These passages contain significant spoilers. Do not read any of this post unless you have already read this book.
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Page 9 "What about the mind reading thing?" her sister asked. "One of them said he was listening for nearby thoughts as he searched the house, so I thought about darkness and silence just in case." "That was really smart," Sophie told her, stunned she had managed to pull that off.
Page 42 But Alden was focused on a much bigger revelation. "So… you knew Prentice was innocent when I arrested him?" Livvy closed her eyes. "Yes."
Page 43 "What was he investigating?" Sophie asked. "Honestly? I have no idea," Livvy admitted. "We didn't share as much back then. It was safer to keep everything compartmentalized."
Page 43 "Quinlin noticed discrepancies in Prentice's records. Times when his registry pendant claimed he was at his post as Beacon of the Gold Tower, but he wasn't actually there. So I started watching closer." "Livvy frowned at her husband. "You never told me you had anything to do with Prentice's arrest." "And you never told me the Black Swan were on our side!" Quinlin snapped back.
Page 122 "They took my human parents." Lady Gisela swore under her breath. "I suppose they do love to make things personal." "To keep me distracted, right?" Sophie asked. "Sounds like the moonlark is finally learning to ask the right questions."
Page 177 "But I beg you not to try to guess it. Our existence was seamless. Anything we ever said or did came from both of us, even though only one of us was present in that moment."
Page 177 "We always considered each other before we made decisions—and we updated each other on everything. Before we manifested as Telepaths, we made it a habit of staying up late, rehashing every detail of our days. And once we could connect our minds, we started swapping memories fully—holding nothing back. So, when you were with him, it was no different than if you were with me."
Page 177 "Because it was either share a life, or face the scorn of identical twins. And back when we were born, our world was even more restrictive than what you see now. We never would've been allowed to attend Foxfire, or been invited to join the nobility—"
Page 178 "When I made my surprise appearance—two minutes and twelve seconds after my brother made his—my parents had to make a choice. And they chose this."
Page 178 He lifted the swollen folds around his neck, revealing a registry pendant set onto a strained silver chain. "Technically, the feed this crystal generates isn't mine, and never has been. But it's the only life I've ever known. My mother told me once that if we'd been fraternal twins, she would've simply tucked me away and faked a second pregnancy. But we were identical. They could never register me without my DNA giving us away."
Page 180 Sophie sat up straighter. "I always assumed you were the one who founded the order." "Many have assumed that. But the seeds were in place long before our inception. This tower is proof of that. All we did was help shape the existing members into a true organization."
Page 180 "You never kept any secrets?" "We couldn't. Our life would've collapsed. That's why even with his final breaths, my brother made sure there would be no gaps in my memories."
Page 181 "Mostly it involves me learning to do less, since I'll have to shoulder the burden alone now. I don't think either of us truly believed this would be our reality, but… here we are."
Page 185 But all he did was gently pull the glove off, careful not to touch her skin as he pointed to the small star-shaped mark on the back of her hand. "I'm the one who gave you this." Her breath caught. "You were the one who healed my abilities?" "I was. And I wish I'd managed the process better."
Page 186 For several seconds she cried alone. Then warm, pudgy arms pulled her into a ruckleberry-scented embrace, and she clung to Mr. Forkle as her tears soaked his wrinkled tunic and he whispered the only two words that made her feel any better. "I'm here."
Page 188 Sophie was sure he'd probably been hoping the elf in front of them was the one who pulled them away from their kidnappers in Paris, but that seemed to have been the other brother. But the Forkle still with them was the one who'd been there—as Magnate Leto—the day the Council forced Sophie to wear the ability restrictor that Dex had been tricked into designing.
Page 199 Her jeweled circlet was noticeably absent from her ringletted blond hair as she whispered, "Can you ever forgive me?" Mr. Forkle moved to her side and reached for her fragile, shaking hand. "There's nothing to forgive, Oralie. I would've made the same choice my brother did in that moment. And you're an Empath, so you know I'm telling the truth."
Page 276 Amy told her that she and Quinlin had been going through human newspaper articles about the fires, and they'd found that twenty of the burned areas were experiencing an unprecedented regrowth of rare wildflowers—which seemed way too perfect of a number to be a natural occurrence.
Page 289 "Go for servitude," Blur told her, right before a huge wave hit the prow and drenched him head to toe. For the briefest moment, his features were outlined by the water—and while Sophie didn't recognize him, his full lips and round cheeks felt strangely familiar.
Page 296 "From you. I found the reports on ogre culture that you sent the Council while you were living in Ravagog. Looks like Alvar was stashing them so no one would read them." Lady Cadence sighed. "I knew I shouldn't have trusted that arrogant child."
