A few more examples suggest that the Six Duchies and Bingtown exist in different epochs.
In Bingtown, people drink coffee and (actual, non-herbal) tea from china cups (I wonder what the regions of origin of these products are in ROTE), which roughly corresponds to the seventeenth century. In the Six Duchies, by contrast, they only have herbal tea, and it takes Beloved to introduce coffee to Fitz.
Beliefs, fears, and superstitions about magic are also quite different. Bingtown does not seem to have an elaborate system of magical beliefs. Their magical objects from the Rain Wilds are closer to technology (of the ancient Elderlings) than to magic. Liveships are, of course, magical, but there is something rational in people’s attitude toward them. They do not persecute others out of fear of magic, which again feels more characteristic of the eighteenth century.
At the same time, the Six Duchies have elaborate beliefs surrounding the Skill and the Wit, and their persecution of the Witted feels distinctly premodern (or very early modern). I do not want to go deeply into a discussion of magic systems—it is a separate topic. All I want to suggest is that the perception of magic in these two places seems to belong to different historical epochs.
Okay, so now that I’ve read everything currently written in the Realm of the Elderlings series (but boy howdy am I excited about the new short story coming out soon!), I’m gonna try and capture some of my overall thoughts and feels. This will be very long and undoubtedly spoilerific.
For the record, I started the whole series about a year ago and have just raced through it all. The first thing I read was the short story Homecoming and it so fueled me with all of the mystery and magic that I started in on the first Farseer trilogy and then banged out through all of the other short stories and novels in order.
I am happy to see there are lots of RotE fans on tumblr, but sad to see most of the posts go back months and years ago and there isn’t a lot of current discussion. Woe is the fangirl who finds a fandom later than everyone else. But I won’t let that stop me from sharing my thoughts.
Okay so I have some new all-time favorite characters from this series. Strangely enough, Fitz is not one of them. NOT that I dislike Fitz, and I sure did enjoy reading 3 sets of trilogies from his perspective, but he’s just not a fave-fave.
A lot of the people (and animals) around him became faves, but I have to admit to being somewhat in the minority from what I’ve seen, in vastly preferring the Rain Wilds/Bingtown stuff over the Six Duchies stuff. Again - not that I don’t love all of it, but just those were my fave bits and the stuff I personally related to more and want more of.
Most Fave Characters:
Paragon. Oh my dear mad ship, how I love you. How can my favorite character be a sentient ship made out of dragon cocoons who has literally gone insane? IDK, Robin Hobb that’s why. I am so pleased for Paragon that he got to finally be dragons, but oh how I’ll miss my crazy traumatized liveship. I hope we get to see more of his dragons in future works?
All of the Vestrits, but particularly the women. Especially Althea, Ronica, and Malta. Their character arcs were phenomenal and I’d love to read any and all side-stories of their lives and adventures between the Liveship Traders trilogy and the Fitz and the Fool trilogy, as well as anything in their futures.
Bee! Bee Bee Bee Bee Bee. Bee Farseer. Bee the Destroyer. Bee....loved. I love her. Every single thing about her. More Bee! MORE BEE!
Thick. He was probs my favorite part of the Tawny Man trilogy and omg the picture of him as an old man with a cat in his lap teaching Bee how to make skillsongs and being happy and comfortable and cared for is just killing me. ILU Thick!
Thymara. Best part of the Rain Wilds Chronicles imo. And the bits we gleamed of her and Tats and their kid in the Fitz and the Fool trilogy made me so happy. The way her wings grew! I bet she flies all the time! Oh please please tell me more about Thymara’s life once she settled into Kelsingra!
Nighteyes. I don’t know that I can discuss my feelings for him without sobbing, so I’ll leave it at that.
Nettle Farseer. What an amazing arc, and getting to see her from being a baby to having her own baby. MOAR Nettle!
Perseverance. Where is the Per fandom?! I adore this little due with my whole heart and soul. So brave, so kind, so patient, so loyal. I cry just thinking about him and how good he is.
The Fool/Beloved/Lord Golden/Amber/whatever all else... I think I loved his Fool persona the most, but they’re all fantastic.
Chade Fallstar. Look, I know he’s a real son of a bitch, but I love him anyway. I’m a sucker for old wizardy teacher types and prankster/trickster types and just always wanted for him to find some happiness and belonging.
Kettricken. Such a strong, sweet, fierce, stable, amazing woman. Who was so in love with Fitz and you can’t tell me otherwise!
Ophelia - my second favorite liveship and one I think might... even?? want... to stay one??? Maybe??? We’ll see. Hopefully. Please tell us.
