Bananas

Call me Tink. Fitz is the superior kotlc character sorry I don''t make the rules. Have a swaggy day :3 God Bless xoxo

[the-way-astray]

Omg I am so glad to have found your blog and your anti keefe anti sokeefe posts! I was in the Keeper of the Lost Cities fandom many years ago pre-Legacy. I at first really liked the series but starting with book four Keefe’s entire existence really started to grate on me. His constant ‘pity me my mom is evil’ thing that just kept going on and on and Sophie kept spending all her time and energy on him when she had enough crap of her own to deal with and then Keefe quickly began overtaking the series as main character shoving Sophie the actual protagonist aside and it drove me crazy because he continued to become more obnoxious and more infuriating as time went by and he never learned his lesson or changed his behavior or got properly called out by anyone and continued to get worse.

The only thing that kept me reading was that I had become a major Sophitz shipper starting in book three and it seemed like they were going to become canon. I thought Sokeefe had to be a red herring and then Flashback came out and I was so happy that my ship was canon. It was hard being in the fandom because everyone loved Keefe but the fan base was fairly evenly split between Sokeefe and Sophitz shippers at the time. And then Legacy came out and destroyed everything. I felt that it unfairly demonized Fitz and made him and Sophie OOC just to break them up so that Sokeefe could happen. And suddenly the Sophitz side of the fandom grew super tiny as the Sokeefe fandom became the majority.

I stopped reading the series after that and left the fandom because the love for Keefe and Sokeefe was so big and unavoidable and it drove me crazy because I hated his character and that ship so much and it felt like no one understood me or my frustration with him or with the author for so blatantly favoring him and propping him up and turning him into the main character and protagonist. I was tired of arguing with people and feeling like an outsider. I can’t even reread the books (except the first one because Keefe is such a minor character in comparison) because Keefe has completely ruined it for me.

I hadn’t touched anything kotlc related for years until now when by pure chance I stumbled across your anti Keefe/anti Sokeefe post (the super 3 hours long to read one) and I ate it up. Devoured it. Finally I felt seen, I felt heard, I no longer felt alone or like I was the crazy one for not being able to see what was so great about Keefe and Sokeefe.

So I just wanted to say thank you for being brave enough to speak out with such an unpopular opinion in the fandom and write such a detailed well thought post that hits every point about how problematic this character and ship is and the author’s clear bias. It’s been really cathartic and validating for me to go through your blog. You are amazing!

ooooh hiiii anon!!!!

edit: goodness i really can't shut up ever when i get an ask can i. this is incredibly fucking long and goes off topic several times. sorry . . . also every single major unraveled plot point is spoiled. so. yeah

pre-legacy era is just a tad before my time, so i can't really speak to what it must've been like to be in the fandom then. but i know that it was pretty anti fitz and pro keefe even on tumblr during that time. so

although i disliked keefe from the second he was introduced to the series, i thought he was relatively bearable until neverseen. he was even genuinely funny in a couple moments in everblaze. so i completely see where you're coming from with how you were pissed off by keefe starting mostly in neverseen. that's the book where he gets his sad tragic backstory explored and therefore the book where he becomes more prominent . . . and more annoying. and yes!!!! the pity-partying is awful. goddamn. hate it so so so so much . . . no other character in the series, sophie included, has ever been such a pity magnet. every single chance the narrative gets, it will dump a truckload of pity on keefe that nobody else in the series can compete with. we get it . . . he has a tragic backstory . . . you don't have to say it one million trillion gazillion bajillion times we get it. never never never never will you see this amount of pity dumped on anyone that isn't keefe, even though everyone is struggling and traumatized. and this beating over the head with how hard keefe's had it ends up wrapping around all the way to staleness. now, every time it comes up, the reaction is less "awwww poor keefe" and more "we're here again????" . . . at one point, saying the same thing over and over, having the same exact conversation over and over isn't fleshing out. it's just repetitive and desperate and also bad writing

sophie constantly having to stroke keefe's ego is another thing . . . oh my goodness it is pure unadulterated misery. she is like this with keefe's major flaws and nobody else's so you can't even argue that it's just her overly forgiving nature coming out. no. it's shannon's fucking golden boy bias coming out, actually. keefe gets away with every single thing he does with the neverseen (and more) with exactly zero long-term consequence. sophie trusts him exactly the same amount she always has in nightfall (aka more than he deserves). god will she just distrust him for longer than four point seven seconds ever please. please. please i am begging. no, the nightfall scene does not count because sophie immediately forgives keefe after just a week and there's no period where you can tell she still doesn't trust him and where he has to slowly earn her trust back (so basically their relationship has zero development ever and is the most boring thing i've ever read. seriously how can something be so unhealthy and so stale? only sokeefe . . . ). and keefe apologizes more out of a desire to pacify sophie than a desire to truly change and grow. this scene is a sham and does not count. goddamn i am so tired of that fucking argument i am so fucking done i hate it here. why does sophie let him off the hook so fucking easy all the time just because of his fucking tragic backstory . . . and god i swear this fandom falls into the exact same fucking trap as well . . . every day i will log on and see some post that starts "guys can we stop hating on keefe he's just a teenage boy with flaws" before starting in on same exact explanation of keefe's tragic backstory that shannon is always shoving down our throats and act as if this magically absolves keefe of bad writing. it does not. jesus christ i am so done if i see one more post like that i will scream (i will not because i am so cool and chill trust) (but i will) (don't fucking test me) (just kidding keefe lovers you can do what you want forever and always i love you all i promise i am just annoyed and frustrated right now)

