Ask and Ye Shall Receive

***Spoilers for The Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 15 of Golden Fool. References to the events of Farseer Trilogy and Liveship Traders.***

After a book and a half of anticipation, the moment is finally here: the Bingtowners have arrived at Buckkeep. Admittedly, the envoy we received was a bit of the Liveship B-team. When I saw a veiled figure among the crew, I was positively frothing for a Reyn appearance. But hey, Selden is cool too. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining about what we got. Selden was being weird, we got major dragon talk, and Serilla was also there. I was absolutely thrilled with the whole event.

This section of chapters was loaded, and there is a lot to cover. One of my favorite subtle plotlines as we get deeper into Tawny Man is Fitz developing a sense of himself as a man at the Buckkeep court. We spent two-thirds of the Farseer Trilogy watching Fitz navigate his boyhood on the fringes of court life. His transition to manhood mostly happens away from the royal seat, but now he’s back- redefining his role and relationship to the Farseer crown through the lens of adulthood. It’s been fascinating to watch him reconcile the courtly life he knew as a boy while trying to carve out his place as a man.

Unfortunately for Fitz, adult life at Buckkeep means fighting with practically everyone…

Buckkeep Fight Night

The keep currently has strong “guests who have overstayed their welcome” energy. Add to that the newly arrived Bingtown contingent, and the castle is a veritable pressure cooker.

Quick look at the fight card, ranked from weakest to most explosive:

Let’s go a little deeper into the most explosive show downs.

Round One: Fitz vs. Starling

Fitz is already in no mood after his unsettling encounter with Selden when Starling rides up beside him on the road to Buckkeep Town. What this showdown lacked in length, it more than made up for in brutality. When Fitz turns her down once again, she loses it- once again. She goes full homophobe, accusing Fitz of laying with Lord Golden, and things get pretty nasty.

Excerpt:

Starling: “You disgust me, Fitz, and you shame the Farseer name. I’m glad you’ve given it up. Now that I know what you are, I wish I had never bedded you. Whose face did you see, all those times when you closed your eyes?”
Fitz: “Molly’s, you stupid bitch. Always Molly’s.”
Starling: “And no doubt you mouth her name into your pillow as your Lord Golden mounts you. Oh, yes, that I can imagine well. You’re pathetic, Fitz. Pathetic.”

WOOF. I had a physical reaction to their entire interaction and, by the end, could barely keep reading I was cringing so hard. No means no, Starling! Take the L and move on.

Round Two: Fitz vs. Chade

I had an epiphany and I’m ready to make a bold prediction: Chade is not making it out of the Tawny Man Trilogy, and possibly not even out of Golden Fool.

In Fool’s Errand, we get relentless foreshadowing of Nighteyes’ death. We can barely go two sentences in peace without a rumination on Nighteyes’ mortality. The build-up to his death is a massive, looming presence.

Well, the vibes are starting to feel the same with Chade. We are getting heavy focus on his aging, his mental slips, his desperate interest in the Skill, his talk of passing his secrets on to Fitz someday. It feels like Hobb is giving him the “Nighteyes treatment,” milking every drop out of the Fitz-Chade relationship to make way for a post-Chade realm.

Predicted demise aside, we’re still beefing with Chade in the here and now.

Chade continues his obsession with Skill magic with no regard for the dangers. He’s insistent on Fitz becoming Skillmaster and bringing Nettle into the mix, against Fitz’s wishes. In this effort, he tries to pull the “queen’s command” card, like he isn’t the asshole advising the queen. Fitz, however, is starting to stand his ground:

“You always chose to be bound by who you are. Now choose to be freed by who you are.”

He’s not going to just roll over and give in to Chade’s demands. If they want something only he can give (training a coterie), then he’s going to demand something in return (leave Nettle alone). We have been spinning our wheels on this argument for a while now, and I admit I am growing a little weary. Let’s get Nettle in the mix already.

(Side note: I have noticed a slight uptick in Molly mentions lately. Please let that be a sign that an encounter nears 🤞.)

Then Fitz finds out Chade withheld information from him about the threatening Wit-related scrolls Kettricken received. Upon learning a direct threat to him was kept secret, Fitz decides:

“Plainly it was time I had it out with Chade. He needed to accept that I was a man now, in full control of my own life and capable of making my own decisions.”

As if that weren’t enough, Chade manages to sink even lower. He truly has no scruples when it comes to the protection and advancement of the Farseer reign. After Starling uses him to deliver an apology to Fitz (for the love of god, MOVE ON STARLING), it opens the door for Chade to stick his nose further into Fitz’s business. When Fitz affirms that he is not down with OPP, Chade tells him:

“Let me remind you that Starling knows a great many things. We are all vulnerable to her. I expect you to maintain her goodwill toward us.”

Apparently whoring Fitz out to protect Farseer secrets is on the table.

Tick tock, Chade. Tick. Tock.

Main Event: Fitz vs. the Fool

If the Starling fight was hard to stomach, the confrontation between Fitz and the Fool was next-level emotional brutality. It starts when Jek rolls into town and blows Lord Golden/Amber’s cover to Fitz. The moment I saw the chapter title “Jek,” I knew things were about to get messy.

And sure enough, Fitz returns to Lord Golden’s chambers to find Jek. She recognizes him as the face Amber carved into Paragon and immediately starts asking Fitz questions about his (presumed) lovebird, Amber. The Fool walks in and it becomes clear to all: the Fool is Lord Golden is Amber. And in Bingtown, Amber gave the impression that she and Fitz were romantically involved.

This, coming off the rumors Fitz has already caught wind of (courtesy of Prince Dutiful) and followed up with Starling’s accusations, sends Fitz into a tailspin.

After a few days of simmering, he confronts the Fool demanding clarity: why does Jek think they are lovers, and what exactly are his feelings? The Fool basically says, well I love you. I put no boundaries on that love. And what other people think isn’t my problem. (I would like to raise some objections here.) To which Fitz replies, well yes, I love you as a friend, but that is where my interest ends.

The Fool responds:

“And that too is a thing we both have known for years. A thing that never needed speaking, those words that I must carry with me for the rest of my life.”

I am sad for the Fool here, but I have to side with Fitz. The Fool’s position is mostly that this all could have gone unsaid- except Fitz isn’t the one saying it. Everyone else is… to him! And largely at the Fool’s instigation – if not outright leading people to believe, then certainly not doing anything to clear it up.

Hurt people hurt people, and after Fitz’s clumsy suggestion that the Fool just find someone who returns his interests, he earns a vicious cut:

“‘Wait. I see. You imagine that I have never known intimacy of that sort. That I have been ‘saving myself’ for you.’ He gave a contemptuous snort. ‘Don’t flatter yourself, FitzChivalry. I doubt you would have been worth the wait.'”

Mercifully, we get no more because the Fool collapses (great strategy to get out of an uncomfortable convo) and appears to be in one of his fever-metamorphosis states! Excited to see what changes are in store!

There is still a ton of meat on the bone. Let’s get into it:

Phew! I’m starting to feel like Fitz trying to record the history of the Six Duchies. The scribe life ain’t easy, friends!