#so that could fit well with the fintan/sophie parallels

[bookwyrminspiration]

Hi :] so this is my first time doing an ask so I apologize if this sounds awkward or anything. But anyway, I saw a couple of your kotlc song analysis and was wondering what you think of Creature by half alive for Fintan or any character in general?

I don't exactly know why my mind was hyperfixated with this song and Fintan but it just did. Hv a nice day :]

Hi, Nonsie!! No need to apologize, you're doing just fine I promise. And I love that song!! It's one of my "my spine is being turned inside out" (/pos) songs that's just so *clenches fist*

There are so many lines that could fit Fintan!! The first one I think of is "Even the depths of the night cannot blind me / When You guide me," specifically in relation to Everblaze. It's like this thing he reveres, that calls to him, the power overwhelming and awe inspiring. And nothing an withstand it's fury, no darkness or hesitation or doubt, it's incandescent and ethereal and all consuming and he can control it--or at least work in enough harmony with this flame to achieve his goals. But this line specifically reminds me of that one scene where he's explaining it to Sophie before stopping, realizing she doesn't understand the appeal because she's not a pyrokinetic. The line just has that sense of openness and awe, if that makes sense. I don't know how else to explain it but it's falling to your knees in reverence, arms open to the sky, speechless.

for some reason the line "Haunted by a darker side / Transcends to walking in the light" reminds me very specifically of his relationship to everblaze as well. He's more than that but it's what my brain is focusing on rn. But the "darker side" could be his history with it, being the only survivor of an attempt to summon it gone gravely wrong, ending in multiple deaths of people who were probably his friends, but any hesitation or grief around it transcends instead to that reverence I mentioned before. He finds the beauty in it, finds the calm, finds the storm, finds himself, finds the light of the everblaze burning through everything it used to be to him. Now the past that haunted him has been transformed into something new and dangerous

oh and then there's "Hidden in the space between / Hero and the enemy" like that was a whole thing in the early books!! Sophie trying to figure out who were the good guys and who were the bad guys because they're not as different as we want them to be. And Fintan has a point about the treatment of pyrokinetics and the complacency of the council and how things aren't working--those are sentiments our hero would agree with, yet he turns around and kills people and manipulates them and tries to help force another species into slavery, which are bad!! Two conflicting parts of him where it's like he's a hero gone wrong, but we can't vilify every single thing about him because he's more than just a bad person, he's this grey area. He's helped people, he wants a right denied to him, he wants change. He's a hero and an enemy and a mix of everything in between, but he's still not a good person.

It's just!! It has this sense of Fintan that's much more personal and gentle and strikes a nerve, rather than him being a super powerful evil person, but more as...a person? I don't know if that makes sense but it's like it taps into a side of him we don't see as often and i love it!

thank you for the suggestion because I always love looking at this song, and I will do my best to have a good day! I don't have to do any homework today so!! off to a good start!

#kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #kotlc music analysis #fintan pyren #quil's queries #nonsie #I also associate the song with sophie. at least pesonally #so that could fit well with the fintan/sophie parallels #or the 'fintan is trans time traveling sophie' thing #but also I just like the song :) #I actually had a project a few semesters ago where we had to define/conceptualize happiness through different things #like artwork and music etc. #and for the song one I chose this song #i bet I could find it if anyone was curious #could show you how I conceptualize happiness

[fintan-pyren]

My thoughts on the identity of Sophie's biological father. Putting them below the cut because I go through a list of every single adult male elf in Keeper and it gets a bit long.

I've narrowed it down to six possible candidates, only one of which actually makes any sense to me, but like, feel free to reblog or send an ask to debate my choices and logic.

All the named male elves who are old enough to be her father are:

------------------------------------------------

There's a pretty limited number of characters who could be Sophie's father.

Alden

Sir Beckett

Benesh Vacker

Brant

Councillor Bronte

Sir Bubu

Cassius Sencen

Sir Caton

Sir Conley

Councillor Darek

Sir Donwell

Durand Redek

Elwin

Councillor Emery

Fallon Vacker

Sir Faxon

Fintan Pyren

Forkle

Gethen

Grady

Sir Harding

Harlin Vacker

Sir Jarvin

Jurek

Councillor Kenric

Kesler

Councillor Noland

Ollie Heks

Orem Vacker

Prentice Endal

Quan Song

Quinlin

Sir Rosings

Councillor Terik

Tiergan

Timkin

Wraith

After removing the ones who definitely can't be her father (either because they're related to a love interest or because they've been confirmed to not be her parent) and ignoring random mentors and people who play no role in the series, we're left with:

Councillors Darek, Emery, Noland, and Terik (too repetitive after Oralie being Sophie's mother)

Brant (mentally unstable at the time of Sophie's creation)

Durand Redek

Elwin

Fintan Pyren

Gethen

Grady (known to have rejected the Black Swan's attempts to recruit him, thought they were murderers)

Quan Song (appearance)

Quinlin (broke Prentice's mind, so presumably was not involved with the Black Swan)

Tiergan (appearance)

Timkin

Wraith

Some of them can be tentatively ruled out for various reasons, leaving:

Fintan Pyren

Durand Redek

Elwin

Gethen

Timkin

Wraith

And out of those? Fintan is the only one who really clicks.

I would've expected to have met Durand by now if he were Sophie's father. Timkin says he sees no value in Project Moonlark, and why would the Black Swan choose a Talentless elf for her father? Elwin doesn't seem to have as much info about the Black Swan as you'd expect Sophie's father to have (he hadn't met Forkle, for example). Wraith doesn't have any evidence against him, but he also doesn't have any for him. Gethen is possible, and his hair color and strong mind fit, but we just haven't seen that many similarities between him and Sophie.