i actually disagree with the argument that pre-unlocked keefe shoved sophie out of her own story . . . yes he was in it a lot but i wouldn't argue that he was a second main character. i think that argument manifests from frustration with keefe taking up so much space in the story (an argument i do agree with. ahem. as you can see from above) but i don't think he was a main character, not in the way sophie was . . . up until unlocked. oh brother. and unraveled, of course, is a continuation of, to use sophie's words, "the keefe show". it's blatant fanservice i don't care what shannon is saying to justify it . . . now that i've read unraveled i'm willing to bet my entire life's savings on the fact that you can skip it entirely and be just fine. any important information keefe gleans that needs to become plot-relevant needs to be revealed to sophie anyway for book ten to move forward so. like. yes unraveled is nice to have . . . especially since when sophie learns about alvar it will likely seem out of nowhere for her since the last time she saw keefe and alvar interact they were very clearly confrontational toward each other. so unraveled fills that in and removes some of the forcedness (not well i might add. but it does) but that is still just a nice to have thing. same with the revelations regarding eleanor and her dad . . . information that will inevitably be revealed to sophie if it becomes important (as it should). once again. it is nice to have keefe's interaction with eleanor from his pov, but it's not needed. and guys you know i love keefe and cassius in this book you know i do i literally love it so bad i made an entire post on it . . . but guys even that is still a nice to have thing!!!! it could've been a short story. we did not need it as a mandatory thing . . . i am so sorry but. yeah. those are the three points i would consider to be the most important things about unraveled and they are all nice to have. the rest is fluff and angst and keefe walking streets and eating deserts. none of which is strictly needed in sophie's story. this story is sophie's we should not need keefe in it as a mandatory aspect i am so so so so annoyed by this clear fan pandering especially since keefe as a character only entered kotlc around draft twenty. he should not be this pivotal to the goddamned plot this is a clear-as-day sign of bad planning

"he continued to become more obnoxious and more infuriating as time went by and he never learned his lesson or changed his behavior or got properly called out by anyone and continued to get worse" this is perfect. anon i love you can i marry you . . . nothing to add to this. i swear between neverseen and legacy he just gets worse and worse with every book. it is awful and i hate him

the reason sophitz seemed like it was going to be canon in the earlier books is because it was. btw. i know this because keefe wasn't supposed to exist at all and kotlc is at heart an early 2010s series so who the fuck else was sophie supposed to amatonormatively end up with if not keefe but fitz. so obviously this is what shannon was pushing for up until around neverseen (possibly everblaze), i'd say. but because keefe does exist and was by far the more popular of the two love interests she created (no, dex was not ever a serious love interest for sophie), she switched gears and decided to make keefe endgame. and yes i do think fan pressure played a big role in this. but you have to understand that kotlc is shannon's debut series and, guys, the publishing industry is brutal, and at the time even moreso for female-led stories like kotlc. she wasn't getting much traction for it up until around lodestar, i believe, and to this day kotlc is still far more popular than her other series, the sky fall trilogy (which was all published before lodestar's release aka before she started making a name for herself as an author, which is why it's lesser known . . . seriously i think if she published that series now instead of before lodestar's release it would have been exponentially more popular than it currently is. i admit i take shots at keeper of "the series that never ends" the lost cities as much as the next guy, but guys. kotlc never ending is the reason it is even as popular as it is right now. i guarantee shannon would have drowned in the publishing industry if kotlc had been a trilogy like it was originally supposed to be). keeping this in mind, i do think she needed to capitalize on whatever crumbs she could get her hands on just for a shot at success, so i don't necessarily blame her for the way she abruptly changed the endgame love interest to the one less likely to get fans mad at her. it's understandable. i wish she had written keefe better so it wouldn't have been such an annoying change, but. hey. whatever, i guess. fan pandering is a lot more nuanced than "it's bad and i wish authors wouldn't do it" makes it out to be. but that is a discussion for another time (i say having discussed it already lmfao)

to me, it was clear that when sophie and fitz got together in flashback, they were the red herring. there were so many red flags in the way shannon wrote them, namely the fact that fitz put way too much emphasis on the match from the start. you'll see people talk about this a lot . . . how sophitz deserves a true chance and real moments where they were just being them instead of the match being introduced as a constraint so early. just. they just. they just deserved that chance you know? even if the match inevitably becomes the reason for their doom shannon didn't have to start them out nipped in the bud . . . we could've gotten to see them for what they could've been. anyway. it's clear shannon did not want her readers seeing this as an actual relationship from the moment they got together. and even before. which annoys me. like they should've gotten something. i can't imagine how much worse this must've been for someone that was truly rooting for them and once again i have no clue what the fandom landscape was like at that point in time but i can only imagine with the excessive keefe adoration it was pretty miserable

alright i may lose you here . . . sorry anon . . . but i personally don't think either fitz or sophie were ooc in legacy. at least not for the way they were set up to fail by shannon from the jump (flashback). sophie spends a great deal of time worrying about how fitz will respond to her unmatchable status (in character for sophie because she is a worrier and it is established in flashback that fitz is confident in the fact that they will be matched, so now without that security to fall back on . . . what is even there for her? that's what sophie's thought process is), and because of this, she avoids fitz. a lot. which annoyed me, too, don't get me wrong, and god i wish she had gone to fitz just once (just once!!!!) instead of keefe because sophie you are making a bad situation worse by doing this shit. but i wouldn't call it out of character for sophie. it was certainly annoying that shannon was not willing to give sophitz a proper chance, but that problem had already long been apparent to me so it was like a continuation of the same ongoing issue, not the introduction of a brand new one imo

as for fitz, he was also not out of character and was in fact incredibly sweet and kind to sophie for the majority of his appearances in legacy. seriously. his one (1) flaw was putting too much emphasis on the match and setting up the idea that sophie would inevitably end up on his list one day as the major support system for their relationship (which ended up collapsing beneath his feet). once again, the problem is the fact that shannon refused to give them a candid chance and had fitz bring up the match at every possible fucking opportunity except for one (1) time. it's not ooc for fitz to bring this up and see it as important to him (and it is. you can't really blame him for this . . . from his perspective, his entire family would be ruined and scrutinized for the rest of his indefinitely long life if he went ahead with this plan. it's kind of selfless to not drag them into endless drama just because he wants to be in a certain romantic relationship. if you think about it from that angle) but shannon went completely over the top and had him bring it up constantly and consistently. every time. it did not need to get brought up every time!!!! there were no romantic sophitz moments in legacy where they were allowed to be just them. which circles back to the same issue i had, which is that sophitz were never given a fair chance. shannon ruined them from the start to make sure that sokeefe would be seen as the superior ship in every way possible and reminded you at every single turn that sokeefe was superior (which ironically is part of why i hate sokeefe and feel it's incredibly forced and insecure as a ship)

