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There is some discussion of suicide in what follows.

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The next chapter, “Mind of a Dragon,” opens with brief in-milieu commentary from Fedwren about the Elderlings before pivoting to Fitz setting to work with Chade’s blasting powder. At Dutiful’s direction, he proceeds to the location appointed for the blast, his thoughts turning to Burrich, Molly, and Nettle as he goes, and he begins to lay out the required materials. The pair struggle to get the required fire started, and Fitz sends Dutiful away to help Burrich. His mind wanders, and Icefyre communes with him through his magics.

The dragon conveys his long-held intent to die in the wake of the undoing of his species (about which some here and here). Fitz understands that Icefyre had come to Aslevjal for a quiet, dignified death, from which human efforts and his own flesh prevent him. In the wake of the revelation and the retreat of Icefyre’s mind from his own, Fitz assesses the situation, thinking through implications as he has long been taught how to do. The assessment convinces him to turn away from killing Icefyre, and he reaches for the dragon through the Skill, calling out to Nettle for aid and holding Chade at bay in his mind. Nettle is overwhelmed by the dragon, as is Fitz, and Thick’s power in the Skill recovers them both.

Fitz returns to himself to find chaos. The dragon is beginning to rouse, Dutiful’s party is in a frenzy, and the Pale Woman announces through the Skill that she will begin to work her worst upon the Fool.

A couple of things come to mind as I reread the chapter this time. One is that the time scales involved in the Elderlings novels are…substantial. Geologic change and the progress of glaciation are not rapid things, and even if such cataclysms as befell the Realm of the Elderlings themselves work quickly, the erasure of so much as is noted to have been lost suggests an even longer time than does the linguistic drift suggested in a number of the prefatory comments in Fitz’s narrative. (I’m sure there’s some paper to be written there, honestly. Maybe I will be the one to write it.)

The other is a return to something that I’ve noted in the Elderlings novels previously. Hobb once again motions towards circumstances in which suicide would be an acceptable outcome. Fitz had earlier been involved in such considerations, as had the liveship Paragon. Icefyre, facing what seems to be a lingering existence as the only member of his species, would seem to have good reason to give up. But then, the dragon’s understanding of circumstances is incomplete–as had been that of Fitz and others. So maybe there is something to consider there, too…

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“Reunion,” the following chapter, begins with an excerpt from a letter from Queen Desire detailing her reaction to the introduction of Fitz to Buckkeep at Shrewd’s behest. It moves on to follow Fitz’s progress from the Pale Woman’s caverns to Dutiful’s encampment, beleagured by the cold and guided briefly by the Black Man. He is brought back in and treated as he is debriefed, and he learns how Thick had been found–both by Dutiful’s company and by Burrich, whose own arrival is detailed.

The Witted coterie joins the throng with food and further aid, and Web marvels at Burrich’s use of the Wit to help treat Fitz; his comments provoke the other man, and Web leaves. Conference about what has been learned and its implications commences, and Dutiful summons Peottre and Elliania. When they arrive, Peottre flatly begs for aid, joined by Elliania, and more of the Pale Woman’s perfidy is laid bare. Plans for how to proceed with killing Icefyre and destroying the Pale Woman are noted, involving Chade’s blasting powder, Fitz volunteering to spare Dutiful and despite Burrich’s protests. And as Fitz goes about his work, Burrich takes him aside and says words to him that he has long needed to say, that Fitz has needed to hear–with a promise of more to come.

The rush I noted earlier seems to be accelerating, pieces being slotted into place in evident haste because they need to be in place. I continue to be somewhat put off by it, even all these years later–because I have been reading this novel for years, since it was published, and hungrily though I did so and do so, this morsel is not necessarily to my taste.

And I am not sure how to regard the content of the chapter in light of what has happened in the world recently. I know that it is not “fair” to assess a given work by the standards of times other than its own, and even eighteen years (the book was published in 2004, and I reread it for the present writing in 2022) occasions quite a bit of change. But I also know that one of the ways in which a work’s quality is borne out is that it continues to speak to audiences well after it emerges into the world, and while it may be the case that I read the work with nostalgic longing–my later undergraduate years were not bad ones, though they were not as good for me as grad school was–I cannot help but think that it would still show up well even had I not the prior experience with it. I am a different reader now than I was then, though, and not only because I have much, much more in the way of formal training; the eighteen years of lived experience has a lot to do with it, as well, and the reading now…I do not know.

How much longer the world in which I live will allow for such things is unclear. I fear it will be less long than might be liked.

