#s: fitzloved

[wingedaches]

jeanette winterson // assassin's quest // joy harjo // golden fool // margaret atwood // fool's quest

[heyitsrink]

It was neither pain nor pleasure; it was connection, pure and simple, as if we shared a skin. I lay still under that scrutiny, lacking even the strength to tremble, as I prayed he would go no further. I need not have feared.

[stellar-jay]

Look me in the eyes, and the skeptic in me dies The skeptic is a fool, we are exceptions to the rule!

ref

direct image link to ref in case pinterest explodes

and shout out to this wonderful spirk drawing that made me wanna draw hands even more than usual

anyways go listen to communist love song by soltero its them. its so them.

"i dont know but i've been told not to hang on to my hope" "but me i will not write it off not ever having tried" "but if you're ever less than certain about the world please don't let the worry make its way into your work" "know that I would do the same, know we are the same" you have no idea how them it is go listen to it. idk if anyone else has done something with them and this song yet but if im the first you're hearing this from id be honored to be the reason you incur heartache today

[moonjunio]

The email I wrote to Robin Hobb after finishing Assassin's Fate

I was clearing out old drafts from my overflowing gmail and found some correspondence with Robin that included my reactions after finishing the series. I won't include her replies, but here's some excerpts of what I said to her.

"I'm trying to remember which movie this quote is from: "Are there any happy endings?" "No. Because nothing ends."

"Even if you never return to the Realm of the Elderlings (which somehow I doubt) there is plenty of fodder for our imaginations. The surviving characters are fascinating people with feet placed on the trailheads of the rest of their lives, doubtless with many more nexus moments to face - whether or not that ends up being documented."

"This morning I'm enjoying late breakfast with my daughters on their first day of summer vacation, finishing my first reread of Fool's Quest and Assassin's Fate. I've read so many different reactions on the unrestricted chat Facebook page, and I think those who didn't get what they wanted will find more richness, more solace when they come back knowing what to expect. I'm glad you stayed true to your vision." "I hope you are basking a bit. Ending a series is bound to arouse every reaction under the sun from your fanbase. For me, having Fitz/Beloved/Nighteyes become the Wolf of the West was just the perfect resolution. Their circle forever joined at last. They are still alive in my head every day. I also love how much agency Bee seized for herself. Amazing, powerful girl!"

[clubbo]

Tag People You Want to Get to Know Better 🌷

I was tagged by @amorarra (thanks! it was a lot of fun!)

last song: Valentine by Fiona Apple

currently watching: M*A*S*H (I'm re-watching the whole thing, currently up to season 4)

three ships: Griddlehark, Ineffable Husbands, Fitzloved

favorite colour(s): mustard yellow

currently consuming: coffee and walnut cake, and tea :)

first ship: Zutara

place of birth: London, UK

current location: London, UK :(

relationship status: single

last movie: idk... maybe The Shop Around The Corner (1940)

currently working on: my degree, re-learning the piano, learning to write more than three sentences without deleting everything

Tagging: anyone who wants to do it :)

[ungroomedcat]

It's standalone but I've seen The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin compared to RotE many times in a good way (to fitzloved, to gender stuff), (I haven't read it yet though) When I was in highschool I read My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante and I really liked it bc it reminded me of farseer - it's a coming-of-age 1person pov written down by the narrator in the future, the first books tells about her from age 6 to 16 and there is a lot of focus on her best friend. I haven't read the rest of the series and I don't remember much more about it, hopefully it holds up. (not fantasy, it's set in 1950's Naples) wish I had more to rec but I haven't read yet most of the stuff I've seen compared to Hobb (fantasy booktubers I've seen who love Hobb also loved Steven Erikson, Janny Wurts, Guy Gavriel Kay, Tad Williams etc, I've added them and others to my tbr list but haven't had a chance to try them yet, I've no idea about themes/contents there but may be worth checking out)

Thank you for these!

