#Why Ophelia Can’t Leave the Duchy

[fendaira]

[divine529]

Realm of the Elderlings Ask Meme Thing

I was tagged by @tragediegh! Thanks so much! I haven't seen this one floating around in a long time!

Favorite Rote Book: It changes fairly often, but currently "Fool's Errand".

Why: It's the least harrowing Fitz book (yes I know he's pulled out of his quiet life and back into the fray of politics and intrigue and it comes at a great cost to one of his nearest and dearest). I just love how quiet it is, Fitz and the Fool's dynamic is top tier and Fitz is in an interesting place as a character and it has some of my favorite scenes and quotes in it. It reads like a romantic comedy in some ways. There's just so much to love about it.

Top Three Favorite Characters: This is a tough one! There are so many characters I love (it might be fun to do by Fitz books, LST and RWC honestly), but the ones who live in my brain rent free most days are always The Fool (all of their facets), Nighteyes and Fitz.

Top Three Least Favorite Characters: To say I agonized over this question for a long time would be an understatement. Hobb has such an incredible ability to write compelling dislikeable characters to the point where everyone adds something to the story even if you hate them. There are plenty of characters I find irritating though, but do I actually dislike them? No. There are only two characters I truly hate and the third I'm mentioning I just feel very apathetic about for the most part. I truly dislike/hate Kyle and Hest, and the third is Bee. I don't hate her, but I don't love her.

Favorite Ship (of the floating kind): Paragon, but I also love Ophelia.

Top Three Favorite Ships (of the people kind): I love so many ships both canon and non-canon and it also changes (except for Fitz x Fool, they're always a constant). Fitz x Fool are my everything always, Alise x Leftrin and Malta x Reyn (but shout-outs to Patience x Lacey, Burrich x Chivalry, Brashen x Althea, Malta x Nettle and Carson x Sedric too.). Truly I love how shippable RotE is across the board and the complexity of all of the relationships, issues and all.

Would you rather be Witted or Skilled? Honestly I see the benefits of both and if I could have both, I would pick that, but since I have to pick one, I'll pick Witted.

If you were Witted, what animal would you bond with? That depends on where I was living. If I was by the sea, dolphin, if I was on land a dog of some kind or a wolf possibly or a red-tailed hawk or possibly a horse and most likely a Friesan. But being realistic, some kind of canine.

Would you rather live in the Outislands, the Mountain Kingdom, the Six Duchies, Bingtown, The Rain Wilds, Kelsingra, Jamaillia, The Pirate Isles, or the Fool's Homeland? Another tough one! Probably either Bingtown or the Fool's Homeland (Mercenia I believe?). Realistically, I'd be a nomad and hop from place to place because they all interest me.

How were you introduced to the books? A close friend of mine from college read them and I was in one of those places where I looked at my shelves and nothing looked appealing, asked her for some recommendations and RotE was one of the series on the list (she didn't tell me it was 16 books at first) and I started it and the rest is more or less history.

Share a quote you love: Should I show you the tabs on my books? There are so many quotes I love, but I'll pick one or two.

'History is no more fixed and dead than the future. The past is no further away than the last breath you took.' Fool's Errand

"Don’t do what you can’t undo, until you’ve considered what you can’t do once you’ve done it." Assassin's Apprentice

"Leave the pain behind and let your life be your own again. There is a place where all time is now, and the choices are simple and always your own. Wolves have no kings" Royal Assassin

And so many more, but those came to mind first.

Tagging: I have no idea who has done this or who wants to do it, but if you love RotE, and you see this and want to do it, consider yourself tagged!

[blackandwhitemotley]

Ship of Destiny Question Time:

1. What were your favourite moments?

Malta and Kekki helping each other out on the Rain Wild River and Chalcedean galley

Amber not putting up with the ‘first mates are supposed to be tyrants’ bs

Grag saving the day at the Council meeting

Tintaglia being scandalized that Bingtowners aren’t paying attention to her when they’re fighting off Chalcedeans

Ronica asking shelter from the Kelters

The negociation for what people want the new Bingtown to be, and the Three Ships and Tattooed folks telling the Old Traders to get off their high horse

Tintaglia striking a bargain with the Bingtown Council

Malta standing up to her Chalcedeans captors to save herself and Cosgo

Kennit and Paragon meeting again

Amber begging Paragon not to kill her and the crew (the feels 😭)

Amber carving Fitz’s face for Paragon

The big mistunderstanding between Malta and Reyn during the final battle

2. Favourite quotes?

‘I am not a duck!’

