maybe fitz should not have stopped pressing buttons but maybe he’s just not the perfect example of someone ready to handle the kind of party required to go in fully inspired by you know?
I literally just wanted to yap about this man because for some reason he's reconsumed my brain.
Fintan was by FAR the best leader of the Neverseen from a narrative point of veiw. There are 3 main things that make a good villain that's actually scary in some way and that's a motive (why they are doing it/backstory), means (how they did it/what they are willig to do), and morals- or rather a contradiction of what they say they are vs what they actually are.
Gisela had all these things. Almost. Her motive is that shes a eugenist that ways to make the perfect race, which for a villain isn't inheritly a bad choice. Her character falls apart when we hit her means: She's an abusive mother who was obsessed with her son being the example of the prefect race. She's willing to kill people and destroy anything that gets in her way. The issue? What we see her do throughout the series is negotiate. She's not scary because she's bested over and over again and her biggest wins (Keefe getting gooped in Legacy) are a result of OTHER people's actions that she claims responsibility for (Keefe ignoring literally everyone and going into a trap and then Gisela claiming she planned it because she knows him so well) despite the fact that most other characters would have been able to guess at the turn of events if they used their brains and had less faith in their friends brains. Her morals are also ambiguous- but not in a weird moral code way, but a "it's honestly not clear why her motive is eugenics or how she feels about anything." she's smart but shes not scary, and while not every good villian has to be smart and scary, every villain at least has to actually freak the audience out or make them fear for the characters. Gisela.. doesn't actually hold that much weight over the emotions of the narrative, she doesn't haunt it. Keefe’s trauma does more heavy lifting then her, which yes she did cause but again it's not HER that your afraid of.
Vespera (who is even less well written then most other members of the Neverseen) lacks MOST of these. Her motive? Her situationship dumped and helped her get arrested for war crimes. Why was she committing war crimes? for funnsies. Oh wait no now she cares about rocks- Her means? Literally nothing she didn't do anything damage to Atlantis, Sophie's family was fine in the end, Biana was scarred (but its hard to care about that when other characters have been inpaled or toruted to insanity by the council), she opened a troll hive (which was Luzias fault), the attack in Legacy was planned so that they could ditch Gisela, then she got blown up. Her morals are equally skewed and unhelpful as Gisela, because she went from someone who would maim anyone in her way to negotiating.
Then there's Fintan.
Fintan's motive, unlike the other 2, was actually grounded. The Council are eugenicists who aren't held accountable for any of their actions and refuse to change. Fintan was a mentor, he had young Pyrokentics that he was training, who he burned to death by accident and felt so guilty about that he signed a ban on his own ability and resigned from the Council. He came to regret that descion, as it also indirectly lead to Jolie's death and as implied by the series, pain and suffering for a shit-ton of other Pyrokentics. His motive is that he helped aid in the making of this hell, so he needs to be the one to burn it all down. Unlike Gisela or Vespera who seem to care more about negotiating and attempting to reason out why they are actually right, Fintan doesn't bother trying to be the good guy. He doesn't think he is a good person, he thinks he's a monster- he just thinks the council are worse.
Fintan is a showman. That sounds dumb but this man so dramatic for no reason (which is wonderful). He puts on a show and knows how to make people around him flounder. He tricked Keefe into giving him 2 caches- that they didn't find out were fake for a year. He managed to fake his own death while convincing Dimitri to side with him. He sweet talked him way into the Intelligent Species Peace Summit and his plan to blow the place up worked. Yes, the Neverseen barley gets anything done to a comical degree/doesn't do anything with the information they have, but so many of their actually successful plans were Fintan's. This is also why I think the breaking of Atlantis' dome was his idea, because it fits his MO of overly destructive, dramatic, with a very clear message. He doesn't bother with negotiating even if he's great at twisiting his words, he doesn't bother with convincing people who won't join him to do so even if he's great at getting people to do what he wants, he doesn't bother placating people or giving up ground even if he could stand to gain something from it. But! Give him a chance to be a dramatic flamboyant dumbass and flex his greatness and he'll do it in a heartbeat regardless of the cost. Fintan is incredibly smart but he's also egotistical as shit, and while it causes a few problems, most of the time it works in his favor because he wholeheartedly believes he can do anything if he plans it out. And he does! The only thing he didn’t account for was Grady's ability and after he was captured he still managed to negotiate into a different cell, held his knowledge of his cache over the Blackswans head, and continues to haunt the narrative because everyone (even reader) knows he's smart and egotistical enough to get out of his prison and get his group back.
Fintan's morals are the main reason i wanted to make this post, because unlike Gisela and Vespera, who's are muddied and don't make sense when applied to their actions, Fintan's moral code makes sense for his character and (at least I think) is far stricter then he tells us- because, say it with me, Fintan is liar who is good at and enjoys lying.