as for fitz getting angry at sophie at the end of legacy, he's not angry at her because of the match, he's angry at her because she let alvar go, something i 100% support and think sophie deserved to hear (minus the yelling . . . but communication skills during emotional moments are something fitz has consistently been shown to be bad with, so this is not out of character for him either. and he apologizes for it and continues to work toward a better place . . . it really is just a character flaw that he relapses into). and i'm mad that fitz was the one villainized for this whole thing when it was so clearly sophie that was in the wrong . . . i have already ranted about that at length so. maybe i'll not talk about it again but yeah bottom line is that the only thing fitz was in the wrong for, for the entirety of legacy, is the fact that he yelled at sophie instead of calmly explaining his points. which themselves were valid and logical and i will forever be mad that fitz's attempt to bring alvar to justice is treated like a mad quest as a result of an irrational, emotional obsession when it was genuinely the most logical and even sweet action he could've taken (see: end of legacy where he wants to catch alvar to help keefe). and he doesn't even leave a trail of destruction and regression in his wake (that for some reason nobody gives half a shit about) as he tries to bring a traitorous family member to justice, unlike someone i know and fucking hate. anyway. you'll notice that for the part of the conversation where fitz and sophie are talking about the match, fitz is calm and even sweet. once again his only flaw is placing too much importance on the match, and it does have realistic consequences for his character (see: his relationship to sophie ends because of it), but other than that he is genuinely doing his best to comfort sophie. he also should not have ambushed sophie at a moment where she was clearly not feeling good, but again. he was mad about alvar and fitz consistently does not make good emotional decisions when he's angry. this is a character flaw of his . . . it is consistent and not out of character for him and most importantly results in actual fucking consequences for him. this action results in a breakup with sophie, a proper consequence that is a direct result of this flaw. this phenomenon is also known as good character writing, something shannon magically loses touch with whenever she turns the pen over to her golden boy

i think i would've gone crazy if i'd been on a non-tumblr platform pre-2020 because goddamn the way that most social media platforms are set up does not do a fantastic job of supporting unpopular opinions and washes them out. there's also not a lot of room for long analysis-type things on many platforms, so you just kind of have to say the most outrageous claim you can possibly think of and oftentimes it becomes either difficult or outright impossible to prove your claim. so you don't. and you continue to sound insane because of that. and the other side is relying on this feature (or bug) too, so then it's just an endless cycle of unchecked popular opinion . . . it's only on platforms like tumblr where there's space for proper proof to be shown that people with unpopular opinions start sounding considerably less insane and start actually changing people's minds (and i have . . . check the tag #konversion on my blog for people whose minds were changed about keefe to some extent). and even then . . . i feel like this new wave of people that have entered or started posting consistently circa 2023/2024 era truly and really do not understand the depth of unadulterated keefe adoration that there was prior to that. even on tumblr. keefe haters being prominent or a relatively popular opinion is pretty new and also still a tumblr-only thing . . . and because it’s better now, anon, i truly think your situation is just a bad timing issue. it's generally a better experience to be a keefe hater now. keefe lovers leave you alone for the most part and we leave them alone. coexisting in harmony as they say . . .

interesting that you can't reread the books because of keefe alone. much as i hate keefe and several other aspects of kotlc i do feel like the series just has an allure that i will just never fully shake off. i like to separate kotlc's good and bad sides into different compartments of my head and just try to enjoy what i like about kotlc when i do my rereads . . . i usually skip or skim keefe-heavy areas of the book on rereads. so that's a thing that might help if you really do love other aspects of the story /gen

like i said, keefe hatred is . . . not even close to being the majority opinion. shamelessly plugging this poll by fin as evidence. who btw himself does not have the most positive opinion of keefe, so there's no way this is some sort of skewed population poll. goddamn if i hear someone say that there are a lot of keefe haters on tumblr one more fucking time i will lose it because you are just objectively wrong . . . keefe haters make up 3.3% of the people that voted on that poll, and people that have a negative opinion of keefe make up 16.4% of the people that voted on that poll. a fantastic but incredibly low number. (excluding the people that didn't know who keefe was, this number goes up to just under 20%.) on the other hand, 46.4% of people voted that they were, not neutral on keefe, but keefe fans. (excluding the people that didn't know who keefe was, this goes up to about 53%, the remaining roughly 27% of people are neutral on keefe). people, even on tumblr, overwhelmingly have a positive opinion of keefe. if you seriously think there are a lot of keefe haters here, you're seriously deluded and i cannot fathom what keefe-hater-utopia-reality you think you live in (people who hardcore hate keefe, people who mildly dislike keefe, and people who are neutral on keefe combined still don't even come up to half of the people who voted on that poll and know who keefe is). and this is just on tumblr, the most keefe-hater-friendly platform. so. you can imagine what it's like in other places

anyway. all this to say, seeing as how we're well in the minority and people don't tend to go on unhinged rants about how much they hate him, i can see how this might be your reaction to seeing that rant but i want to emphasize that it wasn't actually particularly brave since i knew it wouldn't get a particularly bad reaction on tumblr. like. like i knew that going in. even though there aren't many keefe haters, the opinion is still generally respected. so like. i knew that people who didn't like it wouldn't really bother with me, especially since i'm a relatively small blog and those don't tend to get lots of hate . . . mostly i was determined to do it out of pure rage and vitriol but i don't think it was particularly noteworthy for the average kotlc fandomgoer. most people aren’t even aware it exists, i don't think, and because of that i didn't really get attacked. so. that's a thing

anyway this entire ask was super sweet and my response to it was entirely too long but i always love hearing from fellow keefe haters so. thanks for that and also you should dm me anon . . . i need to hear more of the opinion . . . jkjkjkjk . . . unless . . . ?

[dragoncookies]

I actually needed this

[kale-of-the-forbidden-cities]

Alden, either intentionally or unintentionally, making Fitz feel like he's all he has, he's all he can trust

Alden pulling him away from others and forcing him to keep secrets from the rest of his family at a young age, his sister and mother he used to be so close to

Fitz growing up feeling like he needs Alden's approval for everything, including who he's friends with or what kinds of things he's allowed to enjoy in his free time

Alden trying to dictate everything in Fitz's life - trying to live through him and make it perfect. Maybe he wants Fitz to be happy. But maybe he doesn't know where to stop. Maybe he doesn't like where he ended up so by keeping all kinds of tabs on Fitz and knowing everything about his life, he can try again.

Fitz feeling trapped and not knowing how to get out and feeling isolated from everyone. His family, his friends, everyone. He has nobody but Alden.

But Alden isn't always reliable.

