other characters all do an extent, but they know when to take him seriously and when to not. but fitz misses a lot of keefe’s growth and he still sees keefe as this weird kid that skipped a grade and likes to play pranks. keefe’s a shell of the person fitz knows at this point, and this is something they both need to come to terms with.

fitz’s pride comes into the picture here, manifesting as willful ignorance. he doesn’t know about keefe’s situation because, quite frankly? he didn’t want to sympathize with dex either. he’s a proud guy and this is GOOD characterization but. he kind of looks like a jerk.

in regards to sophie, these scenes sum up both how he feels about her and why i think they’re not good together:

i’ve talked a little about fitz and perfection and why he sees sophie as perfect even though it feels like he shouldn’t - and i don’t want to rehash all that so i’ll leave a little link to some thoughts i had regarding a scene in stellarlune, so you can check it out here. warning: stellarlune spoilers. the non spoiler version here: fitz craves perfection. his world was always perfect, and so was he. he’s the golden boy, after all, isn’t he?

what makes it so hard to have sympathy for him, after all i am an eldest daughter in an indian family with gifted kid burnout and a queer identity crisis - i know pressure lol it’s all i’ve ever known - is that he simply can not let go. he expects that painful level of perfection from himself, and it’s sad that they can’t have a little fun with the chandelier incident. he thinks that sophie would expect that kind of perfection from him, and for that reason, he thinks the problem is his levitating.

obviously lol, it’s not, but the boy  but he also expects that kind of perfection from others, and thinks that others ALSO want that perfection, as seen in how he handles the news that sophie has found out who her genetic mother is. 

more on THAT later. i doubt i’ll be able to stay objective on that scene so i’m saving it for the end of this little piece. (which is not as little as i was hoping, but if the people are interested, i could do a part two where i answer questions instead of just winging it!)

the second scene’s literally from the next page, but his pride and focus on perfection converge in on telepathy. sophie’s better than him, and there’s this undertone that this bothers him. he’s losing - and perfection always wins. here it is again - sophie’s ridiculously strong mental barriers. the point of trust. 

part of the reason the sophitz relationship was doomed to fail from the start is the emphasis fitz places on their abilities. but we’re cognates is a cry for the little boy who wants his place back as the best, and sophie is his return to greatness. it’s not a bad thing when done right, but fitz can’t see past that. his sense of trust is misconstrued and believes it means sharing everything, never mind the fact that sophie’s a part of a rebel organization with thoughts planted in her head that could change the world. literally. the black swan planted them there.

(is the humor helping? i feel like we’ve been bashing fitz a bit for his lack of growth and i would apologize because i do think he’s a valuable character and a well written one at that, but a bit unlikeable when it comes down to it.)

he’s had his trust broken and people have hidden things from him, but in the grand scheme of things, alvar’s betrayal is the one that cuts him the most deeply. keefe’s hurts, sure, but i could argue it’s for love triangle related reasons, more than their supposed friendship instead. (i will, actually. that’s a part of the love triangle analysis - and if you think this is long...) but nothing is really earth shattering in the sense that it deeply warps his sense of identity. he’s been hurt a lot, and he’s a traumatized kid, but he reacts with less maturity than his younger sister - and a lot of the other (younger) characters at times, which can be frustrating to see when the solution is right there.

and here we are. the most painful scene for me to read - and i haven’t even gotten around to rereading legacy yet. so. legacy spoilers ahead.

this is my warning - i’m not cutting fitz as much slack for these scenes even if i understand where he’s coming from. he’s wrong. it’s as simple as that, and i *will* explain why, but if you still believe sophie and fitz should have ended up together and plan on reminding me of that, i respect you, but please just stop reading here. 

for context, this is right after sophie finds out that oralie is her genetic mom and fitz is waiting at havenfield and tries to guess why she’s so upset. or that she’s figured out who her parents are. it becomes apparent shortly that even he doesn’t know which he’s doing.

“I get why you’re not ready to talk about it YET.”

this is supposed to be a small sentence to show how understanding he is, and it would be, if it wasn’t for the glaring YET at the end. he still expects sophie to talk about the subject sometime, and with him. but it’s weird that he’d be so relieved about it - considering how UPSET sophie is at the moment.

i tried, you guys, i really did. did i mention i was a hardcore sophitz shipper when i first started the series? only the first three books were out and i was in middle school minding my own business and even got through exile mad at fitz but hopeful. 

it was my second readthrough before neverseen dropped that had me, you know, rethinking things. and now, at 19 (yeah okay that makes me sound old but you know the books have been out for a while now so), it’s easy to see why. sophitz is every little kid’s dream come true. your crush likes you back and it’s all as magical as you thought it would be. except it isn’t, because we tend to only see the good in people we like. sokeefe is the slow burn because it takes time to build up to a relationship and it’s not going to how you think it will. 

I DIGRESS. this next excerpt is where i get really upset because fitz just does not listen. he pushes and he pushes and he pushes and god, you would think he’d get it. 

things he gets points for: not lashing out at her immediately and holding back on his anger

things he does not get points for: well, you’ve read the scene too, right?

sophie says it best: he. just. wasn’t. listening. 

and he also takes it upon himself to decide for her, who it is, even though sophie is clearly so very painfully obviously distressed. i mean, for anyone in his position, this is a major jerk move, but you know, it’s fitz, so he’s going to keep it perfect. 

and just when we think he’s finally understood, just as i was thinking he’s getting better at reading situations, he brings up the matchmaking thing. 

y’all, he acts like her not being matchmakable is a problem for both of them, even though it technically doesn’t affect her the way it affects him. she’s said it herself, that she has reservations about the whole thing, and it’s not even something she considers her future to be. 

“you don’t want it either - you know you don’t.”

they might both be telepaths, but fitz projects himself onto sophie a lot because of that. it gets worse after they become cognates because it’s an even greater honor and they’re doing it together. 

but they’re not the same. nowhere near it. it’s this scene that made me realize that fitz hasn’t been seeing sophie - he’s been seeing her potential and everything she could be, and that’s why he’s so fixated on the matchmaking lists. of course, matching with the most powerful elf the lost cities has ever known would restore his family name. it would be perfect, really, the most powerful elf and the second most powerful telepath the lost cities have ever known, matched together. 

i could say more about him claiming that sophie’s privacy is less important than her future, as if the two aren’t one in the same, but i’d like to overlook that and pretend it’s just his entitlement and his view of matchmaking as the be all end all creeping in and nothing more.

so.

that was a lie.

“I… don’t think you’ve thought this through. But of course you haven’t. It’s late. You’ve had a long day with lots of huge stuff. So… can we just agree to not make any decisions right now?”

the way he’s so sure she hasn’t thought this through is a double edged sword. not only does it show a kind of possessive edge over her, where he’s constantly speaking for her and OVER her, it also shows us how he’s convinced it’s still about him.

fitz. my buddy. my man. listen to the girl.

he doesn’t bother giving her reasoning a chance and steamrolls ahead with his own, which we know sophie hates anyone doing. i mean, look at her argument with keefe in nightfall - she’s not going to stand for people speaking over her or for her. she doesn’t want their protection.

what’s wrong with this scene is that fitz writes off everything sophie is feeling and saying, and the key word here is ruin.

ruin.

instead of being understanding to sophie’s upbringing and her unique situation, he can’t look past his own return of the king (a lotr reference, shannon would you be proud even if i’m slandering your character?) to elven society. in fact, it says a lot that he sees her as the vacker redemption arc even when sophie herself has mentioned - to us and to HIM - that she doesn’t feel like she fits in with elven society but only if she plays by his rules. 

(feels a little like objectification, ngl, and that doesn’t sit right with me.)

he’s blinded by his status, his pride, and perfection, and that, right there, is his biggest downfall.

not the conclusion gif i was looking for but y’all this is long enough let me keep this brief.

