Molly

[rune]

Originally Posted by AryaUnderfoot

At this point, I don't think that Molly would have any room to judge Fitz- she ran off with his father-figure, after all, and they had many kids of their own. Fitz's involvement with Kettricken was for the entire country, while Molly's involvement with Burrich was for much more selfish reasons.

We didnt know Molly had ran off with Fitz adoptive father at the time that Kettricken conceived.

[Neon]

Regarding the Fool and the pack, I don't believe the Fool ever thought of himself as being part of it (and hence was not pack). He was always an outsider, as the role of being White Prophet demanded. The fact he could turn away from everyone at the end of the book shows he was never fully part of their group. He had to go live his own life, away from everyone else even though he was no longer a prophet. Part of his reason for leaving was to help Fitz separate their love for each other from the life Fitz could potentially lead. This included the love for Molly, who is a part of the pack. The only way Fitz could be intent in life was to fully join with the pack and leave the Fool behind.

Apart from that, the Fool's very being prevented him from being pack. He was an enigma to the wit sense and a complete alien to other human/animal senses.

[Alexa]

I agree with rune, Molly could not accept or understand the relation between Fitz and Kettricken. The jealousy she'll feel the moment of finding the truth, would be to strong to be reasoned with. Remember she left Fitz without telling him she was pregnant ?

I believe the Fool was a part of the pack as Nighteyes accepted him like one. The Fool's destiny could not be fulfiled without Fitz and Fitz without Nighteyes.

[Neon]

I always secretly wished Fitz and Kettricken would get a romance. It seems they were pretty close anyway, and I liked her better than Molly. But at least Fitz got some type of happy ending (for once).

[Alexa]

I thought about that, too, but then I thought of Verity. He deserved to have a Queen like Kettricken. And Fitz loved Verity like his own father. He couldn't get involved with Kettricken, without feeling betrayal vs Verity. On the other hand, we know Kettricken really loved Verity, despite his obssesion of his Skill.

[Sketti]

I hated Molly. I really did. Yeah, I agree that Fitz needed her for peace of mind but I think he'd have been better off staying with the Fool. Their connection was much more powerful than the one that drew him to Molly. I think that, had he not promised to take care of Molly and the kids, he would have preferred going with the Fool. Not necessarily as lovers but close companions. I disagree on the "Molly was part of the pack", I don't think she ever fit in. I think the "pack" was Fitz, Nighteyes and Fool. I think Hobb just chickened out of giving the series an ambiguously gay (at best) ending because of worrying what it might do to sales or her reputation. Maybe it was her editor, I don't know. But I was very disapointed with the end. The Tawny Man series was very emotionally intense and took the characters to levels I haven't seen many authors take them and the end strikes me an attempt to make everything "right" and "proper" and "as it should be".

[Rahl Windsong]

Originally Posted by Sketti

I hated Molly. I really did. Yeah, I agree that Fitz needed her for peace of mind but I think he'd have been better off staying with the Fool. Their connection was much more powerful than the one that drew him to Molly. I think that, had he not promised to take care of Molly and the kids, he would have preferred going with the Fool. Not necessarily as lovers but close companions. I disagree on the "Molly was part of the pack", I don't think she ever fit in. I think the "pack" was Fitz, Nighteyes and Fool. I think Hobb just chickened out of giving the series an ambiguously gay (at best) ending because of worrying what it might do to sales or her reputation. Maybe it was her editor, I don't know. But I was very disapointed with the end. The Tawny Man series was very emotionally intense and took the characters to levels I haven't seen many authors take them and the end strikes me an attempt to make everything "right" and "proper" and "as it should be".

There really was no other ending possible at that point, at least that is my oppinion. Any other ending would have left the story open for future books and Robin has stated several times that she is finished with those characters in her writing. The ending was neither "right", "proper", nor "as it should be" it was really the only way to say THE END and mean it.

The character Fitz is so not gay that there was no way for him to be "in love" with The Fool in any sort of romantic way, though he did love him. Therefore there was no other ending possible that fit with Fitz's character and with The Fool, at least that is my oppinion. I never once, in any of the books, got the feeling that Fitz was gay, in fact quite the opposite.

Rahl

[Wifeygirl]

***Spoiler!!****


I have to agree with those here that wished that Fitz and the Fool ended up together rather than Fitz and Molly.

Molly wasn't even a character in these last 3 books! By the end of the Tawny Man series, I couldn't care less about Molly. I agree with the previous comments that she was always separate from Fitz' life. She never really knew him as he was. I was so certain that Fitz had moved on - I know I had! It was a real disappointment to me that she suddenly reappeared.

Fitz and the Fool's relationship was so deep and complex, so fraught with layers of love and hardship...I was reading the whole time hoping against hope that they would end up together somehow. I was certain that when the hedge witch said that a love would wind itself throughout Fitz' days, it was the love of the Fool. Molly didn't wind throughout - she was there for several books, then completely gone.

