The illegitimate son of Prince Chivalry Farseer, brought to Buckkeep Castle as a child and raised in the stables before being taken into the service of the crown as a royal assassin. Fitz carries both the Skill and the Wit - the former the prised magic of the Farseer line, the latter a stigmatised ability to bond with animals that he must conceal throughout his life. Hobb's most sustained creation, followed across six novels and decades of in-world time, he is one of contemporary fantasy's most fully realised protagonists - a man defined by his service to others and his difficulty in serving himself.

Leader of the Piebald faction who orchestrates the kidnapping of Prince Dutiful

A Witted man (Old Blood) who lives near Crowsneck with his bond-bear Hilda and companion Holly. He educates FitzChivalry about Old Blood ways and offers to teach him.

The stablemaster of Buckkeep who raises Fitz after Prince Chivalry's abdication, providing the closest thing to a father the boy has. Burrich is a man of fierce principles and genuine tenderness beneath a forbidding exterior, whose complicated feelings about the Wit - which he suppresses in himself with considerable cost - shape his relationship with Fitz in ways neither fully understands for much of the sequence. One of the most beloved supporting characters in the Elderlings universe.

The illegitimate half-brother of King Shrewd who has served the Farseer crown as its secret assassin for decades, living hidden in the walls of Buckkeep Castle. Chade takes Fitz as his apprentice and shapes his training as an assassin with a complex mixture of genuine care and ruthless pragmatism. One of the longest-serving characters in the sequence, appearing across all three Fitz trilogies, his relationship with Fitz evolves from mentor to colleague to something more complicated as both age and the costs of their service become clearer.

Young Bresinga nobleman with Old Blood ties who lures Prince Dutiful into the Piebald plot

The son of Verity Farseer and Kettricken, introduced as a young prince in the Tawny Man Trilogy and present as the reigning king in the Fitz and the Fool trilogy. Dutiful's relationship with Fitz spans two trilogies and considerable in-world time, evolving from the rescued prince and his rescuer to something more complex as both age into their respective roles. His handling of the political dimensions of the Fitz and the Fool trilogy's crisis reflects the king his parents shaped him to become.

The cruel Skillmaster at Buckkeep who trains Fitz and the other Skill students. A man whose particular harshness toward Fitz, and whose particular political affinities within the Farseer court, is one of the things the early Farseer books unfold with patient care.

The Mountain Kingdom princess who marries Verity Farseer and becomes Queen of the Six Duchies, bringing with her a set of values around duty and service that sit in productive tension with the court culture she enters. Kettricken's arc across the Farseer Trilogy is one of its most carefully observed - a woman adapting to an alien culture while holding to her own principles - and her role develops considerably in the Tawny Man Trilogy.

Laurel is Queen Kettricken's Huntswoman, a strongly built woman in her late twenties from Tilth. Skilled in tracking, riding, and field craft, she was recruited by Kettricken after impressing her on a hunt. She accompanies Fitz and Lord Golden to Galeton to find Prince Dutiful.

Fitz's childhood companion and first love, whose relationship with him is shaped by the constraints his secret service to the crown places on everything he might otherwise choose. Molly's practical competence and emotional directness stand in contrast to the court world Fitz inhabits, and the gap between what Fitz wants and what his obligations allow defines much of his personal tragedy in the Farseer Trilogy. Her role develops significantly in the later trilogies.

Outislander princess betrothed to Prince Dutiful, whose challenge drives the Tawny Man plot

The wolf with whom Fitz forms a Wit bond in the Farseer Trilogy, a relationship that deepens across the sequence into something that defies easy categorisation. Nighteyes is not merely an animal companion but a fully realised presence whose perspective on the human world - pragmatic, unsentimental, and deeply loyal - provides a counterpoint to Fitz's more conflicted consciousness. His relationship with Fitz is one of the most affecting in the sequence and his fate in the Tawny Man Trilogy is among the most discussed moments in the Elderlings universe.

The wife of Prince Chivalry and therefore Fitz's stepmother by circumstance if not by acknowledgment, whose eccentric energy and genuine warmth toward Fitz are among the more unexpected sources of support in his early life at court. Patience is one of Hobb's more original creations - chaotic, brilliant, and impossible to predict - and her relationship with Fitz develops quietly across the trilogy into something of real significance.

Narcheska Elliania's uncle and protector from the Out Islands

A young girl who serves as Queen Kettricken's page and attendant. Sweet, devoted, and a small constant presence in the queen's household whose particular loyalties the closing chapters of the Farseer trilogy give some careful attention to.

A minstrel who attaches herself to Fitz during the journey in Assassin's Quest, whose pragmatic self-interest and genuine talent make her a complicated presence in his life. Starling's relationship with Fitz is defined by mutual use that contains real feeling on both sides, and her reappearance in the Tawny Man Trilogy gives her arc unexpected depth. One of the more honestly drawn secondary characters in the sequence.

Burrich and Molly's Witted son who comes to Buckkeep to be trained

The enigmatic White Prophet whose existence is bound to FitzChivalry Farseer's by prophecy and by a relationship that develops across six novels into one of the most celebrated in contemporary fantasy fiction. The Fool's true origins, nature, and gender are deliberately and consistently ambiguous - Hobb treats the uncertainty as essential rather than incidental. Appearing first as the King's Fool at Buckkeep, the character moves through multiple identities and presentations across the sequence while remaining recognisably and profoundly themselves. Their bond with Fitz is the emotional centre of the entire Elderlings sequence.

Thick is a simple-minded keep servant who appears to be Chade's secret Skill apprentice. He is short, homely, and dismissed by most, but possesses unusual Skill strength that Chade has been quietly cultivating.