Talk:Keefe and Sophie/@comment-73.213.85.208-20191008223747/@comment-96.42.216.28-20191010004915

(i wrote this argument for a friend dont judge me if it uses big words)

I actually used to ship Sophitz, but then I changed over to Sokeefe once I read a really well-written argument on why Sokeefe is better. I’ll put a few of their points in here, along with a mishmash of others. Anyway, here are my reasons why I ship Sokeefe. (The bolded parts are the Sophitz arguments.)


 * 1) “Fitz found Sophie first.” Apparently, this means that Sophie should get with Fitz. Well, that doesn’t really make sense; other books end up with the main character getting with the boy she met after meeting the first (and just because someone meets someone first doesn’t justify why they deserve that person). For example, the Hunger Games. Think about how it could happen: Katniss (Sophie) met Gale (Fitz) first, and Peeta (Keefe) came along later; but Peeta (Keefe) still won Katniss (Sophie) over in the end. (Also, while we’re speaking of the Hunger Games, I feel like Keefe is Sophie’s dandelion. Sophie doesn’t need fire; she has plenty of that herself. What she needs is something that’s telling her there is still hope when all things are lost. That person is Keefe; especially when he calms her emotions down and encourages her.) Fitz only found Sophie because Alden couldn’t disappear into the Forbidden Cities without drawing attention to himself. What if it had been Alvar who found her? Where would Sophie and Fitz’s relationship be then?


 * 1) “They confessed to each other first.” Remember, Sophie didn’t really end up confessing when she felt ready to; she still wasn’t comfortable admitting her feelings, and Fitz practically forced her to get her secret out. He also knew that Sophie was uncomfortable with matchmaking, yet he kept bringing it up over and over again, pressuring her into talking about it. On the other hand, Keefe respects Sophie’s boundaries. There was a moment in Nightfall when he and Sophie were discussing something, and there was a perfect opportunity to confess to her. But he let it go, and hasn’t brought it up since. That’s pretty mature, in my opinion; he could constantly nag her like Fitz was doing, but instead he gave her space and time to figure things out on her own.


 * 1) “Keefe betrayed everyone.” I used to hate Keefe for this. Seriously. I was so sick whenever he was there in Lodestar, and even wrote an alternate ending from Neverseen (poorly written, obviously) where Sophie told Keefe that she was tired of his lies and she hated him. But when I read the argument on why Sokeefe was better, I realized I was sort of judging unfairly (because I had never really liked Keefe in the first place). When Keefe went to the Neverseen, he went as a double agent to help the Black Swan. He went because he was extremely stressed, struggling with the pain of losing his mother (well, he thought she died), and the realization that she was with the Neverseen; all of this muddled his thoughts and made him not think clearly. Sure, there were better ways he could’ve handled his situation, but they probably wouldn’t have accomplished anything (seriously, the Black Swan moves sooooo slowly), and Keefe learned from his mistakes, becoming more mature as the series goes on. And while with the Neverseen, he gained a bunch of helpful info.


 * 1) “Sophie and Fitz are Cognates.” This is a main reason why Sophitz shippers ship it, but I don’t really think that their Cognate bond is super strong. For instance, when they started, Mr. Forkle had to show Fitz how to get past Sophie’s defenses and find her emotional center, and he still can’t fully understand her (whereas Keefe was able to to find, get into, and change her emotions to calm her down without anyone’s help). Fitz also pokes around her mind and pulls out information she doesn’t want to share; of course, though, he always acts like it’s an accident but still asks if she wants to talk about it. If she wanted to tell him, she would’ve told him. Because of these situations, this ends up with Sophie telling Fitz more than she intends to. I feel like compared to Sophie and Keefe’s relationship, Sophie and Fitz’s are a bit weak. There was even a scene in a book where Fitz told Sophie that he felt like Sophie and Keefe told each other things they didn’t tell anyone else. Sophie and Keefe’s bond is way more natural and realistic, and they don’t even need a telepathic connection for that, which brings me to this: if Fitz hadn’t manifested as a Telepath, their relationship wouldn’t be what it is now. Half of the trust and relationship between them is built around the fact that they’re Cognates; and yes, they had a good relationship before that, but they wouldn’t be nearly as close if not for their Cognate training. He also uses the excuse “But we’re Cognates!” a lot; it gets somewhat tiring.


 * 1) “Their relationship in Flashback became very developed.” In my opinion, the way their relationship developed was very forced and rushed and sort of pushy. I feel like everything happened too fast in that book, how they almost kissed and how they admitted to liking each other and all that stuff. Before that, practically all of their conversations were about either matchmaking, being Cognates, and Alvar. Their relationship isn’t as deep as I would like it to be in order to pair them together. Meanwhile, Keefe and Sophie’s relationship develops very well. Sophie sees the good and bad sides of Keefe and helps him through with it; she trusts him and doesn’t stop, even when he betrayed her, and she was right to trust him.


