Ok so as much as I love Fitz and the Fool’s relationship for everything it is, I am of the firm belief that authors are trying to tell us something with their work. Robin Hobb didn’t sit down and go “I’m going to write sixteen novels and 10,000+ words over the course of twenty years about this couple because I think it would be cute.” There’s something she’s trying to say with these characters that I think is very deliberate. And I’ve been thinking about it ever since I first read these books. I haven’t seen any posts talking about this, and so I wanted to make one myself.
We’re all aware that Fitz and the Fool are clearly two sides of the same coin: King’s jester/assassin, comedy/tragedy, prophet/catalyst, mind/matter, white/black, etc., and that they make each other “whole,” and I really think that it actually goes a step further.
I think Fitz/the Fool’s relationship is a metaphor for Fitz’s relationship with himself, and in a thematic sense, a metaphor for your relationship with yourself.
Fitz’s entire emotional storyline revolves around the fact that he is never capable of showing others his true self. Most of the time of course it is because there is a life/death risk for Fitz if people know who he really is. He can’t let people know about his heritage, his job, his magic, and these become parts of himself that he hates; he wants nothing more than to just let all of it go and live a normal easy life. It becomes impossible for him to form genuine connections with others because every relationship is based on lies on lies on lies.
The only person throughout his 70 odd years of life who truly knows everything about him is the Fool. The Fool knows everything about Fitz and loves him for it. And this is terrifying for Fitz. Because if Fitz were to embrace the Fool’s feelings for him, that would mean embracing all of the things he hates about himself and has been trying to run away from his entire life.
This is also shown narratively by the Fool’s presence/absence in Fitz’s life. With the Fool gone, Fitz has faked his death and lived alone as a hermit in the mountains for 15 years, running from his problems. Then the Fool returns, and Fitz’s story continues. The Fool leaves Fitz, and for 30 more years Fitz is left living a stagnant, superficial life in Withywoods. And then the Fool returns to him again, and finally their story gets its conclusion.
And as support/some honorable mentions, you can see this dynamic mirrored in almost every other character. Althea, Wintrow, Malta, Sedric, Alise, Bee…all of their stories center on the idea of self discovery and coming to terms with their existence. And of course the greatest story of self discovery would be told through the two main characters, when Fitz and the Fool are finally reunited, and immortalized as a Whole being in the stone.
Even in their names…..everyone has their faults and hates themselves in some way, but the self is also something that is indescribably precious. Sometimes you’re an idiot who makes mistakes, but you’re still something to cherish: the beloved. And that’s what’s so important to me about this metaphor. We find out that the Fool’s real name is Beloved at the exact half-way point in the series. For Fitz, this is a journey from self hatred to self preservation and acceptance, and it’s why he struggles so much with defining his feelings for the Fool.
And in the quotes with the two of them, just imagine for a moment that this is a letter that you are reading to yourself:
Was a time when I knew peace in your presence. Though, to be truthful with myself, there were as many times when your presence plunged me into deadliest danger. Or pain. Or fear. But the peace is what I remember and long for.”
How incredibly tender is that? It is such a powerful message of self love. To fear living as yourself, but cherishing it all the same. This is what it has always been for Fitz.
And again, when Fitz uses the Fool’s name for the first time. It is only after three entire books of Fitz/the Fool literally masquerading as other people (pretending you’re something you’re not) and going through the stress of never being able to drop their pretenses. Just like…..appreciate the tenderness and what it would feel like to say this to yourself
“‘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.’”