The Wind of the east

[fawnfooled]

halfway through assassin's quest and i can't stop thinking about how the men in fitz's life (chade, burrich, shrewd, even verity) constantly try to impress upon him a notion of duty that involves unwavering loyalty and servitude to one man (shrewd/verity) above all else. which is deeply problematic not just in that it reinforces strict hierarchies of power but because it only ever results in fitz's identity and autonomy being erased in order to make him a vehicle for endless responsibility and service and suffering on these men's behalf. that's their idea of duty. but it's not the duty that the women around him teach.

patience abandons her peaceful solitude and moves to buckkeep, a place she hates full of people she mistrusts, all to protect fitz. not out of duty to chivalry, but because he's just a boy and she wants to protect him and guide him through a world set out to hurt him. and yet her duty isn't just to him. she shields molly after her father's death and disciplines fitz on how precarious molly's situation is, looks out for kettricken when the court is scheming against her and her heir. and even when fitz and molly and kettricken are all long since gone from buckkeep she does not stop, she becomes the lady of buckkeep and rallies her people and protects them and helps them rebuild from the raids wherever she can, because her duty isn't tied to just one person. it's duty to humanity.

and then there's kettricken, whose title of "sacrifice" by its very nature dismantles the notion of royal privilege and authority upon which the six duchies are built.. she is above no one; her peoples' suffering is her own. she risks her life to fight at their side, she sells every finery and all the pretty things she owns to feed and protect and rebuild them while the men around her sit on their wealth. kettricken does not hesitate to sacrifice her comfort and safety and even life on behalf of her people, simply because she cares. she loves the people of the mountains and the duchies alike because they are human and they deserve her love and her care.

it's just this really beautiful idea in contrast to the notion of duty put forward by the men in fitz's life that instead of a transactional, hierarchical relationship between two people, duty is a responsibility to the world, to humanity. for patience and kettricken their duty is founded in empathy and selfless care for those around them. they expect nothing in return. which actually helps fitz be loved and protected rather than used as a tool. #mygirls <3 <3

[motherofcavy]

listen. we all love fitzloved but listen.

amber/paragon is SO compelling to me.

it's literally the greek myth of pygmalion and galatea. the carver creating their ideal soulmate, that comes to life.

paragon soaks in the life and misery and blood and emotions of everyone he comes into contact with, and is torn apart by everyone's expectations and disappointments in him. but amber is able to hold herself apart from him, and she remains totally mysterious to him. she does change him, but not in the one-sided way everyone else had. and she gives him his vision back.

amber is the carver who is obsessed with their muse, their ideal soulmate. and paragon is literally named paragon, the representation of all that is virtuous and beautiful. but the etymology of paragon goes back further. it referred to a touchstone, that would test the purity of gold. back further, it meant "to sharpen"

amber is associated with gold, and also carving knives. really what this reveals is an aspect of fitz/fool's relationship. the catalyst will be the chisel chipped and dulled for the sake of the world, for the broken tool is that which will pry open the future. fitz is her tool that must be broken. but paragon parallels fitz in many ways, and his name means 'to sharpen'.

the difference between amber and pygmalion is that pygmalion carved his ivory woman because he was disgusted with the women he saw. amber carved the man she loved. the difference between paragon and galatea is that she was perfect. both were made against their own will and paragon's story reflects the darker side of that.

but galatea isn't really a human woman, though aphrodite breaths life into her. she is too perfect. paragon will never be human either, nor amber, but they are much closer, they are human by proxy of their loved ones. that's why it's so important that amber carves paragon with all his scars and his crooked nose.

its like an anti-fairy tale. it doesn't end in happily ever after, paragon isn't fixed by love, he never becomes a real man. they are both flawed and real. the end.

