Small, random questions about RotE that still bother you (spoilers all RotE books)

[Omie]

Well, that's one theory.

Is it? I mean, I thought it's pretty much 'canon' that the Fool is genderqueer. Throughout the course of the nine books the character appeared in, 'he' was male, female, both and/or neither. None of the identities were really a 'lie'. I get the impression he (I use the male pronoun because that's how he goes in six out of nine books) has a sort of background androgynous gender identity when he's simply 'Beloved', but otherwise he seems to treat changing his gender like other people would change their pants. Actually, shirt would be a nicer metaphor, because as with a change of shirt, underneath always beats the same heart (awww) regardless of the trouser specifications.

I think the Paragon, more than most characters, would understand that somebody can be many things and one thing at the same time. He might have glimpsed that Amber had other identities, but it would have been hypocritical of him to doubt the existence of the woman that was Amber. Maybe every now and then he caught fragments of dreams and thoughts from Amber where she seemed to be a strange, pasty boy in jester's clothes, but people have imagined themselves as weirder things. Maybe he even thought 'the Fool' was the boy she'd left behind her (technically, he was!).

On top of which... this is going to sound a bit crass...Paragon is a sentient ship. You know the phrase 'stranger things happen at sea'? The concept that anybody in woman's clothing is to all intents and purposes a woman would probably be quite normal to him, when you consider that he would have some experience with testosterone overdosed crew members on long and lonely voyages.

I'm suddenly intrigued by the idea of a homosexual or transgender dragon, though. Could a male-born dragon become a queen dragon?