(HAHA YOU THOUGHT i am incapable of being brief)

fitz is an incredibly consistent character when we get down to it, and he’s not as complex-ified as the other characters are. well, not the way the other characters are. biana’s arc is about improving as a person and getting stronger, dex’s is about overcoming internalized prejudice, keefe’s is about chosen family and trauma, etc. fitz’s character arc is almost backwards - from a writing standpoint, this would be a really cool villain origin story. not that fitz is a villain, but over time, rather than his character becoming a better person, he starts out perfect until that perfection crumbles and we get to see the perfectionist that so desperately craves a return to his old normal, with everyone in this new normal. he’s trying so hard to fit into old clothes, outgrown shoes, and slip back into his old memories. 

as a love interest, no. i could go further about his “interest” in linh being driven by her same power, but i have no doubt that matchmaking would still be of great interest to him, so i’ll leave it at that.

I DONT HATE FITZ. not as a person, nor as a character. i don’t see him as the most likable, but you guys, he’s not a villain. he’s a teenage boy who needs to work through his issues before he gets anywhere near sophie, but he’s been through a lot so i’m trying to cut him some slack. he’s an incredible asset to the kotlc team and his need for a plan tends to keep them from getting themselves in more trouble. he’s helped sophie improve her abilities vastly, and indirectly, pushed her to become better. quite literally, the story would not exist without him. we need fitz as a character because he makes the story what it is, but as an individual i just think we wouldn’t get along.

-k

(any questions are appreciated and i would love to have some canon discourse! i know in the quest for more diversity in the kotlc characters, discourse tends towards that, understandably, but i do believe there’s a lot to be uncovered in canon and i would love to talk about it more! yes, more than 3,219+ words about it LOL)

[crippling-pages]

EEEEEEEE GUESS WHAT

So there's this girl in my grade; I've known her since last year, but I've never really talked to her that much, not more than a few sentences.

BUT today!! today me and my friend were talking about kotlc and then she (the girl, let's call her K), overheard and K's like "wait r you talking about keeper of the lost cities??" and then my friends like "yep!" (btw K and my friend, lets call Z, are friends already), and then she says "I LOVE that series!"

and so me being obsessed with the series goes "AHH YES ANOTHER FAN" (mostly internally... mostly-) we 3 talk a little bit and stuff, etc etc. but I have so many questions i need to ask, and the first one is "what are your ships??" and she says "sokeefe, obvisouly"

GREEN FLAG

thats good. Take note.

Then we take a pause(we were in the lunch line so there was a pause + the principal was there soo), and then me and Z go back to her and I ask her if she likes Tam

She hesitates for a little bit. Not for like, a second, but like for 5. She starts to say "he's okay, i guess" and stuff like that So I get the logical reaction and am about to have a heart attack,

BUT.

BUT.

The reason I'm not in the hospital right now is because she said ONE THING that literally saved everything (for me at least)

"I do like Tiana though!!"

and I literally fall to my knees and i cheer silently to Z (she's just laughing her butt off inside lol)

but anyways

GREEN FLAG

lets go to my history cuz K's in my history class, and i'm just waiting for her, so i speed walk to her, trying not to look too eager (i think i failed tbh- no defo failed) and i'm trying to make conversation and not look to eager

eventually i go back to keeper and i ask her again to be sure that she likes tam and this time, no hesitation, she says YES with a confident nod, "i like tam, yes :D"

GREEN FLAG

so im like 'okay good thats really good'' and then i say "so what about dex?"

(TW for any dex lovers i am so sorry.)

then she hesitates. not for a second, not for 5, but like for 15. FIFTHTEEN. and she says "...not really??"

RED FLAG

and im like... i might have another heart attack-

next she says "he's okay, but i don't really like how he and sophie interacted in the first book..." and i nod, because respectfully, it was a bit awkward there (and because im trying not to scream)

BUT she does agree that Dex needs more page time.

GREEN FLAG

And then the teacher is like 'time to get started' and that ends the conversation etc etc

So.

I just needed to get this out somewhere, but yeah.

And for anyone who skipped all that because... yeah- here's a summary:

Summary: Found kotlc fan. She ships sokeefe. Likes Tam. Ships Tiana. Doesn't really like Dex though, but agrees that he needs more page time.

What are your guys thoughts on this?

[not-scared-of-microwaves]

Intro: Hi! I'm Microwaves, or Mica (taken from Microwaves; not my real name). any pronouns. I'm aromantic, asexual, and agender, and have multiple disabilities, and I talk about that here a lot. I'm also super multi-fandom, plus just like silly-goofy stuff :)

I'm a college student (Poli-sci major), aspiring author, foil fencer, and ballet dancer of more than ten years.

Asks are welcome (and appreciated). I have too much free time and I spend it all on this hellsite (affectionate).

Disability: autism, ADHD, social anxiety, agoraphobia, dysgraphia (yes i'm a mess), probably Bipolar 2, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome

Fandoms: Good Omens, KOTLC, PJO, The Lunar Chronicles, Red Queen, Six of Crows, Shadow and Bone, The Raven Cycle, Avatar: the Last Airbender, plus whatever i'm currently reading.

K-Pop

Groups (and biases)

BTS--Suga, Jimin

Stray Kids--Han

TxT--Yeonjun

Ateez--San, Hongjoong

Enhypen--Niki

Twice--Jihyo

Le Sserafim--Yunjin

Itzy--Ryujin

Seventeen--Minghao, Woozi, Hoshi

(G)I-DLE--Soyeon

X:IN—Aria

Soloists

IU

Somi

Chaeyeon

[mirrorballsss]

ok here’s a bunch of reasons why i don’t like it, @doodlecat2000 was originally asking in the comments and i was giving reasons there but i feel like i needed more space so i’m coming here lol.

context also i didn’t give before: i used to LOVE this series, but age i grew and read more, i realized the problems with the series and also just grew out of it and got exposed to more opinions that i agree with so yeah :)

the writing style in my opinion is super cringey and just feels inmature. i get the series is middle grade and the target audience is literally middle schoolers (who are like 10-13 years old), but i feel like through her thinking and perspective, sophie’s way of thinking doesn’t age at all. she goes from like 12 to 16? during the series, but it feels like even at 16, i’m still reading from the perspective of a 12 year old. i feel like in comparison, percy jackson who goes from the exact ages as sophie does grows up SO MUCH MORE during the books and can be told from his perspective, while reading sophie still deals 12 in my mind.

white-washing. i feel like none of the poc characters get enough light in the series and there are only majority white main characters. also, describing tam and linh when sophie first saw them as “k-pop stars” and “anime characters”. as user mari on goodreads states on this in their neverseen review, “imagine looking at an italian person and describing them as ‘straight out of a Mario Bros game’ or a French person who looked like they walked out of Pixar’s Ratatouille or something.” also the lack of real lgbtqia+ rep in the books is dissapointing. your about to see me bash all the characters in the love triangle but i would love to see keefitz happen canonically or like another maybe sapphic ship too.

the love triangle. there’s a LOT wrong with it. i hate all the characters in it, and i hate both of the relationships (one though now, i can see that it could be fine though). let’s start with sofitz. i was personally a sofitz stan back in the day (honestly due to my friends, who were all sofitz stans, gaslighting me to like them rather than sokeefe, but i honestly grew to love sofitz), but now i do literally see how they can be borderline abusive. i mean, fitz is basically a jake gylenhaal type character here with the anger issues and manipulation type shit. in every book, we basically see him gaslight and manipulate sophie over some shit then come and be like i love u lemme kiss u. like isnt this not good to be showing in a kids book and be like showing this relationship in a healthy light in a sense? i don’t think there’s any part where shannon’s like “hey, fitz is being bad here! you don’t want this in a relationship!” now let’s move on to sokeefe. part of the reason i don’t like them is just i don’t like both of them and i was gaslit to not like them. they’re just so c r i n g e y and pick me together it’s like 😐. i’m gonna talk abt this next but another thing is we spent like 5 whole books building up sofitz and their chemistry, for them to break apart, and then sophie’s like a book and a half later “i love keefe sm i like him more than fitz now 🤭🤭” like pacing??