‘Amber did all this? Amber the bead-maker?’ Ronica queried. When Rache nodded, she demanded, ‘Why?’ Rache shrugged. ‘Some said she had been a slave herself once, despite the fact she has no tattoo. She wears a freedom ring in one ear, you know, the earring that Chalcedean freed-slaves must purchase and wear to prove they have been granted their freedom. I asked her once if she had bought her freedom, or if it had belonged to her mother. She was quiet for a time, and then said it was a gift from her one true love.’

‘I hope you die first so I can watch.’

‘A manner of speaking becomes a manner of thinking.’

I am simply saying that you should not lock your dreams onto a child or a man. Who loves you or who you love is not as significant as who you are. Too many folk, women and men, love the person they wish to be, as if by loving that person, or being loved by that person, they could attain the importance they long for.

‘It doesn’t work that way. Silencing memories does not make them stop existing. Events cannot be undone by forgetting them.’

‘Such a storm of emotions as humans can evoke, all on the basis of imagination,’ the dragon observed condescendingly. In a more reflective voice she asked, ‘Do you do this because you live such short lives? Tell yourselves wild tales of what might happen tomorrow, and feel all the feelings of events that will never happen? Perhaps to make up for the pasts you cannot recall, you invent futures that will not exist.’

‘Give me a face you could love.’

Dangerous men were neither romantic nor exotic; they were men who could hurt you.

‘You can’t play in shit and not get some on you.’ 

Personally, she felt it little mattered how a rapist dressed once you knew what he was.

‘You’d have to be a fool to think you could change the course of the whole world.’

3. Did the reread change your opinion of the book trilogy? In what way?

I enjoyed this trilogy much, much more this time around! Last time, I had picked up Ship of Magic grudgingly, because I didn’t want to leave Fitz for nearly 3.000 pages, so I rushed through The Liveship Traders, and it ended up being my least favourite of the 5 series (though I still liked it a lot). But woah, this reread felt different!

I have a lot of feelings about a lot of characters, but the main 3 ideas are that:

I adore Malta and she has probably made it to my top 3 favourite RotE characters after Fitz and the Fool,

I would lay down my life for Amber,

I thought Brashen was just a bit boring, but I found him pretty despicable this time around. Grag on the other hand... is such a sweetheart... I can’t blame Althea for chosing Brashen over him because you can’t help who you fall in love with, but Grag is probably the kindest, less problematic guy in the whole series. And Ophelia and the Teniras are the best. I hope someone (*cough* @elderling-magic *cough*) will make a post about them soon.

And now I’m itching to go back to the Six Duchies ❤︎ On to The Wilful Princess and the Piebald Prince!

[sophygurl]

RotE feels spewage

Okay, so now that I’ve read everything currently written in the Realm of the Elderlings series (but boy howdy am I excited about the new short story coming out soon!), I’m gonna try and capture some of my overall thoughts and feels. This will be very long and undoubtedly spoilerific. 

For the record, I started the whole series about a year ago and have just raced through it all. The first thing I read was the short story Homecoming and it so fueled me with all of the mystery and magic that I started in on the first Farseer trilogy and then banged out through all of the other short stories and novels in order. 

I am happy to see there are lots of RotE fans on tumblr, but sad to see most of the posts go back months and years ago and there isn’t a lot of current discussion. Woe is the fangirl who finds a fandom later than everyone else. But I won’t let that stop me from sharing my thoughts. 

Okay so I have some new all-time favorite characters from this series. Strangely enough, Fitz is not one of them. NOT that I dislike Fitz, and I sure did enjoy reading 3 sets of trilogies from his perspective, but he’s just not a fave-fave. 

A lot of the people (and animals) around him became faves, but I have to admit to being somewhat in the minority from what I’ve seen, in vastly preferring the Rain Wilds/Bingtown stuff over the Six Duchies stuff. Again - not that I don’t love all of it, but just those were my fave bits and the stuff I personally related to more and want more of.

