99 Fun Facts About Keeper of the Lost Cities

Who wrote the Keeper of the Lost Cities series?

Shannon Messenger wrote every Keeper of the Lost Cities book; the series opener was her debut novel, published by Simon & Schuster's Aladdin imprint, and introduced twelve-year-old Sophie Foster.

In which US city is Sophie Foster living with her human family when Keeper of the Lost Cities opens?

San Diego is home to Sophie and the Fosters until she learns she is an elf; when she leaves, her human family is relocated and their memories of her are erased.

Fitz Vacker, the elf who finds Sophie on her school field trip, has which special ability?

Telepath Fitz reads minds, as Sophie does, and the two later train as Cognates, a pairing whose combined power depends on trusting each other completely.

When Fitz first mentions Foxfire academy, what does Sophie take the name to mean?

A fungus is her guess, because foxfire is also the eerie glow that some fungi give off on rotting wood; she can't help laughing that an elvin school shares the name.

The elvin couple who take Sophie in and later adopt her are named what?

Grady and Edaline Ruewen had shut themselves away at Havenfield after their daughter Jolie died in a fire; taking in Sophie slowly draws them back into the world.

Which organisation turns out to have created Sophie through Project Moonlark?

The Black Swan, the rebel group whose leaders call themselves the Collective, engineered Sophie's genetics under Project Moonlark and hid her in the human world.

Sophie's old human-world neighbour, who turns out to run Project Moonlark, is known by what name?

Mr. Forkle's alias suits a man of many identities: forkle is a Norwegian verb meaning 'to disguise', and his full name, Errol Loki Forkle, gives the initials E.L.F.

Which group of criminal extremists is the main antagonist of Keeper of the Lost Cities?

The Neverseen spend years working in secret, and one of their leaders turns out to be Lady Gisela, the mother of Sophie's close friend Keefe.

What does Keefe Sencen's special ability let him do?

Keefe is an Empath, so he can read people's emotions on physical contact; he shares the gift with his father, Lord Cassius, who constantly belittles him.

Which special ability does Dex Dizznee, Sophie's best friend and a talented alchemist, have?

Dex Dizznee is a Technopath, and the gift backfires in book three, when the Council uses a circlet he built to shut down Sophie's abilities, to his lasting remorse.

What is the name of Fitz and Biana's older brother?

Alvar Vacker is the eldest of Alden and Della's three children; at the end of Book Four he is exposed as a traitor working against Sophie and her friends.

What is Exillium, the place where Sophie first meets twins Tam and Linh Song?

A school for banished elves, Exillium once forbade its students even to share their names; Sophie's complaints to a Councillor brought reforms that made it kinder.

Which ability slipped out of Linh Song's control with disastrous results?

Hydrokinetic Linh Song lost her grip on the water and caused a flood in Atlantis, which earned her the nickname 'the girl of many floods'; her twin Tam refused to leave her side.

Wylie Endal shares the physician Elwin's special ability, which lets them sense and manipulate what?

The colours of light answer to Flashers such as Wylie and Elwin; Wylie was raised by Tiergan after the Council ordered the mind of his father, Prentice, to be broken.

Which title is the second Keeper of the Lost Cities novel?

Exile takes its title from the elves' underground prison, and it opens with Sophie discovering Silveny, a rare alicorn who trusts no one but her.

Which Keeper of the Lost Cities book is numbered 8.5 and alternates between Sophie's and Keefe's perspectives?

Unlocked looks like a companion guide, but its novella half carries the main plot straight on from book eight's cliffhanger, in chapters that swap between Sophie and Keefe.

What is the title of the ninth Keeper of the Lost Cities novel, released in November 2022?

Stellarlune takes its title from Lady Gisela's secret project of the same name, the experiment on her son Keefe that leaves him with alarming new abilities.

Which Keeper of the Lost Cities novella, released in December 2024, is told entirely from Keefe's point of view?

Unraveled, Book 9.5, fills in what Keefe did after running away to the human world, while his friends back home were busy with the events of book nine.

Which studio was announced in April 2024 as holding the rights to a Keeper of the Lost Cities film?

Warner Bros. Pictures landed the film rights in April 2024, with the author as executive producer, three years after Disney had announced an adaptation of its own.

Which director was announced in January 2021 to adapt Keeper of the Lost Cities for Disney?

Ben Affleck was to direct the film for Disney and adapt the script with Kate Gritmon, but three years later the film rights were announced at a different studio.

Sophie's pet imp, rescued from a verminion at Havenfield, is called what?

