Board Thread:Discord Discussions/@comment-75.111.5.11-20181219030652/@comment-38197001-20190330000120

Sokeefe, definitely. Tiana in close second. Here’s why:

Let’s start from the beginning of the books, when Fitz shows up to take Sophie to the Elvin world. A lot of people ship Fitzphie ‘because he was the one who found her, they have a special connection.’ But Fitz was just looking for her because his dad told him too. There was no connection. It was a job. A job. But let’s look at how Keefe and Sophie met. Sophie’s hand is hurt, she’s blindly walking through the halls, no idea where she’s going. Keefe is sitting there. And they start to talk. It’s really sweet, and you can just imagine it, Keefe making his jokes, leading her to the healing center. He didn’t have to do that. He could’ve just ignored her, said hello, and went away. Keefe is a good person, and Fitz is too. But Keefe helped Sophie out of the goodness of his heart, and Fitz has done that, the thing is? There’s no real connection because Fitz found her. Fitz was just doing what his dad said. Keefe wasn’t.

Next, let’s look at the Fitzphie argument that Keefe jokes too much and isn’t real. However, he can be serious. In fact, he told Sophie that he’s always serious. I’m not disputing the fact that Keefe jokes a lot, but the thing is, wouldn’t you? He’s had an abusive childhood, no wonder he hides behind humor. That’s all he’s got. No family to support him in his choices, no friend but Fitz, who tries but can’t really understand. Fitz has a loving, famous family. Everyone likes him. He’s the golden boy. Nothing’s wrong with his life. Keefe has every right to have a big sense of humor. He needs it, otherwise he’d be the broken kid we see in Neverseen. And that’s not all. Sophie needs that humor. She and her friends are in a big web with the Neverseen, and they’re dealing with a lot of dark stuff. At least a few chapters in every book Sophie is acting like a zombie, and quite often Keefe pulls her out. He lightens her. Tells her there’s hope. Without Keefe’s joking, Sophie would’ve fallen apart. Fitz is great and cares for her, but he’s too deep. Much of their moments are him pressuring her and them staring in eachother’s eyes. With Keefe, he’s serious when he thinks necessary. Their moments are sweet and sarcastic, the kind of moments every relationship needs.

Okay, now you’re thinking, but wait. If Keefe is so broken inside he hides behind humor, that’s not the right kind of guy for Sophie. I won’t dispute this. In Neverseen, I didn’t ship Sokeefe (actually, I shipped Sodex at that point.). Keefe was broken. The thing is? He isn’t anymore. That was a couple books ago. In Flashback? He’s doing awesome. Sophie opened his eyes in Nightfall, and he listened. He was trying. He wanted to be there for her, but she didn’t want that so he stayed behind. And when he came back, he was new. Not perfecet, because nobody is. And in Flashback, he was great. The fake caches? Reasonable amount of guilt, then moved on and tried to help with the more pressing issues. Look at him with Tiergan. Sophie is the one all worried in this part, and then Keefe finally checks in and is all like, ‘dude, I’m fine.’ He’s better. Whereas Fitz is getting angry. And he’s justified with that. I am not disputing that. The thing is, though Fitz can be justified for his anger disorders and actions, that’s not what Sophie needs. We’re not talking about Fitz, but Sophie. Sophie needs someone who will care for her, love her, help her. Fitz can’t do that now, because he’s dealing with a lot of grief, guilt, and anger. He needs to help himself before he can help Sophie. Keefe is doing okay now. Keefe can be the one who’s there for Sophie. Fitz can’t, not until he gets his own emotions sorted out.

Next reason. Trust. Let’s look at Sophie and Fitz’s trust. It is perfect. It has been polished and refined. Fitz only trusts Sophie. They have Cognate trust, now. But it has been polished and perfected. It didn’t come naturally. The first part did, but they built the other part. And another thing. They don’t completely trust each other, and I know this because I haven’t seen the blind trust that I’ve seen between Keefe and Sophie. When Sophie is telling Fitz not to press the button to hurt Alvar, she isn’t trusting him to know what he’s doing. And when it takes many tries to get him to stop, Fitz isn’t trusting Sophie to understand and try to help. But Keefe and Sophie’s trust has flown together on its own. It’s jagged and imperfect, but it’s still trust that works better then Fitzphie’s. Look at the way Keefe listens to Sophie in Nightfall, because he trusts this is what’s best. Look at how Sophie trusts Keefe in Lodestar, at Ravagog in Nightfall. That’s true and blind trust, and I’m sorry, but Fitzphie trust can’t compare.

Please don’t be offended, those are just my opinions.