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

[Bink]

Just had to bring up this thread to give my thoughts. Took a quick browse on most of the previous posters thoughts. I see everything mentioned as non-conclusive but at the end find more evidence of the Fool being male than female.

One of the most important information is the initial impression of most people in the Liveship Traders that they found her features not feminine or a odd kind of female. Whereas in the Fool's portrayal, everyone accepted that he was male without much questioning other than his initial pale features.

However, the most conclusive evidence to me is during the death of the Fool. No, my thoughts are not so much like previous posters in that in death, Fitz would have perceived his nudity (partial or not) or his sharing his body.

It has to do with the Fool's presence in the Rooster's Crown (Farseer, I know you love the significance of the Crown). In that, every minstrel could not perceive the Fool's physical form but his very being in the crown. Through his blood, every minstrel perceived and referred the Fool as 'he'. His very being is male.

“He’s here! With us. In the crown, of all places. He put his blood in the crown!”

“He must go,” the bull-​voiced man con­clud­ed. “We are very sor­ry, but he must go. It is not right or fit­ting that he be here.”

“He was not cho­sen.”

“He was not in­vit­ed.”

“He is not wel­come.”

I consider this 3rd party verification in that they did not suffer the bias of familiarity that Fitz or Jek had. The minstrels possibly saw every bit of him as blood is memory and perceived him as a male through his blood.