SoraFyre

• Just a delulu gal in a delulu world •

[sorafyr3]

Introduction to my digital diary <3

HEYYYY, I'm just a girl who loves silly little books, shows, movies and media in general <3

(I'm also a huge science loser- canonically: because I take maths, physics, computer science and chemistry A Levels lmao)

My favourite peices of media include;

- Stranger Things (💙💛)

- Ninjago (DR mostly but I also LOVE the OG)

- Young Justice

- Percy Jackson (books & show)

- Carmen Sandiago

- Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous & Jurassic World Chaos Theory

- A Good Girls Guide To Murder trilogy

- Keeper of the Lost Cities

- Theives Gambit duology (Thieves Gambit & Heist Royale)

- One of Us is Lying (books & the Netflix Show)

- Fourth Wing (The Emperean Series)

- The Goldfinch

- The Turning

- IT

- Ghostbusters

- The Kane Chronicles

- DC

- Demon Slayer

- Attack on Titan

- Avatar the Last Airbender

- One Piece Live Action

I love yapping about all of these so feel free to yap to them with me, weather it be theories, headcanons, ideas, or in general yap <33

Right now I'm kind of fixated on Stranger Things (esp Conformitygate and the mess ST made with Byler) but do yap to me about other stuff too <3

(and yes, I am a Byler Truther and a platonic JaneMike Truther, and yes I believe in Conformitygate)

I go by Sora here but I'm not really fussed with what I'm addressed as lol. I also have ao3, but I don't post that regularly because I'm swamped with my studies lol, but feel free to check it out)

Ships <3

Stranger Things

Romantic

Byler/Lesbyler/Cleradin/Wiseheart/miwi/BraveByers/WiseWheeler/Cleradin Lesbyler/any lesbyler variant (LET'S GO YURI)

Byclair/Bychance/Ryers/Will x Miles/Will x Boris/Byerson/ Will x anyone Will wants 😝

Jancy/Ronance/Stonathan

Henderhop/Lumax/JaneLumax (Elumax)/Janemax (Elmax)

Platonic

JaneMike

MadWheeler / MadWise

Stobin

Percy Jackson

Romantic

Percabeth/bi4bi Percabeth/book percabeth/show percabeth

Jercy/Piperbeth/ anything really, I love Percy & Annabeth so if their happy, I'm happy <3

Frazel/Valgrace/Jason is a gay loser you cannot convince me otherwise bcz why was he so freaked out about Piper being his girlfriend in tlh Who said that??

Rueregard

Solangelo

Thalia x Zoe/ Thalia x Reyna (Thalia is a lesbian trust guys 🤞)

Katie x Travis

Platonic

Jiper

Pernico / Nicobeth / Nico & Frank / Nico & Hazel / Nico & Jason / Nico & Reyna

Ninjago

Romantic

Lava (from the oni trilogy onwards, yes that includes DR)

Jaya (before Jay's only personality trait became 'I love Nya')

Pixane

WolfTech (Sora x Jordana)

Robfyre

Platonic

Greenflame/GreenEarth/GreenIce/RBG siblings/ the entire team with Lloyd

Sorin (Sora & Arin) / Sorafyre (Sora & Wildfyre) / Arinfyre (Arin & Wildfyre) / Kai & Wildfyre / Lloyd & Wildfyre / Nya & Wildfyre (I like Wildfyre okay?? Even tho my fav is Sora bcz wdym a cute, cool confident tech girly is in Ninjago?? That's me fr)

Bruise (Cole & Jay)

Etc

The rest

I'll find the time and energy to write them out at some point (hopefully)

Posts <3

Stranger Things

Conformitygate

Valentinegate - here

Playgate - here

ChatGPTgate - here

Newcokegate - here

Robbedromancegate - here

Spidermangate - here

TF85 -

Part 1,

Ninagate -

Pary 1, Part 2

WSKQgate - here

Headcanons

Ethnicity Headcanons for Mike & Will - here

General Thoughts/ Ideas

Immediate thoughts after the finale - here

Byler in the wild - here

Byler Variants

Genderswap Au -

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6

SevenSpins Au- post

Lessharknilla Au -

Part 1, Part 2

Cakefroster Au - post

Miraclbyler Au - post

Spacebyler Au - post

Fanfics

Mike gets Vecna'ed - post

Fanfic - You Are My Heart

Will ends up in the D&D Universe while Will the Wise is in his - Post

Fanfic - Life is Lacking a Cause to be Cruel

(I'll add more as I go along lol dw)

Anyways, I'm just a gal (and a huge yapper) and I'm just here to have some fun so please don't take anything I say too seriously <33

Happy 2026 Y'all!! THIS IS OUR YEAR 😋👊

[thesamsungsmartrefrigerator]

The "Keefe’s New Ability/Runaway" plotline makes no sense

I don't say this because I hate Keefe, more because the plotline genuinely confuses me for three main reasons (least to most):

there is no rhyme or reason to his new ability

Him running away is a stupid plot point that he blames on others that would not have happened if he literally listened to anyone else

I still don't understand why they went to get him beyond metaplot Sokeefe.

