The fool - man or woman?

[Sar]

maybe neither. It's been a while since I read the series but I seem to remember that the fool said somewhere that He/she wasn't really human but something esle. So maybe the answer is neither and both. is that possible?

 

[dragonhawk]

Vote male because of the pail women an he where exact opposite

 

[sven_m]

Well, from the context of the books I'd say he is supposed to be intersexual. Not asexual, I am sure there is some sort of sex involved.

But from the guts I'd say he is male. But I mis-clicked and voted female )

 

[RJM Corbet]

God told Adam: eat what you like, but not the apple because it will kill you. Adam wanted a mate so God gave him one. Eve ate the apple, then Adam did too. They didn't die. The serpent told the truth. So God got mad and chucked them both out of the garden ...

 

[d.neale]

Which ever the Fool is, it deserves an oscar or the buckkeep equivalent cause its acting is brilliant.

 

[RJM Corbet]

C'mon guys, we all know women really run the show -- they just let men do the dirty work for them, to make men feel important. Of course women are smarter than men!

 

[Chaoticheart]

C'mon guys, we all know women really run the show -- they just let men do the dirty work for them, to make men feel important. Of course women are smarter than men!

True. But the fool was clearly a man, an androgynous Brian Molko lookalike of a man, but a man nonetheless.

 

[TonyRush]

The fool is definitely a man. Fitz would know, there were so many times when he cared for the Fool when he was sick. Especially when he died, clearly he would have seen the Fool's body naked. Although, I don't recall how it worked in the Liveship series...Amber was almost raped at sea but in the Tawny man trilogy Robin explains that Fitz repelled the man before anything happened, in one of his skill/wit dreams.

Whoa! That's very interesting. I don't remember that.

Do you know where, in the Farseer books, this dream occurs?

That's pretty clever of the author if she inserted an instance where Fitz actually saves The Fool from a rape even though it was in a dream and he (Fitz) didn't know he was doing it.

Anyone remember which book this occurred in?

By the way, back to the original question:

I think The Fool is male for the same reason that Blue Fairy already described: during the time The Fool was deceased, there was plenty of situation in the healing of the Fool in which Fitz would have discovered if The Fool was female.

 

[Overread]

I remember that event being described in the first of the Tawny Man books, but I still don't recall where in the Liveships the event itself happens. Might be one of those things you only really notice upon a re-read to really pick out the event.

 

[rafar]

Well I've voted female.
Although in the end it doesn't matter, I just want the Fool and Fitz to get together in the end. I hope he lives! I just started on the Tawny man book 3, just before they get to Ajval island.
There were several instances I remember where the Fool's gender could have been revealed but it was never clear. From what I understood on the White Prophet is a female in most cases, but who knows really.
I like how in the prologue of one chapter of Golden Fool its written White Propephet something something "whether its a he or a she" lol, Robin not giving it a slip even there.
All the mannerisms though are so unlike a man, maybe cuz I'm a man. Its like you never get a straight answer from the Fool, just like women. Always playful, again notably female characteristic (women are filled with spirit of dance). And really display of emotions, guys never do that. Remember the episode where Lord Golden thought Fitz was bringing him flowers.
Oh and I've only read the Farseer chronicles, I skipped the ships thing

 

[kole]

You shouldn't have skipped "the ships thing" as it is much connected with the following trilogy.

 

[Sho Pi]

I don't know, but if the fool was female that would explain a whole lot about how the Fool acts around Fitz.

 

[peet]

One of the best theories I've heard is along the lines that the "Whites" are actually avatars of the God Sa - who, as you may remember from the Liveship series, is both male and female.

Beloved has such strong characteristics of both sexes. He (and I call him he from habit, not because I believe he is male) is the most amazing fictional character of any book I have ever read!

What I love the most is that IT DOESN'T MATTER if he's male or female! All that matters is that he completely and utterly adores Fitz!

 

[peet]

Further to my post above, in The Tawny Man, Book 2 - The Golden Fool, the little blurb at the beginning of chapter 24 states:

At the core of the White Prophet heresy is the concept that for ‘every age’ (and this space of time is never defined) there is born a White Prophet. The White Prophet comes to set the world on a better course. He or she (and in this duality of gender we may see some borrowing from the true faith of Sa) does this by means of his or her Catalyst..[FONT=&quot]. [/FONT]

I think that's incredibly significant!

 

[Danrama]

In the Farseer and Liveship series I felt sure it was a man, but then I read The Tawny Man and once again I sit on the fence.
I kinda like the androgynous fool though. I do not want to know.

Voted Cannot decide.

 

[amusemi]

Despite the fact that The Fool is of a species that is significantly "different" from humans, I believe he is (basically) male. Mainly because the Pale Woman was definitely female (with all the female physical attributes). Perhaps with his species, there are other genders, or perhaps he is an oddity within his own species....

I also don't think the Fool would have been so ambiguous about his gender if he was female. I think he would have owned up to it to Fitz.

Surely, Fitz would have noticed the gender of the Fool when he was carrying the Fool's body or when he was preparing/cleaning the Fool's body afterwards. Gender may not have mattered to the Fool so much, but it certainly did to Fitz.

Throughout the entire series, I was cheering for the Fool. I wanted the Fool to find happiness and love. I wanted Fitz to feel the same way about the Fool. I wanted Fitz to love the fool without setting gender boundaries..... Yet, I was forced to ponder how I would be, if I was in a similar situation as Fitz. Could I set my hetrosexuality aside? Could I feel attracted (sexually/romantically) to someone of my own gender?

At the end of the day, I just want to know more about the Fool!

 

[DC1]

For most of the books I thought the Fool female, masquerading as a male, even as he tried at one point to kiss, Fitz. I just think Fitz either deliberately or subconsciously avoided intruding on the fools privacy. After finishing The Fitz and the Fool book 3, and seeing how his society was run at Cleeres that he was male, but gelded. As a eunuch everything seems to fit into place, the fool was sexless. Unlike Prilkop, there was little mention of Beloved being breeding stock

 

[Alexa]

Hi DC1 and welcome to the Chrons !

 

[DC1]

Hi DC1 and welcome to the Chrons !

Thank you

 

[ElPoto]

I think female. I read Farseer, then Live Ships, and now starting The Tawny man, so I might change mi opinion . Actually, the first encounter in that book between Fitz and Fool is what make me come here out of desperation. I remember, during Farseer the gender of the Fool was always treated as a mystery, despite everyone assuming him(?) as male. Why the mystery then if he was in did a man? Then we find Amber in the Live Ships, fully committed to a female identity. It took me almost to the end to be convinced that she was the same character (Fool), and only because of what she did to Paragon. Now, remember the event where Amber was injured by the serpents spit? And how half her clothing went away? No one comments anything about it, this being narrated by Brashen and Paragon, if I remember correctly. There is no mention of anything odd about her. Also, for many weeks she shared a very small room with both Jek and Althea. Two other women and they never said anything.
I think I would settle for her being so different, even anatomically (hermaphrodite or something as puzzling?), that her parents, and later possibly King Shrewd, just decided to treat her as male. But her identity is definitively female, with the Live Ships being the stronger evidence. When she was on her own she was a woman. Back in Six Duchies, well everyone just assumed she was only a weird man.