Literature: Realm of the Elderlings aka: Liveship Traders
Fitz and Nighteyes, by Michael Whelan
The Realm of the Elderlings is the universe in which the majority of Robin Hobb's work takes place. It is currently comprised of the Farseer, Liveship Traders and Tawny Man trilogies and the Rain Wilds Chronicles quartet, as well as at least one upcoming book. There are also the related stories "Homecoming", "The Inheritance", "Words Like Coins", "Blue Boots" and "Cat's Meat".
The Magic Comes Back: All the series except the Farseer one revolve to a greater or lesser extent around the return of dragons and their Elderling servants.
Our Dragons Are Different: Dragons are intelligent can fly and breath acid as a weapon. They also have a complex life cycle beginning as Sea Serpents, going upriver to cocoonthemselves and emerging as dragons. The disruption of this cycle is what created the current state of the world
The Farseer Trilogy:
Assassin's Apprentice
Royal Assassin
Assassin's Quest
Abusive Parents: Molly's father. Molly herself becomes like this later, until someone intervenes.
And I Must Scream: the Heroic Sacrifice skill coteries tend to end up making, along with their skill coteries. Eventually, the coteries are drawn to the Dragon quarry, where they'll carve a new dragon and join with it, to sleep until the Kingdom needs them. It's not presented as a particularly horrible fate, however.
Angst: Fitz tends towards this mindset, sometimes dropping into Wangst territory.
Annoying Arrows: Averted. Fitz gets hit with one and only his badassery and Determinatorness allow him to keep going. It nearly kills him and it takes weeks for him to recover.
Bad Ass Bookworm: Fitz cover as an amateur/apprentice scribe, in which he gains the respect of several nobles in the course of his real work. The third book also reveals that he has become an amateur historian and scholar, possibly the only reliable one at the time. Chade as well probably counts, since he's more or less a Mad Scientist who invents gunpowder on the side.
Best Her to Bed Her: Somewhat implied with Malta Vestrit, with her subconscious view of herself and Reyn showing an ancient kidnapping marriage.
Break the Cutie: Happens to Fitz over the course of the series, pretty badly (Most people consider him good, if not very good looking, though this is revealed retroactively).
Broken Bird: Burrich's gruff exterior goes along with an even gruffer past. Being taken into slavery, losing his family, losing Lady Patience to Chivalry, then being Kicked Upstairs to stable master after 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.
Cain and Abel: Regal's feud with Chivalry and Verity. His mother hammered it into him that he was "better" than his half-brothers because she was higher-born than Chivalry and Verity's mother, and he never forgot it.
Career Killers: Fitz, of course, and Chade. Somewhere between the "assassin" and "hitman" subtypes, as they are assassins in name and double as spies, working undercover, meaning they have some status, but the actual killing is considered "dirty work", carried out by bastard children to the princes and kings of the royal family. And should you not longer be under the protection of the king ...
Chekhov's Gun: On his way to assassinate Prince Regal, Fitz encounters the half-mad bond companion of a Witted man Regal had tortured to death. The insane little ferret is bent on killing Regal, as well, intending on slashing open his throat and drinking his blood, and Fitz wishes him well, as one assassin to another. In the book's epilogue, Regal is described as having died in his bed in a way that implies Small Ferret got to him in the end, after all.
Also the Witness Stones. They are first introduced in Assassin's Apprentice. Two books later, in Assassin's Quest, the Skill pillars, which grant teleportation, are introduced and get an idea about their origins. Then, in Fool's Fate, eight books after first being introduced, the Fool uses the Witness Stones to travel to the Outislands.
The Caligula: Prince Regal fits this to a tee, complete with decadent parties, a drug habit, gladiators fighting for his amusement and a sadistic penchant for Cold-Blooded Torture.
Comic Book Adaptation: A French production that has only been translated into Dutch so far.
Deadpan Snarker: Nighteyes, who never 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.
Deadly Decadent Court: Usually not decadent, but the first books are called Royal Assassin and Assassin's Apprentice for a reason.
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.
The Fool: Played for laughs at times, subverted in that the Fool is actually an intelligent, educated Mad Oracle. Arguably he is more The Jester, at least at first.
Heir Club For Men: Subverted. The line of succession moves to the next heir, regardless of gender. The current generation of Farseer royalty is made up completely of Mr. Fanservice, but female rulers are just as common as male ones.
