"Taker his name was" The use of names in Realm of the Elderlings, part 1
a look into the meaning and power of names in Robin Hobb's series
There are many myths and folk tales where knowing the true name of a being grants you power over it. This idea is also present in a lot of fantasy, most famously in the Earthsea books by Ursula K. Le Guin, where wizards have to learn the names of every wind, rock and living being in order to perform their magic. In Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings, names also hold meaning and power, although not always in a magical sense.
First, a brief introduction. Realm of the Elderlings is a fantasy series that currently has 16 books, along with some short stories. For most of the series, we follow FitzChivalry Farseer, the bastard son of a prince, as he grows from a little kid to an old man. His many adventures along the way have great consequences for the world around him, from saving his family’s kingdom to bringing dragons back from extinction. Other books in the series shift focus to far off regions where we meet completely new characters, whose adventures tie into the greater narrative.
This will be an in-depth look into the ways names are used and their significance across the entire series. I will be dividing this analysis into several parts, focusing on certain characters or situations.
Let’s start at the beginning, then.
Part 1: Taker his name was
… and perhaps with that naming began the tradition that daughters and sons of his lineage would be given names that would shape their lives and beings. Folk beliefs claim that such names were sealed to the newborn babes by magic, and that these royal offspring were incapable of betraying the virtues whose names they bore.
The very first book of the series, Assassin’s Apprentice, opens with our main character, Fitzchivalry Farseer, writing an account of the history of the kingdom he lives in, the Six Duchies. The kingdom is ruled by the Farseer family, whose founder was named Taker. He was of foreign origin, a raider who conquered the land, and his name is quite obvious.
Since Taker’s time, the Farseer family has had the tradition of naming their members after virtues, hoping they would embody their name. While there is nothing inherently magical about the Farseer names—no such thing as a binding spell—Robin Hobb utilizes these names as the foundation of her characters, showing how these people either succeed or fail to live up to these ideals.
Farseers.
The family name itself has a very simple meaning. The Farseer bloodline shares a magic ability known as “the Skill”, which allows them to communicate with and manipulate other people’s minds. At the base level, it’s just telepathy, though there are more advanced uses of this magic. “Farseer” would then reflect this ability, as members of the royal family would be able to see from afar through the minds of others; the name can also mean that the royal family does not only think of the present but also has to think of the future of their people, as “seer” means someone who is able to look into the future, like a prophet. It’s extra meaningful then that the actual prophet of the series claims that, should the Farseer bloodline end, the world would be doomed to an era of chaos and terror.
King Shrewd and his wives, Constance and Desire.
Shrewd, son of Bounty Farseer, has an interesting name. While most Farseer names have clear “good” connotations, Shrewd is more ambiguous. Its modern meaning “clever and astute” can be an admirable trait in a ruler, but some archaic meanings of the word, like “abusive” and “mischievous”, are certainly more negative. Nice is nowhere in the definition. This moral ambiguity is well reflected in Shrewd’s character. His “Royal justice” often comes in the form of assassinations in the dark, and he sees everyone, especially his family, as tools for the kingdom. Plans upon plans, secrets on top of secrets. Still, his sharp mind did not always control his actions, as seen by his choice for a second wife and his unmoving belief in his son Regal, which led to his eventual downfall and almost caused the ruin of his family. His genuine love for his family made him miscalculate how much they loved him back and made him blind to their corruption.
Shrewd’s first wife, Constance, is long dead by the time the story starts. What we know of her is that she was a strong and kind woman who cared for her people and notably uplifted other women. During her life, half the royal guard was made up of female soldiers. Desire, the second queen consort, is of more interest. Her name has a double meaning: she’s both an object of desire, beautiful and attractive, and someone ruled by her desires, either the desire for power or just hedonism. She was not just a pretty woman, though, part of what made her desirable to Shrewd was her cunning and strong will. While it’s made clear that Shrewd had genuine love for her, even if he didn’t love her as much as his first wife, to her their marriage was one of convenience. She wanted to be queen and was disappointed to find that Shrewd was not so easy to manipulate. Here, it’s relevant to note that the Six Duchies are a fairly egalitarian society, where women can rule on their own and have the same legal standing as men in all ways. As Desire was quick to point out, had she not married Shrewd, she would have become Lady of her Duchy, sole ruler of a prosperous region, instead of just second to her husband. Her boundless ambition led her to bitterness and hatred towards her family, to the point of naming her son Regal, to reflect how she saw her bloodline as “better” than that of the previous queen.
