Fool's Assassin
Chapters - Robin Hobb
Prologue
Fitz reflects on his past, from the disgrace of his bastardy being revealed to how Withywoods became a haven for him and his family. He meditates on Queen Desire's hatred, the lessons time teaches too late, and the fierce love of a father willing to do anything to protect his child.
POV: FitzChivalry Farseer·Mentioned: Chivalry Farseer, Patience, Shrewd Farseer, Chade Fallstar, Verity Farseer, Molly Chandler, Regal Farseer, Burrich
Chapter 1: Withywoods
Fitz and Molly host a Winterfest celebration at Withywoods, where Fitz is delayed by steward Revel reporting oddly-behaved strangers claiming to be minstrels. During the festivities, Web arrives with Swift and is alarmed that the pale strangers seem invisible to his Wit-sense, likening them to Forged ones.
POV: FitzChivalry Farseer·On page: Molly Chandler, Patience, Nettle, Riddle, Web, Swift, Revel·Mentioned: Burrich, Nighteyes, Chade Fallstar, Dutiful Farseer, Kettricken
Chapter 2: Spilled Blood
Molly faints during the Winterfest dancing and Fitz helps her retire early, though she insists it is nothing serious. One of the pale strangers accosts Fitz in the hallway, gripping his wrist and delivering a cryptic warning about a "son" before blood sprays from her and screams erupt, as the strangers apparently kill one of their own number.
POV: FitzChivalry Farseer·On page: Molly Chandler, Nettle, Patience, Web·Mentioned: Riddle
Chapter 3: The Felling of Fallstar
At a summer market in Oaksbywater, Nettle Skill-contacts Fitz to tell him that Chade has been found unconscious after a fall at Buckkeep Castle. Fitz travels through the Skill-pillars to reach Chade and, with the help of Thick and Dutiful's coterie, manages to heal the old man, though Chade's reckless Skill-experiments are revealed as the true cause of his collapse.
POV: FitzChivalry Farseer·On page: Nettle, Chade Fallstar, Dutiful Farseer, Thick·Mentioned: Molly Chandler, Kettricken, Verity Farseer, Nighteyes
Chapter 4: Preservation
Chade Skill-intrudes on Fitz's sleep to ask about his private writings, and they discuss how Fitz's detailed journals might be dangerous if discovered. Molly has been behaving strangely - growing heavier, distracted, and secretive - and Fitz begins to suspect her mind may be failing, though he cannot bring himself to confront it directly.
POV: FitzChivalry Farseer·On page: Chade Fallstar, Molly Chandler·Mentioned: Nettle
Chapter 5: Arrival
Despite everyone's disbelief, Molly insists she is pregnant, and Fitz and Nettle fear her mind is deteriorating with age. After months of Molly's swelling belly and increasingly dreamy behaviour, she gives birth alone to a tiny, pale daughter - a seemingly impossible child born long after her childbearing years had ended.
POV: FitzChivalry Farseer·On page: Molly Chandler·Mentioned: Nettle, Revel, Riddle, Cook Nutmeg
Chapter 6: The Secret Child
Fitz is overjoyed by his newborn daughter but quickly becomes fearful of what Chade and Kettricken might demand if they learn she is a Farseer. He decides to keep the baby secret, telling no one outside Withywoods, and wrestles with how to eventually reveal her existence to the family.
POV: FitzChivalry Farseer·On page: Molly Chandler·Mentioned: Nettle, Chade Fallstar, Kettricken, Dutiful Farseer, The Fool, Hap, Patience, Tavia, Mild Withywoods
Chapter 7: The Presentation
Ten days after the birth, Fitz confesses to Molly that he has told no one about the baby, and she forgives him but insists Nettle must be informed. When Nettle and the family visit, Fitz's tiny daughter - named Bee - is presented to them, and while most are overjoyed, concerns about the child's unusual smallness are already surfacing.
POV: FitzChivalry Farseer·On page: Molly Chandler·Mentioned: Nettle, Chade Fallstar, Dutiful Farseer, Steady
Chapter 8: The Spider's Lair
Months pass and Bee remains disturbingly small and unresponsive, neither meeting eyes nor reaching for her parents. Fitz travels to Buckkeep Castle to confront Chade about having placed a spy in his household, and confronts both Chade and Rosemary about their interference in his family's privacy.
POV: FitzChivalry Farseer·On page: Molly Chandler, Chade Fallstar, Rosemary·Mentioned: The Fool
Chapter 9: A Childhood
As Bee grows, she remains tiny and seemingly simple, causing both Fitz and Molly deep private grief they hide from each other. Eventually Bee begins to develop - walking, then showing unexpected cleverness - but she remains mute and peculiar, and the household staff regard her with a mixture of pity and unease.
