The Robin Hobb Collection discussion

ch 21 - i'm afraid i'm pulling a bit of a 'Han(ne) solo' again and rushing ahead, but it's been a ridiculously grey, rainy day here. depressing to do anything but perfect for a good book!
plus, hard to stop reading when it's all coming together.

gotta feel for Hap, still not being allowed to see Fitz, even though it's clear why. he first needed his scars back.

oh - and gilly the ferret? she didn't seem to much interesting in bonding, but she's sleeping 'under his chin' now. so perhaps, perhaps, perhaps (channelling my inner Doris Day here)

ch22 - the moment dutiful starts talking about Lady Patience telling him stories about 'you' to Fitz. hang on... he knows!
i was a bit disappointed when it turned out kettricken told him though. i thought he had figured it out and was using the story to see fitz's reaction would confirm his suspicions. too bad!
anyways he knows, that's good! they'll both stop feeling so lonely.


also i quite like these letters dutiful talks about. tom-cat?. nicely done lady Patience.

Hanne wrote: "ch 21 - i'm afraid i'm pulling a bit of a 'Han(ne) solo' again and rushing ahead, but it's been a ridiculously grey, rainy day here. depressing to do anything but perfect for a good book!
plus, har..."

You rushing ahead on your own? How unusual. :-P

ch24 - first of all, i love that we got to see so much skill lesson. i laughed so hard when reading about the skill lending scene:

Thick, can you help him?” I suggested.
Thick opened his eyes and looked at me. “How?” he asked.
I didn’t know. “Just be open to him. Think of sending him your strength.”
Again, they settled. I watched Chade’s face, hoping for some sign that Dutiful had touched minds with him. But after a short time, Dutiful lifted his eyes to mine. His mouth twisted in a small smile. “He’s Skilling ‘strength, strength, strength’ to me,” he confided.

And then there is Chade sneaking in a summons to everyone who can hear the song. So is this how they will bring Nettle in? When no-one personally went for her, but she came by herself?

Regarding the trip and the dragon, I assume they will not have a choice, they might make all the plans in the world, Fitz will only know what to do when he is in front of that dragon. Like Malta and her brother had seemingly no choice either.

The Fool having those marks as well is interesting, but not too surprising since we already got the Pale Lady link. WHY however remains the biggest question.
From what we saw happen to Elliania the pale Lady can hurt her quite badly with those tattoos when they 'infect', but i wonder whether the pale lady really has any control over it. Otherwise would she not use it more frequently over the Fool?

The Fool however was very ill during that time as well, maybe he also had his tattoos bothering him?

ch25 - i'm surprised that i'm surprised!
who else would kettricken have offered as a hostage? of course there was only one choice, as the other would have been too costly (identifying fitz) at this point. i actually like this, it shows enormous respect for the witted ones, and dutiful might learn a thing or two while being there about being witted and how to control it.

Web i taught was a marvelous character. Weird, but i guess i like my characters that way :)
That scene in the kitchen eating was well done, and i nearly started crying when Blade defended the witted by saying that "Once they did allow a Witted one in their midst. And he was one of our own and we loved him well, until we were stupid enough to let Regal take him from us.”

Aah, snif, Fitz must have liked hearing that.

Hanne wrote: "The Fool having those marks as well is interesting, but not too surprising since we already got the Pale Lady link. WHY however remains the biggest question.
From what we saw happen to Elliania the pale Lady can hurt her quite badly with those tattoos when they 'infect', but i wonder whether the pale lady really has any control over it. Otherwise would she not use it more frequently over the Fool?

The Fool however was very ill during that time as well, maybe he also had his tattoos bothering him? "

I hadn't thought about that... but the Fool gets mysteriously "ill" a lot in both trilogies. Maybe now we know why? Now I want to reread (like I didn't already!) and see if his illnesses correspond with when he needs to intervene to save Fitz's life or help the Farseers, periods when the Pale Lady would try to thwart him.

