The Rooster Crown (spoilers all RotE books)

[lucasake]

Hi

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I read it as being that there were only two gems remaining in the crown and thus those were the only two that winked. Rather than there being five and only two of them winking whilst the other three did not. Has been a while though, so could be off the mark with that one !

[Nuytsia]

Errr good point, I think it could be taken either way, but it could certainly be read as meaning there are only 2 gems.....

"For a moment, my eyes lingered on the softened carvings of roosters' heads that ringed the crown....Tiny gems still winked in two of the carved eyes; the others were blank and empty."

[Bink]

Hi

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I read it as being that there were only two gems remaining in the crown and thus those were the only two that winked. Rather than there being five and only two of them winking whilst the other three did not. Has been a while though, so could be off the mark with that one !

I initially thought as you did until I took on the perspective that the Rooster's Crown is completely made of wizard wood. The gems were merely carved and not real gems. Only upon the feathers being inserted and when a host puts it on then the Crown took on colour and features.

Hence my view that the remaining gems did not glow due to the damage to the crown.

[Farseer]

Just throwing this into the mix, though I still need to come back and get stuck into my other bits and pieces.

When Fitz borrowed Fool's honey on Aslevjal (for Thick's tea), he moved the Rooster Crown into the centre of Fool's bed so Fool would know that he had been there. He had this to say:

'In the end, I moved the Rooster Crown into the middle of his bed. I turned the simple wooden circlet in my hands, the dim light catching for an instant in one rooster's sparkling gem eye...'

My opening post was simply to get the ball rolling (sorry to throw it out there with no back-up or supporting info of my own!) but I always got the impression that the two remaining gems respresented Fool and Fitz, as the two who were still working toward the restoration of the world? More on why I've gone for that theory later!

[Nuytsia]

Yes, I'm looking forward to the full fleshing out of your grand rooster crown theory of everything!

I could certainly see that the two gems symbolising F and F is a possibility!

[Witted Bastard]

Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I read it as being that there were only two gems remaining in the crown and thus those were the only two that winked. Rather than there being five and only two of them winking whilst the other three did not.

Yes, this seems obvious.

[Farseer]

Not sure why I have to put this here but when I just placed a post in a Gernia thread regarding the facets of Sa and other RotE/SS gods etc, I couldn't help but think of the Rooster Crown, with all of its different facets or personalities within the one 'anma vessel' (for want of a better name!). The same could be said of liveships and simulacra etc. What that means, or doesn't mean, I have no idea! Something to mull over...

[Farseer]

Yes, I agree, Nuytsia...your ideas, coupled with the different facets of many of the characters we've met, all makes for SOMETHING!

Anyhow, I am being driven completely mad by my Rooster Crown theory, which I am still yet to understand myself let alone disclose to the world, so, here's another question to try and take my mind off of it!

When Fool and Fitz were at the plaza, Fitz saw a girl walking with a crown of vine leaves on her head (AQ Chapter Twenty-Nine - The Rooster Crown): "A girl crowned with a twist of green vine came through the crowd, glancing back over her shoulder at someone. I swear she caught my eye and winked at me."

Now, while we know not to believe everything that Fitz says of his experiences , I am inclined to believe that this girl actually saw Fitz, either as himself somehow (either in the present or as Fitz from a parallel time/life) or saw him as someone else in another time eg Realder, as an example, though I think it was Syrocko in another thread who suggested he couldn't be Realder incarnate as Realder still dwells within the dragon (shattering segments of my RC theory at the same time !).

Either way, there has to be something of significance happening here (doesn't there?) as in all other instances where Fitz experiences the lives trapped in memory stone, he is able to walk among these memories of past lives without being directly acknowledged by them eg as happened when he was in Kelsingra and the Elderlings/people there seemed so real to him, even to the point where he almost 'begged pardon' of one lady (AQ Chapter Twenty-Seven - The City) .

Who was this woman? Why could she not only appear to see Fitz but be familiar enough with him to wink?

[Farseer]

I can't find the post for the minute but, somewhere along the line, I responded to someone's point about Fitz and Fool not being Realder and the female WP reincarnate ^ (re all beginning from their shared vision in the plaza etc in AA). This blew quite a chunk of my Rooster Crown theory out of the water as I believed that they could have been (yes, I am talking about the RC theory which I STILL haven't posted yet so don't bother going to look for it !).

Aside from this specific WP/Realder reincarnation aspect, which I hope to belatedly back up and address with my other RC thoughts one of these days, I would like to raise the question of reincarnation, and even incarnation, in general within the RotE.

While we are firmly given many afterlife-like examples of memory stone, liveships, the Skill River and Wit-bonds with animals as ways humans have of "living on" beyond the grave/a physical death, evidence of true "reincarnation" is much harder to find. Even so, I do believe that it exists within the RotE.

The BAD thing is that I can't refind the one passage/reference that clearly confirms it (at least to my way of thinking!). It's making me CRAZY that I can't place it after losing all of my notes due to a computer virus and despite a great deal of searching. I can't even remember which book it was in (!!) but it is definitely in either the Farseer or TM series as I recall it being specific to the Six Duchies.

While the only other passage that comes to my mind is a reference made by Nighteyes about having to always run ahead of Fitz to show him the way (this is just before he dies in FE, Chapter Twenty-Six, "Sacrifice"), though this latter passage may not conclusively point to "reincarnation" as such? Whatever it means, it certainly suggests to me that Nighteyes is talking here about running ahead to show him the way to their next shared life or form or SOMETHING, as he often had to do during their recent time together as well as in other past lives? Or do you think he is merely showing Fitz the way to death...that death is the way it should be and Fitz should embrace and accept it, not seek to prolong his life beyond its living?

Anyway, I thought I'd put it out there as one of you may remember the other reincarnation-suggestive passage and have something to contribute, or you may come across it while I am still looking. Tomorrow I plan to start yet another re-read of all books just so I can find it...this doing it in spits and spurts isn't working !

[Mervi]

I think there are clearly some hints to an afterlife not only in what Nighteyes says, but also in Golden Fool there's a description of Fitz glimpsing a snowy landscape and knows the wolves are waiting for him and he follows the tracks Nighteyes left for him. He seems to be in some sort of "inbetween" world, not quite dead but not in the Real World either. I think this is referred to both after his fight when he goes to kill the Wit-stallion and during some Skill-healing session later.

Quite a change from the first trilogy where he describes Shrewd's death "as a bubble popping" (or something like that) and how he just simply "wasn't there" anymore.