Set fifteen years after the conclusion of the Farseer Trilogy, the Tawny Man follows an older Fitz drawn reluctantly back into the world of Buckkeep and its politics. The reunion with the Fool is the emotional heart of the trilogy, and Hobb uses the passage of time and the weight of the first trilogy's events to examine what survives of a person after they have given everything once already. The Tawny Man is generally regarded as the finest of the Elderlings trilogies for the maturity and emotional precision of its character work.