How Fitz Got His Groove Back
***Spoilers for the Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 33 of Fool’s Fate.***
If the revelation of how Fitz was previously able to return to his deceased body thrilled me last post, then that was just the appetizer for this section’s full buffet of answers. There’s a lot to cover, so allow me to get right to the goods.
Fitz and the Fool are lingering in their market-square campsite, recovering and wrestling with where things go from here. Once again, we get that wonderful parallel between the Fool’s sense of lostness and desire to retreat from life, and Fitz’s past experience:
“…you cannot hide forever from your life and friends. Eventually, you must face it again.”
He almost smiled. “This, from the man who spent over a decade being dead.
They almost feel outside of time in this suspended healing sojourn, but eventually the Fool declares himself recovered enough, and it’s time to rejoin the story. Not before a detour to the stone dragon garden for a visit to Girl-on-a Dragon.
Turns out the Fool has promised the rooster crown to the sort-of-lead minstrel of Girl-on-a-Dragon’s entombed coterie, Realder- a former wearer of the crown. (The crown/Skill-dragon/coterie lore goes pretty dense here, so let’s just stick with that and keep it moving).
“I will give Realder’s Dragon the Rooster Crown. That was the price he named for me, the first time I flew with him. He said that he wished to wear forever the crown the White Prophet wore, on the day his beloved said farewell to him right before he entered this dragon.”
We are reminded that back in Assassin’s Quest, Fitz poured much of his pain into Girl-on-a-Dragon- a key part of her quickening and, APPARENTLY, a key part of the sadboi Fitz we’ve spent a trilogy with. That detail proves crucial, because when the Fool gives the dragon the crown, there is an exchange – via passionate kiss – that transfers all of Fitz’s old pain back into the Fool.
After this round of Fitz’s Trauma Hot Potato, the Fool is like: FUCK THIS. This is way too much. Take your pain back immediately!
“‘It is too much. You are too human, Fitz. I am not made for such as this. Take it from me, take it, or I shall die of it.’
‘Take what?’ I demanded.
Breathlessly, he replied, ‘Your pain. Your life.’”
So the Fool does an immediate trauma dump back to Fitz, and what follows… GOOD. LORD.
“I think he tried to be gentle. Nonetheless, it was more like a serpent’s strike than a tender kiss as his mouth fastened to mine and the venom of pain flowed. I think that if there had not been his love mixed with the anguish he gave back to me, I would have died of it, human or not. It was a searing, scalding kiss, a flow of memories, and once they began, I could not deny them. No man, in the fullness of his years, should have to experience afresh all the passion that a youngster is capable of embracing. Our hearts grow brittle as we age. Mine near shattered in that onslaught.”
And then Robin Hobb, menace that she is, takes us on a lovely stroll down Fitz’s traumatic memory lane, which includes repressed memories of his mother (Keppet! 🥺), the vivid return of his love of Molly, and the horrors of his torture and abuse at the hands of Regal and Galen.
“It was new, it all happened to me afresh, flaying my soul and leaving me bared to a salty wind.”
Come to find out, stripping away all those emotional experiences had left Fitz incomplete and unable to fully embrace life these past sixteen years. And now, after surviving the onslaught of their return, he’s left in wonder at the world.
I was like Fitz with his newly returned memories reading this whole sequence: in a state of pure awe. But also – you mean to tell me my Sweet Baby Fitz has been partially forged this whole time?! Wild, wild stuff. Like the revelations about Burrich’s role in his resurrection I discussed last post, I didn’t expect this much rich color added to the Farseer events. A literary masterpiece.
And this is before we get an in-the-flesh Nettle meeting (a tad underwhelming) AND a long-awaited reunion with Lady Patience (which did not disappoint in the slightest).
Let’s first talk about the yet-to-occur reunion: Molly. It appears she’s the final boss of Fitz’s past.
Overall, the Molly material here is tough. Fitz, with his newfound joie de vivre and freshly resurfaced feelings, is ready to swoop in and reclaim his lost love. Great! Let the uncucking begin! But… perhaps the newly mourning widow who thinks he’s been dead for sixteen years isn’t quite ready to learn he’s alive and accept him back in her arms and life immediately.
His optimism is sweet but also a slow-motion train wreck:
“It seemed years since I had looked ahead and seen opportunities and possibilities. I suddenly knew that I wanted change and life and the dangers of attempting to win Molly’s love again.”
And later:
“He [the Fool] and Molly would round out my life to what it should have been. And Patience, I thought with wonder. I would reclaim her too, and never heed the cost.”