I also really didn't buy the Fool's excuse for leaving. So he no longer prophecied past the point of his death. The world no longer needed to be "bumped" into the right course. To me, this finally provided the opportunity for Fitz and the Fool to be together without the complications that have riddled their relationship up until now. I know that other posts deal more with the Fool's gender, but with all of the femininity and the little hints scattered here and there, I hoped that the Fool would end up being female and they could love each other romantically as well. At the very least, I wanted a more substantial ending to such an incredible, powerful relationship. The fact that Fitz does another one of his "I'll talk to him about it later" routines and they never get to have a final, deep conversation where they talk about their love for each other really bummed me out.

[ScottSF]

I was completel shocked when molly came back in the picture at the end. I really thought the fool was going to turn out to be a woman and that's where the romance was. They resolved the fool situation well, but throwing molly back in just felt unnatural.

[jackokent]

I didn't like Molly, she seemed sour and disproving, not sure what there was to like. I don't recall seeing many flashes of understanding or kindness from her to Fitz and I always wondered why he bothered. In my eyes it undermined him slightly as I thought he'd have better tast.

To me the whole relationship seemed forced. I didn't see or feel anything romantic. I know Fitz kept thinking about her etc, but I kept thinking why. If a nagging, bad tempered hen was what he needed for stability then fine, but I still think he would have been better off with the fool, man or woman.

[Somebloke]

Molly had every right to be bitter- Fitz's relationship with her was the textbook example of his failure to connect to the people he cared about through suspicion and self-absortion. In nearly every case in the book he at some point ruins his connection to someone close to him through failure to trust- and Molly, and the promise of happiness that she brings, is at the core of this. She is the complete opposite- desperate to find someone to trust, hoping to find in Fitz an escape from her memories of her father- it is no small coincidence that her final decision to abandon him comes with the curse that he resembles her father in many ways. In the final assasin book, he completes this disconnection with the Lady-on-dragon- who also attempted to keep a part of herself to herself.

As for his closeness to the fool, in many ways this felt to me to be something largely contrived- I really didn't sense a connection between them until the third assasin novel, and even then it was a tenuous thing, certainly not the strong, instinctual bond that existed at the beginning of the fool series. Perhaps this is due to the fool's own sense of disconnection- another lonely traveller with a strong degree of secrecy in his nature. I suspect this is why the two of them ended parting- one cannot make a couple out of two individuals.

[the_faery_queen]

i agree with that actually. the fool wasn't muchj of a character until the third assassin book, and his love for fitz seemed a bit sudden in reguards to the fact they didn't spend that long together.

but molly, god i hated her. she was so dull. ok she was what fitz wanted, a stable life, kids, security, and she was exactly that, she was the symbol OF that, a woman who just wanted to settle down and squeezed out babies as though it were her career, but as a character she was so dull and uninspired it was hard to care about her or have any hope that fitz would get her. lynn flewelling's bone dolls twin made me actually CARE that the heroine got her man in the end, that he was able to overcome his feelings to have that happeiness, and i think robin should have done a better job with molly. i felt as though robin relied on the, i will say she's a godo character and likeable, and then teh reader will like her, technique, that goodkind did with kahlan/richard/everyone in his books. unfortunatly, it doesn't work like that. just telling us that others like her, won't make ME like her unless there is osmething likeable TO her. i just saw her as a boring kid, then a boring adult. granted, it may have been that all she wanted was a family and kids, and it's hard to make that exciting in a book (not that there's anything wrong with just wanting family and kids, but in a book we get to know people more by their actions than anything else, and if they have none, the way a real person would, it's hard to get any understanding of them)

um rambling on now, but yeah. hated molly (and starling) felt they were forced on us to be likeable and they weren't. and though i think fitz was better off with her than the fool (that would never work) i just wish i could have cared more about her for fitz sake. so that i could feel glad that he was happy, instead of jus tbored.

[Sahnny]

I detested Molly. I really did. Classic, textbook, over-the-top fantasy main-character's love interest.

Hobb tried her best to make her likable, but she was just too boring and in some ways, bitter.

Saying that, I detested the Fool until The Golden Fool.

[SpaceShip]

Yes - Molly brought Fitz full circle. The others, even Nighteyes by the very fact that he was a wolf, I believe, were travellers on the way.

[kauldron26]

i guess i fell in love with molly from the moment fitz did as well.. she was the center of his life... all the predictions said that the love of his life wound through and through his life at different times. they met when they were 6, got separated after burrich moved to buckeep at 10, met again when they were 13 at the market, got separated at 16 when fitz thought she was getting married to someone else, met again at 18 when fitz came back from the mountains were together till they were 20. Even through 15 years of separation burrich admitted that he knew she never stopped loving him, and how she used to cry when she looked at nettle sometimes. molly and fitz got together again at 36, finally getting married for real at 40. if that is not true love through thick and thin... through injuries, seperation, threats and death. staying together when they knew their love was doomed. then i dont know what love is. their love was real. she was his first friend, center of his life and his sole motivation for most if not all of the choices he made. i really loved molly. loved their relationship. they deserved to be together.