The Sword and Laser discussion
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Assassin's Apprentice
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AA: Ending Questions (Very Spoilery)
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Valerie wrote: "I've been following S&L since the YouTube show started, but I've only now worked up the courage to join the discussion. I very much enjoyed Assassin's Apprentice, but one question remained after f..."you will have your questions answered, but you're following a good thought-pattern.
Valerie wrote: "I'm very curious as to how Burrich severed the bond between Fitz and Nosy. Distance doesn't seem to be a factor with Fitz and Smithy later, so just taking the pup away shouldn't matter. "Good question. I had assumed (haven't read the rest of the series) that distance was indeed a factor. (view spoiler). But now you got me thinking maybe there's more to it.
Thanks Kamil! I look forward to the next one.David: I thought so too at first, but I just didn't see any reason for (view spoiler).
Valerie wrote: "There was a sudden flash of red pain, and Nosy was gone"we can also read it as another sign of Fitz being emo
Oh! I always forget the emo factor! *recalculates pre-teen angst*
In the kickoff YouTube episode Veronica mentioned this book would be great for dog and pet lovers but (view spoiler)
Does anyone else wish that [spoiler] regal had got hiss ass kicked properly?[/spoiler] if I was fitz I would poison his jewellery with quick silver or something.
Samurisloth wrote: "Does anyone else wish that [spoiler] regal had got hiss ass kicked properly?[/spoiler] if I was fitz I would poison his jewellery with quick silver or something."Yes! But at least I got someone to hate next book.
Eep, pointy brackets for the spoiler tags!
Valerie wrote: "I've been following S&L since the YouTube show started, but I've only now worked up the courage to join the discussion. I very much enjoyed Assassin's Apprentice, but one question remained after f..."I assumed Burrich used (view spoiler)
Yeah, i wondered about this too. I decided to give book 2 a try and see if some of this stuff becomes clearer, especially the reasoning for Burrich's total hatred of the Wit, even though he clearly has the capability himself (or so it appears).Also, even though the Wit seems to work mostly with animals, it seems it also works somewhat with people. Why doesn't it get cultivated in that regard at least?
Sort of assumed he just knocked the dog out. Though maybe that would be out-of-character... I'm guessing because of his Wit, Burrich doesn't really treat his animals like farm animals, more like how folks in this century treat their pets like children.
Since this thread is called "Ending Questions" I have one.End of book spoiler: Why would they (view spoiler) I saw that as a major Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot when I got to the end. Slapped wrists and all that jazz. It just seemed like it wasn't plausible.
Misstessamelissa wrote: "Since this thread is called "Ending Questions" I have one.End of book spoiler: Why would they [spoilers removed] I saw that as a major Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot when I got to the end. Slapped wrists..."
He is the King's son. A loved son. He is also the son of a political marriage - Though the mother is dead, he still serves as a political tie to his mother's country. He is also a heir. The less direct heirs the weaker the kingship looks. If a bastard son or an uncle has designs on the throne he would have to kill off the king as well as any direct heirs first. The less direct heirs the easier and more tempting that becomes.
Bring on the hair shirt and sackcloth! No, I get it for the political perspective, but, as a reader, I wanted SOMETHING more. The theory about (view spoiler) might have been able to be minimized because (view spoiler). However, there is always gossip, and gossip can bring down a kingdom if it's juicy enough.
Misstessamelissa wrote: "Rursik died of old wounds that he never recovered from"I believe Regal exaggerated Rurisk's ill health to Shrewd to get him to agree to the plan. The Mountain kingdom however, was fully aware their prince was fit and well.
Regal is fun to hate, isn't he?
I really liked the question about why they (view spoiler)And the thought of Burrich having (view spoiler)
My burning question is (view spoiler)
Also, (view spoiler)
Fitz means "son of". so fitzchivalry means son of chivalry. So in reality I think Burrich gave him a name thatdid define him. Pretty much everything that happens to him is due to the fact that he is Chivalry's son, and the complications that causes.
