i'm not skeptical of how much Fitz loves Molly because of my Fitzloved brain (I got sick of their relationship midway through Royal Assassin and shipped him with no one except a therapist before I even knew that Fitzloved or FitzKett were a thing) or because i don't respect or love Molly as character.
i'm skeptical of how much Fitz loves Molly because most of his thoughts of her after 20 years of marriage are either vague sex reminisces or what she brings to him materially, and more importantly after PROMISING "NO MORE SECRETS" IN FRONT OF MOLLY AND HER CHILDREN he proceeds to hide the two other most important relationships in his life and the circumstances surrounding them from her for their entirety of their marriage. He never respects or trusts her enough to have that conversation, and I genuinely think that is outrageously shitty and manipulative. Not to mention literally viewing her children as game pieces with which he can win her affection at the end of Tawny Man. Using the memory of their father as lever to capture those pieces. After frankly telling Kettricken that Burrich is "out of the way" now.
Like, I feel crazy. Fitz comes across to me as so deeply manipulative, dishonest and shallow in regards to the way he thinks and acts towards Molly and their relationship from RA onward. He spends the entirety of Tawny Man reducing her to a mental image of "a woman who can bear [his] children and make [him] a home." and thinking because they hooked up at 15 that he could've swooped into her life at any time and ended her marriage to a man who actually loved and respected her and told her the fucking truth. And he's never disabused of this notion! Everyone tells him he's right! Despite how incredibly juvenile that is!
Armed intruders come into their home that she does the majority of work to maintain and he lies to her and swears the staff she hired to secrecy rather than have a single honest moment with her.
Molly is such an interesting character when she isn't filtered through Fitz' misogynistic, horny, self-interested and intensely gendered POV. It frustrates me that we're told they have this great love story, but we miss the majority of their courtship and marriage, and Fitz' thoughts on Molly are overwhelmingly Vague Sex Memories that show little of her personality or their relationship dynamic. It's just him remembering the curve of her body by the firelight or whatever. One paragraph of Bee's POV on Molly is more interesting than an entire book of Fitz' POV on Molly.
We see Molly and Burrich survive and struggle through hardship together, and discuss the boundaries of their relationship. We see Fitz survive and struggle through hardship together with the Fool, Starling, Kettricken even Jinna and discuss the boundaries of each of those relationships (minus Kettricken because Verity Trauma).
We do not see Fitz and Molly have these frank, vulnerable and tender discussions - from Royal Assassin onward their relationship is in a holding pattern of "Molly is upset at Fitz and makes demands for responsibility and assurances -> Fitz lies and makes promises he will not follow through on -> they fuck." and that doesnt really change after they reconnect and then marry. Their relationship is simply free from the strain that Fitz' dishonesty and lack of interest in actually building and running their life together would put on the relationship if all of their material needs and more weren't provided for by the state.
And the one hardship they should struggle through together? Molly feels fundamentally abandoned for. Fitz, who has seen and worked miracles makes Molly feel deeply alone, hurt and misunderstood for her entire miraculous pregnancy. All whilst hiding the fact that he's done and witnessed far more impossible things from her. She even knows that he's writing secret memoirs in his study! And he refuses that bid for connection! The only reason his dishonesty and evasiveness is not a Bigger Deal is that Molly dies before she finds out.
I'm fine with the complication and tragedy introduced by Fitz' relationship to Molly (even if I kinda feel pretty gross at seeing another queer relationship presented as "well I love you, but I can't give you a Normal Life so I'll selflessly and sexlessly pine for you from afar because that's seemingly the only ""pure"" way for us to love each other." Like I'm a little sick of us Being Jon Connington iykwim) but I simply have never understood their relationship- Fitz' thoughts and actions towards Molly aren't consistent to me with the thoughts of someone who actually loves a person and not just what they represent, and I don't really understand what Molly sees in Fitz (deadbeat serial liar who profoundly fucked up her life, contributes little to her household and continues to hide shit from her) from her perspective.
Editing the circumstances of your life to curate your partner's vision of you isn't passive and/or harmless, it is Actively Manipulative.
Molly's marriage to Burrich just made so much more sense and had actual palpable chemistry and it's treated like an afterthought or placeholder. We don't even see a complex and honest discussion between Fitz and Molly about Burrich. He's teleported to Aslevjal to give his blessing and die and we spend the last trilogy conveniently bringing up their marriage as little as possible, simply to not put Fitz' own shitty behaviour into stark contrast. Idk.
baratheonpilled
snowghoul
vaporwave
gummygunk
kaledo-art
andulkaphoto
