Dexter Alvin Dizznee

Dexter Alvin Dizznee, or Dex, is a member of the Black Swan and a Foxfire Level Four prodigy. He is a Technopath, and Sophie Foster's best friend. He was one of the very first elves Sophie met after she moved into the Lost Cities. He later got friend-zoned by Sophie and the Sophie and Dex ship then sank. Dexter in Latin means "Right-handed, skilled". From an occupational surname meaning "One who dyes".

Family of Dex
Dex has two little brothers named Lex and Rex and a little sister named Bex. They are triplets, which are very, very rare and frowned upon in the Lost Cities. His dad is named Kesler Dizznee and his mom's name is Juline Dizznee. He has three uncles and two aunts on his dad's side of the family, and one aunt, Edaline, and one uncle, Grady, on his mom Juline's side of the family. This also makes him and Sophie cousins by adoption.

Dex's parents were ruled a bad match because Kesler is talentless, while Juline is a Froster. Dex is picked on by people like Stina because of this.

Kesler owns an apothecary named Slurps and Burps, and Dex often helps him out with the family business. Many elves buy hairoids, supplements, and more from here.

Abilities and Skills
Dex is a Technopath, which he describes as being able to ask mechanical and electric devices how to do what he wants and have them respond. He has been shown to be able to break through the security of a human ATM and an Elvin lock. He wanted to keep this ability a secret, so he can stay in his ability detecting class, as he hopes to activate a "better" ability. He thought that being a technopath was a weak power and others would think he got the ability as a result of his parent's bad match. In Book 3: Everblaze, Sandor informs Dame Alina, who was headmaster at the time of his ability and she places him with the tutor Lady Iskra. Although mad at first, Dex comes to love and appreciate the ability.

Dex is very talented and he has created several gadgets, such as the panic switch Sophie wears if she needs reinforcements in case of an emergency, the Sucker Punch bracelets he made for him and his friends to enhance a punch, and the ability-restricting circuit he made in accordance with the Council's request, without knowing that it would be used to restrict Sophie's abilities. In Book 4: Neverseen, he created two important gadgets, the Twiggler, and the Evader.

The Twiggler is a gadget that allows the user to gain access to the secret archive hidden in Lumenaria, which is protected by the technologies of six intelligent species: elves, gnomes, dwarves, goblins, ogres, and trolls, and contains transcripts of the negotiations made in Lumenaria. It has wheels attached to it like knobs that can be spun to pull up all the texts that had been blacked out, and it is made up of all the elements of the six intelligent species. Humans also are a part of the Twiggler as they were once part of the Elvin Peace Treaty.

The Evader is described to look like a gutted obscurer. The sphere had been sliced in half, and all kinds of springy coiled wires stuck out of the center. It allows the user to break into the Council's archives and find records on the Waywards who have attended, and/or are still attending Exillium. It has a thin wire attached that is called a wiper. The Evader's wiper erases every step the user took to avoid drawing attention to the Council.

His gadgets sometimes caused trouble, such as the ability-restricting circlet. Dex created this circlet after the Councillors asked him to make weapons. However, when Sophie used her abilities for actions related to the Black Swan, they were considered treasonous against the Council. The Council ended up using the circlet to take away Sophie's abilities, with only three Councillors on her side. The circlet caused her to have numerous headaches and abrasions and also caused her to stay in at Havenfield and sleep for three days.

Dex is also very good at alchemy and elixir brewing. He helps out in his father's apothecary, Slurps and Burps. He mostly is shown making prank elixirs, but his father lets him help with serious medical elixirs, including Sophie's Limbium-free Fade Fuel. In Book 5: Lodestar, he displays his skills as an alchemist to make Sophie a bottle of Panakes perfume using the petals from Calla's Panakes.

Aside from these abilities, Dex has also been shown to have more skill training than his friends. He says he learned how to regulate his body temperature, and he also is shown levitating effortlessly in Book 5: Lodestar. It is likely that this is due to his father being talentless and his early beliefs that he would end the same way.

Appearance
Dex is described as skinny and short, with curly strawberry blond hair and periwinkle eyes, but in Book 4: Neverseen, he had a growth spurt and is now around the same height as Sophie Foster, compared to before when he was shorter than her. He has prominent dimples that show up when he smiles. As of Book 2: Exile, it is revealed that he has a burn scar on his side, below his ribs, the size, and shape of a thumbprint which was made by Brant, the Neverseen member who had tortured him when he was kidnapped along with Sophie in Book 1: Keeper of the Lost Cities.

Dex's tree in the Wanderling Woods mirrors his appearance traits. It has a twisted trunk, spiky strawberry-red leaves, periwinkle-blue berries, and stinky flowers.

In Book 4: Neverseen, Sophie says that her friends stand out, claiming that they "look like models". This includes Dex, as she says that by human standards Dex is cute.

In Book 5: Lodestar, Biana gives Dex a makeover, including a new hairstyle, which supposedly changes his appearance quite dramatically and makes him look older and much more mature.

His growth spurt continues in Book 6: Nightfall, and he's now grown to be the same height as Keefe.