[dragoncookies]

pov Fitz has mental health issues

[kale-of-the-forbidden-cities]

Alden, either intentionally or unintentionally, making Fitz feel like he's all he has, he's all he can trust

Alden pulling him away from others and forcing him to keep secrets from the rest of his family at a young age, his sister and mother he used to be so close to

Fitz growing up feeling like he needs Alden's approval for everything, including who he's friends with or what kinds of things he's allowed to enjoy in his free time

Alden trying to dictate everything in Fitz's life - trying to live through him and make it perfect. Maybe he wants Fitz to be happy. But maybe he doesn't know where to stop. Maybe he doesn't like where he ended up so by keeping all kinds of tabs on Fitz and knowing everything about his life, he can try again.

Fitz feeling trapped and not knowing how to get out and feeling isolated from everyone. His family, his friends, everyone. He has nobody but Alden.

But Alden isn't always reliable.

[cassieisinthebasementt]

Ok but why is so much of the kotlc fandom think they would have multiple abilities. Isn’t it really rare to get even two??

like bro💀…

u ain’t special

[dragoncookies]

This is beyond real and needed to be said

[dragoncookies]

(spoilers)

can we just talk about how hardcore the second book is?

I mean, ALL the books are crazy, but it’s been four years since I last reread tmbs and I remember glazing over the second book, because usually in a series the second book is just like build up and filler for the third one (with the first book having all the magic a first book usually had)

but this series? I aged 58 years reading the second book, and I was disgustingly addicted to it the whole time I read it. I truly thought it was the end for our protagonists. Usually you can see how they might turn a bad situation around, but it just looked straight hopeless when everyone ran out to the beach in hopes that help had come and there was just nothing there. And then, when the Shortcut appeared from seemingly out of nowhere, I cried real tears of joy. I know it’s a kids series and sometimes kids series can be deep, but these kids have to be straight traumatized by their experience in that book. They were pushed to their absolute extremes physically, psychologically and emotionally. From being stuck on the ship in one small confined room while traveling across oceans to a place they had never been before, solving all the riddles, keeping watch during that dark night trying to stay awake with the fear of death and being captured hanging over them, being tied up in that giant room with the ten men ready to torture them, then being captured by Curtain and BEING tortured (shocked), then having to run and carry Mr. Benedict until their hands were bleeding and they were beyond their physical limits, and THEN after seeing their LAST CHANCE for making it off that hellish island not be there having their hopes let down….if I were them, I’d probably just go insane. Its shocking because the whole series is so breezy light, but the actual content, once you think about, isn’t so light at all.

Every character was developed so deliciously. Reynie went from being smart and good at riddles, to being a conniving plotter, who could be a supervillain in his own right. Kate almost bombed a ship full of her worst enemies (willingly), but then found some insane inner strength and decided NOT to. Sticky went through an ego-struggle arc and then, after being the group scaredy cat, suddenly became THE MAN in their darkest hour when they all had to carry that stretcher down the mountain and had nothing left to give (and it almost broke my heart when Reynie narrated it saying smt like “maybe we’re all gonna die but at least I get to witness Sticky in his prime 😌). And Constance? Well. She’s Constance, but her mind reading is sick, and I like the relationship dynamic that grew between her and Reynie in this book.

there was so much inner turmoil from Reynie, and the whole “there’s no good-hearted people in this world” belief he struggled with, resulting him question which Benedict twin he himself was more like, was just so scrumptious. He’s the perfect person to narrate the series, and that becomes clear during this book. Finger lickingly good stuff. And we can’t forget Sticky knocking Constance off the watch tower when a ten-man appeared from the darkness. That made me chortle. Or Kate regurgitating McCracken’s key so they could all escape. She’s just so different.

There are just so many good moments in that book. It’s really truly quite the adventure.

[dragoncookies]

attention ‼️‼️

Them. They’re just cartoon characters.

These are the only two moments I remembered to snap a picture of, but the whole dang series is just littered with this absolute tomfoolery. At least once, in every chapter, they are tripping over each other, or glueing themselves together at the slightest mention of danger.

So unserious about saving the world, these two.

[dragoncookies]

Guts lyrics that are Fitz codes

(I actually don’t know how properly format this lmao)

sometimes I think if Fitz would be a great rock/pop-rock singer

he just would. Anyways.

”forgive, and I forget, I know my age and I act like it/got what you can’t resist, I’m a perfect all American bitch!”

“my undying love, now I hold it like a grudge/and I hear your voice every time that I think im not enough”

“the arguments that I have won against you in my head/in the shower, in the car and in the mirror before bed/ yeah, I’m so tough when I’m alone, and I make you feel so guilty/ and I fantasize about a time you’re a little fuckin’ sorry”

“I know in my heart, hurt people hurt people/ I know we both drew blood, but man those cuts were never equal”

“now it don’t mean a thing/loves fuckin’ embarrassing/ just watch as I crucify myself”

“I bought i all the products they told me to buy/ to chase some dumb ideal my whole fuckin’ life, and/ none of it matters and none of it ends/ you just feel like shit over and over again”

“they all say that it gets better, it gets better the more you grow/ yeah, they all say that it gets better, it gets better, but what if I don’t?”

“I fear that they already got all the best parts of me/ I’m sorry that I couldn’t always be your teenage dream”

“every night I wake up, same recurring dream/driving through the city, the break go out on me/can’t stop at the read light, can’t swerve off the road/read somewhere it’s cause my life feels so out of control”

“every good thing is turning to something I dread/I’m playing the victim so well in my head”

“I make light of darkness, I’ve got sun in my motherfuckin’ pockets/best believe, yeah you know me”

“all the time, I’m grateful all the time/I’m sexy and I’m kind, I’m pretty when I cry”

“the sky is green, the grass is red/ and you mean all those words you said/ I’m sure that girl is really your friend, and problems are all solvable/ I guess love is never logical”

“lacy, oh Lacy/ it’s like you’re out to get me, you poison every little thing that I do/ Lacy, oh Lacy/ I just loathe you lately, and I despise my jealous eyes/ and how hard they fell for you/ yeah I despise my rotten mind and how much it worships you”

“I wanna get him back/ I wanna make him really jealous wanna make him feel bad/ oh, I wanna get him back/ cause then again I really miss him and it makes me real sad, oh”

[ahoyimlosingmymind]

there's something so personal about Fitz Vacker being 'girl coded' bc of his upbringing and the way he's perceived and how he's been socialized. I personally see him as a straight cis guy- but there's something so identifiable about the way he's perceived as 'hysterical' or 'hyper-emotional' when he reacts totally normally to high stress situations. How he's always expected to be palatable, easy to digest, to carry the burdens unique to him, that will always go unacknowledged. How he can never just be. Everything is a carefully crafted performance piece.