It reads like Fitz writing fanfic of the rest of his life (and I need to see that scroll). But something tells me it won’t be that easy. The closer a happy ending feels, the more scared I get for what’s next. And, of course, we still have Chade 🙄, who will surely have more asinine input on how Fitz can continue to be abused in service of the Farseers moves forward from here.
Speaking of what’s next, let’s jump to where we end off. Fitz is serving as Skill-link between Dutiful and Chade (still in the Out Islands) and Queen Kettricken. Chade is pissed because Dutiful agreed to delay the wedding, allowing Elliania to stay behind with her recently unforged mother and sister to settle things before moving to the Six Duchies. Now this may come as a shock, but Chade’s only concern is how the Farseers will be perceived, and not even a smidge about the wellbeing of any individuals involved.
Fitz, weary as the go-between, sees that it’s time for the crown to be more than Chade’s puppet.
Fitz: “Just tell him no. Tell him the Prince has given his word to his fiancée, and it will not be abrogated by you or by Chade. Tell him that if it is an error, it is the Prince’s error, and learning the consequences of errors is one of the best tutors that any young ruler can have.”
Kettricken: “You tell him, Sacrifice. Do not say it comes from me. I wish you to tell him it is your decision. That as the rightful if uncrowned King, this is what you decree.”
Kettricken may not get much screen time in Tawny Man, but she makes every moment count. She alone consistently sees and values Fitz. Just her calling him “Sacrifice” gives me chills.
And in this sscene, she tells Fitz to step into what’s rightfully his- to claim his power. He hesitates, knowing that once he takes that authority from Chade, there’s no going back. He’s grappling with what this means, and then comes the breakthrough:
Was it truly hers to give?
Chade pushed into my thoughts. It is late and I am an old man. Enough of this. Tell her—
No. It was not hers to give. It was mine to take.
And take it he does. Fitz tells Chade how it’s going to be and claims the order as his own – prompting this reaction:
“After fifteen years, do we finally have a true Farseer on the throne again?”
…
“As you will, King Fitz.”
Wow. From where we began at the start of Tawny Man – Fitz isolated in his cottage, far removed from the center of power in Buckkeep – to our very own ShadowWolfKing. All hail!
Ok, now I’m pumped! MUSINGS!
It took 95% of a trilogy to get here, but the moment of meeting Nettle finally arrived. It was a little bittersweet in its brevity – and in her continued ignorance of who Fitz really is to her – but exciting nonetheless.
She’s distressed by the passing of her Papa and generally confused by Fitz (join the club), but then we get this moment, and everything we’ve been through feels worth it:
“I caught her in my arms and held her tight. For the first time in her life or mine, I held my daughter.”
Just beautiful.
Fitz is bursting to spill the beans that he’s her dad but wisely realizes that “Surprise, I’m your father!” may not land well mere days after she’s learned the man she thought was her father has died.
I’m looking forward to seeing where we land with these two by the end of Fool’s Fate, and what’s set up for them in the next Fitz Trilogy.
In contrast to Nettle’s truth-shrouded rendezvous, the Patience-Fitz reunion (and Lacey- she should be included!) held nothing back. Patience was throwing fastballs one after another. If anything, she’s only gotten kookier since we last saw her, and I loved it.
After shocking Lacey and Patience in the women’s garden, Fitz follows them back to her chambers. When he asks if he can get them anything, Patience fires back:
“Sixteen years,” Patience snapped. “You can fetch me sixteen years!”
Though laced with her sharp humor, their reunion is incredibly touching. Patience is overcome with emotion at the revelation that Fitz – whom she’s always treated and considered a son – is alive. Which brings up the question: WHY did he never contact her? Of all the people from his past he avoided, surely Patience would have made the most sense to reach out to.
But we are given new perspective on some of Fitz’s more baffling decisions when he explains his “forging” to her:
“If I hadn’t given my pain to the stone dragon, I think I would have found a way, however risky. Maybe you have to keep your pain and loss to know that you can survive whatever life deals you. Perhaps without putting your pain in its place in your life, you become something of a coward.”
I loved every minute they spent together. Fitz tries to cut it short so he can go back through the Skill-pillar and deliver food and supplies to the feverish Fool (our boy is down bad), but Patience isn’t having it and insists he sit down and account for their time apart. Which leads to perhaps my favorite line from her, after Fitz says it will take quite awhile to recount sixteen years:
“’It will take sixteen years to tell sixteen years,’ Patience told me sternly.”