Heroes Prefer Swords: Averted. Fitz usually uses a sword, but he actually prefers an axe, and his teachers comment occasionally that he just doesn't have the talent to be a particularly good swordsman.
Heroic Albino: The Fool, who begins the trilogy with white skin and hair.
Heroic Bastard: Guess. Chade, too, since out-of-wedlock children to royalty are often made assassins.
Heel Face Brainwashing: Regal's penultimate fate. Fitz blasts his mind with the compulsion of absolute loyalty to Kettricken, and he spends a few weeks being nice and helping undo the clusterfuck he'd made out of the Six Duchies before getting his throat torn out in the middle of the night by the crazed companion of one of the Witted he'd had killed.
Ho Yay: Between Fitz and the Fool; starts at a small scale in Royal Assassin.
Hunk: Fitz, along with being a pretty boy. He's an ax-wielding oarsman. There's no way he's not stacked.
Idiot Ball: The amount of trust nearly everyone including Kettricken, who knows for a fact that Regal ordered her brother's death in the end of the first book extends towards Regal is pretty amazing.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Fitz, particularly in "Assassin's Quest." After spending most of the book planning on going home to Molly to raise their child once he's done saving the kingdom, he winds up deciding to never seek her out, as he gets a Skill vision showing her falling in love with Burrich.
Living Legend: The Fitz earns a reputation as a fighter before "dying". After dying, he continues to earn a reputation as a witted sinner, but still serving his king.
It's established that magic should be more common than it is, and more impressive, but Galen suppressed and badly mishandled all the coolest powers of The Skill while those with The Wit are actively persecuted.
The series is really more of an after the end of magic scenario since the rise of magic seems to be dovetail with the return of the dragons. The dragons themselves, and the high fantasy society that developed with them, were eliminated in an eariler unexplained catastrophe.
Mad Oracle: The Fool, though 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?
Master Poisoner: This is a large part of Fitz's training in Assassin's Apprentice.
Meaningful Name: Babies born in noble families are usually named after a virtue, in belief child assimilates said virtue as a crucial part of his/hers personality. Thus we have Lords Chivalry, Verity, Bright, Shrewd, Dutiful and Ladies Patience, Constance, Faith, Celerity and Grace, among others.
First when he was given into the care of his father's family; he loses the name given him by his mountain mother, which he doesn't remember until the end of the third trilogy and is given the name Fitz Chivalry by his uncle Verity.
Third is his new identity in the third trilogy. Tom, the name given him by Patience, Badgerlock, for the white scalp lock given him in Regal's dungeon.
Mind Rape: Part of what the Skill can do to someone, forcing pain, attacking their mind, or forcing compulsions onto someone. It's even possible to fry someone's mind entirely with a Skill-blast, though the feedback is pretty nasty when that happens.
New Powers as the Plot Demands: Fitz ends up doing some amazing things with the Skill once he's under pressure or asleep. Much of this is the result of mental blocks he's built up (or had inflicted upon him) against the Skill that make it difficult for him to consciously control it; his natural Skill strength is pretty phenomenal when he actually can get to it.
Ninja Maid: Lacey, the "best student Hod ever taught."
Not Using the Z Word / Technically Living Zombie: The Forged. They stumble around in groups taking or killing what they want with no heed for their own safety and will even resort to cannibalism on a whim if there's no other food casually lying about. Technically, they act more like The Soulless, but the aimless, unabashed wandering in large groups definitely evokes feelings of a Zombie Apocalypse.
Our Dragons Are Different: the Myth Arc's first version of dragons are sculptures made of magical stone and imbued with the memories of Skill coteries; additionally, true dragons are given a twist in that they have a butterfly-esque life cycle in which sea serpents spin cocoons and then hatch as dragons.
Really 700 Years Old: Kettle, who thanks to the skill has managed to live more than 200 years.
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Pretty much everyone, most obviously the Mountain Kingdom. Inverted with Regal, who plots and schemes to power but thinks he has a right to be a layabout, drug addicted Jerkass.
Rite of Passage: Fitz hints at having one of these to mark passage into manhood. It's one of the few things he doesn't expound upon, as its not considered seemly to discuss in mixed company.
Royal Brat: Regal starts out as this, but later he becomes worse. Much, much worse.