Burrich calls this as they are: he calls a female dog a B-, and what not. Fitz means son of - and later was used as a name for illegitimate sons of princes. so Fitzchivalry means Son of Chivalry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitz
I think if his mother's father had told them his name he would have gone by that but seeing as they didn't and names were important to this society that they didn't want to call him by something he wasn't and after a while it became much easier to call him Boy than actually label him. Also by naming him, the king would have been seen as recognizing him and Shrewd doesn't want him to be recognized.
He seems to have several names through out the book. One is Fitz and Verity later tells him he added his name FitzChivalry to the family books the night he first came to them. Then later he talks briefly of the night he received his "man" name which he said was a secret name not to be given lightly to others. The Fool gives him an ancient name that means Catalyst. So to me it felt like he had many names but the one that stuck was Fitz or Boy.
Robert wrote: "He seems to have several names through out the book. One is Fitz and Verity later tells him he added his name FitzChivalry to the family books the night he first came to them. Then later he talks b..."And Patience calls him Tom sometimes.
My big ending question is what is the real difference between the Wit and the Skill. It seems like the same thing except one is with animals and one is humans... but Fitz even used it on humans (i.e. Burrich, Molly). Like when he reaches out to people and sometimes they are closed off and sometimes not. It reads to me like the Skill is just the trained use of the Wit. Reading that sentence makes me realize that that is the case with any skill, actually. So maybe I've answered my own question here. What do you guys think?
I think skill is for mind to Mind contact and wit is about emotions
But with the Wit he can talk to the animals and exchange information/give commands just like the Skill and with the Skill there is that elation that seems really similar to the comfort and happiness he feels when connecting to the animals.. just a heck of a lot more intense. I guess in my imagination the emotion part would be possible in the Skill just as the information part is possible with the Wit... they just don't use it that way.
Th main difference is that with the Wit you are combining yourself with the animal, and thusly letting yourself become more animalistic. Burrich pointed out that Fitz in the beginning had stopped speaking because of how much he was using Wit with Nosy. Using Wit degrades the humanity of the users (meaning the user becomes less human and more animal), similar to the Forged people becoming less human and finding difficulty speaking.Skill on the other hand connects human minds to each other, and while many human minds aren't as wonderful as Nosy or Smithy, humanity doesn't degrade due to a descent into animalism.
Louis wrote: "In the kickoff YouTube episode Veronica mentioned this book would be great for dog and pet lovers but [spoilers removed]"I would totally read that IMDB page. After what happened to (view spoiler)
John wrote: "Th main difference is that with the Wit you are combining yourself with the animal, and thusly letting yourself become more animalistic. Burrich pointed out that Fitz in the beginning had stopped ..."I haven't read any of the other books but I think that what Burrich says about the Wit is unproven. It seems more of a superstition.. maybe that was passed on to him to stop him from using his gift too. It seems like Fitz doesn't really descend into animal behavior when he's using the Wit. He didn't talk before he met Nosy either.
But also, we know the king is burnt out on the Skill and Galen obviously hasn't been enriched by it in any way. And when we see Verity using the skill he can barely eat or do anything. It seems if the degradation caused by the Wit is real then again the Skill is really similar.
I think a lot of it had to come from Fitz accepting that Nosey was dead. Burrich probably knocked Nosey out and then shipped him off. But since young Fitz felt Nosey leave him suddenly, he accepted that Nosey was dead. Thus Fitz severed the connection, not Burrich.
(view spoiler)[What happened to Nosy? At the beginning, when Burrich takes Nosy away, I, like many people, thought that "There was a sudden flash of red pain, and Nosy was gone," meant that Burrich had killed Nosy. Then at the end, we find Nosy is alive and well (and Burrich's character partially redeemed).
I'm very curious as to how Burrich severed the bond between Fitz and Nosy. Distance doesn't seem to be a factor with Fitz and Smithy later, so just taking the pup away shouldn't matter.
I'm taking it to mean Burrich used his own Wit abilities to sever the bond, hating himself for doing so. If so, I started to think the Wit might be connected with Forging. I haven't read any of Hobb's other books, so perhaps my questions will be answered later in the series. Anyone have another interpretation? (hide spoiler)]