First thing to bring up is that I genuinely believe Fintan killed Kenric by accident. Yes, he did gloat about it and yes he did use it against our "heros" to upset them- but again Fintan will use anything he can think of to drag up emotions and make everyone work worse with eachother. He is incredibly good at it. Fintan doesn't like Telepaths, we have no idea if this was present before his mind break but even if it was it would have worsened afterwards. We know from Prentice and Alden that healings take time to heal from (as in it takes time to get used to "im not shattered anyone"). Both of them woke up safe and surrounded by friends and family, Fintan who has been through frankly a LOT (he did watch a bunch of his students burn to death) of shit woke up chained, with at least 3 Telepaths around him- 2 who straight up was present during his mind break or look "uncannily" similar to the man who broke him- in a completely unfamiliar place full of councilors he despises. I think he panicked (as we know that the mind shattering digs up memories one would otherwise not want to see), fell face first back into his worst memories (his students and his mind break) and reacted on the emotions he felt (panic and deep hate for the people who shattered his mind) and called down Everblaze without ever actually thinking about it. I also think this because he lived through it, we know how much damage these flames can cause and someone fresh back from insanity would not have been able to navigate a burning building with ease. So, what if Fintan was back the last time his Everblaze (in front of him/directly) killed someone?
The other is that I think the 2 times we see people burnt/tortured by a pyrokinetic, I think it was Brant not Fintan. As soon as Brant dies (even if it's only 1 book apart) there's not another incendent where they attempt this. Book 2, Book 3, and Book 4 lack it as well, but Brant is the one who threatens to burn Sophie and Dex alive in book 3, Brant is the one who makes comments in book 4 about giving Sophie a matching scar (or something alone those lines, all this guys threats are varying versions of "Ima set you on fire"). Fintan doesn't threaten this, not directly. He makes it clear he's can, that he's dangerous, but he does say "I'm going to burn you to death", he doesn't directly make threats about it. I think it's because he can't/won't, not after what happened to his students, and even though he hated the man, Kenric (because reliving trauma of people bruning to death infront of you via another person doing it isn't great).
Fintan hides a lot. I think this is the main reason there are so many comparisons to him and Keefe in the fandom, because both hide behind a mask of showmanship and shitty flirting. Fintan's breaks a lot though- because Fintan "I don't care for anyone or anything" Pyren wouldn't beg to train Marella, wouldn't ever being willing to give up information, wouldn't continue to find excuses to get people to come talk to him at all. If Fintan truly was just a showman with an ego, he would agrue that he was the best, but he doesn't unless he needs to to piss someone off.
Fintan is the most interesting villain out of the bunch because he is what Vespera and Gisela keep acting like they are: smart, crafty, manipulative, talkative, with an endgame that leads somewhere. He's well written because he's relatable because he's not Alvar "I hate my brother and my family are bitches" Vacker, he understands the problems with the system he worked for and was under, saw the problems he created and their effects, and then devoted his life to fix them, no matter the cost. Because wouldn't you, if that's how you lived? If someone gave you a flamethrower and the means, wouldn't you burn down a data center or a billionaires house? He's traumatized, scared, bitchy, and pathetic, but he's also intelligent, egotistical, flamboyant, dramatic, manipulative and incredibly good at getting people to do what he wants without them realizing it's happening.
(Unlike Gisela and Vespera who add to many loopholes and then get mad when it falls apart).
He's interesting because he's a character before an antagonist and genuinely (as much as I love Fitz) one of the only well written characters in this series. I just hope Shannon actually keeps writing him now that Vespera is dead ;-;
(Fintan's also not the scariest villain in the series. That award goes to Umber because idk wtf Shannon was smoking when she made her but she freaked me out when I read Flashback the first time and she still does now. She's not even well written She's just fucking creepy ;-; which is one way to get us to care)
I was thinking of how Keefe always flinches whenever a telepath reaches to touch his forehead and realized that it’s probably because he’s an empath and skin-to-skin contact makes him feel a person’s emotions
That got me thinking of how Keefe likely isn’t a very touchy person since he probably doesn’t want to be feeling everyone’s emotions all the time
But then, with Sophie he’s always grabbing her hand, tucking her hair behind her ear, leaning in real close, brushing eyelashes off of her cheeks
And in Nightfall, when Sophie realizes he feels her emotions stronger than others and she tries to back away, Keefe tells her she’s worth it
Instead of being annoyed by her loud emotions, Keefe is able to understand her when even she can’t understand herself sometimes. He’s able to tell when she’s not doing well and can say whatever it is she needs to hear, or even crack the perfect jokes to make her feel better
This got kinda long but all that to say, I really really love how much he cares about her
