#the farseer

[paperbackpictures]

The Farseer: Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb

Illus by Michael Whelan. Published 1996. Read more here.

[malepresentingleg]

I think my greatest disappointment from the assassin's quest is that fitz thought it was too much to have regal build a statue in his honor and refrained from doing so

[philcollinsenjoyer]

made some memes i think burrich would make if he could

[snarktheater]

hey I've been reading RotE because of you and I've just finished Assassin's Quest and am enjoying it so far. I'm curious your view on how Dutiful was conceived and also Molly and Burrich, though. I was kind of uncomfortable with both, but I'm not sure I'm mentally framing it well, so I curious on a different perspective.

Honestly, having read those books when I was a lot younger, I didn't really bat an eye at it on first read. If you're asking for my take on it now…well, I can definitely see why it might make you uncomfortable, but I don't think I can agree even with the benefit of hindsight.

(obviously spoilers for the Realm of the Elderlings books if anyone else sees this)

I'll start with Molly and Burrich, because…yeah, the guy is probably old enough to be her dad, or near enough. The timeline of these books never felt super precise to me, and I'm working entirely from memory, but Burrich is an adult when Fitz is like, six, and if memory serves Molly is a little older, but not by much. So yeah, we can assume at least a decade and a half's worth of age difference there, probably close to two or even more.

That said…my take on age differences is that, while it can be cause of alarm, it's definitely not an instant red flag for a relationship, and it comes down more to circumstances. And the story makes the circumstances clear that, while Molly is definitely forced to uproot her entire life due to complicated circumstances, Burrich has none of the blame on that and is in fact genuinely looking out for her for Fitz's sake, and that mutual feelings developed after they were already stuck together, which is a thing that happens when you share a traumatic experience with someone. Keep in mind that Burrich and Fitz are very alike in many ways (in part because Burrich was one of Fitz's biggest father figures), so like…it's not that big a stretch to imagine them both being Molly's type.

Now, again, another thing that might be make you uncomfortable here is the aforementioned fact that Burrich is (well, was, at that point) one of Fitz's main father figures. Which would be a problem, if Molly had ever…like, interacted with him in that respect (did they even meet at all before they had to go on the run? I'm admittedly fuzzy on some details, usually my rereads have focused more on the tawny man series).

I don't know what to tell you. Weirder couples happen. Molly was an adult, even by our standards, by the time she and Burrich got together. While it's fine to be wary of an older man potentially abusing a younger woman, I don't think denying the woman's agency in the situation is really the way to go about it. Especially in a case where the characters are fictional and definitely meant by the writer to be a pretty healthy couple.

Then there's the matter of Dutiful's conception, which. Well. First of all it's hard to really judge "magically body-swapped with your nephew to impregnate your wife because your body is no longer able to do the deed and/or would hurt her in the process" by any real world standards. It's kind of hard to process consent in this scenario, because Verity is the one sleeping with Kettricken, in every way that really matters. You could maybe make a case that he's doing so in a very specific way she didn't consent to, the way, say, a guy pretending to put on a condom would be violating his partner's consent? But like…Kettricken is consenting to unprotected sex, so the analogy doesn't really work for me here. And on the flip side of the matter, Fitz's narration makes it clear he knows what Verity is up to with his body and seems okay with it.

Really, the closest analogy I can derive from this is that of a sperm donor, which…I'd say is pretty uncontroversial? Maybe you could say it's weird not to ask Kettricken to use a sperm donor. That's the closest I can get to finding a problem with that scene.

Actually if I have any issue with Dutiful's conception it's [spoilers for later books] the fact that Dutiful never finds out about it and I'm not sure Kettricken does either? I can't remember if I invented a conversation between her and Fitz in the Fitz and the Fool books or if it actually happened. It's been a while since I've read even those and I haven't re-read them at all. It's especially odd given that Dutiful proooobably inherited the Wit from Fitz (though Kettricken points out he might have gotten it from her and I personally headcanon that it's both) and Fitz feels some guilt about it, so it feels like it should have come out at one point or another.

[end of spoilers here]

That's…my takeaway on these. I'd be curious to hear your thoughts, though! Maybe I missed something. It has been a while.

[luciefzeven]

The Fool of The Farseer Trilogy reminds me a lot of Kaoworu Nagisa. They are two characters with similar physical appearance. They are pale, thin and strange. They are not human. And they are two very mysterious characters about whom we don't know much. Both have an ambiguous and deep relationship with the male hero of their story: Kaworu with Shinji and the Fool with Fitz. And without forgetting that these two works are exceptional.

[beegotten]

Hi, I really like your blog, and I was very happy to see that you're a Realm of the Elderlings fan. I got the Farseer Trilogy at christmas and I've been reading them slowly and I'm finally on Assassin's Quest. So, my question is do I read the Liveship Traders next, or the Tawny Man trilogy next? From what I understand Liveship is next but is a side story that only has mentions of the main story. Idk. I was hoping you could give me the wisdom of someone who has read it and help me decide. Thanks

D’awww, thanks, @kangadrew24636291​! Nice to meet another fan too! And thank you for the question!

Well, first off, you’ll have to decide whether you want to go on after Assassin’s Quest. It’s pretty much getting your feels punched every… 5-10 pages and it’s just a very… heavy novel, not in terms of pages (though it’s that too), but in terms of content because I mean… Fitz. After Royal Assassin. Hobb really doesn’t skim the consequences of those events which I adore about her stories, everything scars and leaves a mark.

Basically, prepare a ton of tissue boxes.

Well, it depends on what you see as the “main” story. Realm of the Elderlings has an overarching story that just happens to have Fitz’s narrative be a decent chunk of it. Right now, Fitz’s story is localized to the Six Duchies, but as the Fool points out: the overarching story extends beyond the Six Duchies. Whether the Red Ship Raiders prevail or not, the consequences bleed into the rest of the world and vice-versa.

If you’re solely interested in Fitz’s story and his first-person POV, I think you can get by, for the most part, without reading Liveship Traders. You’ll lose a fair amount of pre-knowledge, nuance in a singular character dynamic and definitely spoil an important plot point in the overarching story, but Fitz’s narrative is still relatively self-contained from the rest of the series at this point. I wouldn’t recommend this at all though.

If you’re interested in the overarching story and a multi-POV third-person narrative, Liveship Traders is crucial. You can’t skip it and expect not to get lost in the main arc without it. In fact, I would absolutely recommend reading Liveship Traders first over Tawny Man. It’s a fantastic trilogy and I would actually bump it above The Farseer in terms of writing craft alone. Hobb really tightened her writing and it shows.

You get more world-building, far more lore and a wider variety of characters, especially female characters from all walks of life. And, honestly, Liveship Traders’ villain is far superior than The Farseer’s, in my opinion. It’s a stronger ensemble cast for me. Ship of Magic’s initial pacing is a little slower than Assassin’s Apprentice but I think it pays off in future books.

I would definitely advise reading Liveship Traders if you love wonderful characters. Wintrow, Althea, Keffria, Amber, Etta, Sorcor, Ronica, Paragon, Kennit, and Malta! Hell, just read for Malta alone, if nothing else.

(Though, be warned, you will probably want to drown her at first. I’m dead serious. XD)

Hope this satisfies!

[philcollinsenjoyer]

[remedialreviews]

An incredibly immersive first entry, with a beautifully organic plot rich with characterization. Our narrator doesn't hold our hand or tell us how to feel: actions, politics, characters move and happen and exist in natural, neutral, conflicting ways. Evil and good crop up as they do in humankind, in choices made, and it's refreshing to read in a "high-ish" fantasy.