Most Fave Characters:

Paragon. Oh my dear mad ship, how I love you. How can my favorite character be a sentient ship made out of dragon cocoons who has literally gone insane? IDK, Robin Hobb that’s why. I am so pleased for Paragon that he got to finally be dragons, but oh how I’ll miss my crazy traumatized liveship. I hope we get to see more of his dragons in future works?

All of the Vestrits, but particularly the women. Especially Althea, Ronica, and Malta. Their character arcs were phenomenal and I’d love to read any and all side-stories of their lives and adventures between the Liveship Traders trilogy and the Fitz and the Fool trilogy, as well as anything in their futures. 

Bee! Bee Bee Bee Bee Bee. Bee Farseer. Bee the Destroyer. Bee....loved. I love her. Every single thing about her. More Bee! MORE BEE!

Thick. He was probs my favorite part of the Tawny Man trilogy and omg the picture of him as an old man with a cat in his lap teaching Bee how to make skillsongs and being happy and comfortable and cared for is just killing me. ILU Thick!

Thymara. Best part of the Rain Wilds Chronicles imo. And the bits we gleamed of her and Tats and their kid in the Fitz and the Fool trilogy made me so happy. The way her wings grew! I bet she flies all the time! Oh please please tell me more about Thymara’s life once she settled into Kelsingra! 

Nighteyes. I don’t know that I can discuss my feelings for him without sobbing, so I’ll leave it at that. 

Nettle Farseer. What an amazing arc, and getting to see her from being a baby to having her own baby. MOAR Nettle! 

Perseverance. Where is the Per fandom?! I adore this little due with my whole heart and soul. So brave, so kind, so patient, so loyal. I cry just thinking about him and how good he is. 

The Fool/Beloved/Lord Golden/Amber/whatever all else... I think I loved his Fool persona the most, but they’re all fantastic. 

Chade Fallstar. Look, I know he’s a real son of a bitch, but I love him anyway. I’m a sucker for old wizardy teacher types and prankster/trickster types and just always wanted for him to find some happiness and belonging.

Kettricken. Such a strong, sweet, fierce, stable, amazing woman. Who was so in love with Fitz and you can’t tell me otherwise! 

Ophelia - my second favorite liveship and one I think might... even?? want... to stay one??? Maybe??? We’ll see. Hopefully. Please tell us. 

Patience. Quirky mom/grandma figure who couldn’t have her own kids so protects the ones that need protecting forever in my heart! (Also Lacey, who I am certain in my heart of hearts was her lover as well as her friend and bodyguard.)

Spark/Ash. Another wonderful genderbender in the series. I hope they get to keep being both sides of themselves. 

Motley. How can you not love a crow who calls Fitz “stupid” every chance she gets and who bonds with Heeby and loves all the same characters we love? I hope Motely finally finds a good wit-bond. She deserves it. 

Every cat we ever encounter in any of the books. 

Characters I love but with some reservations:

Kennit Ludluck - I mean I hate this man, but I also love him. He was a fascinating character and his relationships with other characters were interesting, and his whole ... thing ... with Paragon was so emotional and intense. And I could have forgiven every other awful thing he ever did up until he raped Althea and then it was just - nope. Sigh. 

Dragons - particularly Tintaglia, Sintara, Mercor, Heeby,and Relpda. Dragons can be terrible, but they’re also a lot of fun.

Rapskal - loved loved loved him before he merged with the Elderling memories. Still kinda like him, but not quite as much. His relationship with Heeby is always sweet. 

Ships (as in shipping not liveships)

First a note about Molly. I always felt like Molly’s character was strangely un-fleshed out. She was just Girl who is a Friend, Young Woman who is Attractive, Woman Fitz Loves, Woman Fitz Longs For, Woman Fitz Finally Gets to be With, Woman Fitz Loses. And then from Bee’s perspective she’s Mom. But she never felt like a fully realized character to me??

So it was hard to love her, to ship her with anyone, to really understand and empathize for Fitz’s feelings for her. She was just kind of this Figure. Which is really such a shame, because Hobb has so many other wonderfully filled out female characters who are so varied and fleshed out and amazing in such different ways from one another. And then there’s just Molly. Woman Fitz Loves. For ... some reason?? 

IDK - is this a thing that other fans feel? Did I miss something that everyone else gets?

I mean, I understand that the fandom mostly ships Fitz with Beloved/Fool, but did anyone ship Fitz with Molly? Or ship her with Burrich for that matter?? 

