Assassin's Apprentice

Assassin’s Apprentice is a 1995 high fantasy novel by Robin Hobb, the pseudonym of Margaret Ogden. It is the first novel in the Farseer trilogy, followed by Royal Assassin and Assassin’s Quest; the Farseer trilogy was in turn followed by the Liveship Traders trilogy, the Tawny Man trilogy, the Rain Wilds Chronicles, and the Fitz and the Fool trilogy. These collections, all comprising the overall series called The Realm of the Elderlings, total 16 novels written from 1995 to 2017. Hobb’s work remains popular, and she won the World Fantasy Award Life Achievement in 2021 for her contributions to the fantasy genre. Assassin’s Apprentice focuses on Fitz, the son of Prince Chivalry and born outside of marriage, as he grows up in the troubled royal household. As the novel follows Fitz’s journey, it explores themes of The Tension Between Identity and Belonging, The Importance of Human Connection, and Moral Complexities of Unquestioning Loyalty.

This guide refers to the 2023 Del Rey trade paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of death, graphic violence, rape, child abuse, physical abuse, animal cruelty and death, mental illness, suicidal ideation, addiction, and substance use.

Plot Summary

FitzChivalry “Fitz” Farseer’s first memory is his grandfather bringing him to the royal household at the age of six, whereupon he is handed over to Prince Verity, his father Prince Chivalry’s brother. Fitz was born outside of marriage and is put in the care of Chivalry’s marshal, Burrich. Fitz bonds mentally and emotionally with a puppy named Nosy.

Prince Regal, the younger half-brother of Verity and Chivalry, informs Verity that their father, King Shrewd, wants Fitz to live at Buckkeep, the royal capitol. Although Fitz cannot be acknowledged as Chivalry’s heir, and Chivalry is about to abdicate his birthright to the throne, Shrewd wants to keep control of Fitz.

Fitz’s abilities grow as he explores Buckkeep. He befriends children his own age, including Molly “Nosebleed” Chandler, and deepens his mental link with Nosy. When Burrich finds out about the mental link, however, he calls Fitz’s ability the “Wit” and informs Fitz that using it is unnatural. He takes Nosy away, seemingly killing him and leaving Fitz bitter and isolated.

Fitz eventually attracts the attention of King Shrewd and receives training in weaponry. At the King’s request, he works with an old man, Chade Fallstar, learning to be an assassin for the King. When Chade asks him to steal from the King, Fitz refuses, not wanting to be disloyal. Chade angrily sends Fitz away for days, devastating him. The King eventually explains that he had instructed Chade to test Fitz’s loyalty. To show his skill, Fitz takes a knife from him in plain sight.

When Fitz is 13, Prince Chivalry is assassinated, and Burrich mourns heavily. Fitz is sent with Prince Verity to Neatbay under the guise of caring for an old woman named Lady Thyme. His real mission, however, is to confront an uncooperative duke, Lord Kelvar, and assassinate him if necessary. Before the journey, the keep’s mysterious Fool presents Fitz with a strange prophecy.

Upon arriving at Neatbay, Fitz quickly befriends Kelvar’s young wife, Lady Grace, and manipulates her to get Kelvar to cooperate. Lady Thyme summons Fitz, revealing herself to be Chade, and they leave for the town of Forge. Red Ship Raiders there have threatened to release hostages if they are not paid. When they arrive in Forge, they discover that the released hostages are “empty” and dangerous. “Forged ones” become a dangerous threat that destabilizes the kingdom.

Back in the castle, Fitz meets Patience, Chivalry’s widow, who forces King Shrewd to let Fitz have training in the telepathic Skill. Patience gives Fitz a puppy, allowing him to bond with an animal again. The Fool names the puppy Smithy and expresses to Fitz that Patience wanted to raise Fitz as her son and that her acceptance of her husband’s abdication paved the way for his assassination. After Fitz meets Patience, he slowly warms up to her, but their relationship is suspended when his training in the Skill begins.

