World’s Colliding!
***Spoilers for The Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 25 of Fool’s Errand . References to the events of Farseer Trilogy and Liveship Traders***
Whew! The plot is thickening and the action is actioning. The titular errand seems to be approaching its conclusion, and with a bit more excitement than my typical errands. (Although a trip to the grocery store with both of my children has its share of battles.)
I have to give it up- Robin Hobb’s masterful storytelling is on full display in these chapters. I found myself particularly appreciative of the minor scene with the Wit-bonded deer from earlier in the book. When Fitz is filling in the Fool (and us) on the details of his time with the Witted folk and his learning of the ways of the Old Blood, we get an interlude where he senses a wrongness in a deer. Rolf explains that the human bond-partner of the deer merged her consciousness into the animal rather than die. This is meant to illustrate for Fitz how Wit magic can be perverted, which lays important groundwork for us to quickly catch on to what’s going on with the Prince’s lady-cat seductress.
I love how this storyline adds nuance to the Wit while deepening our understanding of it. We’ve been primed through Fitz’s Wit-bonds to view the magic positively. The widespread disparagement of it in the story is frustrating, given the beauty we see, particularly in the Fitz-Nighteyes bond. It would be easy to go with a simple dynamic: people against Wit = bad; Witted people = good. But Robin adds real complexity with the introduction of groups like the Piebalds. Even Fitz, while pitted against them and critical of their methods, has to acknowledge they share many of the same goals. The Piebalds, including the Prince, are confused as to why Witted Fitz is against them, but they don’t know that Fitz is Team Farseer 4Life… 4Now.
I have been eagerly anticipating Fitz coming into contact with his offspring and was fully expecting it to go poorly (see, I learn!). And the Fitz-Prince Dutiful pairing has not disappointed. From the moment they come face-to-face, watching Fitz grapple with the knowledge that this is his biological son – and seeing that knowledge tint all their interactions – has been enthralling.
Fitz on their first encounter:
“I have heard people describe instances when all time seemed to pause for them.”
And:
“He wore my face. He wore my face to the extent that I knew the spot under his chin where the hair grew in an odd direction and would be hard to shave, when he was old enough to shave.”
Oh, Fitz.
As beautiful as that moment is (well, as beautiful as a moment can be when your son is also trying to kill you), it is certainly not all sunshine and rainbows for these two. Dutiful is fully in “Who the hell are you?” mode. I loved the progression from “Who do you think you are?” to “Wait a second- who exactly are you?” as it becomes clear that Fitz is more than just Lord Golden’s manservant.
I am excited to watch this relationship evolve. After multiple trips through the Skill-pillar leave Dutiful on death’s door, Fitz promises to teach him if they survive. I think these two will be learning a lot from each other in the not-too-distant future. Loving the idea of Fitz trying to manage a classroom with all of his semi-kids.
As we continue to be blessed with crumbs of connections to Liveship Traders, we find ourselves visiting a blast from the past (trilogy): Treasure Beach! When Fitz and Dutiful washed up on a beach, I got excited. It couldn’t possibly be, could it? Sure enough, we are back at one of our most mysterious locations. I will certainly have more to say about the father-son camping trip from hell, but I want to touch on one small detail that may or may not have any significance going forward. The Others are still terrorizing beachgoers (apparently She Who Remembers didn’t kill them all). As the Other starts getting agro with Fitz and Dutiful, I tried to remember what we knew about these jerks from our Liveship visits when it struck me… the Others are terrified of cats! Kennit mentions a bag of dead kittens on the shore, and the Other freaks out. Our story has recently acquired a plethora of cats. I have no idea where this is going, but this can’t be a coincidence.
Ok, time for more musings:
Fitz’s interactions with Dutiful throughout are top-tier stuff. We’ve put in the work living in Fitz’s head from boyhood to manhood, seen how the adults around him treated him, and now we’re watching him fall into those same patterns with Dutiful. It’s fascinating; and sometimes heartbreaking. I’m especially struck by the moments where I can identify Burrich in Fitz’s reactions.
There is a lot of classic defiant-teen/frustrated-dad dynamic on display- just, you know, ratcheted up a smidge from your standard bedroom door-slamming to multiple attempts on Fitz’s life. We even get Dutiful telling Fitz, “I hate you,” to which good ol’ emo Fitz essentially replies “Yeah, I hate me too, bro.” 🥲
All of their interactions serve as a mirror for Fitz’s own upbringing. We get some great meta-commentary in moments like:
“Someone should have protected you from this. Someone should have taught you about Old Blood from the time you were small.”
And later, Dutiful asks:
“And you prove your loyalty by killing when you are told to kill?”
Fitz reflects:
“I discovered I did not want Kettricken’s son to be that loyal to anyone.”
Extremely tough look for cat ladies! As a cat lady myself, it is my sworn duty to defend the cats. So I was relieved to learn that it is the cat lady herself who seems to be the problem, not the cat.
You may notice I have not touched on Nighteyes’ present condition. Here is my official statement: no comment. *Barfs*
Loved the “God is a woman” moment when Fitz tries to end his suffering by surrendering to the Skill and the goddess-seeming entity semi-flirts with him, then is all, “Not yet for you! You haven’t quite given enough. Back you go!”
As the Dread Pirate Roberts tells Buttercup in my favorite film, The Princess Bride: “Life is pain, highness.” And boy did I feel it with this dagger of a line:
“I could have sat and pondered the vagaries of fate that had made me the father of two children and the parent of neither.”
If you will allow me a moment of self-indulgence: occasionally I come across a line that catches me. As Fitz and Dutiful share a meal around the campfire, tensions running high, Robin drops this gem:
“The silence lasted as long as the food did, and a bit longer.”
So simple. So effective. Has anyone ever noted the quality of Robin Hobb’s prose? 🤌
There is so much happening in these sections that I admit I am getting a little lost in it all, but I would be extremely remiss if I did not mention the Fool questioning Fitz about his dream connections, and specifically whether he dreams of dragons. Consider me shook!! I hadn’t drawn much of a connection between Fitz’s dream-skill and our good pal Reyn’s unlocked dreamwalking skills back in Ship of Destiny, aside from the more general magical overlap. When are we going to get our Jetsons meet the Flintstones moment?! I can’t wait.
If my Kindle mega-book-bundle progress tracking is accurate, I should be wrapping up my reflections on Fool’s Errand in the next post. See ya then!
wizardwordship 