Page 338 "Mommy issues alert!" Ro said. "Though I get it. I met your mom once, and after about five minutes I was begging my dad to let me stomp her."
Page 391 "So… they grew different plants in different environments and then burned them," Tam said as Livvy collected more samples. "And they all have something to do with sleep."
Page 451 "All these decisions we keep questioning, like the prejudice against multiple births and the ban on Pyrokinesis? Those are all things Fallon probably decided."
Page 472 "Bronte told us that Councillor Alina had to go to Exile and use her ability as a Beguiler to calm Prentice down before transport," she said quietly. "I remember wondering if she might've done something to Prentice that caused him to slip away."
Page 480 "Why would the Neverseen make a bunch of soporidine?" "I'm guessing the obvious answer is: to drug a lot of people," Physic said, tilting her head to study Alvar's pale face.
Page 483 She could barely find enough voice to say, "Does this mean the Council gave Prentice soporidine?" "I… don't know," Physic admitted. "The vitals match—but how would they have had any to use?" "No clue," Sophie said. "But if they did…"
Page 493 "I tested Prentice this morning. And I didn't find any marks like what's on Alvar's heel." Sophie was trying to decide if she was relieved, when Physic added, "But there was a small glowing dot in the center of his palm. So he was definitely exposed to soporidine."
Page 494 "I didn't do anything to Prentice," Bronte said calmly. "And for the record, neither did Emery or Alina. Or Terik—though I'd think his injury in Lumenaria would be proof enough that he's not involved with the Neverseen, without my needing to say so."
Page 496 You're sure the Councillors weren't involved? she transmitted to Mr. Forkle. Yes, Miss Foster, he transmitted back. I am. I bent the rules of telepathy a bit during my interrogations and combed through all of their minds much more carefully than they realized. And I was able to dredge up each of their memories of that day—and none of them gave me any reason to doubt their integrity.
Page 541 "I've never worked out exactly what happened, but I saw Cyrah's expression shift as she stepped into the light. One second all was well. The next she looked pained and panicked. And when I turned to Gethen, he was sweaty and shaking. I confronted Fintan about it later, and all he told me was that I'd gotten sloppy—and I suppose I should've seen it for the warning it was."
Page 553 He sighed, running a swollen hand down his face. "Because one of the words I do recognize in this journal is 'human.' Over and over. And given how things deteriorated between our species, it's unsettling to know our side has a secret that's managed to stay buried for millennia—a secret connected to a prisoner so horrible, the Council erased her from their memories."
Page 572 "An ogre party boat?" Ro asked. "I believe they're calling it a research vessel," Tiergan noted. "Not once I get there." She wrapped her arm around Keefe's shoulder and messed up his hair. "Have fun with your chaperone."
Page 605 Ro batted her eyelashes. "Hey, it's not my fault if someone gets their foot broken while trying to trip me." "It is if you stomp on them as hard as you can," Magnate Leto argued. His usually sleek hair looked much more disheveled than usual as he led the way into his triangular office.
Page 606 "By the way, love what you've done with the place, Leto." "I'm sure you do." Magnate Leto sank into his own chair, which was more of an upholstered throne now. "You're welcome for making it so you don't have to stare at ten thousand reflections of yourself every day," Keefe told him.
Page 608 "Wow, subtlety is not your thing," Ro told her. "So let's end the misery—I already know this guy is the Forklenater. Took me about two seconds to figure it out after I met him. The berries might mask his scent for your noses—or his." She grinned at Sandor. "But one whiff and I was like, come on, who are we kidding?"
Page 608 "Nope. He'll respect you more if you tell him yourself. And I never thought I'd say this, but… I want you guys to keep working together—even after he tracks down the jerks who defected. Your Councillors are too stuffy—and the Neverseen are backstabbers. But the Black Swan might actually be useful."
Page 621 According to her journals, she was striving to understand how humans could commit such terrible atrocities without shattering their sanity. She believed that if we—as a species—didn't find a way to harness that same level of ruthlessness, that it was only a matter of time before humans would take over as the dominant species on our planet.
Page 622 And I've found a number of missing persons reports long buried in our ancient archives—filed by humans living in Atlantis. The color drained from Bronte's face. Alden didn't look much better when he asked, Any record of how the Council responded?
Page 622 I suspect the majority of the information exists only in Fintan's cache, Mr. Forkle told him. But… from what I can tell, the Councillors wrote everything off as a misunderstanding.
Page 623 How many humans went missing? Fitz asked.
Page 623 The records I found were vague. But it seems safe to assume there were hundreds. Bronte swore under his breath.
