mint

Like I've seen so many discussions where it's as if those are the only two options, and that coco will inevitably become a brimhat because it aligns with her morals of wanting magic to help people but like

Wasn't the entire point of chapter 38 to symbolize Coco's choice when it comes to pointed or brimmed hat society being not to go towards either (flying to Olruggio symbolizing sticking with the pointed hat ideology, and flying to the tower symbolizing resorting to forbidden magic to save her mom) but to carve a third path for herself, where she doesn't necessarily pick a side and finds a way to take things case-by-case (or as Qifrey puts it, to save the person directly in front of her).

Basically a way that allows her to account for the nuances of both societies' arguments on magic and it's restriction, addressing the problems shirahama brings up that are evident in both views

(id also like to bring up that a key part of Coco's "third path" was rescuing qifrey, which...hopecore??? I'll let myself be a little hopepilled and take this as tentative confirmation that whatever path coco makes for herself will involve her finding a way to save Qifrey as well, as sort of a stepping stone towards figuring out how to save her mom)

Idk maybe I just missed a lot of the discourse and everyone already gets this but I've just been a little confused since most of what I've been seeing has been pretty much "coco will have to accept that she can't save her mom and remain a witch" or "coco will reject pointed cap society and become a brimhat" with little to no middle ground lol

and this:

Toshiro Dogo after being stuck in jail for ?? months:

i assume it would be part of a series that covers a lot of her life, and a lot of her arc would mirror her father

bee becomes an alcoholic at like 11

bee falls in love with per but he ages so much faster than her he will always see her as a child

bee is witted (basically confirmed in f&f)

kettricken dies :( and so does nettle

kettricken finally tells dutiful the truth about his parentage on her deathbed

hope becomes a sort of point of comparison in the family, because bee ages so slowly they will be similar in size at some point, and hope will be the sort of golden girl in comparison to bee's offputting self

the wolf of the west can shapeshift

ending slavery is one of bee's major white prophet tasks. i actually wish that's where the series went after tawny man trilogy, especially after fitz removed elliania's tattoo. it would kind of mirror burrich/chivalry's past. (they met on the border, burrich worked for? a slaver for a year, his grandmother was a slave. and fool was also a slave as a child. but i think that'll be where bee's story goes.

bee kills prilkop :)

bee starts a cult, maybe the clerres survivors

bee becomes an assassin or spy without dutiful's permission, and she opens up some secret passageways in the castle

bee develops an addiction to elfbark and carryme like fitz

bee is an outcast in her family

bee is bi

spark is bee's catalyst (because she is a spy and assassin like fitz)

bee fathers a bastard somehow. she doesn't get pregnant she gets someone magic pregnant when she's like 30

etta is deposed as the pirate queen because she has no heir and the high tariffs

bee cures rapskal's... whatever he has going on

bee dies and comes back to life

bee bonds to an animal obviously, but i have no idea what kind. motley? motley may have an extended lifespan due to being an elderling and having wit. a wolf seems the most likely. but that one cat could also be a contender. or maybe she does refuse to bond to an animal, for fear of it dying. i think that's also likely. bee is probably going to be like fitz in how she avoids human connection, partially due to trauma, partially due to her lifespan.

bee lives through a lot of technological development, and the world will eventually have steam power and ballon ships etc.

bee gets some sick tattoos

bee has a huge spectrum of magics like beloved: hedgemagic (implied), wit, skill, prophecy, glamour (which might be part of the skill?)

bee still believes fitz loved beloved more than her ouch :(

paragon dragons make a reappearance because they remember amber

bee also accidentally adopts an orphan

Burrich and Fitz both get white streaks in their hair at the hands of Regal. Despite not being related, and Burrich being Chalcedean, we always hear how Burrich has shaped Fitz's personality.

Beloved's skin darkens with time to almost match Fitz. This isn't an arbitrary occurrence, the changing fevers and skin change is a direct result of Beloved using Fitz to change the world. The changing fevers are painful and represent moments of closeness with Fitz. Consider the first one we see is when Fitz dotes on Fool, building up their relationship. One of the others is during the Quarrel, representing the nexus of fate that brought them together and took them apart.

Similarly, Bee experiences a changing fever but becomes paler, looking like a father she has never met, but has shaped her life all the same. Where have we seen that before? ->

Dutiful and Fitz are both identical to their fathers. But Fitz's similarity is destroyed over time, to the point his physical appearance alienates him from his own son.

Nighteyes and Fitz both take on each other's mannerisms. The line between wolf and human, between each other, is an illusion.

Kettricken looks like Fitz's mother, and the only time we really hear about her in Assassin's Quest, is when Fitz alienates himself from her, afraid of his past.

The earring connects Fitz to his absent father, his adoptive mother, Burrich, and Beloved. It represents his spark of life that is suppressed and contained. (A Buck blue gem in a silver net, a freedom ring). He gives it away twice. When he is Forged, and finally extinguishes his own spirit in a way his worst enemies and closest friends never could. And then when Beloved dies, is revived, and leaves him, effectively Forging him once again.

The thesis of ROTE is not "to be loved is to be changed". That's too romantic, too idealistic.

Meanwhile nearly every adult woman he interacts with is trying to get in his pants. First Honey, then the puppeteer girl, Starling obviously, even Kettricken is like “if I wasn’t married to your uncle”

Verity, spying on his boy failure nephew: GET YOUR ASS TO THE MOUNTAINS

Teen Dutiful: I like Tom he’s mean to me but it’s nice to not always be treated like a prince