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kizunarae · 9 months ago

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a mismatched mess: a fitz and molly essay

In my re-read of ROTE, I am struck again by the profound mismatch between Fitz and Molly. Neither complements the other, and their relationship is fraught with tension and incompatibility. However, what really compels me to write this is what seems to be the prevailing sentiment within the fandom that places the blame squarely on Fitz’s shoulders. I believe that this perspective is an oversimplification and rather unfair to Fitz. The demise of their relationship was not unilaterally caused by Fitz; rather, it was a shared unraveling.

I will be focusing solely on events up to the end of Royal Assassin, avoiding spoilers for subsequent books. I will put it under a read more as it will be long...

I want to disclaimer that while I may appear fairly critical of Molly's behavior, I do not think she did anything particularly wrong and do believe her emotions and reactions are largely justified. It is just precisely because of who she is (and who Fitz is) that I believe they are a bad match. Additionally, I think Fitz's wrongs have been hashed out extensively so I will only briefly touch on points I disagree with and not elaborate overmuch on his failures in their relationship.

I will begin with their first reunion in Royal Assassin. Fitz has just returned to the Keep after being on his deathbed for several months. Each person he encounters barely recognizes him through his wasted and sickly appearance. Fitz, embarrassed by his weakness, pulls a foolish move: he claims to be drunk when a passing serving girl—none other than Molly—crosses his path. His attempt to save face and avoid interaction turns futile. And yet, despite the evidence that Fitz is clearly sickly in appearance, Molly's first reaction is not concern. It is not to hear his side of the story nor to find out how he has been, nor consider anything that he may have gone through. Instead, she is focused only on her own experiences, and her own feelings and thus responds only with pure outrage and begins firing off accusations with misplaced anger.

Without basis, she accuses him of courting her and then abandoning her. I think many take this claim at face value, because "Fitz should have known what he was doing" (as Patience also intoned). However, let's consider the books have established a three-year age gap between Fitz and Molly. Thus, in Assassin's Apprentice, Fitz would have been begun "courting" Molly at around the age of 13-15 while Molly was 16-18. Even without viewing this through a modern lens, this claim feels like a stretch to me. Imagine expecting a young boy, barely schooled in social norms, to understand that strolling through town with a childhood friend equals courtship. No words or actions passed between them that indicated anything more than friendship. I believe Patience's scolding and instructions were fitting and commendable. However, Molly’s internalization of this narrative against Fitz seems misplaced and unfair, given her knowledge of their shared history and relationship.

Then, after he shares his concern for her about what he saw in his dream. She accuses him of purposely scheming and attempting to deceive her; that he must have heard her whole story in the tavern and is just making fun of her. This is again a very unfair characterization for her to place on Fitz; nothing she knows about him should indicate that he would do something like this at her expense.

She has a right to be upset that Fitz kept his true identity from her. But he also had a right to do so. She gave him no grace and despite his apparent weakened state, she did not allow him to give any explanations. Worse, because of how Fitz is, he immediately accepts her view of the situation and berates himself for not realizing the courtship, despite having had no tools of his own to recognize that. This pattern continues throughout their relationship.

And this, in essence, is what makes Fitz and Molly such a toxic pair. She accuses him of things he does not intend or cannot change, and he, like a sponge, absorbs them as truth, eroding his own perspective and identity. And on the other side, I believe Molly deserves someone who will challenge her. Someone to stretch her boundaries, broaden her horizons. A companion who could wholeheartedly dedicate their life to a family and business together in partnership. Because, while not necessarily a flaw, she has blinders on and focuses largely on her personal happiness and fulfillment. She does not want to bother with thinking of the realm, the raiders or the help other families may need. This is a chasm between her and Fitz, whose heart bleeds for his people's misfortune and feels a duty to his station and Kings. Instead of embracing and appreciating Fitz's compassionate heart and will to make the Six Duchies a better place, she frequently berates him and minimizes his feelings by accusing him of only being a mere king's pawn unable to think and choose for himself.

