Others' Island (spoilers all books incl RWC)

[Chrischa]

It's not the only place were iron is mentioned as being nefast for magic; I've come across it yesterday in a Neil Gaiman short story, where some mythical creature shouts at his attacker; "Fight me fair! Not with your cold iron!" And I'm sure it's mentioned in other places as well. It must be interwoven in mythology somewhere.
As to it stopping the serpents... it's a very good idea, but I'm not sure. Nowhere do the stories say anything about iron burning the dragons or serpents, and we flip to their point of view quite a few times. But I know that doesn't compeletely rule it out either.

I love the teacups' mention as well, my sister pointed it out to me before she posted it here and it's such a well-hidden but clever clue... wonderful, typical Robin Hobb stuff.
Makes me wonder if those teacups are not only a symbol for Bingtown high society but also for his mother. After all, it's not normal what he does to her either, how he abandons her on her own on that island. I think Mother is a very clever addition to the story, after all she knows what Kennit went through, so she acts both out of a mother's concern and out of the knowledge of how damaged he really is inside. In the end, she does the hard thing in re-uniting him with Paragon, which she knows is necessary, even though Kennit sees it as betrayal.