[neatbay]

so there’s a guy that lives in the apartment building across the street from me and he has a dog that genuinely looks like a small wolf. Smallwolf seems very well trained and is always off leash. my dog and i regularly encounter them on walks, and everytime Smallwolf sees my dachshund puppy he drops into a hunting stance, to which Smallwolf Owner goes “HEY!” and Smallwolf immediately corrects himself and continues walking. Smallwolf Owner seems like a very reserved man and has never looked at me or my puppy or acknowledged either of us. i think this behavior from Smallwolf and Owner would frighten or upset some people but to me. i live across the street from fitzchivalry farseer

[coquelicoq]

augh i just have to start a little collection of fitz's narration about verity bodyswapping with fitz to use fitz's body to have sex with kettricken (against fitz's knowledge; fitz actually thinks he's agreeing to be killed) in the chapter disturbingly titled "verity's bargain":

I do not understand. Nighteyes pleaded for an explanation. I do not wish to understand. I do not want to know. But whether I wished it or not, I did know. I walked slowly and the wolf came at my heels. We walked past a dying fire between two tents. No one kept watch. From Kettricken's tent, there were small noises. Verity's face was what she saw in the dimness. Verity's dark eyes, looking into hers. She believed her husband had finally come to her. In truth, he had. I did not want to hear, I did not want to know. (Assassin's Quest, ch 38, p 803)

in just this short passage (14 sentences total) he says he doesn't want to understand/hear/know 4 times.

At the base of the dais, Nighteyes whined. The Fool glanced down at him, then back up at me. Puzzlement crossed his face. "My lord?" he asked. I reached for the thread of Skill-bond between us and found it. The Fool's face grew very still as he struggled to understand. He came to sit beside me. He stared at me, as if he could see through Verity's skin. "I like this not," he said at last. "Nor I," I agreed. "Why have you..." "Better not to know," I said briefly. (p 804)

this brings the count to 5. also note that fitz did not tell the fool what is happening; instead he just sort of taps on their telepathic connection and the fool figures out from that that they've swapped bodies, but not why. and he might not even have done that if nighteyes hadn't been giving him away. he also didn't tell nighteyes in the previous quote...he's not telling anyone about it but they know anyway, and then they express their distress, which of course he tries to ignore as he is ignoring his own distress.

I did not know why I did it. Perhaps because he had never before spoken to me of a sister or a home he missed. I refused to stop and wonder. Not thinking was so much easier, and not feeling was easiest of all. (p 805)

this part is not directly about him not wanting to know about what verity is doing with his body, but of course those last two lines sum up his standard go-to of repression repression repression, which he is currently exercising to ignore what verity is doing with his body.

i didn't include the context but it is also fascinating: the thing he is doing and doesn't know why is...using the telepathic connection he has with the fool to connect the fool to the dragon, which the fool doesn't have the ability to communicate with directly on his own. everything else that happens in this sequence of pages, fitz is trying to avoid facing how connected he is to others. but here, he's actively and unnecessarily engaging in it. because the fool says the dragon reminds him of his older sister, who he misses.

[carpediemisnicebuticannot]

"I watch Hazbin Hotel for the plot"

The plot:

[pastapastapastapastapasta]

And then he died

Sorry there’s like no plot I worked on this for 18 hours and wasn’t thinking at any point

[crowninja]

ASSASSIN’S APPRENTICE - The Game

I've been working on this idea for a long time, and I think I'm finally satisfied calling this the final product. I don't play a lot of games, but I've always been fascinated by this retro aesthetic and RPG mechanics, and I thought it would be fun to explore how RotE could be adapted into a medium like this. This is just concept art, I wish I had the skills (and time!) to make this into an actual game.

I did think a lot about what the game could be like, I put my ideas under the cut for anyone curious.

My vision of the game is that it would take place at some point in the middle of AA, so Fitz is around 15.

It would be a sort of "open world" and you could explore all of Buckkeep, the town, and the areas surrounding the castle.

