Councillor Oralie (pronounced Or-uh-lee) is one of the twelve Councillors in the Lost Cities. She is an Empath as well as Sophie Foster's strongest supporter on the Council. She is also Sophie's biological mother. She knows quite a bit about the Black Swan, and out of all the Councillors, currently has the most personal connection with Sophie. This is shown particularly in Neverseen, Lodestar, and Legacy, during the various times that Sophie shares secrets with her and she helps Sophie out.
History[]
The exact time of her election remains unknown, although it could be assumed she was a Councillor for many years. She was Councillor when Jolie Ruewen was still alive, over 16 years ago.
Appearance[]
Oralie has rosy cheeks, long golden-blonde ringlets, and azure (blue) eyes. She is described as looking like a fairy princess.
Personality[]
Oralie has a gentle personality. She seems thoughtful and wise and has incredible patience. Unlike many of her other fellow Councillors, she doesn't lose her head in fraught situations, nor does she lose sight of what is right and wrong. She is a very loyal supporter of Sophie and her friends.
Oralie seems to be willing to set old ways and traditions aside for the good of her world. She also can make the necessary sacrifices, such as giving up Kenric's cache. It was mentioned she was given less Forgotten Secrets to take care of, because Empaths supposedly shatter easily. However, as noted by Mr. Forkle, she possessed firm strength.
In the Books[]
Book 1: Keeper of the Lost Cities[]
She was one of the three Councillors to meet Sophie (the others being Kenric and Bronte) in the Lost Cities. During that time, she proceeded to vote in favor of Sophie being allowed to stay in the Elvin world and attend Foxfire.
Book 2: Exile[]
Oralie suggests Sophie take care of Silveny instead of the Heks family. Kenric agrees with Oralie, and Bronte snorts, saying, "Of course you do."
Book 3: Everblaze[]
Oralie attends Fintan's healing, where the tower collapses and Kenric and Fintan (supposedly) don't make it out. The Councillors gather around her as she is sobbing at the news of Kenric's death. Later, she attends Kenric's Planting, where Sophie notes that all the Councillors look weary and miserable despite their finery, especially Oralie. Oralie's eyes are nothing but puffy slits, and she is leaning against her goblin bodyguards as if they are the only things keeping her standing.
Book 4: Neverseen[]
Oralie gave Kenric's cache to Sophie and became her contact with the Council while Sophie was living with the Black Swan. She was demoted to pointless tasks for the Council because she gave Sophie Kenric's cache without the Council's permission, but as of Legacy, she seems to be off probation. She gave Exillium the funding it needed, and she also implemented other changes, such as Exillium Coaches and Waywards using their names, and masks and hoods becoming optional. Both Sophie and Fitz have access to her Imparter.
Book 5: Lodestar[]
Sophie and Fitz come to Oralie's castle in Eternalia to ask her to set up a meeting with Gethen. Sophie tells Oralie about Wylie's kidnapping. Sophie, Oralie, and Mr. Forkle eventually goes down to Gethen's prison for a meeting, where Mr. Forkle attempts to find information in Gethen's mind while Sophie and Oralie distract Gethen. Later in the book, Oralie attends the Peace Summit at Lumenaria, where Gethen breaks out of prison and attempts to kill Oralie. Mr. Forkle saves her but gets killed himself. She also tries to save Mr. Forkle's life after he is seriously injured by Gethen and stays with him when he dies. She seems to feel guilty for his death and says that it was her fault, which the other Mr. Forkle denied–although he implies that Oralie blames herself for Kenric's death.
Book 6: Nightfall[]
Oralie briefly appears in a scene with Sophie, Mr. Forkle, and many others. She mentions Councillor Terik's prosthetic leg and how the Councillors gave him moral support.
Book 7: Flashback[]
Oralie is at Alvar's Tribunal. Fallon Vacker recognizes Councillor Alina as the one who crashed Alden and Della's wedding, to which Alina reddens and replies that it worked out in the end, gesturing to her Councillor circlet. Fallon tells her that the Council shouldn't be one's whole life, and states that he gave the same advice to another once who didn't follow it either. Oralie blushes, indicating that she was that person and Kenric was who Fallon's advice was about. Later in the book, Alvar mentions Oralie breaking down crying when she tells him what the Neverseen did to Kenric (Alvar had amnesia at the time).
Book 8: Legacy[]
Oralie helps Sophie fix her enhancing with a countdown exercise, and she is revealed to be Sophie's biological mother. During the last chapter of Legacy, she offers to open her cache to discover information on stellarlune to pull Keefe out of his coma, which Sophie reluctantly accepts. Oralie is also present at Loamnore, but she does nothing. She also is one of Sophie's Councillor contacts for Team Valiant, along with Councillor Bronte.
Book 8.5: Unlocked[]
In Unlocked, she and Sophie access the Forgotten Secret in her cache, in which Kenric asks Oralie to marry him and reveals that he knows Oralie's role in Project Moonlark. The Oralie watching the memory yells at Kenric's projection, asking why he didn't tell her he knew when she would remember it.
