***Spoilers for The Tawny Man Trilogy through the end of Fool’s Fate.***
Well, friends – I have concluded my read-through of the Tawny Man trilogy. What a beautiful culmination to an incredible series. I was struck by how complete this story felt when combined with the Farseer Trilogy. They may stand as separate series, but they truly feel like necessary companions. While both are remarkable on their own, it’s the arc of all six books that I find almost unbelievably stunning. This ending leaves me with a strong sense of closure, and a deep curiosity about how the Fitz and the Fool trilogy will complement, expand upon, and ultimately conclude Fitz’s story.
Before diving into the emotional conclusion of our tale, I have to address my personal state as I write this post. I debated whether to include this, but what’s the point of blogging if not to show up authentically and share a piece of oneself? This endeavor has always been about connecting across the human experience, and what I’m going through now is something almost everyone can relate to. It also ties closely to the themes of the text, so I’d feel remiss not to include it.
***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).
***Spoilers for the Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 29 of Fool’s Fate.***
I fear it’s not the most compelling analysis for me to come to the keyboard each week just to say that was the most incredible thing I’ve ever read. But what the fuck else am I supposed to say? The way this story continues to weave and build is truly unreal.
These chapters had me… affected. In every way possible. From an emotional parting and death that somehow gets relegated to a footnote, because everything else that happens overshadows it, to what I would argue is the most erotic scene I have ever read.
It feels like we’ve reached the crescendo of Fool’s Fate, so I’m curious what’s left for us in the remaining eight chapters or so. The way this volume culminates so many storylines begun all the way back in Farseer also makes me wonder what’s in store for the Fitz and the Fool trilogy. I know we still have some story left to tell, so I’ll save my reflection for the end. But are we going to get Molly before we close out Tawny Man? Or is Robin going to dangle her on the other side of an entire quartet? (I’m assuming Rain Wild Chronicles, like Liveship Traders, will be a separate storyline from the Fitz trilogies, with a little world-building overlap.)
Ok, enough filibustering. I need to get into what actually happened so I can get back to reading posthaste! It’s going to be hard for me to not just copy in 50% of Robin’s words, insert bow-down GIFs, and hit publish. The writing is that incredible. But I shall do my best to share actual thoughts.
Good news: The Pale Woman did not cut off the Fool’s head. Bad news: She did mercilessly torture him and deliver him to an undignified death. Great news: Fitz, with the wisdom of Yoda, realizes that death is life, and, possessing the magic of life, he can work with this.
***Spoilers for the Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 26 of Fool’s Fate.***
So let me get this straight: I am supposed to just go about my regular life – work my full-time job (sadly, blogging for an audience of none doesn’t pay the bills), make dinners, drive my kids places, etc. – while Burrich is reuniting with Fitz on Aslevjal?
Oh, Robin, you sneaky little Hobb, you. When I saw the chapter title “Reunion,” I assumed it would be Fitz reuniting with Dutiful, Chade, and the rest of the dragon expedition gang. Never in a million years did I expect him to hobble back into camp and straight into Burrich’s strong embrace.
Did I have some questions about how Burrich – mostly blind and crippled – managed to make the harrowing journey across sea and glacier on his own? I did. But Burrich is the embodiment of “where there’s a will, there’s a way,” so I’m willing to go along with the “yada yada, he bumped into Longwick and made it to base camp” explanation and keep it moving. (I did at least appreciate Fitz questioning this seemingly impossible feat as well).
Their reunion is incredible, but there’s not much time to sit down and catch up, because, partially thanks to Web using his bird to tattle the slaying plans to Tintaglia, the situation with Icefyre has turned into a full-on pressure cooker. And when that cooker’s lid blasts off (barely a metaphor), it is on.