all the characters are SO PICK ME. especially keefe and sophie. like they just get me on my nerves. i see people like simping and calling keefe like their comfort character and i’m just like in the corner like “…am i the only person who didn’t like keefe??” also plz kotlc fandom don’t kill me for hating keefe. plz. wnd sophies like all the time “i’m the moonlark i’m so special” and she just can’t make decisions for herself and she also just gets in my nerves. if u guys want specific text evidence of them being pick me, i will willingly look for some for u guys.

and finally, it’s too fucking long. like 9 books? and there’s gonna be more??? and we haven’t like gotten to the main war yet??? like each book is just repeating the same plot over and over and over. plus, the cliffhangers are not even that good. the romance was also terribly paced as i talked abt before, i feel like we should’ve gotten equal parts pinning for both keefe and fitz like shatter me almost or fuck it the selection. i feel like this series could’ve been so much better if she made the books shorter (that’s another thing, each book is like at like 600 pages and it’s just getting us nowhere in the plot it feels like.) the series could’ve been 5 books, with better paced romance, and the same lengths, and it would’ve been so much better.

anyways that’s my rant for today!! i at here to hear all opinions on the series honestly it’s totally acceptable if this is your favorite series or even. if keefe is the love of your life honestly. i want to hear everyone’s opinions on the series if people want to share, i promise i won’t judge if you won’t judge mine. love y’all 🫶🫶🫶

does anyone else on here HATE the series keeper of the lost cities? i have some traumatizing memories with that series and i like hate all the characters and hate the romance in it so if there is someone else out there who hates the series, plz interact ❤️

[uni-seahorse-572]

Ok, sokeefitz week.

The first thought i had was to revisit my princess's bride royalty au where my sokeefitz and universe are already pretty well established I'm not sure what I'd do with them, but i feel like i could make it work if i actually thought about it for a second

And then i was watching too much youtube and had a separate thought. This'll probably be in-canon but vaguely in the future somewhere idrc. I could use this to learn how to write little snippets of chapters and not several k behemoths so it'd be 3 parts. 1 would be keefe trying to teach sophie and fitz how to art inspired by me trying to make my friends teach me back in like 4th grade (it didn't work very well) in fitz's pov.

Then part 2 is fitz and sophie baking (from sophie pov) something for keefe i have yet to decide, it might be a kotlc recipe it might not be idk. I've already done this with fedex though but it might be interesting to see how these two interact. They're gonna use their limited drawing skills learned in part 1 to decorate the thing.

Then part 3 is a game of magic the gathering like i've had fedex do...i think only one has been posted but i'm not entirely sure. Anyway, it's keefe's id and its trying to ignore this fact but being the nice partners fitz and sophie are, the baked good from part 2 is like an elvin birthday cake. Also i'll have to drag dex in because i don't want to learn how to play multiplayer mtg so they can make teams of 2. I'm thinking red/green for the sophie/keefe team and either mono blue white/blue or blue/black for the fedex team. (I picked those teams because the colors make sense for those characters not because i'm trying to further my fedex aegenda). I could also replace dex with tam and they'd be playing blue/black then. Keefe pov. I could also play sophie against fitz and just have keefe as an omniscient narrator who gets to see all their cards.

...that's actually way more thought out than i realized. Sorry about the massive ask, but do you have any thoughts?

I read back through the princess's bride royalty au and delving more into the sokeefitz side of that could definitely work! You could tell it from an in-universe perspective rather than a storytelling one, as that way it might be easier to do something new with it. One interesting angle might be approaching the time period the fic mentioned wherein Fitz, Sophie, and Keefe are all living with the ruins or how it was for them to run away - found family and Grady are both great in general, and if you want to try to make sure your pre-prompt ideas can fit within one it could work for things like domesticity, found family, hurt/comfort, au, royalty, etc. which are all pretty common ship week prompts in my experience

That tri-fic idea would definitely be cool!! I think some common prompts such as future and during canon would fit it too. Also, one way to lay it out could be presenting it as a peaceful recovery from the war and trauma they've endured through doing something simple and fun with their partners. A fun way to frame it might be all of them trying to teach each other something new, so for MTG you could have Sophie introduce it to them with the idea that she's showing them something she used to do as a human? If you do throw Tam or Dex into the mix, personally I'd recommend just considering how both of them affect the sokeefitz dynamic. What conversational situations can their unique personalities create, and how can they help reveal more about the relationships involved in the fic through how others react and interact with them? If you don't think that either character would do much for you narrative-wise besides providing another mtg player, I'd probably just end up leaving them out, but of course that's your choice!!

Also don't worry about ask length, you're all good! I always have thoughts. hope this helped!! and if you need to talk through anything more my asks are open <3

[everysongineverykey]

headcanons for how the squad texts, definitely not for anyone who asked for it in the tags of the kotlc gc post:

- keefe obviously uses no punctuation whatsoever, expert memer

- he uses a lot of fuckboy-type language and emojis. ironically or unironically? no one can ever tell. it's terrifying and works both to his advantage and disadvantage

- he's the type to text the group chat at 2am just for boredom's sake. he texts whenever he has nothing else to do, and a lot of the time even when he does have something else to do

- sophie uses proper grammar and punctuation, except for periods and question marks/exclamation points, etc.

- she texts no more than she has to, she's not very attached to her phone

- she'll reply to other people's texts, but she very rarely texts first

- if she needs to talk, she'll phone someone. very inconvenient for most of the group since they hate phone calls but sophie finds texting kinda inconvenient itself because the person she's talking to can just not reply to her and lie about not having seen her message

-linh doesn't capitalize her texts, other than that her grammar is pretty consistent though

- she's really attached to her emojis. she uses them a lot. like, A LOT

- especially the hearts (all colours but she's partial to pink) and the sparkles and the animals, unsurprisingly

- she texts in roleplay sometimes (i.e. *throws phone* *smiles* *hugs*). the others find it a bit annoying but they love her too much to tell her

-fitz uses so many emoticons. ^_^, :), <3, that kind of thing. he's too lazy to scroll through the emojis to find what he's looking for

- his grammar and punctuation are perfect. the others bully him relentlessly for it

- he also signs his texts. everyone else has his contact saved as "old man" or "grampa fitz" or, in keefe's case, "spicy old man mcnuggets"

- he does it ironically, though, because he knows it drives them crazy

- half of biana's texts are preceded and succeeded with the sparkle emojis

- her grammar is perfect when she's being serious, bad when she's joking and chill

- she has shortcuts saved for all those really complicated face emojis. yknow, like the shrug emoticon? you know what i mean. she uses those often, sometimes ironically, sometimes unironically

- she's mastered sarcasm in her texts

- "hhh" and "wh" are frequently used by her and keefe

- dex's grammar is a lot like keefe's. he's tinkered his phone to let him text in any color he wants. the colors of his words are often how he conveys his emotions over text. they're color-coded, it's exhausting for colorblind fitz (i've just decided fitz is colorblind and no one can stop me)

- he helps the others with their homework a lot

- sometimes he pranks the crew by using his knowledge of electronics to edit their texts. it's chaos

- basically he can do anything he wants if he's given a phone and some time

- tam is the group chat cryptid. he's always watching, reading everyone's texts, but never replies. he's chaotic like that

- he'll only add to the conversation if he absolutely wants to

- his grammar and punctuation are perfect

- he hates phone calls and he doesn't see the point of texting, so he's a nightmare to get ahold of for sophie. sometimes she just mails him simple questions to spite him. he doesn't take the bait and sends a letter back every time

- you can email him if you want but he's got about a thousand unread emails so good luck

-marella is much like biana in her grammar habits, except sometimes she'll slip into proper grammar just to fuck with the squad

- she texts k a lot. is she aware of its power? probably. that's for you to decide.

