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1[[foldercontrol]]
2
3! Characters introduced in the Farseer Trilogy
4
5!! Main Characters
6
7[[folder:Fitz]]
8!!Fitz
9->'''a.k.a [=FitzChivalry=] Farseer; a.k.a Tom Badgerlock a.k.a Keppet'''
10
11The main protagonist of ''The Farseer Trilogy'' and ''The Tawny Man Trilogy''. Fitz is the bastard son of Prince Chivalry Farseer. He was brought to Buckkeep, its court, and intrigues at a young age. As a bastard, he found plenty of enemies; the most dangerous of them being Prince Regal, half-brother to Prince Chivalry. Also because of his status as a bastard, he finds himself in service to the King in the only real way a bastard can be: as an assassin.
12----
13* TheAce: Adept with multiple magics, capable with sword and ax, skilled assassin and diplomat, a man who was walked the length and breadth of multiple continents almost single-handedly destroying kingdom-level threats... if that was all you knew about Fitz, you'd accuse him of being a Mary Sue.
14* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: He's still well able to attract lovers after getting terribly scarred in Regal's dungeons. Jinna notes that he looks very scary when he's angry, and travels under a dark cloud, but...
15* BadAssBookworm: Fitz cover as an amateur/apprentice scribe, in which he gains the respect of several nobles in the course of his [[ProfessionalKiller real work]]. [[spoiler:The third book also reveals that he has become an amateur historian and scholar, possibly the only reliable one at the time.]]
16* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Wanted to help Verity in sculpting the dragon, but got to help him another way.
17** He gave away most of his memories about Molly and [[TellMeAboutMyFather his father]] (such as, when he was younger, he used to spend entire nights staring at Chivalry's portrait when he thought no one was looking) because he wanted to stop hurting so much. He ends up emotionally crippled and he doesn't even realize it.
18* TheBerserker: Although less from being either of the personality types involved in a usual berserker. He just loses control when he fights. And despite not being trained or built for it, people have commented that he fights like a brawler. Hence, his axe.
19** This becomes even more apparent after his [[spoiler:death]] and as his bond with Nighteyes deepens; people have commented that when Fitz breaks down into a fighting rage he attacks with his hands and teeth as well as his weapon.
20* BewareTheCuteOnes: Thanks to being tortured to death in Regal's dungeons, he comes back with severe PTSD that gives him a dark rage that frightens people.
21* BreakTheCutie: Happens over the course of the series, pretty badly. (Most people consider him good, if not very good looking, though this is revealed retroactively). He still suffers PTSD from the things that happened some thirty years later.
22* BuriedAlive: Technically, although he wasn't in his body when it happened.
23* ChildhoodFriendRomance: [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] with Molly, as Kettle points out towards the end of ''Asassin's Quest'', that they're more in love with who they ''were'' than who they are, since they knew each other as children and so are reminded of their more carefree, younger days, and advises Fitz to let Molly go so that the memories can remained happy ones. He resists this at first but comes to see she's right.
24* CleanFoodPoisonedFork: One of his assassination ploys was to poison the cutlery instead of the food.
25* CluelessChickMagnet: He tends to attract a lot of girls - Celerity, Tassin and Starling all want a piece of him and he gets some ShipTease with Kettricken. He's usually too awkward to do much about it and keeps insisting he only loves Molly.
26* CombatPragmatist: Fitz does not fight fair at all when he has the option. Poison, hidden weapons, sniping, and deliberate maiming are all standard tactics for him.
27* {{Determinator}}: He walks across a continent, fights a group of armed men, and takes an arrow in the back while climbing a mountain, ''and keeps going''. And that's just the third book in the first trilogy. He's the central character of ''three'' trilogies that do this.
28* DrowningMySorrows: Fitz tries to do this occasionally, especially when he's young. It usually ends badly.
29* TheExile: [[spoiler:He goes into a self-imposed one at the end of the first trilogy. The second trilogy involving Fitz eventually demonstrates that this was because leaving so much of himself in Girl-on-a-Dragon left him too emotionally dead to ''want'' to come out of hiding, at least until the Call comes knocking again.]]
30* FakingTheDead: [[spoiler:How he escaped death and Regal's dungeons. At least, this is what they ''tell'' him; it's implied that his body was, in fact, completely dead, and only Burrich's enormous strength in the Wit, possibly combined with Fitz's Skill, was able to revive him.]]
31* FatalFlaw: Careful reading indicates that his HeroicSelfDeprecation is actually pretty extreme; count the number of times that he's been "rebuked" by his friends, and then count the number of times that he either refuses to stand up for himself or tries to bend to multiple, conflicting demands. By the end of the first trilogy, there is literally no aspect of his personality or character, other than loyalty, that he considers in a positive light, and and there are very few insults that he defends himself against. As such, despite having some useful skills and resources, he refuses to take action at certain critical moments [[spoiler: most apparent during King Shrewd's murder and Regal's taking of the throne]] when he could have made a huge difference. In later books, this low self-regard leads him to [[spoiler: spend years cut off from most of the people he loves, letting many of them think that he's dead, under the assumption that they'd be fine, if not better off, without him.]]
32** He also tends to blow his top whenever he feels badly wronged or one of his loved ones has and goes on a vengeful rampage that ruins any other carefully-laid plans. Chade rips into this in the third book of the ''Farseer Trilogy'' by pointing out how stupid of it was to just straight-up murder Selene and Justin, especially since he chased Justin down and killed him in front of the entire Royal Court.
33* FirstLove: With Molly. [[spoiler:He only really gets to be with her years and years after.]]
34* FreakyFridayFlip: With Verity in ''Assassin's Quest''. This was, somewhat unusually, intentional on Verity's part and with Fitz's acceptance.
35** Then again with the Fool]in ''Fool's Fate'', this time so he could [[spoiler:bring The Fool back to life.]]
36* FriendToAllLivingThings: Due to the Wit rather than the usual meanings of this trope.
37* GeniusBruiser: He looks rough around the edges but he enjoys being a scholar more than a warrior.
38* HealingFactor: The ''Fitz and the Fool'' trilogy reveals that the Skill healing in the ''Tawny Man'' trilogy gave him accelerated healing that also keeps him physically young, appearing to be in his 30s well into his 60s. This always comes with the typical cost of a skill healing, though (ravenous hunger, fatigue, etc).
39* HeroicBastard: Despite everything (including how some of them treat him) Fitz remains loyal to the Farseer line, and to the Six Duchies.
40* HeroWithBadPublicity: What he used to think he was, and mainly the reason for his self-imposed exile. Subverted at the end when he finds out many people actually believe him a hero.
41* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Has acute bouts of this whenever he binges on elfbark, which is notable for bringing on a bout of powerful nervous energy coupled with crippling depression. He's a bit prone to it in any circumstance, but much less so as of ''Golden Fool'' when his elfbark stores are taken away.
42* {{Hunk}}: Fitz, along with being a pretty boy. He's an ax-wielding oarsman. He's stacked, and people comment on it.
43* IdenticalGrandson: To Chivalry. He's often said to look exactly like his father when he was a boy. [[spoiler: After his Skill healing, he looks so very much like Chivalry that his scars have to be reapplied so that the relation isn't obvious.]]
44* IJustWantToBeNormal: So very, very much. Court life has no charms for him, and killing disgusts him; he only wants to live a simple life, free of the complexities of politics.
45* InsatiableNewlyweds: The ''Fitz and the Fool'' trilogy makes it clear that Molly and Fitz were always ''all over each other'' for their entire marriage, such that the servants (proudly and with a chuckle) always made it a point to knock, pause, and knock again before entering ''any'' room and to be careful about where they walked in, say, the orchard (a CallBack to their first time as a mature couple in the coda of the ''Tawny Man'' trilogy) or gardens.
46* LasciviousBeautyMark: Various people have noted he was quite beautiful when he was young. The Fool laments his scars and Jinna notes that they assist in making him very scary when he's angry, but the contrast between his scars and his remaining beauty serves to highlight the latter.
47* LaserGuidedAmnesia: He can't remember the first six or seven years of his life [[spoiler:but he gets his memory back at the end of ''Fool's Fate''.]]
48* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler: He's Nettle's and Dutiful's dad but, unlike Nettle, Dutiful never finds out.]]
49** To clarify, [[spoiler: thanks to his FreakyFridayFlip with Verity, the latter used his body to [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin make a baby]] with Kettricken in Fitz's body. Genetically, Dutiful is the son of Fitz, but everyone in the know considers him the son of Verity, which isn't really untrue either. It doesn't hurt that even Kettricken is unaware; Verity's Skill-presence was so powerful that she wasn't ever aware it was Fitz's body at work.]] [[spoiler:She reveals in the ''Tawny Man'' trilogy that she'd either known or had worked it out, and never bore Fitz or Verity ill will over the deception. Since it's heavily implied that she's been carrying a torch for Fitz for years at this point, that may figure into her easy forgiveness.]]
50* MagicKnight: He's a capable fighter, as well as having powerful albeit unreliable magical powers.
51* MasterOfNone: Fitz has either been trained in or is naturally talented in the use of a number of areas, from assassination to scribing, from axe fighting to scholarship. He's also got both the Skill and the wit. However, the point is frequently made that exactly because he's spread himself so thin, he's actually no more than competent in any of them.
52* MasterPoisoner: This is a large part of his training in ''Assassin's Apprentice''. He doesn't, unfortunately, actually get to ''use'' it much aside from a lot of offscreen killing of Forged townsfolk with poisoned food.
53* MeaningfulName: [=FitzChivalry=], a {{UsefulNotes/Patronymic}} which also shows his bastardry; and then Badgerlock relating to his hair. (During the second trilogy, Fitz's hair is black with a distinct white streak where he took a head wound in the first trilogy.)
54** The "Tom" part of his new name is a [[RealNameAsAnAlias memento of his past life]]: he thought his father's legal wife and widow just gave him that name on a whim, but it's actually the name she had been planning to give her son had she given birth to one and since then symbolised the bond between them.
55* MistakenForGay: The HoYay with his best friend is so strong that he gets mistaken for gay by the most of the court, his friends, and his family members.
56* MrViceGuy:
57** Torn from his mother at a very young age, then losing his wit partner really scarred Fitz. Then he got beat to shit in every single book, giving him increasingly severe PTSD. This means that his HeroicSelfDeprecation develops to pathological levels and he can never believe that anyone ''truly'' loves him and he tends to push people away at the worst possible times.
58** Partly due to an upbringing as a member of the royal family (albeit a bastard held at arm's length) whose future was always mapped out by those above him and partly due to his bond with Nighteyes (who as a wolf never gives much thought to the future nor dwells on the past), Fitz has serious difficulties planning for the future. This causes some problems in the ''Tawny Man'' trilogy when his foster son Hap comes of age and Fitz realizes he's not set any coin aside for the boy's apprenticeship. It causes ''serious'' problems in the ''Fitz and the Fool'' trilogy when everyone criticizes his poor handling of Bee's education and wants to remove her to court.
59* NoPlaceForMeThere: At the end of the first trilogy, Fitz believes that because of everything he did and went through to keep the Six Duchies safe, he no longer belongs there. However, [[spoiler:the later books subvert this, as Fitz learns that it was only his own emotional issues (some mundane and some caused by pumping memories into skill stone) that led him to think he no longer belonged with his loved ones.]]
60* OlderThanTheyLook: In the ''The Fitz and The Fool'' series dues to the skill. He's nearly sixty, but is still in his thirties, physically, as a result of the Skill-healing from ''Golden Fool'' still affecting his body.
61* PapaWolf: Don't threaten his child. Don't sound like you're threatening his child. Don't look like you're threatening his child. He may be the most dangerous man in the world and he ''is'' a wolf.
62* ParentalHypocrisy: His complicated relationship with Dutiful nonwithstanding, Fitz is very critical and harsh on Dutiful when he is sent to retrieve the prince in ''Fool's Errand'', harshly berating him for abandoning his duty when his people need him and accusing him of whining about the unfairness of it all, which is exactly how he behaved in the ''Farseer Trilogy'' when King Shrewd refused to allow him to leave Buck to marry Molly and he got into a huge argument with both Burrich and Chade over how they were dictating his whole life.