(Disclaimer, while I do not like Sokeefe, I am not an anti for either character. This is just something I found interesting to talk about! Please do not reblog this with anti tags, make this an anti post, etc. Your more then welcome to add, this has just happened to a few of my posts and I do not want it to as I am not an anti)

So, starting with reason one. I, genuinely, do not understand the reasoning for Keefe’s new ability. When it was originally introduced as a verbal mesmer ability, I genuinely thought it was a cool idea. (Mostly due to the interesting parallels of Fitz being a lot like Grady, Keefe being a lot like Alden, then being faced with having the opposite abilities of the adults they are like). Once they started introducing things like being able to trigger/sense people abilities I started to like it less. Again, I don't have an issue with powerful characters (for Sophie it's literally just the plot), my issue is that Keefe’s abilities don't make sense, nor are explained. Does empathy + polyglot = control over people's emotions/actions make sense? Not the most, but it at least make some, even if it was "1+1=3". There is no real canon explanation for why he has a bunch of other stuff on top of it.

Second: It still annoys me how him running away is portrayed. He is running away because he is afraid his new ability will hurt people. The ability he got because she did stuff to him in the dwarf city. The city he was only at because he directly ignored Sophie telling him not to go for his own safety because his mother was free and gave all the clues that she intended to do something to him. Even the line "I know my son better then you" didn't read as a "gotcha" moment, it read as "my son has not changed/gone through the devolpement you think he has, so I do known him better the you, because I've known him longer and he hasn't changed". Again, I think Keefe’s an interesting character, but the sheer lack of character arc for him drives me up the wall. The fact he ran away, for the same reasons and in the exact same way as in Neverseen (believing he knew best and therefore was in the right, that this would 100% help, told no one but Sophie, continued to interact and excuse Alvar’s actions, etc) is not a fun parallel, all it does is show us Keefe has. not. grown. He, just like in Neverseen, ignores the consequences of his own actions (current and past) to run away from his problems on the pretense of "doing it for other people." Again this is not an inherently bad character to write, it is interesting! The issue is this is not doing this well. It has been 11 books (including .5s). Telling us now that one of the 3 core cast members has not grown in the span of 11 books and 3 in universe years is bad writing. This happens pretty consistently within the books, and again it's not that it's bad that Shannon wrote a character with these traits, it's bad that she wrote them with these traits then wrote 11 books on them and in book 9 and 9.5 when "whoops! They didn't grow at all!" while giving us an entire book in their pov. A character has flaws, and then a character has core flaws that are the basis of what should be their character arc. Arcane for example: I wouldn't give a single fuck if Jinx got less anxious, or stopped grieving. Those are not her core negative traits, those are not what her arc is about. Her arc is about facing both what she's done and what's been done to her, severe depression/mental illness, and her relationship with her sister and those around her. How much less interesting would that be if it was "Jinxs learns to stop grieving Silco then kisses Echo"? Because genuinely this is how the later books have felt, because they ignore the core traits/things in the characters that need to change to actually move the plot and their arcs forward in exchange for looking at surface level issues ("He's to angry, shes to sad, he doesn't communicate") and then gives us "payoffs" (Sokeefe confession, Fitzphie confession, literally every single apology Fitz, Keefe or Sophie goves) that are meant to show growth that feel unearned- because they weren't. Because the character never actually had an arc.

Third: I still don't get why they went to get Keefe. I am be wrong here, but even if Keefe had the shadow tracker thing, why was it important? In canon, it's talked about how the Neverseen can track him. How? Genuinely? Umber is dead, Tam is back in the Lost Cities, the Neverseen have no shades? How tf are the tracking Keefe? A tracker is useless if no one can pick up the signal! They should have just left Keefe! He was well hidden (and has done fuck all in recent books beyond being unhelpful or actively aiding the Neverseen by accident- see Legacy).

Anyway, these are my thoughts. Curious what the rest of you guys think

[sorafyr3]

1) We don't know the narrative importance of Keefe's powers yet because we don't have book 10 but I can assume Gisela is going to use it as a power play. We never know what the Neverseen's plans are.

I think his powers are going to have a greater narrative purpose in the next few books. If Keefe can trigger abilities and heal them, who says he can't take them away? Imagine the entire Elvin society crumbling because the Neverseen can take abilities away! They would have the ultimate power and Keefe would be at the centre of it. He would be the most important player on the board and I'm really looking forward to seeing more of the powers in book 10.

2) I understand what you're trying to say here, but I want to just remind you about Keefe's childhood. He was abused severely (emotionally) and had bits of physical abuse throughout his entire childhood. The only way he knows how to deal with his problems is to run. Because that's the only way he won't be battered by his parents.

If he stays, his parents will chip away at him, bit by bit until he doesn't know who he is anymore and is the obedient son. Gisela has groomed Keefe into acting exactly how she wants him to act (sacrifice himself for his friends, refuse to listen etc). She knows her son. She knows how to manipulate him.

When you are abused to the extent Keefe has, you don't think about consequences, you just think about escaping. Keefe acts the way he does because he's so afraid of Gisela, he doesn't want his friends subjected to her. He would do anything to save them from what he experienced. He's a traumatised teenager and he thinks the way for all of his friends to be safe is for him to leave, so Gisela doesn't target them. So he does. It may not make complete sense, but Keefe is a traumatised 15/16 year old. He doesn't know any better. He can't trust other people because the only person he's had for a long time is himself. It's easier to fuck yourself over than listening to other people who want the best for you.

