#koltc thoughts

[wolfoxjade17]

Why is nobody talking about the ogres? I mean, I've seen so many "The Lost Cities are a dystopia" posts, but none talking about the ogre's terrible system.

First of all, ogres live under an absolute monarchy, like all the other non-elvin species except gnomes (seriously, 4 such an enligtened 🙄 world, why are the governing systems so undemocratic [unless democracy is a feature of inferior human governments]). That won't be too bad, if they didn't have a kratocratic form of govt., in which the strongest warrior becomes king.

Kratocracy has obvious major problems. Just bcuz King Dimitar is ripped doesn't mean hez a good leader. And, imagine Queen Ro 🫣, a wannabe girlboss leader with the emotional maturity of a 4th grader. Plus, it leads to constant instability. But that's not even the main problem I wanna talk about.

Ogreland (forgive the cringe) is a exploitative, militant, absolute autocracy where individual worth is measured solely by one’s utility to the Crown, enforced by a king who uses fear to ensure that "loyalty" is the only means of survival.

The ogres treat their workers horribly. They work them, pushing them to the point of literal fainting, treating them like slaves. They do the same to their prisoners of war, and plan to enslave the gnomes. It's an expectation, and it's supposed to be adhered to by pride and fear. The actual physical limits don't matter.

Rebellion against the King is strictly puhished, with forms of torture that are much worse than "Sophie can ever imagine". Remember, treason, not terrorism, is punished with extremely, long, torturous execution. Loyalty to the crown is the only thing that matters.

The Ogres seem to be divided into The Elite, who experience the "caring" side of Dimitar. They see a King who is fierce, protective, and demands excellence. To them, he isn't a tyrant; he’s a powerful leader who ensures the Ogres are never disrespected by Elves or Goblins. ​And The Workers, who likely don't fall under that umbrella of protection. If a worker faints from exhaustion, nobody cares. Dimitar’s care doesn't extend to the person digging the trenches, only the person defending them. See what I mean? ​It’s unclear if he cares for the average citizen.

It's an incredibly oppresive system. And there was so much narrative potential! But Sophie, and the narrative, still support the messed up ogre establishment.

Sophie supports Ro, and by extension, implictly supports King Dimitar and the ogre establishment. Right now, Sophie is psedo-allied with a regime that might be committing atrocities every single day, and she just... doesn't know for sure.

Imagine a series where Cadfael's motivations are explored deeper, and the brutality is actually explored, not pushed under the rug after Lodestar. Honestly, Cadfael is the only real resistance to the ogre tyranny. There are no other rebels. The only reason I'm not portraying Cadfael as a full-blown revolutionary or freedom fighter is as he seems to only want power for himself, like the Neverseen, seeing the flaws in the system, fighting them, but for selfish reasons.

​Imagine a version of the story where Sophie and the Black Swan don't just "manage" the other species, but actually help them overthrow their dictators. It would have made the series feel much more like a high-stakes political thriller. It would have forced Sophie to stop being a diplomat and start being a true revolutionary.

[crippling-pages]

Confession: I'm kinda disgusted by kotlc smut fics. For starters, its a middle grade series with kids and you're writing SMUT fics about them?? It disgusts me a lot, especially the adult/minor ones. I dont really care too much for the adult/adult (ex; gisela/verspa, fintan/bronte) smut fics, because yk, they're adults, but they're usually not really any of them.

But smut fics on the kotlc crew??? HELL NO if you've written one, like genuinely written a smut fic, like a Sokeefe or Tiana smut, WTF. PLEASE don't talk to me. I love them sososo much, and I will read any fanfic of my otps, but a SMUT fic??????????????? No thanks.

idk maybe its just me but i really dont like people who write kotlc smut, or smut for middle grade in general (like pjo or hp).

then again it might just be me :p who knows?

(but seriously im so uncomfortable when i see a kotlc smut fic on like ao3 or wattpad... and its either kids writing the smut or adults writing it and its SO creepy-)

in summary kotlc smut is gross af, it creeps me out, please dni if you write or read it ON PURPOSE. thank you

[wolfoxjade17]

Ro had no right to diss Fitz in Legacy for not choosing Sophie over his family when she faced the almost exact same choice when the time came to marry Bo and she caved into her father's wishes.

[wolfoxjade17]

Does anyone else think that it's kinda weird that in 2 yrs, Sophie has never met her adoptive grandparents? I mean, wouldn't Edaline and Grady immidiantly tell their parents that they adopted a kid?

[wolfoxjade17]

Alvar exposes the Vacker Legacy (or tries to, and only a part of it), Fitz destroys it, and Biana builds a new one.

[wolfoxjade17]

Sophie’s self esteem is kinda… wonky.

Hi! I’m just gonna put another theory cum ana post. So I hope it’s good reading.