[parlerenfleurs]

Stealing @tragediegh 's tags as usual

It's fun to try and interpret that line but also, you're so right that this kind of intimacy is already at the apex of what Fitz would normally be able to initiate, and not pull back from, and that's the way I felt about it back when I read it.

I kinda disagree (for once) that the line is that ambiguous though! He says it a bit vaguely, but also, how else would he say it? How else would he express the enormity and rawness of what went on? He wouldn't describe it at length, perhaps in part to preserve the Fool's dignity, what little remains of it, his privacy also - and also how does one talk of a moment like that? "I comforted him" feels flat and mundane, you can't say it like that when you just brought your dearest friend back from a torturous death. "I held him and hugged him whispering reassurances all night while he shook and ugly-cried" - again, laying it out like that makes it flat. You can only resort to a roundabout language, one which will let you hint at the emotion, only hint, because when it stays evocative then it won't dim from being looked at directly, thus falling back into harsh, cold, unforgiving voyeurism. And even if the line, taken out of context, could be read as something more (I've seen such a brief line in another book, that was about comfort, but turned out to be the kind of comfort where gay sex is absolutely involved), here with the context it makes perfect sense to formulate it that way. It is left to our imagination what that hurt and that comfort looked like, but we know enough with the context to know what it didn't look like (like you aptly both pointed out).

I may be forever mad about some choices Hobb made, that don't make sense if, for instance, Fitzloved was never meant to be, but here I feel we have one of the numerous examples of her excellent writing, and why it's so compelling to so many.

okay LISTEN

I KNOW that line after Fitz brings the Fool back where he's like "I let him take what comfort he could find in the warmth and strength of my body. I have never felt like less of a man for doing so" or whatever (paraphrased) does NOT MEAN GAY SEX. I know Hobb did not write this and think "they are having gay sex." I know there are ways to interpret this line that are not gay sex.

BUT DID THEY HAVE GAY SEX. IT KIND OF SOUNDS LIKE THEY HAD GAY SEX.

[nientary-1832]

So... This user has discovered AI Dungeon and had a fun horny chat about fitzloved. For those who don't know, it's an AI powered text game. You write something to start a story, it writes something back, and so on, and you can scrap any suggestions you don't like.

Anyway, some memes happened. First of all, my prompt was so thirsty that Fitz SNEAKED INTO THE FOOL'S BEDROOM in the very first sentence by AI 😂😂😂

Then Fitz woke the Fool up and things got awkward because he wasn't able to explain what he wanted. The Fool saw through him and told him a story about unfulfilled wishes. I like it almost unironically 😁 The dancing idea was mine as well as the blacksmith's rationalization but I wouldn't have come up with any it on my own.

Btw, I'd mentioned Smithy the dog a bit earlier and the AI figured it would be a great name for a blacksmith 😂 Smithy Smith, a blacksmith. Makes sense!

Anyway, Fitz didn't get the meaning, and the AI Fool actually reacted with the "you are not very smart" line 😂😂😂

And shortly after Fitz got surprised when he removed the Fool's pants 😂😂😂

Pair of what now 😂😂😂 Come on!!

P. S. I'm not sure I had to write in the second person, I just followed the example on the site.

[wingedaches]

fitz the moment he's separated from beloved

[heyitsrink]

As I lifted the tent flap, he spoke again. "Fitz. I've really missed you. Don't go. Sleep here tonight. Please."

So I did.

my contribution to @roostercrowned 's Fitzloved fanzine. A lot can happen in between chapters - especially in Fool's Fate.

[smalltownfae]

Rules: tag some people you'd like to get to know better.

Tagged by @random-jot (Thanks :D )

Favourite colour/s: turquoise (actually any shade of blue-green goes)

Last song: Fools - Troye Sivan

Last show: ... I haven’t seen a show in so long I don’t remember... some eps of She-Ra and Gentleman Jack, I think. But I haven’t finished either. OH! The first ep of the Untamed with @whatevsbla ahahahah oh and Aggretsuko season 3 after that. That’s right!

