#ed nonsie

[bookwyrminspiration]

would you like to be reminded of the observation you made about sophie while writing that post?

- ed

oo yes thank you for this! As predicted, it slipped my mind, but! now I can talk about the Sophie observation I made during my reread of the entire series--which isn't complete yet, I'm almost done with Flashback, so most of my reasoning is going to come from events sans books 8 and 8.5. Though there may be lines in those books that also contribute to this observation, probably not though

to preface this, I want to first refresh on the fandom's view of Sophie and how we see her. What words do we often associate with her? Overpowered, moonlark, clumsy, arsonist, etc. But! There is a very specific word we've (and I'm including myself in this) used to describe her for a very long time: oblivious. And that...just isn't true. Sophie is in fact incredibly observant in all areas, and that includes things about the love triangle (formerly a square). She knows! She knows all about it and what everyone's implied meanings are, what people have crushes about her, etc. She has been fully aware this entire time! It's not that she's oblivious, it's that she's uncomfortable and doesn't value herself enough to pay attention to it, a completely different thing.

I'm going to pull a few different passages from the series to show what I mean

Nightfall, page 137-138:

"Or maybe you'd rather I put my incredible Empath talents to work and help you solve the complicated square you're always telling yourself is a triangle?"

She shook her head, refusing to admit she knew what he meant.

Nightfall, page 262:

"How long have you known I liked you?" he asked without looking at her.

"Honestly? I'm not sure."

She'd spent so long pretending not to notice, it was hard to pin it down. But it might have also been part of the reason they'd been spending a little less time together--and why they mostly hung out in bigger groups.

Flashback, page 660:

And Sophie realized then...

Those really had been moments.

She hadn't been misreading the situation.

She'd just been too scared to believe it.

___________

I could probably find a few more spots to support my claims but these are the instances that stand out the most in my mind, hence why I'm quoting them. But do you get what I mean?

I mean, Della flat out says in Neverseen that "Alden warned me that you're very perceptive" (80). And somehow despite this and how astute she's been we've kinda labelled her as oblivious so quickly when that really doesn't match with a lot of what we know about her. She tries to consider things from every angle, and that includes wondering if people think romantically about her! She's aware that it's a possible way to interpret their actions, she just tries to avoid that and justify it some other while while knowing what it could mean.

It's possible that Ro calling her oblivious--a character who doesn't know her very well and has only been in 3.5 books compared to the entire 8.5 series we've known Sophie--helped solidify that in people's minds but I don't think Ro's observation is that trustworthy. We can also look at Keefe's short story after Nightfall where they say that Sophie has no idea what she's feeling and he has that "Yeah. I'm an Empath" line that I paraphrased when Ro is teasing him about it. I think that's intending to mean that Sophie is more unaware of her own feelings, trying to suppress them because she doesn't want to deal with that and finds it uncomfortable. But when it comes to the way everyone else acts around her, she knows! She knows!! She blushes and gets flustered and embarrassed for a reason and it's because she's aware of what it means but doesn't want to address it.

So that's the observation I was referring to when I made that post! I've gotten so used to calling Sophie oblivious or unaware because it's one of the main words she's labelled as, that as I was rereading the series it was like??? Okay how did we get there she's very aware of everything? She spent her entire childhood reading people's thoughts and learning how people work (passively), so when that was stripped away she started relying really heavily on observation, and she's good at it! She knows how people work and can use that to deduce things about people without being in their heads!

[bookwyrminspiration]

too late to say goodbye is a jolie and brant song, especially from a jolie point of view.

all the fire imagery as well as that "this is ending in tragedy and yet i can't bear to let go of your hand" energy... it just fits, i think

(and it's making me think of jolie and brant, but in a bonnie and clyde scenario)

- ed

ed you are brilliant!! You are so right it fits them so well this is incredible. So much fire imagery of course, but also all the meaning and regret behind it!! perfection

I mean the song starts off with "Oh, my precious ember burning, my sweet glowing light / From the moment I first saw you I was yours and you were mine," which encapsulates their childhood together and how close the two of them were, how fated they seemed to be. Edaline said that they hit it off right away, that they shared that gremlin (I think that was the creature) and from that point on they were inseparable. From the very first moment it was the two of them. And then later on but still in that early stage, Brant used all of that fire imagery in his letters to Jolie, calling her "the wonder of the every burning" skies in a similar way to the beginning of the song. It's like the calm before the storm, or the fire in their case.

