[split]Berserker Fitz (spoilers all Hobb books)

[Farseer]

'FitzChivalry Farseer'. .....It was even these traits and by-blood virtues that combined to make him the perfect candidate for a Catalyst, not to mention 'Changer'.

Sorry if this is off topic.

Are not these terms used to suggest the same thing?

As he typically did with fundamental principles, Nighteyes was using a pragmatic translation of catalyst when calling Fitz "Changer." I do not recall anyone (The Fool?) making a point of differentiating between changer and catalyst.

I would disagree that they are one and the same. Fool has both alluded and stated a number of that *all* can take on the role of a Catalyst, and create great change, in the world. But there is only one 'Changer'. Fitz.

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Just had to quickly add that it was not only Nighteyes who dubbed Fitz 'Changer'. He was given the name of 'The Changer' during his Man Ceremony (likely by his sponsoring Man whose role it was to both sponsor and name a ready and worthy recipient) around the moon of his fourteenth birthday ( see http://forums.theplenty.net/showthread.php?tid=191 ).

The name given was of the old tongue and while it *does* say Fitz translated its ancient meaning via the words 'Catalyst' and then 'The Changer', I think that we (as the reader) are witnessing the events of the world because we are seeing the changes wrought by 'The Changer', not just another 'Catalyst'.

I don't know. I can't justify my reasoning but, for me, there is a very distinct difference. Think we have touched on all of this in the Wintrow or Liveships threads as well eg the difference between all having the opportunity to create change (someone suggested somewhere that Wintrow was 'The Catalyst' for the Cursed Shores/ the Liveships trilogy). I disagreed. Though he was 'a Catalyst'.