Patience. Quirky mom/grandma figure who couldn’t have her own kids so protects the ones that need protecting forever in my heart! (Also Lacey, who I am certain in my heart of hearts was her lover as well as her friend and bodyguard.)
Spark/Ash. Another wonderful genderbender in the series. I hope they get to keep being both sides of themselves.
Motley. How can you not love a crow who calls Fitz “stupid” every chance she gets and who bonds with Heeby and loves all the same characters we love? I hope Motely finally finds a good wit-bond. She deserves it.
Every cat we ever encounter in any of the books.
Characters I love but with some reservations:
Kennit Ludluck - I mean I hate this man, but I also love him. He was a fascinating character and his relationships with other characters were interesting, and his whole ... thing ... with Paragon was so emotional and intense. And I could have forgiven every other awful thing he ever did up until he raped Althea and then it was just - nope. Sigh.
Dragons - particularly Tintaglia, Sintara, Mercor, Heeby,and Relpda. Dragons can be terrible, but they’re also a lot of fun.
Rapskal - loved loved loved him before he merged with the Elderling memories. Still kinda like him, but not quite as much. His relationship with Heeby is always sweet.
Ships (as in shipping not liveships)
First a note about Molly. I always felt like Molly’s character was strangely un-fleshed out. She was just Girl who is a Friend, Young Woman who is Attractive, Woman Fitz Loves, Woman Fitz Longs For, Woman Fitz Finally Gets to be With, Woman Fitz Loses. And then from Bee’s perspective she’s Mom. But she never felt like a fully realized character to me??
So it was hard to love her, to ship her with anyone, to really understand and empathize for Fitz’s feelings for her. She was just kind of this Figure. Which is really such a shame, because Hobb has so many other wonderfully filled out female characters who are so varied and fleshed out and amazing in such different ways from one another. And then there’s just Molly. Woman Fitz Loves. For ... some reason??
IDK - is this a thing that other fans feel? Did I miss something that everyone else gets?
I mean, I understand that the fandom mostly ships Fitz with Beloved/Fool, but did anyone ship Fitz with Molly? Or ship her with Burrich for that matter??
I personally shipped Fitz the most with Kettricken, but I obvi get the Fitz/Fool thing too. I always thought when Fitz grew up into himself more, he’d realize it was for the best that Molly and Burrich had ended up together and leave it at that, and then eventually the feelings he and Kettricken obviously had for one another would have a chance to blossom. But whatever. She gets to raise Bee now, so that’s something.
So anyway, my ships for this series:
Fitz/Ketrricken, as stated above.
Fitz/Fool, cannot be denied.
Fitz/Nighteyes - not in a romantic or sexual way but they were true soulmates.
Fitz/Burrich and Fitz/Chade and Fitz/Verity as son/father.
Fitz/Dutiful and and Fitz/Hap and Fitz/Per as father/son.
Chivalry/Burrich - right?? right??!?! Come at me about it.
Althea/Brashen - perfectly coupled.
Malta/Reyn - especially once they’ve actually had some time to get to know one another better. (their courtship was kinda yikes in a lot of ways tho)
Etta/Kennit’s charm necklace lmao.
Nettle/Riddle - so sweet together. I’m glad she gets her happy ending, so to speak. Getting to be recognized for who she is at Buckkeep, having a job/calling she’s good at and loves, getting to marry the man she loves, having a child she gets to actually raise. All the stuff Fitz never got to have.
Erek and Detozi! How cute are they and how adorable was the way their relationship was shown in the books? Awwwww. (I did think for the first couple books that they were both dudes so I was slightly disappointed when I figured it out, but still sweet.)
Sedric/Carson
Alise/Leftrin
Alise/Sedric as friends.
Alise/Thymara as friends.
Sintara/Mercor - can you ship dragons? I think I do.
Fave Places:
Rain Wilds - anything to do with the Rain Wilds, Trehaug, Cassarick, Bingtown, Kelsingra, etc. Love it, want more of it.
Withywoods. I fell in love with this quiet home and the people in it, especially as seen through Bee’s eyes, and especially once she discovers the places in the walls.
The Pirate Isles - fun stuff and I liked that we got to see a little bit about how it’s developed both as far as appearances and it’s political/trading place in the world.
Stuff I especially want more of, questions I still have, mysteries I want solved, etc.:
I’ll honestly take anything in this world at any time, but here’s the stuff particularly weighing on me....
Magic: SO much more about magic and how it works and where it comes from. For instance, the Silver.
How is it in the dragons?
How did it get into the memory stone?
How is it related to the Skill?
How did the Farseers get access to this magic?
How do people not related to Farseers sometimes get it?
Is the Skill/Silver related to the Wit or are they totally separate things?
Do dragons have Skill and Wit? And also something else?
What, exactly are (were?) The Others.