3) They went to find him because Lady Gisela had a tracker put on him and they couldn't guarantee his safety. If they could find him, so could Gisela and they couldn't risk that.

Also why are we surprised Gisela put a tracker on him 💀 the same woman who experimented on herself and her husband, claimed many times Keefe was her most important player on the board, put a tracker on him. Why are we shocked??? 😭

It makes sense narratively; Gisela wants Keefe and his new powers for step 3 of stellarlune. She puts a tracker in him so she will be able to find him to use him and his powers.

I'm too tired to finish this bruh 😭

I just want to make clear that I'm not trying to hate, I respect your opinion but I have a different opinion and i just wanted to give a different perspective :)

[thesamsungsmartrefrigerator]

While I agree with the reasoning (character wise) of why Keefe ran away, the narrative reason is horrible; as in, yes he was abused and this is not me trying to say he wasn't nor that he should be demonized, but the fact that he's yet to have an arc as a character or change over 11 books is ridiculous when the author tries to use parallels to past events to highlight a lack of change. as Keefe is a character, not a person and unlike a person who won't have a planned out arc, a character needs a planned arc for a multi book series with parallels. Keefe was absued, that resulted in flaws. These are still flaws, despite how reasonable they are, and are traits he needs to work on as a character to grow. This is good writing (giving characters flaws and working on them), what's happening with keefe is not (giving a character flaws and ignoring them on the pretense that he deserves to have them). Absolutely 0 hate to you OP, I just keep seeing this come up on Keefe defense posts, and it's really disheartening to see (as a victim of abuse) for people to be saying that there is 0 work to be done, or that criticism of behavior is not valid just because behaviors can be justified. Abuse doesn't define a person, Keefe is not his abuse. he suffered from it, he has experienced the negative effects, but his actions are his own not his abusers and he has to take responsibility. It sounds harsh but being toxic because someone was toxic to you is not a good thing (YOU have not been! I this is reffering to the character not you, this was a really respectful response!)

For me, the issues is again the lack of arc. The first time Keefe did this it made sense. But it's been 11 books, and this is a story not real life, a lack of a character confronting abuse is (while realistic) bad writing. I adore Keefe, but I like him because he's flawed. I've liked him less in later books because there is no arc for him, he doesn't get worse or better, he doesn't change. Because of this, it feels less like Keefe making decisions and more like Shannon drop kicking a character into different roles for angst reasons (one of the main criticisms i have with the series writing). I also disagree Keefe’s fucking himself over, him running away is a selfish descion (and AGAIN if this had been earlier in the series i would have aplauded this, but this late just feels like a slap in the fact to a lack of development) that fucks over other people more. Not to mention his being afraid of Gisela while also choosing to run too her is a contradiction that again, doesn't make sense. If he had stayed, it would have been him learning to stop letting her control him, but due to how it was written with parallels to him earlier it just feels like he's terrified and inactive and just tore down the development we spent books (kinda) working on.

The tracker was a Shadowfulx tracker. They found him through Tam. Gisela doesn't have a shade cuz Umber got crushed (/clarifying), hence my confusion about why they would think she could.

My issues with his abilities again just come down to it being a boring nonsense plot point, where there are so many other characters that could be used and just having him as a mesmer would have been both strong enough and scary enough to serve the same purpose

Again, 0 hate to prev! You raised some valid points and I only touched on the ones I disagree with!

[sorafyr3]

I agree with the fact that Keefe is more than his abuse. Point blank period. Everyone is more than the abuse that they've been through and I will never understand people who disagree. Yes abuse can change the way you act and interact with people, it can explain behaviour but it is not an excuse for terrible behaviour.

I honestly think the reason Keefe hasn't been putting in work to change or confront Gisela is because he knows he will lose. He knows she's too smart and he'll never be able to beat her. There's going to be a final confrontation and Keefe is going to lose. Speaking from Keefe's perspective; What's the point in putting in the effort to change and be stronger when she's going to win anyways? (Obviously I don't think this but I'm trying to put in perspective how he would think).

At this point in time, Keefe (& the Black Swan) have lost every. Single. Time. Gisela has won every. Single. Time.

Keefe obviously thinks he's not going to make it and that's why (I think) he's not putting in the effort to change. In my own experience, I've felt at times: 'what's the point if my best is never good enough? Why would I put in any effort if it's not going to matter? There will always be someone better than me.' It's not rational and I try my best to not let stuff like this affect me, but it still gets to me. This is kind of what I feel like Keefe is going through (and kinda why I relate to him 😭).

I think his character arc is going to be one where he is slowly broken over time, until a point of no return. Like he goes deeper and deeper into his mom's clutches before eventually killing her from the inside and starting his healing journey.

In simpler terms:

Keefe is introduced -> Keefe is a good friend to Sophie -> Keefe is betrayed by his mother -> Keefe finds out all the horrible things his mom has done -> Keefe is angry and upset -> Keefe is scared of his mom -> Keefe wants to protect his friends -> Keefe faces Gisela -> Keefe becomes Gisela's weapon -> Keefe is broken by Gisela (mentally/physically) -> Keefe fights back and kills Gisela -> Keefe saves his friends -> Keefe heals from his pain.