63* ParentalSubstitute: He gathers a lot of father figures over the years: Chivalry (from a distance), Burrich, Shrewd, Chade, and Verity all fill important roles in his life. He also gets a mother figure in Prudence, who gifts him the name "Tom", which he used for much of his life.
64* PrettyBoy: While he's more stocky and more of a {{Hunk}} then Regal, he's also quite pretty, at one point jokingly wondering with Molly if he'd pass for a girl. [[spoiler:The Fool mourns the loss of his pretty looks when they see each other again in ''Assassin's Quest''.]] A number of women and men are very appreciative of Fitz's looks throughout the series. His scars don't actually turn women off, either; they accentuate the beauty and [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys make him look dangerous]].
65* ProfessionalKiller: Wouldn't you know; it's right there in the titles.
66* RoyalBastard: [=FitzChivalry=] Farseer, as his name implies, is the bastard son of Chivalry Farseer.
67* ShipTease: Gets a bit, which he finds squicky, with Kettricken, especially in the Tawny Man trilogy. It never pans out, though. A number of other women show a lot of interest in him and he is ''very briefly'' betrothed to a future duchess.
68* SingleTargetSexuality: Not ''quite'' there, as he does move on and become intimate with other women after her marriage to Burrich, but Fitz's romantic heart belongs only to Molly.
69* StrongFamilyResemblance: Like most of the Farseers. One of the reasons they recognise him.
70* TallDarkAndHandsome: He looks very much like his father, whose noble bearing and appearance are relatively frequently commented on. He considers himself very unattractive, though, after [[spoiler:being brutalized and tortured in Regal's dungeon.]] He's largely wrong about how ugly he's become, but his generally grim or gloomy demeanor tend to put people off of challenging that assumption.
71* TragicKeepsake: Fitz has several - the pin King Shrewd gave him when he was just six years old to claim him as his own, a sapphire earring that used to belong to Chivalry (originally Burrich's symbol of emancipation), which is given to him by Patience, and a silver fox pin given him by Kettricken.
72* WellDoneSonGuy: Having been abandoned and raised as a bastard really did a number on him, such that he reacts very strongly to praise or disapproval from Chade and Burrich.
73* YoungerThanTheyLook: In the ''Tawny Man'' series, his grim demeanor and generally battered features add a good ten or twenty years to his real age. The ''Fitz and the Fool'' trilogy reveals that the desperate skill healing that saved his life when sword-stabbed through the liver gave him a HealingFactor that makes him look like he's in his mid-30s even into his late 60s. Some servants even comment on it, calling him a GoldDigger for being married to Molly, who shows her true age.
74
75[[/folder]]
76
77[[folder:Chade Fallstar]]
78
79!!Chade Fallstar
80The royal assassin before Fitz, and his beloved mentor. Chade is an old, clever, and pock-scarred man who lives in an isolated and hidden room up in Buckkeep.
81----
82* BadAssBookworm: Since he spends most of his time alone, he takes all that time to read and study ancient scrolls and books. Doesn't stop him from being a badass [[spoiler:especially when he comes out of hiding and declares a personal war on Regal.]]
83* DisguisedInDrag: As the foul-tempered and foul-smelling Lady Thyme. He points out at one point, after Thyme's "death," that her acidic demeanor and legendary odor were all calculated to ensure people kept a great distance from her, since his abilities in the art of disguise weren't up to creating something that would hold up under any kind of close inspection.
84* FakingTheDead: After a long period of absence from the court, everyone thought he was dead. He kept up that charade since it was useful as an assassin. [[spoiler:But he casts it away the instant he believes Fitz is dead, and rises up against Regal.]]
85* TheGoodChancellor: Secretly for Shrewd [[spoiler:and then later publicly for Kettricken.]]
86* HeroicBastard: Much like Fitz. He's the bastard brother of Shrewd.
87* IWasQuiteALooker: When he was younger and before he received his scars. He was also apparently quite the lady's man, and developed that reputation once more once he came out of the shadows.
88* MadScientist: He invents gunpowder! His misadventures in discovering gunpowder's *properties* offer a bit of comic relief, particularly when he accidentally blows up Fitz's fireplace because he hadn't yet worked out that it behaves differently under containment.
89* ManipulativeBastard: Almost compulsively so. The Fool comments that Chade hoards secrets to himself as a magpie hoards glittering objects, and for little more reason than the having of them.
90* ParentalSubstitute: One of the many father figures for Fitz, though the notoriously wooden-headed Fitz takes a while to catch on to how strongly the sentiment is returned.
91* ProfessionalKiller: Fitz's mentor in the art of killing.
92* TheSpymaster: To the Farseer line. He has spies ''everywhere''.
93* TheResenter: Mainly thanks to him being illegitimate and not being taught the Skill. Doesn't stop him from serving his kingdom and his King, but it ''does'' make him very reckless in his training once he finally starts to learn the Skill.
94
95[[/folder]]
96
97[[folder:Nighteyes]]
98
99!!Nighteyes
100Introduced in ''Royal Assassin''. Fitz's third BondCreature, a wolf that he bought--although it's more like rescued--from a trapper.
101
102He's initially very feral and mistrustful of Fitz and humans in general, after his experiences with the trapper. Fitz initially has no clue what to do with him, or why he even sought out Nighteyes; he keeps him in a remote corner of Buckkeep, at least until Nighteyes becomes old enough to hunt on his own. At least, he was supposed to. Nighteyes soon becomes Fitz's most loyal companion and friend.
103----
104* ButNowIMustGo: At the end of ''Fool's Errand'', he tells Fitz he has to leave. [[spoiler: Then walks off to die, severing their Wit-bond forever.]]
105* DeadpanSnarker: He ever seems to stop being amused by certain human tendencies. Fitz has a hard time keeping a straight face when Nighteyes nicknames new encounters, on occasion, too, especially when he refers to Starling as the "howling bitch" for her singing.
106* NobleWolf: Fitz's most loyal companion and friend.
107* TimeDissonance: He experiences time slower than humans. [[spoiler: When Fitz takes possession of his body then goes back to his, he barely remembers having been human.]]
108* UndyingLoyalty: To Fitz, whom he calls "little brother", then later any member of his "pack."
109
110[[/folder]]
111
112[[folder:The Fool]]
113
114!!The Fool
115->'''a.k.a. (spoiler for other trilogies) [[spoiler: a.k.a Amber, Lord Golden, Beloved, the White Prophet''']]
116As the name suggests, the Fool of King Shrewd's court at Buckkeep. He has a sharp and acid wit, and is fond of teasing people. He takes a special interest in Fitz, and often drops him cryptic hints and suggestions.
117----
118* AmbiguousGender: With the successful cross dressing, people assuming that he is female even when he's dressed like a male, not taking off even his shirt in front of Fitz, and his refusal to state his gender firmly, it's no wonder many readers are not sure what gender he is. He's usually referred as male for convenience's sake and because Fitz refuses to believe he's anything but male.
119* CourtJester: Spends most of the first trilogy as the court fool in the Farseer court. He seems to particularly enjoy using the position to get on Regal's nerves.
120* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: In the first trilogy he is only called the Fool.
121* TheFool: What he masquerades as most in the first trilogy and the role that gives him his most common nickname.
122* IHaveManyNames: Lord Golden, Amber, the Fool, and the White Prophet.
123* MadOracle: [[spoiler:The majority of the apparent madness does not only seem to be due to the particular style of prophecy, but also is pushed by the character to keep enemies in the court at bay. Who would consider a mad fool a threat?]]
124* MindScrew: There must be a reason why some of the characters believe he's female, but if he's male how did he manage to pass as a female in a sentient ship [[spoiler: when Ophelia knew right away that Althea was female]]? But if he's female then how Fitz wouldn't noticed at the end of ''Fool's Fate''?
125* NonHeteronormativeSociety: He reveals to Fitz that it's his people's custom to have two daddies and one mommy in a family.
126* NonSpecificallyForeign: He comes from another country than the Six Duchies, has an albino's skin tone and features described as alien, and comments on how weird certain aspects of their cultures are to him.
127* OlderThanTheyLook: Apart from an overall darkening appearance, he doesn't seem to age much. Since the former white prophet is still around, this is also probably a case of Really700YearsOld.
128* PrettyBoy: He's considered to be really pretty as Lord Golden; he was more freaky looking than pretty when he was an albino. The Fool's delicate (almost alien) features are described as creepy coupled with the Fool's albinism but attractive and exotic with Lord Golden's ivory skin.
129* TheGadfly: When he finds out that Starling thinks he is in love with Fitz regardless of his gender, he flirts with him outrageously in her face, aware of her attraction for Fitz. This leaves Fitz exasperated, Kettle amused and Starling less than pleased. What makes this count is that he is fully aware that [[IncompatibleOrientation Fitz would never return his romantic advances]].
130* ShipperOnDeck: For Althea/Brashen when he's posing as [[spoiler: Amber]], subtly nudging them to ''talk'' to each other about their feelings and teasing Althea about it.
131* {{Tsundere}}: He can be awfully teasing and sarcastic, especially to Fitz but when they see each other again in ''Assassin's Quest'' he's nothing but sweet.
132* UnrequitedLove: Loves Fitz absolutely, with his entire being. Fitz, who is straight, balks at the thought of sleeping with him... [[spoiler:at least until near the end when he realizes that theirs isn't necessarily a sexual love]].
133* WholesomeCrossDresser / SweetPollyOliver: Not sure what gender exactly he's cross dressing as, although he looks more manly when he's dressed as a female than when he's male.
134
135[[/folder]]
136
137!! The Farseer Line
138
139[[folder:Shrewd Farseer]]
140
141!!King Shrewd Farseer
142
143The King of the Six Duchies at the start of the series, and Fitz's grandfather. He assigns Fitz to Chade, making him the one responsible for Fitz's transformation into an assassin. A cunning ruler who lives up to his name, Shrewd takes many efforts to perserve the Six Duchies throughout the Red Ship wars.
144----
145* TheGoodKing: While Shrewd can take dubious actions, he is fundamentally a well meaning king who places the safety of the Six Duchies as his top priority.
146* ManipulativeBastard: Shrewd is not one to justify his actions to his subordinates. He will blantantly use people to accomplish his goals, specifically Fitz, sometimes being upfront about it, sometimes not.
147* MeaningfulName: While it's Farseer tradition to name their children after the virtues they are supposed to embody, Shrewd especially lives up to the cunning promise of his name.
148* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:As he's on the verge of death, Shrewd realizes just what he did to Fitz, and has last regrets.]]
149---> [[spoiler:''My young assassin. What have I made of you? How have I twisted my own flesh? You do not know how young you still are. Chivalry's son, it is not too late to grow straight again. Lift up your head. See beyond all this.'']]
150* TragicHero: For all his efforts to perserve the Six Duchies, [[spoiler:ultimately he fails to stop them from being devastated, [[TragicMistake thanks to forgiving his son Regal]]. He ultimately dies unable to do anything, lamenting what his efforts did to Fitz, not even being able to reach out to his faithful son, Verity, one last time.]]
151* TragicMistake: [[spoiler:Trusting Regal to get better. Shrewd thought that Regal's intial power grabs were simply youthful impulses he would grow out of. What Shrewd doesn't realize is that Regal is a monster who would ''never'' stop his quest for power, and whose rule over the Six Duchies is an absolute disaster, not to mention Regal outright abandons the coastal duchies to get ravaged by the Red Ships. Unfortunately the realization comes as Shrewd is on his death bed, and Regal has entrenched himself too much to stop his rise to the throne.]]
152
153[[/folder]]
154
155[[folder:Chivalry Farseer]]
156
157!!Chivalry Farseer
158King Shrewd's first son and Fitz's dad. He was King-in-Waiting before Verity but decides to abdicate and remove himself from the court after Fitz is revealed to be his bastard son.
159----
160* CatchPhrase: "It's too late to apologize, I've already forgiven you". Borrowed later by his widow Patience.