It's the way the foxfire girls sexualize him, (Which also happened to Keefe) how Sophie is always concerned and commenting on his looks. How he's treated like a trophy, something to attain, something to be experienced and then left behind. The way people hate him for his success and hate him for his failures. How he must feel like a piece of meat.

he's beautiful. but nobody cares what goes on underneath.

Something about the way he can never be just good. How his effort and accomplishments are always tied back to his father's name and his appearance. Nothing about him is acknowledged for its own merit. There's always some excuse for why he shouldn't deserve it, that he's had it 'too easy', that it's because of daddy's 'money' that he is where he's at.

Nothing about Fitz is ever allowed to be about him. He's expected to be the 'perfect victim', seen and not heard, any issue he voices is dismissed because he's seen as a 'protected class'... but if he was so protected, why does he never feel safe?

it's something about the way he's always watching himself in 3rd person. it's something about the way he's told to trust the adults in his life that have thrust him into a box that is impossible to maintain. The way he's always been told 'This is who you are. This is who you will be.'

how It wasn't his choice.

How he's so jealous of his care free best friend who doesn't exist in his world, who will never know quite what it's like. It reminds me of being a girl and watching my guy friends just not understand.

How they are free to fuck up. How the phrase 'boys will be boys' sticks to them like putty, and molds to any situation to justify them. That's their lot in life.

While this constant anxiety, looking over your shoulder, running from vultures... that's yours.

i don't know. It's something about Fitz Vacker being girl coded that just gets to me.

[dragoncookies]

You know I was just thinking about this.

Fitz is only ever allowed to overreact to everything, even the matters concerning the damaged state of the family he was INGRAINED to remain loyal to, and the family he loves more than he loves himself. Then people dismiss him, because his character is just “too hard to understand”, too emotional to be palatable.

it’s how he’s never given an emotional outlet and then everyone is shocked when he cracks. And they blame him for cracking. I mean, Shannon almost deliberately wrote him to be dramatic, when you read the scenes where he’s “an angry jerk”, you can see that the word choices Shannon uses paint such an intentionally “over”-emotional image in one’s head. And Shannon has said herself that she never chooses what a character will do, she “lets them be themself” and just writes what happens. She’s not writing him to be a over dramatic jerk just to be another character’s foil or make him look bad, she’s writing the authentic reactions and results of her character when they were placed under pressure to be perfect and perform. She’s sharing the realistic side of being famous and popular and “perfect”. The beautifully ugly part of being expected to perform and failing, and what other people start to think when it happens.

Fitz is an accurate depiction of what it’s like to have a vivacious and caring heart, but having it be shoved into a mold that cracks and damages it.

[ahoyimlosingmymind]

there's something so personal about Fitz Vacker being 'girl coded' bc of his upbringing and the way he's perceived and how he's been socialized. I personally see him as a straight cis guy- but there's something so identifiable about the way he's perceived as 'hysterical' or 'hyper-emotional' when he reacts totally normally to high stress situations. How he's always expected to be palatable, easy to digest, to carry the burdens unique to him, that will always go unacknowledged. How he can never just be. Everything is a carefully crafted performance piece.

It's the way the foxfire girls sexualize him, (Which also happened to Keefe) how Sophie is always concerned and commenting on his looks. How he's treated like a trophy, something to attain, something to be experienced and then left behind. The way people hate him for his success and hate him for his failures. How he must feel like a piece of meat.

he's beautiful. but nobody cares what goes on underneath.

Something about the way he can never be just good. How his effort and accomplishments are always tied back to his father's name and his appearance. Nothing about him is acknowledged for its own merit. There's always some excuse for why he shouldn't deserve it, that he's had it 'too easy', that it's because of daddy's 'money' that he is where he's at.

Nothing about Fitz is ever allowed to be about him. He's expected to be the 'perfect victim', seen and not heard, any issue he voices is dismissed because he's seen as a 'protected class'... but if he was so protected, why does he never feel safe?

it's something about the way he's always watching himself in 3rd person. it's something about the way he's told to trust the adults in his life that have thrust him into a box that is impossible to maintain. The way he's always been told 'This is who you are. This is who you will be.'

how It wasn't his choice.

How he's so jealous of his care free best friend who doesn't exist in his world, who will never know quite what it's like. It reminds me of being a girl and watching my guy friends just not understand.

How they are free to fuck up. How the phrase 'boys will be boys' sticks to them like putty, and molds to any situation to justify them. That's their lot in life.

While this constant anxiety, looking over your shoulder, running from vultures... that's yours.

i don't know. It's something about Fitz Vacker being girl coded that just gets to me.

[cecilyshaunts]

Tonight I will be presenting my theory on what “The Vacker Legacy” is. I’m the type to usually provide a decent amount of page evidence, unfortunately this is more of a hunch/thematic reasoning sort of theory and the only page I reference isn’t really “evidence”.

(Contains Spoilers For Stellarlune but it’s been nearly two years soooooooo… wow time flies fast)

So, even from book 1 it is drilled into the audience (and Sophie) that the elves are disgusted by the idea of genetic experimentation. They ridicule Sophie for it through out the entire series, and Keefe as well from Unlocked - Stellarlune (and I can imagine it’ll only be worse from there.)

The Vacker’s, excluding the main family we follow in the series, aren’t above this. On page 21 of Flashback Sophie here’s some Vacker’s gossiping about her, commenting about her human upbringing and the whole being a genetic experiment thing.

Cut to Stellarlune and the mysterious figure from the cliffhanger.

From what we can tell this is in someway connected to what happens/is happening to Keefe because of what happens at the end of Legacy. Which was, again, a experiment.

So, who’s to say that the person at the end of Stellarlune wasn’t an experiment themselves? An experiment that an old council; shall I say the first council (the one that Fallon Vacker resided on) lost control of; locked away; and forgot about so no one knew about it.

Again, I have no actual on page evidence for this. It is entirely based on the themes and motifs present in the series.

Secrets will always come out. Just because someone is older does not make them wiser. If you don’t teach history, history will repeat itself.

I’m just saying, it would be an awesome plot twist. Really showcasing just how hypocritical the council is down to there very core.