AND WHY ARE THEY TERRIFIED OF CATS?
Speaking of cats - why can they talk to anyone regardless of Wit?
Are cats and dragons related somehow??!
And what about pecksies?!
What about The Whites? Where does their magic come from? Is it related to all the silver/skill/dragon stuff at all? Where did they come from and how are they related to humans, Elderlings, etc?
Also what in the freaking frak IS the skill-current and how does it woooorrrrrk?
HOW are the Vestrits all so linked to magic?!?! I keep having these theories that Ephron did something to all his kids and grandkids, maybe to protect them from the blood plague, that made them all more susceptible to things like dragon glamour and skill-healings and the like. And why did he decide to stop trading with the Rain Wilds and magical items? What did he KNOW? Am I making stuff up in my head, or is there something there? I feel like there’s something there.
History: grand-scale and smaller more personal things I’d love to see explained more either in short stories or as characters learn more in potential future trilogies and such - like as Nettle and the coteries learn more from the skill-cubes or as the new Elderlings and dragons learn more from their artifacts and buildings. Some examples:
Chade’s life. Would ADORE a short story about his life pre-Fitz, his many adventures as Lady Thyme and other identities, his life as Lord Chade and all of the secrets he never told anyone, his various spy networks and how they worked, etc.
How did the Servants get so corrupted? How did their unholy alliance with The Others get formed? What was Clerres before it was the White Prophet/Servant place? What were the bones and skulls from? Some creatures bigger and badder and older than dragons??
FITZ’s Parentage! Especially his mom! We know she was Mountain-born, we know she had an affair with Chivalry who was not one to go about having affairs like that, we know Fitz’s grandfather forced his mom to give Fitz up, but that’s literally it. How did Chivalry and his mom meet and what happened between them? Why did his mom’s family decide she couldn’t keep him? Did she have the Wit - is that how he got it?? What was little toddler Fitz’s life like?? What happened to his mom after she was forced to give him up?? Did she marry and have more kids - are their Fitz-siblings and their kids and grandkids out in the world, maybe in the Mountains?
And that time really early in the books, maybe the second one? When he encountered some people in the market from the Mountains and there was a young woman who started screaming and pointing at him and crying and was held back by the others - I mean, that was his mom yea?? Why did we never come back to that scene. I kept waiting for Fitz to remember that and link it to what little he remembered of her. Sigh.
Stories about Dragons and Elderlings of old! Maybe some about their destruction but also just ... what their lives were actually like?? How they came about?? How they made their art and architecture and stuff?? IDK. I’m so curious about this part.
Maybe something about King Wisdom and how he sought out the Elderlings for aid, or if the Elderlings were already gone by then how he discovered the putting-your-life-into-stone thing? Maybe some stories about skill coteries who traveled together up the skill road to make their own dragons? TELL ME HOW THE FARSEERS ARE LINKED TO THE ELDERLINGS!
The gods, too. Sa and the priesthood of Sa and how all that got started, how it got corrupted, etc. How Sa connects with El and Eda. Are they real? Are they representations of the Skill or the Skill current or???
Chalced’s history is one I’m very curious about. Are they connected to the Servants and Others in toppling the Dragon/Elderling civilizations, or did they just hate the Stone Pillars for other reasons? How did they get to be so ... terrible?
Future: Some of the stories I wanna see about what comes next!
BEE!!!! Bee and Kettricken and Per and Integrity and Hap and Motley and Spark riding through the Mountains together with Fitz/Fool/Nighteyes-as-stone trailing them! How all of their lives progress, and how Hope and Promise grow up together and what their lives are like and maybe check-in with Steady and Swift on occasion and yea.
Are Fitz and the Fool and Nighteyes happy now that they’re whole and in the Skill together? How long can they stay active and watch over Bee?
Gosh, I’d really like to see how the folks at Withywoods continue to heal and recover. Too bad they don’t have therapists in this world...
Will Prilkop be able to take the dozen or so Whites left and build something new? Maybe use their powers for good? Will Bee ever be prompted to find and use a Catalyst or will she continue to refuse to be a White Prophet? Will another White step in her place, and if so - will it be good or bad?!?!
Will Motley find a wit-bond? Did Fleeter ever find one?? What about Swift - we never found out if he got one did we??! More wit-bond stories!
Chassim, the Duchess of Chalced! How is she faring? Is she able to make progressive changes to her country? Do she and Selden keep in touch??
How are the Rain Wilds and Bingtown Trader’s societies being affected by all of the changes? Same for the Pirate Isles. Are they able to adapt and prosper? Would love to see some stuff about their times both between when TRWC ends and Fitz/Fool trilogy begins and also after all the dust settles as the Liveships turn into Dragons and whatnot as well.