It's not exact, but it's the basic jist of what I mean.

Also the Shadowflux tracker was connected to a spyball that could access the shadow plane which is how Gisela (& Sophie/Dec/Tam) could find him.

Keefe does kinda have the ability of a Mesmer but dialled up to 100. I know that we could've had other characters and a different plot but I'm really excited for Gisela to pull off her final plan and we get a Keefe vs Sophie final battle where she's able to save him and he's able to kill his mom once and for all.

I really appreciate how respectful you made your points, it's so refreshing! I also agree with some of your points here but I honestly really love what we've got with the plot and I'm super excited to see what's next 😆

[thesamsungsmartrefrigerator]

I agree that I think this is how Shannon's going to do it!

Again, my main issues is just the fact that on a writing level (aka what Shannon actually wrote vs the actions taken by Keefe Sencen who is technically not real) Shannon has had 11 books to do this arc and didn't, which is just frustrating for me when I did like Keefe before his character felt dumbed down to abuse and Sokeefe (mainly just my issues with Unraveled and Stellarlune, I actually adored his POV in Unlocked). It would have been a great arc, but for it to be starting at book 12 just feels like crap because Keefe’s been a main character for 11 books ;-;

Ty for clarification on the spy ball xD I was confused as hell the first time I read it and still was xD

(Ty! You were respectful too :) I come here for debate and analysis, not a fist fight. Meaning it's fine if I don't agree with the person on things, generally we both still like KOTLC and want to see where it ends. If we don't agree on one or two things about the writing, that's the least important part when I got the chance to actually yap about analysis of plot points /gen)

[sorafyr3]

I agree that she could've sprinkled more of Keefe's character arc and development throughout the series but I'm holding out hope that it'll be fully unraveled in book 10. (See what I did there? Unraveled (book 9.5??) Okay I'll shut up now 🤡)

I actually love the fact that Keefe had to fight so hard to have a chance to get what he wanted, and it still wasn't enough. He loved Sophie silently for years because he loved and respected her and Fitz too much to act on his feelings. Sokeefe feels earned to me but his other characteristics need some spotlight.

It does feel super shitty we haven't gotten a proper spotlight on Keefe for ages, since he's a main character and all, but I'm still holding out hope <33

(<333 EXACTLYYY!!! I LOVE YAPPING ABOUT MY INTERESTS AND DEBATING DIFFERENT OPINIONS AND POVS! IT'S HALF THE FUN OF BEING A FAN <333 Also I haven't had so much fun breaking down the writing and plot of a book series and debating it with someone in ages, so ty <33.

Made my freaking day /gen)

[vanillairis7]

"Mike doesn't deserve either Jane or Will" that's just like an insane thing to say about a teenage boy, honestly. Did he make mistakes and say/do stuff that he shouldn't have? Yes. And both Jane and Will deserve apologies for it but those things don't make Mike not deserve love, especially from Will. Will understands and loves Mike and vice versa. Mike Wheeler deserves to love and be loved.

[sammiiiithedummest]

The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️

The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️

The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️

[sorafyr3]

Is this a sign for me to finish my cleradin Wip???

(the first 2 chapters are on Ao3)

[sammiiiithedummest]

Yes it is!!!!!!

[sorafyr3]

You've really twisted my arm here...

(AFTER EXAMS I PROMISE GUYS I'LL UPDATE)

[sammiiiithedummest]

Yippeee 🎉🎉🎉

(genuinely no pressure tho, take your time!!!)

[sorafyr3]

🫡🫡🫡

AYE AYE CAPTAIN

[sammiiiithedummest]

The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️

The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️

The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️

[sorafyr3]

Is this a sign for me to finish my cleradin Wip???

(the first 2 chapters are on Ao3)

[sammiiiithedummest]

Yes it is!!!!!!

[sorafyr3]

You've really twisted my arm here...

(AFTER EXAMS I PROMISE GUYS I'LL UPDATE)

[thesamsungsmartrefrigerator]

The "Keefe’s New Ability/Runaway" plotline makes no sense

I don't say this because I hate Keefe, more because the plotline genuinely confuses me for three main reasons (least to most):

there is no rhyme or reason to his new ability

Him running away is a stupid plot point that he blames on others that would not have happened if he literally listened to anyone else

I still don't understand why they went to get him beyond metaplot Sokeefe.

(Disclaimer, while I do not like Sokeefe, I am not an anti for either character. This is just something I found interesting to talk about! Please do not reblog this with anti tags, make this an anti post, etc. Your more then welcome to add, this has just happened to a few of my posts and I do not want it to as I am not an anti)

So, starting with reason one. I, genuinely, do not understand the reasoning for Keefe’s new ability. When it was originally introduced as a verbal mesmer ability, I genuinely thought it was a cool idea. (Mostly due to the interesting parallels of Fitz being a lot like Grady, Keefe being a lot like Alden, then being faced with having the opposite abilities of the adults they are like). Once they started introducing things like being able to trigger/sense people abilities I started to like it less. Again, I don't have an issue with powerful characters (for Sophie it's literally just the plot), my issue is that Keefe’s abilities don't make sense, nor are explained. Does empathy + polyglot = control over people's emotions/actions make sense? Not the most, but it at least make some, even if it was "1+1=3". There is no real canon explanation for why he has a bunch of other stuff on top of it.

Second: It still annoys me how him running away is portrayed. He is running away because he is afraid his new ability will hurt people. The ability he got because she did stuff to him in the dwarf city. The city he was only at because he directly ignored Sophie telling him not to go for his own safety because his mother was free and gave all the clues that she intended to do something to him. Even the line "I know my son better then you" didn't read as a "gotcha" moment, it read as "my son has not changed/gone through the devolpement you think he has, so I do known him better the you, because I've known him longer and he hasn't changed". Again, I think Keefe’s an interesting character, but the sheer lack of character arc for him drives me up the wall. The fact he ran away, for the same reasons and in the exact same way as in Neverseen (believing he knew best and therefore was in the right, that this would 100% help, told no one but Sophie, continued to interact and excuse Alvar’s actions, etc) is not a fun parallel, all it does is show us Keefe has. not. grown. He, just like in Neverseen, ignores the consequences of his own actions (current and past) to run away from his problems on the pretense of "doing it for other people." Again this is not an inherently bad character to write, it is interesting! The issue is this is not doing this well. It has been 11 books (including .5s). Telling us now that one of the 3 core cast members has not grown in the span of 11 books and 3 in universe years is bad writing. This happens pretty consistently within the books, and again it's not that it's bad that Shannon wrote a character with these traits, it's bad that she wrote them with these traits then wrote 11 books on them and in book 9 and 9.5 when "whoops! They didn't grow at all!" while giving us an entire book in their pov. A character has flaws, and then a character has core flaws that are the basis of what should be their character arc. Arcane for example: I wouldn't give a single fuck if Jinx got less anxious, or stopped grieving. Those are not her core negative traits, those are not what her arc is about. Her arc is about facing both what she's done and what's been done to her, severe depression/mental illness, and her relationship with her sister and those around her. How much less interesting would that be if it was "Jinxs learns to stop grieving Silco then kisses Echo"? Because genuinely this is how the later books have felt, because they ignore the core traits/things in the characters that need to change to actually move the plot and their arcs forward in exchange for looking at surface level issues ("He's to angry, shes to sad, he doesn't communicate") and then gives us "payoffs" (Sokeefe confession, Fitzphie confession, literally every single apology Fitz, Keefe or Sophie goves) that are meant to show growth that feel unearned- because they weren't. Because the character never actually had an arc.

Third: I still don't get why they went to get Keefe. I am be wrong here, but even if Keefe had the shadow tracker thing, why was it important? In canon, it's talked about how the Neverseen can track him. How? Genuinely? Umber is dead, Tam is back in the Lost Cities, the Neverseen have no shades? How tf are the tracking Keefe? A tracker is useless if no one can pick up the signal! They should have just left Keefe! He was well hidden (and has done fuck all in recent books beyond being unhelpful or actively aiding the Neverseen by accident- see Legacy).

Anyway, these are my thoughts. Curious what the rest of you guys think

[sorafyr3]

1) We don't know the narrative importance of Keefe's powers yet because we don't have book 10 but I can assume Gisela is going to use it as a power play. We never know what the Neverseen's plans are.

I think his powers are going to have a greater narrative purpose in the next few books. If Keefe can trigger abilities and heal them, who says he can't take them away? Imagine the entire Elvin society crumbling because the Neverseen can take abilities away! They would have the ultimate power and Keefe would be at the centre of it. He would be the most important player on the board and I'm really looking forward to seeing more of the powers in book 10.

2) I understand what you're trying to say here, but I want to just remind you about Keefe's childhood. He was abused severely (emotionally) and had bits of physical abuse throughout his entire childhood. The only way he knows how to deal with his problems is to run. Because that's the only way he won't be battered by his parents.

If he stays, his parents will chip away at him, bit by bit until he doesn't know who he is anymore and is the obedient son. Gisela has groomed Keefe into acting exactly how she wants him to act (sacrifice himself for his friends, refuse to listen etc). She knows her son. She knows how to manipulate him.

When you are abused to the extent Keefe has, you don't think about consequences, you just think about escaping. Keefe acts the way he does because he's so afraid of Gisela, he doesn't want his friends subjected to her. He would do anything to save them from what he experienced. He's a traumatised teenager and he thinks the way for all of his friends to be safe is for him to leave, so Gisela doesn't target them. So he does. It may not make complete sense, but Keefe is a traumatised 15/16 year old. He doesn't know any better. He can't trust other people because the only person he's had for a long time is himself. It's easier to fuck yourself over than listening to other people who want the best for you.

3) They went to find him because Lady Gisela had a tracker put on him and they couldn't guarantee his safety. If they could find him, so could Gisela and they couldn't risk that.

Also why are we surprised Gisela put a tracker on him 💀 the same woman who experimented on herself and her husband, claimed many times Keefe was her most important player on the board, put a tracker on him. Why are we shocked??? 😭

It makes sense narratively; Gisela wants Keefe and his new powers for step 3 of stellarlune. She puts a tracker in him so she will be able to find him to use him and his powers.