The main "plot" would be trying to stop Regal's attempts to kill Verity and Shrewd, and there would be three endings. The bad one is Regal getting proof that Fitz is witted and Fitz would die in very much the same way as in RA. Another ending would be Fitz killing Regal and then getting executed or banished. And the good ending is Fitz stopping Regal without killing him, managing to convince Shrewd to banish Regal.

There would be a lot of side quests assigned to Fitz from the other characters, which may or may not interfere in the main plot. Chade would regularly give Fitz assassin missions that are disconnected from the main story but give Fitz the info he needs or gives him a leg up in some way.

The Skill would function as just a way for Fitz to communicate with others who have it. I couldn't think of how to incorporate the other uses of the Skill into the game mechanics.

The Wit would be a special ability that allows Fitz to sense other people/enemies. It would be used mostly during night scenes where the map would go dark and the only way to see where other people are is through the Wit.

Some rooms and areas are not open the whole time. Chade's room will open at random intervals and Fitz can't get in until it opens, and the game would not notify the player, so any mission that requires Chade's help will be extra difficult.

Using too much Skill gives Fitz headaches, and he has to take elfbark to recover. Using the Wit near the stables alerts Burrich and will kick-start an event with him. Similarly, Galen also senses if Fitz uses it too much, and it can lead to the bad ending.

Fitz's journal functions as a guide for the player they can consult for help, at the end of each day an entry will be added which recounts the events of the day and any information the player has gathered. Fitz can only access the journal on his room.

Some mini-games ideas: preparing poisons, helping Burrich at the stables, getting herbs and flowers for Patience, deciphering codes,and playing the stone game with Chade.

I would like the game to have secret rooms and easter eggs for the readers, perhaps things related to the Elderlings.

Here's the background for Fitz's room and the Great Hall, if anyone wants to see how they look without all the UI and stuff.

And that's it! This was a lot of work but it feels very rewarding to see how it turned out, I'm really proud of myself for this one.

[chatlot-charles]

hey guys just thought i’d put this out there but you should totally listen ti long lost by lord huron while reading the final few chapters of assassins fate. religious experience that was

[froglatte]

starting realm of the elderlings for the plot and finding fitzloved

[werewhorl]

The finished comic! Hoped to do this scene justice, Nighteyes is such a great character 🐺

[freakcliff]

the bit where Fitz won't fight the pale woman at the end of fools fate is such a moment to me because it's like. shows at its heart how much Fitz will always care more about saving even the littlest bit of someone he loves over doing violence to those he hates and it's just!!! for a character raised to kill and so constantly trapped in a mindset of violence it's so much to me that at his absolute lowest and most desolate his first thought is always going towards caring for what he loves in whatever way he can. when he is faced with the woman who tortured and killed the person he loves most in the world the woman who was partly responsible for a war that killed his king and ruined his country who tormented him and hundreds of others and killed his father completely at his mercy he doesn't even consider doing anything to her because itd mean letting go of beloved's body. I'm just. guys hes so kind and full of love despite it all

[patrooclus]

I love how in Assassin’s Quest they are on this big very important mission, but they are all also very young and horny. Kettricken is looking for Verity who she is in love with, but she also has the hots for Fitz. Starling is jealous of the Fool because she thinks the Fool is a woman and hooking up with Fitz, and she’s having a near breakdown over it. The Fool is also in love with Fitz.

Meanwhile Fitz is oblivious to everything and everyone. He's sad about Molly who he thinks of as his one true love (and during this time she is falling in love with Fitz's surrogate father), all while he is also in a #nohomo thing with his other half the Fool, and so obsessed with the Fool and ecstatic to be around him that he does not notice that everyone wants to sleep him (including the Fool!).

Meanwhile, Nighteyes has also decided he is in love with Kettricken.

