#rote readthrough

[fratpackhasmeinachokehold]

You know when people made jokes about how Fitz and the Fool skill linking is the gayest thing they ever read I thought it was just that, jokes. But I now no longer think it's a joke. It is very very real.

[chloristoflora]

The Fool ensconced himself in one of the two chairs that faced the hearth. He leaned back in it with a sigh and stretched out his long legs toward the warmth. His voice reached me as I moved toward my chamber.

"Fitz. You know I love you, don't you?"

I halted where I stood.

"I'd hate to have to kill you," he continued. I recognized his adept imitation of my own voice and inflection. I stared at him, baffled. He sat up taller and glanced over the back of his chair at me with a pained smile. "Never again attempt to put my clothing away," he warned me. "Verulean silk should be draped for storage. Not wadded."

"I'll try to remember that," I promised him humbly.

He settled back in his chair and picked up his glass of wine. "Good night, Fitz," he told me quietly.

(...)

Lord Golden's chamber, as I ghosted through it, was now lit only by flickering firelight. As I passed the chair by the hearth, I offered, "Good night, Fool." He did not speak, but lifted his graceful hand in farewell, his flicking forefinger gesturing me toward the door. I slipped out, feeling oddly as if I had forgotten something.

Fool's Errand, by Robin Hobb (Tawny Man Trilogy #1)

[spectrum-color]

“Fitz, you can deny it. But I have been with you, in every way that matters. As you have been with me. We’ve shared our thoughts and our food, bound each other’s wounds, slept close when the warmth of our bodies was all we had left to share. Your tears have fallen on my face, and my blood has been on your hands. You’ve carried me when I was dead, and I carried you when I did not even recognize you. You’ve breathed my breath for me, sheltered me inside your own body. So yes, Fitz, in every way that matters, I’ve been with you. We’ve shared the stuff of our beings.”

This is probably the most romantic thing I’ve ever read in a fantasy book

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“In Amber’s guise, the Fool became a very fetching woman.”

Every POV character who met Amber in Liveship described her as unattractive, but Fitz thinks she’s beautiful. Fitz is totally attracted to the Fool and it is obvious to everyone but him

[spectrum-color]

“‘Amber seems to be fond of you. Perhaps she has been fond of you for years.’ He paused. I nodded. ‘Friends since childhood.’ The pressure eased. ‘Friends?’ ‘Since we-since I was a boy.’ He made a deep sound that I felt all through my body. Then he said “understand this. We share a face, though mine is more youthful and handsomer. I asked her to carve me a face she could love. She gave me yours. But it was ‘could’ love, not ‘did’ love. Remember that. She loves me far more than you. She always will.’”

I CAN’T GET OVER THE FACT THAT FITZ IS IN A LOVE TRIANGLE WITH THE FOOL AND A SENTIENT SHIP

[spectrum-color]

I’m sorry, did Fitzchivalry “no homo” Farseer just tell the Fool that his new Elderling features are “not unattractive”?!?!!! In Tawny Man he still would have thought it but would have set himself on fire before admitting it out loud

[fratpackhasmeinachokehold]

We were just having a very important meeting and then Elliania comes in with her tatas out girl wtffff

Dutiful you must stay focusedddd the way Fitz and Chase have to keep reminding him. Sometimes I forget he’s 15😭😭😭

I swear this book doesn’t feel real

[spectrum-color]

I think Galen’s training is solidifying to me what kind of writer Robin Hobb is. To use some other iconic fantasy writers as examples, if she was Brandon Sanderson, Fitz would maintain his pride and eventually rise above him and defeat him in some sort of battle. If she was Robert Jordan, Fitz would be permanently emotionally scarred but Galen would get a horrific karmic punishment. Hell, if she was George RR Martin Galen would probably keep escalating and kill Smithy and force Fitz into exile before Fitz manages to cause his downfall. But instead Fitz is slowly worn down by the abuse and comes to believe he deserves it and Galen is just doing what needs to be done. He becomes desperate for this horrible mans approval that he will never get because Galen is determined not give it to him, but he still constantly strives for it. It takes the Fool and Burrich combined to get him to even bother continuing to try after Galen tells him he failed (blatantly because he felt threatened by Fitz being stronger at the Skill than him,) and his response to Galen nearly beating him to death is shame and guilt rather than anger. This is a series where events don’t always play out in an emotionally satisfying way and peoples choices don’t always make objective sense, because that’s what life is like and Fitz acts like a real person rather than a character in a book