Secret Test of Character: Fitz gets one as part of his assassin training early on. Chade instructs him to steal something of King Shrewd's as a prank, then gets angry with him when he balks; in reality, they're testing him to see if his loyalty to Chade, one of the only mentors he's ever known, is strong enough to override his loyalty to Shrewd. Fitz passes via Take a Third Option, at which point Chade admits the entire thing was Shrewd's idea.
It should be mentioned that this was probably a major pass/fail exam on Fitz's part; there's at least some chance that Shrewd would have had him killed quietly if he'd failed.
Seers: Apart from the white prophets, there's also the first Farseer who was named thus because he could see the future.
Shoot the Dog: Subverted, at least in the first book; Burrich just gave the dog away. However, the sharp pain of the bond being broken forcibly by Burrich's Wit led Fitz to believe that he'd killed the dog, and to hate and fear Burrich for it for years.
Sibling Triangle: Kettle was part of one in her past, which lead to her exile
Slut Shaming: Not too bad, but the threats to Molly begin with being forced out of the castle in shame. Fitz's reputation is also likely to suffer, though not as much. Minstrels are explicitly free from the shame normally attaching to sluttly liaisons.
Stay in the Kitchen: Kettricken 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.
Stern Teacher: Burrich. Incredibly gruff and almost universally loved.
Averted with Chade, who sometimes falls under the Trickster Mentor, but is terribly laid back considering how serious his job is.
Take a Third Option: Fitz passes his Secret Test of Character this way. Rather than steal something from Shrewd in order to pass one of Chade's tasks, he goes to meet with Shrewd, then picks up and hides a fruit knife with Shrewd watching, without saying a word, then slams it into Chade's mantle the next time they meet.
The Exile: Kettle was exiled for killing her coterie mates.
Fitz went into a self-imposed one at the end of the books.
Theme Naming: Traditionally, noble-born (especially of the royal line) are named for traits and virtues, with the folklore claiming that they would grow to exhibit the traits for which they were named. Commoners tend to have simple names denoting a profession.
The Theme Naming does pan out, from what we see. Shrewd is a cunning old bastard, Verity is honest and blunt-spoken, Chivalry is said to have edged into Honor Before Reason territory. Regal arguably lives up to his name as well, considering its connotations do fit with the power and wealth that are his entire pursuit in life.
Badass Preacher: Wintrow develops into this as the books wear on
Because You Can Cope: Part of Ephron's implied rationale for leaving the family Liveship to Keffria was that Althea was competent enough to make it on her own, whereas Keffria and her children were dependent on Kyle, and Ephron didn't trust Kyle's ability to provide for them without Vivacia.
Bifauxnen: Althea as Athel is more than a little attractive to women, including Jek.
Continuity Nod: when Amber resculpts the ship Paragon's visage in order to restore its eyes, the end result is heavily implied to be Fitz the assassin. In The Tawny Man, this turns out to have been a Chekhov's Boomerang.
Corrupt Church: The church of Sa in Jamailla City has turned corrupt, and now collaborates with the slave traders.
Dark and Troubled Past: Dear Sa, Kennit has one. Paragon's past at least rivals Kennit's. So does Brashen, albeit on a considerably smaller scale than Kennit.
Dead Guy Junior: a variation: Etta and Kennit's son is named Paragon, after the ship
Freudian Excuse: Kennit's being held prisoner and raped as a child and, more dramatically, becoming a sociopath due to investing his traumatic memories in Paragon. Note that putting memories into wizardwood or skill stone, as with the stone dragons, is shown to remove the emotional attachment the person has to those memories throughout the series. While it might come off as strange, it is consistent with how that type of magic works in the series.
Half-Identical Twins: An odd variation where Althea and Wintrow are described as almost identical, although they're aunt and nephew
Idiot Ball: almost all of the problems in the first book are directly caused by Ronica entrusting the family liveship not to her nice but unorthodox daughter Althea, but to the harsh and brutal husband of her other daughter, Kyle. Within the first few chapters, Kyle alienates his wife, disrupts the life of his son, chases Althea out of the family, supports his daughter becoming a manipulative vixen, kicks out most of the ship's crew, and turns the newly awakened family ship to slave trading.
Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Satrap Cosgo is made more prudent and pragmatic by his ordeals, but every time you think he's learned something about empathy, graciousness, or humility as well, he turns out to be as big of a Jerkass as ever.
Slut Shaming: The tenor of Bingtown society is more conservative than Six Duchies, and the shaming women face is more severe. Althea in particular gets a lot of it, including from her own sister in one important incident from their youth. Jek, who actually is implied to be promiscuous, is notably immune to being shamed because of her forceful personality.
