Keeper of the Lost Cities Thoughts

Blur

Okay, if you're the sort of person who reads every KotLC theories book you can get your cursor on (I know I am), then this theory will not be a surprise.

Blur is Jensi's brother.

We know of three Phasers, Lady Alexine, Councilor Darek, and Jensi's brother (Fernan). Yep, I know there are other Phasers we don't know of, and Blur could be one of those, but I think this theory works.

It's obvious that Blur can't be Lady Alexine because he's a guy and she's a girl.

In Nightfall, King Dimitar literally accuses Blur of being a Councilor, and Blur not only denies it, but he, in my opinion, acts like he'd never even thought someone might consider that before. Yeah, he could have been pretending, but I don't think so.

Also, if the Black Swan had someone on the Council, then a lot of the situations of Sophie Foster vs. The Council would have gone differently-ish.

Now for why it could be Jensi's brother.

We know that Jensi is described as short and that he has a round face. Which happens to be almost exactly how Blur looks in the scene in Nightfall when the water is messing with his disguise. Sophie comments that Blur looked vaguely familiar, like she knew someone with a family resemblance to him. In Unlocked, we see a picture of the Collective, and you can tell that Blur has brown hair, like Jensi.

Not to mention, Blur seems to act a lot younger than the rest of the Collective. If Blur really is Jensi's brother, he would most not be older than Jensi by very much. He could have been appointed to the Collective after Project Moonlark.

Also, we know that Blur's identity requires a long, boring story. I don't know about the boring part, but I don't see any obvious reason for Jensi's brother to join the Black Swan (maybe because we don't know a thing about him except his ability), which could be why it requires a long explanation.

This last thing is more of a vague speculation. In books 1-8, the first name of Jensi's brother is never mentioned, yet, in Unlocked, he is in the main registry list and the "Registered Phasers" category, with a first name.  Shannon telling us his name implies he'll be relevant later on, or it could have been a mistake in Unlocked, where Shannon forgot she hadn't told us his name earlier and referred to him, thinking we knew his first name was Fernan. This implies that we'll be in a situation later on where we learn his name.

So, sorry about the well-known theory, but I hope I came up with a unique perspective on it.

Edit: Part of me feels like Blur being Jensi's brother is statistically unlikely. I suspect that Phaser is a relatively common ability (do I have any proof for this? No, but it somehow makes sense in my brain), and yet we only know a few. In terms of probability, it is far likelier for Blur to be someone we don't know.

But there is quite a bit of evidence/foreshadowing so I am inclined to suspect it, even if it is unrealistic in that sense.