Almost wept when I realized the significance of Hap's abstaining from offering his memories to the stone wolf. He says that Fitz understands he needs all his memories for his art. Hap, the one child Fitz raised with Nighteyes, has the attachment to his memories that no one else does. It's remarkable, because he grew up watching his half-Forged father write down his painful memories obsessively and toss them into the flames.
He fails to become a carpenter, because unlike Beloved and Fitz, he is unable to carve away parts of himself to be accepted. Carving is the visual motif representing the manipulation of memories, persona, and memory. That's why the stone dragons are carved. He tries at first to become a woodworker, but can't change himself to fit in. He was raised by a man that accepted and loved him, despite having no blood relation. So he instead becomes a minstrel. The are the foils to carvers, the deposits of memory, the ones who remember not just their own stories but the stories of others.
In so many ways, Hap is the opposite of Fitz. Fitz is deceptive, but Hap is unable to lie. Fitz is full of self-loathing, but despite his upbringing and some deep insecurities, Hap is full of pride and unwilling to accept poor treatment. In Hap we see all of Fitz's unrealized potential. Fitz wanted to travel, to be free from the stigma of being a bastard, a life of honesty, affection in his childhood, a stable upbringing. That was taken from him, but he is able to provide that to a child. And so he doesn't sacrifice his memories of Fitz as Nettle, Dutiful, and Kettricken do.
But of course we see how Hap takes after Fitz. Although Fitz burns most of his writing, he still preserves his memories the best he can. Carving the Stone Wolf isn't the opposite of what minstrels and scribes do, but the same thing. Not just keeping the memories, but transforming them into art.