- she always replies to keefe's late-night group chat texts and wakes everyone up on purpose

-wylie texts like an adult (sans capitslization) because he is an adult, obviously. he signs off with a smiley face. it's the purest thing. he's not in a lot of group chats but when he is, everyone's super nice to him. they would all die for him

- maruca replies with one-word texts, usually. once in a blue moon, she'll text k and the whole chat will be destroyed

- she is the queen of leaving people on read

[foster-fan-club]

So I have been talking with @sophies-earbuds for awhile about sokeefe vs sophitz and I’ve wrote a little about it before, but now I really want to analyze each character in this love triangle madness->starting with Fitz:

[before I take off into the madness I would like to add a disclaimer: this is not meant to prove one ship “superior”, but at some points it will lean in favor of one or the other or both->it’s just meant to add some character analysis to the whole thing (message me if you ever want to talk more about these ships)]

Fitzroy Avery Vacker:

Fitz starts off as being an easily lovable and very cute character. Sophie falls for him, we all fall for him, and soon enough we are on the edge of our seat to see if Sophitz will happen. But just as we start saying he is our favorite, Shannon gives us a look into a trait that will soon define his character in a whole other way.

Alden’s mind breaks.

Shortly afterwards Fitz is left angry, broken, and feeling enormous loads of guilt-wishing that he could’ve been there for his father. Fitz starts to unload his frustrations onto Sophie and that is the first time Sophitz is truly questioned (besides the moment we learn how handsome Keefe is).

His anger issues are not resolved and he never truly finds closure or comes to terms with it. Instead this anger boils over into Alvar’s betrayal, Keefe’s betrayal, almost killing Alvar *twice*, the whole unmatchable drama, and more.

People argue that Shannon ruined Fitz to make Sokeefe happen. But in my opinion, she didn’t ruin him, instead she has now set him up for self growth and redemption.

By the end of Legacy, Fitz is finally adjusting to the changes in his life, he’s slowly realizing that Alvar is beyond his control, and he is working towards finding closure for his friends.

I feel like Sokeefe will eventually happen and that will present another obstacle for Fitz to endure. But Fitz has already hit his lowest point in Legacy, in my opinion. So now he is going to endure the greatest change. I feel like Fitz and Sophie both have a lot of personal growth they still need to go through apart, before they can even try to start dating again. Part of Sophie’s growth will most likely fall along the lines with Keefe’s recovery/new ability and their newish relationship. Fitz needs to refind himself and spend some more time with his family to help him heal. He will obviously depend on Sophie throughout this time and vice versa, but I don’t expect it to be in a relationship way.

Fitz Vacker is not a villain, even though some people paint him out to be. He is just as confused and as hurt and as betrayed as Keefe. He just deals with it in a not so great way. But Keefe also dealt with his guilt in a not so great way in the beginning too (I mean trying to play double agent against the Neverseen is not the smartest). Fitz and Keefe share many characteristics in common and they both have the potential to essentially make each other’s mistakes. But they don’t, instead they learn from them. They learn together, as best friends (wow I’m tearing up bc of Feefe/Kitz [idk their ship name]).

My prediction for Fitz is that he will start to branch off from the group and find his own way. Only once he has grown as a person, will he have a chance at winning back Sophie’s heart. If he does succeed with it all, Sophitz will end with a lot more value than it had in Flashback and Legacy.

So that was my overall *breif* analysis, but if you want more, just keep reading!

The change in Fitz was explained indirectly and perhaps some people missed it. Guilt is a major theme in the kotlc series and plays a big role in each character’s life. It is said multiple times after Alvar’s betrayal how getting angry is a way Fitz’s guilt is expressed. Just like how Alden’s guilt caused him to lean a little harder on his classic “no need to worry” standby. Brant’s guilt caused him to slowly go insane. The guilt Sophie felt for her human parents, eventually led her to a state of numbness. Keefe’s guilt causes him to be reckless. Grady and Edaline’s guilt caused them to shut out the world after Jolie’s death. Eventually each character finds a way to deal with their guilt. Alden eventually admitted that he was wrong to perform the memory break and was provided closure when Della and him helped Wylie and Prentice recover. Grady and Edaline adopted Sophie as a way to fill the emptiness in their home. Even Brant found closure by facing Grady and Sophie (although by then he was already too lost). Keefe is slowly finding closure by coming to terms with his dad, accepting that he isn’t responsible for his mom, and no longer trying to be the hero. He isn’t fully there yet, but Sophie is helping him get there. (This is very important for why sokeefe is such a strong ship but I already said a lot on that earlier) Fitz has never truly found closure and I think that is why he was so upset that Sophie and Keefe let Alvar go. Fitz feels responsible for being played by the Neverseen under his own roof (similar to Keefe). Fitz feels responsible for the shame he brought on his family’s *now questionable* reputation. [That is probably another reason why he wasn’t too happy about the whole unmatchable thing- not because he didn’t love Sophie but because he couldn’t bear hurting his family any more]

His direct family doesn’t blame him, but other members of the Vackers still look down on him. But most importantly, Fitz blames himself. He really wanted to be able to just finish Alvar, not because he is some dark, killing machine- but because he sees it as the only way to ensure Alvar doesn’t hurt the people he loves anymore. To me this is actually a sweeter side of Fitz that is often overlooked as just a creepy trait. Fitz would risk his own well being, he would risk breaking his mind, he would risk living with the burden of killing his brother- just because he believes he can protect his family, his friends, and Sophie. Now as creepy and weird of a justification that is- it is still a valid reason why Fitz would turn into who he is now so quickly. To me Fitz still has the same intentions in mind, but he is so guilt ridden and traumatized that he has gone to extremes.

When you hear him blaming Sophie for bad things that happen to him, it ends up actually being Fitz blaming himself. But Fitz doesn’t have the humility to admit that yet. I used to watch this tv series as a kid that I still love now that had a character who was very guilt ridden. The character was told that to become who he really is he must let go of his feelings of guilt and shame. The character responds *very hotheadedly similar to Fitz* “I’m not guilty or shameful- I am as proud as ever!” He is then told that pride is not the opposite of shame but it’s source. That has stuck with me through reading kotlc because it pretty much describes Fitz.

Fitz is PROUD to be a Vacker, he is PROUD to be a telepath, even in the beginning of the first book he gets defensive when Sophie makes fun of Foxfire because he is PROUD to be a Foxfire prodigy. All this pride can also result in tons of shame and guilt. He feels that he can not make others proud, he can not truly earn his titles, without leaving around loose ends that could tarnish his reputation. When you think about it, Fitz is as proud as ever. He just took elite level tests and will find out soon if he will get in. He figured out how to transmit long distances to Silveny. Sophie and him have strengthened their cognate connection after getting past their feelings. He found the moonlark. He is able to get past Sophie’s blocking. He has accomplished so much, but still feels guilt. His pride causes him guilt and shame, because when something that is out of his control happens- he does not have the humility to admit it. Instead he wants to hunt down Alvar, he wants to be angry for not being there when Alden’s mind breaks, he gets mad at Biana when she gets her scars from Vespera because he wishes he could’ve taken the hits for her. He really does try to be Wonderboy and sometimes he even shocks me with how skilled and smart he really is. But he is still learning how to admit mistakes and move on. This has been his characters biggest guilt related flaw throughout the entire series, it is nothing new. Each character has their own flaws that develop throughout the series.

When Fitz apologizes to Sophie at the end of Legacy, that is when I see his first true act of humility. He apologizes to her before, but this time it just felt so much more genuine because he finally is starting to realize what his actions are doing to those who love him. This is new self growth is where I see Fitz’s character heading. The end of Legacy has given him a chance for a sort of redemption arc. He was never a bad character or evil, he just needs to grow to be his true self. Fitz needs to let go of his past grudges to be able to move forward. He needs to admit that Alvar is out of his control and that he might not be able to be the hero (similar to Keefe again). I feel like when he says he is no longer looking to kill Alvar and hunt him down, but instead is looking for information about his best friend- that really made a difference to me. He is starting to move past it and work towards the greater good. Maybe post-redemption Fitz will have another chance with Sophie. But for now we are all rooting for sokeefe to have a standing chance.

I am so sorry that this is so much to read, but I was going to post all of this eventually so I decided, why not just spam everyone at once??