Iggy, the tiny imp Sophie keeps as a pet, is notorious for his foul 'Iggy breath'; Dex dyes his fur a new colour in almost every book, including pink and curly.

Verdi, the permanent resident of Havenfield who refuses Grady's diet plan, is what kind of animal?

Verdi is a Tyrannosaurus rex with bright neon-green feathers; Grady keeps trying to train her onto a vegetarian diet so she can be released to the Sanctuary.

Silveny and Greyfell's twin foals, born prematurely in Flashback, are named what?

Luna and Wynn, Silveny and Greyfell's twin foals, arrived prematurely in Flashback and had to finish developing inside a troll hive before joining their parents.

Sophie's stuffed elephant, which she cannot sleep without, is named what?

Ella is the bright blue elephant Sophie has had since she was small, and the comfort she carries with her when she leaves the human world for good.

What is the gooey elvin dessert said to taste like cookies soaked in ice cream with frosting and butterscotch called?

Mallowmelt wins Sophie over on her first day at Havenfield, when she declares it the best thing she has ever tasted; her human sister Amy later falls for it just as hard.

What is the small silver gadget elves use to call each other called?

An Imparter shows whoever's name you say on its screen, like a videophone; the one Keefe uses to reach his mother, Lady Gisela, is blood-sealed and opens only with his own blood.

A Wanderling is a memorial tree grown from a seed coiled with what from the elf it honours?

A strand of the elf's hair is wrapped around the Wanderling seed so the tree takes on their colouring; Sophie and Dex both have Wanderlings from when they were presumed dead.

In the elvin sport of Splotching, what do players use to hurl the coloured ball at each other?

Splotching players fling the coloured splotcher back and forth with telekinesis; in Sophie's first match, against Fitz, the clash of their minds flung both of them across the room.

Which Councillor is the only other known Inflictor and so becomes Sophie's mentor?

Bronte, the only other Inflictor, is an awkward choice of mentor: he voted against letting Sophie into Foxfire and was long one of her sternest critics on the Council.

Each Councillor guards a cache holding what?

Forgotten Secrets are memories judged too dangerous for even the twelve Councillors to carry, so each is locked in a cache; Keefe once stole a cache from Sophie by mimicking her voice.

The elvin capital, Eternalia, is hidden in which mountain range?

The Himalayas hide Eternalia; after a fire destroyed much of the city, the gnomes and dwarves rebuilt it.

The goblin capital is built entirely of which material?

Gildingham is built entirely of gold; the goblins chose a soft, weak metal on purpose to show they are strong enough not to need sturdy walls.

Trolls in Keeper of the Lost Cities are unusual among the intelligent species because they do what?

Trolls age in reverse, so newborn Stage One trolls are the fiercest fighters while the eldest trolls are the wisest and physically weakest.

How is the voice of Sophie's hulking goblin bodyguard Sandor described?

Squeaky and high-pitched, Sandor's voice is nothing like a towering warrior's; he became Sophie's bodyguard after she was kidnapped in book one.

Ro, Keefe's ogre bodyguard, is the daughter of which ruler?

Ro, short for Romhilda, is King Dimitar's daughter and the ogre princess; he made her Keefe's bodyguard at the request of Keefe's own mother, Lady Gisela.

In Keeper of the Lost Cities, the gnome Calla sacrifices herself by turning into what?

Calla became a Panakes tree so that its healing blossoms could cure the plague killing her fellow gnomes; the tree now grows at Havenfield, Sophie's home.

The Dizznee family apothecary in Mysterium, where Sophie first meets Dex, is called what?

Slurps and Burps greets customers with a front door that belches; Dex's father Kesler made the shop loud and odd on purpose, to make stuffy nobles squirm.

Which Councillor is revealed in Legacy to be Sophie's biological mother?

Councillor Oralie is revealed in Legacy as Sophie's genetic mother, a secret she kept because Councillors are forbidden to have children.

Before reciting their oath to the Collective, what must Sophie and her friends each do?

Lick a DNA sensor comes first: the gadget takes each recruit's DNA before they vow, 'I will do everything in my power to help my world.'

Which publisher released Keeper of the Lost Cities under its Aladdin imprint?

Simon & Schuster bought the novel, whose published text was, by its author's own count, draft twenty; it reached shops through the Aladdin imprint in October 2012.

At Foxfire's Opening Ceremonies, Sophie dances in the costume of which Level Three mascot?

Mastodon costumes fall to Level Three at the Opening Ceremonies, where every level performs a dance for the prodigies' families dressed as its own mascot.