We all know Soph is insecure. Like it’s one of the most mentioned things abt her character, both by others, by her in Stell, and glaringly obvious to us as readers. But a person’s psyche is vast, and I rlly don’t think that Soph’s insecurity sums up the whole realm of her self-esteem.

Let’s start from the beginning. Sophie grew up in a caring, loving family (other than Amy 😏). She was a prodigy. She skipped grade after grade, and got excepted to fr*cking Harvard University at age 12. She was way ahead of her peers. Once she was 5, however, everything changed. Her telepathy was triggered and she began hearing every1’s thoughts. She heard mean stuff, even from her parents and lil sis. She was hated on so bad and it permanently depleted her self esteem.

Her parents musta been proud of their prodigy. But they also wished she was more like Amy. They hated her getting 2 much attention. Amy was so jealous. Her thoughts musta been pretty harsh (She was 9, so def). The other kids at school were so jealous. They called her a Special Snowflake. And she wasn’t even liked by the teachers as the constant noise in her head made her a weird loner, destroying her already catastrophicly low chances of friendship, and taking away the one chance of Idk… smth truly +ve. All this hearing bad abt her led 2 very low self esteem. BUT… she got accepted to Harvard at age 12! That will make some1 arrogant. Bear w/ me for a lil while. I’m gonna project a lil. My life situation and my personality is somewhat like Soph’s. I was a weird loner who outperformed ppl in school and heard bad abt herself from everyone. That does lead to low self-esteem.

The thing abt humans, and most probably elves, is that self-esteem is a need (I can safely assume that elf psychology is similar to ours, other than the guilt thing. Cuz reading the ppl’s monologue it is. And no hate, but I’m not sure if Shannon has the ability 2 write a whole different type of psychology.) So when it’s crushed, when u can’t get it from one place, u search for it from another. And if u got into Harvard at age 12, where wld u get it from?

That’s ryt. Ur intelligence. (Mabye I’m projecting here) When Sophie goes to the Elvin world, shez the most powerful elf in existence. Another source of self-esteem.

My bet is that Sophie places her whole self-worth on her abilities and intelligence. Let’s c y. Sophie is very confident in her ability to plan things. Shez confident of her plans in Neverseen, and it’s esp. evident in Stell (Ik shez OOC there). Even when she faces legit criticism abt the storehouse fire, she shuts it down. Shez self assured of her intellect and her reasons in doing so. Shez also very assured abt her abilities. She sees her Telepathy and Enhancing as both a bane and a boon, due to her history with them. She has mixed feelings about her Inflicting. And positive abt her Teleportation and Polyglot abilities. We can see this multiple times, when she kinda boasts abt her power. (Read till then end before u argue)

I’m gonna HC a lot here, but she may also get esteem from her goodness. That’s what a lotta ADHD ppl do, btw. Now I don’t think she is ADHD but she shares the same low self esteem common in them. Sophie is very confident abt her goodness.

Sophie also tends to subconsciously think that the world revolves around her. (Hold ur horses) Speculation, but it did. Every1 talked abt her. Her parents rules were centered around her. (Keeper of the Lost Cities - 1/2 the rules in her house was abt her not getting too much attention.) Fitz kinda calls this out in Stell, but I don’t think he actually believes it. More telling is the way she treats her friends. Like stuff 2 be used when she needs them. And that supa annoying line in Stell abt her not being able 2 think abt the possibility of a war cuz Keefe missing he! (That’s a whole other thing)

Now, nothing bad abt Sophie here. But her self esteem isn’t as linear as expected. A lot of the stuff I said is subconscious. She is subconsciously proud of her intelligence and abilities. If ppl call her brilliant or powerful, she’ll get embarrassed. Her insecurities will come up - “OMG! This person thinks that!” She is subconsciously proud of her goodness. But this is speculation. She subconsciously assumes that a lota stuff revolve around her. If u say that she’ll get furious, and for good reason.

Her insecurities are mainly “Ppl think bad abt me,”, not “I am bad.” She can’t believe boys like her cuz she was never liked. She doesn’t believe she’s pretty as that’s smth that affects ur image in front of others. And she has a lota internalized misogyny, so that’s kinda tied to her self-worth as a likable woman. She believes shez unlikable, not dumb, not very pretty, not weak, and never good enough for any1, not bad.

Ofc, Soph’s insecurity is a huge part of her, and it’s very real. I’m not denying any of her actual issues. I’m just saying that her self-esteem is more complex than usually assumed.

[wolfoxjade17]

Lady Gisela’s motivations

Lady Gisela is the main villain of KoLTC. Like it or not. But she has a major problem.