Soon I will be posting analysis for both Keefe an Sophie, but it will probably *hopefully* be a lot shorter because there is already a ton of great posts about their characters and I don’t want to be too redundant. My asks are always open if you ever want to send in your own opinions/feedback and/or other characters and plots you want to see more of on here!

[silveny-dreams]

KOTLC Squad as Toddler/Pre-K Kiddos

Let me make this very clear: ALL the credit for this concept goes to my friend Hannah Luna from Discord. She is a genius I tell you

okay okay picture it with me: the parents of the KOTLC squad kiddos are all friends who get together to let their kids hang out

Sometimes at the local park, sometimes at one another’s houses, sometimes at the local community center playrooms

so all of the kiddos are friends and like to play with each other while their parents have a coffee and catch up with one another

toddler/preschooler Sophie Foster has two modes: Smart and Silent or Child of Chaos

She’s usually quiet and easily occupied by books and puzzles and blocks right after she wakes up from a nap

She’s the kind of kid who listens in on the adult conversation and then asks her parents about it later (”Mama Uncle Alden was talking about “tax evasion” what is that”)

If you give her sugar, however?

Sophie the Daredevil makes an appearance

It’s a wonder she’s alive

She jumps from the tops of stairs in attempts to fly; she climbs on top of covered slides and clambers around on the outside of them; she hangs upside down on the monkey bars, dangling by one leg, trying to do flips

Sophie and Keefe become a Devilish Duo if they get any sugar at all

Keefe can be Trouble Personified if he wants to be, but surprisingly he isn’t usually super chaotic

(when he is, though, you know it by his manic giggles of glee after pulling a prank--the parents learn to dread that impish cackle)

most of the time little Keefe likes to play group games (he’s usually the leader because he understands the rules best), or will be perfectly content to sit and do coloring books

he can color very well--all nice and neat inside the lines--but he also likes to do his own drawings on the back and they’re pretty good for such a little kid

Fitz, oh my little baby Fitz

Fitz has a soft lisp as a toddler/preschooler and y’all can fight me on it

Fitz is a child of words rather than action (usually the peacemaker in the group whenever fights break out)

One time Della finds him sitting in the corner of the playground crying very quietly and she’s like “Fitz honey what’s wrong?” and he sniffles and rubs his eyes with his chubby little fists and says “I saw a really pretty butterfly”

He loves kisses and cuddles and always asks Alden to throw him in the air

Biana is the kid who is ALWAYS (A L W A Y S) wearing her princess dress and butterfly wings

She will put on her regular clothes and then she will go find her princess dress and butterfly wings and put them on over top. Every single day.

Despite this fancy, feminine exterior, she doesn’t always play nice

She and Marella sometimes literally butt heads when they’re fighting (to assert their dominance)

Biana hosts weekly tea parties for all of their stuffed animals (more on this later)

Linh is a quiet, happy child--you almost never see her without a smile, even when she’s tired

She loves all of her very bestest friends so much

Her very first words were an entire sentence long; she did not want to speak until she could speak entirely

One time when they’re all together playing in a playroom Linh comes up to Edaline and says “Auntie Eda how do you spell ‘preparation’ I want to write it on the chalkboard” and Edaline is like “you’re literally three years old w h a t”

Even as children, the rest of the squad thinks she’s too pure for this world and protect her

Tam is a HAPPY CHUBBY LIL RICE BALL OF A BOY

He loves to sit happily and watch his friends play while eating popsicles; his tongue is always some wild color from the popsicles, mostly purple because grape is his favorite

He’s fairly shy but Sophie insists on including him in all their games and he’s a great team player

Dex’s favorite thing to do is play trains or talk about trains

Thomas the Tank Engine is his HERO

He builds elaborate tracks for his trains to run on and even builds city landscapes around them with Mega Blocks

He has a gap between his two front baby teeth and it is adorable

Marella is a little goblin and is usually picked as “it” when they all play tag

the others say that they’re running away from the “Foolish Madam” and oh boy does Marella milk that title for all it’s worth

She loves animal crackers a lot and is not above pushing the other kids over to take theirs

Her favorite thing to do on the playground is the swings; she loves it best when Uncle Grady pushes her, because Grady will basically launch her into space while she screams with delight

All of them love to play tag and hide-and-seek together, and Dex sometimes grudgingly convinces them all to play Trains (but not with toy trains, oh no, this is where they all pretend to be trains from Thomas the Tank Engine...Dex is always Thomas)

They always bring their stuffed animals with them when they go to play at the Vackers’ house, because that’s when they do tea parties

Biana is very strict about only the prettiest princes and princesses can come to the tea party, so they always have to dress up

Keefe tries to make his stuffed Gulon ruin the tea party every time with bad manners, but the other kids shout him down

Tam didn’t have a stuffed animal at first, but one week he brings a little Chinese dragon stuffed toy and shyly introduces him as Inky

The ladies LOVE Inky, hands down

Ella and Mr. Snuggles are married and Sophie and Fitz are cool with it

just THE SQUAD AS CUTE LITTLE KIDS AAAH

[orionhong]

Tag

Tag rules - answer the questions in a new post and tag  20 blogs you would like to know better! I was tagged by @the-girl-who-reads-too-much. Thanks for that. a - age: Not going to tell you that. b - birthplace: China c - current time: 6:26 PM d - drink you last  had: Tea e - easiest person to talk to: My mom, and my best friend Lauren. f - favorite song: Warrior by Beth Crowley g - grossest memory: When my cat threw up about seven times right in front of me. h - horror yes or horror no: Yes i - in love?: With books and Will Herondale. j - jealous of  people?: Yes k - killed someone?:  In the books I'm writing. l - love at first  sight or should I walk by again: Walk by again m - middle name: Sha (don't ask, it's part of my Chinese name) n - number of  siblings:  Um... Technically three? o - one wish: to have the power to travel into books. p - person you  called last: My friend Ari. q - question you’re  always asked: What book are you reading? r - reason to smile: Fictional characters s - song you sang  last:  I don't sing. u - underwear color: Gray v - vacation:  London w - weirdest thing  you’ve ever done: Um... I've done a lot of weird things, but I am not willing to admit most of them, so I'll go with the time I shouted at my book at school because of the ending. x - x-rays: Never had one. y - your favorite  food: Pasta. z- zodiac sign: Scorpio  I’m gonna tag  @shadowsdieinthend, @ask-the-keeper-crew, @percy-jackson-nut, @artemisfowlcodex, @hollyleafdeservedbetter, @hollyleafask, @i-read-to-escape, @theperksofbeigafangirl, @thecrazyworldofbookworms, @seaweedbrainjackson, @artemi5fowl, @sing-swan-spring-swan, @sophiexfitz, @dexdizznee, @ravenclaw-headcanons, @ravenclaw-housepride, @kotlc-headcanons, @fangirl-in-a-world-full-of-books, @wessa--herondale-blog

[svtellify]

narcissism (is not) at its finest: stina heks

we return! shoutout to finals for absolutely draining me, and this semester in general for being the worst on record. nevertheless, i’m back with more kotlc psychoanalysis.

stina is a character i’m basically neutral to, so it’ll be a lot easier to stay objective with this one than it was with the fitz analysis. 

with that, i present to you:

stina destry heks.

stina is a character we’re first introduced to in slurps and burps, and admittedly, she doesn’t make a great first impression. her explanation for why she hates sophie doesn’t entirely hold up either, but i’m willing to write that off as teenagers being teenagers bc, well, that’s what we do.

no, what stands out about stina is how her character is what biana could have been and a role fitz would be best suited to at the moment. she’s talented, but not as talented as the main cast. this is intentional, of course, to show the power of sophie and her friends in regards to a reference point, but stina doesn’t just take it at face value. 

she’s a respectable character for how willing she is to stand up for what she believes in, but she tends to miss the point just as often as she makes one. she’s a double edged sword, if the blades were pointing at each other. for the most part, her actions cancel out. 