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Read the next entry in the series here.

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The next chapter, “In the Realm of the Pale Woman,” begins with commentary about the White Prophets before turning to Fitz regaining consciousness in captivity, bound and brought before the Pale Woman. She is described as Fitz and the Fool are presented to her amid her gathered servants, a dragon in the midst of being carved, and the feral figure of Kebal Rawbread. The Pale Woman laughingly explicates his situation and theirs to Fitz before having them separated and taken to individual cells.

Fitz surveys his cell as he is thrown into it, but he is not held there long. Instead, he is conducted to the Pale Woman’s chambers, where she is attended to as he looks on. Reluctantly, he washes and is shaved before sitting to table with her at her bidding, and after the meal, the Pale Woman expounds upon her ideas to him, interleaving her plans with no little inveighing against the Fool. Fitz feels his Skill begin to return among the discourse, and the Pale Woman moves to work her own Skill upon him to seduce him. He resists, however, and attacks her–ineffectively, in the event–when he sees what has been done to the Fool.

Enraged, the Pale Woman has Fitz and the Fool brought to her throne room again, where she sacrifices one of her prisoners to the nascent dragon and to Kebal Rawbread’s hunger. She has the Fool bound for his own sacrifice and tasks Fitz with the killing of Icefyre–to which he agrees, even as the Fool is tortured before him. Fitz is turned out into the snows on Aslevjal and left to find his way again.

There is more than a bit of fanservice in the present chapter, and as I reread it again, I found myself wondering why it was there, why it was so overt. I mean, I get why the Pale Woman would want to seduce Fitz into doing her bidding; a willing participant is better than an unwilling one, the later being likely to look for ways to subvert and suborn even amid coerced compliance. But having the heavy-handed attempt seems…out of keeping for a prophetic figure who would normally be expected to be both long-lived and long-seeing; it doesn’t seem very thought out or thought ahead, and that seems to be at odds with the whole thing of the White Prophets. Perhaps it is a part of what I’ve seen as the primary point where Hobb’s writing falters–the rush to the end, about which I have commented on occasion (April 2013 and August 2015). It’s as if Hobb has an “Oh, shit, I have to finish the novel!” moment, and it still sits less than well with me, a decade later (and more, really). And that’s a shame, because I clearly like how Hobb writes–well enough to write my MA thesis on her work and to return to it after giving up on being a “real” academic.

Loving something doesn’t mean being blind to its problems, though. But at least the problems are as they are and not worse ones…

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

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The succeeding chapter, “Corridors,” opens with a brief note about Aslevjal Island before turning to Fitz and the Fool investigating the first dungeon, the door to which is described in some detail–as are its inmates, including the two who had been dispatched to retrieve supplies. One of them is dead, the other Forged–along with the three other inhabitants of the cell. The Fool pleads with Fitz to aid them, but Fitz refuses, noting that he would be as likely to be killed as to kill them and that their essential humanity is already lost.

Fitz and the Fool proceed, finding other prisoners and additional signs of habitation beneath the ice. They find a tidal chamber in their explorations and are turned back, and they manage to find where Icefyre lies, with evidence that someone has already tried to kill the dragon, without success. The Fool espies the Black Man and gives chase, along with Fitz, and while they are in pursuit, they are themselves taken captive, Fitz knocked unconscious.

I note with some interest a small detail at the end of the chapter. As he and the Fool are ambushed, Fitz notes that he “plunged [his] blade into the wolf-hide tunic of the first man who leaped upon” him. It could have been reindeer-hide, bear-hide, seal-skin, or any number of other things; it was, instead, a wolf. A character who had himself inhabited the body of a wolf and who had long enjoyed a psychic bond with one stabs another lupine-associated figure–justifiably so, certainly, but still…I’ve seen the comment made that Hobb delights in being cruel to her characters, and while I cannot speak to its accuracy (though I think not), it is another insult piled upon Fitz, who, despite the many, many bad decisions he has made, does not deserve quite so many as he has received.

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The following chapter, appropriately titled “Below the Ice,” starts with in-milieu historical comments from Fedwren before returning to the excavation work. Dutiful, Elliania, and Peottre all join in the heavy work, as do the Witted who have accompanied Dutiful, the Fool, and the Hetgurd representatives. Chade sends for more supplies, although Peottre is dubious about the errand, and Fitz notes the striated layers that indicate annual snowfalls, pondering the ancientry of the dragon in question.

