60 Fun Facts About Keeper of the Lost Cities

Who wrote the Keeper of the Lost Cities series?

Messenger studied at the USC School of Cinematic Arts and originally wanted to be a Disney animator before turning to writing.

In which US city is Sophie living with her human family when the first book opens?

The author herself moved to San Diego as a child, and Sophie's human home is the first of the 'Forbidden Cities' she has to leave behind.

Which teenage elf tracks Sophie down on a school field trip and tells her she is an elf?

Fitzroy Vacker had been searching the human world for her on his father Alden's behalf for years before he found her at the museum.

When Fitz first tells Sophie the name of the academy she will attend, what does she assume it is?

The school is named for the rare bioluminescent glow found in dark places, and prodigies are meant to be a bright glow in a darkened world; Fitz looked a little insulted.

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

The Ruewens run Havenfield, an animal-rehabilitation estate, and lost their own daughter Jolie years before Sophie arrived.

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

The gnome Calla named the project after moonlarks, birds that send their eggs out to sea but keep watch over their young from afar.

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

'Forkle' means disguise in Norwegian, and his full name, Errol Loki Forkle, has initials that spell E.L.F.

Which group of criminal extremists is the main antagonist of the series?

Their symbol, a white eye inside a white circle, is stitched on their cloaks and haunts Sophie's nightmares.

Which of these is NOT one of Sophie's five confirmed abilities?

Her fifth ability, Enhancer, means she has to wear gloves so she does not accidentally boost anyone she touches; Vanishing belongs to Biana.

Keefe Sencen is an Empath. What does that ability let him do?

Keefe's mother, Lady Gisela, is one of the series' main antagonists, which makes his mischief-maker persona a coping mechanism as much as a personality.

Dex Dizznee, Sophie's best friend, is a talented alchemist and what kind of ability-holder?

His family runs the apothecary Slurps and Burps in Mysterium, and he uses his gift to change the colour of Sophie's pet imp in nearly every book.

Biana Vacker's ability lets her turn invisible. What is an elf with that ability called?

She shares the ability with her mother Della and eldest brother Alvar, and later learns to hide even from gnomes.

Twins Tam and Linh Song first meet Sophie at Exillium. What is Exillium?

Its students are called Waywards rather than prodigies and are sorted into Left, Right and Ambi Hemispheres.

Linh Song earned the nickname 'the girl of many floods' while mastering which ability?

She was banished at eleven for flooding Atlantis, and her brother Tam chose to go to Exillium with her so she would not be alone.

Wylie Endal is a Flasher. What can a Flasher sense and manipulate?

His father Prentice was the Black Swan's Keeper whose mind was broken protecting the secret of Sophie's existence.

The first book was published in October 2012. Which title followed it as book two?

Exile introduced Silveny the alicorn and the underground prison the book is named for.

Which book sits at number 8.5 in the series and alternates between Sophie's and Keefe's perspectives?

It also doubles as a series guide, with recipes and official character art by Laura Hollingsworth, and reached number 8 on the USA Today list.

What is the title of book nine, released in November 2022?

The Stellarlune symbol is two crescent moons around a star, and the book ends with the entire series' biggest reveal.

The novella released on December 3, 2024 is called what?

It is book 9.5, and unlike the main novels it is not told from Sophie's point of view.

In November 2025 Messenger announced the title of the final book. What is it?

The name first appeared as a 'forgotten secret' in Councillor Kenric's cache and turned out to be a person as well as a place.

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

An earlier 2021 plan had Ben Affleck directing for Disney; the Warner deal has Emma Watts producing and Messenger as executive producer.

Which director was originally announced in January 2021 to adapt the series for Disney?

The Disney version never went into production, and the rights moved to Warner Bros. three years later.

The graphic novel of the first book, released in November 2023, was illustrated by whom?

Jason Chan paints the novel covers, Hollingsworth drew the Unlocked character art, and Romanazzi illustrated the graphic novel's second half.

The seventh book, Flashback, had a first printing of how many copies?

Messenger's three-week tour for the book drew crowds of 200 to 700 people per event.

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

He is notorious for 'Iggy breath', and Dex dyes his fur a new colour in almost every book, from pink and curly to mermaid stripes.

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

She has bright neon-green feathers, once ate a flock of low-flying seagulls, and broke out of her pen to fight ogres in Lodestar.

Sophie finds Silveny while out searching for what kind of creature with Grady and Sandor?

Silveny was only the second alicorn ever found; Keefe nicknamed her Glitter Butt because even her droppings sparkle.

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

The babies had to finish developing inside a special troll hive, and Sophie and Keefe chose the names.

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

The elephant is bright blue, and a deleted scene reveals Mr. Forkle actually bought it and had Sophie's human mother pretend she had.