the only real unforgivable facet to her personality is her attitude and sense of self superiority in regards to dex. for someone whose parents should have been labeled a bad match, she’s all too comfortable mocking him for it and making him uncomfortable with his parents match status. the obvious would be to say, ‘oh, well, she’s projecting her insecurities on dex. she doesn’t want her parents to be a bad match, and she’s running from the truth.’ in which case, as much as i’d want to agree with you, i think it takes a while for her to get to that stage. it’s only in stellarlune, when she’s faced with glimmer and the aria family history, that it starts to dawn on her, exactly what her privilege is.

with regard to the plot, stina’s existence is simple. she makes it personal. 

yeah, the people of the lost cities are apprehensive about the black swan and sophie, but that’s not personal. that’s an abstract notion, and one that we’re told. stina is shannon showing us that it’s not just these random elves that we’ve never met, it’s the people around sophie too. the fandom is quite comfortable in bashing on sophie as a character, but stina is the very manifestation of sophie’s old life⎯being made fun of for being herself. and sure, sophie’s incredibly powerful, but stina manages to get under her skin in a way that no one else can. stina keeps sophie in check in terms of society, not in the interspecies and political way the council and black swan do, nor the familial way grady, edaline, and even alden and elwin do, nor the way her friends do. stina is a reminder that sophie is an outsider and that her presence changes the careful balance the world maintained before it acknowledged her existence.

and in that sense? stina is brilliant. 

sophie plays right into the trap shannon sets with stina⎯she doesn’t understand stina’s family history, not more than she’s heard from rumors. likewise, stina doesn’t understand anything about sophie. and the thing is, neither of them want to. they might tolerate each other as a part of team valiant, but there is an understanding between them that they aren’t friends. this is a line neither of them will cross and it’s the strongest characterization between them.

stina’s skills come from her ability to manipulate a situation⎯which does not necessarily make her manipulative⎯but it’s easier for her (and keefe and oralie) because she’s an empath. 

how else do she and marella go from:

to this:

ignoring sophie’s inflated sense of self importance (that may or may not be correct) in that second moment, stina has this persuasion to her that’s hard to ignore. she’s really a perfect balance, with her father in the black swan, her mother breeding unicorns, and herself as a powerful empath in team valiant. she’s everything sophie could have been, don’t you see? 

what stina really is, and what i assume shannon has created, is sophie’s true foil.

stina heks.

the more you think about it, the more it makes sense, i promise. initially, it seems to just be an opposite situation, but looking at the two “sides”:

dex is the child of a bad match → stina’s parents evaded being a bad match marella used to be sophie’s friend → marella is quite close with stina linh used to be closer to sophie → stina calls linh her friend often in stellarlune grady and edaline rehabilitate animals → so do vika and timkin sophie led her friends into the black swan → timkin kept his family out of it sophie’s biological mom is an empath → so is vika

they’re set up not to complement each other, but to show readers what sophie could have been, had she not been different. 

the only thing that really bothers me is how quick linh is to side with her, after the compassion she shows towards sophie. i get that she’s protective of her twin, and this could very well be me projecting how much i wanted to like linh to how disappointed i was with her, but considering linh has been ostracized in society for her powerful ability and previous inability to control it, it seems weird that she’d be so quick to befriend stina, knowing that tam and linh called sophie different (in a positive light) in neverseen. 

i can’t say it’s some enemies to lovers type beat between the two of them, because it’s never insinuated between any of the characters barring the love square, but it is an anomaly that kind of just. shows up in stellarlune? 

anyway.

i think an analogy for stina and sophie is, a possibility. to borrow from everything everywhere all at once, it’s quite like stina is someone sophie could have been, if she fit into the society she was supposed to be a part of. and sophie could have been stina, if she’d let the power get to her head and the privilege shine through instead.

in other words, the black swan were very smart for giving her a human upbringing. we’re mean enough to humble each other, on occasion. 

overall, stina is a plot device, and she’s a character that the story could live without, especially considering the greater focus on her in more recent books leading to the plot being spread thin between so many characters. what she isn’t however, is something the story doesn’t benefit from. the story⎯and sophie⎯are grounded by sophie’s existence, and make things much more personal.

[svtellify]

✨ how i’ve been picturing the cast of keeper of the lost cities (feat. artbreeder) ✨

so i’ve got no real patience for digital art and all my sketches are in pencil in colorless but, while planning my own novel out, i’ve been using art breeder to visual and flesh out my character’s physical features.

and i’m not me if i don’t make it about keeper of the lost cities, so i present to you:

✨ how i’ve been picturing the cast of keeper of the lost cities (feat. artbreeder) ✨

getting the exact shade of blue for their eyes was a struggle, considering how the program’s eye color and hair color are connected, but this is about as accurate as it gets, i think.

(apologies in advance for the sad cropping lol i’m out of free downloads and i am but a broke college student with a 2 day old artbreeder obsession)

1. sophie foster

2. keefe sencen

3. fitz vacker

4. biana vacker

5. dex dizznee

6. linh song

7. tam song

8. marella redek

9. maruca chebota

and that’s all for now! let me know if you’d like to see any other characters, bc i’ve been having a lot of fun making these!

[svtellify]

Thoughts on Linh’s character in Stellarlune?

she confuses me.

a lot.

i can't tell if it's just a character inconsistency or actual character change, but i'm honestly not the biggest fan of her holier-than-thou attitude.

see, in neverseen, what drew me to linh was her power and her kindness. she was the one that brought tam to the group and urged him to trust the rest of them, to trust the black swan.

somehow, throughout the events of legacy and unlocked, despite being told that tam is doing everything he is with the neverseen to protect her, to keep linh safe, she decides to stop trusting him, and listening to her brother.

there's nothing wrong with being concerned about her brother's judgement, and if you thought that was out of character, it's when we find out she's been hanging out with marella, maruca, and stina, to the point where she calls them her friends that it hit me that her character was off.

i mean, the idea of someone like linh hanging out with someone like stina was the first sign that something was off. they're both opposites, if you think about it, but stina's family escaped the shame of what linh's couldn't. where stina benefits from her parents gaming the system, linh bore the brunt of her familial and societal shame.

idk how people so different could be such close friends that she'd listen to him over her brother, who went to exile with her just because he didn't want her to be alone.

i'd understand her not wanting to trust glimmer, but the way she treats tam and even sophie is a little... off. also her reluctance with keefe despite keefe bringing marella and linh and the black swan's dwarves to the fight to rescue all of them, including her brother, feels almost forced.

honestly, i think it just goes back to shannon having too many characters and not being able to connect them all together without changing a few of their personalities. i'd argue it's the same for maruca's increased involvement (and now jensi) considering wylie explicitly urged them to not get her involved. as long as book 10 (still betting on it being called elysian!) wraps things up well, i don't think i'd care all that much. maybe just a bit of minor disappointment about not liking a character as much as time passed.

what were your thoughts on linh?

[svtellify]

kotlc book 10 predictions

this is just for fun lol i haven’t given all of these much thought nor have i let stellarlune properly process sO

( i say for fun like they aren’t all dramatic and me jumping to conclusions but hey, writer things <8)

1. keeper of the lost cities: elysian

2. keefe dies from the power or whatever step 3 of stellarlune is

3. fitz dies from jumping in front of lady gisela when she attacks sophie and elysian agrees to bring him back OR save keefe and keefe says save fitz and he dies instead

4. idk my money’s on one of those two dying or being seriously injured bc it would hurt if it was one of the other characters, but not in the way it would if it was keefe or fitz

5. elysian’s test is having keefe kill lady gisela to see if he can live with it in order to earn the power. either the guilt breaks him and elysian decides he’s “good” enough to save or he’s too numb to feel it and elysian abandons him

6. idk sophie probably convinces him to save keefe though and lady gisela’s dead so it’s a win

7. but this would be the very beginning of the book so maybe they have to leave the “dead character” with elysian who saves them anyway bc they’re kindhearted or smth and they show up later as a plot twist

8. kenric is elysian (we’re really jumping to conclusions here)

9. kenric is still extremely relevant - he cuts a deal with fintan to figure out more about elysian but fintan “betrays” him by faking his death and letting him escape

10. idk how kenric benefits but maybe he’s playing both the neverseen and the black swan for his own ulterior motive

11. idk kenric is suspicious now but i couldn’t tell you why

12. freaking idk alvar shows up for more drama

13. cadfael does kill king dimitar and ro is now the queen of ravagog, which makes bo the consort (technically???) keefe possibly writes another verse in the ballad of bo and ro

14. OH THE VACKER LEGACY

15. if fitz doesn’t die, he kills someone and ends up going rogue or something after learning the rest of the vacker legacy

16. except unlike tam and keefe, he’s not playing double agent, he’s hunting down alvar to figure out the rest of it and fulfill it out

17. cue an EPIC vacker sibling battle with biana absolutely blasting fitz for it

18. “it has to be me” type beat but dex helps biana out with some tech but she takes it out to knock him out or something bc she’s sTRONG

19. idk but we better get some keefe and gradaline bonding, sokeefe or not, give my poor boy some parental love

to be continued. . .

