#koltc

Sophie and Keefe: First Meeting

i have so many headcanons for them, your honour!!! they live in my brain...

First of all, ogres live under an absolute monarchy, like all the other non-elvin species except gnomes (seriously, 4 such an enligtened 🙄 world, why are the governing systems so undemocratic [unless democracy is a feature of inferior human governments]). That won't be too bad, if they didn't have a kratocratic form of govt., in which the strongest warrior becomes king.

Kratocracy has obvious major problems. Just bcuz King Dimitar is ripped doesn't mean hez a good leader. And, imagine Queen Ro 🫣, a wannabe girlboss leader with the emotional maturity of a 4th grader. Plus, it leads to constant instability. But that's not even the main problem I wanna talk about.

Ogreland (forgive the cringe) is a exploitative, militant, absolute autocracy where individual worth is measured solely by one’s utility to the Crown, enforced by a king who uses fear to ensure that "loyalty" is the only means of survival.

The ogres treat their workers horribly. They work them, pushing them to the point of literal fainting, treating them like slaves. They do the same to their prisoners of war, and plan to enslave the gnomes. It's an expectation, and it's supposed to be adhered to by pride and fear. The actual physical limits don't matter.

Rebellion against the King is strictly puhished, with forms of torture that are much worse than "Sophie can ever imagine". Remember, treason, not terrorism, is punished with extremely, long, torturous execution. Loyalty to the crown is the only thing that matters.

The Ogres seem to be divided into The Elite, who experience the "caring" side of Dimitar. They see a King who is fierce, protective, and demands excellence. To them, he isn't a tyrant; he’s a powerful leader who ensures the Ogres are never disrespected by Elves or Goblins. ​And The Workers, who likely don't fall under that umbrella of protection. If a worker faints from exhaustion, nobody cares. Dimitar’s care doesn't extend to the person digging the trenches, only the person defending them. See what I mean? ​It’s unclear if he cares for the average citizen.

It's an incredibly oppresive system. And there was so much narrative potential! But Sophie, and the narrative, still support the messed up ogre establishment.

Sophie supports Ro, and by extension, implictly supports King Dimitar and the ogre establishment. Right now, Sophie is psedo-allied with a regime that might be committing atrocities every single day, and she just... doesn't know for sure.

Imagine a series where Cadfael's motivations are explored deeper, and the brutality is actually explored, not pushed under the rug after Lodestar. Honestly, Cadfael is the only real resistance to the ogre tyranny. There are no other rebels. The only reason I'm not portraying Cadfael as a full-blown revolutionary or freedom fighter is as he seems to only want power for himself, like the Neverseen, seeing the flaws in the system, fighting them, but for selfish reasons.

Day 3 Music @sophellaweek

B: So, Keith—

Me: Do you mean Keefe?

B: Yeah, whatever. So Kyle...

...

S: There's a Technopath, an Empath, and a Telepath?

Me: Yeah.

S: So what's a psychopath's power?

...

B: Wait, you're telling me that this is just a reverse Elf?

Me: What are you talking about?

B: The Christmas movie, Elf. Buddy is a human raised by elves, and in your book the girl is an elf raised by humans.