I'm too tired to finish this bruh 😭

I just want to make clear that I'm not trying to hate, I respect your opinion but I have a different opinion and i just wanted to give a different perspective :)

[thesamsungsmartrefrigerator]

While I agree with the reasoning (character wise) of why Keefe ran away, the narrative reason is horrible; as in, yes he was abused and this is not me trying to say he wasn't nor that he should be demonized, but the fact that he's yet to have an arc as a character or change over 11 books is ridiculous when the author tries to use parallels to past events to highlight a lack of change. as Keefe is a character, not a person and unlike a person who won't have a planned out arc, a character needs a planned arc for a multi book series with parallels. Keefe was absued, that resulted in flaws. These are still flaws, despite how reasonable they are, and are traits he needs to work on as a character to grow. This is good writing (giving characters flaws and working on them), what's happening with keefe is not (giving a character flaws and ignoring them on the pretense that he deserves to have them). Absolutely 0 hate to you OP, I just keep seeing this come up on Keefe defense posts, and it's really disheartening to see (as a victim of abuse) for people to be saying that there is 0 work to be done, or that criticism of behavior is not valid just because behaviors can be justified. Abuse doesn't define a person, Keefe is not his abuse. he suffered from it, he has experienced the negative effects, but his actions are his own not his abusers and he has to take responsibility. It sounds harsh but being toxic because someone was toxic to you is not a good thing (YOU have not been! I this is reffering to the character not you, this was a really respectful response!)

For me, the issues is again the lack of arc. The first time Keefe did this it made sense. But it's been 11 books, and this is a story not real life, a lack of a character confronting abuse is (while realistic) bad writing. I adore Keefe, but I like him because he's flawed. I've liked him less in later books because there is no arc for him, he doesn't get worse or better, he doesn't change. Because of this, it feels less like Keefe making decisions and more like Shannon drop kicking a character into different roles for angst reasons (one of the main criticisms i have with the series writing). I also disagree Keefe’s fucking himself over, him running away is a selfish descion (and AGAIN if this had been earlier in the series i would have aplauded this, but this late just feels like a slap in the fact to a lack of development) that fucks over other people more. Not to mention his being afraid of Gisela while also choosing to run too her is a contradiction that again, doesn't make sense. If he had stayed, it would have been him learning to stop letting her control him, but due to how it was written with parallels to him earlier it just feels like he's terrified and inactive and just tore down the development we spent books (kinda) working on.

The tracker was a Shadowfulx tracker. They found him through Tam. Gisela doesn't have a shade cuz Umber got crushed (/clarifying), hence my confusion about why they would think she could.

My issues with his abilities again just come down to it being a boring nonsense plot point, where there are so many other characters that could be used and just having him as a mesmer would have been both strong enough and scary enough to serve the same purpose

Again, 0 hate to prev! You raised some valid points and I only touched on the ones I disagree with!

[sorafyr3]

I agree with the fact that Keefe is more than his abuse. Point blank period. Everyone is more than the abuse that they've been through and I will never understand people who disagree. Yes abuse can change the way you act and interact with people, it can explain behaviour but it is not an excuse for terrible behaviour.

I honestly think the reason Keefe hasn't been putting in work to change or confront Gisela is because he knows he will lose. He knows she's too smart and he'll never be able to beat her. There's going to be a final confrontation and Keefe is going to lose. Speaking from Keefe's perspective; What's the point in putting in the effort to change and be stronger when she's going to win anyways? (Obviously I don't think this but I'm trying to put in perspective how he would think).

At this point in time, Keefe (& the Black Swan) have lost every. Single. Time. Gisela has won every. Single. Time.

Keefe obviously thinks he's not going to make it and that's why (I think) he's not putting in the effort to change. In my own experience, I've felt at times: 'what's the point if my best is never good enough? Why would I put in any effort if it's not going to matter? There will always be someone better than me.' It's not rational and I try my best to not let stuff like this affect me, but it still gets to me. This is kind of what I feel like Keefe is going through (and kinda why I relate to him 😭).

I think his character arc is going to be one where he is slowly broken over time, until a point of no return. Like he goes deeper and deeper into his mom's clutches before eventually killing her from the inside and starting his healing journey.

In simpler terms:

Keefe is introduced -> Keefe is a good friend to Sophie -> Keefe is betrayed by his mother -> Keefe finds out all the horrible things his mom has done -> Keefe is angry and upset -> Keefe is scared of his mom -> Keefe wants to protect his friends -> Keefe faces Gisela -> Keefe becomes Gisela's weapon -> Keefe is broken by Gisela (mentally/physically) -> Keefe fights back and kills Gisela -> Keefe saves his friends -> Keefe heals from his pain.

It's not exact, but it's the basic jist of what I mean.

Also the Shadowflux tracker was connected to a spyball that could access the shadow plane which is how Gisela (& Sophie/Dec/Tam) could find him.

Keefe does kinda have the ability of a Mesmer but dialled up to 100. I know that we could've had other characters and a different plot but I'm really excited for Gisela to pull off her final plan and we get a Keefe vs Sophie final battle where she's able to save him and he's able to kill his mom once and for all.

I really appreciate how respectful you made your points, it's so refreshing! I also agree with some of your points here but I honestly really love what we've got with the plot and I'm super excited to see what's next 😆

[sammiiiithedummest]

The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️

The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️

The next Byler Book club fic should be cleradin 🕯️

[sorafyr3]

Is this a sign for me to finish my cleradin Wip???

