The Fool's Gender? (possible spoilers)

[Teir]

Ok, I don't know if this has been discussed. It seems to be a hot topic on many other forums, and its something i am very adamant about. I find that alot of people have conflicting opinions as to the Fool's gender due to his feelings for Fitz, and the part he played in the Liveship Traders. Hobb herself, I have read, never really decided herself. Other views I've read suggest that the Fool can alternate between gender, is genderless or is actually a woman. I will not accept that the Fool is woman for a number of reasons:

SPOILERS

1.When Fitz revives him, they in effect become one being at one stage, not to mention swap bodies. Fitz, even slightly slow at times that he is ( ), would have noticed.
2. The Pale Woman acknowledges him as male. It seems she should know.
3. In the 'liveship traders' Brashen thinks to himself that Amber has a musculine appearing face.
4. The fool himself explains his love for Fitz ( and personaly I do not think love should be restricted by gender, but thats beside the point right now)
5. if the fool was female it would ruin the story for me. maybe thats silly but it would.

Just a bit of a rant cos i feel strongly about this. If someone has an opinion i'd be really interested to hear it.

 

[rune]

I'm still in two minds about what gender Fool is. I would say in the Tawny Man series Fool seems more female.

 

[Princess Ivy]

i agree rune, definatly female in tawny man, but male in the other series. Amber's feelings towards Paragon are definatly female, although that may just be brought on by the insights of a seer?

 

[nixie]

I don't think the fool is male or female,it's more a case of the gender to suit the occasion.Now I've confused myself

 

[MoonLover]

I think the Fool can change gender, though not at will. Maybe like those other times he went through other changes, where he grew, changed colour etc, perhaps he changed gender as well. I think the fact that the author herself doesn't know should be answer enough, though. Whoever, and whatever the Fool may be might never be explained, and that is a great part of the affection I feel for that character.

"Whence comes the Fool and why?" Fitz never really got his answer, did he?

Karen

 

[rune]

One of the reasons I would like to see a series on Fool, find out more about the character

 

[Princess Ivy]

Tawny man does seem to be about him/her though. mayhbe the only answers we're gonna get?

 

[disco]

I agree with Moonlover I think he changes.

 

[Teir]

Whoever, and whatever the Fool may be might never be explained, and that is a great part of the affection I feel for that character.

"Whence comes the Fool and why?" Fitz never really got his answer, did he?

Karen

The fool is one of those characters i think, that in the end i spose it doesnt really matter. The whole person was someone you could feel deeply for. He was such an enigma, that prehaps he didn't even understand himself fully, even Hobb didn't. I was prehaps being a little single minded with what i wrote at the beggining, but i will still always see him as a 'he', the boy fitz grew up with and befriended

 

[Jason_Taverner]

bloke

 

[quiet cynic]

I believe the Fool is a guy. This is due to the many small hints in the three relevant series. I also believe that the question of his gender is something the Fool did on purpose, and probably enjoyed somewhat. Being a consumate actor, this would not have been difficult, and it smacks of his sense of humor and personality. None-the-less, it seems irrelevant in the end, because his relationship with Fritz is, I believe, too deep to be affected by something so basic as gender. It almost seemed to be the whole point at times - that their feelings went above/beyond that.

 

[Psychogirl]

I happen to agree with Teir on of the listed points. But how do you know that the Fool's people don't have the same basic genders as Fitz? The males could be the ones to give birth, you never know. In fact, we know almost nothing about the Fool. Strange, isn't it?

 

[Teir]

I happen to agree with Teir on of the listed points. But how do you know that the Fool's people don't have the same basic genders as Fitz? The males could be the ones to give birth, you never know. In fact, we know almost nothing about the Fool. Strange, isn't it?

interesting perspective... but you have to remember that it is humans that give birth to whites when two decendants of lines carrying the gene/dna have a child together.
Strange? No, i don't really think so. It was not an accident on Hobb's behalf. If 'the fool' had been completely analysed within the novel it would have contridicted everything his character was meant to be. More could have been revealed prehaps but the tantalising pieces were far more effective in my opinion

 

[quiet cynic]

I agree with Teir. If the author had explained the Fool completely, we wouldn't be so enthralled with him. He wouldn't be quite so exhasperatingly lovable.

 

[Rosemary]

I for one, don't want his gender known. That is as much a part of his/her character as say height or eye colour. I think because we really are unsure, it certainly makes the Fool intriguing. I am sure the Fool is secretly delighted that we are uncertain!!

 

[shandril]

i believe the fool is a hermaphrodite or maybe omnipitant(not sure i spelt that right) definatley an anomaly??
i believe he can be whatever the situation requires and there is no hard and fast rule as to what his sex is....makes his character more fexible i think he maybe dominatly male but able to do female as well...hmmmmm
*wanders away and ponders on it*

 

[rune]

thats similiar to the character from the Wreathru series by Storm Constantine. Her characters were both sexes in one body.
That would make sense for the Fool

 

[the_faery_queen]

i know its an old post, but my two cents
i would have swornd he was female, because of how well he knew the female body (most guys have no idea about any of that) and because of the way he knew how a woman could pass for a man. which he would only know if he was a woman passing as a man

but then, as said, white prophet thought he was male, she knew him as a child, long before he would have had any reason to adopt other genders, so i go with male. that and, well, i fancy him and prefer him to be a guy.

 

[darkshadow]

I believe the Fool is a guy. This is due to the many small hints in the three relevant series. I also believe that the question of his gender is something the Fool did on purpose, and probably enjoyed somewhat. Being a consumate actor, this would not have been difficult, and it smacks of his sense of humor and personality. None-the-less, it seems irrelevant in the end, because his relationship with Fritz is, I believe, too deep to be affected by something so basic as gender. It almost seemed to be the whole point at times - that their feelings went above/beyond that.

I agree, from the personality traits you pick up from the Fool, it definately seems he would like to act as a woman, and it would most definately amuse him. However i am not so sure about the Fool being a Guy, for all we know the Fool could also enjoy playing a male because it is fooling everybody who thinks he is a male, which would most definately appeal to his humour.

But really it comes down to this

The Fool is the Fool. He is special

 

[the_faery_queen]

i don't thik he changes gender. that would just be odd and i don't think that would really make sense, considering the white prophetess woman is of the same race and she is TOTALLY and utterlly female.

the fool is fairly genderless. i did think he was female for a while, mostly because he knew (as amber) how althea could disguise herself as a man, and NO man would know how to do that that well (esp how to diguse the period thing, seriously, even the most sensitve guy tends to hav eno real idea how that works!) but with the whole tawny man, tatoo by white prophet woman, i think he is a he, who just happens to be perceptive and adrogenous in a true sense. gender less, but male if you have to be specific