#fuck alden vacker

[weaponizedducks]

poll bc i'm bored and procrastinating

[cavennmalore]

“we want complex characters” yall cant even handle the vackers

[unaside]

WTF?????? WTF????? NOBODY EVEN BATTED AN EYE??? HE WAS SIX???? GOING TO THE FORBIDDEN CITIES???? BY HIMSELF?????

[that-glasses-dog]

specs why is everyone discoursing over alden. also what are YOUR thoughts on alden

PEOPLE ARE DISCOURSING ON ALDEN??? LIKE RECENTLY???????? whag

okok MY thoughts:

something about him is just so White Man. upper class racist british man yk.

hes probably classist towards Talentless people too tbh

definitely tries to do what's best for his family / legacy

such as uh. trying to get sophitz together maybe because she would be a good strong partner for him

man idk

OH HE GIVES OFF NEPO BABY

i want to make him live among the talentless for a while

why do we know nothing about his job except he's an emissary

i find it so funny that della is 100 years younger than him. like imagine sophie's panicking about dating keefe or whatever now but her potential #1 match is someone that's not even born yet. unparalleled

[synonymroll648]

y’know how gisela makes keefe get clothes tailored to him in book 2 (or maybe book 3), and how his clothes fit approximately before that but never just right? and how keefe canonically has stolen at least one bramble jersey from fitz? i would like to offer the explanation that after keefe wore fitz’s bramble jersey(s), he was like. “alright! i will now make my entire wardrobe full of clothes that are fitz’s size for these completely heterosexual reasons:

1. it makes it easier to disguise the clothes that i have stolen from fitz versus the rest of my clothes

2. it always makes it feel like i’m wearing fitz’s clothes

3. it makes it easier to ‘accidentally’ leave my clothes in places where fitz mistakes them as his, and i see him in my clothes :)”

[autistic-daydreamer]

Man I am having a shit morning I am so glad for the new Reasons To Worry chapter, it's the only good thing I woke up to this morning

@kale-of-the-forbidden-cities KEEFE HAS ENTERED THE SCENE LETS GOOO

oh- I mean poor guy

[the-way-astray]

i must be the only (kind of) unironic aldella shipper in this entire fandom.

(ranting in the tags)

[obsidianstrawberrymilk]

Fedex Human AU with Punk Dex x Nerd Student Council Boy Fitz.

[bookwyrminspiration]

so while i’m not on team Alden is an abusive father (in cannon)

i think he neglected Alvar, favors Fitz, and put too much pressure on all of them. he manipulates his kids, and uses the counsels logic of well it’s for their own good and i’m trying to protect them from scorn. i think he had emotional/verbally abusive parents and is trying to do better than them, and really loves his kids, he just has a lot of issues.

but i found out yesterday that Biana apparently goes pale when it’s mentioned that she was forced to be friends with Sophie by her dad…which is concerning to say the least

do you know of any other things that Alden has done that could be considered abusive?

(besides the Keefe convo and the sedative incident that’s the only reasoning i ever see)

oh the "he really loves his kids, he just has a lot of issues" perspective is interesting--we did see throughout Exile that he wasn't healthily coping with his guilt and that's what led to him breaking. he let it fester and didn't reach out for help, so that mindset could have infiltrated his parenting and despite his best efforts and wishes he's struggling. He loves his family dearly, but sometimes you need more than that and he doesn't know what to do

as for Biana going pale, I've never seen that as relating to Alden doing anything concerning. I always read that as "Sophie just found out I originally started getting close to her because my Dad asked me to, she's going to be pissed she's going to be so mad," and worrying about their friendship. Because while their friendship started from Alden's nudging, it did become a genuine friendship and I think Biana might be at least slightly embarrassed/ashamed of Alden's involvement--not because he's being abusive or doing anything wrong, but just in the natural way kids are embarrassed to be doing something their parents tell them too. We've all known or been the kid like "yeah my mom is making me do this," and that's what Biana was originally like and she didn't want Sophie to know! Yet she found out, and I think that's why she went pale, not anything to do with Alden. She was terrified of what would happen next between her and Sophie