Elwin keeps a creature named Bullhorn in the Healing Center because it can sense what?

Approaching death is what banshees sense: Bullhorn screams when a patient's life is in danger and, in the gravest cases, lies down beside them.

Which gnomish homeland was conquered by the ogres and renamed Ravagog?

Serenvale was the gnomes' homeland until the ogres drove them out and renamed it Ravagog; the displaced gnomes moved to the Lost Cities, where they live among the elves.

Which title is the third Keeper of the Lost Cities novel, published in November 2014?

Everblaze, the third Keeper of the Lost Cities novel, was published in November 2014; its title refers to the unquenchable fire that the Pyrokinetic Fintan unleashes.

Which title is the eighth Keeper of the Lost Cities novel, released in November 2019?

Legacy, the eighth novel, sees Lady Gisela force her son Keefe to undergo the 'legacy' she has planned since before he was born, a transformation that leaves him in a coma.

What is the name of Shannon Messenger's young-adult trilogy about a boy who is a wind spirit?

Sky Fall follows Vane Weston, a teenager who learns he is a sylph and falls in love with Audra, the guardian assigned to protect him.

Shannon Messenger graduated from the School of Cinematic Arts at which university?

USC's film school taught Shannon Messenger, by her own account, that she liked watching movies much better than making them, so she turned to writing for children.

Which Councillor was killed when Fintan's memory healing unleashed Everblaze in Eternalia?

Kenric died saving Sophie and her companions from the flames, and Dame Alina was later elected to fill his seat on the Council.

Who drew the official character art included as an extra in Unlocked?

Laura Hollingsworth drew the characters on commission as the series' official portraits, and for Unlocked she went further, illustrating a scene from each of the earlier novels.

Every elf in the Lost Cities has blue eyes except Sophie Foster, whose eyes are which colour?

Brown eyes set Sophie apart because the DNA she was made with was modelled on an alicorn's. Every other elf has eyes in some shade of blue.

Elves in Keeper of the Lost Cities stop ageing in their prime, but which feature keeps changing?

Their ears grow pointier with age, so sharp tips are the one sure sign of an ancient elf. A 30-year-old and a 300-year-old otherwise look much the same.

Sophie Foster has a severe allergic reaction in the first Keeper of the Lost Cities book to which rare mineral?

Limbium acts on the part of the brain where elvin abilities take root, which is why it goes into a study aid Dex gave her. A single drop was enough to set off the reaction.

What is the elvin currency in Keeper of the Lost Cities, each unit of which is worth about a million dollars?

Lusters make every elf rich from the start: each one is given a birth fund of five million of them, stored on a small green cube.

Young elves in the Lost Cities must wear which safety device until their concentration is strong enough to light leap?

A nexus is a crystal-set cuff that holds a leaper's particles together so they do not fade away. Biana Vacker had hers taken off at thirteen, younger than anyone before her.

Fitz Vacker cannot sleep without Mr. Snuggles, a sparkly red stuffed toy in the shape of which creature?

A dragon, and one Fitz hated at first: he threw the gift under his bed, then made peace with it after a bad nightmare. Keefe teases him about it often.

Which nervous habit does Sophie Foster show throughout Keeper of the Lost Cities whenever she is anxious?

Tugging her eyelashes is a habit the author has herself and handed on to her heroine. Sophie's lashes are said to itch whenever she is nervous or frustrated.

Asked which boy she wants the heroine to end up with, the Keeper of the Lost Cities author gives which reply?

Team Sophie is her stock reply: she says she loves all three boys equally and that the choice will be entirely up to her heroine.

Grady Ruewen fears losing control of which rare ability, one that makes other elves slow to trust him?

Mesmer is the ability, letting Grady command another person's body with his mind. It is so rare that the Council keeps a close watch on every elf who has it.

Which illustrator painted every cover in the Keeper of the Lost Cities series, beginning with Sophie and Dex?

Jason Chan has illustrated all of the covers for the series. He grew up in Stockton drawing characters for make-believe video games, cartoons and comics.

Jolie Ruewen died in a fire at the home of which elf, the fiancé her parents went on visiting every year?

Brant set the house alight himself, by accident, when he lost control of his ability in a rage. Guilt and grief over the death then left his own mind partly broken.

What is the name of the Vacker family estate, where Sophie Foster wakes up after being rescued from kidnappers?

Everglen is an ancient property first built by Luzia Vacker, who chose the spot for its lake. After heavy renovations only one original room survives, an office kept for its aquariums.