After attempting a controlled demolition of the ice encasing Icefyre, Fitz’s forgotten cask of explosive powder goes off unexpectedly, getting the job done (and taking out a few of those extraneous characters I’ve previously mentioned- RIP Eagle). Suddenly, we go from zero dragons to three in a matter of moments. First, Icefyre emerges in rough shape. Second, Tintaglia, punctual queen, arrives on the scene to collect her man. And third, because things can never go smoothly, the Pale Woman’s animated stone dragon, embodying the unhinged soul of Kebal Rawbread, awakens and clunkily hauls itself from the excavation pit.
Dragon Rawbread is given a clear missive from the Pale Woman: defeat at least one of the “real” dragons to prevent their procreation. (Gotta say, it’s handy having Fitz tuned into all the Skilling and dragon communicating throughout the battle. He’s basically our personal CB radio, picking up all the signals and keeping us in the know.) And so, a dragon battle ensues.
It was impossible not to think of Drogon and Rhaegar vs. the Night King’s undead Viserion during the Battle of Winterfell while reading this scene. (A rare Game of Thrones Season 8 bright spot. Well… not literally bright, but you know what I mean. I digress.) Icefyre is depleted but enormous; Tintaglia is comparatively tiny but fierce; and Dragon Rawbread is malformed but vicious. It’s quite the battle.
***Spoilers for the Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 21 of Fool’s Fate.***
Holy shit. Is this the peak of modern literature? I know we have a ways to go, folks, but this section of chapters blew my fucking mind.
Up until now, events on our dragon-slaying journey had been unfolding fairly mundanely. Something had to give. And that thing – as I so deftly predicted – was the ice. And once it broke, everything went nuts. The tonal shift that accompanied Fitz and the Fool’s fall from the glacier’s surface into the hidden world beneath was magnificent. Suddenly, we were in a horror story, and I was on the edge of my seat.
I know I am constantly glazing my lord and savior Robin Hobb and her mastery, but the culmination of storylines in this section was on another level.
So what all went down? (You know, aside from Fitz and the Fool, literally going down.)
***Spoilers for the Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 17 of Fool’s Fate.***
We are in it now, friends. I don’t even know where to start. We’ve got the intense drudgery of traversing the glacier; Fitz getting drugged and tweaking out; a charged Fitz-Fool confrontation; the Black Man of Aslevjal creeping around; a Skill attack; and an awakening Wit-awareness of Icefyre under the ice.
We are just around the halfway point of Fool’s Fate, and I don’t think I could possibly be more excited for the conclusion of this trilogy. I have no idea what’s coming, but that won’t stop me from speculating!
I’m typically more of an in-the-moment sort of reader, but as the glacial expedition got underway, a few things started to click. All of a sudden it dawned on me that of course Fitz would have some sort of Wit/Skill connection with Icefyre that would impact his looming decision regarding the dragon’s fate. And then we get this brief moment after Civil and the Fool’s fight, when Fitz has a flash of clarity about his ability to Skill-heal the Fool:
“I cannot say how I knew what it was I had glimpsed. Perhaps something in that closed circle of touching told me. I drew a shaky breath and reached recklessly toward his face with outstretched fingers.
‘I can heal you,’ I told him, amazed and breathless with the discovery. The knowledge of my newfound power rushed through my blood, hot as whiskey. ‘I see what is wrong, the bits that are broken and how the blood pools under your skin where it should not. Fool, I can use the Skill and heal you.’”
***Spoilers for the Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 13 of Fool’s Fate.***
It’s time to slay some dragons. For Fitz, both the literal and metaphorical varieties. We have arrived on Aslevjal, and our quest has begun in earnest. At the same time, the day of reckoning for Fitz’s past seems to be upon us.
Let’s begin with Nettle, shall we? All my dreams are coming true. After Skilling into a Nettle-Fitz dream interaction uninvited, Dutiful has had enough of the secrecy and demands answers. When he learns of his secret cousin (sister? 😬), he is pissed! I loved the dressing down he gives Fitz and Chade (more so the Chade part, but still). He’s wondering why he’s been left in the dark about an alternate Farseer heir, left to shoulder the entire responsibility of the line on his own. And when Fitz, in his classic myopia, tries to brush it off with a “yeah, I didn’t think it would really affect you,” Dutiful clocks him perfectly:
“You go around making these monumental decisions about what other people should know or not know about their own lives. But you don’t really have any more idea how it will turn out than I do!”
