Like A River

***Spoilers for The Rain Wild Chronicles through chapter 13 of Dragon Keeper. Mentions of the events of The Farseer Trilogy, The Liveship Traders Trilogy, and The Tawny Man Trilogy are fair game, too.***

It might just be that I am writing this on December 26th, but the Island of Misfit Toys vibes have never been stronger.

There are two elements really jumping out to me so far:

1. how rapidly my feelings keep shifting, and
2. the amount of mirroring happening, on both a micro level within the story and a macro level across Hobb’s entire body of work.

Let’s start with my emotional whiplash.

Shifting Feelings:

In my last post, I had a lot of pep in my typing fingers. After Dragon Keeper’s bleak opening, the story started gaining momentum. Then I dove directly back into a Sintara POV and realized it was the lack of dragon experience that lightened things up. I mean, with lines like:

“And now they were masters of nothing, doomed to mud and carrion and, Sintara did not doubt, a slow death by slog up the river.”

… it’s hard to be buoyed by optimism.

As counterbalance to the dreary dragons, we have Captain Leftrin floating in the clouds with his crush on Alise. Sir- you are a grizzled, murdering (only once, but that counts), ruthless river man. Get ahold of yourself! As hard as I rode for their meet-cute, I have to admit I developed a smidge of an ick this time around. Leftrin is fucking gone for our girl, and Alise is relishing the attention, but it doesn’t feel like they’re on equal footing. Alise seems more lost on the sauce of someone being into her (rightfully!) than genuinely attracted to Leftrin, so surprisingly, I’m finding myself a bit worried for the captain’s heart.

It’s not just them- my feelings across the board have been shifting as rapidly as the Rain Wild River itself. Part of Liveship Traders’ brilliance is how Robin Hobb not only develops characters, but actively reshapes our perceptions over time. Most notably, of course, with Malta- going from the absolute worst to the Elderling queen we worship. In Malta’s case, it’s a long arc, but here in Dragon Keeper, I’m finding my opinions shift chapter to chapter.

Take Sedric. Sympathetic one moment, near-villainous the next. We learn he doesn’t care for animals (red flag), so Alise’s hackles are raised at his interest in assisting the dragons. She doesn’t know his actual motivations like we do, but she’s right to sense something is off:

“Oh, he shared some of her scholastic interest in dragons, but she had never seen him pet a dog or talk to his horse. And now he was going to assist this girl in doctoring a dragon? There was something here, and she felt she stood at the edge of a strange and perhaps dark current. Could he possibly be interested in the girl? She was so young and so peculiar looking. It would be very inappropriate.”

Alise’s ability to read a situation, as ever, remains unmatched.

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Mirror Mirror

One of the clearest structural throughlines in Dragon Keeper is mirroring. In the overt sense, we have the dragons and their keepers; Alise and Sedric; Tats and Thymara. But there are lots of smaller examples too. My favorite odd pairing is Sedric and Thymara.

These are two characters who, outside the premise of this story, would never cross paths. Yet thanks to Sedric’s underhanded goal of bringing home dragon specimens (the little shit), he buddies up to Thymara with his sudden interest in veterinary medicine, offering to help tend one of the unpaired dragons. But the real gem of this combo comes when they are walking together and Thymara vents to him about the keeper dynamics:

“‘He behaves as if he can’t stand for me to have a friend, like it makes him less important. It’s almost as if he tries to drive a wedge between Tats and me. Why are some people like that?’
She hadn’t expected him to have an answer, but he looked startled, as if she had asked him something of great significance. When he answered, his words came slowly. ‘Maybe because we let them be that way.’”

Which triggers:

“It had snapped a stinging realization into his mind. Hest didn’t like him being friends with Alise. Hest didn’t want him to have conversations with her or have opinions about her…
He didn’t like thinking of all the implications of that. He pushed aside the thought of other friendships he’d neglected for Hest’s, even how he’d alienated his father by taking the position with Hest…”

It’s a tidy little lightning bolt of self-awareness. I maintain that Sedric has a lot of growth ahead, and I’m excited to watch it unspool.

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The Gang’s All Here!

Our main characters have congregated in Cassarick. I’m enjoying how Dragon Keeper blends elements of Liveship Traders and our Fitz-centered series. We have a Liveship-like ensemble, but instead of scattering them across the map, Hobb drops them all into Cassarick to join a central mission. (The sort of shit quest we’re usually watching Fitz get sent on.) That doesn’t mean, however, our group is unified. Let’s examine:

Keepers/Dragons

There’s a lot of meat on the bone (not literally for the dragons, of course) when it comes to the dynamics of the keepers and their dragons.

Last post, my commentary on Thymara’s experience of becoming part of the keeper cohort got left on the cutting room floor. Her joy at feeling part of a community was so endearing. I mean:

“She looked from face to face and named them to herself, counting them off as if they were jewels in a treasure box. Her friends.”

Don’t get excited- the kumbaya camp vibes didn’t even make it to the next page. Fractures almost instantly materialize, and rivalries and power struggles continue to widen the gaps as we prepare to set off upriver.

But it’s not just the keepers facing division. There are a lot of fascinating social dynamics at play.

Sedric-Leftrin

They don’t trust each other, but these two have more in common than they realize beyond just caring for Alise in their own ways. Both are harboring secrets: Leftrin with his blackmail resurfacing via a mysterious note, and Sedric with his quiet mission to collect dragon specimens. Oh! And of course they hate each other.

Alise-Thymara (and Sintara)

Alise strolls in armed with Selden-level dragon flattery and immediately forms a bond with Sintara, stoking Thymara’s jealousy. Add Sedric slinking around, and there’s a lot simmering here. At first, I imagined a big sister/little sister dynamic developing between Alise and Thymara, but I think we’ve got some ground to cover before we get there. I’m hopeful that these castoff women (Sintara included) have a lot to teach each other about their worth.

Tats-Greft

Our clearest emerging conflict. Greft is wanting to assert leadership over the group, and while some are happy to fall in line, Tats (with Thyamara) is not especially keen to accept his authority.

Add in the fighting over Thymara, and these two are a real tinderbox. I haven’t even mentioned the other keeper chickadee simpering over Tats and fueling Thymara’s jealousy. Ahhh, the social politics of youth. Let’s make things as complicated as possible and then send everyone on a brutal river journey with ill-tempered dragons. What could go wrong!

Of course, we’re firmly Team Tats as a good-guys-versus-bad-guys dynamic seems to be taking shape. And I would like to go on the record that I am getting extremely bad vibes from Greft. Major concerns for what he’s capable of as the story progresses.

Musings!

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Hard to believe, but we are approaching the end of Dragon Keeper. I’m sure all the issues will be ironed out and we will set off on our journey upriver smooth sailing.

‘Til then!