The Fool (spoilers for all RotE books, including LST)

[Lady Persephone]

I believe Robin Hobb deliberately planted not-quite-evidence to suggest that the Fool is both male and female and not only kept the 'evidence' vague but continually changed it so that readers would always be left in doubt.

But at the same time I think that people are missing the point when they question the Fool's sex. His ambiguity is what makes the character. He even sang a song about it! I refer to him with the male pronouns without really caring if he possesses, er, a dangle, simply because 'he' is thought of as male for six books out of nine. As for Amber, she is undoubtedly a female character. She's not a bloke in a frock. Similarly, Lord Golden is effete but definitely male. The Fool of the Assassin books is androgynous in a childlike way.

'Is the Fool a man or a woman?' Yes. Or possibly no.

He's either and neither at once and that's kind of the point. Gender is neither as binary nor as important as people make it out to be. It's so refreshing to read fiction where that point is addressed, and even more refreshing that it's dealt with so succinctly in a fantasy series when even writers of supposedly more 'relevant' fiction stumble over the issue time and again

EDIT: I should point out I'm not criticising anybody. It's interesting to look at the evidence for the Fool's sex. But I just think the interest should be framed more as 'Was this a deliberate attempt by Hobb to throw us?' rather than 'Does this prove the Fool is male/female?'. It's also fun to re-read the books and see just how crafty Hobb could be by leading our suspicions and then thwarting them again. (If you can call things like having him cover his chest with a blanket 'crafty').

I've been reading all the controversy over the Fool's gender and so far this is the very best assessment I've seen yet.    It's spot on.  

It doesn't matter whether the Fool's plumbing is that of a male or female.  The Fool can't be defined that way.  He's not human.  That's the biggest red flag ever!  There were no limits to his love for Fitz and if only Fitz could have grasped that precious truth, all lot of the drama in Fitz's life would have been minimal.  He wanted to be one with Fitz.  He did become one with Fitz.  That's what really matters.  In the end, there really was NO barrier to their relationship.  They belonged together. My heart ached for him reading Golden Fool because I could see it so clearly.  Fitz was so stupid and blind just as Jek told him. *tsk, tsk*

On another note, concerning the Fool's species.  Isn't he reminiscent physically (and all of the Whites) of a serpent?  In the way that he sheds and is generally cold-blooded in nature?  I'm currently reading Fool's Fate and in the chapter where he tells Fitz not to put the snow on his face because he's already SO cold in Aslevjal.  My hubby just got a pet snake a month ago and the grace, agility, cold-bloodedness, always in need of warmth, and the way it sheds especially and how it behaves during the shedding process . . needs water for the process . . it set off all sorts of red flags in my mind about the Fool's own anatomy.  And on the point of serpents, aren't they essentially embryo dragons in RoTE? It makes me wonder if they might be somehow related to dragons in some way?  Has anyone discussed this possibility before?  I thought I read something somewhere about it . . but can't remember.  When the Fool uses the Skill and the Wit to put a dagger in the heart of that silly Civil Bresinga when he told him that he and Sydel had both been used.  How is it possible for him to possess the Skill and the Wit if he's not in same way related to dragons?  Just a thought.  I might be way off there.

LATER EDIT:  I'm nearing the end of Fool's Fate and now I have a bit more well-rounded perspective concerning the Fool.  Well, not so much a change from my earlier assessment but . . a bit better founded I think.  Others have talked about this quote from the Fool, "You are too human, Fitz.  I am not made for such as this.  Take it from me, take it, or I shall die of it."  Then before that, when Fitz was in the Fool's body repairing it and made this assessment: "Nor was the Fool completely human.  That night, I confronted completely his srangeness.  I had thought I had known him.  In those hours of rebuilding, I realized and accepted him as he was.  That, in itself, was a revelation.  I had always believed we were more alike than different.  It simply was not true.  He was human only in the same way that I was a wolf."  This was a revelation to me.  I knew the Fool wasn't really human . . he has some human characteristics, but he's not really human.  We can't fathom this because we don't know any other way . . our species is male and female.  The Fool's species of White is totally different.  His plumbing is no doubt just as different. We don't know what that genitalia is.  No doubt, of his species, he is a he insofar as we understand what a male is from our human perspective.  So.  His feelings for Fitz are beyond what we, as humans, can fully comprehend.  As Thul has said in a former post, "the answer to the Fool's gender is yes."  He's neither male or female as we can understand.  When Fitz and the Fool joined together in unity, when they passed each other, that was a joining of their souls, beyond sexual coupling, but on a par. In my opinion of course.  Hence, we get Bee.    Something that transferred over to Fitz and was fertilised in Molly in the oneness that Beloved shared with Fitz.

Okay enough of my ramblings . . back to Fool's Fate.  I'm nearly done!