[svtellify]

Uhhh thoughts on Lodestar? That one was always my favorite so I just wanted to know what you think

personally, i really liked lodestar! it went up in my personal rankings (that will never be solidified bc they change every time i reread the series in preparation for a new book) this time around and i think it brought a lot to the plot outside of the love triangle as well.

one of the greatest pitfalls of the later books (post nightfall, i want to say?) is that the plot tends to meander and stall. you can't really blame shannon for it because it happens when any series gets too long, and a randomly short book wouldn't do justice to the series, neither would two books in one, just to further the plot. that being said, neverseen and nightfall still remain as my top two books for that reason. i'd say lodestar could come in a solid third place?

i honestly loved how much we got to see keefe handling the neverseen from the inside (even if we later learn that they were playing him the entire time, i fully believe he's too clever to not have picked something up that they let slip by accident.)

lodestar's greatest strength is the character development through the plot, rather than character development parallel to the plot. we see keefe's anguish over his legacy in the way he chooses to save alvar and bring him back to the neverseen with the aluveturre crystal, and we see sophie's feelings for him take less of a backseat and emerge a little more in the forefront of her mind. we get to see tam really shine - and this is the book where i really started to have three favorite characters rather than 2.

shannon also balances the humor well:

(feat. tam as the president of the foster-keefe fanclub)

this is a book that unsuspectingly lays down the groundwork for a lot of what's to come in the series.

anyone who remembers my time writing fanfiction for sokeefe (back when all the kotlc fics were on wattpad, before we all collectively discovered ao3), might remember the follow up to neverseen that i had predicted keefe would develop a few more abilities. ironically enough, one of those is similar to those that he actually developed, but the other was psionpathy. you win some, you lose some. either way, i think this really set us up to keep looking for keefe's new ability, and we all let our guard down after nothing emerged immediately. and then BAM! we get hit with unlocked.

this is also the book that does the absolute most for sokeefe in terms of developing their relationship, apart from neverseen. we see mr. forkle encouraging them (and i know the fandom has conflicting views on mr. forkle, but i'd urge y'all to look at him the way harry potter fans view dumbledore. he did what he thought was necessary, even if it wasn't the best way to go about it. at all. circumstances affect how we approach problem solving, and they were both desperate.) see the following:

this scene above is probably the most important since it's the one that gives keefe the most hope about sophie's feelings. we're all experts on cassius's mind and heart theory, and it's obviously about sophitz and sokeefe just as much as it is about how the different intelligent races approach their problems. the more elves think with their heads and rationale, the less their society progresses. the more elves think with their hearts and emotions, the more their society falls apart. there needs to be a balance between the two, but i digress. this is the first time we see keefe given a glint of hope and we know this in how he doesn't share it, or tease sophie about it. stellarlune all but confirms that, when he mentions that despite feeling somewhat numb, he can still tell what sophie's feeling. he doesn't even bring it up even though that's what sophie wants.

the scene where sophie and mr. forkle are talking about keefe also stood out to me because it gave us a glimpse at how they both think really similarly. they're both in unique positions where simply being around each other endangers the other, and they're not ready to lose each other. forkle's got a valid point - pushing each other to be better is sokeefe's greatest strength. it's anyone's greatest strength - you want a relationship that improves both of you, whether it's romantic or familial or platonic. it's about dynamic improvement, constantly.

another more subtle thing lodestar does is slowly push oralie to the forefront. she's important because she's sophie's genetic mother, as we know, and while i have my own complicated thoughts on how sophie reacts to that, she's important for a lot more than that. a lot of the events in stellarlune wouldn't have been possible without her access to the cache and she's slowly become more of a main character, more so than kenric (and y'all know i have my theories about him).

overally op, i'm not sure what exactly you wanted to hear about lodestar, so here are my thoughts broadly? i hope this was an interesting read regardless, and i'd be interested in reading about why lodestar's your favorite too!

[svtellify]

What would you say Keefe’s new exact ability is? I would kinda say he’s like a much more powerful beguiler or a combination of beguiler and Mesmer. But then why wouldn’t Lady Gisela choose someone else besides an empath for her project? Thanks, I love your analyses.

okay okay okay wait this one is so interesting, right? you would *think* it's a combination between a beguiler and a mesmer, which makes sense considering what it is that he can do. it's not his words or the fact that he's saying these commands that causes someone to comply. even the

however.

the councillors immediately rule that out and even grady agrees that it's not the same as his own ability.

personally, i think it makes perfect sense to choose an empath. the majority of our decisions are guided by some form of emotion, right? even the rational and logical ones are guided my less volatile emotions. these aren't classified as simple emotions by neuroscience, but we do view the ability to rationalize to be connected to the ability to express emotions. the frontal lobe controls both of these and phineas gage is a perfect example of what happens when you remove rationality from someone's equation⎯there's a change in their behavior driven by emotional impulsivity.

so why does that make empathy the perfect emotion for lady gisela's project? well, strong emotions can effect how someone will act. pushing these emotions and manipulating them into feeling something can change how someone might react to a situation. 

i mean, think about it. under ideal circumstances and with perfect control over his ability, he can strengthen hid enemies’ feelings of guilt and take them all out at once. he’s a lethal weapon, really. 

she needs a polyglot for the second half of her experiment because the advantage of being able to use any language and any accent means he can erase his trace. targeting emotions of a neverseen agent while impersonating another neverseen agent removes all traces of his involvement. 

tl;dr: lady gisela’s brilliant. she’s pulled this off somehow, but the key to the extent of her brilliance comes down to what elysian has to do for keefe and how this weighs on keefe.

[svtellify]

the star only rises at nightfall 💫 : dissecting my kotlc playlist

playlist can be found here! 

1. stay awake by skott

“i need it to hurt, need it to burn, need it to burn. once, we had a dream. we once had a dream. this dream was all that i could see.” 

despite how pretty this song is, it’s for the neverseen. i think the lyrics above in particular suit fintan, although it honestly matches anyone in the neverseen. they’re unhinged and see their vision as the be all end all - a dream that’s all they can see.

2. set myself on fire by taeyeon

“i'll warm up your cold heart; i'm gonna set myself on fire.”

tbh, i chose this song for the title and the chorus (“even if i smile brighter, i’m still sad.”) and the general vibes of the song, but i think the line above really suits the self sacrificing vibe that sophie and her friends have for each other - it doesn’t have to be just the romantic pairings - they all love each other.

3. gilded lily by cults

“but with my double vision, how was i supposed to see the way? haven’t i given enough?”

this one’s pretty self explanatory, i think. the song fits all of the main characters, from sophie and keefe and fitz to mr. forkle and oralie and grady. also, this line reminds me of keefe especially - “always the fool with the slowest heart.”

4. astronomical by svrcina

“there’s something inside of me i can’t fight. forces of gravity taking me, taking me. weightlessness forsaking me, this pull is astronomical. can anybody stop me?”

this was one of the first artists i associated with kotlc when i first started reading the series. it was only natural that they released a song that suited sophie’s drive and endless desire to change the lost cities for the better.

