Starsofatlantis - Sawyer!

fitz when he was looking for sophie: there’s nothing rich folks love more than going downtown and slummin’ it with the poor! :)

preach

fitz and his anger issues

* cursing is involved * kinda? flashback spoilers

(pls don’t be angry this is just my opinion. sorry if i came off too strong)

alright guys i’ve been quiet for too long. there’s been so much discourse about fitz and i’m finally throwing my opinion onto the table.

ready? great.

fitz is a goddamn character. and guess what? character’s are supposed to have flaws. some of you are over here getting angry at fitz for having anger issues, but then before those anger issues really showed ya’ll were angry at him for being the ‘perfect character’.

i’m sorry but make up your fucking mind!

characters are supposed to have flaws, and not every character can have that 2D 'aw i’m insecure but in reality i’m really hot’ flaw. they need to have the 'i am in a bad place and need help’ flaw.

not all characters will be perfect.

not all characters should be perfect.

and not all character’s flaws should be fixed immediately.

stop hating on him. stop going to the extreme and even saying he should have died in flashback! stop saying he never should have woke up!

i don’t love fitz, guys.

but i don’t hate him.

so put on your adult pants and grow the hell up.

what with all this talk of fanfic and ai and feeding other people's work without permission into ai programmes to 'finish' a fanfic or whatever... it's just showing how people see fic as 'content'? a fanfic as something mass-produced and official, something to consume at a distance and then talk about in a vacuum? something to use for your own purposes and something over which you have a claim?

fanfic is written by fans like you. written out of love and passion and a lot of effort and hard work, so that the author can share their enthusiasm for the characters and stories with other fans. like you. they aren't these untouchable, faceless people above you – they're your peers. gifsets, fanart, fanfic – they're all made by your peers. mutuals. friends.

if you want to know more about the fic, talk to the author! so many fic writers leave their socials in the end notes of their fics – talk to them! they're not going to be affronted or judgemental. chances are, they're going to be over the moon that you like their work and want to engage and discuss the characters and the themes etc. they made you happy with their fic, and you would be making them so happy in return! (and what does a happy writer do? write more!)

as a fic writer, I made one of my closest tumblr friends because she read my fic and left a really nice comment, and then we got talking and brainstorming loads of headcanons and fic ideas together! fic writers want to talk! if you enjoy someone's presence and contributions in a fandom, let them know!

and for the love of all that is good, don't feed someone's hard work into an ai programme!!! whether you post it (which is just horrible tbh) is beside the point – you're facilitating the plagiarism of their fic!

How do you feel when someone calls Fitz a jerk after reading Legacy and saw Fitz lost control and shouted at Sophie ?

oh boy is this going to be controversial

i... don’t think his reaction was uncalled for.

let’s review.

throughout the series fitz’s family is described as, ‘practically royalty’, famous, one of the most important elven families. he also has many relatives who are/were important political figures.

that’s bound to cause an unhealthy obsession with one’s reputation.

fitz himself has been described as the golden boy. he has been one of the most powerful telepaths since the age of thirteen, a lot of attention has been put on him not only because he’s a vacker but also because of how talented he is. not to mention during his childhood he was constantly disappearing, which is sure to raise some eyes.

growing up under the public eye? it ain’t easy. even if you’re an elf.

his whole life he’s been expected to be perfect and have no cracks. you can’t expect him to change overnight- even for a girl he obviously cares deeply about.

in legacy, it takes fitz coming over to havenfield for sophie to actually talk to him, but she was anxious and scared- and for good reason. we all know fitz has never been very good at dealing with painful emotions healthily.

but he does.

“i want you to remember me sitting here with you, not freaking out or causing any of the drama you’ve been worrying about, okay? i know i haven’t always been great about that—but i’m working on it. so i need you to start working on trusting me—because having you avoid me like you’ve been doing really hurts. and finding out you’ve been hiding something this important totally sucks. and knowing you confided in other people before telling me makes it even worse.” legacy, pg 245

even fitz understands why sophie’s been avoiding him, and he’s trying to fix it. he tells her how he feels and what he wishes she would’ve done instead, but he gets why sophie did what she did and he doesn’t fault her for it.

if that’s not handling it maturely- then i don’t know what is.

then he screws everything up with his views on matchmaking. but thinking about his upbringing? those views are completely understandable and i can’t fault him for having them.

because sophie was brought up by humans, she can see how harmful matchmaking can be. because dex is the son of a bad match, he can see how harmful matchmaking can be. because no one else was raised with the pressure of being a vacker- besides biana but even she wasn’t raised with the ‘golden boy’ mentality fitz was- they can see how harmful matchmaking can be. you have to put yourself in his shoes instead of just writing him off as insentive. he doesn’t understand why it’s bad because he’s never experienced the downside of it. he’s only ever seen positives, but that doesn’t make him a bad person.

sure, he doesn’t try to understand, but that’s because no one else tries to explain how bad it’s bad and who it’s hurt, even sophie hasn’t- she’s only ever thought about it.

onto their actual breakup.

i think fitz has every reason to be upset, and i also think sophie has every reason to be upset. there’s no right or wrong.

the problem though, is the fact that neither of them try to understand why the other one feels the way they do. fitz doesn’t try to see why sophie let alvar go, and sophie doesn’t try to understand the full extent of all the emotions fitz is feeling. neither of them are very good at communicating, which is kinda ironic considering they’re cognates, which was the real downfall of their relationship. but they figure out that argument.

then they move on to sophie’s mom.

sophie continually tells fitz she can’t tell him who she is and at first, fitz gets it... until sophie says she can’t tell him- ever.

we all know the most important thing to fitz is trust. he doesn’t realize why sophie won’t tell him because he’s always trusted sophie to tell him whatever whenever she’s ready. there couldn’t be anything so bad she can’t tell him, could there?

but he lets it go.

then he asks about the match.

to him, it’s a simple question, because to him, matchmaking is simple.

to sophie, it’s the question that breaks everything, because to her, matchmaking is anything but simple.

fitz goes onto to talk about how they should discuss her decision together and how it doesn’t just affect her. and honestly? i don’t think he was out of line.

it’s clear now that this is something fitz wants for life, and a relationship isn’t just one person. it’s sacrifice, and it’s compromise.

so fitz is right. sophie deciding she’ll stay unmatchable doesn’t just affect her. it affects him too, because he doesn’t want anyone else. he says so in flashback. at the end of the day, it is still her choice, but that doesn’t mean her and fitz can’t discuss it.

before he leaves fitz repeats why he doesn’t understand, and it’s not his fault he doesn’t. sophie chooses not to help him understand by not telling him who her mom is, but that doesn’t mean she’s to blame either. once again, neither one of them try to see the other persons side. it wasn’t fitz’s fault they broke up and it wasn’t sophie’s fault. fitz isn’t a jerk for think her decision is the wrong one. it’s an opinion. we all have them. fitz gets to have his, but sophie gets to have hers too.

the only reason we think fitz was in the wrong is because we only see how sophie feels, we only hear her thoughts, we only see the stress she’s been under. we don’t see fitz’s feelings. we’re behaving just like sophie and fitz. refusing to listen because of our emotions.

i truly think if they’d both sat down and talked calmly, ignoring how they feel and instead listening to what the other one thinks, maybe their breakup could’ve been avoided.

sorry this came out so long lol but this was such a good question and something i’ve been dying to talk about so thank you so much for your ask!!

character: *tenderly brushes their love interest’s hair back from their forehead and/or takes one of their hands in their own to try to warm it while they’re unconscious recovering from an illness or injury*

me: