Molly Chandler (Badgerlock) spends many nights alone in her bed probably wondering and trying not to think about where her husband is and what is on his mind. She spend years alone in bed while Fitz wrote romantic and passionate letters to the Fool battling with his love, need and desire which he pushed deep inside but could not be denied anymore. There is a new work on AO3 called The Cold Side of the Bed by mellowthorn and these images are based on that or your imagination of how she felt.

I took a really long time to construct this room and there is a second version which I will upload as well.

More for my fanfiction fanart idea, Both of you, but ROTE style. I’m honesty pleased with how these turned out. Check out where I got my inspiration @tragediegh ‘s fic!

moodboard → Molly (The Farseer Trilogy / Realm of the Elderlings / Robin Hobb)

Spoilers for the Fitz and the Fool trilogy ahead! As well as all previous books (I think). Proceed at your own peril!!

Did Robin change her mind about Fitz having romantic feelings for the Fool in the final trilogy? Seriously, I can't tell. The amount of homosexual shit that happens in these book is, quite frankly, ridiculous. I think that trying to break down every moment of Fitz acting gay would take far too much time, so I'm just going to focus on him in Fool's Assassin (had to look the book name up because Robin is real horny for naming every book the same fucking thing).

I think that the linchpin of Fool's Assassin is Fitz's utter dissatisfaction with life. Don't get me wrong, the man loves Molly. He loves his daughter. He loves everything he's built for himself at Withywoods. However, that love does little to assuage the discomfort he feels in his life.

His relationship with Molly, while passionate, lacks a level of openness that Fitz needs. Molly knows Fitz was an assassin, she knows he has the skill, she even knows he's old blood. She knows all this, but she doesn't accept it. She just dances around these parts of him, setting a firm limit on which parts of Fitz she loves and which parts she doesn't. Even if Fitz decided he wanted to choose a new wit companion, he'd never do it. Because he knows Molly would be disgusted by it. He closes off these core parts of his being so he can live his fairytale life with Molly Redskirts.

Bee isn't the child Fitz wanted. At first she's so behind other children developmentally that Fitz is ashamed of her, then she's so precocious that Fitz feels she doesn't even need him. His every effort at fathering is honestly depressing. I mean look at what he does after Molly dies! He flounders about not knowing what the fuck he's meant to be doing now that Molly isn't here to pick up his slack. He has to fight a god damn custody battle with Nettle just to keep his daughter at home (which he didn't win by proving his own competence, I might add, but rather because Bee didn't want to leave).

Fitz spends every night, not with Molly, but in his study, writing and burning away his feelings. But no matter how much of himself he tries to erase, that niggling feeling of discontentment never goes away.

And why is this? Why does Fitz feel so out of place, so unsatisfied, so ill equipped for this life he chose?

Because the one person who truly loved him without limit, isn't here. His Beloved is gone, and Fitz is a shell of a person without them.

And so I ask you, dear reader, how the fuck Robin Hobb thinks this isn't gay. Fitz chafes under the heteronormative life he's created for himself and longs for the liberation of being with Beloved, but this isn't gay apparently. Come on Robin! The man abandoned his child to save Beloved. The fuck do you mean he isn't queer.

And Molly has died now, most likely to free up Fitz and Bee for a more active storyline. I thought it was fitting for both characters that the memories Fitz inadvertently Skilled out after he found her weren’t middle aged Molly his wife of 20 years, but teenage Molly in Buckkeep Town. Bee was right that the two of them never really grew up to each other. To the end of their relationship, he was New Boy and she was Molly Redskirts.

No Limits

This fic was written by everyoneinspaceisgay for electropeach ( @electropeach )  and can be found on AO3.

The everyone lives happily together after Fool’s Fate AU we all deserve!! Reading about Molly and Amber bonding is such a balm to our poor battered hearts *glaring at the last trilogy* 😭 This fic is so beautifully written, there needs to be a whole book about this sweet unconventional family.

Thank you so much for participating, and for this lovely, lovely fic 🥰

Books: Fitz and the Fool

Rating: General Audiences

Characters: Molly Chandler, Amber, Fitzchivalry Farseer

Summary: Molly and Beloved talk about love, and Molly has some happy news to share.

Excerpt:

“I may just be Molly Nosegay, Molly Redskirts, I am no prophet or catalyst,” she continued, “But I do want to tell you this. You may not set any limits on your love, but you do not deserve all that that has meant.”

“Nor did you”, I replied, meaning it fully, “But it hasn’t been all bad.”

“No,” she smiled again, taking my hand and leading me carefully out of the shed where she made her candles, and where I had taken to carving, the two of us sitting in what was first slightly awkward but was now usually a comfortable, companionable silence.