Last movie: Lady Bird and Crazy Rich Asians (watched on the same day. I know.)

Sweet, salty, or savoury: Sweet

Bubble water, tea, or coffee: Bubble tea! (Joke - or not) I prefer coffee, but I love tea too.

Three ships: Fitzloved (Real of the Elderlings), Villaneve (Killing Eve) and Sophie x Howl (Howl’s Moving Castle books)

Currently reading: The Trouble with Peace by Joe Abercrombie and The Golden Fool by Robin Hobb (reread)

Tag people: @whatevsbla @monpetitrenard @biazhy @alloysius-g @electropeach (the usual suspects XD do it if you wish)

[wingedaches]

more of this, please

[wingedaches]

"i looked at him and my heart turned over in my chest." // "something turned over in my heart."

a year apart, assassin's quest // more than a decade spent apart, fool's errand

[wingedaches]

first time together on page / last time together on page

[wingedaches]

in insane amounts of pain

[mad4cheez]

I was going to add my thoughts in the tags but then I got passionate about it and here we are.

When I was first reading these books, and their relationship started to develop, I thought for sure it was going to be one sided. The Fool is painfully obvious to everyone except sweet oblivious Fitz, who is the classic strong str8 male protagonist /s. But the way Fitz only truly allows himself to be known by Nighteyes and the Fool…. we’ll come back to this.

I remember reading one of the earlier books and gasping aloud when the Fool, canonically, said that gender isn’t real to them and any pronouns apply. In a book published in 1997! They’ve literally moved through the world as a man, a woman, and their own form of nonbinary!! Instantly, gender is no longer the limiting factor it once was, particularly for how they experience romantic and sexual attraction. If I squint, I can see how str8ies read Fitz as not in love with the Fool - Fitz narrates in the first person, and we see the world through his eyes. That lends itself to applying your own lens, biases and all, to the story and it’s characters. But the Fool literally carves Fitz’s face from memory in the Liveship Traders trilogy, a move that, if I remember correctly, is textually acknowledged by the other characters as an act of love.

By opening up that possibility of romantic feelings between them through the Fool’s established queerness and established love for Fitz, it’s not a big leap from there to recognizing how Fitz shows true, deep love for the Fool, just in his own way. In my opinion, Fitz’s own trauma affects the way he shows how he cares - we see this with how he is with Starling and Molly, too! But that just presents us with the glaring example of how much closer he is to the Fool than either of them. ((No hate to Starling or Molly! I really enjoyed Fitz’s relationships with both of them))

Not to make this about Supernatural, but it’s extremely interesting to me to see the parallels between Fitzloved and Destiel. In Supernatural, our rugged “str8” dude Dean literally has no real women characters to connect with, so his closest emotional bonds are with his brother and Castiel. By contrast, Robin Hobb writes actual real, strong women who reflect the world they live in. Fitz has interesting, complex, and emotional relationships with interesting and complex women characters (shout out to Kettricken my queen my wife). So it’s not for lack of women to connect with emotionally that Fitz’s strongest relationship is with the Fool. And even if there weren’t real women in the story, to bring it back to @nientary-1832 ‘s point about Nighteyes - THAT is what brotherhood is for Fitz, we experience it with him. And admittedly, there’s going to be a difference between a Wit-bond and a relationship between two humans (or mostly humans), but it’s still starkly different characterizations of each of those bonds.

So if Fitz has the opportunity to connect deeply, emotionally, and romantically with women, and Fitz experiences a magically complex and fulfilling brotherhood with Nighteyes, why is his relationship to the Fool so much more compelling? Well, it’s clear that those of us on this thread know why.

Another classic case of the characters taking over the story from the writer, dragging them kicking and screaming into the rainbow.

I will never be able to see Fitz and the Fool as non-romantic the way straight people do :( It’s weird to think that they have as much problem with seeing them as romantic as I have seeing them as just bros.