The Fool

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Sketch of the Fool by John Howe

The jester of King Shrewd, White Prophet to Fitz's Catalyst. Named by his mother (and eventually by Fitz) as Beloved, following a tradition of his people by exchanging names that represent the bonds they share with one another.


The Fool was taken into the Royal Court at Buckkeep as an anomaly, his incredibly pale colouring and slender and flexible form marking him out as something unusual. He became devoted to King Shrewd, using his position close to the King to observe everything, often making cutting or blunt remarks that could be laughed away as a Jesters prattle.

While he kept himself away from most of the population of Buckkeep [and they, in turn were wary of him], he and Fitz formed a friendship, clumsy at first, but through the trilogies it grows into a bond above and beyond mere friends.

The gender of the Fool

There is much debate about the sex of the Fool. While 'the Fool' protects his claim to masculinity throughout the first trilogy; his appearance as a woman called Amber in the Liveship books confuses the matter. There are also several good arguments for his being female made by Starling in the third Assassin book. However, when the Fool returns to Buckkeep in later books, it is in the guise of another male, Lord Golden.

Generally, 'the Fool' and 'Lord Golden' are given masculine pronouns - and 'Amber' is given feminine - as it is recognised that all three 'characters', though tecnhically the same person, are distinct facets of the character as a whole.

The Fool's physical appearance

In his first appearance in Assassin's Apprentice, the Fool was completely white save for his two pale blue eyes, but by the end of Fool's Fate he was a deep brown, compared to the colour of wood.

Throughout the trilogies, the Fool developes severe fevers (often at the most inapporopriate moments) that leave him a slightly darker shade of gold by his skin peeling as if sunburnt (a process which causes slight itchyness and a lot of irritation) and his iris's changing colour, enabling him to create the new persona's of Lord Golden and Amber for himself without rousing suspition, though it is never revealed for cetain why this happens. Prilkop gives a possible explanation(who undergoes the same developement himself, leaving him completely black.) that the fever's relate to the White Prophet's impact on the future and fate. 'Perhaps as we cause change, we change'. This is a reasonable enough explanation, as the unsuccesful White Prophet the Pale Women stayed completely white all of her life despite being older then the Fool.

[Please note: this article is very incomplete and needs your help to fill it out]