[dragoncookies]

NNOOO I HAVE SO MANY INSANE THEORIES ABOUT THE VACKER LEGACY AND ELYSIAN

I have a theory that Elysian can take away abilities, and that she's going to take away Fitz's ability to get back at him for being a Vacker and being the epitome of a Vacker (aka hypocrisy). I also have a theory that she's going to call him out for being different and kind of manipulate him like Gethen did in Flashback about his violent tendencies (to an elf's standard), and he might crack or something.

I also have a theory that she's going to turn him into a gold statue or something crazy like that because he's the "golden child". He would come back to life eventually, but it would be scary to see a Fitz statue where living Fitz had been, wouldn't it?

I think, in any case, she's going to have some sort of grudge against the Vacker and take it out on him in a way. I also think, whatever she does, it will make him question his place in elven society and how much freedom he has beyond his name, how much power he has and how he can use it to change the elven world for the better.

[dragoncookies]

Y'all

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

When you consider:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[ahoyimlosingmymind]

Fitz Vacker is cursed to see himself from a 3rd person perspective at all times. He watches himself from inside of himself, like a movie.

Is my smile real enough? (My cheeks hurt.) Is my posture right? (I want to curl into a ball) Do I look like a Vacker? (My eyes are burning with unshed tears) Is my hair styled right? (Can you see me? Have you bought it? Is this version of me digestible?) Is this lie convincing? (Would you love me if I was being honest?)

I think about him at Alvar's tribunal, and how that's the worst he's ever looked publicly. I wonder what his 'alone' must have looked like.

[ahoyimlosingmymind]

Taylor Swift Lyrics that ARE Fitz Vacker

Nothing New: "How long will it be cute, all this crying in my room, when you can't blame it on my youth and roll your eyes with affection/ and my cheeks are growing tired from turning red and faking smiles, am I only biding time until I lose your attention?/ will you still want me, when I'm nothing new?"

Lucky One: "And your lover in the foyer doesn't even know you And your secrets end up splashed on the news front page"/ "And they tell you that you're lucky, but you're so confused, 'Cause you don't feel pretty, you just feel used, And all the young things line up to take your place"

Castles Crumbling (This whole song really): "My foes and friends watch my reign end/ I don't know how it could've ended this way/ Smoke billows from my ships in the harbor/ People look at me like I'm a monster/ Now they're screaming at the palace front gates, used to chant my name Now they're screaming that they hate me/ Never wanted you to hate me"

You're Losing me: This is literally Sophitz. I don't make the rules. "I know my pain is such am imposition/ every morning I glared at you with storms in my eyes, how can you say that you love someone you can't tell is dying?/fighting in only your army, front lines don't you ignore me/ I wouldn't marry me either/ Choose something babe, I got nothing to believe, unless you're choosing me/

Tolerate it (from the POV of a kid who looks up to his parents and is constantly trying to be perfect for them): I greet you with a battle hero's welcome, I take your indiscretions all in good fun, I sit and listen, I polish plates until they gleam and glisten, You're so much older and wiser and I/ I wait by the door like I'm just a kid, Use my best colors for your portrait, Lay the table with the fancy shit, And watch you tolerate it, If it's all in my head tell me now, Tell me I've got it wrong somehow, I know my love should be celebrated, But you tolerate it

[dragoncookies]

There are like a zillion more!

Now that We Don't Talk: Such a super Sophitz song from Fitz's perspective. "I miss the old ways, you didn't have to change, but I guess I don't have say now that we don't talk/What do you tell your friends we spent dinners long weekends with? Truth is, I can't pretend its platonic, its just ended/ Remind myself the way you faded 'till I left/I pay the price of what I lost, and what it costs, now that we don't talk/ and the only way back to my dignity was to turn into a shrouded mystery, just like I had been when you were chasing me, guess this is how it has to be, now that we don't talk."

Out of the Woods: Just a good song that relates to the anxiety of being a Vacker and all his relationships being thrust into that spotlight: "Are we in the clear yet? Good/looking at it now, it all seemed so simple/ we were built to fall apart and fall back together/...to move the furniture so we could dance, baby like we stood a chance, to paper airplanes flying, flying/ REMEMBERWHENYOUHITTHEBRAKESTOOSOON?TWENTYSTICTCHESINAHOSPITALROOMWHENYOUSTARTEDCRYINGBABYIDIDTOOWHENTHESUNCAMEUPIWASLOOKINATYOUREMEMBERWHENYOUCOULDN'TTAKETHEHEATIWALKEDOUTISAIDIMSETTINGYOUFREE BUT THE MONSTERS TURNED OUT TO BE JUST TREES!!!!"

The Great War: This is like literally Fitz. "My knuckles were bruised like violets, sucker punching walls, cursed you as I sleep talked/spineless in my tomb of silence, tore your banners down took the battle underground/ maybe it was ego swinging/ you drew up some good faith treaties, I drew curtains closed, drank my poison all alone/ you said I have to trust more freely, but diesel is desire you were playing with fire/ maybe its the past that's talking, screaming from the crypt, telling me to punish you for things you never did, so I justified it/the whole damn bridge of this song cause golly this song is underrated and beautiful and just screams FITZ

The Archer: "they see right through me, they see right through, can you see right through me?/ easy they come, easy they go, I jump from the train, I ride off alone. I never grew up, its getting so old/ dark side, i search for your dark side, but what if I'm all right, right right right here/ I cut off my nose just to spite my face and i hate my reflection for years and years/ All the kings heros and all the kings friends, couldn't put me together again, cause all of my enemies started out friends/ i've been the archer, i've been the prey. Screaming who could ever leave me darling, but who could stay?"

Getaway Car: Alvar :( “x marks the spot where we fell apart, he poisoned the well, every man for himself/we never had a shot gun shot in the dark/don’t pretend it’s such a mystery, think about the place where you first met me/there were sirens in the beat of your heart/ a circus ain’t a love story, and now we’re both sorry/ I was driving the getaway car, I was crying in a getaway car I was dying in a getaway car SAID GOODBYE IN A GETAWAY CAR/ we were jet set Bonnie and Clyde, until I switched to the other side/ us traitors never win” 

Champagne problems: SOPHITZ (mostly from Fitz’s POV) AUURSGGG “bustling crowds or silent sleepers, you’re not sure which is worse/ I dropped your hand while dancing, left you out there standing crestfallen on the landing/ your heart was glass, I dropped it/ your sister splashed out on the bottle, now no one’s celebrating / no crowd of friends applauded, your home town skeptics called it champagne problems/ you had a speech, you’re speechless, love skipped beyond your reaches, and I couldn’t give a reason/ this dorm was once a madhouse, I made a joke, well it’s made for me/ HOW EVERGREEN OUR GROUP OF FRIENDS, don’t think we’ll say that word again/ soon they’ll have the nerve to deck the halls that we once walked through/ ONE FOR THE MONEY, TWO FOR THE SHOW, I NEVER WAS READY SO I WATCHED YOU GO SOMETIMES YOU JUST DON'T KNOW THE ANSWER TILL SOMEONES ON THEIR KNEES AND ASKED YOU/ what a shame s[he]’s f***ed in the head, they said, but you’ll find the real thing instead”

[ahoyimlosingmymind]

single-handedly reviving the Fitz tag. Join me pookies. I know there are many of you. Scream with me.

