This is very spoilery, but basically, insofar as I recall, an interviewer asked her early on about Fitz and Fool (also in another trilogy together before the Tawny Man) and whether there was anything going on with them. Her answer was along the lines of, "No! Absolutely not!"
Much later, someone else asked, because there were a lot of hints in the first two books and it seemed partly about Fitz and Fool's Epic Love, and she admitted that okay, she may have accidentally written a gay love story into her books.
When the third book came out, she does actually sort of go there (Fitz confesses his love for Fool in the way of Fool's culture, then throws himself on what he thinks is going to be Fool's funeral pyre to die with him), but (after all of that is resolved), near the end Fitz spends some time stuck somewhere, Fool waits around for him, and finally leaves (leaving behind a letter) after a few months. Fitz's ex-girlfriend's husband was conveniently killed and out of the way, so of course they get back together and Hobb goes on for very long time detailing not just how Fitz gets married, but also how his kids all grow up and get straight-married.
And this is where the whole "maybe it is just me and having read lots of her interviews" thing comes in, because like jennifergearing said, Hobb is vehemently anti-fic (and anti-slash), and I think the epilogue reads as "NO. YOU CANNOT HAVE YOUR SLASH FIC. THEY ARE ALL ALMOST ENTIRELY STRAIGHT. SEE. SEE."
*thank you*. I had gotten hooked on the Fritz/Fool interaction and the ending was just... I had gotten her other books, but just couldn't get interested into them the way I had the first two... anyway. Thank you.
Well, there's always Dumbledore and Grindlewald! So, you know, you can have slash as long as one partner is EEVIL and almost seduces his lover to the Dark Side (but then the good boy repents and his love life is never mentioned again) and both of them are dead by the time you learn of their tragic, tragic backstory.
Oh, see, I always thought it happened in the other order-- you know, she has this thing about how "Fanfic is just saying that you know better than the writer!" and while that's generally really not true, I'd bet it mostly is in her case. I thought her hate-on for fanfic was because she (accurately) thought it was criticism of her book's ending.
Luckily I heard how awful the ending of Fool's Fate was before I read it; as I only read through the previous FIVE BOOKS because I loved the incredibly strong Fitz/Fool subtext, there was no way I was going to put myself through an authorial mindfuck.
I've stopped reading any Robin Hobb books at this point, because of the homophobia and her anti-fanfic ravings.
Oh I envy you. I read through the entire series and then spent about a half hour screaming at the last book because it was mean and cruel and oh so homophobic.
Much later, someone else asked, because there were a lot of hints in the first two books and it seemed partly about Fitz and Fool's Epic Love, and she admitted that okay, she may have accidentally written a gay love story into her books.
When the third book came out, she does actually sort of go there (Fitz confesses his love for Fool in the way of Fool's culture, then throws himself on what he thinks is going to be Fool's funeral pyre to die with him), but (after all of that is resolved), near the end Fitz spends some time stuck somewhere, Fool waits around for him, and finally leaves (leaving behind a letter) after a few months. Fitz's ex-girlfriend's husband was conveniently killed and out of the way, so of course they get back together and Hobb goes on for very long time detailing not just how Fitz gets married, but also how his kids all grow up and get straight-married.
And this is where the whole "maybe it is just me and having read lots of her interviews" thing comes in, because like jennifergearing said, Hobb is vehemently anti-fic (and anti-slash), and I think the epilogue reads as "NO. YOU CANNOT HAVE YOUR SLASH FIC. THEY ARE ALL ALMOST ENTIRELY STRAIGHT. SEE. SEE."
YMMV.
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I've stopped reading any Robin Hobb books at this point, because of the homophobia and her anti-fanfic ravings.
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