Especially as readers, we know this isn't the whole truth. We’ve witnessed Fitz’s tears for a dead child cradled in his arms, felt the fire of vengeance burning within him against the raiders. Molly has not, and yet, it does not seem she cares to know. To each of Fitz's explanations, she complains and argues. While we only get the taste of a few of these encounters, Fitz comments that it is a frequent topic of contention between them.

Molly wants Fitz to fit into her mold and she wants what makes her happy to be what makes him happy. She longs for the days when Fitz was only Newboy. She says she just doesn't understand the things he tells her, and yet I feel this is the same "not understanding" that Fitz employs with the Fool; in fact, it is very much understood, it is just not what they want to acknowledge as truth. Because Fitz is not Newboy, and because she subconsciously blames Fitz for not being Newboy, she thus does not put in effort to know and accept Fitz for who he is. I do not consider her calling Fitz as Newboy throughout Royal Assassin a simple nickname; to me it speaks of Molly desperately trying to reverse time and put Fitz back in the box she liked him best in.

I think exactly how little Molly knows Fitz is further illustrated by the Nighteyes-as-Fitz scene. It is a weird and, in some ways, humorous scene, but what struck me is how Molly appears to know Fitz so poorly that she did not sense anything amiss about an intimate encounter with a literal wolf in Fitz-clothing.

Returning to Fitz's identity and 'lies' throughout their relationship, I personally do not believe that Fitz owed her the truth of his identity from the beginning. It was a deeply personal matter and I believe it was not wrong for him to keep it private. As a young boy, he felt his status as a bastard was deeply shameful, and it is no wonder he would not share it. In my opinion, he would have a duty to disclose if he had truly begun to court her, however he was never given this chance.

So, did he continue to lie after his identity was revealed to her? I do not believe so. He shares much with her about what he does, and about Verity and King Shrewd. It is not a question to me that he would not be able to disclose every detail of what he knows; his knowledge of his kingdom's affairs and his identity as an assassin are not entirely his secrets to share. There are surely modern equivalents of this as well. It is hardly unusual to be unable to share some portions of one's work with one's partner. However, Molly deems this as unacceptable and unforgiveable, despite her lack of interest in what he does— a further inherent incompatibility in their relationship. Instead of offering understanding and support for the isolation that Fitz must feel for being in such a position with his Kings, she resents him for things he has no real power to change. Keep in mind if he had left the Kings' protection at the time, his life would surely have been threatened as Chivalry's was lost. Molly should be able to understand this, and yet she cannot see past her current unhappiness.

In her time at the Keep, Molly also puts a large amount of pressure on Fitz. She is out of her element, she has had a traumatic experience, she knows no one at court. And so, she often complains to Fitz that he doesn't spend more time with her. In a very unhealthy way, she attempts to force him to be everything for her at the Keep— her only social outlet, her support, her protector. Due to this, her resentment for Fitz and his choices grows with every moment he is not with her, and she spends much of their time together asking him to turn away from who and what he is to start a life together.

In the end, both hold the other up as idealized versions one could never hope to fulfil; Molly wants Fitz without his royalty or passion for his people. Fitz yearns for Molly, stripped of independence, her self-driven, entrepreneurial nature tucked away. In their relationship, they offer only moments of fleeting comfort punctuated by feelings of sadness and blame. They cannot fulfill each other's expectations. Molly is unable to bolster Fitz's confidence in himself and the peace and acceptance he desperately craves remain elusive. And likewise, Fitz cannot offer Molly purpose or allow her the sense of security she desires under which to prosper her business and family.

And so, these two are ill-matched and ill-fated, clinging through each other to the last vestiges of a childhood they wish they did not have to leave behind.

#i do like her as a character #im just am confounded people see it as a true romance #she never really does anything for fitz?#and he only is with her for what she represents to him imo #i also have a lot of feelings about neurodivergence #and everyone just expecting fitz to Know Things #maybe i will write about that another time #i think generally people really cut molly too much slack throughout royal assassin #she was lonely and traumatized and wanted fitz to be her everything #she didn't want to be a servant #she wanted him to go help her start her livelihood again #all very understandable #but not healthy or romantic imo...#kizuna rereads #rote #realm of the elderlings #assassin's apprentice #royal assassin #fitzchivalry farseer #i won't tag this as molly #since it is critical #also be nice to me #i haven't written something like this in a long time #i also have quotes to support my conclusions but i didn't include bc it was unwieldly and unpleasant to read

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katyahina · 2 years ago

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Some (potentially) useful remarks on Healing Church clothes and weapons

1) Situation with Ludwig's sword(s) might be less simple than we used to think!

(I will be using retranslations document ( x ) by Last Protagonist as usual, to avoid losing some nuances)

So, we know that Ludwig was using the 'normie' silver sword that hunters of his type were using as well - the normal one that you stick in a 'sheath' to make a big one, replicating Holy Moonlight sword's transformed design but not glowing. The simplest variant is, of course, that he found Holy Moonlight sword but since he was so jealous and secretive of it, he was MOSTLY using the 'normal' blade. Perhaps, Holy Moonlight sword was only used on special occasions, or treasured away from most people and "consulted" for advice until later when he went mad. I would not say that this description comes from the fact that untransformed versions of the blades are the same, because... they are not:

And I think it mostly works, and it is worth pointing out that as epic as fanart of Ludwig swinging that turquoise-colored shiny sword is, and as simpler as memes using that sword are to get, but within the story it was not likely to happen consistently! But also:

This bit about description of Guidance rune makes things a bit more strange. If he, say, has been exploring the dungeons and found the sword that later inspired him to mass-produce similar swords, what it is about closing his eyes? Is this really about Ludwig just falling asleep before the sword or something? :')

@val-of-the-north suggested there is a possibility that Ludwig was shown the sword by superior forces - likely by Flora / Moon Presence herself, especially since Ludwig was close associate of Laurence, who was, in turn, beckoning Flora for creation of Hunter's Dream to begin with. For one reason or another, Ludwig could have seen the vision of the sword, that inspired him to create a very similar one under inspiration and become Laurence's knight this way. God- For all we know, Laurence might have planned to ""enlighten"" him!! And then, either himself or the hunters he inspired would go to the Chalice Dungeons and discover the REAL thing on their way. It could even be additional justification for why Executioner type of hunters are roaming the dungeons! Speaking of...

2) It is likely that Ludwig never wore Tomb Prospector set!

We know that Ludwig was THE first hunter of the Healing Church, who were a different type of hunters than Old Hunters of Gehrman's type. But at the same time, description of the Executioners clothes says that they were the very fist prototype for ALL following clothes of the Healing Church hunters, especially having inspired the trademark holy shawl:

So, FIRST was the garb of Executioners, THEN came the garb of Tomb Prospectors, at least as we know it!

(Source for Ludwig's model is Bosses Up Close video by XTrin: ( x ))

Additionally, whereas Tomb Prospector set is bought using the Radiant Sword Hunter Badge, it marks people using this badge as 'descendants' of Ludwig:

So, again; first was Ludwig, in Executioner drip, and then Tomb Prospectors, and their attire, were inspired by him. I... see the only way around it; that Ludwig was wearing Executioner clothes initially, and later wore Tomb Prospector set on his adventures, but when he was back, he also was wearing his normal set.

Interestingly, though, clothes of Executioners keep hinting at Rogeriusz/Logarius, despite him being... well, at the very least, SECOND known Healing Church hunter.

Whatever is the reason of Logarius being met in drastically different clothes, but the statue implied to be him, to which Alfred lays a crown at the end of his mad quest, IS depicted in Executioner clothes. Albeit, with far more robe-like feeling to it than how we see it on Alfred's example. Maybe for a different vibe, maybe Logaius always has been a bit more wizard-like, whichever you think it is!

It is hard to say which one is true, as we are with two variants:

one. Logarius was not the first hunter, but he was the first staff (court wizard?? lol), therefore set the trend of clothes, that Ludwig took upon as a hunter.

two. Ludwig is accursed, he fell from grace and was hated and forgotten as blood-possessed beast; meanwhile, Alfred alone is a good proof that Logarius is still honored and respected! So, perhaps, these clothes came to be associated with Executioners of Logarius instead, since Logarius (undeservingly so) pushed Ludwig from the place of admireable figure! Was it just society's sentiment, or a deliberate political action, hard to tell...

I am more fond of the second variant, and funny enough, this brings me to the next point I want to make:

3) It is likely that Healing Church's saints started wearing crowns thanks to Logarius.

Alright, this one is also slightly lost in translation, since not only the name of the item is different (which can be distracting), but also a sentense is missing in English localization.

Healing Church "sacrificing" someone would imply them giving away something treasured for them, so odds are, they would give away bodies of their saints to them roaming Pthumerians in the dungeons, instead of doing proper burial! The 'they are oddly stimulated by the stench of dead saints' also makes me think of this bit:

(Interview with Miyazaki ( x ))

If this was very special quality of blood what Pthumerian Watchers are after, then sure the saints would be the best; not only as very avid consumers of the holy blood, but also as those 'holding back' on transforming into a beast the most, which would sure make it special.

Additionally, you could use this intention, though it is a bit more vague: when Bloodborne was still a sequel for Demon Souls, Laurence's skull was going to not only look more human, but also have a crown on it:

youtube

Yeah, the simpler times when we had demon-like enemies, when Gasc and Mico would say 'Umbasa', all that.

But even cut content aside, the lore as we have it specifies that there were saints who worn crowns (and fancy rings and wrist accessories)! My lucky guess is that after Cainhurst was massacred, the saints of the Healing Church were... to put it in the most blunt way possible, qualified to declare themselves new aristocracy/rulers/whatever. Maybe it was to establish theocracy and their reign as new most influental figures, maybe it was to honor Logarius who started wearing the crown of the murdered King after his crusade, maybe it was both.

...besides, it means there were so many important saint figures in the Healing Church in the timespan from Cainhurst falling to Paleblood Hunter arriving. We seem to meet Emilia/ Amelia at the very end of whatever authority Healing Church still had, with no seen successors, and current Healing Church hunters chief being Cleric Beast on the bridge... Before this point of time, though? It is an aviary for OCs of the size I can't even describe x)

4) There is a reason why Black Church Servants have a more "dangerous" weapon despite 'black' being lower rank to 'white'.

I am talking about these guys, and their annoying Crucifix weapon that activates Frenzy buildup.

It did not quite make it in the final game, presumably because there were only so many ways to make a proper mace-like weapon, but in the concept, Bloodletter was looking a lot like this as well:

I just want to point out that the 'expelling bad blood' aspect is QUITE important here! Bloodletter causes the user to get Frenzy buildup, much like the Crucifix used by Black Church Servants. And the reason it is believed to "help" with the "bad" blood? The fact that Frenzy is connected with the hunt!

I talked about it more in this ( x ) and this ( x ) post, but TLDR; Frenzy spears are literal weapons manifesting from the person's very blood solidfying, Oedon the Great One is inextricably tied with the bloodshed and bullets and the Hunt itself, and blood itself seems to solidfy into those spears bit by bit.

So, they might have ended believing that what deliberately causing Frenzy would do is to unleash whatever it was in person that was getting corrupted - and thus, more subjective to beasthood. Especially, that would work with Black Church, who were "preventive":

4.1) Just like that, White Church Servants correlate with what White Church Doctors do.

The lamp is especially interesting detail, as it is harmless, and only hurts you with the Arcane projectile when you have enough Insight. Meanwhile, Frenzy does hurt stronger the more Insight you have... Truly, in Bloodborne, the Hunt and Eldrich Truth, the Beasts and Kin are simply two sides of the same coin... Just two outcomes in the same corrupt deity's vicious plan.

5) Use or not, but male Church Doctor clothes have weird similarities with 'foreigner clothes'.

It is hard to confirm of deny anything here... Brador has five buttons but Black Church Doctor has four; similarly, the foreigner set our Hunter arrives in has five buttons and White Church Doctor has four. They're the same striped type of a vest though, and they have the same type of buttons, athough Church's is sewn with dark threads but foreigner is with brighter.

It could have been an intentional reference that either was abandoned or is so hard to decipher that we will never get there. We only have subtle hooks towards Paleblood Hunter being not loreless; such as Cainhurst summon we find in the room we woke up at having OUR name written in it, with one of the Cainhurst portraits featuring Golden Pendant adn Church's necklace. I am always lost with the ideas of what might have went down in the past..... or whether 'we' are secretly related to Brador or his land, bwahaha!

6) They ARE, all in all, DOCTORS clothes.

I find it a bit... harder to tell what DO hunters of the Healing Church wear? We find only so many of the NPCs that wear Healing Church Doctor clothes: for black set it is two black hunters in Research Hall (female and male), one guy in Nightmare Frontier and Adella who has no hunting weapons, for white set it is a praying lady in Research Hall and Imposter Iosefka + likely real Iosefka too, that also doesn't hunt. Seven characters, FIVE of which are confirmed to be associated with medicine (...six if being a Blood Nun counts...?); three characters in Research Hall, one is stated to be a doctor, one is a nun, one does Kin experiments that originated from Research Hall.

Would not put the Black Church guy in the Frontier as a drastic contradiction. What I am saying is, they might not even qualify as hunters. Logically, they'd have weapons and get some self-defence skills as they HAVE to kill (people, less so beasts!). Iosefka is never confirmed to fight, Adella uses normie dagger and not even a legit weapon, and four from the remaining five are reclused to the indoors places.

Mostly, I am thinking as I am writing it, as there is an interesting character - Henriett! She is wearing the clothes descending in design from Old Hunters type (not Healing Church type!), yet she has Church weapons (Repeating Pistol and Kirkhammer) and helps to beat Amelia, Ludwig and Laurence. I always felt like she used to be Healing Church's hunter but found something she should not have and detracted... And I presumed she used to wear Black Church clothes (trousers variant to be practical). Buuuuut.

I might actually take this back. Depending on the interpretation, the current hunters of BEASTS, not of PEOPLE that "might" be beasts etc, could either 1) wear Executioner garb like Alfred does 2) wear unique clothes that is yet to be designed, but might be similar to Executioners garb, for example, design mix of doctors' and Executioners, or TOTALLY unique clothing like Gascoigne for example 3) actually wear 'Hunter' set like Henriett and our Paleblood Hunter from promo materials after changing their foreign garb.

On the other hand, Henriett having been one of them paranoids eliminating people falling for beasthood and then snapping out of it could make such a mess of a character's backstory. Not to mention that some Black "doctors" (and occasional White ones) did blend in with Huntsmen mobs, in chaotic mess of no longer being able to tell where is a friend and where is an enemy. No longer caring for those 'showing' signs of beasthood but only those who fully turned. And foreigners, of course! Like, maybe the 'they are not hunters but so-called "doctors" point USED TO be relevant in Old Hunters era, but during the game events it is not relevant ANYMORE, as Yharnam is basically anarchy now.

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Alright, I think I compiled what I had to say!

Mostly, I made this post for the reference to myself as an artist and a writer, and for my friends that might find it useful, but I decided to put it here just in case if someone else could find something here! Also, a headcanon: whereas Ludwig's Holy Blade was based of the OG Holy Moonlight Sword, the Kirkhammer instead was based off the hammer the Pthumerian creator of Holy Moonlight Sword used to forge it! It was discovered waaaay down there. Because Loran already met Yharnam's fate once. Maybe, somewhere in Yharnam, there is still the 'original' Hammer. And it glows in red upon tranforming, rather than how the sword glows in turquoise!

#bloodborne #bloodborne theory #ludwig the holy blade #old hunter henriett #black church servant #white church servant #brador church assassin #bloodborne observations #not art #text post #hhhhhhh sorry i barely use this blog anymore #i always sit in my personal for some reason.....#don't know how to get in the swing of getting to post here regularly like i used to...#after 2022 life simply turned somewhere wrong #Youtube

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