[dragoncookies]

Okay but the fish are actually biting on the Fitz tag all of a sudden.

[ahoyimlosingmymind]

never getting over Sophie just letting Alvar go in that tower scene in Legacy right before the fitzphie break up. (Keefe might have been there too- i don't remember- which makes it a million times worse.)

like in what world was that her choice to make? Idc if the guy looked like death- that's not her son, or her brother, and the entire decision was just beyond stupid. ??? that's a known terrorist, who might have taken part in torturing you and Dex in book one?? that's your boyfriend's brother?? like you cannot be serious.

sure, Alvar might have crawled away to die, but to not tell his parents? to not give his family some closure? a body to bury??

that alone is a bigger reason for Fitz to break up with her than matchmaking by a landslide.

[dragoncookies]

no yeah this was actually the stupidest thing she's ever done. I love Sophie to pieces but why. WHY?? She could have made the deal and just taken him anyway. It would have been for the greater good man. I can't even begin to imagine what my fury would be if I was looking for someone for MONTHS and then my best friend (whom I trust a lot) just finds them out of nowhere AND THEN LETS THEM GO??? Like what?? He was dying anyways but at least let the Vackers have some closure I mean damn.

[dragoncookies]

The Unlocked Healing Center Scene

There are many, MANY scenes in which you could pick apart the ever-loving shit out of Fitz's dialogue and his actions, or just look at how his character is treated from the POV the scene is being told from and compare that to what objectively might be happening.

But one of my favorite's has got to be the Unlocked healing center scene from Keefe's POV, because GOLLY was Fitz just bagged on in that scene, in an almost undetectable way.

(This also isn't meant to be hate on Keefe btw. He's a fine character, not my absolute favorite, but there's no reason to hate on him. It just so happens that Keefe's POV of Fitz is especially patronizing in this scene).

First of all, Shannon starts the scene with presenting us with how lonely and sad he was, just straight up:

”sadness

Nervousness

Regret

Loneliness

Plus a hefty dash of anger.

Coming straight from Fitz” (-Unlocked, idk what page lmao).

I mean, the man was grieving. He just broke up with his maybe girlfriend AND lost the only chance he had to finding his terrorist older brother (who might or might not want to end him and who has caused him and his family immense stress/trauma for the past 4 books if not their entire lives to a degree) in one fell swoop (because of the maybe girlfriend he trusted a lot, not to mention Fitz values trust almost more than he does love so you could basically say the girl he loved).

Me personally? I would just cease to exist after that, but here we have sad, nervous, regretful, lonely and angry Fitz in the healing center waiting for his maybe-bro to wake up. 

Once Keefe DID wake up, Fitz was nothing if not worried for Keefe and trying to comfort Keefe. Fitz was obviously GENUINELY worried for Keefe. Look at this:

”Fitz tore a hand through his boringly perfect hair. ‘I get why your mad. But I’m only trying to help. I know what you’re going through-‘

’Right-you totally know what it’s like to have you mom do deadly experiments on you,’ Keefe muttered. ‘I must’ve forgotten that part of the Vacker history.”

’Maybe not,’ Fitz conceded, ‘but I know what it’s like to have a traitor in the family. And I also remember how scary it is to wake up in one of these cots after being brutally attacked-just like I know how hard it is to talk about what’s wrong, because it feels like you’re admitting the Neverseen beat you. But they only win if you keep pretending everything’s normal, because you end up making the damage permanent.’

’I’m not damaged-‘

‘You’re right. That’s the wrong word.’ Fitz blew out a breath. ‘Look, all I’m trying to say is that I wouldn’t be walking right now if I hadn’t let Elwin help me. I probably wouldn’t even be alive. So I want to make sure you get the help you need-and you do need it, Keefe. No matter what you believe. But accepting help doesn’t make you weak. It just means you’re taking care of yourself.’”

Such an underrated Fitz moment, imo.

First and foremost, lets just take a second to point out the "boringly perfect" hair comment. I don't know why this stuck out to me, but it shows how differently these two characters think. While Fitz has his hair styled "perfectly" because its been his lifestyle to maintain a perfect façade, here we can see that Keefe STILL doesn't understand just what goes beyond this perfect façade of Fitz's. Keefe values freedom, loves rebellion, and his hairstyle reflects that. Keefe makes it messy, but a masterpiece. To Keefe, Fitz's hair is just generic and standard. Perfect, well presenting, but it follows the standard of whatever is considered "perfect" to elves, so we can see that it is repulsive to Keefe's nature.

This is much the same as how much Keefe sees the scale of what Alvar's disappearance has done to the Vacker Family. Keefe continues to reject the idea that the Vackers aren't as perfect as he once believed. As soon as Fitz even mentioned the idea of empathy for Keefe, the idea of relating to him, Keefe immediately rejects it, and rejects the idea that Fitz could have gone through any mental/emotional turbulence as a result of the horrendous situations Alvar has put him and his family through. I mean, for crying out loud, Fitz had literally tried to kill his brother in an emotional mess of conflicting feelings and guilt just two books ago, and unheard of crime for the elves. Fitz had to spend weeks and WEEKS in the healing center. Keefe was there when Alvar, on his deathbed, described how the "Vacker Legacy" was what drove him to a life of crime.

Yes, Keefe was having a rough time to put it lightly, but taking it out on others isn't justified (if you want to be mad at Fitz for taking his anger out on others, now you have to be mad at Keefe for taking his emotional distress out on his friend). We can certainly understand it, but we can't justify it, and because the POV is from a likable character, we're more willing to trust what the character says. Since Keefe presents Fitz's actions in a way that makes them seem appalling and jerk-y, and if Keefe presents this idea in his POV that Fitz is always Mr. Perfect and never has trouble in his family, then the readers are more likely to believe that. Objectively, based on what Fitz is saying and doing, we can see he's struggled and is struggling a lot. Fitz had to have worked on learning to receive help himself (asking for help is a SKILL, believe it or not) in order to truly explain how important it is to Keefe in the way he did.