161* DisappearedDad: Fitz never gets to meet him, but spends much of his early life being compared to him. It turns out that he covertly watched Fitz grow up through Verity's eyes using the Skill, and was [[SoProudOfYou very proud of him]] and loved him from afar.
162* DoggedNiceGuy: To Patience, who was very reluctant to accept his courtship.
163* TheExile: Self-imposed for many reasons. First for political reasons, to avoid destabilizing the realm witha bastard son and a barren wife. Second for Patience's sake, out of fear that she wouldn't be able to handle the stress of remaining at court in the wake of Fitz's emergence. Finally for Fitz's sake, to protect him from being used as a tool against Chivalry.
164* MeaningfulName: A tradition among Six Duchies nobility, as they believe that a virtuous name will bless the child with that virtue. They certainly weren't wrong with Chivalry; fathering Fitz is one of the only actions attributed to him that's less than upstanding.
165* PosthumousCharacter: He dies very early in the first book.
166* TallDarkAndHandsome: Well, Fitz did get his looks from him.
167
168[[/folder]]
169
170[[folder:Lady Patience]]
171
172!!Lady Patience
173More or less Fitz's adoptive mother, and Chivalry's widow. She's small, willowy, and scatterbrained, constantly flitting between interests and hobbies. Lives in Withywoods on Chivalry's estate until later, when she comes to Buckkeep largely to watch over Fitz; while she's hurt by Fitz's existence, particularly in that she herself is most likely barren, she also loves him as the son she never was able to bear and is one of the few figures in Fitz's life to have only his well-being at heart.
174----
175* BunnyEarsLawyer: [[spoiler:At the start of the third book as the unofficial Lady of Buckkeep.]]
176* CloudCuckooLander: She's known to be weird.
177* GeniusDitz / DitzyGenius: She's either one or the other, but she's definitely more capable than many people realize.
178* GoodStepmother: She really loves Fitz and believes him to be the son that she should have had.
179* GreenThumb: She's almost obsessed with tending to her plants and bonds with Kettricken over gardening, which is a godsend to the lonely Queen.
180* HeroOfAnotherStory: As the Lady of Buckkeep, she maintains the traditional seat of Farseer power, rallies the people of the Duchy, and generally kicks ass.
181* HeterosexualLifePartner: She's never seen without her NinjaMaid, Lacey.
182* ObfuscatingStupidity: She might know more about whats going on than she lets on. [[spoiler: When Fitz "dies", she begs Regal to let her bury him but before he's buried she takes care of his wounds. She admits later that she knew that he wasn't dead. She also takes control of Buckkeep after Regal abandons it.]]
183* TragicKeepsake: A ruby necklace Chivalry gave her. She's forced to sell it in the third book, though eventually she does manages to get it returned to her.
184
185[[/folder]]
186
187[[folder:Verity Farseer]]
188
189!!Verity Farseer
190A prince of the Farseer line, second son to King Shrewd, and Fitz's uncle. He becomes King-in-Waiting after Chivalry abdicates from the throne, and only very reluctantly.
191----
192
193* TheAce: He felt that his elder brother Chivalry was one, and had been entirely content with the thought of spending his life serving his elder brother. He was driven to tears of gratitude to learn Fitz saw him the same way. Given what Verity ended up doing[[note]]Carving a skill dragon by himself, and very nearly completing it, when that's a task that normally requires the combined effort and Skill of a coterie, possibly with centuries of life behind them. All that with minimal training in the Skill, having to figure it all out for himself, and that after a journey through hostile territory, harried by deadly enemies.[[/note]], Fitz was pretty damn well right.
194* {{Determinator}}: Especially in ''Asassin's Quest'', where he goes up the Mountains, loses all his crew and just keeps going, alone, only able to fleetingly Skill with Fitz and he never quits.
195* FreakyFridayFlip: [[spoiler:With Fitz, who gives him one last night with Kettricken.]]
196* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:He gives up his whole self to breathe life to his carving of an Elderling, and to save the Six Duchies from the Red Ship Raiders.]]
197* HeroWithBadPublicity: The people of the Six Duchies don't like him that much since they can't see that he's doing anything against the Red Ship Raiders; he spends all of his time cooped up in his tower rather than showing his face to the public or getting personally involved in the fight. However what he's really doing is Skilling the Red Ship Raiders away, and no one can see the effects since they'd rather account for the raids that do happen rather than the raids that don't. [[spoiler:It doesn't help that Regal later enforces the bad publicity against Verity, either.]]
198* HumbleHero: Felt that he was not up to the job of being King-in-waiting, but he still performed the job admirably well and gained the loyalty of many.
199* LostWillAndTestament: Before embarking on his Elderling quest, secretly wrote and sealed an order [[spoiler:recognizing Fitz as his heir over Regal in the event of the deaths of both Kettricken and her unborn baby.]] Fitz doesn't find out until decades later, and when he does, he struck both by how disastrous events would have been if that had come about, and by how much it would have meant to him to know of this years earlier.
200* TheMentor: To Fitz, whenever he has the time, on matters of Skilling.
201* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: With Kettricken, but only after some time.
202* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: A royal who actually does quite a lot, to be more precise. For the sake of the Six Duchies, he [[spoiler: deliberately wasted himself Skilling, undertook a long and dangerous journey, and ultimately sacrificed his life by pouring himself into the dragon which would come to his Kingdom's defense.]]
203* TheUnfavorite: Downplayed. While King Shrewd clearly favors his other sons, Chivalry and Regal, he still loves Verity and appreciates his efforts to protect the Six Duchies from the Red Ship Raiders. [[spoiler: On his deathbed, Shrewd's last wish is to reach out via the Skill to talk to Verity one last time.]]
204* TheWisePrince: Fits the trope very well, although the melancholy only comes later, when he becomes increasingly hidden away in his tower rather than hunting and walking amongst his people.
205
206[[/folder]]
207
208[[folder:Kettricken]]
209
210!!Kettricken
211Daughter of King Eyod of the Mountain Kingdom. She enters into an arranged marriage with Verity to seal an alliance between the two nations.
212----
213* BoyishShortHair: After hearing of [[spoiler: Verity's]] apparent death, she cuts off her long blonde hair in mourning and it only skims her shoulders by the end of ''Assassin's Quest.''
214* TheHighQueen: became one after the timeskip, with Chade's help.
215* LittleSisterInstinct: She loves her older brother, Prince Rurisk and tries to kill Fitz when she believes he's there to kill her brother.
216* PerfectlyArrangedMarriage: Not at first, but it doesn't take long once they start to actually get to know each other.
217* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Though it takes her a while to achieve this since she has to labor against the Six Duchies expectation of proper behavior from a Queen.
218* ShipTease: There are lots of small hints across the books that she is attracted to Fitz, but she never confesses or acts on it. [[spoiler:She does drop, as a last goodbye in the final trilogy, the tidbit that she'd known for a long time that Dutiful was secretly Fitz's blood son even though she agreed with Fitz's belief that Verity was the father in every way that mattered.]]
219* StayInTheKitchen: She comes from a culture where women, even royals, share in combat and heavy manual labor, even more so than in the Six Duchies. She resents bring cooped up in a tower making tapestries (considered a winter activity) when she could be , at he very least, stitching sails for the fleet of ships being built. Partially Justified in that both her and her unborn child are targets for assassination and Fitz is doing his darnedest to protect them and the stability of the whole kingdom.
220* TookALevelInJerkass: When Fitz meets up with her in the third Farseer book, she is incredibly cold toward him, even engaging in a KickTheDog moment by forcing Fitz to recount the ColdBloodedTorture that he suffered at Regal's hands. Somewhat justified when one considers what a horrible time she's had since the last time she and Fitz saw each other (see Trauma Conga Line). She remains distant during their journey to find Verity. Thankfully, she becomes a DefrostingIceQueen and renews her friendship with Fitz.
221* ToughLeaderFacade: Particulary evident in [[spoiler:''The Tawny Man'' trilogy, where she keeps her public facade calm and collected while she privately confides in Fitz and Chade how afraid she is about Dutiful's disappearance.]]
222* TraumaCongaLine: What Kettricken has gone through during the time between books two and three of the Farseer trilogy. To put it simply, ''she's had an awful year'':
223** She's been forced to flee for her life, away from her new home at Buckkeep.
224** She's had to travel across the kingdom to find safe refuge, all the while being hunted by Regal.
225** She's suffered a miscarriage and has lost the child that she and Verity were going to have, largely due to the stress of her current situation.
226** Her husband is missing and is presumed dead.
227** She's been subjected to a brutal smear campaign courtesy of Regal.
228** Regal's army is sitting on her homeland's doorstep and is threatening to invade.
229** By the time Fitz finally meets up with her in book 3, she's noticeably (and understandably) withdrawn.
230
231[[/folder]]
232
233[[folder:Regal Farseer]]
234
235!!Regal Farseer
236->'''a.k.a Regal the Pretender'''
237
238Another prince of the Farseer line, the third son to King Shrewd, and half-brother to Chivalry and Verity. His mother is Queen Desire, Shrewd's second wife, who comes from a highborn family from an inland duchy. He inherited his mother's scorn for his older brothers, who he considers lower in rank to himself since their mother came from a lower nobility. He has even more scorn and hatred for Fitz, who, as a bastard, comes from an even ''lower'' mother.
239----
240* ArchEnemy: To Fitz. Bear in mind that the first three books cover Fitz's life from childhood 'till he's in his twenties, and consider that for nearly all of that these two have despised each other, mostly on account of Regal being an evil, spoilt, murdering bastard.
241* BadBoss: Will murder his own men to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness conceal his crimes]] [[spoiler:and will torture them [[MindRape with The Skill]] when they [[YouHaveFailedMe fail him]]]], though at times he seems to be doing it ForTheEvulz as well.
242* BaitTheDog: When he first meets Fitz, he initially seems concerned for Fitz's well-being, sharply questioning Burich as to why young Fitz (who was a boy of six at the time) was housed in a stable instead of being given a room. This goes out the window not long after when Regal begins demeaning Fitz for his status as a bastard. After that night, Regal demonstrates nothing but pure disdain for Fitz.
243* BigBad: He is the main antagonist of the Farseer Trilogy. Technically part of a BigBadEnsemble with the Red Ships, [[spoiler:but he's the one where ItsPersonal and the Ships would have been less of a threat were it not for his machinations and willingness to commit murder and treason against his own family and kingdom, sabotaging the war effort for his own ambition.]]
244* BigBrotherBully: Acts this way toward Fitz (although he's his uncle, not brother) when he's a child. After Fitz reaches adolescence, things become much worse.
245* BitchInSheepsClothing: He's known for being nice and funny in the court which makes him more popular than his brother, which quite disguises how much of a monster he is to the general public.
246* BreadAndCircuses: His style of rule, and to a lesser extent how he cultivates enough popularity to take the throne and cast Verity as a villain.
247* TheBully: To Fitz, when they were both children. When he usurped the throne, he carried the same tendency to a greater extreme.
248* CainAndAbel: The Cain to Verity and Chivalry's Abel's. [[spoiler:He definitely had something to do with Chivalry's death, and while he didn't kill Verity, it wasn't from a lack of trying.]]
249* TheCaligula: Prince Regal fits this to a tee, complete with decadent parties, a drug habit, gladiators fighting for his amusement and a sadistic penchant for ColdBloodedTorture.
250* CrazyPrepared: [[spoiler: At the end of the first book, Regal plots to murder Ketricken's brother, Prince Rurisk, and set Fitz up as the fall guy. Given how Fitz is the royal assassin, he is under orders to assassinate Rurisk using poisoned wine while Regal's men shadow him, planning to burst in once the deed is done to "catch" Fitz in the act. However, Fitz manages to piece together Regal's intentions and serves Rurisk the wine provided by Regal minus the poison. Unfortunately, Regal planned for this and made sure that the wine was ''already'' poisoned, ensuring that Rurisk would die and that Fitz would be caught red-handed.]]
251* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: [[spoiler:Hides the fact that he has the Skill from the rest of his family, and more importantly that he and Galen have access to old books about its advanced techniques which were thought lost to the world.]]
252* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Death by ferret, the bond-mate of a Witted one that Regal put to death. It tears out his throat one night while he sleeps.]]
253* DespotismJustifiesTheMeans: Though partly due to prejudice against them, he's willing to sacrifice the coastal Duchies--''half the kingdom''--to the Red Ships and murder his way through his family in the middle of a war if it will put himself on the throne. And he ignores the Red Ship threat when he gets it, as well as the economic crisis it has brought about, simply content to be king.
254* DirtyCoward: Acts exclusively through poisoning, political maneuvering, and other skulduggery.
255* DrugsAreBad: Is a drug addict, much like his mother, who doubtless got him into the habit.
256* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: His mother is probably the only person he ever loved and cared about. By contrast, he couldn't give a shit about his father or anyone else in his family [[spoiler: with the possible exception of his bastard half-brother--on his mother's side of course--Galen.]]
257* TheEvilPrince: He ''will'' get the Farseer Throne, and far from being family protecting you from him, it only makes you a threat to his power. [[spoiler:He is responsible for the death of his father, Shrewd, the King, his oldest brother, Chivalry, first in line, and tries many times to kill the middle brother, Verity, second in line, many times, all so him, third in line can make it to the top. He also tries to kill Verity's unborn child because they would be in line in front of Regal, and Fitz, just because he's a bastard who ''might'' be recognized as a legitimate heir.]]
258* EvilUncle: To Fitz, though neither of them like the fact that they are related and few people bring it up much.
259* GreenEyedMonster: Spent his youth being jealous of the honors of his older brothers, with his mother doing all she could to stoke those feelings.
260* HateSink: Prince Regal is a massive jerk, a self centered coward, a sadistic bully and a racist, whose detestability skyrockets thanks the power he posses allowing him to gut the Six Duchies from within, all while Fitz is powerless to do anything, something that Regal quite revels in. [[spoiler:Even whatever dread he built up from being a dangerous villain is dashed at the end, when Fitz reads Regals mind and realizes the full extent of his immaturity. That Regal is incapable of accomplishing ''anything'' if he wasn't enabled by others, leaving Fitz floored by just how pathetic someone he thought a massive threat truly is.]]
261* HeelFaceBrainwashing: [[spoiler:At the end of the trilogy, Fitz dominates Regal's mind, making him fanatically loyal towards Verity's Farseer line. This has such a strong effect that the sociopathical, hedonstic, RoyalBrat, who was willing to ignore half his kingdom getting to destroyed by the Red Ships, becomes a selfless man of the people who forsakes his wealth, personally leads the defense against the Red Ships, and waits humbly for days in a sack cloth outside Buckkeep for the Queen to forgive him for his past transgressions.]]
262* ItsAllAboutMe: With the exceptions of his mother and [[spoiler: (possibly) half-brother,]] everyone else can go piss up a rope as far as Regal's concerned.
263* {{Jerkass}}: Even in his ordinary, day-to-day life when he's not trying to usurp the throne, Regal is an utter bastard. Even if he wasn't the BigBad, you still wouldn't like him, because he's just that unpleasant.
264* MindRape: [[spoiler:He likes to assault the minds of Galen's coterie with the Skill, inflicting the most amount of pain possible. He also gradually dominates them, turning them into nothing more that flesh puppets for him. He's eventually on the receiving end when Fitz overwhelms Regal's mind with the skill, causing a HeelFaceBrainwashing.]]
265* NonIndicativeName: For someone whose name is Regal, and was specifically named to embody the word, the closest he gets is surface level posturing in court. His main personality is that of a spoiled brat.
266* PrettyBoy: He still has the Farseer looks, but he's built on more delicate lines than his relatives and lacks the heavy muscle of the outdoorsy Verity.
267* PsychopathicManchild: Regal's thoughts when Fitz pokes around in his mind include feeding his healer to Forged ones as punishment for not being able to find out what causes his fits, having two innocent people killed for seeing him in the midst of a fit so nobody would know about his condition, and only reluctantly deciding to send someone to rescue his lame servant because of his disdain for "broken things" - all in a childlike tone with liberal use of the word "Mother".
268** Kettricken and Fitz speculate that Regal really only wanted the throne because it was not his, and didn't regard the towns and people of the Six Duchies as such but rather as possessions of Verity's that could be destroyed if he couldn't take them for his own. Fitz's peek into his mind later mostly confirms this.
269* RoyalBrat: Starts out as one, but later he becomes worse. Much, much worse.
270* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler: Responsible for King Shrewd's death.]] If Fitz had the common decency to [[spoiler:stay dead,]] or Verity [[spoiler: to just die at some point]], he'd be a [[spoiler:Self Made Only Child]] as well.
271* SmugSnake: No where near as clever or as powerful as he thinks he is; the only reason he gets away with all that he does is that half the kingdom is incompetent and buys into his [[VillainWithGoodPublicity good publicity]], and the rest are far too busy dealing with the war against the Red Ships, that and lack of evidence and the fact that he is royalty. His reign ruins the kingdom due to him being a lazy, callous and drug-addicted psycho.
272* TheSociopath: Capable of surface level kindness, but underneath is a manipulator who sees everyone as pawns to control, on top of being an immature brat.
273* VillainousFriendship: He gets along well with a minion of his mother's, [[spoiler:as well as co-conspirator and half-brother]], Galen. Or at least gets along ''better'' with Galen than others, which doesn't nevessarily indicate care when it comes to [[{{Jerkass}} Regal]].
274* VillainWithGoodPublicity: The only reason he gets away with anything is that Fitz can't prove anything and the people are easily duped by him, mostly because he serves as a rich and flamboyant contrast to the moody and serious Verity (though Verity has a [[WarIsHell very good reason to be moody and serious]]). Essentially, Regal encourages them to forget about the war, which is how he gets to be so popular. [[spoiler:He even manages to keep this reputation thanks to Fitz's HeelFaceBrainwashing causing Regal to do things ''actually'' worthy of respect.]]
275* WouldHurtAChild: Was willing to kill a child Fitz [[spoiler: and later his baby daughter.]]
276
277[[/folder]]
278
279!!! Galen's Coterie
280
281[[folder:In General]]
282
283A group of bonded Skill users, made up of members of Farseer branch lines, forged by Galen, the Skillmaster of Buckkeep. While they are supposed to be used to counter the Red Ship Raiders attacking the Six Duchies coast, it becomes clear they were made with a more nefarious purpose in mind.
284----
285* AvengingTheVillain: [[spoiler: They're as loyal to the memory of Galen as much as they are to Regal and are determined to avenge their deceased master by killing Fitz.]]
286* BrainwashedAndCrazy: Galen has Skill-Imprinted (i.e. hypnotized) them into being his and Regal's slaves.
287* TheDreaded: After giving Fitz some nasty MindRape he becomes terrified of them - Serene and Will in particular - for a good portion of the trilogy that takes him a while to get over.
288* DwindlingParty: The coterie starts off with six members, August, Serene, Justin, Will, Burl, and Carrod. The group becomes smaller and smaller with each book:
289** [[spoiler: By the end of ''Assassin's Apprentice'', August suffers a Skill blast courtesy of Verity that burns the Skill from his body, making him useless to Regal. Afterward, August opts to [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere leave the royal court and retire to the country.]]]]
290** [[spoiler: By the end of ''Royal Assassin'', Serene and Justin, having assassinated King Shrewd, fall victim to Fitz's RoaringRampageOfRevenge, with Serene getting a SlashedThroat and Justin making a feeble attempt to flee before Fitz tackles him to the ground and stabs him to death.]]
291** [[spoiler: By the end of the final Farsser book, ''Assassin's Quest'', the final three coterie members meet their end in the land where the stone dragons dwell. Carrod is Skilled to death by Verity. Burl is mauled to death by Nighteyes. Finally, Will gets his leg ripped off by a dragon and bleeds to death.]]
292* FaceHeelTurn: Most of the coterie who managed to stick with it, but especially Serene, who was a rather nice girl before Galen's training broke her mind. Doubles as BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil.
293* FatBastard: Fitz notes how Burl has used his new position to enjoy the finer things in life, really letting himself go due to excessive eating.
294* TheHeavy: They do most of the legwork for [[BigBad Regal]].
295* HiddenDepths: Occasionally, it's hinted that there is still some trace of humanity within the coterie members. Justin and Serene show a hint of remorse when Fitz calls them out. Later, Burl takes a moment to reminisce with Fitz after capturing him.
296* HumbleBeginnings: Each of the coterie members except for August were commoners before being accepted into Prince Regal's inner circle.
297* ThoseTwoGuys: Serene and Justin are rarely seen without each other.
298* UndyingLoyalty: They are fanatically devoted to their master, Galen, and consequently ''his'' master, Prince Regal.
299* UsedToBeASweetKid: They were just a group of regular teenagers before Galen turned them into a group of AxCrazy thugs loyal to both him and Regal.
300
301[[/folder]]
302
303[[folder:Galen]]
304
305!!Galen
306
307Buckkeep's Skillmaster. He is responsible for training potential Skill users and molding them into servants of the crown. One of Regal's lackeys, he works to usurp the throne for his master. He loathes Fitz with a passion and makes no secret of it, deliberately sabotaging Fitz's ability to use the Skill and even trying to get him killed on more than one occasion.
308----
309* BastardBastard: [[spoiler:In sharp contrast to Chivalry's HeroicBastard Fitz, Desire's bastard Galen is a cruel, spiteful, and narcisstic piece of work.]]
310* DiscOneFinalBoss: [[spoiler: A major villain in the Farseer trilogy who is dead by the end of the first book. And although Galen wasn't the BigBad per se, the sequels reveal that he at least held an [[BigBadDuumvirate equal footing]] with the trilogy's main villain, Regal, while he was alive.]]
311* TheDragon: He's Regal's chief henchman in his initial attempt to usurp the throne.
312* DragonInChief: While ostensibly a subordinate to Regal, Galen is the true brains behind Regal's ascent to the throne. [[spoiler:Fitz eventually comes to the conclusion that if it wasn't for Regal being enabled by Queen Desire, who is long dead by the time the plotting takes place, and Galen, Regal would never have become a real threat.]]
313* DragonWithAnAgenda: Fitz suspects that Galen's long-term goal was to set Regal up as a PuppetKing with himself as the ManBehindTheMan.
314* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: [[spoiler: Maybe. He is described as having been very close to his mother, Queen Desire, being one of her "favorites", and does seem to take an effort to avenge her supposed "assassination". However what he does speak positively about her has to do with what he views as her superior noble blood, not anything else.]]
315* EvilCounterpart: [[spoiler: To Fitz. Both are the bastard children of members of the nobility who were brought to the capital to be raised as loyal servants of the crown. But whereas Fitz matured into a [[HeroicBastard fine young man with a strong moral code and genuine loyalty towards his friends]], Galen is an [[BastardBastard unscrupulous opportunist who will do anything to gain power for himself and his likeminded allies.]]]]
316* EvilGenius: The various schemes that Regal and the coterie carry out were all masterminded by Galen. All in all, it's not unreasonable to assume that Regal and his minions would not have gotten as far as they did had Galen not laid out a clear groundwork for them to follow.
317* EvilIsPetty: Tries to have Burrich killed for stepping in and defending Fitz from Galen's abuse.
318* HateSink: A vile, sadistic human being who does nothing but cause misery wherever and whenever he can.
319* HeKnowsTooMuch: Invoked. He suggests that Regal should poison his servants that were privy to his plans. [[BadBoss Regal does just that]].
320* {{Jerkass}}: Galen treats just about everyone with complete disdain.
321* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Galen is killed by Verity, the man who Galen planned to assassinate. What's more, Verity is alerted to Galen's intentions by Fitz, the same boy who Galen physically and psychologically tortured for months on end.]]
322* {{Nepotism}}: [[spoiler: He almost certainly was permitted to learn the Skill and subsequently become Skillmaster of Buckkeep for being the bastard child of Queen Desire.]]
323* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: He gives one to Fitz after the latter fails to improve in his use of the Skill (thanks in no small part to Galen deliberately sabotaging his efforts). After he's done, he allows his other pupils to join in. Poor Fitz is so broken and humiliated that he contemplates suicide. Thankfully, Burrich is there to get him back on his feet.