Page 624 Consider what we teach about Atlantis in elvin history, Mr. Forkle told them. How the greedy, spiteful humans planned a war against our innocent ancestors because they feared the elves' natural abilities and craved more power.
Page 624 But if Vespera was capturing humans and experimenting on them—and the Council refused to investigate what was happening, Alden added, the humans would've had good reason to want to overthrow that authority.
Page 772 "All my life, some small, secret part of me has wished the divide between humans and elves could be bridged," he whispered. "I never fought for change, because I believed the lies that had been fed to me. But now that the deeper truths have been revealed…"
Next, I give my thoughts about what some of this might mean. Stop
reading NOW if you have not read through at least the first 9 books.
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I wonder about Amy. Amy was born from a human who previously had carried an elf as a surrogate. It's pointed out how Amy stares at Sophie's hand, like she knows that something else has happened. It's also interesting how well Amy was able to fool the Neverseen by disguising her thoughts.
Lady Gisela seems annoyed that Sophie's human parents were taken by the Neverseen. She could be pretending, but she doesn't seem happy about what the Neverseen, as run by Fintan, is doing.
On page 189, the kids wonder about Tiergan's secrets. I wonder, too. What do we not know about him?
The statement about Blur's living situation is interesting. It's a random comment that could mean something.
On page 232, Mr. Forkle admits to being a risk-taker. I'd say so. As I've read these books, I've been astonished at the crazy stupid things the Black Swan does. It makes for great reading, but gosh, they recklessly engage in dangerous activities that are guaranteed to end badly.
Fans generally believe that Blur is Jensi's older brother, Fernan Babblos, who is a Phaser. I agree.
I like how on page 606, we learn that Leto's chair is more like a throne. Hmm...
This passage from page 186 is probably my favorite from the entire series.
For several seconds she cried alone. Then warm, pudgy arms pulled her into a ruckleberry-scented embrace, and she clung to Mr. Forkle as her tears soaked his wrinkled tunic and he whispered the only two words that made her feel any better. "I'm here."
Hi, first of all, I hope you’re doing well. Thank you so much for all the effort you go through for posting these kind of blog posts with quotes from the book and for writing about your thoughts! I started the series last winter and – because I instantly loved Mr Forkle ever since his very first line and had been hoping so hard that he was an elf throughout the entire first book haha – found your posts pretty quickly when searching for him online. I have been actively following the KotLC Theories reddit you created but I don’t have an account. You 100% convinced me on Kenric & Forkle + him being her biological father.
ReplyDeleteI’m currently doing a rereading and paid attention to details, e.g for the Oralie-is-Jolie’s-sister-theory (since I’m not so sure about that one). I can’t provide pages, I only started noting them down after some time… and I’m not reading the series in English. I’ve included chapter numbers where I could. Here a few things I’ve noticed:
- How come that Alina became Councillor? I checked the pages before the election, and Fitz mentions Leto, Cadence and a few old guys he’s never heard of being nominated. Alden believes Leto will become Councillor. Alina was never mentioned. So did they ask Leto, only for him to suggest someone else? If so, then it’s strange she was the person he thought of.
- Was there ever a reason stated for why Sophie’s Telepathy was triggered when she was five? Except that it was convenient and he could train her.
- Does choosing the Fosters as Sophie’s human family hold any deeper meaning? A few pages into Ch. 1 of Nightfall, Amy says the Neverseen had been wondering about that. In Ch. 77 Vespera says that Fintan thought they were perfect specimens. In Ch. 3, Livvy says it was because they were good people and wouldn’t give her too much human medicine. She tells her that if there was another reason, then Forkle kept it to himself. Sophie never asked him.
- Neverseen, Ch. 52, Tiergan (as Granite) says that he can’t risk Sophie discovering one of his identities — if Tiergan were his only (other) identity, I think he would’ve said “I can’t risk you finding out about my true/other identity”. So does he have more than 2?
- Nightfall, Ch. 10, Edaline is described as having rosy cheeks and appearing like a fragile beauty — exactly what Oralie is commonly seen as.
- Nightfall, Ch. 38: Forkle has done 2 complete resets, washing the memories of whole days, if I understood correctly. Whose mind? Perhaps Prentice in order to wash his memories of working with Kenric? But who else?
- If Jolie and Oralie are sisters, then there are some — in my humble opinion — very neat parallels with Brant Alger and Kenric Elgar/Forkle #1. Maybe that’s the connection their middle names are suggesting: Both are Sophie’s uncle, one Neverseen, one Black Swan. Brant survived while Jolie didn’t. Forkle #1 died so that Oralie would survive. And after killing Brant, too. Both loved the person these incidents happened with.