Blogging the conclusion of this book has proven challenging. There’s zero filler – every word feels significant – and I could write a full post on each chapter. But I have to balance reading with writing, and your girl desperately wants to find out what happens next. It’s a real test of patience and devotion to this labor of love. But it has also been a interesting exercise in deeply engaging with the text as I process my reactions.
All that preamble was to say that, once again, the poor Black Man of Aslevjal is being relegated to “not enough bandwidth” territory. He has made quite the convenient babysitter, though- first for Thick, now for the molting Fool. Thank you for your service, sir!
More Lore!
We get some lovely expansions to dragon/Elderling lore in this section. As Fitz and the Fool wander back through the ice palace yet again, they see depictions of Elderlings chiseled into the walls. Fitz notes they remind him of our favorite Bingtown weirdo, Selden!
The Fool then fills in some gaps about how living in proximity to dragons changes humans, thus creating Elderlings. Fitz asks if it also affects the dragons:
“I suspect they do. But they find it shameful and banish such beings. You have been to Others Island.”
🚨🚨🚨
So humans who live with dragons become deformed and mostly infertile. Dragons exposed to humans become shameful beings, hated by all. Is this where I point out that I have yet to hear a compelling argument for dragons and humans to coexist?
There’s even more lore to unpack. The Fool shares his hypothesis that the Skill is a lingering result of the ancient mingling between humans and dragons:
“I suspect that the Skill is what remains to you from an older time. That it is the trailing end of a talent that developed between dragons and humans, as a way to communicate.” … “Perhaps it was a result of living alongside the dragons, and perhaps it lingered.” … “Some inherited little of it. In others”—he gave me a sideways glance—“the Elderling blood ran stronger.”
Fitz hears this and immediately asks, “So, I’m part-dragon?” Boys.
But honestly, ManBoyWolfDragon – no wonder we’re all drawn to him. The rizz is strong.
There is a great exchange when Fitz returns to the Black Man’s cave-abode with the Fool in tow. The Black Man is shocked, noting that last he knew, the Fool was quite dead.
“Yes. He was.” I confirmed it for him. “But I am the Catalyst. I change things.”
Obsessed with Fitz delivering this mind-blowing revelation with the same casual tone you’d use if someone said, “Hey, that door was locked,” and Fitz replied, “Yup, it was. But I had the key, so I unlocked it. “
Once Fitz fully embraces his identity as Catalyst, he is very ready to invoke Catalyst privileges. Don’t like how things are going? No biggie! I’m the Catalyst. I’ll just go ahead and change things as I see fit.
Love, love, love that for him.
I love to admit when I’m wrong. At the start of this quest, I said how unlikely I found the idea of Dutiful returning to lay Icefyre’s head upon the hearth of Elliania’s mothershouse. Oh, me of little faith!
I’ll admit- there was a split second when it was relayed that Icefyre’s head did indeed make it to said hearth that I thought Tintaglia went full black widow, got what she wanted from him, and sacrificed him. I know Tintaglia can be a raging bitch ruthless, but that would have been excessively cold and shortsighted.
What actually happened is perhaps even more far-fetched: Nettle convinces Tintaglia to pay her debts (is it time to bring back dragon court??), and Tintaglia has Icefyre fly to the Narcheska’s island to symbolically lay his head on the hearth, thus fulfilling Dutiful’s challenge and clearing the way for him and Elliania to bang wed.
Good enough for the Hetgurd, good enough for me!
In a sea of monumental occasions and revelations, perhaps the most touching moment is the brief interlude of Thick and Fitz sledding on the glacier.
First, we get Fitz’s awe upon reuniting with Thick post-unforging:
“I looked at his round face, beaming with contentment. He was a wonderful man.”
Then he let’s Thick take him sledding and notes:
“It was play, pure and simple. Play that I’d had no time for, that I had dismissed as unnecessary and an interruption to all the practical tasks of a well-ordered life.”
🥹
Almost all of our time with Fitz has been spent watching him forced to relinquish the simple joys of boyhood, and the repercussions that follow. Which makes this moment of surrender to joy and play one of the most satisfying to date.
Let’s end on a horny note. I made note of Arkon Bloodblade being specifically called out as an Outislander who would accompany Elliania back to the Six Duchies. Don’t think I forgot his interest in Kettricken. I admire the Queen’s devotion to her late husband, but I think it’s time she learns from our cultural exchange this book, take a page out of the matriarchal Outislander playbook, and get hers!
Alright, this is it gang. I think we will finish our Tawny Man journey with the next post. I’m both very and not at all ready to see this adventure end. See you then!
wizardwordship 