Who just says "Accepting help doesn't make you weak, it just means you're taking care of yourself" and doesn't mean it in the kindest, most sincerest way ever?

Not just Keefe can take this advice, anyone should.

Side note: I also feel like he gave himself bad flashbacks to when he called Sophie damaged in book two when he accidentally used the word here. Ouch.

At another point in this scene, Keefe also shows how irrational he can be, as Fitz is simply trying to do the right thing and get Keefe the help he needs, and Keefe is ABSOLUTELY DEMONIZING Fitz for it. Keefe's health was Fitz's priority, and Fitz didn't necessarily care if he stepped on Keefe's toes to get him the help that he couldn't see he needed (Sophie was in the room as this point):

Unlocked page 561:

“‘Uh, you should probably step back, Sophie,’ Fitz warned. ‘I think your emotions are too strong for him.’

’No, they’re not!’ Keefe argued-and wow,did his voice sound strained. He cleared his throat and tried again. ‘Nothings wrong. I swear, I’m fine.’

’He keeps saying that,’ Fitz told her-because he was begging for a face-punch. And if the world hadn’t gotten so spinny, Keefe might’ve given it to him when Fitz added, ‘But Keefe’s been picking up all our emotions without even trying. And he’s always been able to do that with you, so I think you’re overwhelming him right now.’

’Okay, I’m done liking Captain Perfectpants,’ Ro announced.

‘Keefe was right there with her-which was probably why he blurted out, ‘Uh, for the record, most of the emotions are coming from you, Fitzy. You wouldn’t happen to have some unresolved feelings for anyone in this room, would you?’”

I'm not gonna lie, if somebody read my emotions and called me out on something that I was VERY touchy about, and was a relatively new blow, I would just leave the room. That was an A class jerk move right there.

Not saying Keefe IS a jerk, because all the characters have acted jerk-y in the series and everyone has their moments, but it was still pretty rude of Keefe to make that comment. What’s annoying is that nobody in the books seemed to react as though it is rude when Keefe makes these kinds of comments. If it was anybody else who had said that, there would be an apology required in order for that character to be redeemed. 

Keefe also literally wanted to PUNCH Fitz, because Fitz was...making sure Keefe stayed alive? Because Fitz cared enough about Keefe's health to make sure the details were pressed out and make sure the facts of the situation were clear? So Elwin could actually do his job??

Keefe hated Fitz in this moment because Fitz was being a practical, helpful guy, but from Keefe's perspective it just makes Fitz look like an asshole.

Ro’s unsolicited opinions are also very unhelpful, since Ro is written to be in support of what Keefe wants (or just in support of whatever will make Sokeefe happen…she’s kind of creepy about her Sokeefe obsession ngl), it makes her more likable and therefore the readers are more likely to trust what she says or take her opinion as their own. 

But Ro saying things like “I’m done liking Captain Perfect Pants” is rude, because it 1), insinuates she will only like someone based on how much they please her, and 2) denotes him to his perfect facade, which undermines his brilliant and complex character. 

Eventually, Keefe tried to apologize to Sophie in a telepathic conversation. He didn’t remotely consider apologizing to Fitz. 

I mean, Keefe was crazy terrified and hurting but...I don’t get how when Fitz was hurt and acted out he was suddenly “toxic and trash”, but when Keefe did the exact same thing nobody said anything.

And nobody even knows Fitz is hurt because nobody asks him. Nobody talks to him about how hard the Alvar situation is for him because they’re scared he’ll just get mad and yell at them, or they just assume he’s just mad about it and wanted to kill Alvar. 

Is nobody going to see that there’s some deep emotional/mental trauma to unpack here? Is he always just going to have to help himself all the time?

At least Keefe has people who understand him, who are willing to talk to him about what’s wrong and help him through it. He had a seriously traumatic childhood, and I’m not comparing their trauma or anything, that’s not what I’m trying to do. What I am trying to say is, Keefe’s got a whole crew of people helping him, people who want to make sure he’s okay, people who care for him, and he rejects it, deems them annoying in Fitz’s case, and just discounts the effort and energy they spend on him.

There is a lot more to unpack from this scene, but it’s mostly all along a similar vein of what I talked about here (this is long enough haha). There are also tons of little details about the Vackers in Unlocked that just emphasize how pressured Fitz is into the Vacker mold, and how the Alvar drama just makes it worse. 

For example: reading Fitz’s registry file, it says that it is “highly suggested that he choose someone on his match list” because of how dragged the Vacker name already is. So when people want to get upset with him for choosing "his reputation over Sophie", we have text evidence that its more complicated than that. Fitz isn't just choosing between being liked by the world and the person he likes, he's choosing whether or not to maintain a level of peace within his family at his own sacrifice. SPOILERS! (if you haven't read stellarlune don't read the rest of this paragraph). Eventually it was his sacrifice, because as of stellar lune, Sokeefe is official. Fitz couldn't repair things with Sophie quick enough, so she moved on.

It also mentions in Keefe’s detention slip write ups about how people actually hassle Biana and Fitz at Foxfire for Alvar being apart of the Neverseen. Because of their family, because of the Alvar drama, Fitz and Biana can't go to school without people bullying them.

Theres also this sad note in Fitz’s Base Quest instructions where Fitz writes about how you can use you special abilities while playing base quest, but included a little side note that said “but it's no fun when you turn invisible the whole time and hide Alvar!” Which just insinuates that Alvar would turn invisible and leave to go do whatever else he wanted while Fitz still thought they were playing. :( 

Depressing. 

[dragoncookies]

I would much rather prefer a book of short stories from multiple POVS, that includes the Great Gulon incident or a short story from Rayni’s POV or a short story from Maruca’s POV or Fitz’s POV when he looked for Sophie in the forbidden cities, than a book entirely on Keefe’s POV from his adventures in the forbidden series when we already get so much of him in the regular books of the series.

it’s not that I have a problem with Keefe, he’s a great and lovebale character, but it just seems like Shannon is over-saturating the series in his character because she knows a lot of the fans like him. Shannon please we like Keefe but we also like the series for way more than just Keefe 😭