Robin Hobb's Assassin and Ethics

[dwndrgn]

For those of you who have read Hobb's Farseer Trilogy, you know that the main character is a trained assassin. Throughout the work (and the associated other books) Fitz contemplates the ethics of using an assassin's 'arts' to aid a Kingdom and his family.

Does this thinking make him a better person? I mean, whether he likes it or not, he is still an assassin and assassins are generally considered a bad element of any society.

In the trilogy, he really doesn't do a whole lot of assasinating either. Generally I feel that the author chose this role because he would then have lots of knowledge that would then help him in sticky situations. Do you think she did it that way on purpose or was the role put there specifically to create an ethical quandary?

 

[Fitz]

hmm, and interesting question...
I'm not too sure about the ethics part, but I think Hobb made Fitz an assassin partly to give him his abilities, and partly to make him a social outcast so he has to stay hidden...?
never really thought about it...

 

[Alexa]

Fitz got the training as an assassin, but he had never seemed to me to be "gifted" for that job. Maybe the author thought as he was a *******, doing the dirt work and not comploting against the king to get the throne could create the image of a romantic character. I generally don't like the "assassin" characters. Fitz is an exception. I cannot look at him like an unmerciful, bloody guy. On the contrary. All his interior struggles make him human and a fake as assassin.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I would say that the ethical dilemmas are a large part of what makes the plot interesting, and my guess is that Robin Hobb made Fitz an assassin for that very reason. Yes, the abilities he gains help him to get out of sticky situations, but the role also gets him INTO sticky situations. A (somewhat) reluctant assassin is a character with all sorts of possibilities, and I'd be surprised if Hobb didn't create the character and build the story around that, rather than beginning with Fitz's status as a royal ******* and figuring out later that training him as an assassin would be a clever twist. Of course she may have done -- you never know. Sometimes the most interesting parts of a story come in late in the process and just sort of take over. But I'm betting that the assassin angle came first.

I don't know if Fitz's internal struggles make him a better person or not -- but they do make him a more sympathetic character, at least in my eyes.

 

[hodor]

Along with assassin he was trained as a "behind the scenes" guy who could pull the stings and gain information. He was rather gifted at that aspect. I also believe he was made into an assassin as Chade partly because he was illigitimate. I was rather disappointed in how Hobb worked him into his role and thought she could have done something more interesting with it. This said, however, I was pleased with what she did for him in The Tawny Man series.

 

[rune]

Even though I knew Fitz was trained as an assassin, I never saw him as one. Most of the time he was portraid as a reluctant participant in this activity. And as the series progressed he moved away from this type of work, especially in the Tawny Man Series.

 

[Mark Robson]

I've not read The Tawny Man series, Hodor. I have read the Assassin series and the Liveship Traders series. Having read the Assassin series first, I was immensely impressed with the intricate and unusual plotline, but found her storylines so depressing that after the Liveship Traders, I vowed not to read any more! I prefer upbeat stories.

Fitz was a fascinating character, who for me never reached his full potential within the Assassin series. The fact that he became an assassin almost felt like an excuse for a good title to me. He was really more of a spy than an assassin, but his constant agonies made him anything but a medieval James Bond! The number of times whilst reading the series I wished that the King had just had him killed at the beginning and had done with it were numerous. He never seemed to achieve anything that warranted 3 books being written about him, other than suffering a huge amount of angst and abuse.

My 2c - Robin Hobb is a brilliant writer who needs to lighten up a bit!

 

[Silk]

I've always thought of the point of Fitz being an assasin is more to show the ways in which people are so easily manipulated and used - I mean King Shrewd took this small boy and turned him into his assasin with no regard for the effect this might have on him or the possibility of deciding his own future and he spends the rest of his life struggling to find a balance between his own choices and the choices everyone else made for him.

Even in the Tawney Man (of which I've only read the first book so far) you can see how desperate he is for the love of Shade and he had this for Shrewd as well - its emotional blackmail!

 

[hodor]

I've not read The Tawny Man series, Hodor. I have read the Assassin series and the Liveship Traders series. Having read the Assassin series first, I was immensely impressed with the intricate and unusual plotline, but found her storylines so depressing that after the Liveship Traders, I vowed not to read any more! I prefer upbeat stories.

Fitz was a fascinating character, who for me never reached his full potential within the Assassin series. The fact that he became an assassin almost felt like an excuse for a good title to me. He was really more of a spy than an assassin, but his constant agonies made him anything but a medieval James Bond! The number of times whilst reading the series I wished that the King had just had him killed at the beginning and had done with it were numerous. He never seemed to achieve anything that warranted 3 books being written about him, other than suffering a huge amount of angst and abuse.