Book 9: Stellarlune[]
In Stellarlune, it is discovered that to access Kenric’s cache, Oralie’s eyelash is required. When Oralie is seen plucking her eyelashes, Dex thinks that is strange, because Sophie is the only one he has ever seen do that. Sophie denies anything and infers for Oralie to do the same. In the Forgotten Secrets, it is discovered that Oralie and Kenric were at the top of each other’s match lists, and the two used to hate each other as a defense mechanism against their deeper feelings. It is also revealed that Kenric took Oralie to Fintan's home to question Fintan about whether he knows anything about Stellarlune or Elysian. In another Forgotten Secret, Kenric takes Oralie to Elysian (place) and implores her to use her Empathy to sense what Kenric called "awareness" and Oralie then called a "mood" in the area; they agreed that they were sensing the same thing. Then Kenric takes Oralie to her castle and has a Washer erase her memories of being taken to Elysian, showing that this is the time Oralie couldn't remember when Kenric told her she drank too much fizzleberry wine. The Oralie watching the memory remarks that Kenric's striped jerkin is one of the most ridiculous things she's ever seen someone wear. Sophie still ices Oralie throughout the book.
Relationships[]
Councillor Kenric[]
- Love interest/former coworker/deceased
Councillor Kenric seemed to have a crush on Oralie, and Oralie seemed to reciprocate those feelings to an extent. Sophie often suspected that they were in love but couldn't be publicly involved or they would have had to step down as Councillors. Fallon Vacker implied that he once told Oralie to step down from the Council and choose her love over her job, but she didn't listen until it was too late and regretted her decision. In Unlocked, it is revealed that Kenric tried to convince Oralie to resign with him but she refused, and that he knew about Project Moonlark but wiped Oralie's memory so that she would not know that he knew. Kenric was her number one on her matchmaking list and Oralie was Kenric’s number one too.
Sophie[]
- Biological daughter/coworker
Throughout the series, Sophie and Oralie work together quite often, from official projects to breaking major laws. Oralie is Sophie's favorite Councillor, because she often takes her side and is caring towards her.
In Legacy, it is revealed that Sophie is Oralie's biological daughter. Because of this, Sophie resents Oralie both for donating DNA to the Black Swan and for keeping it a secret, since it makes her unmatchable, which means she and her eventual children will be shunned by their peers if she chooses to marry. She treats Oralie as if she was only her DNA donor. Oralie and Sophie work together to open Kenric's cache in Unlocked, but the two of them are still not on good terms. Oralie attempts to apologize to Sophie several times, claiming the teen will understand her later, as it was her only way to conceive because she chose a career that forbid her from doing so without toppling the order of the world.
Councillor Bronte[]
- Friend/coworker
Oralie and Bronte seem to be friends. They both support Sophie and they are both Councillors. In Legacy, Bronte tells Sophie not to look for her biological parents and this may be because he knows Oralie's secret and is trying to help her. Oralie and Bronte are also very snarky to each other in a way that neither of them is with other characters.
Nicknames[]
- Miss Ringlets and Rosy Cheeks (by Lady Gisela)
- The Liar Who Didn't Deserve To Be Mentioned (by Sophie)
- Councillor Not-Her-Mom (by Sophie)
- The Councillor Who Didn't Deserve Sophie's Time (by Sophie)
- Councillor Lyingcurls (by Sophie)
- The Councillor That Sophie Wished Wasn't There (by Sophie)
- Ora (by Kenric)
Trivia[]
- The name Oralie means 'golden' or 'light of the sun'.
- On page 622 of Lodestar, it is stated that Oralie wore a simple green gown, and Sophie wonders if it was a tribute to Kenric (because green is the color elves wear to plantings, this is also the moment where Fintan is at the Peace Summit in Lumenaria, in Lodestar).
- Her Councillor jewel is a pink tourmaline.
- It is revealed in stellarlune that she used the pluck her eyelashes like Sophie who might have inherited the trait.
Housing[]
Oralie lives in one of the crystal Councillor's castles, with pink flowers at the front. She used to live next to Kenric but now lives next to Councillor Alina. It is implied that she isn't very happy with this.
Quotes[]
“Things feel so much bigger when you're young. So much more absolute. But... love isn't as black-and-white as you believe it to be. It comes in many colors and many forms.”
“I feel a lot of confusion. But I've never felt so much sincerity. And there's something else....”
“Sometimes rebellion is the only course of wisdom.”
“We have been playing both sides for far too long. Convincing ourselves that we're above the problems plaguing the other intelligent species, all while attempting to prepare for any worst-case scenarios - though rather convoluted methods, I'll admit. We wanted to believe that we were superior. We are, in certain ways. But... I can't help wondering if things would be different right now if we'd simply accepted from the beginning that the power we have is both our greatest asset and our largest vulnerability.”