“I think you'd be surprised what we can bear,”
The elves once lived in harmony with the humans under the treaty given to all the intelligent species, but they were taught that humans wanted to rule the world instead of sharing it. Humans made disastrous weapons that had the potential to destroy the world, and didn't know how to control them. For the safety of them all, the elves decided it would be best to sever connections with the humans completely. After the elves left, humans started making myths about them. Atlantis, Shangri-la, unicorns, and pointy ears all came as the humans eventually started to forget about the elves, but the people who did remember the elves told these stories which became the myths.
There is a small elven group called the Black Swan. The Black Swan knew that the elven way was not working, and implemented change. They created Sophie Foster, a girl of both worlds, and placed her with the Foster family in San Diego, California. She had seen the flaws in the human world, but when a mysterious boy named Fitz Vacker brought her to the Lost Cities at 12 years old, she saw the flaws in the elf world, too. As she finds out more about herself and the Black Swan, she and her friends start to see that what they originally had seen as perfect was not perfect at all.
She showed compassion and felt the need to protect her family, friends, and even just allies. This led to the events in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series. The elves live in a non-violent world which has changed ever since the rapid growth of the two rebellious groups, the Black Swan and another group called the Neverseen. From Sophie and many other elves' perspective, the Black Swan are good, whereas the Neverseen have bad intentions, and the Council on a middle ground.
Main Characters
Mr. Forkle/Magnate Leto Kerlof/Sir Astin
Government
Councillors
The Council is the ruling body of the Lost Cities. It is a group of elves that watch over the land. They make the laws, but they have a few rules they must follow:
- Councillors may not marry or have a love interest. If they do, they must leave the position of being a Councillor or forget about the connection entirely. Example: Oralie and Kenric.
- Councillors are not allowed to allow other elves into their houses without previous notice. Example: When Fitz and Sophie arrived at Oralie's office to tell her info about recent events.
List of Councillors Known:
Councillor Kenric (deceased) (Telepath)
Councillor Fallon (formerly) (Ability Unknown)
Councillor Emery (Spokesman) (Telepath)
Councillor Noland (Vociferator)
Councillor Clarette (Polyglot, but can speak to animals)
Councillor Alina (New) (Replacement of Kenric) (Beguiler)
Main Human-Elf Differences
- Guilt
When they take part in violence or do something particularly cruel, guilt consumes elves so much that their minds may break from it, whereas humans may do horrible things without any guilt at all. This is part of the reason that the Neverseen, who have tortured and hurt and killed throughout every book in the series, are so unstable.
Elves can manifest special talents that make them able to do things humans never could like read minds, control the elements, and turn invisible.
All elves have natural abilities that humans don't, like levitation, regulating their body temperature, and moving things with their minds.
All elves, except Sophie, have blue eyes.
- Life spans
Elves haven't died of old age, though they can be killed.
Books
Keeper of the Lost Cities - Book One
Keeper of the Lost Cities: Exile - Book Two
Keeper of the Lost Cities: Everblaze - Book Three
Keeper of the Lost Cities: Neverseen - Book Four
Keeper of the Lost Cities: Lodestar - Book Five
Keeper of the Lost Cities: Nightfall - Book Six
Keeper of the Lost Cities: Flashback - Book Seven
Keeper of the Lost Cities: Legacy - Book Eight To be Released: Fall 2019
Keeper of the Lost Cities: Unknown - Book Nine To be Released: Fall 2020
To see the full timeline of the elves, go to the Elven History page.