The two things against him are that Forkle is sure that Sophie won't manifest as a pyrokinetic and that he's a Neverseen member.

So that leaves Fintan. And Fintan fits very well.

But I think Forkle being confident that she's not a pyrokinetic could be dismissed as him tinkering with her genes to ensure that she didn't inherit the pyrokinesis.

And... being a member of the Neverseen doesn't necessarily rule Fintan out. The Black Swan wouldn't have known he was a member. He might've agreed to help just to get information about the Black Swan. Or to sabotage Project Moonlark—which would explain Sophie's mind breaking and whatnot.

And there's just so much that points to him being her father.

His blond hair. His habit of picking at his fingernails, reminiscent of Sophie's eyelash-pulling. His impenetrable mind. Them both having ruby circlets. Their willingness to break laws to do what they think is right. Their slender builds. Sophie's inflicting being described as heat, even though Bronte's inflicting is cold—as though her ability has been partially merged with pyrokinesis. There are so many similarities and parallels.

And it would be understandable for Forkle to not want Sophie to be known as the daughter of a murderer and traitor. She doesn't need to deal with that knowledge, and it wouldn’t be a good thing for the public to know.

Fintan is also quite possibly the only character who would be shocking and meaningful for Sophie to have as a parent. It wouldn't be exciting or interesting if Wraith or Terik or someone was her father. After the impact of Sophie realizing that Oralie had been her mother all along, we need a parent reveal that would be dramatic and emotional for Sophie.

So in short, I think Fintan is Sophie's father.

(Another possibility that I do wonder about is Grady's father, due to Sophie's resemblance to Jolie (I don't think it would be someone on Edaline's side since then she'd be related to Dex by blood). He hasn't been introduced or even mentioned, though, so it doesn't seem likely.)

#kotlc

[bookwyrminspiration]

wait wait what the fuck. shannon set up the "immortality ALWAYS comes with a cost" thing with fallon's faulty memory + bronte's needing to keep himself involved so he doesn't lose himself + fintan and vesperas' instability and then just Did Not Talk About It.

Like what about how all of their individual falling aparts come from their abilities? Fallon is a telepath (I'm not bothering to fact check that correct me if I'm wrong) and his mind is wandering, his memory is faulty, he can't stay in the moment. Bronte loses control of himself, he's become cold and stubborn, he has to ball his negative emotions up in his chest to keep from feeling too much. Fintan is unstable like a fire, an infection, he needs to consume everything in his path and maybe or maybe not let something new grow from the ashes; fire is vengeful. vespera has gone numb and that's what happens when you feel too many emotions for too long! you lose yourself!

that's a symptom of being an ancient!! you lose yourself!!

exploring this as a parallel to fitz, sophie, marella, and keefe is interesting as well because you're seeing all these ancients fall apart and it's because of their ability. Keefe already is going numb. Marella can barely keep control. Sophie ties her emotions around themselves. Fitz loses his mind in his emotions. They know that this could happen to them. It will.

For some reason, it's never talked about how immortality (or indefinite life) is the perfect circumstance for a mind to break. Maybe elves don't die. maybe they're exiled because the weight of the years shattered them.

Oo and excellent observation and conversational topic. What really stands out to me about it is that's it's an inevitability. It's not you might lose yourself to your ability, it's not you might become unstable, it's not you might have to fight against it. It's that you live forever, so there is no escaping it. You live forever, so you will live long enough to experience the disconnect of a world moving on around you. You will live long enough that you will either have to fight to stay present--like Bronte--or distance yourself--like Fallon and other ancients. And if you chose to fight, then you will keep living, long enough that there will come a time you cannot continue to win. Perhaps you can stay in a stalemate for a while, but it will grow increasingly difficult and eventually will reach a point of no return.

And! It never ends! Elves live forever. Unless they die via unnatural means (fire, squashed, drowned, fell down the stairs bella swan style) they are going to just. Be experiencing that forever. There is no anticipated ending to losing themselves, they just continuously do so forever and ever. Some can hold on longer than others, are more present than others at the same point in time, but we're speaking in infinities! That dwarfs it all. Unless they finally discover a natural end to their lifespan, it's all practically inevitable.

But yeah, Shannon has not covered this. Likely because 1. it's horrifying, and 2. it's completely irrelevant to the battle's Sophie is facing. She has eternity in front of her, and eternity to come to terms with her lifespan. Right now she's got other things on her plate than contemplating how long she'll live and what she'll do with it and what'll happen to her. But also I think. It may have been unintentional on Shannon's part, to create such a consequence. Not that she's completely ignoring it, as she has separated the ancients from everyone else to an extent and characterized them differently. But the idea of losing yourself inevitably with time? Probably not what she meant, at least that's my assumption based on what she's intended with the rest of her world. However, maybe i'm wrong and not giving her enough credit! perhaps she knows about that, but just doesn't cover it because it doesn't fit the vibe of the series or her intended audience.

Who knows! Either way, it is a very interesting and also horrifying thought. Thanks for prompting it!

#kotlc #kotlc worldbuilding #quil's queries #when-wax-wings-melt #long post #also summer I am confused by the last part of this ask #'maybe elves don't die.' that. that is an established thing in the keeper world. elves don't die of old age. no elf has died of old age yet #ancients are said to seclude themselves from the rest of society--which could be considered a voluntary exile #since they find themselves disconnected from it #am I missing the point of that conclusion entirely or did you forget that elves canonically don't die of old age? #anyway!