The Fool's Gender? (possible spoilers)

And the debate goes on. I was frustrated by all the clues that the fool was secretly female and there was no payoff. Just as thinking of the Fool as female upsets some people, thinking about Amber as secretly male upsets me I guess. I found Amber a much easier character to deal with than the Fool. Wait, no, I think the fool was fine as the fool in Farseers it's Lord Golden that got on my nerves. In spite of all that I wouldn't change the story in that respect. I was annoyed in a good way from a fiction perspective as part of being engaged in the story line.
 
i do think that the fool did a very good woman tho. unnaturally good, which is why i did think he was female, at least until the end of the tawny man and the white prophetess calling him him. i didn't htink a man could understand the female boyd or how a woman could act as a man, that well, but as i said, the white prophetess knew him as a child, she would have known if he was a girl, i think.

lord golden was kinda meant to be annoying. shallow, callous fop. :) i do wish some sort of more conclusive outcome had been reached about the fool, but then i wished the same about the crown. i thought that was a real let down as well.
 
the_faery_queen said:
i . i didn't htink a man could understand the female boyd or how a woman could act as a man, that well,
Click to expand...

There's lots of men who can pass themselves off as women very ably. To me the fool was such a chap, who was, as you say very convincing and good at it.

Whilst he was Amber I did feel something wasn't quite right about him and altough I also found Lord Golden a little annoying it felt more natural.

I just seem him as an effeminate man and to add my 2 pennies worth I think Fitz would have been far better off with Fool than moaning Molly.
 
oh totally. i really hate molly. she was so boring! and ok she stood for what fitz wanted, a life of his own, baaaaabies and marrrriage and all that nice safe ordinary stuff, which is fair enough considering all teh stuff he had to go through, she was just so boring and didn't understand him! she didnt really like the nighteyes bond thing, and hto he would never have another bond, after nighteyes, i still don't think fitz should have ended up with a person who didn't like something that was such a big part of him. she was also his childhood thing, i really wanted him to get over that. but as someone told me, he was a catylst, and they don't change.

he was trying to be annoying, i think, as lord golden. my fav version was really the fool that came to teh cabin, the gentle, quiet sort of fool. i also liked the mad, manic fool, cos i like that sort of hyperactivity, but quiet fool was my fav. amber was ok, better than anyone else in that series! (except paragon) but ultimately, the rarely seen normal fool was what i like :)

and i guess i was really thinking about the whole period thing, how well he could tell althea how to hide it. i really don't think that many men would know about that sort of thing. but the fool is pretty worldly, he seems to know everything abotu everything really, or at least, be sensitive enough to understand.
 
The fool was, physically speaking, male.

Mentally speaking, the fool's homosexuality/bisexuality always seemed ties to his role as trickster and deceiver- someone able to cast off personalities and gender roles at will. Certainly- as Fitz comments- we never really get to see the real White Prophet. How much of his attachment to Fitz was the result of his connection to the catalyst is a matter of debate.
 
perhaps she can change her physical sex just as easily as she can cast off personalities and gender roles. Maybe she wouldn't reveal herself to Fitz as female because she wanted to know that the love was unconditional. I still think it was unfair the way she messed with Fitz's mind in that respect.
 
I have to agree with the majority in this case, despite how I wanted it otherwise most of the time, I feel rather certain that the fool was male.
 
I am definately definately sure that Fool's gender was male.This is because: *SPOILERS*
In Fool's Fate, when Fitz is in his body, he doesn't think or find anything about Fool's body that he finds, i'm guessing, different to what he expected, and Fitz has always been adamant that Fool is male.
Fitz finds the idea of making love with Fool well, disgusting, and I think thats because he isn't into the whole homosexual thing with Fool.
The other White Prophets had definite genders, The Black Man and The Pale Woman say it all really. The Fool is a Fool and of course he would want to confuse people, no doubt for his own amusement.
I can't think of any more reasons to support my point at the moment, but I think that'll do for now.

I was so upset at the end of Fool's Fate. I was all for a relationship between Fitz and the Fool. It would have been lovely, i love the Fool myself. I found that aspect of the ending annoying. I don't like Molly fullstop.
 
i hated molly too. she's so bland. but the fool and fitz would never have worked out, im glad it went the way it did. i just wioshed it went that way sooner, without all the marriages! (but that i mean, i wished it had ended sooner. just with the fool leaving)
 
The Fool is most certainly a male, although he does make a good female.

As for Molly, I found her annoying and disliked her immensely the first time I read the books, when I was less mature. Recently, though, I read the books again and reached an understanding of her. The poor girl had many reasons to be bitter about her life, and to be scared about the direction her life was taking. She was in love with a man who could never be available to her in the way that she deserved.

I felt the same way about Burrich. At first, I disliked him for his callous way of treating Fitz and dealing with the Wit. But his love overcame everything else and he turned out to be a remarkable character. The end of his story was completely heartwrenching.
 
i hated molly in the tawny man stuff too though. and i was only a little younger than what i am now :) i just find her so boring.
 
Well then I am swimming against the tide. I will say then that Amber is definitley female. The thought of Fool and Lord Golden being a woman in disguise is less disturbing to me than think of Amber as a dude in disguise. I think I said that already. I've recenlty started the Soldier's Son Trilogy and I wonder what if there will be any controversy there. SirLofty is really Malta! :p
 
Drumroll please

The Fool's gender is...








































Male
Proof you say? Oh, I almost forgot that part.
Ironic really that the answer comes from a chapter aptly named "Revelations".
That's Chp. 23 in Golden Fool.
OK here we go...



He drew in a shuddering breath. His teeth were near to chattering as he observed bitterly, ‘Well. Just when I thought there was no way she could increase her cruelty, she finds one. That poor, poor child.’
‘Do yours hurt?’ I asked cautiously.
He shook his head, still without looking at me. Some of his hair fell free of his grasp to brush across his shoulders. ‘No. Not now. But the application of them was extremely painful. And of great duration. They held me very still, for hours at a time. They apologized and tried to comfort me as they did it. That only made it worse, that people who otherwise treated me with such love and regard could do that to me. They were meticulously careful to needle them in just as she instructed them. It is a horrible thing to do to a child. Hold him still and hurt him. Any child.’ He rocked slightly, his shoulders hunched. His voice was distant.

Straight from the horse's mouth. I hope this puts to rest this burning question and we can all move on with our lives.
 
well it doesn't really. because the fool would be acting as a male, right? talking to people who think he is male, he wouldn't say he was female, even if he was, in that situation.

but i sitll think he's male anyway :)
 
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