goldenfool

Reactions from the Realm, Golden Fool, Chapters 22-24

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Wolves and Dragons and Back Tats… Oh My!

***Spoilers for the Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 24 of Golden Fool.***

Ok, friends! With six chapters remaining in Golden Fool, I’m going to break my reactions into two (theoretically) smaller posts to sufficiently cover all that is sure to be thrown at us. Without further ado, let’s get into the Golden Fool finale, part one:

We have some important things happening in these chapters; namely, Dutiful learns Fitz’s true identity and (almost) all that entails, and we are given some major White Prophet/Catalyst lore courtesy of the Fool. I’m not sure that dissecting lore is my area of expertise (if you’ve been following along, you know my expertise lies in naval strategy and mating strategy), but I’ll do my best 🫡.

The Fool catches wind of Elliania’s back tats (twinsies!), which sets off a big trauma dump to Fitz. He gives Fitz a handy refresher on the functions of White Prophets and Catalysts across time (much appreciated by this blogger) and adds a little more color to their particular turn in the roles. Some of this we already sort of knew or inferred by this point, but here we get things laid out more explicitly, with a clearer picture of where things are heading.

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Reactions from the Realm: Golden Fool, Chapters 16-21

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Death Becomes Him

***Spoilers for The Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 21 of Golden Fool. References to the events of Farseer Trilogy and Liveship Traders.***

Another day, another Fitz death scene. My man can neither live in peace nor die in peace. I was incredibly moved by this version of Fitz straddling life and death. He follows after his beloved Nighteyes, ready to join the pack of wolves awaiting him in the great beyond. But alas, his work in the realm of the living isn’t finished. Apparently, there is more catalysting to be catalysted.

We are approaching the home stretch of Golden Fool, and I continue to majorly fuck with the Tawny Man Trilogy. I’m not sure if it’s because, as a semi-contemporary of Fitz at his current age, I can relate to him better, or if it’s just the ever-deepening connections to the characters and world. Either way, I am completely immersed. I’ve mentioned before that Fitz is in sandwich-generation hell (me too, just with less stabbing!), and that really seems to be the primary focus of this installment: Fitz trying to establish his authority amidst the varying generations around him.

And if simply being kindly Skillmaster/Lord Golden’s servant Tom Badgerlock doesn’t naturally inspire respect, then killing three grown men and a Wit-feral horse should do the trick!

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Reactions from the Realm: Golden Fool, Chapters 11-15

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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.

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Reactions from the Realm: Golden Fool, Chapters 6-10

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Slow Burn

***Spoilers for The Tawny Man Trilogy through chapter 10 of Golden Fool.***

I went pretty hard into Fitz’s sexcapades in my last post. But honestly, the real foreplay is everything happening in Golden Fool right now, leading up to whatever shoe is about to drop at Buckkeep.

In this section of chapters, Fitz is settling into this new version of life in Buckkeep. I wouldn’t say things are going particularly smoothly – the teenagers are being very teenager-y – but nothing major is happening yet. Teenage dramatics aside, it feels like we are on the brink of something.

For me, there are two (presumably) looming events I’ve been eagerly anticipating:

  1. A Nettle/Molly/Burrich confrontation
    I noted in my previous post that Nettle nears- she’s making contact in Fitz’s dreams, and Chade (via Thick’s raw skilling) is aware of her and her Skill ability. How long can Fitz remain hidden from those in his past life?

    We also had a near miss with Lady Patience earlier in this book. I feel we are due for some kind of collision soon. (Hell, I’d take Hands recognizing him at this point. Throw me a bone here!)

  2. The Bingtown Brigade appearing
    I am ready for the crossover event. To be up front, I did see the next chapter title: ‘Tidings from Bingtown.‘ So predicting a series collision doesn’t exactly make me Nostradamus. But I have been anticipating the stories to overlap in Tawny Man, and so far, it’s been a very Fitzian tale (no complaints!). We are around the trilogy’s midpoint, so surely the merge can’t be too far off.

Robin certainly has me on tenterhooks waiting for either event. 

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