The Robin Hobb Collection discussion

ch16 - so Kettle is on her way to the mountains the seek the white prophet. her story reminds me an awful lot about the Fool's explanation on the catalyst.
the Fool presumably in the mountains right now. he's the white prophet isn't he?
(don't answer that, it's speculation :))

ch20 - ooo fitz and the fool together again. finally. all is white with the world again. quite the coincidence that the Fool is the first person that Fitz runs into, but i guess Robin Hobb can play lady Fortuna in her own books. i liked it anyway

i also quite liked Nighteyes admitting that fitz needed human help. so far Nighteyes seemed to be pretty set on just the two of them, but that all changed

(sorry - i read the chapters between 17-19 on the train and didn't take notes, so got no clue what happened where anymore!)

one thing i do remember though: it's clear that Kettricken and the mountain people have been looking for Verity extensively. so where the hell is he? why did he not come back?
is he captured? is he still in the mountain kingdom? is he really so stubborn he would not resurface without the elderlings?

Hanne wrote: "Is he still in the mountain kingdom? is he really so stubborn he would not resurface without the elderlings? "

Without answering where he is, yes, he is that stubborn. Fitz doesn't have exclusive rights on being stubborn amongst the Farseers.

hehe, but then there's stubborn and plain stupid :)
i'm sorry, i really want to, but i'm still not a verity fan!

Yeah. Still don't get that. He's pretty much the ultimate selfless king. I guess you prefer him to be more selfish and treat his loved ones better. Kingdom be damned.

hehe, unless the ending is gigantically in Verity's favour, i think this is one thing we'll never agree on :))

a king has to be good for his kingdom, going for the ultimate sacrifice in the mountains and leaving your kingdom to ruins, doesn't put him in my books as a good king.
what kingdom will be left for him when he returns with his elderlings?
how many people will have died or forged? how many will have lost their home either to the red ships or because of hunger and taxes...?

god i love this story! :)

Hanne wrote: "what kingdom will be left for him when he returns with his elderlings?"

What kingdom will be left if he doesn't? He's tried (and failed) to stop the red ships on his own. He can't do it.

Staying wouldn't do any good for the 6 duchies. Sure people are suffering. Homes have been lost. People have been forged. It's war.

It's a terrible situation. Why else would he sacrifice so much? He feels (and I agree with him) that there is no other course of action.

You expect too much from him. Personally if I were him, I'd have high tailed it to the mountains too, but not to find the Ederlings.

I'd shirk my responsibility and hope the problem just goes away. You know..like Regal does.

Also you keep saying how bad Verity is, how is Fitz any better? Fitz is worse to me. He's not the king, Verity is. Sure he's a Farseer, but ultimately the responsibility for the kingdom falls on the king.

Verity abandoned his wife sure, but Fitz has abandoned Molly and his unborn child.

I'm not saying I dislike Fitz, just by comparison he's worse than Verity in putting the kingdom ahead of everything.

I think the ferret should be king

David > lol! Makes sense, the kings of old used the have ferrit skin on their coats no? (not sure whether it's ferret or another animal similar, only know the dutch name and i'm too lazy to look it up)

Rob > i see your point. i don't necessarily agree with it completely, but i think it's great to have these different viewpoints and reactions, makes it a very rich read!

Hanne wrote: "Rob > i see your point. i don't necessarily agree with it completely, but i think it's great to have these different viewpoints and reactions, makes it a very rich read!"

That's because Verity rubbed you the wrong way at the start and you've never forgiven him for it. :)

there might be some truth to that, i tend not to be the forgiving kind :)

Does Fitz end up killing Regal in the end?