324** Not long after, Galen himself suffers a nasty (and wholly deserved) beatdown courtesy of [[PapaWolf Burrich]].
325* SadistTeacher: ''Good God, is he ever!'' His training style is meant to psychologically break the trainees so that he can mold them into weapons fanatically loyal to Regal... except for Fitz, who he's just out to straight psychologically break for its own sake.
326* SmallRoleBigImpact: [[spoiler: Galen is dead by the end of the first book, but much of what Regal and his Coterie do over the following two books involve plans that Galen hatched or made possible while he was alive.]]
327* SquishyWizard: He's described as being very scrawny, largely because he barely eats anything and refrains from physical activity.
328* UriahGambit: As part of his "training", Galen sends Fitz to an area that is crawling with Forged Ones in what is certainly meant to be a suicide mission. After Fitz manages to survive and return in one piece, Galen doesn't even bother trying to hide what he did and even jokes about how Fitz "has more lives than a cat."
329* VillainousFriendship: Fitz notes that he and Regal are rather chummy with each other.
330* WouldHurtAChild: He gleefully tortures Fitz and his other students. His "teaching" is basically just him dishing out physical and verbal abuse like it's candy.
331** Burrich recounts an incident where a girl was found brutally murdered and all of the evidence pointed to Galen being the killer. When the girl's cousin accused Galen of the deed, ''he didn't even bother denying it and later killed the cousin too.''
332* YouAreWhatYouHate: Galen makes no secret of his disdain for Fitz for being a bastard. [[spoiler: As it turns out, Galen himself is the illegitimate child of Queen Desire, wife to King Shrewd and mother of Regal.]]
333
334[[/folder]]
335
336[[folder:Will]]
337
338!! Will
339
340The most skilled and deadly member of the coterie. While intially in the background, Fitz's notices his presence near the end of ''Royal Assassin'', and Will quickly become one of Fitz's greatest threats.
341----
342* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler: This is Will's ultimate fate. During the climax of the third Farseer book, Fitz and the Fool succeed in awakening the stone dragons, who proceed to massacre Regal's army. Will is caught in the onslaught and gets his leg ripped off by a hungry dragon. He bleeds out shortly after, but not before Fitz uses him as a Skill conduit through which he can reach out and MindRape Regal.]]
343* AscendedExtra: Will is introduced in the first Farseer book as a nondescript member of the coterie. The follow-up books promote him to the role of TheDragon to [[BigBad Regal]] and Fitz's nemesis.
344* ArchEnemy: Fitz spends a long time hating Will as though it were Will that was responsible for all of his personal misfortune. [[spoiler:It turned out that Regal actually did have the Skill, and was using it to misdirect Fitz's hatred onto Will.]]
345* TheDragon: Will eventually becomes Regal's primary minion, [[spoiler:or more accurately his most favored meat-puppet.]]
346* EyeScream: [[spoiler: Will suffers this at the end ''Royal Assassin''. After getting a faceful of poisoned powder that was intended for Regal, Will suffers from severe facial deformities that include the loss of his eye.]]
347* ItsPersonalWithTheDragon: While Fitz's conflict with [[BigBad Regal]] is ''very'' personal, Fitz dwells heavily on his conflict with Will, regarding him as the biggest threat he faces. [[spoiler:Subverted in the end, as Fitz notes that it was never really about Will, and Regal was amping up Fitz's hatred of Will with the Skill, as well as controlling Will.]]
348* TheManBehindTheMan: Of a sort. Serene and Justin are both tactless with the Skill, and Justin isn't even very good at it. That suits Will just fine - he's very good with the Skill, and Serene and Justin's blundering help his insidiously light touch stay unnoticed. [[spoiler:And Will being a genuinely talented Skill user helped keep Regal's own Skilling abilities undiscovered.]]
349* MouthOfSauron: [[spoiler: Will gradually becomes Regal's living mouthpiece, controlled via the Skill, issuing orders to his soldiers and the rest of the coterie through Will. By their final clash, Fitz uses the Skill to glimpse inside Will's mind and is shocked by how Regal has eroded Will into little more than a meat puppet.]]
350* TakingTheBullet: [[spoiler: At the end of the second Farseer book, Fitz, having by tortured to the point of death, makes a last-ditch attempt to kill Regal by giving him a faceful of poisoned powder. However, Will spies what Fitz is doing and shoves Regal out of the way just in time to take the poison himself. Will survives, but suffers facial deformities due to the effects of the poison.]]
351
352[[/folder]]
353
354[[folder:August]]
355
356!! August
357
358The son of King Shrewd's sister, August has some of the strongest Farseer blood in him, becoming the leader of the coterie at first.
359----
360* BlueBlood: Unlike the rest of the coterie, who are distant Farserr cousins, August is a direct cousin of the ruling Farseer family and carries himself with the airs of a high-brow aristocrat.
361* DePower: [[spoiler:His skill use, and time as a coterie member, is ended when Verity uses him as a conduit for the Skill at the end of ''Assassin's Apprentice'', completely burning out August's Skill with the force of it.]]
362* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Fitz notes that Augusts doesn't seem to know much of the plotting going on at the end of the first book. Fitz opts to keep him locked out, suspecting August's lack of knowledge is protecting him.
363* SoleSurvivor: [[spoiler:Thanks to August leaving Buckkeep, and the plot, after his DePower he is the only member of the coterie who survives the trilogy.]]
364* TokenGoodTeammate: Downplayed, as while he bullies Fitz like other members of the royal court, he's shown to have his bright spots. He complies, albeit reluctantly, with Fitz's request to contact King Shrewd whereas any of the other coterie members would have told Fitz to get bent. Additionally August doesn't seem to have had any real role in Regal's power grabs, unlike the rest of the coterie. What's more, August acts more snobbish and standoffish as opposed to the blatantly crazed and sadistic behavior exhibited by the rest of the coterie, implying that he was spared from being [[BrainwashedAndCrazy Skill-Imprinted]], likely due to his status as a relative of the royal family.
365
366[[/folder]]
367
368[[folder:Serene]]
369
370!! Serene
371
372The only female member of the coterie. After August loses his skill at the end of the first book, Serene takes over as leader of the coterie, serving as the primary threat, with Justin as her subordinate, to Fitz from the coterie in ''Royal Assassin''.
373----
374* GenerationXerox: After Galen's death, Serene takes his place as teacher of the Skill. Fitz is astonished at how similar she has become to Galen in both attitude and appearance, even taking on behavior and dress that remove her femininity.
375* TheSmurfettePrinciple: The only woman amoungst Galen's coterie. Given Galen's misogny it's a little suprising she even made it in, as there were other women amoungst the intial pool of canidates, and Galen did his best to try and drives them all out with extra abuse.
376* WeUsedToBeFriends: Discussed. In Royal Assasin, Fitz attempts to reach out to Serene, bringing up their time learning to read and write together when they were children. [[ShutUpKirk Serene responds by spitting at his feet.]]
377
378[[/folder]]
379
380!! Buckkeep Servants
381
382[[folder:Burrich]]
383
384!!Burrich
385Stablemaster of Buckkeep, and Fitz's first father figure. He first served under Prince Chivalry, but he was retired from his service after he saved the prince from a boar attack; it crippled his leg instead. He starts the trilogy still recovering from the injury, as well as the injury of being left behind when Prince Chivalry abdicated from the throne and left Buckkeep.
386----
387* AbusiveParents: Well not a parent, but as Fitz's main caretaker. In his youth Fitz hated and was afraid of Burrich, and only began to think of him differently after Burrich beat Galen half to death for beating Fitz. He got the idea because one of the first things Burrich did was find him beginning to Bind with one of the hound puppies; Burrich took the pup from Fitz, and Fitz had thought he killed it. [[spoiler:He actually gave it to Kettricken's brother and Fitz found out a decade and a half later.]]
388* TheAlcoholic: Seems to get drunk more often later in his life. [[spoiler:He cleans up when he begins living with and protecting Molly, who has a hatred of alcoholism after her abusive childhood.]]
389* BlessedWithSuck: Some time in the past, Chivalry ''somehow'' used The Skill to cause Burrich to be completely immune to any and all effects of The Skill, good or bad. In the end, [[spoiler:it ends up killing him when he's mortally wounded and Fitz ''could have'' saved his life if it weren't for the complete Skill immunity.]]
390* BrokenBird: Burrich's gruff exterior goes along with an even gruffer past. Being taken into slavery, losing his family, [[spoiler:losing Lady Patience to Chivalry]], then being KickedUpstairs to stable master after [[{{HeroicSacrifice}} taking a hit for Chivalry]] and injuring his knee are just the start of it. Having to take care of the king's Royal Bastard is just icing on the cake.
391* DeathOfTheHypotenuse: [[spoiler:His death is what makes it possible for Molly and Fitz to end up together.]]
392** Awkwardly, it works the other way around, too--[[spoiler: Molly and Burrich got together only because Burrich believed Fitz really had died, and Burrich finding out differently is what set him out on the quest that eventually killed him.]]
393* HandicappedBadass: His lame leg hasn't diminished most of his badass-itude, either.
394* ImportantHaircut: When Chivalry dies, he shaves his head and even his eyebrows. Six Duchies tradition is for people to cut some piece of their hair as an offering for the dead, but it's shown that Burrich's shaving is normally excessive for someone of Chivalry's standing.
395* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He's famous for his black temper and surly demeanor; that doesn't stop him from being kind to animals and protective of Fitz.
396* LoveTriangle: The loser [[spoiler:in one with Chivalry for Patience.]] Later in a role reversal, he's the winner: [[spoiler:in the love triangle between him, Molly, and Fitz.]]
397* FriendToAllLivingThings: He tries to deny it [[spoiler: but he's this because of his Wit.]]
398* MayDecemberRomance: [[spoiler:With Molly; Burrich is at least ten years older than her.]]
399* ParentalSubstitute: To Fitz who he does much of the early raising for. [[spoiler:Seemed like he was going to be this for Nettle, but given she was raised believing he was her father and they didn't tell her about Fitz it's not quite this trope.]]
400* WhatTheHellHero: He calls out Molly for her mistreatment of [[spoiler: Nettle]], telling her she's acting just like her father and confusing "discipline" with "punishment", especially given that she's too young to know what she's doing.
401
402[[/folder]]
403
404[[folder:Molly Chandler]]
405
406!!Molly Chandler
407Fitz's childhood friend; although back then, she was known as Molly Nosebleed thanks to the beatings her father always gave her. When she and Fitz meet again, she's become a proud young woman who's taken control of her father's ailing candleshop.
408----
409* AbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder: [[spoiler: Marries Burrich thinking Fitz was dead, though Burrich claims that she'd have probably wound up choosing Fitz anyway if Fitz had returned after all.]]
410* AbusiveParents: Her father. Who also doubles as AlcoholicParent. She herself starts showing symptoms of this with her own child, at least until getting a very pointed scolding from Burrich.
411* BettyAndVeronica: She's the Betty to Starling's Veronica.
412* FirstGirlWins: [[spoiler:Even if she did fall in love with someone else first.]]
413* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: When pregnant, she asked Burrich to seek an abortive plant but the latter convinced her to keep the baby.
414* ItsAllAboutMe: She's quite selfish when it comes to Fitz, as she doesn't seem able to understand he has a life and loyalty outside of her and constantly gets angry with him for not spending enough time with her.
415* MamaBear: However, it takes a while for her to get used to it and become this trope.
416* OfficialCouple: With Fitz [[spoiler: but then later with Burrich, years after they think he's dead. Then Fitz again, ''more'' years later.]]
417* SelectiveObliviousness: Despite Fitz repeatedly telling her that the reason he doesn't want to make their relationship public is because of his precarious position in court and she could end up hurt in retribution, Molly refuses to believe him - even when she is nearly assaulted by two armed men on horseback for being "the bastard's whore".
418* ShesAllGrownUp: Fitz's reaction when he sees her in a dress.
419* {{Tomboy}}: When she was younger.