For things that could be considered abusive or contribute to his less-than-stellar reputation, a lot of the arguments I see are: allowing both his sons to go to the Lost Cities alone--completely alone, not even him nearby for protection or something--as young as five years old, possibly ignoring Biana (she talked about feeling left out because Alden was always working with Fitz), taking Sophie to Exile without an explanation alone and not telling her what was going on until they were already deeply into it (which ended in him injured and her with no clue what to do). There's also just his general attitude of "no reason to worry" being seen as dismissive and like he's not trusting/taking the kotlcrew seriously. Then of course there's the sedative and Keefe incidents, but those are the other arguments I remember off the top of my head.

That's not to say I see all of this as evidence that Alden is abusive, these are just what I've seen cited as evidence. So hopefully that helps!

[ducq]

me: i like this character! they’re very nice and are a good way to rewind and calm down!

the fandom: they’re so toxic, LOOK AT ALL THESE RED FLAGS 

[kale-of-the-forbidden-cities]

the vacker family and their fucked relationships with food <3

tw: eating disorders

Alden - He's mostly okay (in this aspect), but sometimes forgets to eat because he gets so wrapped up in his work, or he'll get up to eat and then end up watching the fish for half an hour before sitting back down. Usually he only misses one or two meals a week, but the longest he went was like 45 hours, and nobody noticed, since they only have meals together when other people are over or for special occasions or holidays.

Della - she's had an eating disorder since she started dating Alden, which wasn't Alden's fault, more like Della thought she couldn't be good enough to be in the Vacker family. It spiraled out of control a few months into their relationship, and was really bad for a year or so, but now she manages it. She has a certain amount of calories she allows herself to eat in a day, and measures food out very carefully, never eating anything if she doesn't know what went into it. She fasts all day once or twice a week. During family gatherings, parties, or other events, she lets herself eat anything she wants, especially to keep up appearances, as long as she throws up not long after. Edaline noticed once, but Della told her it must have been something in the food. Eda worried for a while, but years went by and she eventually put it in the back of her mind.

Alvar - He hated himself since he was a kid, and he noticed Della's eating habits, and how little she ate, and picked up on that in his early teens. He tried to force himself to eat less and less, then he started binging late at night, then he felt terrible about it and made himself throw up. At some point he started doing this nightly, and somehow found comfort in this routine, despite how much it hurt and how bad it was for him. He sought help from Elwin once he started the elite levels, since it had been messing with other parts of his life. He slowly got mostly better, but he'd sometimes binge and purge on bad nights. Once, Keefe walked in on him forcing himself to throw up after Alvar had snuck a bunch of food, while Keefe was with the Neverseen. He was having a bad night because he thought a little too much about his family and how he can never go back.

Fitz - Like Alvar, Fitz also observed his mom, and over time started to become obsessed with his weight, especially after the attack in flashback, where he was unable to eat much for a long time and ended up losing a lot. He weighed himself after going back to Everglen, and the stress with Alvar being there made it hard to have an appetite anyway. That was the lowest weight he was, and when he noticed he'd gained after starting to eat more normally, he freaked out and started eating less. Biana was the only one who noticed, and she started to get concerned. Fitz admitted to her that he was trying to lose weight, but he had it completely under control. Spoiler alert: he does not.

Biana - She doesn't really have an eating disorder, but she often diets and tries to limit her food intake, because she never sees herself as good enough, pretty enough, etc. She tends to overeat when she's stressed, and then tries to make up for it by eating less afterwards. She used to try to force herself to throw up, but never succeeded, and eventually decided it wasn't worth it. She's been doing better now than she used to, now that she has real friends who she can talk to, and who love her for more than what the world sees her as.