Which chewy caramel candy in the Lost Cities comes boxed with a collectible pin of a rare creature?

Prattles pins double as a census: the number on each one shows how many of that creature exist on the planet, and it changes as the population rises or falls.

What is the first name of Sophie Foster's human sister, who was relocated and renamed Natalie Freeman?

Amy was given the new name after elvin Washers wiped her memories of her sister. Once she discovers the Lost Cities for herself, she goes back to her old name among the elves.

Dex Dizznee's younger siblings draw scorn in the Lost Cities for which reason?

They are triplets, and multiple births are frowned on because elves believe extra children dilute the abilities each one inherits. Rex, Bex and Lex owe their rhyming names to their father's sense of humour.

Elves in Keeper of the Lost Cities count their age from which moment rather than from the day they were born?

Their inception date falls about nine months before birth, so an elf is older on paper than a human born the same day. Elves pay little attention to age in any case.

What name do Sophie Foster's fellow elves give to all human territory, such as the town where she grew up?

The Forbidden Cities may be entered only with the Council's permission and a blue leaping crystal. Sophie grew up in one of them without knowing she was an elf.

Keefe Sencen annoys Sophie Foster's goblin bodyguard Sandor by calling him which nickname?

Gigantor is a name Sandor does not find funny, and he thinks Keefe a bad influence on his charge. Even so, he agrees to help protect the boy without question in the third book.

Elves in the Lost Cities call out a destination and step into the beam cast by which hanging orb of crystals?

A Leapmaster's model number is the count of places it can reach, and a bigger number signals higher rank. Havenfield has a Leapmaster 500, while the Sencen family tower has a 10,000.

Which principal of Foxfire in the early Keeper of the Lost Cities books was later elected to a seat on the Council?

Alina, styled Dame Alina while she ran the school, won her Council seat in the third book. Years earlier she interrupted a wedding to ask the groom to marry her instead.

Which Foxfire Mentor trains Sophie Foster in telepathy and is later unmasked as Granite of the Black Swan?

Sir Tiergan came out of retirement to teach her, though he prefers to be called by his name alone. He is also the adoptive father of Wylie Endal.

Sophie Foster destroys which prized possession of her alchemy Mentor, Lady Galvin, during a session at Foxfire?

Her cape, a silky hunter-green one patterned with emeralds, is ruined by a badly handled serum. When pupils iron Lady Galvin's capes in detention, Sophie is kept well away from them.

Which Foxfire prodigy taunts Sophie Foster through the early books and later helps deliver the alicorn twins?

Stina Heks softens once her family turns out to support the Black Swan. Animal care runs in the family, whose home is better known as a unicorn preserve than as an estate.

Sophie Foster and Fitz Vacker train to become which rare kind of Telepath pair, a bond likened to marriage?

Cognates must share everything with each other, and the more they trust, the stronger their joint telepathy grows. Sophie hiding her crush puts the bond under strain.

Animals rehabilitated at Havenfield move on to which Council-run preserve, home to mammoths and dinosaurs?

The Sanctuary exists because elves believe that losing any species would upset the balance of the world, a fear they call the Timeline to Extinction.

In Jolie Ruewen's old bedroom at Havenfield, Sophie Foster befriends Vertina, who turns out to be what?

A talking mirror, of a kind called spectral mirrors, built to advise elves as they get ready. The idea never caught on because nobody liked being told they looked tired.

Which gadget in Keeper of the Lost Cities responds to a spoken name but cannot show anyone erased from the Registry?

A Spyball lets its owner watch almost anyone simply by speaking that person's name. It needs a special permit from the Council, and its owners are closely monitored.

What label do Lost Cities elves give to anyone who never manifests a special ability and so stays outside the nobility?

The Talentless are barred from Foxfire's elite levels too, and a marriage between one of them and an elf with an ability is ruled a bad match.

Eternalia, the glittering elvin capital, is the likely source of human legends about which fabled place?

Shangri-La is how the hidden valley city passed into human legend. Flames destroyed half of it in the third book, and gnomes and dwarves rebuilt it afterwards.

After Foxfire midterms, prodigies hang which items from their lockers to be filled with gifts and treats?

Their thinking caps are pointed white hats woven with a metal that dulls telepathy, worn to keep exams honest. Sophie's does not block her ability, and she thinks they look like Smurf hats.

Members of the Neverseen wear which symbol on the sleeves of their hooded black cloaks?

A white eye set in a white circle marks their cloaks and armbands. The unsettling design turns up in some of Sophie's nightmares.