Such a great scene. I see the argument on both sides (both being Dutiful and Fitz, and very much excluding groveling, self-serving Chade), and they do too. Fitz wants to protect Nettle from being sucked into the Farseer machine the way he was. But witnessing Dutiful’s reaction shows how protecting one child has, in a way, cost the other. (Do we consider Dutiful Fitz’s child? Eh, tomato, tomahto.) So while Dutiful’s point about Fitz not knowing outcomes is true, it cuts both ways. Sure, Fitz shouldn’t shoulder these decisions alone, but what else can you expect from an abandoned boy who has never been able to truly trust anyone?
***Spoilers for the Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 9 of Fool’s Fate.***
Sailing is such fun… just ask Thick!
As our characters embark on their Out Island journey, Thick is having a rough go of it- to say the least. It’s not just the physical challenges (which are formidable) he faces at sea, but also his sheer terror of being taken from home and thrust into an utterly unfamiliar environment.
Not to use Thick as a prop, but filtering the sea travel through his experience gives us two opportunities.
First: we get to tap into Fitz’s paternal side.
As a parent, I can really connect with Fitz’s experience (of course in very different circumstances). There are times when we desperately want to keep our children safe at home, tucked in and comfortable, but we know we can’t always do that. We have to navigate the world with kids who are at times scared, unwilling, uncooperative, or sick. Now, none of that is to say that forcing Thick on this sea voyage is humane – and we can debate the necessity of his presence – but it does highlight a very human experience unfolding on the page.
And through it, we see this beautiful side of Fitz: caring, protective, steadfast. He knows what they are putting Thick through is wrong. He feels regret, and he does his best within the circumstances.
Not to keep playing the parent card, but the weariness of caretaking for a sick Thick is painfully relatable.
“I had been on board for two days. Already it seemed like six months.”
I’ll have to check my textbook, but I’m pretty sure this is Newton’s Law of Time for International Travel While Parenting.
(I hope I’m not being insensitive with my comparisons between Fitz’s guardianship of Thick and the experience of raising children. That’s not my intention. I think it’s fair and possible to draw parallels without demeaning Thick. One of my favorite thematic throughlines of Tawny Man is the many father-like roles Fitz is forced to navigate, and his relationship with Thick is a big part of that.)
***Spoilers for the Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 4 of Fool’s Fate.***
Hey hey – we are back! I took a week-ish long breather after finishing Golden Fool to gear up for the final installment of our Tawny Man journey. I’m refreshed and ready to tackle Fool’s Fate. Hit me with your best, Robin!
We pick things up right where we left off. Fitz and company are less than two weeks out from the spring sailing for Prince Dutiful’s Out Island frozen-dragon-slaying expedition. There’s a fair bit of checking in and reviewing the main events. It feels a bit like starting a new board game: review the rules, set the board, then embark on this new endeavor. And if the name of the game is Fitz, we already have two competitors vying for control…
Chade
If I could avoid it, I would. But alas, I’m going to start with Chade.
Early in Golden Fool, I predicted Chade would not make it out of Tawny Man. I am holding strong on this prediction. (I keep wanting to hedge, but the more confident I am, the funnier it will be when I’m wrong.) We know we still have the Fitz and the Fool trilogy to come, and as much of a fool as I think Chade is, I don’t see three books of him throwing temper tantrums serving as our capstone series.
Right out of the gate in Fool’s Fate, we get peak petulant Chade*. My current beef with him is twofold:
He can’t accept his limitations with the Skill and is throwing off the vibes of the entire coterie.
He’s power-hungry and wants full control of Fitz as a means to his own objectives.