But then there's "Now I'm under your spell, trapped in a lie / Shouldn't have stood that close to the fire" to fit the mindset of when Jolie found out about Brant's involvement in the Neverseen. The slow decline until it's too late. She loves him, and yet she didn't really know the most crucial part of him. The thing that characterizes him and makes him him, trapped between this idea she had of him and that she loved and this new person she's convincing herself she can reason with. She's committed everything to this relationship, lost friends over it, ruined her social life for that love. And part of it was a lie. Not all of it, but a very important and defining thing. He's a pyrokinetic, and he's a rebel on the wrong side. He has fundamentally different morals, but she's just as committed as ever. She trusted everything to him, and she died for it. It would've been wiser to stay away, to distance herself, to reason through it. But she loved him and it killed her.

another line I want to mention! "Just the two of us forever, no one else around." I think it captures their relationship at all stages, how it was the two of them as kids, then the two of them as partners, and then the two of them as this ill fated connection between opposing sides of a battle no one can win, but one side can lose. The person they've always had no matter what was the other. Even Edaline and Grady had their reservations about the marriage (though they did eventually consent), and in that time it was Jolie and Brant. The two of them against the world, intensely committed to each other despite what everyone else said. Everyone else came and went, but they were each other's rock. There was no one else emotionally, but when Jolie was killed they were also physically alone together. No one saw what happened, no one but the two of them as their world burned to ash and Brant was left alone. It was supposed to be the two of them against the world, but he killed her.

Ed you are so right this song fits them so well!! It's not a soft love, it's despairing and destructive and inescapable, and it consumed them both until nothing was left. Jolie was physically gone, and Brant mentally was fixated on her and couldn't move past it. excellent suggestion!!

[bookwyrminspiration]

Pelicans We is a Vacker song and I will take no criticism on this.

- Ed

Gotta say this is not the kind of song I was expecting, but I think you're very right and I will not criticize the connection you've made between the two.

I mean right off the bat we're hit with "King and Queen of the Pelicans we / No other Birds so grand we see," and while the Vackers are not pelicans, they are like the closest thing to royalty in the elven world. Fitz's name literally means "son of the king," because that's the kind of reputation they have! The Vackers are on top of the world, the best of the best, no one else can top them. They are the most notorious family in their world, and people know it! They know it! No one else has a legacy that comes even close to the Vacker legacy, the history and prestige of their family name. No other family is as grand as the Vacker family.

Another line that stands out is "We think no birds so happy as we," which seems more akin to their family earlier in the series (you know, before Alvar and the troll hive and everything). Because their family had everything. Who could be better off? Who could be happier? No one has more than their family, so it was almost laughable to think someone else had it better. They were on top of the world, with a sense of security that no one else had. I mean, Fitz and Biana even talked down about some of their classmates (e.g. Dex and Stina) because they saw themselves so differently, and in a way as better. Dex and Stina were a class below them, despite being so similar. They thought of no one else as like them.

This kind of ties into this line: "None but we have feet like fins," as the line distinguishes pelicans from other birds by giving them something completely unique, same as how the Vacker legacy gives the Vackers something completely unique and separates them from all their fins. It's something no one else can get, something enviable. And it gives them a sense of importance and puts them above everyone else.

Finally, there's "We think so then, and we thought so still" which is interesting in the way that it's only slightly accurate. It's like...accurate but in a changed way. Because in the past the Vackers thought that they had this huge legacy to live up to and a history that sets them apart, and there is!! It's just not what they thought it was because their legacy is actually turning out to be a lot ickier than anticipated. They still have that unique name and recognition, and they recognize that, even as dark as it's become.

An interesting song choice, Ed! I agree that it definitely seems to encapsulate the entire vibe of the Vacker family, the expectations made of them and the way they fit into the elven society as a whole. Great suggestion!