(the first 2 chapters are on Ao3)

[misspracticallydelulu]

This is so fucking funny I can’t 😂

While we’re driving the CG Bus — Finn is driving the Byler Car I guess LMAO

“BEEP BEEP get in loser we’re Bylering out!”

— Finn probably

[sorafyr3]

"Finn, we're making ST meta, you HAVE to wear blue and yellow ALL the time and make Byler references all the time to make it work ok? Also you can't come to any panels and tell Millie to go back to the UK because she can't come to any panels either because she's dead (in the show)."

😭😭😭

[thesamsungsmartrefrigerator]

The "Keefe’s New Ability/Runaway" plotline makes no sense

I don't say this because I hate Keefe, more because the plotline genuinely confuses me for three main reasons (least to most):

there is no rhyme or reason to his new ability

Him running away is a stupid plot point that he blames on others that would not have happened if he literally listened to anyone else

I still don't understand why they went to get him beyond metaplot Sokeefe.

(Disclaimer, while I do not like Sokeefe, I am not an anti for either character. This is just something I found interesting to talk about! Please do not reblog this with anti tags, make this an anti post, etc. Your more then welcome to add, this has just happened to a few of my posts and I do not want it to as I am not an anti)

So, starting with reason one. I, genuinely, do not understand the reasoning for Keefe’s new ability. When it was originally introduced as a verbal mesmer ability, I genuinely thought it was a cool idea. (Mostly due to the interesting parallels of Fitz being a lot like Grady, Keefe being a lot like Alden, then being faced with having the opposite abilities of the adults they are like). Once they started introducing things like being able to trigger/sense people abilities I started to like it less. Again, I don't have an issue with powerful characters (for Sophie it's literally just the plot), my issue is that Keefe’s abilities don't make sense, nor are explained. Does empathy + polyglot = control over people's emotions/actions make sense? Not the most, but it at least make some, even if it was "1+1=3". There is no real canon explanation for why he has a bunch of other stuff on top of it.

Second: It still annoys me how him running away is portrayed. He is running away because he is afraid his new ability will hurt people. The ability he got because she did stuff to him in the dwarf city. The city he was only at because he directly ignored Sophie telling him not to go for his own safety because his mother was free and gave all the clues that she intended to do something to him. Even the line "I know my son better then you" didn't read as a "gotcha" moment, it read as "my son has not changed/gone through the devolpement you think he has, so I do known him better the you, because I've known him longer and he hasn't changed". Again, I think Keefe’s an interesting character, but the sheer lack of character arc for him drives me up the wall. The fact he ran away, for the same reasons and in the exact same way as in Neverseen (believing he knew best and therefore was in the right, that this would 100% help, told no one but Sophie, continued to interact and excuse Alvar’s actions, etc) is not a fun parallel, all it does is show us Keefe has. not. grown. He, just like in Neverseen, ignores the consequences of his own actions (current and past) to run away from his problems on the pretense of "doing it for other people." Again this is not an inherently bad character to write, it is interesting! The issue is this is not doing this well. It has been 11 books (including .5s). Telling us now that one of the 3 core cast members has not grown in the span of 11 books and 3 in universe years is bad writing. This happens pretty consistently within the books, and again it's not that it's bad that Shannon wrote a character with these traits, it's bad that she wrote them with these traits then wrote 11 books on them and in book 9 and 9.5 when "whoops! They didn't grow at all!" while giving us an entire book in their pov. A character has flaws, and then a character has core flaws that are the basis of what should be their character arc. Arcane for example: I wouldn't give a single fuck if Jinx got less anxious, or stopped grieving. Those are not her core negative traits, those are not what her arc is about. Her arc is about facing both what she's done and what's been done to her, severe depression/mental illness, and her relationship with her sister and those around her. How much less interesting would that be if it was "Jinxs learns to stop grieving Silco then kisses Echo"? Because genuinely this is how the later books have felt, because they ignore the core traits/things in the characters that need to change to actually move the plot and their arcs forward in exchange for looking at surface level issues ("He's to angry, shes to sad, he doesn't communicate") and then gives us "payoffs" (Sokeefe confession, Fitzphie confession, literally every single apology Fitz, Keefe or Sophie goves) that are meant to show growth that feel unearned- because they weren't. Because the character never actually had an arc.

Third: I still don't get why they went to get Keefe. I am be wrong here, but even if Keefe had the shadow tracker thing, why was it important? In canon, it's talked about how the Neverseen can track him. How? Genuinely? Umber is dead, Tam is back in the Lost Cities, the Neverseen have no shades? How tf are the tracking Keefe? A tracker is useless if no one can pick up the signal! They should have just left Keefe! He was well hidden (and has done fuck all in recent books beyond being unhelpful or actively aiding the Neverseen by accident- see Legacy).

Anyway, these are my thoughts. Curious what the rest of you guys think

[sorafyr3]

1) We don't know the narrative importance of Keefe's powers yet because we don't have book 10 but I can assume Gisela is going to use it as a power play. We never know what the Neverseen's plans are.