Fitz also considers relative strengths in the Wit, as well as Thick’s infatuation with the dragon. The perils of Skill use are recalled, and Fitz’s own talent with the magic remains quiet. Dutiful makes contact with Nettle through the Skill, and Fitz is given more reason to regret his decisions to keep her away from Buckkeep earlier in her life. His lessons in the Wit with Web also continue, if quietly.

Chade expresses his worries about the pair sent to retrieve supplies and decides to dispatch Fitz, Thick, and the Fool to retrieve the pair and the supplies. Fitz agrees, and he persuades the Fool to accompany him along the way. Their trip goes pleasantly enough at first, with Fitz noting Thick’s improvement–done via the Skill–and that they are observed. The group does encounter difficulty with their trail, the glacier opening before them, and Fitz and the Fool are swallowed into it.

Fitz and the Fool find themselves in an icy cavern that they begin to search out. At some length, they come into ice-caves that have been worked; signs of occupation are clear to Fitz. The Fool grows apprehensive as they proceed and come “to the first dungeon” as the chapter ends.

There’s nothing ominous about that ending at all, is there?

It is, of course, time for this kind of thing to be happening. The present chapter is in the last half of the final book of the trilogy; the final conflict that has been foreshadowed–and how!–for quite a while, even going back to an early chapter in the second Elderlings novel, is imminent from the genre (which remains Tolkienian epic fantasy even if there are some adjustments in sourcing from North America and focus on a less-noble character) and the position in the book. Dropping the deuteragonists down a hole may seem something of a deus ex machina, I admit, but I have opined about the utility of the device, and, well, the books that involve the Fool do tend to center around questions of predestination (even if translation and gender studies seem to be the dominant threads in criticism at this point), so perhaps some machination will necessarily be at work in them. (Maybe, someday, I’ll develop the project. But this isn’t the day for it; I’ve got too much other work to do.)

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Or maybe you can help me?

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

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The next chapter, “Ice,” opens with a letter from the Old Blood to Kettricken. It moves then to initial efforts to tunnel to Icefyre, the manner of which is described in some detail. Fitz works throughout the day, and in the evening, Chade and Dutiful confer with him about Thick’s seeming distraction by the dragon and Fitz’s own continued absence in the Skill. The Prince and his advisor purpose to reach out to Nettle via the Skill, and their talk turns to the Hetgurd representatives before ranging to the Fool, and Fitz finds himself pulled between the Fool and his old mentor until Dutiful expressly charges him to follow his conscience in the matter.

The three continue to converse, Dutiful noting Elliania’s reluctance to keep him on the appointed task. They try to puzzle out the source for the command and the compulsion, and Fitz is dismissed, his lack of Skill making him no help to what must come next. After some brief survey, he calls upon the Fool, hearing the latter’s tale of arriving at Aslevjal–including a trip through Skill-pillars and aloft astride Girl-on-a-Dragon once again. Fitz drifts off amid the tale and wakes to find himself at peace with the sleeping Fool.

The present chapter makes reference to Fitz’s investiture of Girl-on-a-Dragon with a number of his own more painful memories, an excision of pain from himself. It is an adolescent fantasy, of course, to be able to simply pull out of one’s own mind memories of trauma and torment; they inhere in the mind and body far too deeply to be so treated, unless by some strange magic to which the readers have access only through the reading. And it is one I find I still indulge; there’s enough in my past that I’d forget if I could, certainly, but I cannot do so. (Admittedly, most of it consists of reminders of my own poor judgment. It’s part of why I don’t do a lot; I’m worried about screwing up once again.) But I am obliged to wonder what I have forgotten and what I have lost because I have forgotten what I have–and I have no Fool to my Fitz, though I would not be happy to put myself into his position, certainly.

Affective as my reading is and tends to be, I know better than to think that I would do well in such situations as the books I read depict. Years of sedentary study and of trying to live the life to which they tend do not prepare a body well for adventure, after all…

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Read the previous entry in the series here.
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A chapter titled “Icefyre” follows, opening with an in-milieu translation of an Out Island story before turning to Fitz continuing to suffer the aftereffects of his unexpected dosing with elfbark. When he finally comes to, he finds Web attending him. The older man quietly notes that he has sussed out Fitz’s loss of access to the Skill, and the two converse, Web making clear his distaste for the use of such drugs as elfbark.

Their conversation continues, Web enjoying having the chance to speak with Fitz regarding his magics and the community of which he can be part because of them, until they are distracted by a strange swelling within the Wit. At Fitz’s question, Web begins to offer instruction in uses of the Wit other than those Fitz had instinctively known, giving Fitz some practice as they arrive in the company of the others in Dutiful’s party.