My 2c - Robin Hobb is a brilliant writer who needs to lighten up a bit!

I would definitely agree with the spy thing and also the depressing plots in her books. However, I think, if you read The Tawny Man, you will see it all come together and see Fitz reach that potential he could have in the first series. Plus... and not to spoil it before you read it... you will appreciate the ending I think. You should give it a try. Much better than the first series.

 

[Rane Longfox]

For my fraction of a dollar on assasins in books, read the "Video game violence" thread in the gaming forum. I have no problem with it per se, but it seems that horrific skills are glorified far too much...

(By the way, I have read three pages of Robin Hobb, and chucked the book away... not a writer I can relate to)

 

[Leto]

For my fraction of a dollar on assasins in books, read the "Video game violence" thread in the gaming forum. I have no problem with it per se, but it seems that horrific skills are glorified far too much...

That's a trap to pry on your hard drive, be careful

 

[hodor]

For my fraction of a dollar on assasins in books, read the "Video game violence" thread in the gaming forum. I have no problem with it per se, but it seems that horrific skills are glorified far too much...

(By the way, I have read three pages of Robin Hobb, and chucked the book away... not a writer I can relate to)

Interesting... I never thought of actually relating to a writer.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Very good points, Silk.

I must admit to having liked the first book quite a lot, but not making it through the entire series because Fitz's life (not to mention the world around him) became far too grim and depressing for my taste. Also, I hated that a lot of the time he was serving the interests of people who didn't deserve his loyalty.

On the other hand, this did produce plenty of angst, and angst and despair are right up there with violence in appealing to most readers these days.

I keep meaning to try and get my hands on some of her Megan Lindholm books, and see if Lindholm was a kinder, gentler writer. It may be that she made the Assassin books so relentlessly grim largely out of a desire to keep on writing and selling books.

 

[hodor]

Very good points, Silk.

I must admit to having liked the first book quite a lot, but not making it through the entire series because Fitz's life (not to mention the world around him) became far too grim and depressing for my taste. Also, I hated that a lot of the time he was serving the interests of people who didn't deserve his loyalty.

On the other hand, this did produce plenty of angst, and angst and despair are right up there with violence in appealing to most readers these days.

I keep meaning to try and get my hands on some of her Megan Lindholm books, and see if Lindholm was a kinder, gentler writer. It may be that she made the Assassin books so relentlessly grim largely out of a desire to keep on writing and selling books.

Have you read all nine books of Hobb. I agree they are grim and it always seems as if you can predict crap will happen or piss will happen but read all nine and the end is actually worth the reading.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

As I said, Hodor, I didn't make it all the way through the Assassin trilogy. I don't know if I'm willing to read through nine long books to reach a happy ending, no matter how great the payoff.

Nothing against Hobb, but my tastes just don't run to hundreds of pages of gloom and doom. As a writer I know says, "Brave deeds shine brighter in a dark world," but I do like to see something good come of them from time to time, or I get depressed.

Plus, I'm already on Prozac.

 

[hodor]

I can't argue with you there kelpie. I don't know how many time I had wanted to put down one of the three assassin books. Plus it took me an extremely long time to get throught the first series. I completely understand what you are saying.

 

[Alexa]

After reading all the posts, I really don't know what to say. I still have to read volume 9. Unfortunately, I have to wait for a slower reader to finish it. It really took me one day per volume. See how much I like it ? I imagine it's not easy to like it if you cannot "sink" into the plot since the beginning.

Fitz had suffered a lot and he was abused all his life. Still I find his character very interesting. And his connection with the wolf helps him to get out from very difficult situations. I didn't like very much the "forgisés" (sorry, I don't know the word in English as I read the French translation. I want to say those poor people left without souls after the meeting of pirates). Did I find the book depressing ? Hell, NO. I was all the time on " what happens next" influence.

Some of you are writers. Please tell me what do you expect once you get published from your readers ?

 

[Silk]

Did I find the book depressing ? Hell, NO. I was all the time on " what happens next" influence.

I was exactly the same; the assasin books & livership traiders were proberbly my biggest reading obsessions of last year - its only the second time I've read two series form the same author back-to-back, I normally prefer to have a bit of a rest in between.

 

[Fitz]

Even though I knew Fitz was trained as an assassin, I never saw him as one. Most of the time he was portraid as a reluctant participant in this activity.

I think that's the reason that I never considered this ethical dillenma: I've never really considered him as an assassin, only a soldier who followed his orders.
And yes, the series does seem awfully depressing at times, but it's also interesting to see how he pulls through them.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Not sure what you mean, Alexa, about what writers expect from their readers. Do you mean sticking with a writer and a series after some disappointments?