#kotlc thoughts with catherine

[everliving-everblaze]

As someone who has lived with no pockets and as a many-pocketed menace, I think that more should be done with the KotLC characters having good pockets. I think that Sophie admits to having a headache, and everyone immediately delves into their pockets and thrusts something at her. Some of is more helpful (Fitz's bottle of youth, Dex's three gadgets and five elixirs) and some of it is less helpful (Keefe's notebooks and sketchbooks, Biana's beauty elixirs, Linh's three different fully living creatures), but all present their finds to Sophie as if it'll solve the problem immediately

[everliving-everblaze]

Okay but wait—that’s actually a really good point. Humans aren’t considered part of the intelligent species, so do they have Prattles pins for them? if so that’s an awful lot—

but if they do, then that’s like a secret rebellion where the humans *are* considered an intelligent species

Day 24- prattles pin!

im still a firm believer of my headcanon that when choosing a human to base their prattle pin on they accidentally chose an errol forkle from san francisco

[silveny-dreams]

hi sil-who-is-answering-her-asks, I tried to think of something clever to ask, but as per usual, all I have to offer is "sophitz." any thoughts?

C Y O O T

[fanartofthelostcities]

Send me a number from 1-50 and I'll tell you what song it corresponds to from my Top 50 songs of 2021

[everliving-everblaze]

a few points

Sophie, even being the protagonist and hero of the story, has made and will continue to make mistakes.

We are inside Sophie's head all of the time, so we are always seeing her actions through the framework of her own justification.

SO, if you want to be able to analyze the characters' actions at even the most basic level, you have to first learn to step out of Sophie's head. Not even just to analyze her actions, though that's key, but to even analyze the other characters' actions at the most basic level of objectivity.

also

Most fans giving opinions on the characters' actions haven't bothered to step out of Sophie's head at all, instead just adding their own views on top of Sophie's.

That (plus sexism) is part of how you get rancid takes like "this character deserves Sophie," as though Sophie isn't her own character -- because people view Sophie as flawless.

She's the narrator, of course she's going to appear more flawless than the other characters. She's telling the story! And no one is a reliable narrator of their own story.

Please start thinking about these things before you give an opinion on a character's actions. I am so tired. If you can learn to do this, it will help you in media analysis for the rest of your life. thank you

[everliving-everblaze]

I like headcannoning that he has a stuffed boobrie, but since this is my account and we make cursed posts here, what if he had a stuffed human

Dex Dizznee should have been given a stuffed animal pass it on

[everliving-everblaze]

Fitz's characterization is so interesting and so hard. He's both very kind AND a bit of an entitled jerk, and most people only manage to capture one of the two.

I think this is well-illustrated in the first few chapters of the series. Fitz and Sophie spend a lot of these chapters rolling their eyes and sniping at each other, because they both have an attitude about the whole thing. In particular, Fitz has his attitude about elvin superiority, and Sophie immediately responds to that negatively.

He'd never heard of Albert Einstein? The theory of relativity was dumb? She wasn't sure how to argue. He seemed so ridiculously confident—it was unnerving.

On the other hand, it's very clear that Fitz's heart is in the right place (or at least, a well-meaning place). He has his attitude of elvin superiority, but he's thrilled to welcome Sophie into it as well.

Fitz nudged her arm. "Hey. It's not your fault. You believed what they taught you—I'm sure I'd have done the same thing. But it's time you knew the truth. This is how the world really works. It's not magic. It's just how it is."

(And undoubtedly, he's right. He would have believed what he'd been taught—he did, just different beliefs!)

The thing is, Sophie doesn't particularly want to jump aboard the elvin superiority train that he's so excited about.

"Well, it's like you're saying, 'Hey, Sophie, take everything you've ever learned about anything and throw it away.'" "Actually, that is what I'm saying." He flashed a smug grin. "Humans do the best they can—but their minds can't begin to comprehend the complexities of reality." "And what, elves' minds are better?" "Of course.

Fitz reads as a total jerk with what he's saying! He's completely ignorant of the fact that his belief that humans are stupid and evil is like, gonna hurt Sophie's feelings. Because that's what he's been taught!

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Fitz's character is hugely about prejudice, about people who believe what they are taught, even though it's wrong. And his character is about those people who then have to relearn their beliefs!

Fitz makes so much progress throughout the series in combating his own prejudice, largely through befriending Sophie. His character arc is one of my absolute favorites from any media, ever. I've gone through a lot of the same things he has, having to learn about prejudice and deal with my own biases, the lies that I was taught. His character is very meaningful to me!

But I think that's a piece that so often gets missed when people try to capture Fitz's character. Some people only see the bad parts and choose to portray him as totally evil. Some people focus on the good parts and portray him as more of a victim.

But I don't think either interpretation is totally right. Fitz is nuanced. He means well and truly tries to be kind within his worldview, and once he truly starts to realize his worldview is bad, he works on it! That's way more than a lot of people do. But he he makes a lot of mistakes along the way.

That's a fascinating, relevant character. And that's why he'll always be one of my favorites.

[everliving-everblaze]

I absolutely love that high status elves wear capes. like most of the time they're functionally dorkier cloaks, but then you have the Neverseen in actual cloaks, and it's like. the only fashion difference between being a noble and being evil is a hoodie

[everliving-everblaze]

One of the things that's stood out to me most while reading this book in a visual format is how much this series is about caring adults. I always knew, from my first read, that KotLC was at its core about belonging. It's about the lonely, bullied child's desire to be swept away to a world where they belong. It's about family.

