The fool - man or woman?

[The Fool]

What I'm saying is that i dont think his race has sexes. Perhaps they take on the air of the sex most convienient or preferable.

[TheBlueFool]

Well, in the book the Pale Woman described how White's were born. She told how when one of the last White's (they were a race long ago) realised her race was dying out she went to all parts of the world and produced seven offspring each with a different human. A White was born when any of the offspring (who looked as humans) that were descended from the original White met in courtship and produced their own young which would be a White. These would be the White Prophets.
And if the Whites don't have a sex, how can you explain the Pale Woman? She was very obviously a female :P

[sassy1]

maybe she decided to be female. or to be seen as female...

[rebornintheglory]

To me most of the appeal of The Fool is the mystery. Imo, we should never be told The Fool's gender, and while the evidence might seem compelling one way, there should always be enough doubt to stop actual resolutions being made.

Although, deep down in the little romantic part inside me, I've always wanted The Fool to turn out to be a woman so Fitz and he could fall in love.

Originally Posted by Kitera

Damn it Scott, you got a point there, but maybe the Fool is just shy and wanted to cover his chest.

Maybe it's just another way in which Hobb confuses us by hinting at what could be but is never confirmed?

The Fool is a genius character.

[sassy1]

Originally Posted by rebornintheglory

Although, deep down in the little romantic part inside me, I've always wanted The Fool to turn out to be a woman so Fitz and he could fall in love.

heeeeeeeeey they can fall in love without the fool being a girl you know!!!

[Peeves]

No they cant, Fitz was clearly not into that sorto thing.

[Blue Moon]

The fool is definitely a man. Fitz would know, there were so many times when he cared for the Fool when he was sick. Especially when he died, clearly he would have seen the Fool's body naked. Although, I don't recall how it worked in the Liveship series...Amber was almost raped at sea but in the Tawny man trilogy Robin explains that Fitz repelled the man before anything happened, in one of his skill/wit dreams.

[manephelien]

The Fool is definitely a man, but he's androgynous enough to easily pass for a woman (Liveship Traders).

[Wyvern]

Um, a friend of mine who I introduced to the Robin Hobb books suggested this: she thinks that the Fool, as he/she isn't human, may just morph into another gender as part of his/her life cycle. Maybe the White Prophets (if that's the race) alternate between male/female as they grow up.
I just kind of liked the idea, and wondered what everyone thought!

[Wyvern]

Originally Posted by KiwiBird

No they cant, Fitz was clearly not into that sorto thing.

Does anyone think that, if the Fool was female, 'she' would just have told Fitz so, to stop Fitz having such a problem? I'm not sure myself, but it's a possibility...

[Overread]

For me the end of the Tawny man series (I think) is where the fool explains that he would never force Fitz to love him (in the physical sense) because he is aware of Fitz's stance on single sex relationships.
Now this could go two ways; either this is the fools admission to being male, and thus the Amber line was a red herring (there are so many stories of women dressing up and acting as men, so maybe the fool does the total opposite).
Or it could be like Wyvern says, some sort of gender swapping evolution through time, or maybe there gender changes at their request - the fool started as a male, not expecting to fall in love with Fitz, when he did so as a male he (or it) realised that he could never change to be a women for Fitz as that would alienate Fitz from him - so he settled for the friendship with fitz. This allows the fool to change to be a women in the liveship series, and then accounts for a male shift back, when he returns to Fitz in Tawny man series (also - - come on people its called the Tawny MAN series - - - that could be a hint!)
for me I stick with option 1

[loreth]

i always assumed that the fool was the the complete opposite of the pale woman in every way and thus male. i could be wrong tho but it seemed that way to me

i never got how the pale woman should be a false prophet cause there is only meant to be one white prophet for each era/age/whatever. the purpose of the white prophet is to break the cycles that time becomes caught up in or keep the balance something like that. but if all that is true then wouldnt only having one white prophet at a time becomes a cycle so maybe the pale woman was a true prophet whose purpose was to break the cycle of only one prophet.

sorry im rambling and heading off topic so ill shut up now

[Peeves]

Or maybe there was just a convergence of conflicting paths.
The path the Fool and that black man choose, or the path that almost every other prophet seemed to have chosen (since they seemed to remain white). The fools path wins for now, however at the end of the novel it is clear that we dont know if that path will prove to be better for humankind or even the world for that matter.

[loreth]

i got the impression that the fool turning darker was a sign that he was growing and changing and happened to all white prophets as evidenced by the black man who was also once a white prophet. the pale woman stayed the same because she refused to change.

it is the general assumption that white prophets remain white cause up til now none have ever returned to the tower place where they were raised and after completing their missions they tend to disappear. remember the fool thought his mission would end with his death he certainly lost the ability to predict the future after his mission was completed and the dark man also had lost the prediction thing and outlived his mission which implies that white prophets have a tendancy to die at the completion of their missions.

[Peeves]

Huh, i really think i read that the Black Man, tells Fitz, that the Fool changes because he himself has changed the track of the world or so. Mind you its been a while since i read that part, on my rereads i usually skip stuff that i found uninteresting during my first read.