Which RotE character is your favourite? (spoilers all RotE books)

[Farseer]

Wintrow I must admit here that a fair bit of my negativity toward the end could possibly be attributed to my jealousy over the fact that he and Fitz’s fates had turned out to be a reversal of each other’s most likely roles (as was highlighted by Paragon and Amber).

Could you elaborate more on this?

I would be happy to, redchild. Seems to be spoilers all over the place in this thread but just to be sure...

WARNING! CONTAINS HIGH LEVELS OF ELFBARK

Let's see ...The discussion I am speaking of comes from the chapter prior to the epilogue where Paragon and Amber are having a conversation after Paragon has guessed that Amber would be leaving and heading north again (not long before this part, Amber had asked Paragon if she could have the Rooster Crown, if that helps).

Amber used Wintrow as an example of someone who may have taken a wrong path due to a lack of guidance (especially as she continues wondering if she should have been with Wintrow all along instead of guiding Althea). She said "What if he was meant to lead a different life? What if, because of something I failed to do or say, he became King of the Pirate Isles when he was meant to be a man leading a life of scholarly contemplation? A man whose destiny was to experience a cloistered, contemplative life becomes a king instead. His deep spiritual meditations never occur and are never shared with the world."

Paragon goes on to say, "You worry too much...Humans live such short lives. I believe they have little impact on the world. So Wintrow will not be a priest. It is probably no more significant than if a man who was meant to be a king became a philosophical recluse instead."

From my interpretation, this passage speaks of Wintrow - the cloistered, scholarly boy priest who instead became a king (not to mention he also got the girl in Etta, to a certain degree) and, on the opposite end of the scale (pardon the pun!), we have Fitz - a boy who could have been king but instead became a recluse, committing to paper the history of the Six Duchies (and losing the girl, Molly) etc. In this way, there is a reversal of their roles and so, when I completed the LST books, I felt rather put out for Fitz that he sort of ended up with the short straw and Wintrow didn't!

That Wintrow also went on to release She Who Remembers from Others Island, only to have Fitz then follow the same path up the beach later on in The Golden Fool and SWR had already been saved...well!! Fitz was my hero and that just shouldn't have been so! I plain and simple wanted Fitz to "be the one"...he IS Changer after all!!

Still, I am glad that it all didn't turn out as I wanted it to and it adds to the whole question, I think it was Fitz who asked something like it, "How far back do I have to unravel to change where I am now?" I could easily ask myself, "What if Fitz had become King of the Six Duchies?", "What if it had been Fitz who had released SWR?" "What if...?" but THEN, a) Fitz becoming a king would have changed so many other fantastic outcomes and, after all, he was happy that it was just he and Nighteyes for a time, and had promised that very life to Nighteyes on a number of occasions and b) Would releasing SWR mean that he'd never have picked up the rooster feathers instead and then went on to save Beloved...what then?

When I say I don't like a certain character or a particular outcome, I mean I really don't like them BUT it all makes for such a terrific story BECAUSE it's not predictable and NOT how I would like it to be eg sometimes the not-so-good people turn out ok in the end and the people who I expected to get the reward don't and, to me, this is so true to life. People do learn, do change and end up in a far different place than expected.

It also points out something that Beloved often said at different stages about all men (people) having the ability to change the course of the world...in this, Wintrow had as much right, for example, as Fitz...but it doesn't mean I have to like it!

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Oops, sorry, where I had Golden Fool, I should have put Fool's Errand !