Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenMonkey
There are my favorite books, period.
You say that Fitz was supposed to be a "great assassin". Where was he portrayed as such? His mentor Chade was a great assassin. Fitz never quite managed it. I think Chade even says at some point that Fitz was too good of a person who never quite got the ruthlessness he was supposed to need.
He failed with the Skill because the Prince's skill master, Galen, beat him down with it during the training process and imprinted into his brain that he had failed utterly. Thus the disconnect for quite a while that he didn't have any skill at it - his memories were altered...until Prince Verity cleared the mental block. Even then, he never got consistent, good training - Verity himself says this, and says if he had months free to dedicate to training him, he could undo the training damage. Part of it is that he was abused with it, and reflexively keeps barriers up as a result (think emotionally abused kid and how they can isolate from others and lose trust).
Fitz was not a, say, Drizzt Do'Urden. He was not a superhero. He was a bastard kid, trained as an assassin, but not keen on it. He did assassinate a few people (mainly mentioned in passing) during his trips abroad. Sometimes he managed better (like the Lady with the little dog) instead. If you're expecting a Legolas, a Drizzt, or some other kind of superheroic, greater-than-life character, that's not Fitz. That's the whole point. None of Hobb's characters are like that. He's just a teenager, and Chade and Burrich point that out. He was never given a chance to make his own decisions. Yeah, he acts like an idiot sometimes and you want to slap him. Just like most teenagers. Hell I'd slap myself as a teenager, looking back!
I know that when I first read these in high school, I wasn't a fan. I didn't like the ending - the good guys are supposed to win, but it's not supposed to be sad at all! I didn't like that you didn't find out precisely how they were making the Forged. I didn't like that Fitz didn't kick some ass like Drizzt. Revisiting when I was older and they became my favorite books due to this strength of characterization. These aren't archetypal characters, like perhaps you can say LOTR embodies WRT modern fantasy.
This is similiar in many regards to George R.R. Martin (who recommends Hobb BTW). But he has so many characters, some of them kick ass. But a lot of them...well...things don't turn out so great. They're not always successful. Even the kick-ass characters make mistakes...sometimes fatal.
Hobb's characters aren't super human. They're normal people, complete with flaws and issues, and capable of poor decision making. In the case of Fitz, it's impulsive decisions and poor judgment of consequences. He's quite a bit wiser in his 30s (in Tawny Man) although he is still stubborn and sticks to bad decisions far longer than he should.
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Yeah, but he didn't have a single redeeming feature. I don't expect all books to have Drizzt or a superhero, but couldn't Hobb at least make the guy bright or nice? He was mean to Molly, ignored Verity to go settle a personal vendetta, and, from the quote that you mentioned, was just plain nasty to Burrich. He was all flaws, no positives. If he was able to do a single thing right (pick one ... Wit, Skill, fight, assassinate, be smart, be brave, be nice, advise well, even hold in his temper and general idiocy) the book would have been so much better.
Every other character had at least one positive trait. King Shrewd was smart, loyal, and an excellent King. Prince/King Regal (AKA Generic bad guy) was brilliant and cunning. Everybody in the first coteries was excellent with the skill. Verity was excellent with the skill, loyal, generally nice guy, brave, etc. Molly was loyal and great at her trade. Kettricken was brilliant and an excellent, loyal queen. Galen was smart and strong in the skill. Nighteyes was loyal and brave and a great fighter. Etc. Fitz didn't even pick up the loyalty that every one of these characters except Regal shared. He barely picked it up from his bond with Nighteyes or his two closest mentors: Chade and Burrich.
And that's not to mention how much the books dragged. The first book was nothing but Fitz doing chores with mention in passing of the Red Ships, until the very end. The second book was all Fitz complaining about how much he was in pain. The third book the "quest" dragged worse than the seventh Harry Potter book. Fitz woke up, walked, was jealous of Kettricken with his wolf, slept, dreamed about Molly/Burrich/generic Red Ship raid, etc.