Inside the Skill Pillars? (Spoilers Farseer and Tawny Man trilogies)

[LegionOfBrad]

Hi there, I've just finished reading the 6 Farseer books about Fitz, i found this forum because i was searching for an answer that doesn't seem to get explained.

Namely the two occasions when Fitz gets lost in travelling through skill pillars. Once travelling to the others beach and once at the end of the story when he goes missing for a month travelling back from Aslevjal. Both times he has a conversation or is talked to by a female being who eventually sends him on his way home. I've never really been sure who this was supposed to be.

The encounter before the others beach makes me think it may have been the dragon Tintaglia. But the second encounter doesn't give any hints to me. I don't know if its explained in Live Ship traders as I'm yet to read them but is there a theory who its supposed to be? It almost seemed like he was passing into another life so at one point i assumed Hobb was hinting that it was the Goddess Eda who was sending him back. But i'm not really sure?

['thul]

welcome to the plenty...

Well, to answer you... this may be a bit spoilerish, so its stuck inside one... read at your own peril.

may spoil many books and theories, possibly through minor details from all the 12 books released in english

There is no definite answer given. there's a high probability that it is Tintaglia. The skill pillars were built by the Elderlings, who got their magic and skills from the dragons they lived in symbiosis with. Thus one could say that the pillars are "of the dragons". It is possible, but unverified, that the black stone used to carve such is solidified memory sand/clay, which will be explained what is later, during the liveship books. Thus it would be natural for a dragon to be submerged in whatever current these pillars utilize.
There's another theory that has popped up here somewhere that it was indeed this goddess Eda, but that Eda is in fact a dragon spirit. or perhaps that the various gods are in fact all draconic in some fashion. Mind you, those are just theories.

So the answer is yes, there's theories. No, none of them have been verified 100%. It might be Tintaglia, it might be Eda, it might be something else.

[LegionOfBrad]

welcome to the plenty...

Well, to answer you... this may be a bit spoilerish, so its stuck inside one... read at your own peril.

may spoil many books and theories, possibly through minor details from all the 12 books released in english

There is no definite answer given. there's a high probability that it is Tintaglia. The skill pillars were built by the Elderlings, who got their magic and skills from the dragons they lived in symbiosis with. Thus one could say that the pillars are "of the dragons". It is possible, but unverified, that the black stone used to carve such is solidified memory sand/clay, which will be explained what is later, during the liveship books. Thus it would be natural for a dragon to be submerged in whatever current these pillars utilize.
There's another theory that has popped up here somewhere that it was indeed this goddess Eda, but that Eda is in fact a dragon spirit. or perhaps that the various gods are in fact all draconic in some fashion. Mind you, those are just theories.

So the answer is yes, there's theories. No, none of them have been verified 100%. It might be Tintaglia, it might be Eda, it might be something else.

Thanks 'thul. I'm going to delve into Liveships at some point. But i will leave the Rain Wilds chronicles until the last book is out.

It appears i drew from the encounters the same conclusions as others have. Making me think that RN left it unexplained but also gave us some pretty big hints

[joost]

Spoiler

I seriously doubt it's Tintaglia. She'd never give a human so much attention, and would probably see Fitz as a sign that those meddlesome humans can't even get the skill right.

['thul]

Spoiler

Yet at the same time, a single human tumbling around in the current of magic could be annoying. The fact that it took a month or so for her in the end to bother tossing him out of it, reeks of dragon-like feeling of superiority.

[Narya]

I agree with Joost, especially since the first encounter seemed to have a maternal/paternal feel to it.

[finella]

Hello and welcome, LegionofBrad. Enjoy your time here in this forum .

Spoiler

I always thought it was Tintaglia, although I also noticed this maternal feel, which I don't really trust her to have - at least not towards humans. Then again she is not always only arrogant and hard-hearted. I like her very much.

Goddess Eda... ? Hm, no, I can't get familiar with this idea. She was, as far as I remember, always a concept (I don't know, if that's the right word), but never "real" (I hope, you know what I mean).

['thul]

Tintaglia class spoiler

if there's anything one can say about her, then it is that she's not all that consistent when it comes to dealing with humans Elderlings. She's very selfish, yet she does on occasion look out for others, mostly because she feels like it, not because she believes in doing it for any ulterior reasons. People using the skill she typically takes a bit extra interest in, but typically only for a while. Then her attention shifts.
If any people has something she wants, they have her attention. When they no longer have anything she needs/wants, she ignores them.

[FoolishGirl]

I don't think that this being is Tintaglia. All the "normal" skill-encounters that Fitz had with Tintaglia were so very condescending and downright rude.

I always thought of this being as something extra-worldly, something much greater than humans OR dragons. Perhaps the voice of the universe itself, if that makes any sense.

[fool-ish]

I'm of the mind it was someone/something far more kind-hearted than Tintaglia. She was proper narky with Fitz in those skill dreams! I wonder if we'll ever find out?