Whose shattered mind does Sophie Foster heal at the end of the second Keeper of the Lost Cities book?

Alden's mind had broken under guilt over a prisoner he helped condemn. It mended the moment Sophie transmitted that she could fix that man as well.

What is the name of Keefe Sencen's mother, unmasked as a Neverseen member in the third Keeper of the Lost Cities book?

Lady Gisela's unmasking stunned her son, who had at first suspected his father of being the traitor. She was one of the group's leaders before splitting from it.

Which member of the Black Swan's Collective, the only woman among them, turns out to be Dex Dizznee's mother?

Squall is Juline Dizznee, a Froster who disguises herself under a head-to-toe layer of cold, foggy ice. Her identity comes out in the fifth book.

Tam Song melted the chain of his registry pendant in defiance of his father and used the silver to do what?

Tip his bangs: he dipped them in the molten metal after throwing the pendant's crystal in his father's face. His twin sister silvered the ends of her own hair with hers.

Which name does Linh Song give the pet her brother Tam buys her in Nightfall?

Princess Purryfins was the favour Tam owed his sister after the girls beat the boys in a contest. Marella suspects the name was chosen so that he would have to say it out loud.

Which invisible ogre tracking enzyme, removable only with skin-melting piquatine, turns up on Sophie Foster's hands?

Aromark passes by touch and gives ogre weapons a target they cannot miss. In the third book it also turns up on Keefe's hands and on Silveny's tail.

Which unmapped star gives the most powerful and least stable quintessence, illegally bottled by Sophie Foster?

Elementine's position is known to very few, and Sophie has it only because the Black Swan planted it in her mind. Its quintessence is prized for making frissyn.

Keefe Sencen is blamed for a legendary Foxfire prank involving erupting gas and which bright green creature?

A gulon gave the Great Gulon Incident its name. Keefe hotly denies any part in the prank, which took place three years before the series begins.

Which goblin queen asks to meet Sophie Foster before the Peace Summit to hand over a list of demands?

Hylda first appears in the fifth book after many earlier mentions. Her list includes making the ogres hand over all their weapons.

Which bottled drink in the Lost Cities, rich in enzymes that elvin health depends on, lies behind a famous human legend?

Youth comes in clear bottles labelled Youth in a Bottle and tastes refreshing and slightly sweet. It is believed to be the root of the legend of the Fountain of Youth.

In Keeper of the Lost Cities, which tiny pearls from rare river oysters trigger vivid, overwhelming dreams when eaten?

Fathomlethes look like blue-green caviar and are lifted from their bottle with tiny tongs. One of them takes about fifteen minutes to send the eater to sleep.

Which Black Swan hideout, a gift from the dwarven King Enki, has a name meaning the sands of dawn?

Alluveterre lies directly beneath an area of human pollution and destruction. The dwarves see it as proof that the planet can remake itself.

Which masked Black Swan member is revealed in the sixth Keeper of the Lost Cities book to be Livvy Sonden?

Physic hides her face behind glittering Mardi Gras-style masks while she treats the group's injured. Once unmasked, she is introduced under her real name as Quinlin Sonden's wife.

Which elvin celebration hosted by Orem Vacker moves to a new site each time so guests get the best view?

The Celestial Festival is held at every eclipse, so it moves to wherever the eclipse can best be seen. Orem uses his ability to stage a light show while families picnic.

Which rough elvin sport in the Lost Cities uses a triangle-shaped ball and crowns a champion every three years?

Bramble involves plenty of tackling and comes in team and one-on-one versions. Grady is such a fan that he owns a couple of hundred years' worth of jerseys.

Which island fortress long served as the meeting place for all six intelligent species in the Lost Cities?

Lumenaria hosts the Peace Summit and doubles as a prison for captives too valuable to hold anywhere else. Sick gnomes were quarantined there during the plague.

In alchemy sessions at Foxfire, Lady Galvin expects prodigies to follow the rule WHAP, which stands for what?

Wash hands and present is the step Sophie skipped in an early session. She whipped her serum instead and ruined something her Mentor treasured.

As a midterms gift, Dex Dizznee returns which human gadget of Sophie Foster's with solar power and a speaker added?

Her iPod had gone dead for want of a power socket in the Lost Cities. Sophie calls the solar-powered version the best gift he could ever have given her.

Which silver circlet invented by Dex Dizznee is Sophie Foster forced to wear as a punishment from the Council?

The ability restrictor dulls its wearer's talents and gave Sophie painful headaches. The Council imposed it in the third book after she read a foreign king's mind without permission.