I think his powers are going to have a greater narrative purpose in the next few books. If Keefe can trigger abilities and heal them, who says he can't take them away? Imagine the entire Elvin society crumbling because the Neverseen can take abilities away! They would have the ultimate power and Keefe would be at the centre of it. He would be the most important player on the board and I'm really looking forward to seeing more of the powers in book 10.

2) I understand what you're trying to say here, but I want to just remind you about Keefe's childhood. He was abused severely (emotionally) and had bits of physical abuse throughout his entire childhood. The only way he knows how to deal with his problems is to run. Because that's the only way he won't be battered by his parents.

If he stays, his parents will chip away at him, bit by bit until he doesn't know who he is anymore and is the obedient son. Gisela has groomed Keefe into acting exactly how she wants him to act (sacrifice himself for his friends, refuse to listen etc). She knows her son. She knows how to manipulate him.

When you are abused to the extent Keefe has, you don't think about consequences, you just think about escaping. Keefe acts the way he does because he's so afraid of Gisela, he doesn't want his friends subjected to her. He would do anything to save them from what he experienced. He's a traumatised teenager and he thinks the way for all of his friends to be safe is for him to leave, so Gisela doesn't target them. So he does. It may not make complete sense, but Keefe is a traumatised 15/16 year old. He doesn't know any better. He can't trust other people because the only person he's had for a long time is himself. It's easier to fuck yourself over than listening to other people who want the best for you.

3) They went to find him because Lady Gisela had a tracker put on him and they couldn't guarantee his safety. If they could find him, so could Gisela and they couldn't risk that.

Also why are we surprised Gisela put a tracker on him 💀 the same woman who experimented on herself and her husband, claimed many times Keefe was her most important player on the board, put a tracker on him. Why are we shocked??? 😭

It makes sense narratively; Gisela wants Keefe and his new powers for step 3 of stellarlune. She puts a tracker in him so she will be able to find him to use him and his powers.

I'm too tired to finish this bruh 😭

I just want to make clear that I'm not trying to hate, I respect your opinion but I have a different opinion and i just wanted to give a different perspective :)

[keeperstyx]

ok

[lilialunaa]

whatever that means😭and they got miwi up there too

[3mryss]

Couples in S4's Cliffhanger

Walk with me....

I believe I have found something. Just in case I haven't said it before, I don't think Jancy is endgame for a lot of reasons. The most undeniable one is WSQK. It hints at a relationship between Steve and Jonathan instead. I made a post about it here. Also read @strange-anni's reblog. It's really good.

Here is what I noticed....

We all said that this meant that the canon couples would be Jopper, Byler and Jancy? Well, if you look at where El, our protagonist is standing, she separates Jopper and Byler from Jancy. Even the huge heap of smoke in front of her separates Jancy from the rest.

What does Jopper and Byler have in common? Well, their relationships were built over time. A random person (Murray) didn't tell them they were meant to be together before they started loving each other. Jancy, on the other hand, are trauma-bonded. Nancy says it herself in S2 when she wonders why they only communicate when they need to get things done. I've also been wondering if Nancy ever spoke to Jonathan before Will went missing. Jonathan usually picks Will up from the Wheeler's but we don't see anything between them not even a glance to indicate there was something there. It was Will and then Barb's disappearance that brought them together.

Take a look at this.....

Jopper and Byler to El's left then Jancy to El's right.

Remember that El normally bleeds from her left nostril....

On El's (L's) side equals good/safe/real

On the R side I think could possibly indicate a Code Red.

On the right side with Jancy, you see a helicopter above and they are usually used to rescue people suggesting to me they (Jancy) both need to be rescued from their conformist relationship. Their situation is an "emergency" but don't fret, Steve and Robin will come to their rescue soon...

Conclusion

Every day, I get more confident that Byler, Ronance and Stonathan have been hinted at throughout the show just like Korrasami here and would eventually become canon, that is if death is out of the equation for these characters. I'm really excited! Woker things is canon.

Thanks for reading. Hope this makes sense:)

[bebx]

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

THISSSSSSS!!!!!!! curate your own internet experience. block them because they’re allergic to peanut butter, block them because they have what you don’t, block them because they dislike your favorite food, block them because you don’t like their layout, block them because you can.

blocking is NOT a personal attack against someone. it’s you curating your own internet experience and catering for your comfort, and you have every right to do that.

you, yes, you!!! you CANNOT tell other people to censor themselves for your own comfort and personal likings. you CANNOT tell them what they can or can’t post. you CANNOT tell them what they can or can’t write. you CANNOT tell them what they can or can’t draw. BUT you CAN block them for whatever reason.

that block button is offered to you for free. use. it.

[beatrix33]

will Byers would not be a fucking art history major or minor, he would hate art history. He would be a fine arts and math double major.

[sorafyr3]

From someone who is a science freak, I think Will would Major in fine arts and Minor in theoretical physics.

No I will not elaborate 💛 /lh

[hellfirehoe]

willow byers, michelle wheeler, daisy henderson and lucy sinclair

[sorafyr3]

Imagine if the Lesbyler universe party were thrown into our universe to try and get Byler together otherwise the whole world is doomed.

Lescore 4 in Hawkins, while Max & James (El) are in California.

Sighs, another Au I'm never gonna have the energy to write 😔

[mikewheelerisaqueerler]

crazy that this shot was a thing