This all boils over in a pretty intense showdown between Chade and the Fool over Fitz’s loyalty. After the Fool’s departure, when Fitz questions how they can quarrel over him as if he is an animal, Chade doesn’t even deign to hide his dehumanization of Fitz:
“Not a horse or a dog, Fitz, no. I’d never think of you that way. No. You’re a sword. So you were made to be, by me, a weapon to be wielded. And he thinks you fit his hand the best.”
***Spoilers for the Tawny Man Trilogy through the end of Golden Fool.***
We have made it to the end. It wasn’t the loudest finale, but it wasn’t lacking impact. People are moving and shaking, and we are setting up for setting out… on a quest!
We close Golden Fool with a fair amount of Witted political negotiation. Admittedly, this isn’t my favorite storyline in RotE (I’d put it on par with the struggling serpents). But it feels like crucial groundwork for Fitz’s eventual return to a more public role. He can’t be relegated to lurking in secret tunnels with ferrets forever; the climate around the Witted needs to shift. I also have to imagine we are setting up for a future where Prince Dutiful can be an openly Witted Farseer king.
We get an infusion of new characters and shifting roles with the arrival of the Witted contingent. Most prominent is Web, the odd man out among odd men out. Web is a friendly, happy-go-lucky sort of fellow, who arrives unmasked and ready to build bridges. I was immediately put off. We don’t get any indication that he is not genuine, and by the end he has charmed Queen Kettricken, declared his intent to stay at Buckkeep, and even secured a coveted spot on Dutiful’s dragon-slaying expedition. My unease probably says more about me than him, but he was just a little too amiable for my liking.
Then there’s Civil Bresinga, stepping into what appears to be a more central role. Up until now, he’s mostly been lingering in the background – friend to Prince Dutiful, reluctant tool of the Piebalds, and Fitz’s ultra-boring spy subject. He’s involved in most of the main plot machinations so far in Tawny Man, but we don’t really spend much time getting to know him (probably because Fitz is very wary of him and his feline inclinations). But during the Wit summit, with a sense of nothing to lose in the wake of his mother’s suicide, Civil publicly declares himself as a Witted nobility of the Six Duchies. In doing so, Fitz recognizes something of himself in Civil for the first time, stating:
“I blinked and saw myself at fifteen, plunged into intrigue far beyond my ability to manage.”
Just how many metaphorical mirrors is Fitz going to be forced to confront in this tale?
Civil also joins Team Slay the Dragon. I’m a little worried for Civil. Not everyone is going to make it back to Buckkeep unscathed from this quest, and he’s on my watch list.
Finally, we get to Swift – Burrich and Molly’s son. He shows back up; this time with a letter from Dad basically saying: I’m done, he’s your problem now. (Yikes! A pretty wild turnaround from the Burrich we saw earlier. Vibes must have deteriorated fast!)
So what’s to be done with a young boy on his own at Buckkeep? Of course, hand him over to the Patron Saint of Parentless Boys: Fitz! Chade delivers the news:
“He’s yours, now, Fitz. Make something of him. And teach him the axe.”
Which gives us this priceless reflection from Fitz:
“I wondered if Burrich had regarded me with as much dread as I did his son. I considered it probable.”
Fitz has major reservations. He’s already practically solely responsible for holding the entire world together, so that seems like enough responsibility for one man. And taking on Burrich and Molly’s son seems fraught. But ultimately he has to agree that given Swift’s Wit and vulnerability, he’s the best option. Fitz won’t see the boy mistreated.
“It was that I could not bear the thought of someone else taking him and being cruel or ignoring him. Such is the conceit all men have once they have been parents. One becomes convinced that no one else is better suited to the task.”
It’s not surprising that Fitz would have a soft spot for a boy on his own. And of course, there is something poetic in Fitz taking in Burrich’s son, with Chade even pointing out:
“I think the symmetry of it pleases Kettricken.”
Same, girl.
Burrich wasn’t a perfect guardian, but it’s hard not to think how much worse things could have been for Fitz without him. I have a hard time with the idea of Molly and Burrich disowning their child, but I am excited to add another charge to Fitz’s roster. He’s inadvertently becoming the Antonio Cromartie of Buck Duchy.