They arrive with them to find an argument in progress regarding Icefyre and how to approach the task of his destruction. Information about the dragon is offered, and aspersion heaped upon Dutiful and upon the Narwhal Clan that has caused his challenge to be in place. The Witted members of Dutiful’s party confirm that Icefyre is present and lives, thought they do not understand how it can be so, and Dutiful himself asks Narcheska to release him from the promise made rashly. She does not, and more argument about the manner of taking Icefyre proceeds, leaving Fitz to consider many unfortunate possibilities and the likely need of his clandestine skills. Meanwhile, the Witted coterie finds the place in the ice where the dragon is most likely to be, and a plan to dig to him is begun.

The present chapter is just shy of halfway through the novel. It is clear that a turning point in the narrative has been reached, both in terms of the physical object of the book (I am reading a print copy) and of the sense of story; the present chapter reads as a sort of narrative pause. Matters will soon accelerate–and I look forward to being swept along by the novel once again!

I’m always grateful for your support!

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

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The succeeding chapter, “Elfbark,” opens with a brief passage from an in-milieu herbal that reinforces the addictive nature of the plant. It turns then to Fitz reporting to Dutiful and Chade after a night of poor sleep, reporting the Fool’s suppositions about Civil’s erstwhile fiancée. They purpose to set up Skill-communication with Nettle at Buckkeep, and, after a tense exchange, Fitz excuses himself from his prince and his mentor.

Fitz sees to Thick and learns from him that bad dreams were broadly afoot the previous evening, such as even Nettle could not address. Fitz considers it as camp is struck and the journey up Aslevjal continues. Talk with the Fool commences, soon turning to the Elderlings and such of their nature as the Fool has been able to uncover and determine. Progress up Aslevjal is slow and tiresome, wearing on Thick, and at length, he lashes out through the Skill at Fitz. Fitz walls himself off from the Skill and realizes in short order that the magic is being used against not only him, but the whole party; Thick comes to the same realization shortly afterward. The two reach an accord and join the rest at length.

Fitz and Thick are summoned to attend on Dutiful and Chade, and Fitz reports as he is able, warning of the Skill being deployed against them. They are interrupted by Peottre arriving, offering cakes laced with elfbark–which herb Fitz is aware of too late to help himself, though he prevents Thick from taking any, and he gives a coded warning to Chade. Chade heeds it, joining Fitz in preventing Thick from eating any of the drug, and he dismissed Fitz, intimating that he should try to purge himself.

Fitz makes the attempt, with little success, and he finds his way to the Fool for aid. The Fool takes him in and is taken aback at the effects of the elfbark upon him: “It’s never affected you that way before.” The effects are detailed, including pulling at his hair and lip–and the melancholy that sets in on elfbark users begins to take hold of Fitz, to the Fool’s chagrin.

This is not the first chapter in an Elderlings novel to bear the title “Elfbark,” clearly, though Hobb can be forgiven for recycling a title more than two hundred chapters later. I can imagine that comparing the two chapters directly might make for an interesting short work–alas, that I have not Marvell’s world enough and time! I do, however, note the greater attention to the drug’s immediate effects in the present chapter than I recall being the case previously, and I am reminded of particular experience in my work at the substance use treatment center. Again, Hobb does well at putting forth the verisimilitude with the mundane she cites as necessary for effective fantasy–and I am glad of it, even if I am a bit uncomfortable at the reminder of things I have seen.

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Read the previous entry in the series here.
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The following chapter, “Civil,” opens with a passage detailing the White Prophet Hoquin and his Catalyst, Wild Eye, before moving to Fitz calling on the Fool in the evening. He finds Swift with him, entertained by the Fool’s puppetry, and realizes he has made a gaffe by entering, but he cannot find a way to extricate himself politely or with discretion. The Fool opines on his tent and possessions, remarking at some length on Tintaglia and his need to save dragons. Swift rebels at the idea that the Fool, whom he knows as Lord Golden, would oppose Dutiful’s mission.

Conversation is interrupted by the intrusion of Civil Bresinga, who believes an unseemly assignation is soon to commence. That conversation is interrupted by the call of a guard, challenging a passer-by whom Peottre remarks is the Black Man, occasioning unease. After it is settled, Civil challenges the Fool, still upset about Golden’s earlier manipulations. The Fool is not blameless, and Fitz recognizes his own complicity in what has become the shame of Civil’s former fiancée. Melee ensues, with the Fool swiftly gaining control of the fight and restraining Civil with little evident effort. Amid his assertion that the matter is and should be closed, the Fool claims his status as White Prophet and Fitz’s as Catalyst, and Dutiful calls an end to proceedings.