But reading the graphic novel, I've been struck by how many of the people who first make Sophie feel that she belongs are the adults, not her peers. Sure, Fitz is important to it, but he and Biana both scoff at her lack of knowledge, while Alden and Della constantly reassure her, and even try to adopt her. Mr. Forkle protects her and looks out for her while her peers bully her. Tiergan instantly recognizes how hard her life has been and seethes at how she was put in that situation. Elwin sees her, cares for her, and makes her feel comfortable and intelligent when she's felt anything but. I haven't gotten to Grady and Edaline yet, but I know they're going to be right there too.

It's really making me realize why this series was the one I latched onto, over so many others I read. I was the kid who was friends with adults, who didn't get along with kids my age. I looked to those who were older over my peers; I was the teacher's pet.

There's something so significant about this series, over so many that are about kids being given power they aren't ready to handle, in that this one says you shouldn't have to handle it. Over and over, adults are angered at responsibility being placed on children. Over and over, they care, being not just assistants to the kids like in so many middle grade books, but being instrumental to everything that happens. The adults still aren't the protagonists—but how many middle grade series do you read where there are more important adult characters at the beginning than other kids?

I realize something now about why this series was comforting to me over every other. It's still a story where kids get agency and get to be the most powerful, the rulers of the story. But where so many middle grade stories make me go, "Where are the adults? Why don't they care? Why are they so incompetent?" this series shows me adults who love kids deeply and do everything for them—but still can't help that the kids are the ones who have to save the world.

[everliving-everblaze]

The Exillilum coaches, especially Coach Rohana. also every goblin bodyguard that’s ever died. Brielle, Bunhead, Lefty, and Righty, you will not be forgotten. also Queen Gundula, King Dimitar’s wife (never actually met in the series, just mentioned).

...I’ll stop there but there’s more

everyone has a minor side character that’s only around for a scene or a chapter or a book but you still think about constantly

mine is jurek who’s yours

[everliving-everblaze]

for the rest of my life I'll never be over the scene where Edaline touches Sophie for the first time, and Sophie realizes just how deeply she misses her family, and they stay in that moment together, drinking it in... becoming family themselves

[everliving-everblaze]

So, I know that most of us would agree that Fitz isn't actually "overrated" because a lot of the fandom dislikes him. But I always find the perception that he's overrated interesting because it plays so much into his character. His entire character is about chasing perfection, about trying to be the perfect elf.

But more than that, I think it's wild to call him overrated when so few people actually understand his character and how critical it is to the story.

Fitz's character is about privilege. It's about being raised to believe in systems, and it's about how systems of oppression hurt even those who are most privileged. He thinks that he can have control; he was told that he would have control. And he's angry because he's realized that he doesn't have control, that society isn't the way he was told it was, and that the way it is is bad.

In fact, all of the characters play a role in the story that relates to privilege and being a part of a corrupt society. Marella plays a victim of ability-related oppression; Sophie plays someone who was born outside the system and can see its flaws more clearly; Tam and Linh play victims of twin-related oppression and show how parents' bias is particularly harmful. Keefe and Fitz are especially interesting because they play complementary characters. They show how two different people could be born privileged, benefiting extremely from systems, and still be victims of it. Keefe is a victim because he doesn't want to participate in it, and Fitz is a victim because he falls for the system and has to unlearn his whole bad belief system.

Fitz's character is akin to every one of us who grew up believing we lived in a good world and then realized we didn't. Fitz is those of us who realized that we didn't have the control we thought we did, those of us who had to unlearn our biases, and those of us who were mad about that.

It's wild just how twisted around his character gets, when I think he should be one of the most relatable characters to Gen Z! Like, I know this is a whole lot of theming and allegory and symbolism packed into a series that jokes about butts, but that's part of the brilliance. KotLC takes these complex concepts about society and oppression and brings them into a story that an eight-year-old can understand. And I think that's a big reason so many of us are attached to the series despite our age—it's so much deeper than it looks on the surface level. There's always something more to uncover.

I love this series. I love Fitz. And I really think that dismissing his character as "the worse love interest" (same with Keefe's character!) means that you will never understand the series in the slightest.

[everliving-everblaze]

This trick or treat has me pondering the offensiveness of elves dressing up as other species. Like, if an elvin child painted their face green to be a gnome or a teen wore bumpy prosthetics to be an ogre, would that be considered societally appropriate or offensive and gross?

[everliving-everblaze]

When I say I write angst for plot and character development, I mean it! ;*

So no one kill me, but I have put way too much thought into which character death would be the best for the story, and I have concluded that Councillor Bronte should die since it would force the elves to acknowledge the rebellion and that none of them are safe, thus forcing them to wake up and fight back, which is likely the only way to defeat the Neverseen.

okay, so, this makes sense and that’s why i hate it. 

that’s all.

[everliving-everblaze]

I saw a character questionnaire going around that asked first, "What’s the lie your character says most often?" and my brain IMMEDIATELY replied "Fitz's is 'I don't care'"

[everliving-everblaze]

hey. hey guys. how have i never seen anyone talk about this @ shannon drop the file IMMEDIATELY