5. winterfall by dpr ian

“now, i get what you mean when it hurts you. now, i get what you mean when you want to feel. oh, i get it. no, i get it. [...] you’re the only one who made me feel like something.”

keefe sencen, y’all. could apply to his feelings for sophie or the way his mom just continues to use him with no regard for his personal being. 

6. running by trafton

“truth is, i’ve been wishing in your name right from the start. twice a day, and lately on a star. i know you’ve been running, running, running, running, running from yourself.”

this one’s keefe again (can you tell he’s my favorite character?) but maybe a little more from an outsider point of view, watching him cope with what’s thrown at him. also suits early sophie struggling to accept whether the black swan was good or not, or whether a band of murderers made her.

7. a place you’ve been by trafton

“nothing, like that won't get me started up again. my homeland, a place you've been.”

grady and edaline towards brant. the ultimate - and best written betrayal.

8. gone by trafton

“but you're gone and i'm lost. come tell me i'm wrong and please don't be gone.”

when everyone thought they lost alden in exile. the black swan when they did lose prentice. mr. forkle to his brother.

9. dead flowers by rivals

“i see the world in a new light. dead flowers in my hair - i finally don’t care! i’ve embraced the rain and i’m happy now.”

an edaline anthem if i’ve ever heard it. that moment where she overcomes her grief. also suits: biana, della, sophie, and wylie

10. don’t let me sleep by stella jones + trafton

“don’t let me sleep. i know what it means: my dreams will all come true - i’ll wake up without you.”

neverseen keefe and sophie type beat anyone?

11. half by pvris

keefe, sophie: “some days, i feel everything. others are numbing.” fitz, linh: “can never find the in between - it’s all or nothing.” dex, biana, tam: “i never never never said i wanted. never wanted to be here now.”

i fully believe this song can relate to anyone in kotlc, depending on the verse.

12. bubble by lennon stella

“up high in my bubble i’m floating. [...] i climb into my bubble; it can’t be broken.”

that one scene on the nightfall cover with linh, sophie, and keefe. but also sophie emotionally breaking down and seeking out that safe place. 

13. supernova by rivals

“these stars are clusters. a waste of time that i won’t miss.”

sandor never misses. the song, though, reminds me of the elves waking up to how broken their society really is. 

14. brainstorm by alexander 23

“how bad’s the weather in your head? wish you could stay with me instead.”

such a sokefe song. i can practically picture that scene where keefe bends down to see how sophie is doing after the forkle twin reveal.

15. emotional machine by marina 

“i’m a machine - an emotional being, since i was a teen.”

fitz vacker, y’all.

16. change your mind by said the sky + vancouver sleep clinic

“if i could only turn back time, i would bring us back to life. if i could only change your mind, we’d stay young and never die.”

forkle to his twin. oralie to kenric. grady and edaline to jolie. and maybe even jolie to brant.

17. family line by conan gray

“oh, all that i did to try to undo it. all of my pain and all your excuses. i was a kid but i wasn’t clueless (someone who loves you wouldn’t do this!) all of my past, i tried to erase it. but now i see, would i even change it. might share a face and share a last name but (we are not the same!).”

i don’t even need to put the lyrics here for y’all to know this is about keefe and the sencens and tam and linh and the songs.

18. hall of fame by the script

“you can move a mountain, you can break rocks.”

gethen lol. but also an ode to the moonlark’s power.

19. infinity by jaymes young

“meet me at the bottom of the ocean where time is frozen - where all the universe is open.”

but also the vibes are v mysterious and suit the black swan in the early keeper books sonically (the black swan is not in love) ((this is actually bc i wrote a sokeefe fic inspired by this song))

20. marchin on by onerepublic

“there’s so many wars we fought. there’s so many things we’re not. but with what we have, i promise you that we’re marchin’ on.”

21. human by of monsters and men

“when the words weight heavy on the heart, i am lost and led only by the stars.”

lightleaping by the forbidden stars. also a song from when i first started reading the series.

22. elephant ears by unlike pluto

“say your thoughts when you think i won’t hear, but nothing gets by these elephant ears.”

23. wolves without teeth by of monsters and men

“oh, you’re feeding on my energy, i’m letting go of it - she wants it.”

a little like the push and pull of the water to linh, or how enhancing an ability would feel.

24. blue by taeyeon

“you’re my blue - just like always.”

ik the color is green for kotlc and grieving, but blue is in honor of someone close to the singer who passed away, so i thought the song was fitting. especially since all elves have blue eyes, it was another connection.

25. lifted by birdy

“won’t you lead the way through my darker days? keep them softly spoken.”

26. you’re the sea by andrew belle

“each time we leave, i think about it. what if we don’t come back? if all of this is chasing the wind, why is my head like that? am i to believe? am i to admit? that you’re the sea.”

keefe to sophie, for the latter lyrics, but also just the general fear they all face every time they have a near death experience.

27. purple circles by jades goudrealt

“can’t control my thoughts when i’m out of my mind. it’s lonely but it’s art. i guess i’ll be fine.”

sophie foster, y’all.

28. alone in a battlefield by nineteen90 + lilu 

“one round and it’s done. standing alone in a battlefield.”

29. lavenders by rivals

“all i smell are lavenders, as the world burns down, around me.”

that scene where kenric dies. idk if the tower was actually purple but i’ve been picturing it to be purple, and they claim that everblaze smells different from other fires. 

30. insane by neykid

“when i lie awake, i hear them call my name. am i crazy?”

another neverseen anthem. alvar/ruy ignis type beat. also suits lady gisela.

31. what you’re made of by lindsey stirling + kiesza

“lost yourself inside a broken mirror ‘cause that’s what you fear.”

the events of lodestar, perhaps.

32. nightshift by mothica

“then i go nightshift, like this. don’t cross me ‘cause i don’t miss.”

grizel. lady gisela. also edaline. and della. and juline. and all the powerful women of kotlc.

33. fear by one republic

“when we were children, we’d say that we don’t know the meaning of fear.”

34. trouble by coldplay

“so, i turned to run. all the stupid things i’d done - and i never meant to cause you trouble. i never meant to do you wrong. i, well, if i ever caused you trouble. oh no, i never meant to do you harm.”

keefe to sophie. also mr. forkle to sophie. and sophie to her friends. juline to the dizznees.

35. pyrokinesis by 7chariot

“we could set the world on fire using only our minds. pyrokinesis, we hurt each other without even trying.”

36. star by mothica

“you’re gonna be a star girl, don’t you know? burn so bright and beautiful. how far girl, will you go? climbing up that pedestal. to be so tragic and rare, they all stop and stare, looking right through you.”

biana vacker, y’all. also sophie and marella.

37. moonlit by rivals

“it’s me against the rest. i’m reaching through the darkness - is anybody out there?”

tam and linh song, y’all.

38. fire in my bones by fleurie

“pulses push the limits, testing my resistance.”

dex dizznee, y’all.

39. dangerous by rivals

“these demons knock on my door but they don’t dare come in ‘cause they know what’s best for them. they wanna rip out my soul but they can’t break skin cause i, i know i’m dangerous.”

sophie! freaking! foster!

40. r.e.m.

“and i don’t want to push you away but i still relive every moment, hoping you don’t notice, you just tripped a red light in my mind.”

keefe to his past memories of his mom. sophie to the black swan’s erased/hidden memories. fitz and biana to alvar. grady and edaline to brant.

41. my blood by ellie goulding

“and god knows i’m not dying but i bleed now. and god knows it’s the only way to heal now.”

42. conspiracy of silence by the swoons

“don’t know where you side. there’s blood in your eyes. will you weapon your skin, feed the monster within? or put up a fight?”

keefe about his mother’s legacy. the vackers on their legacy. grady with his ability. sophie with her abilities and physically fighting.

43. wildwood by fleurie

“deep sleep battles underneath the moon.”

keefe to sophie lol (also bc of the colonies!!)