Contents
Prologue: The Unremembered
Overview
Fitz, living in secrecy, adopts writing as his purpose to manage pain and the remnants of addiction. He recalls Regal’s torture and his own poison death, the compassion of Lady Patience at his burial, and Burrich and Chade’s Wit-driven resurrection with Nighteyes. He accepts isolation while questioning gratitude and destiny.
Summary
Fitz describes waking with ink-stained hands, consumed by writing. A young servant sometimes finds him collapsed at his work, but Fitz withholds explanations, believing such truths must be earned. Seeking purpose, he turns to history, magic, politics, and translations to occupy his mind and hands.
He likens this discipline to Verity’s mapmaking, a focus that dulls the longings and pains of former addiction. As he writes, his history of the Six Duchies slides into a history of FitzChivalry, surfacing both joys and dark memories. He recalls Regal’s torture and death dealt to him, the scar on his face, and the shame that he ceded triumph by taking poison.
More painful than recalled horrors are the lost years and the lives he can no longer rejoin. Fitz mourns friendships, rites, and daily rhythms at Buckkeep forever denied to him. He cannot reveal himself; he accepts that those seasons are gone, along with any chance to set loneliness at rest.
He remembers that after King Shrewd died in his arms, he himself was condemned for the Wit. Lady Patience, his father’s widow, reclaimed his body, washed and wrapped it, and with Lacey saw him buried when others shunned him.
Unknown to Patience, Burrich and Chade later exhumed him. Using Burrich’s Wit, they summoned Nighteyes and forced Fitz’s soul back into his damaged body, binding him again to oaths and a man’s life. Fitz remains uncertain whether to thank or blame them, echoing the Fool’s claim that fate left them no choice.
Who Appears
- FitzChivalry FarseerNarrator in hiding; writes to manage pain and addiction; recalls death, burial, and resurrection.
- Lady PatienceClaims Fitz’s body, washes and buries him when others abandon him.
- BurrichExhumes Fitz; uses Wit to summon Nighteyes and restore Fitz’s soul.
- ChadeAssassin mentor; aids Burrich in recovering and reviving Fitz from the grave.
- RegalTortures Fitz to death; his violence leaves Fitz scarred and haunted.
- NighteyesWolf bonded to Fitz; holds Fitz’s soul until Burrich and Chade reclaim it.
- LaceyLady Patience’s woman; helps tend Fitz’s body and mourns him.
- The boy (servant)Finds Fitz asleep at his writing; unaware of Fitz’s secret burden.