Just Thinking About How Much Robin Hobb Had To Do To Force Her OTP Back Together At The End Of Fools

Just thinking about how much Robin Hobb had to do to force her OTP back together at the end of Fools Fate and being salty. It required:

-Burrich to be depicted as a decrepit old man when he’s like in his 50s and conveniently die, gifting Fitz with his family (!) as his last wish

-Fitz to finally realize and accept what “no limits” means with Beloved after an entire trilogy where this is a central theme and raise him from the dead because he refuses to live in a world that he isn’t part of, and then for this to not matter at all because Beloved decides actually he’s just an obstacle to Fitz’s true love Molly (?!) and leaves

-Fitz not being allowed to choose what he wants, because when he tries to choose Beloved he’s told no that’s not actually what’s good for you

-Molly not being able to choose if she would be ok with her ex bringing along his queerplatonic life partner because it’s already been decided for her that of course she wouldn’t

-Fitz getting lost in a Skill pillar for a month so he can’t have a rational discussion with Beloved about it as Prilkop the conveniently located agent of Clerres tells him all about how of course their Path is finished and staying by his Catalyst will only do harm

-Prilkop convincing Beloved that he should go back to Clerres, a place where he was physically and sexually abused before running away, because apparently it’s his job to fix them, and this actually working (!!!)

-Literally everyone in Fitz’s life, up to and including Burrich and Mollys eldest son who Fitz never speaks to on page again after this, pushing him to pursue her and telling him not to take no for an answer

-Molly and Burrich (actually Nettle) being granted Withywoods and a noble title by Patience so they no longer have to deal with the obvious issue of the class divide

-Molly magically accepting that he let her believe he was dead for 16 years and abandoned their daughter because he was upset she married someone else because her role in this book is to be his prize for completing the quest

-Neither Fitz nor Molly ever mentioning or even thinking about Burrich, his foster father and major formative influence and her husband of many years and father of her sons, except for a few passing references

So yeah, in a series where the characters generally act in believable ways even when it’s frustrating, this whole plot was just contrived as hell