Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-2605:6001:EB44:1700:90E2:B420:3673:B91F-20190915212233/@comment-38517513-20190915220030

This is by Wensly:

So the reason why I absolutely adore Keefe is that he always tries to prove himself. Fitz, on the other hand, gets away with everything. In every book. In book 2, when Sophie visited the Vackers to check up on Alden, she ran into Fitz who immediately exploded all of his anger on her (p. 365 - 367). Not only was he angry, the things he said seemed quite condescending. For example:

“If you want to blame me, go ahead--” (Sophie)

“Wow, I didn’t realize I needed your permission,” Fitz interrupted.

“I just want you to know that I know you’re going through a lot and… if blaming me makes that easier for you--do it. You don’t have to feel bad later or apologize. I understand.”

“Oh, you understand?” He laughed…

And…

“So you let him (Alden) bring you, let him trust you with his life, and you never warned him something might be wrong.” (Fitz)

“I told him I didn’t want to do it but he said it had to be me!” (Sophie)

“Yeah, well, maybe he wouldn’t have said that if he’d known you were damaged!”

The word felt like a slap in the face.

Damaged.

Was that what she was?

See, this conversation put me on edge. It was meant to be the first big, huge argument that Fitz and Sophie had. And… It’s brutal. His words are like knives. They hurt. Sophie, who lived most of her life with low self-esteem. The girl who was suddenly thrown into the Elvin world, who’s life is in constant danger, who also bears a huge amount of responsibility that nobody else her age does--for goodness sakes, she makes mistakes! When someone who she highly respects, like Alden, tells her he believes in her, she feels like she can do it, like she must live up to it.

It’s silly because Fitz should have understood this. He was in charge of watching over her for years before the story began! The fact that he was so blinded by anger that he spoke to her in this condescending way did not help her. She spent the rest of the book calling herself “damaged” or “broken”. That’s how bad it got.

So this is where Keefe really saves her from falling into guilt. (And no, I’m not exaggerating because I was still a Sophitz shipper up until this point.) Keefe treats Alden like a father. We know this from Flashback. So when he found out that Sophie “broke” Alden, he was sad but he didn’t blame her. He focused that energy on helping Sophie find a cure--thus moving the story forward. This is what makes Keefe special and brings more meaning to the story than Fitz. Because at this point in time, he hardly knows Sophie. He really had no reason to run into danger for her. So his motive is really to save his father-figure. And Sophie, who doesn’t even trust Keefe at this point, formed an unlikely partnership.

You know what’s weird about this whole thing? This was supposed to be Fitz’s job. Fitz had more reason than anybody to go help Sophie. He knew her secrets, he’s also a telepath, and his father is broken, but what does he decide to do? Stayed at home and mourn. Like, imagine what it’s like when your other favorite characters from other stories decide to be sad and do nothing. Imagine what it would have been like if Ron and Harry decided to mourn over Hermoine’s petrified body for the rest of the book, or if they decided to give up when Dumbledore dies? Not much of a story.

He apologized at the end of book 2, (p. 540) but it was only after she and Keefe risked their lives, which seem to make his apology somewhat pointless. Why? Because he got away with it by just saying he’s sorry rather than proving it through action. The only way for Fitz to make a good comeback after lashing out his anger is to actually prove himself later in the story. But he never truly does. He had that one adventure with Sophie where he went to visit Fintan in Everblaze but that’s it.

So, anyway, you would think that Fitz would learn not yell or blame her. But it happened again and again in Flashback. This. This is what makes me really not like Fitz. Because… compare his argument with Sophie to Keefe’s biggest, deadly and reckless stunt in Nightfall. When Sophie and Keefe met up with King Dimitar, Keefe took the reigns by surprising Sophie with his own plans (although it was to protect her from harm). You can feel the tension and frustration build up in Sophie. She already didn’t like that Keefe joined the Neverseen back in book 5--and now this. I focused on this because it’s their actual first head-to-head argument (p. 349 - 353). Keefe feels that this bad stuff that been happening is all his fault (thanks to his mother). The weight of his responsibility is huge. So it’s understandable that he’s doing what he can to protect his friends. But he was losing Sophie’s trust. So to make up for it, and to prove that he really cares, he stayed at home for a week. And when he came back, he was no longer as reckless, and did his best to support her. He actually changed by putting his words into action. And you can see this from Nightfall all the way to Flashback. Basically, his words have meaning.

Because of aaaaaalll of this, it’s why I always scoff or roll my eyes when Fitz gets jealous of Sophie and Keefe. Keefe has proven himself time and time again--starting from book 2 and onwards, so I want to ask Fitz… “what exactly have you done?” Keefe and Sophie organized the majority of the plans and is there for most of the fights. It’s not a surprise when they start to rely on each other and a developed a deeper level of trust. We’re seven books in and Fitz does very little compared to Keefe, so, to me, Fitz’s jealousy is baseless. It also tells me that he’s rather childish that just wants things his way.

I genuinely do not think Fitz cares for Sophie as much as he thinks he does. Because if he does, he should know to not only rely on talking to her but also observing and understanding her. In Flashback, he acted as if living with Alvar was the worst possible thing and made it all about him. In their nightly telepathic conversations, most of the focus was on that one topic alone. And he only knew about Dex’s crush cuffs because Keefe accidentally blurted it out. And the only reason why he wanted to know more about it was because Keefe knows--not because he was interested in her business (p. 323 - 325). He said things like…

“But if you can tell Keefe, why can’t you tell me?” (Fitz)

“I never said I can’t.” (Sophie)

“Maybe not. But you don’t.”

“I really don’t tell him as much as you’re thinking I do.”

“Uh, I can think of a bunch of stuff that he knows.”

“Like what?”

“He knows about the bracelets Dex gave you.”

It’s funny because he used the “we’re cognates” reasoning to get her to talk…

“I just… hate that it’s a secret between us--and not because I want the gossip. It damages our connection, you know? And especially now, with all the limits, we’re trying to work around, thanks to the echoes, it’s just… a drag that there has to be one more thing.”

So here’s my question… If they’re supposed to be cognates, why hasn’t Fitz tried harder to get to know her? He had plenty of reasons to, and definitely more than plenty of chances. She already trusted him since the beginning so he’s got a head start on Keefe. So when you add all these things up: all of the actions that Fitz decides to do or not to do, it tells us a great deal about his character. His presence, compared to Keefe, is lacking throughout the series. That’s why, to us, Sophie and Fitz’s confession in Flashback felt awkward and forced. Because of the lack of proper build up. (I’m sure Shannon did that purposefully, by the way.)