[weaponizedducks]

he really fucked up every single one of his kids and then decided why stop at that let's traumatise all the children

[chatnoob2thescreamingparrot]

I have a few headcannons about our conversational Vacker man, Alden.

I think Alden gets way to much hate for being a parent, and people seem to forget get the the toxic nature of the Vacker family didn’t start with Alden.

I'm not saying that Alden is a good parent, we know he's negligent, but we know he cares. It feels like- especially if you re-read his scenes with Della- he was never ready for kids. So when he had them, as he was expected too, he had no idea what to do with them.

I haven't seen anyone propose the idea that Alden could've had a really shitty childhood.

We know the extened Vacker family would lickley be extremely pushy, and it could explain why the vacker kids are so fucked. Alden would push them to do well at anything they could, and push them to be the best; not because he cares wether they are, but because he knows how the rest of the world looks at you when you aren't.

Idk, we seem to forget that adults can be fucked as well in media, without being abusive. That trauma and issues can come from places other then just parents.

How would the vacker kids have faired with Alina as the principal? How does the rest of the elven world actually treat the Vackers (because Sophie is not a good POV for that)?

We know so little about what happens in the that house, and with that family, and I think we're all to quick to forget that their are other 6000 years worth of Vackers alive. All with their own opinions, wants, goals, and plenty of time to learn how to manipulate their kids into what they want.

I have more on Alden/Della and the whole Quinlin thing, but needs it's own post to fit all the headcannons.

[famousinfamous]

ok that’s it I’ve seen so much Alden slander and Alden defenders and I’m about to pinch the next person who says ‘he’s a good parent’ or ‘he’s a horrible person’ like I swear. Look ok Alden sent not one but two of his children to the forbidden cities alone. It sounds like alvar was old enough that he’d be mostly ok but Fitz? He would stand in the same spot for one to two hours just watching some random girl and while so much of the fandom over exaggerates that making it sound like he’d be there for days or smth it’s still very dangerous especially for someone that young. In fact staying in the same spot is probably worse that moving around because that way no-one can tell if you’re being followed or watched. It’s still very dangerous and it’s a miracle he didn’t get kidnapped or smth. Secondly I think what literally everyone forgets is going to the forbidden cities is illegal, as in if you get caught you’ll probably be banished. And we’ve seen what the council does they’d probably have no qualms about banishing a 7 or 8 year old if they had years of incriminating evidence. What do you think would happen if Alden went to prison and Fitz got banished? Would Alden leave biana to start the search, because he knew how important it was? Would she agree not wanting to disappoint her father? Would she get caught to? Would the entire family be banished? Probably. Know you might be thinking after all that and countless other things that prove Alden is not responsible or even remotely well prepared for the position he’s in(that I will be making posts about by the way) why don’t I hate him? Because honestly, I get it. If you look at the way Alden puts his work before his family (whether that work is council provided or not) and the way he treats and raises his children almost as if he’s their mentor or teacher, rather than their father I think the answer becomes quite clear he doesn’t know how to raise a child or how to look after a family because he never wanted one. But before Fitz he was the golden child of the vacker family and everyone expected him to have kids and start a family and pass on his ‘pure genes’ as elves like to dub them. So he did. And now he has no idea what he’s doing. And I get that. Being shoved into a part you don’t want to play, that you don’t know how to play is so hard and it hurts when you see people getting hurt because of mistakes that you shouldn’t be making because you’re supposed to know what you’re doing but you don’t because people read you wrong and don’t understand that this isn’t what you were made for. And so to some it up: Alden was supposed to be the irresponsible yet cool single uncle who flies around in a private jet and tries to take you to see the titanic but your parents said no so he bought you a Lamborghini instead but society said no fuck you here have some meat sacks and handed him Alvar Fitz and Biana and now he doesn’t know how to un-fuck-them-up because god damn it Alden stop involving your children in illegal activities and treating them like your their your students or smth and everyone else could you stop shaming children for not reaching your ridiculously high expectations!