420
421[[/folder]]
422
423!! Others
424
425[[folder:Starling Birdsong]]
426
427!!Starling Birdsong
428A wandering minstrel Fitz encounters during his travels in ''Assassin's Quest.'' She picks up on his true identity and resolves to follow in his path, seeking to make a song out of his story so great as to buy her a place of security even into her old age.
429----
430* BabiesEverAfter: She was supposedly sterile, but she got pregnant by her husband.
431* BettyAndVeronica: She's the Veronica to Molly's Betty.
432* {{Fingore}}: She has two of her fingers broken by Burl, both for lying about Fitz's identity and to punish Fitz for his defiance. Given minstrels are usually left unharmed and her fingers are essential to her livelihood, Starling is horrified at such a punishment.
433* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Averted. After her rape, she takes herbs to abort. They failed the first time, and taking a bigger dose the second time, against the herbalist's advice, is what left her (almost) completely infertile.
434* FriendsWithBenefits: With Fitz. Not uncommon among the minstrel folk, at least by reputation.
435* ItsAllAboutMe: Starling puts her goal of becoming a bard who will witness an incredible event she can make a song of above the feelings and goals of everyone else, including [[spoiler: selling out Fitz's daughter to Kettricken and Chade to put on the Farseer throne just so she can accompany Kettricken and Fitz to look for Verity and try to use the voyage to become famous, although according to her she didn't realise it was meant to be secret.]] She's also very jealous of the Fool's close friendship with Fitz and becomes very indignant whenever Fitz knows something she doesn't.
436** It's eventually elaborated that this attitude comes from [[spoiler:the keep she lived in getting raided and destroyed by Red Ship Raiders, with her getting raped in the process, which taught her how easily things can fall apart. Therefore she is paranoid of ending up alone and abadoned, with nothing to support her, and she wants to prevent that via becoming famous through her songs, which will also get her enough money to always be able to live well.]]
437* MeaningfulName: Of course, though it seems that minstrels frequently choose their names with this in mind.
438* TheBard: Her eventual goal. As a wandering minstrel her life is destined to become harsher as her beauty, voice, and health eventually begin to wane, and so she seeks a position as a permanent court-bard to avoid that fate.
439* UnrequitedLove: Was in love with Fitz, but he only ever had eyes for Molly... [[spoiler:and was too emotionally crippled after Assassin's Quest to form that kind of attachment, anyway.]]
440
441[[/folder]]
442
443[[folder:Kettle]]
444
445!!Kettle
446A mysterious old woman Fitz encounters in his travels. She takes an immediate, and unusual, interest in him, and often seems to be more than she appears to be.
447----
448* TheAtoner: [[spoiler:She murdered her own sister, and as a result broke apart the coterie they were in, harming the power of Farseer throne. Her primary goal by the time of the story is to find a way to make up for her mistake.]]
449* CainAndAbel: [[spoiler:Murdered her own sister over a man, especially notable given that the two did love each other.]]
450* DePower: [[spoiler:Got her Skill burned out of her for her crime, using her own guilt to do it, and still can't use it centuries later, mostly because Kettle keeps adding to that guilt. Fitz, the Fool, and Nighteyes together are eventually able to restore Kettle's power, via convincing her to forgive herself.]]
451* TheExile: [[spoiler:Thanks to murdering her sister, who was also a member of Kettle's coterie, the rest of the coterie burned out Kettle's skill and cast her out.]]
452* Really700YearsOld: [[spoiler:Thanks to the lingering effects of her VainSorceress days, she's at least some 200 years old at the start of ''Assassin's Quest''.]]
453* FamilyThemeNaming: [[spoiler:Her orginal name was Kestrel and her sister's name was Gull.]]
454* SiblingTriangle: In Kettle's past she had shared affections for a man, [[spoiler:the leader of their coterie, Stachion]], alongside her sister [[spoiler:and fellow coterie member Gull eventually leading to Kettle murdering her sister when she found Gull and Stanchion sleeping together.]]
455* VainSorceress: [[spoiler:When she was younger she turned the Skill in on herself to try and extend her lifespan to perserve her youth and beauty. While both have faded by the time of the story, she is still alive centuries later.]]
456
457[[/folder]]
458
459! Characters introduced in the Liveship Traders Trilogy
460
461[[folder:Althea Vestrit]]
462
463!!Althea Vestrit
464----
465* BreakTheHaughty: While she's a skilled sailor and a far more suitable heir to her father than Kyle, she doesn't know as much as she thinks she does, and it's only after about a book and a half of humbling experiences that she's really ready to lead a crew.
466* DaddysGirl: She was indisputably her father's favourite.
467* DidntThinkThisThrough: She realizes too late that she can't ask a captain to provide a reference for her when she's been fooling him for months into thinking she's someone else.
468* FatalFlaw: Pride. Althea isn't an ill-intentioned person but she is quite spoiled by her father and tends to want everything her way. It takes some BreakTheHaughty for her to admit she didn't have the necessary experience to be captain of a Liveship, she ends up abandoning ''Vivacia'' to Kyle because she cannot swallow her pride and take orders from him, and her proud personality means that she tends to interpret Brashen's protectiveness of her as patronising (which she isn't entirely incorrect about) and will stubbornly refuse to address the issue that bothers her. She also could have saved her family from their dire financial situation if she'd agreed to marry Grag Tanira, but she refused him on the grounds that she wasn't in love with him and that he expected her to give up sailing upon becoming his wife, which was understandable but lead to Malta ending up in an ArrangedMarriage with Reyne instead.
469* TheGentlemanOrTheScoundrel: She's briefly in this LoveTriangle with Grag Tanira and Brashen Trell, the gentleman and scoundrel, respectively. She does like Grag, but only as a friend, and spends much of the trilogy pining over Brashen.
470* HalfIdenticalTwins: A twist, in that her near-twin is not her brother but her nephew.
471* MistakenForGay: At one point Malta insinuates that the people of Bingtown have started spreading rumours that Althea is in love with Amber, on the basis that she's always seen in Amber's company after she returns from her long voyage, dresses like a man and turned down Grag Tanira's marriage proposal even though everyone agrees that Grag is an excellent catch and Althea has no good reason to refuse him. Ironically, Amber is one of the only people who calls Althea out on her SlapSlapKiss with Brashen and [[spoiler: might actually be a man herself, since Amber is the Fool.]]
472* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Storming off ''Vivacia'' after her father's funeral means that she misses out on a crucial window to bond properly to ''Vivacia'' because she cannot stand the idea of being subordinate to Kyle. This ends up being a huge part of why ''Vivacia'' is so easily manipulated [[spoiler: and why Althea doesn't get the liveship at the end of the trilogy - even though ''Vivacia'' loves her, ultimately Wintrow has a bond with her that is too deep for either of them to ever ignore and Althea was parted from ''Vivacia'' for nearly the entire story.]]
473* SlapSlapKiss: With Brashen, an old crewmember of her father's.
474* SweetPollyOliver: She has to pose as a boy named "Athel" to be hired on most ships.
475* {{Tomboy}}: To the distress of her mother and older sister, as sailing has become a completely male profession.
476* TheUnfavorite: Considers herself to be such when Ephron leaves ''Vivacia'' to her SmugSnake of a brother-in-law, though Keffria bitterly notes that Ephron spoiled and indulged Althea despite her tearaway behaviour, while the obedient, dutiful Keffria was overlooked by her more dynamic sister.
477* YouAreWhatYouHate: She's very vocal about how much she dislikes how bratty her niece is and dismisses her as a spoiled child, completely failing to notice that she and Malta are actually ''very'' similar and Keffria implies Althea was just as bad at Malta's age.
478
479[[/folder]]
480
481[[folder:Brashen Trell]]
482
483!!Brashen Trell
484----
485* FunctionalAddict: He's a habitual cindin user in the first book, but he gradually kicks the habit.
486* {{Hypocrite}}: He's appalled when a fourteen-year-old Malta attempts to flirt with him and tells her she should be ashamed of herself. Bit rich coming from a guy kicked out of his own family for his delinquent behaviour.
487* SelfMadeMan: Although he was born to a wealthy family, they kick him out for his prodigal ways and he takes to the sea. Under Ephron's tutelage he's built a reputation as an excellent sailor.
488* StayInTheKitchen: Brashen may consider himself to be more worldly-wise than much of Bingtown, but he still has some of their ingrained values and he keeps trying to keep Althea out of the more dangerous work, which causes numerous clashes between the two of them. Brashen does have practical reasons to be concerned, as he points out that even if she's posing as a man, Althea simply isn't as physically strong as the other sailors and her cover could get blown if they notice, but Althea being a woman and one he's in love with is also a strong factor.
489* WillTheyOrWontThey: With Althea. [[spoiler:[[RelationshipUpgrade They do when he becomes Paragon's captain and she his first mate.]]]]
490
491[[/folder]]
492
493[[folder:Wintrow Haven]]
494
495!!Wintrow Haven
496----
497* AbusiveParents: Kyle Haven is not a model father. First he goes from merely being dismissive of Wintrow to verbally and emotionally abusing him, before finally allowing a slaver to brand his son's face when he runs away and throwing him belowdeck with the rest of them.
498* BadassPreacher: Develops into this as the books wear on.
499* BreakTheCutie: The entire first book does this to him and it's not even the end of his troubles.
500* ContemplateOurNavels: He does this a lot, as he's a priest, and he and ''Vivacia'' tend to get in a lot of discussions over it.
501* TheDragalong: Wintrow was happy in the monastery and is basically forced upon ''Vivacia'' because of his blood ties to the ship.
502* HalfIdenticalTwins: Looks remarkably like Althea.
503* MySisterIsOffLimits: He is noted to be looking rather disapproving when watching Malta dancing with Reyne in the final book, even though Malta has been in an ArrangedMarriage to Reyne for a considerable amount of time at that point and Malta and Wintrow barely know each other.
504* StupidGood: Starts out as this. He learns a lesson about it at the hands of some very unfriendly guards.
505* UndyingLoyalty: To Kennit, though not at first. Intially, Wintrow just tries to ingratiate himself to Kennit out of self-preservation, but over time his desire to stay on Kennit's good side morphs into genuine (albeit twisted) loyalty. Even after [[spoiler: Althea's rape]] forces Wintrow to accept that Kennit is an awful person, he can't fully renounce his emotional attachment to the man and even [[spoiler: Althea]] acknowledges that Kennit was more a father to Wintrow than Kyle ever was.
506* WellDoneSonGuy: He was never actually one, but when he needs his finger amputated he decides to pretend he was one to see how Kyle takes it. Kyle didn't.
507
508[[/folder]]
509
510[[folder:Malta Vestrit]]
511
512!!Malta Vestrit
513----
514* ArentYouGoingToRavishMe: She's very disappointed when Cerwin Trell doesn't try to kiss her even when he's supposedly trying to win her hand, which makes Malta disregard Cerwin as "just a boy" and turn her attentions to Reyn.
515* BrainyBrunette: It's hard to notice at first thanks to her spoiled demeanour, but Malta is very cunning, especially for her age, to the point her grandmother Ronica finds it quite unsettling.
516* BreakTheHaughty: Her father leaves early in the first book and the family is gradually stripped of its wealth, reputation, embroiled in a political conspiracy, she gets a nasty scar on her face and then stuck in a flooding underground city with [[RoyalBrat the Satrap]] and is forced to rescue him and herself before she can reunite with her family. As a result she's much less spoiled, immature and much sharper and a little nicer, though she's still as headstrong and sharp-tongued as ever.
517* CharacterDevelopment: Possibly has the ''most'' development of the entire trilogy, going from a spoiled, bratty child to a cunning teenager to a politically savvy, excellent Trader who ends up saving both her family and home in the third book.
518* ComingOfAgeStory: The trilogy is hers, detailing her going from a pre-teen into a young woman.
519* DaddysGirl: Just like Althea, her father spoils her rotten and prefers her to her siblings, though in Malta's case her father indulged her worst impulses, instead of Ephron nurturing Althea's free spirit.
