If you had the Skill or the Wit, would you use it?

[maulkin]

The Skill and the Wit are powerful abilities yet both imply awesome responsibilities and can only be practiced at tremendous personal cost. So, if the call was issued and you discovered that you were Skilled or Witted, would you agree to serve your king as a member of a coterie?

[Nighteyes]

The Skill and the Wit are powerful abilities yet both imply awesome responsibilities and can only be practiced at tremendous personal cost. So, if the call was issued and you discovered that you were Skilled or Witted, would you agree to serve your king as a member of a coterie?

I would, especially if Witted, I would love to have that strong a bond with an animal.

[maulkin]

I would, especially if Witted, I would love to have that strong a bond with an animal.

What kind of animal?

[Nighteyes]

What kind of animal?

Something canine, wolf preferably. Having a pack has always appealed to me.

[maulkin]

I doubt that I would be witted. Although I am fascinated by animals and chose to study them as a career, I don't have the kind of instinctive empathy with animals that witted characters seem to have and I can't imagine bonding with an animal. Having said that, I am intrigued by the other uses of the Wit that emerged or were hinted at in Fool's Fate, such as the ability to repulse and attract, not to mention the ability to raise the dead!

The Skill seems to fit better with me. I can almost imagine how it might feel to communicate mind to mind or to heal and manipulate through the use of dreams and visualisations. If I had the Skill, I doubt that I would be able to resist the temptation to learn how to use it and to explore its possibilities to the best of my ability. I empathise with Chade in this respect! However, I can't imagine ever wanting to be part of a coterie or to give up my independence to serve my King (so I also empathise with Fitz).

[Nighteyes]

I think working as part of a coterie to serve my monarch would suit me, it would be like a pack and being a monarchist myself using my abilities and exploring them in service to my 'alpha' I think is something I would find very satisfying.

[maulkin]

I suppose that it would depend on the monarch, to a certain extent. I cannot imagine myself being content to serve a foolish, spiteful king like Regal or even a weak king like Shrewd. I might be able to reconcile myself to serve a wise monarch, as long as he was willing to listen to my opinions and to allow me to act according to my conscience. Otherwise, I might have to turn kingmaker and find a monarch more to my liking...

As regards being part of a coterie, I think that some of us are just not pack animals. I would probably end up as a solo (like Fitz, Chade and Thick). I can also sympathise with Fitz over the conflict between heading a family and serving a monarch. I can't imagine ever being sufficiently loyal to my head of state that I would be willing to abandon my family.

A similar problem might arise from bonding with a dragon. Tintaglia demanded unhesitating loyalty, verging on worship, as her due. I can't imagine her being very sympathetic towards Selden's work/life balance...

[Nighteyes]

I think I would find it difficult to follow a corrupt monarch like Regal and I would be tempted to turn kingmaker but fighting loyalty would be difficult. Balancing loyalty to the monarch and to my family would be extremely difficult.

[maulkin]

The flip side of this discussion is the question of who should be allowed to possess the Skill or the Wit.

With regard to the Skill, individuals don't seem to develop their abilities to any great extent without training. This allowed the Kings of the Six Duchies to restrict Skill training to themselves and their loyal coteries. This is understandable given the threat to the monarchy and the kingdom posed by rogue skill users. However, it also led to the near extinction of the Skill during Shrewd's reign. Can the complete suppression of knowledge ever be justified on the grounds of national security?

With regard to the Wit, even untrained individuals seem to develop their abilities to a certain extent. Indeed, attempts to suppress the abilities of the witted (such as Burrich's attempt to suppress the Wit in Fitz, Swift and himself) appear to be unsuccessful. This means that the only way to restrict the Wit is to kill the witted. I imagine that most people will agree with me that genocide cannot be justified on the grounds of national security, but that leaves the problem of how a society copes with people who spontaneously develop powerful supernatural abilities.

[Nighteyes]

I don't think completely suppressing knowledge of the Skill could ever be right. I just see it as wrong, people should have the right to develop their powers as they're an intrinsic part of them.
As for people spontaneously developing powerful abilities like the Wit I think that they should be accepted as natural and helped in every way to explore their potential, preferably in a way that services the kingdom.