[mycupofrum]

That awkward moment when in another town you pretended to be a woman called Amber who carved a magical ship's figurehead to look like her one true love, and your friend from this place pays you a surprise visit to your current place of residence and finds out you're now playing a nobleman called Lord Golden, but she still thinks you're a woman in disguise when actually you are a man who pretended to be a woman who is now a man again but still in disguise. Your friend wonders why on earth you can't just be together with your one true love, and you tell her your feelings are hidden, while your one true love is spying on you in another room and finding out that whether you're a woman or a man in disguise, absolutely everyone knows you're in love with him.

The Golden Fool really serves some comedy gold (when it doesn't break your heart, that is).

[icantdance46-blog]

The night in the elderling tent is so important to me

And also to them

[lordgolden]

Why is there a Lin Manuel Miranda quote on the back of my copy of ass quest hello 😭 you have no business being here

[2129888]

*farseers your fool*

[moashdeservedbetter]

It's difficult for me to understand how much Fitz gets thrown under the bus--especially in Royal Assassin--while the Fool is just presumed wiser and more benevolent. The Fool may have a crush on Fitz by then, but he loves King Shrewd wayyyy more and it shows. The Fool is like, why ever don't you personally see to it that Shrewd is taken care of and wait on his many needs even though you've raised this issue with Chade multiple times and you have extremely little power over the situation? As if King Shrewd is a benevolent figure in Fitz' life. Considering that Shrewd probably gave Fitz away to Regal so that Fitz could *die,* and considering that Shrewd very nearly had Fitz killed as a young child, and considering that Shrewd is singlehandedly responsible for taking every kind of agency away from Fitz (making him become an assassin, making him court Celerity, dictating his many assignments) I think Fitz loves Shrewd a damned lot. And yet the Fool has the gall to repeatedly guilt trip Fitz about King Shrewd, EVEN IN THE VERY CONVSERATION where Shrewd pointedly reminds Fitz that if he was "dismissed," he might have made sure Fitz never grew up at all. wtf man. The Fool looks up at Fitz with tears brimming his eyes in this look of huge betrayal because Fitz has been avoiding Shrewd, who has decided that Fitz--who does not get any of the deference of being royal--has to wed Celerity (a fourteen year old girl he had to politely interact with on an assassination mission for Shrewd). The Fool is hardly there for Fitz during hard times (like? Almost never besides the time Galen tries to kill him, and then just to lead Burrish there?) and ALSO the Fool basically told Fitz to consummate his relationship with Molly in his song (something like "you hold back your passions when you should be consummating them instead?), and then his big personal reveal is "hey! The whole Fate of the World rests on your shoulders and I'm going to use you to fix everything!" which actually *is* a wild thing to say in fact. Actually. And would terrify anyone. Honestly I just don't read the Fool as *actually caring* about Fitz very deeply on an emotional level during first era Buckkeep. Like he cares as the prophet, and he cares as a friend-ish, and he's probably developed some Feelings, but he doesn't really look out for Fitz beyond a tactical capacity. (Fitz, I think, looks out for the Fool rather more in that respect, and takes great care with what the Fool might be feeling and why. And he actually apologizes a few times). I guess half of what I'm feeling is that Fitz cares so much about people--even those he shouldn't care about (cough cough Shrewd, Chade after taking Nettle), and so many of his decisions come from trying to do the right thing while facing impossible choices. And he gives up so much in the way of personal justice (ie any reparations or safety or revenge concerning Regal). I just love Fitz. I really love Fitz. I think his choices make sense, given the experiences he's had and the information he's given and the options before him. And when the Fool loves Fitz, I love him too, but when the Fool sides with Fitz' oppressors and abusers (Shrewd, Chade in AQ) it hurts all the more because the Fool should be in Fitz's corner. When, at least in the first trilogy, the Fool just isn't. His first loyalty is always to something else (the Farseer throne and line, dragons etc) and in the first trilogy especially, he hasn't learned to try to balance that first loyalty with Fitz' needs and lived experiences. In fact in the first trilogy (or at least up through RA), he doesn't even seem aware that such a thing should matter much in the first place.