Badass Fitz Returns!
***Spoilers for The Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 20 of Fool’s Errand . Heavy references to the events of Farseer Trilogy and Liveship Traders***
Fire up the Mystery Machine, things are getting pretty spooky in Galekeep! I am really loving the mystery vibes of Fool’s Errand. When it was revealed that we were in cat country, I should have expected things to get weird, and the atmosphere at Galekeep did not disappoint. Everyone is hiding something, Fitz is looking foine in his fancy clothes, and utter disaster lurks around every corner.
In my last post, I noted that it was great to have Fitz and Nighteyes reunite. What I failed to realize is that their time apart was actually a blessed mercy on us: giving us a break from the unrelenting slow march toward Nighteyes’ death. This is fucking brutal. I feel like I am in an emotional guillotine. The blade is going to drop and I am going to be destroyed. I know Nighteyes is prideful, but can we please fashion him a little saddle or something? Watching him push himself to the limit – all while recovering from a cat attack (did I say I liked cats before? Fuck cats!) – is a lot to handle. Fitz, who is very generous with his own life force, does a little more skill healing/life infusion, which Nighteyes flat-out forbids him from doing again.
I’m beginning to fear that the relative lack of emotional destruction in Liveship Traders compared to Farseer Trilogy lulled me into complacency. Time to get my head back in the game. We are in the Six Duchies now. Constant vigilance!!!!
Speaking of brutal, we have Fitz in full Farseer Candidate mode. The surfacing of his own trauma as he attempts to torture out information on the Prince’s location was awful. (Shades of Captain Kennit – excuse me while I vomit). He even says:
“Not even my own feelings mattered in this. I was doing this for Chade, for my queen, for the Farseer line, for the Prince himself. This dirty little task was what I had been schooled to do.”
And more:
“Once more I spent all our strength for a king and a cause.”
Someone get Brashen on the line for a little chat about breaking free from family expectations.
Prior to taking things a little too far in the cave (it’s pretty bad when your wolf has to tell you to chill out), I was really enjoying Fitz getting his groove back. One thing we can say about Fitz (aside from how dreamy he is) is that when he commits to something, he is all in. And he is committed to retrieving Prince Dutiful, come hell or high water. He’s ripping archers out of trees with his bare hands, taking over command of the expedition, displaying absolutely no regard for his own body, and frightening poor Laurel in the process. (The huntswoman is woefully unprepared for this sort of hunt. We ain’t looking for hares here, sweetheart.) Daddy Dom Fitz is not messing around.
Throughout the story, we spend a lot of time with emo, mopey, introspective Fitz. At his core, he is a lover, not a fighter- but there’s just something about the return of badass Fitz.
Musings:
Turn of phrase I loved: When Fitz is sharing consciousness with Prince Dutiful through a Skill dream, and Nighteyes chases him up a tree, Dutiful, realizing he’s trapped, declares, “I was treed.” I am going to start using this anytime things aren’t going well for me.
As an Operations Manager by day (flex), I often find myself questioning the various plots and plans hatched by our friends in the Six Duchies. I have to admire their ability to focus on the now and not get too far ahead, but this “plan” to capture Prince Dutiful seems to be particularly lacking in foresight. After seeing the search group ahead of them laid out dead after an ambush from those currently in possession of the prince, Fitz & Co. just march forward on their trail with no extra precautions. They are then fully unprepared when an archer shoots Laurel with an arrow – they knew they had archers!! Good thing Fitz has the luck Captain Kennit thought he had.
(Code red: second Fitz-Kennit comparison to pop into my brain over the course of this recap. This cannot be a good omen.)
We do get a nice nod to the flimsiness of their plans. When the Fool decides he will just send Fitz off from the kitty hunt to go pick up the Prince (my loves, he’s not at a friend’s house for a slumber party, get serious here), Fitz anticipates a hole in the plan and we get the following exchange:
Fitz: “I… persuade him to come back to Buckkeep?”
The Fool: “You can do it.”
Speaking of terrible plots, the Fool’s great plan to get them out of Galekeep is to insert himself into a love triangle with children. Really? This is our only option to cut vacation short? Someone couldn’t have developed a sudden cat allergy? Forgotten about that lunch they’d RSVP’d yes to back at Buckkeep? Nope. Get tanked and flirt with teens it is. The Fool and Chade are always fighting to be the King of “there’s no other way” plans.
I’ve mentioned before my challenges keeping up with The Fool’s evolution, and this continues with his current appearance and effect on the ladies of the Six Duchies. We are getting observations through Fitz’s eyes, but Fitz is such a ding dong it’s hard to trust his descriptions and assessments. Is the Fool now extremely conventionally attractive (crowding Fitz’s lane a bit here), or is it more that he’s very wealthy, exotic, and thus intriguing? I’ve been picturing The Fool as an ethereal being, which isn’t to say unattractive, but now he’s reading as a heartthrob. And what happened in that chamber with Laurel? I’m not sure I have room for a competing chick magnet in this story.
Turn those shower handles to cold because Daddy Fitz is coming. We get a very sweet scene of Fitz unknowingly Skill-dream connecting with Nettle and feeling an immense sense of peace and rest. I have to dissociate when I think about what Fitz has had to give up in not being present in Nettle’s life. All that man ever wanted was to settle down with Molly and Nettle and care for them, but NOPE!
(And actually, now that I think about it, you know what? Prince Dutiful better fall the fuck in line when Fitz finds him. Do you have any idea what this man has gone through for you to take the throne and continue the Farseer line while you’re out here chasing pussy??)
Anyway, it seems like we are gearing up for Fitz to come into contact with all of his “children” in some form or fashion. Perfect timing, since they’re all teenagers and everyone in the story is required to treat Fitz like shit- who better to tear him up than ungrateful teens!
Off to harden my heart. See you next time!
wizardwordship 