[swans-chirping-in-the-distance]

The Root of KOTLC Characters (this is NOT math related I don't fuck with that shit)

This is basically a long rant about the foundation of different characters in my eyes. This is how I see them; feel free to give your thoughts.

Sophie Foster

Sophie is a character who has been built inwardly. She couldn't fully rely on her family because of Forkle convincing her that she couldn't open up about her telepathy. She loved her family, but she was so young that that really affected her head. Sophie is this person who has built a house on no foundation; all she has are these little pieces of plywood holding up a full house. This house has boxes of Things To Do Later, mountains of family and friend moments, and her high expectations subconsciously set by herself because she's always been "better". And when the house eventually caves in, she'll be faced with whatever is down underground, with all the pain and suffering that she buried as a little kid with the only resource for building herself being distraction.

Fitz Vacker

Fitz was never taught how to cope. He grew up seeing his father's own guilt being poorly buried by Alden's self-gaslighting tactics. He grew up seeing his brother, whose anger was held shut by the thinnest of threads. He grew up seeing a variety of humans, for better and for worse. Fitz never knew how to grow properly. I firmly believe that Fitz is built around this backbone of uncontrollable anger. He can be SO kind when he controls in, but it's SO hard to do. It's like this constant temptation, asking for a little bit of his joy until all he's left with is guilt. And he refuses it as much as he can. But that's at his core, and your core is something that is VERY hard to change.

Biana Vacker

I can't see into Biana’s brain like I can see into Sophie and Keefe's and the others', but I can definitely say that her backbone (not foundation, I mean this differently than I do with Fitz) is sadness. That's what she resorts to.

Keefe Sencen

Much like I can imagine Sophie's head as this pretty painted house that's falling apart at the bottom, I can perfectly see Keefe's brain. Keefe is like a Russian Nesting Doll. He's built himself around this empty hole in the middle from being abused and manipulated at such a young age. That empty hole is filled with complete sadness. Keefe has built walls around it to bury it deep. He's focused on little things and cracked jokes, but it's never enough. On the outside layer, he's just a joking guy, but if you knock down that wall, he's angry. And if you knock down more, you see in the window to that bottomless pit, where Keefe keeps trying to fill up on kindness and joy and even anger, yet he can't. Because this sadness is gaseous; it keeps looking like it's empty, but it's full. And in the gaseous hole of sadness, Keefe sees a reflection of himself, an ugly, warped reflection that looks a little too similar to his parents. And that's why Keefe builds up all of these walls; not because he's afraid of the hole in himself, but because he's afraid of having to see himself in it.

Dex Dizznee

Dex is built on anger. No doubt. He can be kind, but he's angry about the Council wronging him, his peers wronging him, and all the suffering his family has gone through. I think Dex's is the most clear out of all of them if you ignore when he randomly became innocent in some of the later books.

Tam Song

Tam is built on this unwavering support of love. When his parents abused him, he had the love of his sister. When Exilium abused him, he had the love of his sister. Even when he and Linh argue, they still have each other. They can argue and still hug it out when they hear rough news. Hell, even if he didn't have Linh, he still has his friends that he deeply cares for. Tam is a much more loving person than people give him credit for. He would kill for them and die for them. He knows he'll be alright because Tam has love, and it's something not enough people see.

Linh Song

Linh looks very peaceful. She's learned to control it. But deep down, she's angry. She's angry like Fitz, and she's bursting at the seems of her smiles. She's angry her brother chose someone else over her, that her parents have the nerve to try to win her back, that no one ever listens to her. Linh is finding it harder and harder to control that deep anger that has been in there since her parents gaslighted her and Tam. Tam seems angry, but he is truly loving, and Linh seems sweet, but is really mad.

[synonymroll648]

reblog with ‘me’ as a comment or in the tags if you want to be on the taglist for the ‘the vackers got their teal eyes from hatsune miku’ essay that spiraled way out of control

hey to all the people still saying me: the essay is up now :)