In the end, frustrated by her lack of power, Desire turned to the consumption of drugs and alcohol, which slowly killed her. But not before she made sure that her burning hatred for the Farseers was passed onto her son.
Regal.
The youngest child of Shrewd and the only (legitimate) child of Queen Desire. His name reflects his mother’s ambitions for power: “resembling or fit for a monarch”. Desire wanted her son to be king, so she named him accordingly. To be regal, fit for ruling, does not actually have a clear meaning; does it mean being just? Being brave and kind? What does it mean to be a good leader? Regal’s name does not represent any real virtue but rather its appearance. To be Regal then, is to simply look regal. He does not display any qualities of a good ruler, nor does he care for the people of the Six Duchies, but he aspires to be king for the sake of it. The shiny crown, the title, the power over others. He inherited his mother’s hatred, her ambition and cunning. His mother’s death only made him more hateful, convinced, like she was, that everything wrong in his life was the fault of his father and his brothers. Whether Queen Desire died by her own hand or by other means, Regal needed no proof to go against his father.
For the Farseers, names are both a blessing and a curse, something that bounds them but also guides them. The name that his mother chose decided his fate; had he been given something real, something tangible to live up to, instead of a vague and egocentric name, could Regal have turned out differently?
Verity.
The middle son, the last child of Shrewd and Constance. By the time that Regal was born, Verity and his brother Chivalry were already teens, and the contempt that their stepmother had for them did not do any favors to the relationship between the children. It also doesn’t help that Verity is Regal’s complete opposite: Regal is vain, proud, self-absorbed, disdainful of those beneath him, and manipulative; Verity is humble; he cares about his people; he feels closer to the common soldier than the nobility; and above all, he’s honest. Verity, a true principle or belief, a synonym of truth. While one brother thrives on lies and deception, Verity’s lack of ability for political maneuvering is his greatest hurdle. As the second son, he never had to worry about the expectations and demands of the heir, and that was a position that benefitted his simple nature. Verity would much rather travel the kingdom with his soldiers than go to balls and handle diplomatic meetings. Ultimately, Verity’s honesty and his trust in others are both virtues and fatal flaws. He trusted Fitz, and that trust won Fitz over and made him his most loyal follower. But just like Shrewd, Verity held Regal to standards that he was never interested in meeting. Regal’s treachery proved a bigger threat than Verity could have imagined.
While Regal poses as King in the third book, threatening to destroy the Six Duchies entirely, Verity remains the “true” King, caring for his people up to his last moment. Verity and Regal are interesting foils, but most important is how they stand in relation to their elder brother.
Chivalry, the King that never was.
The eldest son of Shrewd, the heir to the throne. The ghost that haunts the story. Chivalry never makes an appearance, we never see him, but his absence has a presence of its own. His son being discovered, his retirement from court, his abdication as heir, everything in the story happens because of Chivalry.
If there’s a character in this series that is bound by their name, it is Chivalry. One of the first things we learn about him comes from Burrich, when he’s asked what does he think Chivalry will do about his bastard son, and Burrich answers: “Whatever hurts the most”. From that, we learn the crux of who Chivalry is — someone who will do what he considers right, even if that brings him, and those around him, great pain. Chivalry is a martyr. He is the perfect ideal of a prince in shining armor; kind, considerate, diplomatic, honorable. He’s so perfect that he doesn’t feel human, and it is this perfection that makes people love him and hate him equally. No one can relate to him, no one can get close to him, except for his friend Burrich, who also idolized him, and for his wife Patience, whom we will also talk about later. His brother Verity felt like he had to live up to him, like he could never be as good as Chivalry; his brother Regal felt jealousy over Chivalry, in a way Regal felt humiliated by the honor he saw in his brother. Both Verity and Regal defer to Chivalry in everything they do, either by trying to imitate him or by trying to distance themselves from him.