I personally shipped Fitz the most with Kettricken, but I obvi get the Fitz/Fool thing too. I always thought when Fitz grew up into himself more, he’d realize it was for the best that Molly and Burrich had ended up together and leave it at that, and then eventually the feelings he and Kettricken obviously had for one another would have a chance to blossom. But whatever. She gets to raise Bee now, so that’s something. 

So anyway, my ships for this series:

Fitz/Ketrricken, as stated above. 

Fitz/Fool, cannot be denied.

Fitz/Nighteyes - not in a romantic or sexual way but they were true soulmates. 

Fitz/Burrich and Fitz/Chade and Fitz/Verity as son/father.

Fitz/Dutiful and and Fitz/Hap and Fitz/Per as father/son.

Fitz/Nettle and Fitz/Bee as father/daughter.

Fitz friendships - Fool, Riddle, Thick, Nosy, Smithy, Myblack, Fleeter, Motley.

Fool/Shrewd as friends or even a touch of father/son.

Fool friendships - Fitz, Prilkop, Verity, Kettricken, Nighteyes, as Amber: Althea, Brashen, Paragon, Jek. 

Chade/Shrewd as brothers.

Verity/Chivalry as brothers. 

Patience/Lacey - mirite?

Chivalry/Burrich - right?? right??!?! Come at me about it. 

Althea/Brashen - perfectly coupled. 

Malta/Reyn - especially once they’ve actually had some time to get to know one another better. (their courtship was kinda yikes in a lot of ways tho)

Etta/Kennit’s charm necklace lmao.

Nettle/Riddle - so sweet together. I’m glad she gets her happy ending, so to speak. Getting to be recognized for who she is at Buckkeep, having a job/calling she’s good at and loves, getting to marry the man she loves, having a child she gets to actually raise. All the stuff Fitz never got to have. 

Erek and Detozi! How cute are they and how adorable was the way their relationship was shown in the books? Awwwww. (I did think for the first couple books that they were both dudes so I was slightly disappointed when I figured it out, but still sweet.)

Sedric/Carson

Alise/Leftrin

Alise/Sedric as friends.

Alise/Thymara as friends.

Sintara/Mercor - can you ship dragons? I think I do. 

Fave Places:

Rain Wilds - anything to do with the Rain Wilds, Trehaug, Cassarick, Bingtown, Kelsingra, etc. Love it, want more of it. 

Withywoods. I fell in love with this quiet home and the people in it, especially as seen through Bee’s eyes, and especially once she discovers the places in the walls.

The Pirate Isles - fun stuff and I liked that we got to see a little bit about how it’s developed both as far as appearances and it’s political/trading place in the world. 

Stuff I especially want more of, questions I still have, mysteries I want solved, etc.:

I’ll honestly take anything in this world at any time, but here’s the stuff particularly weighing on me....

Magic: SO much more about magic and how it works and where it comes from. For instance, the Silver.

How is it in the dragons?

How did it get into the memory stone?

How is it related to the Skill?

How did the Farseers get access to this magic?

How do people not related to Farseers sometimes get it?

Is the Skill/Silver related to the Wit or are they totally separate things?

Do dragons have Skill and Wit? And also something else?

What, exactly are (were?) The Others.

AND WHY ARE THEY TERRIFIED OF CATS?

Speaking of cats - why can they talk to anyone regardless of Wit?

Are cats and dragons related somehow??!

And what about pecksies?! 

What about The Whites? Where does their magic come from? Is it related to all the silver/skill/dragon stuff at all? Where did they come from and how are they related to humans, Elderlings, etc?

Also what in the freaking frak IS the skill-current and how does it woooorrrrrk? 

HOW are the Vestrits all so linked to magic?!?! I keep having these theories that Ephron did something to all his kids and grandkids, maybe to protect them from the blood plague, that made them all more susceptible to things like dragon glamour and skill-healings and the like. And why did he decide to stop trading with the Rain Wilds and magical items? What did he KNOW? Am I making stuff up in my head, or is there something there? I feel like there’s something there.  

History: grand-scale and smaller more personal things I’d love to see explained more either in short stories or as characters learn more in potential future trilogies and such - like as Nettle and the coteries learn more from the skill-cubes or as the new Elderlings and dragons learn more from their artifacts and buildings. Some examples:

Chade’s life. Would ADORE a short story about his life pre-Fitz, his many adventures as Lady Thyme and other identities, his life as Lord Chade and all of the secrets he never told anyone, his various spy networks and how they worked, etc. 