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

Messenger has said she imagined it as an ice cream sandwich without the cold or sogginess, and even Sophie's stern ogre bodyguard Bo cracked a smile at his first bite.

The small silver gadget elves use to call each other by saying a name into it is an what?

It was invented by the Technopath Lady Iskra, who later becomes Dex's mentor at Foxfire.

Every elf in the Lost Cities must wear a registry pendant. What is its purpose?

Foxfire uses the pendants to take attendance, and Tam and Linh melted theirs down to dye the tips of their hair silver.

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

The tree takes on the elf's colouring; Sophie and Dex both have Wanderlings because they were presumed dead after their kidnapping.

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

The winner of Foxfire's Ultimate Splotching Championship gets a pardon that cancels one detention; Sophie's first match ended with both players flung across the room.

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

Bronte is an Ancient, at least 5,000 years old, and his famous grumpiness turns out to be partly a side effect of the ability itself.

How many Councillors govern the Lost Cities?

They cannot marry or have children, and each swears to guard a cache of Forgotten Secrets with their life.

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

The city is the likely source of the human legend of Shangri-La, and half of it burned in Everblaze before gnomes and dwarves rebuilt it.

Gildingham, the goblin capital, is built entirely of which material?

The goblins chose a soft, fragile metal on purpose: it shows they are strong enough not to need sturdy walls.

Trolls in the series are unusual among the intelligent species because they do what?

The youngest, Stage One trolls are the fiercest fighters, while the oldest are the wisest and physically weakest.

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

Keefe's nicknames for him include Gigantor and Captain Cuddles; he sews trackers into Sophie's capes just in case.

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

Her full name Romhilda means 'glorious battle maiden' in German, and she lost a bet with Keefe that left her with a 'Sparkles Rule!' tattoo.

The gnome Calla sacrificed herself at the end of book four by turning into what?

The tree's blossoms can heal almost any ailment, and it now stands on a hill at Havenfield where Sophie sometimes sleeps beneath it.

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

The front door belches when it opens, and Kesler Dizznee designed the whole shop to make 'stuffy Nobles squirm'.

Foxfire's principal, Magnate Leto, is secretly one of the identities of which character?

Lady Cadence worked it out after finding a greenhouse of ruckleberries, the wrinkle-inducing berries he eats as a disguise, on top of the Silver Tower.

To swear fealty to the Collective, Sophie and her friends licked a black cube and repeated which oath?

The cube keeps rejecting the speaker until it judges them sincere; Sophie needed only one try because her place as the Collective's heir was reserved.

Sophie's real-world publisher, Simon & Schuster, first released Keeper of the Lost Cities in which year?

The book was an Association for Library Service to Children tween recommended read the following year, and a new instalment followed nearly every autumn after that.

Level Three prodigies at Foxfire wear amber and have which creature as their mascot?

The eight levels run Gremlin, Halcyon, Mastodon, Dragon, Saber-Toothed Tiger, Yeti, Flareadon and Unicorn, each matched to a jewel colour.

Which Foxfire mentor is blamed whenever the daily lick-strip locker flavour is disgusting?

The school physician once chose 'fart flavour'; on Sophie's first day the strip tasted of mallowmelt.

Elwin keeps a banshee named Bullhorn in the Healing Center because banshees can sense what?

Elwin also hands out stuffed animals to patients, including Mr. Snuggles for Fitz and Mrs. Stinkbottom for Keefe.

The Sanctuary, where the Council protects animals humans think are extinct, is located where?

Elves believe any extinction upsets what they call the Timeline to Extinction, so mammoths and dinosaurs graze there under a sky that flashes every colour.

Atlantis in the Lost Cities sits under which sea, inside a dome of force fields?

Visitors arrive by sliding down a whirlpool and land on a giant sponge; the Ancients sank the city on purpose after elves cut ties with humans.

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

From book three onward every main novel arrived in the first week of November, one per year.

Which title is book eight of the series, released in November 2019?

Its Barnes & Noble special edition added a short story told from Tam Song's perspective.

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

The three books are Let the Sky Fall, Let the Storm Break and Let the Wind Rise.

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

Like her heroine Sophie, Messenger grew up in San Diego after moving there as a young child.

In Messenger's Sky Fall series, Vane Weston discovers he is what kind of creature?

He is the last of his kind able to speak to the Westerly winds, which he needs to defeat the villain Raiden.

Which award did the first Keeper of the Lost Cities book win in 2017?

It had earlier been named an Association for Library Service to Children tween recommended read in 2013.

What position did Unlocked reach on USA Today's bestseller list in 2020?

The series as a whole has spent ten weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list.

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

Unlocked also packs in a series guide and recipes alongside its alternating chapters.

Who illustrated Part 2 of the Keeper of the Lost Cities graphic novel, released in December 2025?

Part 2 covered the remainder of the first novel after Part 1 adapted only its first half.