Gernia vs RotE *spoilers all Hobb books*

[Farseer]

Hey Farseer - there was a double posting of this

Thanks Mervi! There’s been something strange happening with lots of my posts of late, but has to do with my computer, rather than the site, I’d say.

even the divided Nevare at the end ends up adopting an entire family, just like Fitz ends up adopting Molly's family.

Yes, I agree! The only real difference is that Fitz had at least fathered two children of his own as well.

The largest similarity, for me, is how both of them seem to be at the center of hundreds of crossroads, and how even their smallest choices affect an enormity of possibilities.

Yup, same for me! As soon as this became apparent, it was hard for me to separate the two. Nevare could just as easily have been given the title of ‘Changer’ or ‘Catalyst’ as Fitz had.

The main difference seems to be that Fitz is born into this role, but Nevare acts this role only as an embodiment of the magic - he himself is of no importance whatsoever, he simply was the person best placed to serve the magic.

I’m with you but still thinking on this!

- Though they both ended up being good at the roles chosen for them, they also both displayed talents which indicated that, given free choice, they would have done well too. Fitz had his drawing talent and Nevare displays quite a writing talent. Interesting how Nevare himself remarks that maybe the magic manifestates to him through his writing, just as it does with dancing in Kinrove.

Yes, I thought of these similarities too! Not only did they display these drawing and writing talents but they also documented their lives, and saw the importance of it. While Nevare obviously had his soldier’s son journal, Fitz worked hard at writing an historical account of the Six Duchies on his many scrolls (though just as often wrote about himself and his own experiences, somewhat like a journal). Fitz also showed a talent with creating inks...something that even impressed Chade when he first visited Fitz in FE.

Both also became quite talented in the ability to translate...Fitz the scrolls and Nevare his academy texts.

Similar to Nevare's role, possibly a part of the role of Fitz as ‘Changer’ was to set things down on paper to ensure that future generations were passed on the greater knowledge that has been lost for so long. Of course, this was something encouraged early on by Fedwren and Patience, much as Nevare was encouraged to write by his family and by virtue of the soldier son tradition. As an aside, I have found it interesting that there has been at least one person with such a role in each of the Hobb series...Verity/Fitz in the Farseer/Tawny Man books; Ephron/Brashen in the LST and Alise in the RWC...all seem to have been either charged or self-imposed with the responsibility to record a variety of things in either written or pictorial form.

- Going from that; both also were forced into their roles by others. Fitz out of political necessity, Nevare along with everyone else by religion.

Yes, although Nevare attests that he did also freely choose the military path. I would add that they were also forced by a major degree into the greater roles of ‘Changer’ or ‘Great One’ simply by the custody of their magics. While one could say that they still had ‘choice’, I’m not sure if they could ever have truly walked away from these roles.

- Both grew up in the upper classes. Though Fitz was only an offshoot of the royal family and thus kept in a minor role during his growing up, you can't deny he spend his youth in luxery.

No, I doubt anyone could disagree that Fitz lived well, and was most certainly exposed to the standard of training and life befitting a noble-born child, just as Nevare was eg educated in manners, social etiquette, numbers and letters, weaponry, history, horsemanship etc.

It’s also interesting that, while they both experienced this and other periods of ‘plenty’, they had to experience periods of serious ‘lack’ as well. Some examples of this would be when Fitz traversed the Cursed Shores with Nighteyes in a seemingly beggarly state (clothes in tatters, living only off the meat that they could hunt etc), and he was also mistaken for a beggar whilst on his way to Tradeford...not to mention his simple cottage life that saw him unable to offer Chade a teacup without a chip in it (has nothing to do with it but why am I suddenly thinking of Kennit’s teacups from Others Island ?!).

For Nevare...he found himself with limited resources on a number of occasions (after his father disowning him) and he also lived in a humble, isolated cottage with limited possessions.

One other thing I found similar was their openness to, and awareness of, nature. While Nevare’s experiences in this regard were helped by those of Soldier’s Boy, I thought that the ‘oneness’ they felt with all things was exactly like the ‘oneness’ that Fitz often experienced via the Wit. That Fitz attested many times that the trees contained Wit, particularly those ancient ones higher up in the Mountain Kingdom, made it an easy step for me to take to accept that trees in the SS series could actually contain the anmas or lives of humans/beings. It definitely made me wonder if it was only ‘age’ that gave the RotE trees their ancient, Wit presence...or something more! Maybe those in the upper reaches of the Mountain Kingdom are kaembra-like ones !

This brings me to another similarity between the two series, but rather to the theme of lives/souls able to be contained rather than just Fitz and Nevare. Wizardwood and memory stone can store anmas, as can the kaembra trees. In the case of the trees, the past knowledge from the owners of these lives can be used to advantage those living in the present, not unlike how the knowledge of anmas within a liveship can be used eg the old Great Ones could give advice whereas Paragon was able to use Kennit’s nautical knowledge and Vivacia could use Ephron’s. Memories of all dragon-kind are also digested by dragons via their wizardwood cases and then used to assist the newer generation.

Lots more to come...!