''Photo 1: Dex by Laura Hollingsworth Photo 2: Dex by Courtney Godbey Photo 3: Dex by Laura Hollingsworth Photo 4: Dex on the cover of KEEPER by Jason Chan''

Relationships
Sophie is Dex's best friend and he first meets her when she enters Slurps and Burps with Edaline. Dex obviously has a crush on her and the two are quite close. It does not seem, however, that Sophie reciprocates the romantic feelings entirely, though she does care strongly for Dex as her best friend. At the end of Book 1: Keeper of the Lost Cities, she nearly faded away just to protect him when they light leaped away from their kidnappers.
 * SOPHIE (best friend/adoptive cousin/former crush)

In Book 6: Nightfall, Sophie kisses Dex and the two realize that there was no spark and that it would be best to remain as friends. The two feel awkward around each other for a long period of time throughout the book until Dex speaks to Sophie at Foxfire, confronting her about her "zombie state," and decide to stay away from one another sitting together. Kesler is Dex's father and the owner of Slurps and Burps. Dex constantly helps Kesler make elixirs, including Fade Fuel without the limbium for Sophie. Kesler is Talentless and so people call him a 'bad match' for Juline, his wife. It's shown that Dex cares very much about Kesler. When Juline was revealed to be Squall in Book 5: Lodestar, both Kesler and Dex are upset that she had lied to them for so many years, though Kesler forgives Juline very quickly. Juline is Dex's mother and has triplets, a rare thing in the Elvin world. It is shown that they both care for each other a lot. In Book 5: Lodestar it is revealed that Juline is actually Squall, one of the members of the Black Swan's Collective, along with Mr. Forkle, Granite, Wraith, Blur, and is Froster. Dex is hurt when he discovers this because Juline did not tell him sooner but later forgives her. Dex is also extremely upset when he finds out about the Great Forkle Reappearance (as named by Keefe), because Dex knew that she already knew that he wasn't truly dead. Dex's younger siblings are always noisily quarreling and playing pranks, and Dex thinks they can be very annoying but others think they are great. The triplets love to embarrass Dex, but despite it all, he still cares for them very much as seen when he expresses his wish not to have the triplets experience the same shame he experienced as a child of a bad match. He also is known for giving them prank elixers when he needs to "ditch Lovise". Edaline is always nice to Dex. In Book 4: Neverseen, Dex sniffles when he sees Edaline because she looks like his mother. Edaline, after seeing Dex, pulls him in for a hug, and comments that Juline will be jealous that she got to see Dex. She also is always pushing for Dexphie until the infamous kiss.
 * KESLER (father)
 * JULINE (mother)
 * LEX, BEX, and REX (younger siblings)
 * EDALINE (aunt) 

Grady likes Dex and he usually sees him when he goes over to Havenfield to see Sophie. Also, Grady always tries to push Dex towards Sophie up until the middle of Book 6: Nightfall, after Sophie and Dex kiss. In Book 2: Exile, when Sophie needs Dex's help he comes and helps. Afterward, Keefe goes off with Dex to cause trouble because Dex is a Technopath. Keefe was always trying to tell Dex that being a Technopath was cool and that he shouldn't keep it a secret. Dex did not like Fitz at the beginning of the series, possibly because he was jealous of him, and believed strongly that the Vackers were untrustworthy. When they first met, he said that he knew Fitz at the same time Fitz said that he did not know Dex. Dex was under the impression that Fitz thinks he is better than Dex and thus did not bother to remember his name or how to say it correctly, as Fitz had called him 'Deck' the first time they met. Dex always referred to Fitz as "Wonderboy" because he hated that Fitz is seemingly "perfect." When Sophie found out about Biana being told to be her friend, Fitz sent Dex to go talk to her, as Dex has a strong relationship with Sophie. Dex was really upset when he found out that Sophie and Fitz have telepathy training together because he felt like Fitz is hogging Sophie.
 * GRADY (uncle)
 * KEEFE (friend/possible love interest)
 * FITZ (friend/former foe/possible love interest)

However, in Book 4: Neverseen, Dex and Fitz sort out their differences and finally become friends. In later books, the feud goes on between them, but it's clear that they are friends. At the beginning of the series, Biana and Dex do not interact much. They do not hate each other, but they don't exactly like each other either. In Book 5: Lodestar, after being the only two left behind from another of Sophie's adventurers, Biana proposes that Dex and herself create their own separate group. Also, during a stay at Dex's house, Biana gives him a makeover by doing his hair. When Linh used her water power, he, along with Fitz, says, "Wow." It is unknown whether he said it because of her amazing powers or if he seemed romantically interested in her. Also, it is shown that Dex also said "Wow" when he saw her for the first time, meaning he might like Linh. While staying at Alluveterre in Book 4: Neverseen, Dex offers to share his room with Tam. In later books, there is slight teasing between the two, and they are both pulled into a hug by Alden in Book 7: Flashback after saving Fitz and Sophie.
 * BIANA (friend/possible love interest)
 * LINH (friend/possible love interest)
 * TAM (good friend/possible love interest)

Trivia

 * Shannon Messenger originally decided for Dex to be white blonde until her editor said that Dex and Sophie looked too much like siblings.

Character Bio by Shannon Messenger
Dex immediately becomes Sophie’s best friend and takes it upon himself to help her find her way through her complicated new world. He doesn’t have a special ability when Sophie meets him, but she can tell he’s incredibly talented—especially at alchemy—despite the fact that many people unfairly underestimate both him and his family. A true prankster at heart, he always does what he can to make Sophie laugh—though sometimes he wishes he could make her feel something … more. Hard as he tries to hide it, he can’t help having a huge crush on her, and is less-than-thrilled to find himself in a competition with Fitz—and Keefe—to gain Sophie’s attention.

Dexter Dizznee