Disability Superpower: Thick, who combines the mind of a child with enough power in the Skill magic that he may be the most powerful Skill-user in the series.
Earn Your Happy Ending: Fitz loses a surprising number of dear and personal friends and opportunities, but in the end, finds a life that he can be content with.
Epileptic Trees: In-universe, they're planted and kept by Prince Dutiful, who's left to draw his own conclusions rather than given the truth from the start. No wonder he comes up with explanations such as Tom Badgerlock being Chade's and Lady Thyme's son.
Evil Counterpart: the Pale Woman to the Fool. She's even described as looking almost exactly like a female version of him, except with perfectly white skin to contrast with the steady darkening of the Fool's skin.
Generation Xerox: Frequently lampshaded.The biggest example is Dutiful, who is biologically Fitz's son and who takes after Chivalry a bit more than Verity.
Halfway Plot Switch: The trilogy starts out with a book about prince Dutiful's abduction by the Piebalds, with his upcoming betrothal to an Outislander princess a background detail. The Outislands plotline becomes more prominent in the second book and completely makes up the third book, while the Piebald storyline becomes less prominent and is ultimately resolved off-page in the third book.
The High Queen: Kettricken has become this in the 15 year interlude since Assassin's Quest, with Chade's help.
Ho Yay: Fitz and Fool again and this time on an even bigger scale. Overlaps with TearjerkerWhen Fool confesses his love for Fitz and Fitz has to go and leave him.
Living Legend: The Witted Bastard is widely suspected to be alive, he has become the symbol for two political movements within the secret, witted communities. And now he's returned to court as a mysterious adviser to the Queen and to Prince Dutiful.
Mistaken for Gay: Fitz by almost everyone, including his family and ex-lover. Or not, because several of these think that The Fool is a girl.
The Rainman: Subverted. Thick's Power Incontinence makes him a sheer terror to train until the end of the last book, and because of his childish mind, when he's uncomfortable or upset he can't help but radiate those feelings outward. It's enough to make people who aren't even sensitive to the Skill share his seasickness.
Fitz is sort of retired at the start of Fool's Errand, having vanished after the end of the Red Ship War fifteen years ago. The end of the first trilogy heavily reinforces this, as it ambiguously paints Fitz as very old and well past his prime at the time of this trilogy (he is in fact in his early thirties). This is explained in Fool's Fate: Fitz poured so much of himself into Girl-on-a-Dragon that he wasn't really alive afterwards.
Samus Is a Girl: the Fool. Or perhaps not. The books are never entirely clear on the Fool's gender. He comes from a culture where gender isn't considered a big deal, and finds Starling's curiosity hilarious.
Scry vs. Scry: Hinted at in the first trilogy; made much more obvious. The entire plot of the books revolves around the Fool and the Pale Woman's opposing views of what the future should be like and their attempts to enforce their version.
Slut Shaming: People heap shame on Fitz and Lord Golden for their perceived promiscuities. Svanja's father is distraught over what she and Hap are doing, and starts a fight with Fitz over it.
The Unreveal: the Fool's gender. Possibly to show that Fitz has come to accept the Fool's own view that it isn't important.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Purposefully invoked and then Averted. through both series, it's implied we'll never find out the exact circumstances around Chivalry's death. In a chapter heading, it outright says his Wicked Stepmother probably had him killed to grease Regal's ascent to the throne.
Bond Creatures: As some of the dragons and keepers become closer, or keepers drink the dragon's blood, this sort of relationship develops between them.
Duology Creep: First being planned out as one book, the story grew so long that it was released as two books. And now her forthcoming sequel has grown to two books too.
Fantastic Racism: the Rain Wilders, who already grow dragonish physical traits as they get older, want anyone born with these defects abandoned at birth. Those who survive are forbidden to breed and are generally treated like crap.
Heroes Want Redheads: averted at first when nobody wants Alise except the guy looking for a beard, played straight later.
I Know Your True Name: According to Sintara: no dragon could lie to someone who demanded the truth with her true name or used it properly when asking a question. Nor could a dragon break an agreement if she entered into it under her true name.
Wings Do Nothing: most of the dragons don't have well-developed enough wings to fly, though they discover that a good diet and practicing flying helps a lot. Thymara's wings, as yet, qualify as this.
0 reviews