I’d love to hear your thoughts! But don’t feel pressured to reply, of course! Have a good day <3
Thanks for commenting! I love writing about this series, and I love reading what others think. I have a few thoughts to add.
ReplyDeleteMr. Forkle caught my eye in the very first scene where he gets Gethen to back off. I noticed that and thought that Forkle wasn’t just Sophie’s neighbor. I was thrilled when he reappeared later, and my suspicions were confirmed.
I have seen several posts in the last few years where people theorized that Oralie is a Ruewen. Each time, I dismissed the idea immediately, because it didn’t seem plausible. After the name similarities were pointed out on Reddit, it really got me to thinking about it.
I’m not entirely convinced that the theory is true, but the naming convention is enough to give me reason to think that it could be. Not only do Oralie and Jolie’s names end with “ie,” Edaline names the flareadon “Gildie,” which is another “ie” name.
I’ve been long convinced that Sophie’s parents are Kenric and Oralie. I have wondered how that would affect Grady and Edaline, and I don’t think it would be good. If Sophie’s parents turn out to be very prominent, likeable elves, then Grady and Edaline could naturally feel threatened by them or jealous. I’d hate for that to happen.
If Oralie is Grady and Edaline’s daughter, then they would be Sophie’s grandparents. They would be pleased that Sophie is a Ruewen by blood and would feel no jealousy towards Sophie’s biological parents.
I’d love for that theory to be true. My problem with it is that I don’t understand why nobody has told Sophie that Oralie is a Ruewen. All of the adults must know. Sophie’s friend group might not, but Marella seems to know everything. I’m surprised that she doesn’t know.
How could Oralie be a Ruewen, then? I wonder if when an elf is elected to the Council that they then effectively disown their family. Could the elves have a rule that says that anyone who speaks of the Councillors’ families would be banished or exiled? If such a strong rule exists, then that would explain why no one has told Sophie.
On page 181 of Stellarlune, Oralie tells Sophie “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” Previously, that comment didn't stand out, but now I wonder if Oralie is referring to being a Ruewen.
I’ve been wondering whether a law like that could exist too! I’ll have to think about it again. I’ll also need to check some things for the timeline and Oralie’s age because it is a little weird in my opinion if the age gap is several centuries. I assume Mr. Forkle is probably around 800 years old because his eyes are described as ancient while his ears aren’t pointy yet, and considering he was the inspiration for Loki… First written accounts appear in the 13th century, according to Wikipedia. That is obviously assuming Shannon isn’t twisting it into “the humans are wrong about that” or straight up ignoring this. But Grady and Edaline aren’t ancient yet as well, so to think that Kenric is more or less their generation (if not older) and with Oralie… is a little gross in my opinion. But perhaps elves don’t see it that way, I don’t know. If I recall correctly, Alden and Della are at least a century apart in ages.
DeleteThe reason I’m pondering about this is because I’m trying to figure out what kind of relationship Oralie and Jolie might had if they truly turn out to be sisters. Could Oralie feel guilty for not being there for her sister due to her duties as a Councillor (or just in general)? When did she join the Council to begin with? How long have Kenric and she been ignoring their feelings? I mean, it works either way, they could have been close or distant, Oralie would probably still feel like she owed Jolie this (and thus donated her DNA for Project Moonlark).
In general, it’s quite unclear how old the Councillors are and whether there is a certain age required to join or be considered. Liora is the second longest serving Councillor, and yet, in Unlocked, it is stated that she’s still several centuries away from becoming one of the ancients. I’m not sure if she’s the second oldest elf on the Council too. So many question about their system… it’s mostly guesswork at this point.
On a different topic: I really hope we get to know what Mr. Forkle is transmitting in order to get past Sophie’s point of trust. I don’t have any of the books with me right now, but I think it was in Neverseen in the scene where Forkle, Keefe, Fitz and Sophie are in this mushroom cave and doing Cognate lessons (being in the other’s emotional centre) where Forkle says something mighty interesting: He literally states that just like a newborn is instinctly trusting their parents, Sophie’s mind unconsciously trusts his. And then he, of course, immediately adds she’s trusting Fitz too. I need his transmission to be related with their genetic connection, maybe ‘we’re family’ or something like that so badly haha (and the ‘we’ could refer to both twins, so that would be cool — after all, Forkle had to check if her point of trust had shifted after Sophie learned the truth about his twin, maybe not just since she might not trust him anymore but also because the phrase doesn’t hold the same meaning ever since his brother’s death… so that’s my headcanon for now).