Fitz tends to the Fool after, and the two confer quietly about Civil’s former intended and Piebald entanglement. Talk turns to the Black Man, the Fool noting the pronounced portentousness about him. Talk pivots to fate, and Fitz asserts that he cannot be as he is and stand by while the Fool faces death. And, at the Fool’s request, Fitz bunks in his tent that night.

I find myself once again, yet again, still, reading affectively as I reread the current chapter. I note with some concern the accusations of grooming voiced in the chapter, given prevailing public discourse as I write this; yet another reactionary drive to boycott Disney is but one symptom of a larger problem in the world, and I admit that there is something somewhat silly about my continuing this project as if it matters in any way against the troubles of the world. But that’s been something of a concern for me for some time; it’s nothing new, really, and I should be more accustomed to it at this point than it seems I am. And in any event, the accusations are false in the book; there is that much, at least, though those in the readers’ world cannot be so easily addressed as are Civil’s against the Fool.

I am minded of one of the truisms about fantasy fiction: it is escapist. And I’m minded that there’s nothing wrong with that, in itself; I’m reminded of Tolkien asking in “On Fairy-stories” “Why should a man be scorned if, finding himself in prison, he tries to get out and go home? Or if, when he cannot do so, he thinks and talks about other topics than jailers and prison-walls?” I may not be in a prison such as eats too many people, and in the United States, disproportionately people of color, and I acknowledge that I occupy a number of positions of privilege–there’s a lot in my life that makes it easier, and a lot more that doesn’t make it harder. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a fair bit wrong, and it is pleasant at times to see visions that, even in a fallen world and with flawed characters, a better resolution is possible.

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The following chapter, “Aslevjal,” begins with an in-milieu comment from Fedwren about Forging. It turns thence to the approach to the titular island and to the Fool who waits upon it for the Six Duchies’ party to arrive. Fitz is tasked with assisting Thick, Chade contriving thus to keep Fitz and the Fool apart. Ships are unloaded and camps set up, the voyagers’ arrangements described.

Taking advantage of Riddle’s offer to attend to Thick for a while, Fitz, scouts out the campground, noting the presence of memory stone in the area, as well as signs of work done upon it and with it. He finds a partly-sculpted stone dragon and summons Chade and Dutiful to examine it; Akron remarks that it is not the dragon they seek, but “one of the Pale Woman’s follies,” before Peottre silences him.

After, Fitz confers with Chade and Dutiful via the Skill about the Fool, and Fitz is charged with caution as he gathers more information. The memory stone receives more examination, and Fitz perceives a number of memories contained within it, linking the work done on Aslevjal’s shores to the work Verity and others had done carving their dragons. Fitz notes the problems that would inhere in a dragon thus made, and he reports his findings to Chade, who considers a strange repatriation.

Fitz returns to Thick, who asks for honey. Fitz takes the opportunity to call on the Fool, visiting the Fool’s tent and finding it empty; he avails himself of the honey he finds there, being sure to leave clear sign of his presence so as not to present himself as attempting deceit. Returning with the honey mollifies Thick, and he notes to Fitz Nettle’s anger at him, spurred by Burrich’s departure and her own obliged relocation to Kettricken’s court. The news offers Fitz some comfort, although he frets somewhat as he muses on his daughter’s situation and his own.

From the vantage of rereading, I can affirm the foreshadowing in the present chapter; there are signs here of what is to come. Even among them, though, I find links back to earlier parts of the Realm of the Elderlings series that I appreciate; I noted to students when I had them, and I reaffirm in the lesson plans I write for contract work, that one of the things that argues in favor of artistic quality is the way a given work hangs together. It’s not much of a stretch, if any at all, to read a series of novels as a single work rather than as separate entities (particularly as concerns fantasy literature in the Tolkienian tradition, which the Realm of the Elderlings is despite making abundant use of other sources and backgrounds). As such, it is not out of line to apply the same artistic standards to a series as to an entry in it–not obligatory, certainly, and not without the caveat, for logical and other reasons (I am aware of the fallacy of composition, thank you), that some parts can be better than others, but not impossibly or even without good cause. And the work done to unify the Realm of the Elderlings novels as they proceed, although not without flaw, helps with that. At least for me, anyway…

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