 * 1) “Fitz gets Sophie gifts.” It is sweet that Fitz gets Sophie small gifts and things because he’s trying to cheer her up, but they’re sort of stereotypical and not very original, without being really meaningful. They’re also getting repetitive, so frequent that they’re beginning to lose meaning. A necklace? Offer her something that money can’t buy. Baked goods? That’s better, I suppose, but compared to Keefe’s gifts, they’re nothing. He went and hand-painted portraits of her family, friends, and things that mean so much to her. He even went and got help from Mr. Forkle to add the Black Swan’s runes (the only alphabet she can read), so he could spell “family” on the back. It made Sophie so emotional, and I feel like if she for some reason doesn’t remember who gave it to her, why, or any details, she’ll always remember the feelings and emotions that came along with it way more than what Fitz got her.
 * 2) “Fitz won’t care that Sophie is unmatchable.” While it doesn’t seem like it (he gladly left to join the Black Swan), I actually think he will care, because his reputation is still somewhat important to him. He gives subtle indication how much he does; for instance, talking about not wanting to be a bad match and being adamant that he’ll be on Sophie’s list. It was like he wasn’t trying to convince her, but more himself. He wants her to be married to him and everything, but he also says he wants to uphold the Vacker Legacy. This puts a lot of pressure on Sophie and he doesn’t even realize it. Keefe, however, doesn’t seem to truly care about what others think of him, and even though he would be ridiculed, he’d still gladly follow Sophie wherever she went.


 * 1) “Alvar deserved to die; it was fine for Fitz to stop pushing buttons.” First of all, I recall Fitz repeatedly calling Alvar a murderer. Remind me, who did he murder? Second of all, I don’t think Alvar is a completely bad character. Even though he had many chances to become good again and he didn’t take them, I feel like Fitz sorta jumped to conclusions. He has never been in Alvar’s shoes: feeling like you’ve been cast away from your parents so they could practically ignore you as they watch your Golden Boy brother rise to become a very popular, powerful elf who would gladly murder you while your sister shed a few pretty tears. Fitz had a chance to save Alvar, to trap him in there where they could’ve had the chance to arrest and interrogate him, but he was so selfish that he had to stop pushing buttons. And he didn’t even feel sorry about it. I know that if my brother had turned evil, and I had the chance to kill him, I would never take it. Never.


 * 1) “Fitz never got angry at Sophie after he learned from his mistakes.” While it’s natural for characters to have flaws (and good for them), I think Fitz’s anger isn’t helpful to his character. He doesn’t learn that lashing out angrily at people isn’t the best reaction to every situation, or that he shouldn’t be too harsh and blow up over things. He just went back to being the charming character he once was. Where’s the development? I wanted a long, heartfelt apology and awkward conversations between Fitz and Sophie after he acted was a jerk to her; that shows how he grew, and that he regretted his actions. Their relationship would grow rocky and embarrassing and Fitz learns that he has to try to be more understanding. But he doesn’t learn his lesson. He offers a meek apology and everything goes back to normal. This happens quite a few times, too. He often takes his anger out on Sophie and shuts her out. She ends up feeling terrible, and when Fitz has this whole formal apology, she ‘feels better’ but still takes soo long to get over it. It almost breaks their connection.  It’s not a healthy relationship if one side keeps getting mad at the other and makes them feel bad and none of them realize it until someone else says something. Keefe, on the other hand, cares about Sophie’s emotions and when he’s feeling down, he draws away from the others instead of lashing out and possibly hurting one’s feelings and breaking a bond. For me, this is pretty mature compared to Fitz, who just can’t control himself when he’s angry. He’s usually kind to Sophie, except when she disagrees with him. In Flashback, when Sophie said she agreed with the Council, he got very angry with her. It’s not a healthy relationship if Fitz gets mad every time she disagrees with him.


 * 1) “Sophie thinks Fitz is soooo handsome.” Well, Sophie practically only talks about his looks and how his accent is cute. You shouldn’t ever like anyone based solely on how attractive they are. Of course they have their Cognate connection and everything, but she doesn’t talk much else about him. At the very first moment Sophie interacted with Fitz, her heart fluttered and that’s when she first started liking him. This means that her crush on Fitz started forming purely from his good looks and appearance. He was a stranger; she barely knew him, but when he was showing her around the Lost Cities her breath kept stopping due to his eyes, accent, and ‘movie-star worthy smile.’ Every hand touch or glance from him would make her blush; she didn’t get to know much about his personality or get to know him on a more personal level; she just judged him off his appearance and that’s how her crush started to form. This indicates a shallow relationship, and throughout the series, there are constant remarks about how Fitz looks so good in his uniform, how his teal eyes are impossibly gorgeous, how his smile would put any movie star to shame, or how he has fancy cologne. Her crush is practically fueled by Fitz’s looks; nothing really about his personality; just his looks, looks, looks. With Keefe, yeah, he’s hot, but that’s not the only thing she noticed about him. She actually takes his emotions into account, and takes note of how kind and caring he is. His looks aren’t the most important thing about him.