How are Erek and Detozi doing??
Geography: I’d love to see some complete maps of the Realm. Maybe have some stories set in or around the Spice Islands since we hear so much about them but have never been there. Will we find more Elderling ruins? Where the Whites originally came from? Are the icy glacier areas in the North covering more ancient ruins? More about this world!!
So yea that’s a lot. And that’s just what’s occurring to me right now. I feel some deep re-reads are gonna be in order. This might one of those series that I just continually find myself reading and re-reading.
I never had to read american history before (have to now for an exam of Law for my translating career), and honestly the story of your independence and constitution is fascinating. I love to read where the “values and morals of the american people, land of the free” and all that that you keep talking about in movies and stuff came from.
And reading about the boston tea party and the first and second continental congress and how the struggle came about from excess of taxation over a young nation of merchants i started thinking that i’d read something like that before, in fiction.
just now it hit me. the ROTE world! Bingtown! the struggle against the Satrap (SOUND LIKE A KING?) and Jamaillia (SOUND LIKE AN EMPIRE?) also comes from excess of taxation over a young nation of merchants! i wonder if Robin drew inspiration from american history (probably since y’all must have been made to study this since you were like 2) and if it was always kind of obvious to you US people? Of course the parallels pretty much end there, american soil was not a Cursed Shore (i think?) but it’s still fascinating to discover the influence of real history in fiction.
For us foreigners let me tell you, it’s NOT obvious at all.
Hey :) Since you are now officially my Bingtown/Rainwilds expert™, I was wondering about your thoughts on the whole "I (Amber) was wrong about staying with Althea while I should have been with Wintrow and the malformed dragons are my fault" issue? I know Beloved said in Aslevjal something like "I thought I had strayed from my path but now I see that that was how it was supposed to be all along" but how come they had dreams about a 9 fingered slaveboy then? I need your wisdom on this one
ohmygoodness, I’m a little concerned to be considered an expert on anything, but I’ll give it my best shot!
So it’s my understanding that while Fitz was their big main Catalyst, they also had smaller catalysts at different times. And it seemed like they always knew when they had to go to a new place and find this new person.
So when they escaped from Clerres that first time, they headed straight for the Six Duchies and found Fitz and stayed with him until that first mission was complete. Then they were like, okay I need to go south for a bit and wound up in Bingtown looking specifically for a 9 fingered slaveboy.
The problem was that when Amber was looking for Wintrow, he was not yet a slave and had not yet had a finger chopped off. So she was missing the clues to find him, and instead found herself entangled with Althea, Brashen, and Paragon who all kind of became her catalysts in a sense, and Althea especially became someone she was able to enact changes with - but her dreams and prophecies were leading her always to Wintrow and she just never found her way to him at the right times.
So she’s blaming herself for how the changes she enacted during this time in her life didn’t come out as well as they maybe could have. If when she’d encountered Wintrow pre-finger-maiming and pre-enslavement and realized she was meant to be by his side, maybe they could have saved the sea serpents a bit earlier and the dragons might have hatched healthier. Or at least - this is what they believe about the situation.
So then they realize it’s time to head back to Fitz and use their big Catalyst again, and once they free Icefyre, the Fool is like - oh okay maybe this is how it was always supposed to be. Maybe it’s okay that the hatched dragons didn’t turn out perfect because we saved this other dragon who can now mate with Tintaglia and save dragonkind that way.
Basically, I see it as Beloved doubting themselves and trying to find the best path to bringing dragons back into the world. They follow their dreams and prophecies as best they can, but they’re not perfect and all of the Vestrits kind of ping their catalyst senses - we see Amber react to Wintrow, Althea, Malta, and possibly Selden though I can’t recall now - in ways that show her wondering if this is the one she’s supposed to be working with.
I wonder if Beloved questions himself so much about this one because:
1) their dreams and such weren’t as strong here as they were with Fitz so it was harder to find the right path,
and 2) she stuck with Althea because of the friendship they shared and so feel like maybe they made a more personal decision there instead of trusting to their instincts more.
I wish I owned the books instead of getting them from the library so I could check - but I feel like I remember when she first meets Wintrow - she’s like - well you’re not a nine fingered slave boy - and of course he’s like uh, no. But it kind of takes her aback. I think she also said something similar to Althea once too, something about how it felt right to be with her but she still felt like she was supposed to be with the nine fingered slave boy??
She has this sense about Wintrow but she doesn’t stick by him long enough to find out why. Then later when he becomes the nine fingered slave, she’s like - oh right, you *were* supposed to be the one! This whole thing fails because I chose the wrong catalyst!
IDK if that answers what you asked or not, but it was fun trying!