POV: FitzChivalry Farseer·On page: Molly Chandler, Bee Farseer·Mentioned: Chade Fallstar, Cook Nutmeg, Tavia, Mild Withywoods
Chapter 10: My Own Voice
Told from Bee's perspective, she recalls her childhood from age eight, when she finally began to speak after years of silence. She describes how the servant children bully and avoid her, and how she resolves to win their respect through competence rather than pity, finding her own voice and identity at Withywoods.
POV: Bee Farseer·On page: Molly Chandler, FitzChivalry Farseer, Hap·Mentioned: Revel, Cook Nutmeg, Tavia, Elm, Lea, Taffy
Chapter 11: The Last Chance
Molly dies and Fitz is devastated, retreating into grief while Nettle, Riddle, and the household manage everything around him. Bee and Fitz share their mourning in parallel isolation, unable to comfort each other, as various family and friends arrive and depart for the funeral.
POV: FitzChivalry Farseer·On page: Nettle, Riddle, Bee Farseer, Revel, Just, Hearth, Nimble, Swift, Cook Nutmeg·Mentioned: Molly Chandler, Chade Fallstar, Dutiful Farseer, Kettricken, Hap, Starling Birdsong, Web, Thick, Tallerman, Lin
Chapter 12: Explorations
Bee explores the secret spy-passages hidden within the walls of Withywoods, which her father showed her after Molly's death. She discovers peepholes into various rooms, finds the passage that leads to her own bedchamber, and begins making the small hidden room her own private refuge.
POV: Bee Farseer·Mentioned: FitzChivalry Farseer
Chapter 13: Chade
Fitz meets Chade in disguise at the Oaken Staff inn, where a young woman delivers a cryptic message from the old spymaster. Chade reveals he has placed his granddaughter Shun under Fitz's protection at Withywoods due to attempts on her life, and pressures Fitz to also accept a young tutor named FitzVigilant for Bee.
POV: FitzChivalry Farseer·On page: Chade Fallstar, Shine Fallstar·Mentioned: Bee Farseer, Shun, FitzVigilant, Nettle
Chapter 14: Dreams
Bee, alone in the spy-tunnels at night, becomes lost and terrified in the dark when she cannot find her way back. A presence she calls Wolf Father - the echo of Nighteyes in her mind - appears to calm her and guide her, revealing that she has inherited something of her father's bond with the wolf.
POV: Bee Farseer·On page: Nighteyes·Mentioned: FitzChivalry Farseer, Shine Fallstar
Chapter 15: A Full House
Shun arrives at Withywoods with Riddle, and Fitz is dismayed by her demanding nature and the household chaos of ongoing repairs. Bee enters in a strange prophetic trance, speaking of a "butterfly" and a "pale man" who awaits Fitz, alarming everyone present before Fitz discovers a dying messenger hidden in Bee's room.
POV: FitzChivalry Farseer·On page: Shun, Riddle, Bee Farseer, Revel, Shine Fallstar·Mentioned: Kettricken, Nettle, Chade Fallstar, Cook Nutmeg, Opal
Chapter 16: Honoured Guests
Told from Bee's perspective, she resents the changes Shun's arrival brings and the pale messenger her father hid in the adjoining room. Fitz hides Bee in the spy-tunnels for safety while he searches Withywoods for any threat, and she observes the household's alarm at the messenger's disappearance through peepholes.
POV: Bee Farseer·On page: FitzChivalry Farseer, Shun, Riddle, Shine Fallstar
Chapter 17: Assassins
Fitz mercy-kills the mortally wounded messenger who had been tortured beyond saving, and makes Bee his unwilling accomplice in burning the body to conceal all evidence. He recognises the horror of making his daughter party to assassination, but sees no alternative given the danger the messenger's presence implies.
POV: FitzChivalry Farseer·On page: Bee Farseer, Shine Fallstar·Mentioned: Shun, Riddle
Chapter 18: Invisibility
Told from Bee's perspective, after her father rushes off to deal with Shun's hysterics, Bee discovers the messenger's butterfly cloak - a garment that renders its wearer invisible. She also finds a way into the spy-passages from the servant's room adjoining her bedchamber, and retrieves a cat she had accidentally trapped in the tunnels.
POV: Bee Farseer·On page: FitzChivalry Farseer·Mentioned: Shun, Shine Fallstar
Chapter 19: The Beaten Man
Fitz reflects on the Fool's long absence and the prophecy of the Unexpected Son, realising that the dying messenger's words connect to messages the Fool tried to send him years ago. He is tormented by the thought that the Fool has been in danger all this time and that earlier messengers may have been killed before reaching him.
POV: FitzChivalry Farseer·On page: Bee Farseer·Mentioned: The Fool, Chade Fallstar, Nighteyes, Pale Woman, Shine Fallstar