How did the Servants get so corrupted? How did their unholy alliance with The Others get formed? What was Clerres before it was the White Prophet/Servant place? What were the bones and skulls from? Some creatures bigger and badder and older than dragons?? 

FITZ’s Parentage! Especially his mom! We know she was Mountain-born, we know she had an affair with Chivalry who was not one to go about having affairs like that, we know Fitz’s grandfather forced his mom to give Fitz up, but that’s literally it. How did Chivalry and his mom meet and what happened between them? Why did his mom’s family decide she couldn’t keep him? Did she have the Wit - is that how he got it?? What was little toddler Fitz’s life like?? What happened to his mom after she was forced to give him up?? Did she marry and have more kids - are their Fitz-siblings and their kids and grandkids out in the world, maybe in the Mountains?

And that time really early in the books, maybe the second one? When he encountered some people in the market from the Mountains and there was a young woman who started screaming and pointing at him and crying and was held back by the others - I mean, that was his mom yea?? Why did we never come back to that scene. I kept waiting for Fitz to remember that and link it to what little he remembered of her. Sigh. 

Stories about Dragons and Elderlings of old! Maybe some about their destruction but also just ... what their lives were actually like?? How they came about?? How they made their art and architecture and stuff?? IDK. I’m so curious about this part. 

Maybe something about King Wisdom and how he sought out the Elderlings for aid, or if the Elderlings were already gone by then how he discovered the putting-your-life-into-stone thing? Maybe some stories about skill coteries who traveled together up the skill road to make their own dragons? TELL ME HOW THE FARSEERS ARE LINKED TO THE ELDERLINGS!

The gods, too. Sa and the priesthood of Sa and how all that got started, how it got corrupted, etc. How Sa connects with El and Eda. Are they real? Are they representations of the Skill or the Skill current or???  

Chalced’s history is one I’m very curious about. Are they connected to the Servants and Others in toppling the Dragon/Elderling civilizations, or did they just hate the Stone Pillars for other reasons? How did they get to be so ... terrible? 

Future:  Some of the stories I wanna see about what comes next!

BEE!!!! Bee and Kettricken and Per and Integrity and Hap and Motley and Spark riding through the Mountains together with Fitz/Fool/Nighteyes-as-stone trailing them! How all of their lives progress, and how Hope and Promise grow up together and what their lives are like and maybe check-in with Steady and Swift on occasion and yea. 

Are Fitz and the Fool and Nighteyes happy now that they’re whole and in the Skill together? How long can they stay active and watch over Bee? 

Gosh, I’d really like to see how the folks at Withywoods continue to heal and recover. Too bad they don’t have therapists in this world...

Will Prilkop be able to take the dozen or so Whites left and build something new? Maybe use their powers for good? Will Bee ever be prompted to find and use a Catalyst or will she continue to refuse to be a White Prophet? Will another White step in her place, and if so - will it be good or bad?!?! 

Will Motley find a wit-bond? Did Fleeter ever find one?? What about Swift - we never found out if he got one did we??! More wit-bond stories! 

Chassim, the Duchess of Chalced! How is she faring? Is she able to make progressive changes to her country? Do she and Selden keep in touch??

How are the Rain Wilds and Bingtown Trader’s societies being affected by all of the changes? Same for the Pirate Isles. Are they able to adapt and prosper? Would love to see some stuff about their times both between when TRWC ends and Fitz/Fool trilogy begins and also after all the dust settles as the Liveships turn into Dragons and whatnot as well.

How are Erek and Detozi doing??

Geography: I’d love to see some complete maps of the Realm. Maybe have some stories set in or around the Spice Islands since we hear so much about them but have never been there. Will we find more Elderling ruins? Where the Whites originally came from? Are the icy glacier areas in the North covering more ancient ruins? More about this world!!

So yea that’s a lot. And that’s just what’s occurring to me right now. I feel some deep re-reads are gonna be in order. This might one of those series that I just continually find myself reading and re-reading. 

I’m dazed.

Come talk to me RotE fandom!! (my inbox is open)

[fendaira]

[fendaira]

[fendaira]

[fendaira]

[fendaira]