The Skillmaster, Galen, is the cruel son of the now-dead Queen and was born outside of marriage; he is the half-brother of Prince Regal. He is cruel, especially to Fitz. Fitz must always be mentally defensive, unable to reveal his ability in the Wit to Galen, who has murdered people for having the Wit before. After months of training, Fitz ignores the Fool’s warning and succumbs to Galen’s “test,” allowing Galen to overwhelm his mind and then physically assault him. Fitz nearly dies by suicide, throwing himself off the roof’s edge, but he is saved by Smithy, who surrounds his wounded mind with love.

Fitz recovers but is scarred with self-hatred from Galen’s attack. The Fool reveals that while Fitz recovered, Burrich took Galen to the holy Witness Stones and fought him, with the agreement that if Burrich won the fight, Galen would allow Fitz to rejoin the training. Although Fitz returns to training, the students and Galen exclude him. Molly begins to date Jade, a young sailor.

Galen evaluates his students at Springfest by putting them in random locations and forcing them to travel home in groups using only their mental abilities to find each other. He disadvantages Fitz by not sending him any instructions and leaving him without a horse. As Fitz travels, he sees through Smithy’s eyes and witnesses someone brutally attacking Burrich and Smithy. Fitz is then attacked by Forged ones, whom he viciously kills after he senses Smithy die. Fitz returns home and finds Burrich alive but recovering. However, Burrich rejects him completely when he realizes that Fitz used the Wit to learn about the attack.

After a miserable, lonely summer, Fitz is tasked by Chade to take care of Verity, who spends all his time using the Skill to defend the borders from raiders. Verity realizes that Fitz has immense talent in the Skill but has been scarred by Galen’s mistreatment. His abilities are weakened by his lack of trust in others. Verity draws on Fitz’s life force for strength and tells him that he must stop thinking of himself as having no value.

To stabilize the kingdom, Regal finds a princess for Verity to marry: Princess Kettricken of the northern kingdom. Fitz is ordered to assassinate her older brother, Rurisk, so that the Duchies can claim her holdings. Verity will not go to the wedding in Jhaampe himself, so Regal and the royal household travel there to symbolically unite the two kingdoms. Before the journey, Patience pierces Fitz’s ear with her husband’s earring—a gift from Burrich to him long ago—and the Fool warns Fitz of danger and gives him a purgative herb.

In Jhaampe, Fitz finds that Rurisk is healthy—Kettricken learned from a drunken Regal about the plan to assassinate him. Fitz hurriedly takes the purgative that the Fool gave him after he realizes that Kettricken has poisoned him. He survives the night and is found by a distressed Rurisk the next morning. Later, Fitz finds Nosy, now old, in the stables and realizes that Burrich never killed him; they nearly make peace, but Burrich rejects Fitz once more for having the Wit.

Regal orders Fitz to assassinate Rurisk under pain of death. Fitz suspects that Regal is plotting something and wants him to kill Rurisk to set his plan in motion. Fitz meets with Rurisk later and openly poisons his drink, but Regal has already poisoned Fitz’s without his knowledge; Rurisk takes Fitz’s drink and dies. Fitz kills the stableboy Cob, revealed to be Burrich’s attacker, before Kettricken attacks him in turn and knocks him out. Kettricken later realizes the truth of the situation and forgives Fitz publicly, intending to protect him from Regal.

Unconscious and weakened from a sip of the poisoned wine, Fitz steps into the minds of others and sees a plan between Galen and Regal to assassinate Verity. Burrich rescues Fitz from his captivity and agrees to help him, revealing himself to have the Wit in the process. When they confront Regal, he has someone attack and nearly kill Burrich and leaves a partially paralyzed Fitz to drown in a hot spring. Fitz uses the Skill to reach Verity, giving as much of his life force as he can to Verity so that he can retaliate and kill Galen. Nosy pulls Fitz out of the pool but dies soon after. Fitz and Burrich recover and tentatively bond once more. Kettricken mourns her brother but eventually marries Verity, strengthening the kingdom against the raiders.

In the future, Fitz struggles emotionally with the story he is telling and wonders if he will one day ask his servant to bring him poison to end his own life. A gentle voice, however, tells him no.