520* JerkassHasAPoint: When Ronica and Keffria scold Malta for her behaviour, Malta retorts that they keep treating her like a child and refusing to explain matters to her but expect her to know and understand the consequences of everything as an adult would. Even they have to admit that they can't keep her sheltered forever and their financial situation requires Malta to grow up and learn the ways of a Trader fast in order to make a good match.
521** When Althea tries to exclude Malta from conversations on the basis she's a child and angrily tells Malta to stop embarrassing herself, Malta retorts that Althea is the one causing embarrassment to herself and her family with her antics.
522* SpoiledBrat: She is one initially but grows out of it, though she does retain a headstrong streak and appreciation for jewels.
523* TheTease: She enjoys pitting the affections of Cerwin and Reyn against one another and briefly flirts with Brashen and later the Satrap too.
524* TomboyWithAGirlyStreak: Malta is rather vain and obsessed with courting and romance, but she's also very headstrong, determined and quite a spitfire, traits Reyn finds ''very'' attractive.
525* TrademarkFavouriteFood: Malta loves honey - she puts honey in her tea and hides her prized honeydrops in her room.
526
527[[/folder]]
528
529[[folder:Kennit]]
530
531!!Kennit
532----
533* AmbiguouslyGay: Despite Kennit regularly bedding Etta (and making a huge point to take her "as a woman"), he never shows any real emotional attachment to her and merely keeps her around for convenience, since Etta basically worships him, and because having a beautiful woman doting on him makes his crewmembers envious and in awe of him. On the other hand, he thinks of Wintrow in downright poetic language at times, muses on Wintrow's beauty and Wintrow is seemingly the ''only'' person (besides possibly his mother) that Kennit dislikes the thought of physically or emotionally harming, though granted that may be because Wintrow is soul-bonded to Kennit through ''Vivacia'' and views Wintrow as an extension of himself. When he [[spoiler: rapes Althea]], he repeatedly notes how much she resembles Wintrow and rationalises that what he's doing isn't wrong because it's between a man and a woman, whereas [[spoiler: his rape by Igrot]] was wrong. He also uses similar language of "courting" with Sorcor that he uses with Etta and the former is just as slavishly devoted to him as the latter.
534* BornLucky: Kennet has learned to always trust in his luck; even when things don't go his way, he ends up being able to exploit his misfortune. This is why he is viewed as a hero by everyone around him, despite not even trying to hide that he is a monster -- everything he does gets twisted in the eyes of onlookers into an act of benevolence or wisdom.
535** At the end of ''Ship of Magic'', [[spoiler:his leg gets infected after a battle against a sea serpent. He is secretly deeply resentful of Winston for amputating it, but it cements his status as a hero in the eyes of his crew, who believe he threw himself in harm's way on purpose.]]
536** The first time he goes after a slave transport, it's because it's easy pickings. When he disgustedly orders his crew to wash the filthy freed slaves, they interpret it as an act of goodwill, which ruins his original plan to just kill them and take the ship.
537* CameBackWrong: It's revealed in the third book that [[spoiler: Kennit actually ''died'' on Paragon twice, both by Igrot's hands, but Paragon loved him so much and couldn't bear to be parted from him that he healed Kennit both times.]]
538* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: He does seem to still care about his mother, even if he does leave her on an island for months at a time because being around her brings back painful memories.
539* GoodLuckCharm: A tiny wizardwood carving of his face.
540* HeyYou: He tends to refer to Etta as "the woman", he usually only calls her by her name when he wants something from her.
541* ItsAllAboutMe: He views other people entirely in terms of how useful (or not) they are to him.
542* ManipulativeBastard: Constantly manipulates everyone and anyone around him, Etta and Paragon being the most painful examples.
543* LackOfEmpathy: His POV shows a noticeable sense of detachment from other human beings.
544* NiceJobFixingItVillain: One of the reasons why he's a VillainWithGoodPublicity is that he keeps inadvertently helping the people he's trying to exploit, and in the end [[spoiler: by stealing ''Vivacia'' and forging a kingdom for his own aggrandizement, then conveniently dying so that someone nobler than him ends up in charge of both, he changes the entire known world for the better.]]
545* StartOfDarkness: [[spoiler:He put the trauma from his sexual abuse into ''Paragon'' as he grew up.]] This had the unfortunate side-effect of turning him into a sociopath.
546* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: [[spoiler:He rapes Althea near the end of the story]], cementing that he's beyond redemption.
547* SlaveToPR: Carefully and methodically cultivates his public image to the point of obsession. He's quite willing to murder everyone who he suspects has knowledge that would shatter said image.
548* TheSociopath: Kennit ticks almost all of the boxes - superficially charming, a grandiose sense of self-worth, LackofEmpathy, views everyone around him as how they can best benefit him, etc.
549* TragicVillain: When push comes to shove, Kennit is not a good person. He also happens to not be entirely... whole, through a series of events that are nothing short of a major TraumaCongaLine of abusive awful that was definitely ''not'' entirely of his own making, at a time when he was far too young to cope. [[spoiler: Paragon and he made the mistake of trying to remove his pain in a bid to save him, but they wound up making a right hash of who each were, which bits belonged where and how you put a person, let alone a divided set of merged dragon-mixed-with-human-memories-around-a-premature-Liveship-construct, together in something resembling health. All major personality aspects of this horrific merger were too inexperienced/ confused to have a hope of getting it right.]] And, the result was some very messed-up personalities; primarily, but not exclusively, what wound up in Kennit's head.
550* UsedToBeASweetKid: Before Igrot got ahold of him, Kennit was apparently a happy child.
551* VillainWithGoodPublicity: People start to think of him as hero when he makes attacking slave ships (and freeing or recruiting their human cargo) his primary strategy.
552* VillainousValour: Despite putting himself and his survival as his paramount priority, he does not shy from personally engaging in combat and being quite proficient in it.
553* WickedCultured: Connoisseur of fine poetry and quite the dandy about his appearance. Enjoys philosophical debates with Wintrow.
554
555[[/folder]]
556
557[[folder:Jek]]
558!!Jek
559----
560* ActionGirl: Holds her own in combat.
561* AmazonianBeauty: Generally wears a leather jerkin and bands to show off her biceps. The Bingtowners and Jamaillans are shocked by this since in both their cultures women StayInTheKitchen. Sailors line up for the chance to armwrestle her - although she loses Wintrow suspects she's throwing them.
562* EthicalSlut: Happily promiscuous, and she doesn't hide her appetites either.
563
564[[/folder]]
565
566! Characters introduced in the Tawny Man Trilogy
567
568[[folder:Dutiful]]
569
570!!Dutiful
571Son of Kettricken and Verity, although Verity was wearing Fitz's body at the time, making him Fitz's blood son. Raised much in the Mountain tradition by his mother.
572----
573* BondCreatures: Like Fitz he is Witted and spends much of ''The Tawny Man'' looking for an animal to bond with, much to Fitz's consternation (he believes he is too young for such a commitment). There are several references to a dog in ''Fitz and the Fool'', including at least one that describes it as his "wit-hound", suggesting that he eventually finds what he is looking for.
574* TheDutifulSon: Has a few bumps on the way, but is very much this at heart.
575* MeaningfulName: As with many of the royal Farseers, Dutiful both subverts and lives up to his name. When we first encounter him he has absconded from court; but spends the rest of the trilogy as TheDutifulSon, doing everything his mother and Chade want him to out of a sincere desire to help his people. Of course it helps that his is a PerfectlyArrangedMarriage, at least from his point of view.
576* DemotedToExtra: In ''Fitz and the Fool'', in terms of his impact on the plot, though it's made clear that he has important problems of his own and is thus perhaps more the HeroOfAnotherStory.
577* SorcerorKing: Like most Royal Farseers he is a powerful user of the Skill. He also has the Wit.
578
579[[/folder]]
580
581[[folder:Laurel]]
582
583!!Laurel
584Queen Kettricken's huntswoman, and an ally to Fitz during the events of ''Fool's Errand.'' Her unique position leaves her well-placed to be trusted by both the Queen and the Old Blood, and she serves as one of the main ambassadors in the effort to end the persecution of the Old Blood. [[spoiler:Eventually takes Chade Fallstar as a lover and dies giving birth to his son sometime before the ''Fitz and the Fool'' books begin.]]
585
586* DemotedToExtra: Is one of the central characters in ''Fool's Errand'' but then gets sent off to be the HeroOfAnotherStory in ''Golden Fool'' and barely appears after that.
587* HonorableMarriageProposal: [[spoiler: Chade offers one when he finds out that Laurel is pregnant. She declines, knowing him well enough to know she'd never be able to truly love him.]]
588* MuggleBornOfMages: Her family is Old Blood, but Laurel herself did not inherit the hereditary Wit magic and was ostracized from their community for it.
589
590[[/folder]]
591
592[[folder:Prilkop]]
593
594!!Prilkop
595A White Prophet from several generations ago, now known as the Black Man who haunts the island on which the dragon Icefyre is entombed. His skin, once albino like the Fool's, has long since gone fully to coal-black as he lived out his cycle as the White Prophet and saw his visions become reality.
596----
597* Really700YearsOld: He's actually over a thousand years old.
598
599[[/folder]]
600
601[[folder:Thick]]
602
603!!Thick
604A young man living among the servants of Buckkeep. Born to a mother living among nomadic folk who, it's implied, was rather old, Thick bears physical deformities and mental disability, giving him a very childish and immature attitude and perspective. However, he's also phenomenally gifted with the Skill, perhaps making him the strongest user of that magic seen in the book.
605----
606* IdiotSavant: Most people assume he is a moron (hence his name), but Fitz immediately realizes he is a very strong (if completely untrained) user of the Skill. As he becomes more powerful, Fitz is frequently intimidated at the least at the thought of what Thick seems able to do, particularly once Thick notes that replicating the persistent memory-fogging encountered in Withywoods wouldn't be that hard now that he'd seen it done. Heck, he's so damn gifted in the very difficult area of reconstructive healing that he knocks the propaganda idiots like Galen spouted for generations about how the use of the Skill was a refined talent fit only to be trained and used by those graced with great intelligence and at least ''some'' noble blood right out the window.
607* LaserGuidedAmnesia: Is very good at making people forget their interactions with him, and is later the first to realize that the oddness and missing memories of the people of Withywoods was caused by an incredibly powerful Skill-suggestion printed on their minds.
608* TheLoad: Subverted. At first his PowerIncontinence makes him far more of a hindrance than an asset, but he ends up being the only Skill user strong enough to [[spoiler: rescue Fitz and Nettle from inside Icefyre's mind]], which he does seemingly effortlessly.
609
610[[/folder]]
611
612! Characters introduced in the Rain Wild Chronicles
613
614[[folder:Thymara]]
615
616!!Thymara
617----
618* AbusiveParents: Thymara’s mother resents her for being alive and marked by the Rain Wilds, and resents her father for rescuing her when the midwife left her outside to die. The abuse is mostly mental, although Thymara recalls an incident where she nearly fell to her death, and isn't sure whether she lost her balance or her mother pushed her.
619* LonelyTogether: With Tats, in the beginning - as he's one of the Tattooed, and she's heavily Marked, neither of them are accepted by the Rain Wilders.
620* ScaledUp: Becomes scaled and even grows wings as she becomes an Elderling.
621* WingedHumanoid: Since Dragons can shape their Elderlings in their own image, Sintara decides to make Thymara [[spoiler:the first ever winged elderling.]] It's agonizingly uncomfortable for Thymara, [[spoiler:until she manages to find an enchanted bed in Kelsingra that magically adjusts itself to accomodate her wings.]]
622
623[[/folder]]
624
625[[folder:Rapskal]]
626
627!!Rapskal
628----
629* DragonRider: His dragon is the only dragon who will allow her keeper to ride her on a day-to-day basis.
630* EntitledToHaveYou: Acts this way with Thymara once he begins absorbing Tellator's memories in Kelsingra, [[spoiler: especially as Tellator starts to take him over and he starts losing the ability to tell the difference between Thymara and Tellator's lover Amarinda.]]
631* FearlessFool: He comes off as this quite a bit.
632* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: During the fourth book he starts becoming one of these because he [[spoiler:absorbed so many of Tellator's memories he mentally became Tellator.]]