It’s been 11 books, and Lady Gisela does not have a motivation. We dunno why’s she doing this shit. Or what’s her endgame. Worse, no1 makes a serious effort to even figure it out. So I’m tryna play detective here. [OK, I’m not. This is just a buncha useless speculation and HC’s. Or maybe not. I’m not sure. Read on if u wanna.]

Let’s start with what we know.

She views Elvin society as weak and stagnant. She agrees with Vespera’s ideology, somewhat. I.e, she believes elves must become ruthless.

She is obsessed with a certain “legacy” of Keefe’s. I mean, Keefe’s whole birth was a preplanned experiment. This is related to Stellarlune and Elysian. (Explain later on)

She wants to demolish the status quo. She shows some level of understanding of the problems faced by bad-matches, pyrokinetics, banished ppl, and uses them to her advantage.

One thing that gave me a major heads up was this:

“I’ve realized long ago that I see our world differently than others do. I’ve never been fooled by the Coucil’s grandstanding and self-congratulation.” -Stellarlune

I’m imagining Gisela as a child. She probably had a family that parented her the same way she parents Keefe - cold, stern and aloof, with love peeping through smtimes. Or else, she probably woulda parented Keefe better.

Hear me out, the best way to manipulate an aldready abused child is 2 b the good cop. The one that u can rely on. The safeguard. That wld’ve created a sense of loyalty that runs in rlly deep. But she doesn’t do that. She shows him just enough love to make him run to her, if he was any1 else. But he’s not. And given how smart and manipulative Gisela is, you’d think she’d’ve realized that. But she doesn’t. So what if she does it cuz that’s the only type of parenting she’s ever seen?

Gisela was always brilliant. But she was also… suspicious. She never trusted easily, even as a child. She saw thro the arrogance of the Council. She knew that there was smth wrong w/ her world. What cld’ve pushed a teen 2 hide an ability? Mabye she had a bad experience that uncovered the flaws, like a friend having their life ruined like Rayni’s. Or maybe she found out a big secret like Alvar did. Either way, it started her search.

Gisela began to realize that her world was f*cked. She being the brilliant thinker she is, tries to find ways to fix it. But Gisela is proud. She’s more like a vurnerable narcissist. Hubris with an undercurrent of insecurity. She begins 2 believe that she can fix the world by taking it over. Classic hubris. She hates the Council, but is still proud of her nobility. She always wants everyone to call her ‘Lady’. She is proud of being noble.

Gisela loves the idea of being underestimated while she does her plans in secret. She loves sneaking around under everyone’s nose. She displays her Polyglottery, but not her Conguring. So that ppl look past her.

Gisela carries out more investigations. That lead her to Vespera. She is captivated by Vespera ideology. She feels that elves shld become ruthless and powerful. This points to a superiority complex of speciesism, smth evident in all the other Neverseeners.

It’s then that she uncovers Elysian. Or thinks she does. She follows a buncha clues and assumes it leads 2 a power source. She researches the things that power their world. She assumes it is power no elf can have. Cuz it was shut up by the Council millennia ago. But Gisela miscalculated. Elysian is not what she thinks it is.

She wants that power. But she can never have it. So she has an idea “My kid can have it.” She searches for a Empath to get a supa powerful kid. Apparently, she wants som1 who can influence others emotions, tying into her manipulative nature. She conducts experiments on Keefe without understanding what she’s doing. She assumes that she got it ryt. Gisela’s brilliant enough to figure out the secrets of the Council when she’s not grown up. Surely she hasn’t messed up here. Her biggest flaw is that she’s 2 convinced of her own brilliance.

Gisela joins the Neverseen so she can find ppl who will help her. Ppl violent and hurting enough. She joins w/ her own aims

She loves Keefe. In the way that I love my greatest scientific accomplishment. In the way an artist loves their masterpiece. Not in the way real love is. Love is wanting som1 2 b happy. Gisela doesn’t care abt Keefe’s happiness. She cares about what he can do. He’s proof of the elves true power, and a weapon at the same time.

I kinda view Gisela as a sorta anti-Soph. Both r curious, brilliant and insecure and arrogant at the same time (Soph is arrogant, but in a weird way. The type of arrogance that comes from being praised and hated on simultaneously. I’ll explain later). Both c the rot in their world. But Sophie uses her human perspective to see the flaws, while Gisela used pure, cold intellect from within. Sophie tries to fix the system with kindness, Gisela tries to cauterize it with fire.

This is the end of my weird analysis that isn’t an analysis, and theory that isn’t a theory. Ik it’s dumb, but still.

[wolfoxjade17]

One of the things about KoLTC is that everyone is lovable. Ro is so annoying, but shez such a badass girle! Alvar is the most useless, pathetic older brother in the history of older brothers, but I still love him! Mr. Forkle is so annoying and blind and horrible, but hez so compelling and the secret twin twist was so cool