Small, random questions about RotE that still bother you (spoilers all RotE books)

[Farseer]

Pretty sure Verity or possibly Chade said about Bastards being able to take their own name and crest.

Well met and welcome to thePlenty, Ryder!

When Fitz first received his new clothes from Mistress Hasty, he asked Burrich about the crest with the red, diagonal slash across it(Chapter Four of AA, 'Apprenticeship') . Burrich went on to suggest that Fitz could think of a name and a crest of his own (though Fitz got a tad grumpy about that and thought Chivalry or someone else should do it). Burrich said: "If you don't like it, you can change it. I am sure the King would grant it. A name and a crest of your own" and then he went on to say "...It's a simple enough request. Bastards are rare in the noble houses especially so in the King's own. But they aren't unheard of."

Gosh I love re-reads !

I liked that it was Verity who gave Fitz his charging buck crest and name of FitzChivalry (the new crest was given to him in Chapter Nineteen of AA, 'Journey'). That Verity registered the name in the military log on the day he was taken to Moonseye, makes me wonder if he did it with Chivalry's blessing or even after a suggestion from Chivalry (they were obviously Skilled-linked at the time?), or possibly it was just the tradition to name a bastard prince with the prefix of "Fitz", as we discussed elsewhere on thePlenty a while ago. This puts a different spin on Burrich's naming of him as "fitz" or "Fitz". Most everyone else just assumed that Burrich named him as such and then the name just took but, in fact, he had already been logged as FitzChivalry. Very interesting though that Burrich had not even seen Verity before his very first use of "Fitz". This suggests that the term Fitz was possibly applied to all 'registered' and 'acknowledged' bastards of Six Duchies princes?

A leap from that and I have to wonder if Chade's logged name at Buckkeep is actually FitzBounty? Whatever name he was known by prior to his accident, I'm guessing it was not Chade, otherwise all would have known his true identity when he took on the role of adviser to Kettricken. Was he actually acknowledged by Bounty? I can't remember! Was he known by the public as a royal bastard, like Fitz, prior to his accident? He was often in the public eye, and very vain with it, so he must have held some sort of 'position'? His true identity and that he exists as a Farseer is NOW a secret but was it back then before his accident? While Chade was not his real name, did he have TWO names prior to that (his birth name and then a Buckkeep name) or just the one birth name? I probably know this answer, having read the book so many times, but there are so many facts that it's impossible to remain holding on to them all!

Chade could have taken this more negative name because of how he felt about himself, In the quote about loyalty doesn't he say to Shrewd to remember what he is to him. Maybe Chade regrets that he 'missed' on being king + when he was burnt I doubt he was feeling to positive about himself.

You could be right there. No doubt Chade feels regret or a "what if?" (at least, I know I would in the same circumstance) and later on in the TM trilogy he even acknowledged that Shrewd had been worried about him as he'd always had more ambition than Fitz.

One thing I always did wonder about (sudden change of topic!) is the deference Chade gave to Fitz in the end. By right of blood, he possibly had more claim to the throne than Fitz? Of course, Fitz was of Chivalry's line, as was Dutiful (though Dutiful is known to be of Verity's line and therefore seems to have an even stonger claim after Verity had been a crowned king !!) but if it were not for his bastard status, it would have been Chade who'd been the crowned king and not Shrewd. Just as it would have been Fitz and not Verity. In this, as both illegitimate "princes", Chade could himself have taken stewardship of the throne for Dutiful. Instead, he gave way to Fitz and even got rather emotional about finally having a true Farseer King on the throne once more. I think this highlights Chade's strong love for Fitz.

Just on that, is there any evidence to back up the possibility that the room Fitz inhabited as a youth in Buckkeep was in fact Chivalry's old room? When Brant first took him there he stated clearly that it hadn't "been used for some time" (possibly even since Chivalry had been rooming in with Patience and so would have progressed to another room?).

Of note is the fact that Chade's work area had also been unused for quite some time, possibly for years. This links to the ajoining room also being unused for some time. The first job Fitz had as Chade's apprentice was helping him to clean up the entire work area and put it all right again. Chade was obviously saddened by the memories the unused room evoked and it was only the teaching of Fitz that seemed to have motivated him to begin working there again (though on Shrewd's orders of course). Chade told Fitz that it had taken him quite some time to agree to Shrewd's request, after Shrewd had finally worked up the courage to seek him out once more, and I wonder if this is all because of what happened with Chivalry (Shrewd had known that Chade was angry with him regarding his testing of Chivalry etc and that Chade would would most likely be unprepared to want to go through it all again with Chivalry's son)? Possibly it could have been due to some other apprentice but, for me, Chivalry ticks all boxes.

While Verity and Chade had a relationship, it was obviously not Verity who worked as closely with Chade as Chivalry, otherwise the work area of his room would have been clean and in some sort of order, not dust-covered etc from a lack of use.