At the start of Exile, Sophie Foster, the protagonist, is a 13-year-old elf in her first year of living in the elvin world. In the first book, Keeper of the Lost Cities, Sophie grew up thinking she was an exceptionally gifted human but discovered at age 12 that she was an elf. After the elves brought her back to their world and placed her with a family, Grady and Edaline, they wiped her existence from her human family’s memory because humans aren’t allowed to know of the elves’ existence.

Initially, the elves planned to stage Sophie’s death. She asked them to wipe her memory instead so that her family wouldn’t spend their lives grieving her. The decision caused her pain, since she remembered her family, but she preferred to carry the grief herself rather than have them experience it. This demonstrates the selflessness and commitment to others that drive Sophie’s choices in Exile. She repeatedly sacrifices her safety to save and protect others, including Silveny, Alden, and even Prentice, whom she never knew. Sophie is a traditional hero figure, a “chosen one” who dedicates herself to others, but she’s also a dynamic character whose maturity and ability grow as the novel and series progress.