Realm of the Elderlings Ask Meme Thing
Created by @hermitknut and brought back by @elderling-magic
And then well... I tagged myself and gave permission to myself to post it xD.
A big part of this has been sitting in my drafts for months so my opinions are not exactly what they are now but that’s okay!
Favourite RotE Book: Fool’s Errand
Fool/Fitz honeymoon (say what you will, they married in Assassin’s Quest).
Fitz’s was very relatable (which, I’m now realizing, could be read as “I was so depressed while reading this book”)
This book got some of the best Fitz introspection and I never loved his writing more.
A much more careful and emotional retelling of the epilogue to Assassin’s Quest, which allowed me to make peace with the first trilogy’s ending. That exposition really made me accept his reasons, which is why I am somewhat bitter about the turn the Tawny Man trilogy took afterwards in... basically tearing him from his peace, putting him in a deadly and lonely situation, and convincing him that this was what he was meant for all along and that his previous life choice was invalid because he was half-forged (he was not).
Prince Forever Alone’s grand entry lmao.
One of the best written major character deaths of the whole series, and by far. I was moved to tears, but I never felt bitter about it. Very few character deaths were handled that well in the whole series.
More Wit meta. Wit and politics. Witted villains. Nice Witted people. Finally the Wit being given its rights.
Top Three Favourite Characters:
Sympathetic characters edition:
Verity Farseer, there is one king in my heart. Also confession time, I considered dropping the series after the end of Farseer because he died, but I didn’t and I’m both glad and sad about it.
Ronica Vestrit, badass grandma. An extremely moving character, and awesome writing.
Lady Patience, who single-handedly turned me into a weeping mess.
(honorable mentions to Fitz, the Fool, Nighteyes, Bee and Kettricken)
Top Three Least Favourite Characters:
I thought separating villains and non-villains for this one
Sympathetic characters edition (spoiler warning: skip number one if you haven’t read the last trilogy yet):
Prilkop: What he did to Fitz and the Fool was really ugly and still he acts all self-righteous like he just did what was necessary to protect the world and not destroyed two lives and likely more. But I can’t get beyond the hypocrisy of him ruthlessly using people and directing them towards terrible situations (including himself, I can admit that) if that goes in the way of his ideal future, but then blaming them for having their own will and doing the things they believe in themselves.
Chade: Sometimes, I do like him. Most of the time, all I can think of is how he doesn’t know that those you love do not belong to you. That you can’t restrict their freedom if you don’t agree with them, or decide to conceal facts from them, or take away some of their rights if you think you can’t control them. And you can’t force them to trust you, and being jealous of the one they choose to trust over you doesn’t solve anything. Overall Chade creates some interesting plot, sometimes, but his possessiveness of Fitz and his desire for power are highly disturbing.
Tats. And most of the boy keepers. For no reason at all, they’re just bland, idiot, entitled teenagers who express their limited personality in highly distasteful ways.
Unsympathetic characters edition:
Kyle: Just the existence of this character is enough to warrant a trigger warning. Just, ugh. I can’t stand him. Which should be the sign of a good villain, but no. I can like a character on a meta level even if I hate their guts in the story. Kyle is a nope on both sides.
Cosgo: Imagine putting up with a disgusting, bland, and uninteresting character and he doesn’t even die at the end. Talk about feeling cheated.
Galen: The reason we had to put up with a self-hating, self-destructive emo protagonist for so long. Every time I’m angry at Fitz’s angst, I think of Galen and suddenly I feel even more angry! :D
Favourite Ship (of the floating kind): Ophelia
Top Three Favourite Ships (of the people kind):
Fitz and the Fool, just to be the most original person here.
Fitz/Will because enemies who could’ve been friends? to lovers? We could’ve had it all :’)
Would you rather be Witted or Skilled: Witted. Enhanced awareness of the life surrounding you sounds like something awesome, even if you never get a Wit partner. The Skill sounds great in other aspects, like you know, putting an end to very annoying meetings. But I don’t trust myself to not... just let myself be lost in the Skill-current. Sometimes a book is enough to make me forget about the real world haha.
If you were Witted, what animal would you bond with?: I don’t think I would bond, if I were Witted. Too afraid of the pain, and I never go out anyway. I’d just be an ‘aromantic’ kind of Witted I guess.
Would you rather live in the Outislands, the Mountain Kingdom, the Six Duchies, Bingtown, the Rain Wilds, Kelsingra, Jamaillia, the Pirate Isles, or Fool’s Homeland?: Mountain Kingdom. Where people are polite, chill, mind their own businesses, and respect nature. I wouldn’t mind Six Duchies either, unless I’m Witted.
How were you introduced to the books? A friend recommended them to me. Though the friend himself didn’t even finish the first trilogy, so I had to recommend the series back to them to find someone to scream with.
Ah, this is an unfair question. I love too many of them, and I don’t want to make one more special by choosing it over the others.
Not exactly a particular quote, but I love it so much whenever Fitz and the Fool unconsciously quote each other, or how their philosophies mirror each other across time and space, like here:
Tomorrow owes you the sum of your yesterdays. No more than that. And no less. Sometimes folk wish tomorrow did not pay them off so completely.(Amber, from the Mad Ship)
Sometimes it seems unfair that events so old can reach forward through the years, sinking claws into one’s life and twisting all that follows it. Yet perhaps that is the ultimate justice: we are the sum of all we have done added to the sum of all that has been done to us. There is no escaping that, not for any of us. (FitzChivalry, from Fool’s Fate)
I always get irrationally emotional over any and every implication of their closeness in mind and feelings :’).
Take the thing, copy and paste it into your own post, tag it “elderlings” and then tag as many people as you can that you know in the fandom.
If you see this, have read the books and do not mind doing this (even if you’ve done it before but you’ve changed your mind on some things), please consider yourself tagged <3
