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Fool's Fate

Fool's Fate

Epic FantasyFantasy
Pages
880
Published
2004
Language
English

Synopsis

In the final volume of the Tawny Man trilogy, FitzChivalry Farseer is firmly established in Queen Kettricken's court when Prince Dutiful sets out on a perilous quest to secure peace with the Outislands and win the hand of the Narcheska Elliania. Her people have set the prince a near-impossible condition for the marriage: he must travel to the frozen isle of Aslevjal and behead Icefyre, a black dragon said to lie trapped beneath the glacier. Fitz accompanies the expedition along with his mentor Chade and the slow-witted but immensely powerful Skill-user Thick. Not all the Outisland clans support the venture, and darker forces lie behind Elliania's demand. The dragon is a holy talisman to the Outislanders, and the quest sets competing aims in collision: Chade is determined to see the beast slain to seal the alliance, while the Fool, who has long prophesied the return of dragons to the world, is bound to a contrary fate. The Fool's own foresight warns of his death on this journey, a knowledge that shadows every choice Fitz makes. As the party crosses ice and faces the influence of another White Prophet opposed to the Fool, the novel braids political stakes, the meaning of prophecy, and the depth of the bond between Fitz and the Fool. Hobb delivers an emotionally weighted, bittersweet conclusion that resolves the arc carried across both the Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies.

Prose complexity
7/10

Vibe

EmotionalMelancholicTenseAdventurous
QuestSacrificeMentor FigureFound FamilyBetrayalReluctant HeroMorally GreySurvival

Genres

Epic Fantasy Fantasy High Fantasy

About the author

R
Robin Hobb

Robin Hobb is the principal pen name of American fantasy author Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden, born in 1952 in California. She spent her childhood from around age ten in Fairbanks, Alaska, and that rural Pacific Northwest and Alaskan upbringing informs much of her work. She published her first novel at thirty while working as a waitress and raising four children, her husband often away at sea as a commercial fisherman. From the early 1980s she wrote as Megan Lindholm, producing more grounded, o...

Characters

FitzChivalry FarseerProtagonist

Now settled in Kettricken's court, he joins the Aslevjal expedition torn between the quest's goal and his fear of losing the Fool.

The Pale WomanAntagonist

A rival White Prophet opposed to the Fool's vision, working to prevent the return of dragons.

The FoolSupporting

White Prophet who has foreseen his own death on this journey yet is committed to saving the dragon and securing the future he has worked toward.

Prince DutifulSupporting

Heir charged with beheading the dragon Icefyre to win the Narcheska's hand.

Chade FallstarSupporting

Fitz's mentor, determined to see the dragon slain to seal the Outislands alliance.

All characters in Fool's Fate

Frequently asked questions

  • What task must Prince Dutiful complete in Fool's Fate?

    He must travel to the frozen isle of Aslevjal and behead the dragon Icefyre, said to be trapped beneath the glacier, to win the Narcheska Elliania and secure peace with the Outislands.

  • Who accompanies Fitz on the expedition?

    Fitz travels with his mentor Chade and Thick, a slow-witted servant who is exceptionally strong in the Skill, in support of Prince Dutiful.

  • Why does the Fool oppose killing the dragon?

    As a White Prophet, the Fool has long foreseen and worked toward the return of dragons to the world, so slaying Icefyre runs counter to the future he is trying to bring about.

  • Who is the Pale Woman?

    She is another White Prophet whose vision opposes the Fool's; she works to keep dragons from returning and stands against the Fool's purpose.

  • Does the Fool foresee his own death?

    Yes. The Fool believes this journey may end in his death, and that knowledge weighs heavily on him and on Fitz throughout the book.

  • Is Fool's Fate the end of the Tawny Man trilogy?

    Yes. It is the third and concluding volume, delivering a bittersweet resolution to the arc begun in Fool's Errand.

  • Where does Fool's Fate sit in the wider Realm of the Elderlings?

    It concludes the third trilogy in the sequence, following the Farseer and Liveship Traders trilogies and preceding the Rain Wild Chronicles and the later Fitz and the Fool trilogy.

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