But of course, the real showpiece of the finale was Fitz’s conversation with the titular Fool. Fitz goes to mend things before departing, and he’s had enough of the Lord Golden mask. He tells him it’s fine if he’s angry, but at least be himself.
The Fool: “Be myself. And who would that be?” Fitz: “I don’t know. I wish you were the Fool. But I think we have come too far to go back to that pretense. Yet if we could, I would. Willingly.” … “You are not Lord Golden to me. You never truly were. Yet you are not the Fool anymore, either.”
I love how this echoes a sentiment I shared earlier: how I, too, felt unmoored by the Fool’s identity, with neither façade quite fitting the current reality. Hobb nails the ability to let the reader’s confusion mirror the characters’. In Fitz’s uncertainty, though, comes clarity. He recalls the Fool’s words from the beginning of Fool’s Errand, when he told him what he could call him:
“You said once that I might call you ‘Beloved,’ if I no longer wished to call you ‘Fool.'” I took a breath. “Beloved, I have missed your company.”
Holy shit, Robin. That moment took my breath away. The seed was planted so long ago, and here it blossoms. When their distance was beginning to feel insurmountable, Fitz uncovers the key. The nature of their bond is irrelevant. “Beloved, I have missed your company” is seared into me forever. Pure angsty perfection.
One last set of musings for the road:
Something about Fitz with the axe brings out the feral she-wolf in me. So when Chade suggests Fitz pick back up the battle axe, he earned a point back in my book.
(I wouldn’t exactly say he totally redeemed himself, but I do deeply appreciate that Fitz is going to be slangin’ that axe around again 🤤.)
I’m going to need to smoke a doobie and return to the Epilogue.
Gorgeous prose alert 🚨
Hobb’s writing is always stunning, but it’s nice to point out a line worthy of appreciation. We get so much fantastic imagery of winter shifting to spring. Exhibit A:
“All around us in the forest, the snow had melted down to thin icy fingers clawing at the soil in the shadows.”
I think we are gearing up for the return of Battle Fitz! Not only do we get the glorious return of his axe, but we also hear the Witted minstrel singing “Antler Island Tower” on their way back to Buckkeep. Fitz, humble king, says he “doubted half the exploits attributed to my axe.” Sir, please. I was there. You were wildin’.
In what should surprise no one, I absolutely loved Kettricken outmaneuvering Chade and putting him firmly in his place. She offers up Dutiful as collateral to the Witted (Kettricken doesn’t play) behind Chade’s back, knowing he would never agree beforehand. When Fitz joins them mid-argument, Chade demands to know how he could allow this to happen, at which point Kettricken delivers this dagger:
“How could he allow this to happen? Councilor, you go too far. For many years you have advised me, and advised me well. But if you forget again your place in this hierarchy, we will part company.”
I’ve been mostly ignoring the “alien” voice that Fitz keeps hearing. We don’t get much to go on, just a recurring, non-human presence. But then we hit a very intense Skill-dream with Fitz, Nettle, and (I believe) that same otherworldly presence having some sort of mental battle. In the dream, a creature appears, transforms into a small blue dragon, and starts asking Fitz about Icefyre. I am presuming this is Tintaglia, signature rudeness well intact:
“Tell me your secret, Dream Wolf! Tell me of a black dragon and an island! Tell me now or I tear her head from her shoulders.”
Ya catch more flies with honey, Tintaglia!
So is the “alien” presence throughout Tintaglia? Could Reyn be involved somehow? We’ve been teased with my #2 boy’s dreamwalking skillz, so I’m intrigued.
I have no idea where this is all headed, but I am very into Fitz getting more mixed up with dragons, anything that gets us closer to Nettle/Molly/Burrich, and more Wit/Skill entanglement.
Robin sends us out on this banger:
“Perhaps having the courage to find a better path is having the courage to risk making new mistakes.”
wizardwordship 