I want - I need - to talk about the relationship between Fitz and Molly. And about how many mixed feelings i have about it.

They are childhood sweethearts. She is not just the token love interest for the male protagonist, that has no depth and no chemestry with him aside from the fact that she is a girl and hes a boy. She has character. She has to deal alone with a drunken abusive father and she has so much attitude, such determination and dedication, enough to manage to prosper in her trade, the bee keeping and candle making she genuinely loves doing. And Fitz genuinelly loves and respects her ever since they were children for her courage and attitude. They were both an escape for the other, a confort, their time together only theirs, away from the dificulties from the rest of their lives.

But we all know how it was like in Royal assassin. When Molly lost EVERYTHING she had (her father dead, her shop taken, the distant family she leaned on atacked by the raiders) Fitz -or newboy- was all she had left. And then she discovers he was a lie. She has only discovered PART of all the secrets Fitz kept from her about himself and she is already so hurt! All her dreams for a future with him ruined! But he is still the only thing she has of her old life! His step mother is her employer now. And yes, she still loves him for the part of him she knew. He is her first love! But their relationship from there on is NOT healthy. At all. Loving each other is not enough for it to work. She could not have the life she wanted with Fitz. He had a LOT on his plate at the moment with everything else going on and he childshly tried to still have her as a safe harbour, like when they were younger. As a warm embrace to come back to. But Fitz, that was so selfish. I love you and i know you never meant to hurt her, but while she was your escape, you made yourself the center of her life, giving her only scraps! And she took it because everthing else she loved had been taken from her! So of course she clung to Fitz even if their secret forbidden relationship was making her miserable. What else did she have?

So yeah, i actually felt relieved when she left him (even if it was obvious that it was because she was pregnant). And yes, Burrich WAS the better man for her. It was like she said, he said a million times that he loved her but his actions never demonstrated it.

And yeah, it was like Kettle said in assassin's quest: "And what you loved, what both of you truly loved, was not each other. It was that time of your life".

So, with that, im going to admit it never felt right to me that he came back and married Molly at the end of Tawny Man. Yes, he did promisse to Burrich that he would help take care of her and her children. And im glad he did. Im glad she had someone to help her in that difficult time. But it doesnt sit right with me that he slowly "won her back". It felt like him finally getting together with Molly was the "prize" he earned, him finally getting his happy ending, which went against what i expected from Robin Hobb.

Fitz/Molly/Burrich was obviously a parallel to Burrich/Patience/Chivalry. But Burrich never went back and tried to win Patience back after Chivalry died. They both moved on with their lives! And i dont think Patience would have forgiven Burrich and accepted getting together with him again. And it surprises me that Molly did for Fitz. She has had like 17 years to get over him! She is a grown woman with 8 children! There is an ABYSS of baggage between the two of them. All that old hurts and lies, how did they manage to adress it? DID they ever adress it? Or did they just chise to begin anew and forget everything that happened before? In Fool's assassin it did feel like she knew a bit more about his past, but i dont know HOW much.

I dont know, it felt less to me like two people who truly loved each other finally finding the right circunstances to be together after so many years, and more like Fitz showing up in the most convinient time possible, RIGHT AFTER her husband died and she needed the support, and after she spent THAT WHOLE TIME mourning him, and having all that fondness for him in her heart as her first love, and kinda taking advantage of all that to get together with her. Maybe i am beeing too harsh, he never forced her to anything, o helped her from afar and gave her all the space to make the decision on her own. But even so, it still felt like Fitz clinging to an image from the past. He didnt actually know Molly anymore. 17 years and 8 children changes a person! And i thought we had already extablished that what he was in love was truly that time in their youth that they had together. It just ft like it went againt the message that we got in the first trilogy.

I feel like a much more satisfying resolution would have been if he did help her out like he promised Burrich, but instead of putting the effort into courting Molly, he worked harder building his relationship with Nettle. I would love if he and Molly got closer, really got to know one another as they were now and realized that it just didnt work out romantically between them anymore, but still remained friends. If instead of going to WittyWoods with her he stayed at court with Nettle, helping her out, because we know it was really hard for her there. And maybe... after some years... after Nettle got settled as Skillmistress and Molly didnt need his support anymore... just like nighteyes spent some time with a pact, experiencing a life with other wolves but then decided to go back to Fitz when he needed him... maybe Fitz could decide to journey to Clerres and find the Fool.

"No you don't understand, even though she is pale and looks nothing like me, Bee is mine and Molly's child, but through the ancient magic of the Skill she is also part Fool, even when our skill bond has been severed over fifteen years ago. I wonder if I'll ever find out how this magic works!" Fitz your wife and your best friend are having an affair

Just saying

A Fitz/Molly fluff sketch that will probably not make it any further than blocked in colour so 

So... I have some (unpopular opinion/mild rant) thoughts on Molly from the farseer trilogy.