Chivalry is a symbol more than he is his own person. He holds himself to such high standards that he abdicated the throne after it was found out he fathered a child before marriage… or maybe that was the perfect excuse for him to abandon his duty. All that we know of Chivalry is what other characters tell us of him, its not until much later that we get a glimpse into his mind by reading some letters he wrote. He’s as much a mystery to us as he’s to his son.
When Chivalry dies, not only does the man die, but also the ideal that he represented. No one can ever be as honorable and perfect as he was. Not even him was able to, in reality. To be Chivalry was to always wear a mask, to always perform.
Chade, Shine and Lantern Fallstar.
A certain love for performance runs in the Farseer family. Chade Fallstar, bastard brother of King Shrewd, is a master of disguise who spent most of his life either hiding inside the walls of the Farseer castle or hiding behind a persona. The name Chade is obviously meant to bring to mind the shadows where the royal assassin does his job, as well as the fact that he lives under the shade of his legitimate brother. Fallstar, the name he gave to himself, is purposefully similar to Farseer, with an extra dramatic flair. The fact that Chade’s name doesn’t follow the “Fitz” convention for bastard children is interesting in that it creates a subtle divide between him and his father. Chade, unlike Fitz, seems to care very little about his father, and if there’s one relationship that binds him, it is the one with his brother Shrewd. The pair has a complex relationship as both King and servant, as well as brothers and friends.
While Chade was a man kept in the shadows by his family, his children are named after light: Shine and Lantern. His daughter, Shine, is curious in that her name brings to mind Regal’s. It’s a vain name that offers no moral guidance. Shine is a bitter and proud girl who believes she is inherently better than the rest due to her father. She feels wronged by everyone because they don’t recognize her brilliance. Chade made Shine into a sparkly gemstone, his pride and joy. He loves her, and he wants her to be more than she really is. He thinks so highly of her that he fails to see her shortcomings. Remarkably, we are introduced to her by an alias: Shun, a name that has the complete opposite meaning of her real one. If Shine is someone who should be adored, Shun reflects the position she believes herself to be in, one of being unjustly rejected and ignored.
Lantern is also introduced to us under an alias. We are told he’s the bastard of someone else, and his fake name is FitzVigilant to fit this backstory. This immediately draws a connection in our minds to FitzChivalry, along with the fact that Lant is also an apprentice to Chade, and his name also brings to mind attention and caution. We are led to believe Lant has higher capabilities than he actually has because we expect him to be on par with Fitz. But he doesn’t have what it takes to be an assassin; he’s different from Chade and Fitz; he’s not someone who belongs in the shadows. Despite Chade’s surface attempts to train his children into his trade, the names he chose for them show his real wishes for them—his desire to free them from the darkness he lived his entire life in.
Dutiful.
The sole child of Verity and heir to the throne. Dutiful has been burdened by responsibilities and expectations from the moment he was conceived as the last hope of the Farseer bloodline. Except that he didn’t have to be the last hope of his family, he had a cousin who could also be an heir, Fitz’s daughter. By deciding to spare his daughter the sacrifices of being a royal, Fitz doomed Dutiful to bear with his entire family and kingdom alone. Here it is important to note that his mother, Kettricken, comes from the Mountain Kingdom, where the rulers are called “Sacrifice”. In the Mountain Kingdom, to rule is to sacrifice yourself for your people, to always be willing to give up your life for them, and to always serve them. Dutiful’s name reflects both the Farseer tradition of virtuous names and the Mountain Kingdom’s views on leadership. It comes as no surprise that the young prince would rebel against his duties. Fitz, the one who doomed Dutiful to bear the crown and was responsible for Dutiful’s existence, is the one who brings the prince back to his place in court. In the end, Dutiful does not escape from his name.
As the title says, this is only the first part of a series of posts. There are many characters in Realm of the Elderlings that I want to talk about, including our main character and owner of almost a dozen names, FitzChivalry Farseer. He is going to have a whole post of his own, just like our Beloved jester, but those will be towards the end. Next week I will be talking about some important female characters: Queen Kettricken, Lady Patience of Withywoods, and Molly Chandler.