633* {{Keet}}: Especially before he starts taking on Elderling traits. Tats compares him to a darter lizard.
634* ScaledUp: As with all Elderlings, he takes on dragon traits as his bond with Heeby deepens.
635
636[[/folder]]
637
638[[folder:The Dragons]]
639
640!!The Dragons
641----
642* AlphaBitch: Most of the queens bar Relpda and Heeby.
643* BelligerentSexualTension: Between Mercor and Sintara. [[spoiler: They become mates at the end of ''Blood of Dragons''.]]
644* BigGood: Mercor is the driving force behind the plot, convincing the dragons to find Kelsingra and take keepers with them. He is always present whenever the main characters need advice and is one of the only dragons with the patience to try to explain dragonish concepts to the humans.
645* BlueAndOrangeMorality: They pay little attention to human laws and customs, preferring to follow their own savage natures.
646* BreathWeapon: They can breathe acid, though only when they're healthy, in many forms, from blobs to streams to clouds of mist. The acidic venom is incredibly potent, and leather, steel, or ''stone buildings'' won't save you. The only thing known to offer any real protection is gear of Elderling manufacture, though even that will only save one from a chance exposure to mist; [[spoiler: Tellator's]] advice if you're to suffer a direct hit is to ''take a deep breath of it'' so your death is too fast to experience.
647* CharacterisationMarchesOn: The dragons' personalities, save for the main characters, seem to change from book to book, especially as they mature physically as well. Most notably, Spit goes from a docile if dumb dragon to a vicious little shit.
648* DarkIsEvil: Kalo isn't precisely evil, but he's navy blue, the darkest colored dragon, and he's also the nastiest in the first book. He gets very slightly nicer over the course of the quadrilogy, especially as Spit starts to develop a personality and takes over that position.
649* DragonRider: *All* of the dragons flatly refuse to even consider the idea, except for Heeby. [[spoiler: When the dragons decide to declare war on Chalced, however, some change their minds, as carrying an Elderling into battle is a far different thing from simply being used as a common mount.]]
650* GiantFlyer: The drakes, once fully grown, especially Kalo.
651* TheHeart: Mercor, again. Without him, the dragons would have killed each other and the keepers long ago. He is unusual in the respect that he cares almost as much for the humans as he does for the dragons, at least in the first two books.
652* {{Hypocrite}}: Sintara is furious to learn that Fitz has used the Skill on ''her'' humans! Of course, he only did that because she abandoned them for years and didn't guy their development herself.
653* InferioritySuperiorityComplex: Sintara's main reason for acting so snobby and superior is that she secretly despises herself for being forced to rely on humans.
654* ItsAllAboutMe: Most of the dragons are extremely narcissistic, but Sintara takes the cake, to the point that the closest thing to affection she expresses for Thymara is to [[spoiler: guide her Elderling transformation to be as close to Sintara's own image as she could.]]
655* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Kalo is outwardly aggressive and vicious, but secretly he does care for his fellow dragons and his keepers.
656* TheLancer: Baliper is, unofficially, the second in command of the dragons. He doesn't have the ability to lead like Mercor, but he's the most intelligent of the dragons and [[TheQuietOne so quiet most of the time]] that they listen to him if he actually speaks.
657* MixAndMatchCritters: They're dragons, but they appear to have feathered frills and spit venom the way cobras do.
658* TheNapoleon: It is rather strongly implied that Spit's level in jerkass came about once he became intelligent enough to realize that he's a mentally disadvantaged runt. He even gets a little bit better once the dragons get established in Kelsingra and get healthier.
659* TheOnlyOne: Baliper's Keeper, Warken, is [[spoiler:killed in a flash flood]]. Baliper refuses to take on a new Keeper afterwards.
660* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: You know that Silver is important when just a drop of it makes ''Spit'' start talking sense.
661* PetTheDog: Although they fundamentally consider their keepers to be lesser beings, most dragons bar Sintara do seem to have varying degrees of affection for them. And even Sintara is surprisingly kind to Thymara during ''Blood of Dragons'', though she had an ulterior motive.
662* TheRightOfASuperiorSpecies: The dragons claim they have the right to take humans and exploit them as they see fit simply because they're better in every way imaginable. They also think humans should be grateful for this.
663* SurvivalMantra: "Kelsingra!"
664* TechnicolorEyes: As they grow, their eyes develop a whirling, multi-colored, hypnotic effect.
665* TeethClenchedTeamwork: The dragons actually don't particularly like each other very much, but they do accept that they need to work together to reach Kelsingra.
666* TookALevelInJerkass: Before taking a name, Spit was actually quite docile and shows distress at discord among the dragons. Afterwards, he's easily the nastiest of the bunch.
667* TookALevelInKindness: Sintara in ''Blood of Dragons'', once she no longer depends on Thymara.
668* TheVoiceless: Heeby can speak, but she's never heard to do so in text. Relpda didn't seem able to speak until being bonded by her keeper, because before she bonded she had little more intelligence than an animal.
669* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Many forms of this are present throughout the series. Some people consider dragons to be nothing more than vicious talking animals, and it's all right to slaughter them for their meat, while people who have spent any time at all with dragons know this to be nonsense. The dragons themselves have this with the less intelligent members of their group; they refuse to consider pre-awakened Relpda and Spit as dragons at all.
670
671[[/folder]]
672
673! Characters introduced in the Fitz and the Fool Trilogy
674
675[[folder:Bee Farseer]]
676
677!!Bee Farseer
678----
679* TheAce: Despite being slow developer (physically), Bee proves adept at many things she's tasked with at a young age - such as artwork, reading, gardening, bee-keeping, candle-making. She's also sharp and intelligent. Bee possesses some ability with [[spoiler: the Wit, extreme sensitivity to the Skill, and has powerful White Prophet dreams.]]
680* AllTheOtherReindeer: The other children bully and shun her, while their parents feel uncomfortable around her.
681* CuteMute: As a very young child.
682* DamselInDistress: [[spoiler: At the end of ''Fool's Assassin'', the Servants kidnap her, believing her to be the Unexpected Son.]]
683* ElectiveMute: Once she is slightly older, particularly after her tongue is 'loosened' and she's able to form coherent sentences. Bee worries that now being able to talk will only make others shun her more.
684* ItSucksToBeTheChosenOne: [[spoiler: It gets you kidnapped, your friends/household raped, abused and murdered, yourself hit, poisoned and starved... and that's all ''before'' she arrives at the hellhole of Clerres.]]
685* SamusIsAGirl: [[spoiler:The Servants are all looking for the 'Unexpected Son'... which they take to mean Bee.]]
686* TraumaCongaLine: In a surprisingly short space of time, Bee [[spoiler: is beaten by other children, loses her mother, meets a dying messenger and helps her father dispose of the body, almost gets kidnapped by a beggar who her father then stabs - before rushing off through a Skill pillar with him. Then she gets kidnapped for ''real'', by people that brutalise her household and kill some of her friends. She escapes her captors only to be betrayed and caught again, and is then pulled through a Skill pillar with them.]] Quite a lot for a small child to handle.
687* WaifProphet: She's a young girl who looks even younger, and possesses the [[spoiler:dreams of a White Prophet.]]
688* OlderThanTheyLook: At the age of nine, she still physically resembles a five year old.
689
690[[/folder]]
691
692[[folder:Shun Fallstar]]
693
694!!Shun Fallstar
695->'''a.k.a [[spoiler: Shine Fallstar]]'''
696----
697* AbusiveParents: Her mother, who treated Shun like a cash cow. When her father stopped paying up, Shun's mother held her hostage and blamed her for her step-father's sexual interest.
698* AlphaBitch: She has an abrasive personality, and a constant need for attention. Despite her neglected childhood (or perhaps because of it), she acts much like a spoilt rich brat.
699* DaddysGirl: From a young age, she [[spoiler: instinctively skilled out to her father. When she discovers her father's indentity, she dotes on him.]]
700* DamselInDistress: After the attack on [[spoiler: Withywoods, she's kidnapped along with Bee.]]
701* DisappearedDad: Her biological father is absent for most of her life. [[spoiler: She discovers his identity in ''Fool's Quest'']]
702* ItsAllAboutMe: She seems to think that everyone else's lives and actions revolve around her. When Fitz discovers his nine-year-old daughter has wandered out of the inn without him knowing, he immediately goes to search. Shun's reaction? (paraphrased) 'Bee can take care of herself, now please go tell that waiter off for ignoring me.'
703* RapeAsDrama: [[spoiler:During the Withywoods attack, she is raped twice by the Chalcedeans. Fortunately, Bee is able to save her from a third assault.]] Combined with her step-father's abusiveness, it seems to have put her off men for life.
704* SurpriseIncest: [[spoiler:Shun and Lant become very close, before discovering that they are half-siblings.]]
705* UnfortunateNames: 'Shun'. It's later revealed that her father named her [[spoiler: 'Shine']], but her abusive mother twisted it.
706
707[[/folder]]
708
709[[folder:[=FitzVigilant=]]]
710
711!![=FitzVigilant=]
712->'''a.k.a [[spoiler: Lantern Fallstar]]'''
713----
714* AbusiveParents: His father is neglectful and his step-mother tries to have him killed so her own sons can have a better advantage. [[spoiler: It's later revealed that Chade is his biological father... so it's only Lant's non-blood parents who are abusive.]]
715* TheAtoner: [[spoiler: Part of why he joins [=FitzChivalry=] on his assassination mission is because he feels like he failed to protect Shun and Bee from the Chalcedeans and Servants.]]
716* TheDeterminator: Regardless of being beaten, stabbed or brainwashed, he will complete a mission if he's set his mind to it.
717* IJustWantToBeBadass: He idolises [=FitzChivalry=], and wants to surpass Chade's image of him as a son.
718* PrivateTutor: Chade sends him to Withywoods for his own protection, under the guise of a tutor.
719* SurpriseIncest: [[spoiler: Shun and Lant become very close, before discovering that they are half-siblings.]]
720* UpperClassTwit: In [=FitzChivalry's=] chapters, the narrative often focuses on Lant's foolishness - both the snobbery and childishness.
721
722[[/folder]]
723
724[[folder:Ash]]
725
726!!Ash
727->'''a.k.a [[spoiler: Spark]]'''
728----
729* AmbiguousGenderIdentity: [[spoiler:Biologically a girl, they grew up believing themselves to be a boy for their own protection. When informed otherwise, Chade helps them establish two personas which they switch between depending on the situation, called Spark when dressed as a girl and Ash when dressed as a boy, thus possibly genderfluid.]]
730* MeaningfulName: [[spoiler: Her mother named her Spark and Ash - Spark as her true self, and Ash as her false identity.]]
731* SamusIsAGirl: [[spoiler: Much to the dismay of Fitz and especially Perseverance, 'Ash' turns out to be a girl.]]
732* SonOfAWhore: [[spoiler: Spark was raised in a brothel by her mother, and was taken into Chade's care when her mother was murdered protecting her.]]
733* SweetPollyOliver: [[spoiler: She was raised from birth to believe that she was a boy, for her own protection. As Chade's apprentice, she continues to operate as a boy when she's 'Ash', and a girl when she's 'Spark']]
734* UndyingLoyalty: To the Fool, after befriending him. Ash considers him an unsung hero for his actions in the earlier trilogies, and even accompanies him [[spoiler: on a dangerous mission through Skill pillars to kill the Servants.]]
735
736[[/folder]]
737
738[[folder:Perseverance]]
739
740!!Perseverance
741----
742* BigBrotherInstinct: Towards Bee. He's one of the few Withywoods children to be kind to her, and once she lands in trouble, [[TheDeterminator he'll stop at nothing to help her.]]
743* BookDumb: He struggles with his lessons, and doesn't see the value in it.
744* NoSell: During the attack on [[spoiler: Withywoods, he is able to resist the compulsion that leaves all the other residents docile and brainwashed. He's also unable to hear the whispering around the Skill pillar]]
745* UndyingLoyalty: To Bee, and by extension, Fitz. He even [[spoiler: follows Fitz through a Skill pillar on a suicide mission to get revenge for Bee's 'death'.]]
746

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