I have spoiled my self a bit and seen she's better in later books but for now, every time Molly is mentioned I'm like "ugh I get it she smells nice get her out of the book this relationship sucks and it's boring". I just don't give a shit about her and the relationship. Because we know nothing about her other than from how the pre-teen hormonal Fitz sees her (and maybe a glimpse, inconsequential again, of her childhood).

Which is why I don't love Fitz either. He's dangerously close to being a sexual abuser and harassment multiple times in the 2 books I've read. Which, yikes. Specially coming from a female author.

In a colder tone, he added, 'So what did you really plan to do, Chade? Pass off Fitz's daughter as Verity's? Steal her from Molly and give her to the Queen, to raise as her own?' The Fool's voice had gone deadly soft.

Assassin’s Quest

taking a moment to appreciate Fool laying in to Chade for his behaviour because it’s so rare that anyone does and I am really hoping for more of this in AF (though given the way the plot’s going it seems unlikely idc). Also, Chade’s response to the above quote:

‘I... the times are hard and the need so great... but... not steal her, no. Burrich would understand, and I think he could make the girl understand. Besides. What can she offer the child? A penniless candlemaker, bereft of her trade... how can she care for her? The child deserves better. As does the mother, truly, and I would do my best to see that she was provided for, also. But the baby cannot be left with her.’

1. Fool has made Chade hesitate. Lots of ellipses in that speech, especially for Chade, I think. Fool hit the nail on the head and now Chade’s trying to pretend that what they said wasn’t perfectly accurate.

2. Chade holy shit you are a terrible person. Seriously. If you’re that worried about Molly being able to care for Nettle, maybe you could... idk... offer some monetary support. Noooo you’re going straight for steal the child and pass it off as someone else’s

3. You cannot convince me that Molly would have been at all safe in this scenario. Chade passing Nettle off as Verity’s child and just leaving Molly hanging out in luxury as a loose thread? Fuck no. Molly would have died. Probably not too immediately; or alternatively, Molly was bound to pass away while looking after Nettle despite “all of Chade’s help” leaving Burrich as the sole person to persuade to give Nettle up to Kettricken.

tl;dr: chade fallstar is a terrible, terrible human being and Beloved should tear him a new one more often.

Why don’t you talk about what happened? I know you’re trying to avoid it, but I don’t know why~

@tragediegh

A silly quick doodle concerning chapter 16~

Based on this image, from SU

rough thing, thinking of Molly. Also liked the lines alone, so here’s the full-sized lines if anyone wants to color! 

Also it’s been maybe 2 years or more since I started this tumblr? Finding ROTE to draw and people to share it with has really been a great ride  (◡‿◡✿) Happy new year everyone, thanks for sticking ‘round 

I was doing something for school and I managed to make it about rote, so as I was writing, it suddenly struck me how much I love Molly. I read the Farseer Trilogy for the first time as a very impressionable twelve year old and although I know now their relationship wasn't, hm, the best, back then I felt all of Fitz's love for her. And I admired her, I still do. It's sad and unfair that she had to deal with her alcoholic father, but I admired her for her strength in that; she was an independent candle maker at what, sixteen? (I mean, I guess if you don't have to go to school why not, but Happ began his apprenticeship at... I don't remember how old... And wouldn't have finished it in many years.)

She was the one who had the guts to end it with Fitz when it looked like their relationship was going no where (yes, she hoped he'd go after her, but even doing it was hard) and when he died she stayed strong for herself and Nettle...

Then, when Burrick died, leaving her alone with not one, but nine children, again she stayed strong and held it together; she remained confident even when Fitz and Nettle doubted that she was pregnant and she was a good mother to Bee at 60+ (most people I know kind of lose patience for children when they get to their forties)...

And oh, she was brave! Defending herself and her little relatives from the raiders, with an axe, while their house burned behind her... Now that's something, to pick up a weapon not as a trained warrior but as a common person and just fight for your life and to protect others...

And honestly, I just love her. A bit like Fitz loves her. Molly Redskirts. Forever a warm feeling in the chest. Loveliness, youth, happiness. So much admiration.

Sorry if this is incomprehensible, but it's late and I'm sleep deprived.

I am, in my mind, lying down on the floor overwhelmed with love for fierce, kind, loving Molly Redskirts. Just heart eyes at her. there is no point to this ask other than that I rejoice in you too loving her. have a good day.

I LIVE AND DIE FOR MOLLY CHANDLER BEE QUEEN OF MY HEART we stan. we stan.