It was nice that Dutiful knows Fitz is his cousin (although not his biological father? Pretty sure Kettricken doesn't even know that! Does anyone but Fitz?). It feels like it changes the whole dynamic between them, now that Dutiful knows what Fitz has done for his family.

Also, love Web. And Blade's defense of Fitz! It was a nice reminder that Fitz wasn't hated everywhere and that some people/characters trust their own experience over popular opinion, which will be important if the Witted are going to be accepted openly.

Hanne wrote: " - and gilly the ferret? she didn't seem to much interesting in bonding, but she's sleeping 'under his chin' now. so perhaps, perhaps, perhaps (channelling my inner Doris Day here) "

Lol - I keep wondering what happened to the ferret that killed (Farseer spoiler)(view spoiler)[Regal (hide spoiler)].
I wonder if he will make a comeback.


Like Chade, I too am getting tired of Fitz and Fool's quarrel. Just give him those feathers already. Maybe that will patch things up.

Lindsey wrote: "I hadn't thought about that... but the Fool gets mysteriously "ill" a lot in both trilogies. Maybe now we know why? Now I want to reread (like I didn't already!) and see if his illnesses correspond with when he needs to intervene to save Fitz's life or help the Farseers, periods when the Pale Lady would try to thwart him

This time, he got ill for days while the Bingtown and Outislanders were visiting. Nothing extra-ordinarily happened to Fitz, but the influence of the Pale Lady was very close by via a servant, and Elliania got sick with infected serpents.
When Fitz was mortally wounded, we got no observation of the Fool being ill but then Fitz didn't leave his room so he might not be able to tell.


Lindsey wrote: "It was nice that Dutiful knows Fitz is his cousin (although not his biological father? Pretty sure Kettricken doesn't even know that! Does anyone but Fitz?). It feels like it changes the whole dynamic between them, now that Dutiful knows what Fitz has done for his family.

The Fool knows. Fitz assumes that Kettricken doesn't know actually. That Verity's spirit confused her enough to think it was him.

David Sven wrote: "Just give him those feathers already. Maybe that will patch things up."

I kept thinking the same thing.

How wrong I was :( - still only up to Ch23

I'm glad Dutiful knows about Fitz...well he doesn't know he's his biological father yet.

I assumed that Golden wasn't ill when the Traders visited, but that he was pretending to be ill in order to hide, so that nobody could recognise him as Amber?

Or is it both?

wastrel, it's a bit of both. given that we hear this story only from fitz it sometimes changes.

while they were visiting fitz was convinced he was faking it, but then afterwards he remarked that the fool really did look like he had been very ill.

i'll try to find the quote

EDIT: i couldn't immediately find the quote and i have to leave now, i'll relook afterwards.

also just noticed another mistake in my reasoning. bingtown was still around when Elliania talked about the dragon and chopping his head off.
so Tintaglia will know about that, and might have some very good reason to NOT have the dragon killed (just in case he does exist)

aha, got it!

I felt as if he had struck me, yet he was the one who suddenly rolled up his eyes and collapsed limply on the floor. For a moment, I stood frozen with both fury and terror. As only friends can do, we had found each other’s most tender spots to wound. The worst part of me bade me let him lie where he had fallen; I owed him nothing. But in less than a moment I went down on one knee by his side. His eyes were nearly closed, showing only a slit of white. His breath puffed in and out as if he had just run a race. “Fool?” I said, and my pride forced annoyance into my voice. “Now what is wrong with you?” Hesitantly I touched his face.

His skin was warm.

So he had not been feigning illness these last few days. I knew that ordinarily the Fool’s body was cool, much cooler than an ordinary man’s, so this mild warmth in him now was as a raging fever would be to me. I hoped it was no more than one of those strange times that came on him occasionally, when he was febrile and weakened. My experience of them was that in a day or two he recovered, with much peeling of skin to reveal a darker complexion beneath.

Hanne wrote: "The Fool however was very ill during that time as well, maybe he also had his tattoos bothering him?

Ooh - I never thought about that.