Read the previous entry in the series here.
Read the next entry in the series here.

---

An excerpt from a travelogue discussing the White Prophets precedes “The Raid,” which chapter begins with Bee noting her return to Withywoods with Lant and Shun. She reports a gloss of their comments, and she marks their arrival at her home with displeasure. They leave her behind in the stables, from which household servants retrieve her and make over her. She reports events to them, although she meets with some disbelief at her account. But after she is assisted in and into her chambers, Bee tries to puzzle out more of what she has experienced and what her father said to her, repairing to his study to do so. Within, she confers with Wolf-Father, who offers comfort and cryptic wisdom.

Bee wakes in the morning to a busy estate as it makes preparations for the Winterfest holiday. Bee is again tended to, making ready for the day as she puzzles yet further. She manages to slip away to her private sanctum in the walls, spending a little time there before sitting to her lessons. Perseverance joins her there, discussing with her the dogs that Fitz had acquired. Lessons begin at length, going poorly until commotion outside prompts their interruption. Investigation soon reveals the commotion to be an attack on Withywoods, and Bee and Perseverance urge the other children to flee to safety. Bee opens the hidden corridors of Withywoods to them, and she and Perseverance attempt to obscure their passage. Their flight continues, and they see the members of the household and their assailants, the latter interrogating the former.

Perseverance heads off to seek his father, leaving Bee to hide herself. She sneaks back towards the estate, determined suddenly to protect a people she recognizes as her own, but she encounters Perseverance. The two ride in haste for the nearest town, but their passage is marked, and they are pursued. Perseverance is injured, and Bee is taken, seemingly ensorcelled by the delight of her attackers at finding “the unexpected son” at last.

The epilogue that follows turns to Fitz and a rumination on memory–and the descent of his life beginning then.

And here it is, the end of the novel–and what an ending! If it is the case that the previous chapter identifies the principal forces at work in the novel, the final chapter brings them into view more overtly and personalizes the problem they present for Fitz, which problem he realizes in the epilogue. The chapter also points up the instability of gender categories in the Elderlings novels, a topic treated by Katavić, Mohon, Räsänen, Sanderson, and Schouwenaars (find abstracts and citations to the pieces in question here, please), among others; Bee, despite being female and presenting as feminine, is regarded by her captors as being a brother and an unexpected son.

It might be thought that placing such an assertion on the lips of antagonistic characters renders the assertion a faulty one, something to be scorned. As with many things Hobb does, however, the presentation is more nuanced than that. The Fool, after all, believes that the figure sought by the Servants is a son, and, on his word, Fitz looks for a son springing from the Fool. The latter should, from experience, be wary of such claims from the Fool, there having been significant tension about the Fool’s willingness (and ability) to present as a woman. The former, knowing from lived experience that such categories are unstable–certainly as applies to the Fool–have even less excuse. It must be noted, however, that Hobb often presents her protagonists as being wrong; it’s a touch of authenticity I appreciate, overall, although the (large) part of me that reads affectively is annoyed at some of the failings on display.

As if I do any better in my own life. (I likely do not.)

If I return again to Freytag’s pyramid (which may or may not be useful, admittedly) and regard the trilogy as the structure at work (which is more useful, given that even the edition I am reading–a first edition–shows “Book I of the Fitz and the Fool Trilogy” on its jacket), the final chapter and epilogue of the first volume can be read as having presented the inciting incident, ending formal exposition and setting up for rising action to come in the second book of the series. From the chapter and epilogue, and without thinking in terms of a rereading, the rising action could well be expected to be flight of Bee’s kidnappers and pursuit thereof by Fitz–although reading within the context of Hobb’s Elderlings novels and, more broadly, in her body of work would suggest that there will be no shortage of complications for both groups. Indeed, it would hardly be a Fitz novel without him running into problems, no few of his own making. (Another point of affective identification, that.) It’s been some time since I’ve read the text, however, and longer since it was more than a scan for passages to cite in the service of some argument I was trying to make. I don’t remember if I’m right…but I look forward to finding out.

I’m happy to write to order for you–at reasonable rates, too!
Fill out the form below to get your bespoke writing started!

Or you can send your support along directly!