Fitz's grandfather delivers him to the royal household at age six, and he is placed in Burrich's care.

Burrich brings Fitz to Buckkeep, where Prince Chivalry has already abdicated his throne and gone into exile.

King Shrewd pins his royal signet onto nine-year-old Fitz during a feast, claiming him as the King's man.

Chade Fallstar appears in Fitz's bedchamber at night and begins secretly training him as a royal assassin.

Fitz refuses to steal from the King, passes the loyalty test, and then steals the King's knife in plain sight.

Prince Chivalry is assassinated, and Burrich shaves his head and brows in mourning, shocking and scandalizing the royal court.

Fitz travels with Prince Verity to Neatbay on a diplomatic mission that may require him to assassinate Lord Kelvar.

Fitz discovers Lady Thyme is Chade in disguise; they travel to Forge and find the returned hostages are hollow, dangerous Forged people.

Patience forces King Shrewd to allow Fitz to receive Skill training and gives him a puppy from her dog's litter.

Galen invades Fitz's mind during a training test and physically beats him, driving Fitz to attempt suicide from the tower roof.

Burrich defeats Galen in combat at the Witness Stones and forces him to allow Fitz to rejoin Skill training.

The Springfest trial strands Fitz near Forge without a horse; Smithy is killed; Fitz brutally kills three Forged ones to survive.

Verity renames Fitz FitzChivalry Farseer and commands him to stop thinking of himself as worthless because of his birth outside of marriage.

King Shrewd orders Fitz to travel to the Mountain Kingdom and assassinate Princess Kettricken's brother, Prince Rurisk.

Fitz uses the Skill to warn Verity of Galen's assassination plot; Verity kills Galen; Kettricken marries Verity, stabilizing the kingdom.

Fitz, born outside of marriage to Prince Chivalry, is delivered to the royal household at age six and placed in the care of Burrich, the marshal. King Shrewd claims Fitz as his own and secretly arranges for the assassin Chade to train him in service to the crown. After Chivalry's assassination, Fitz undertakes his first dangerous mission to Neatbay and witnesses the terrifying Forged people created by the Red Ship Raiders. Lady Patience forces the King to allow Fitz to receive Skill training, but the cruel Skillmaster Galen nearly destroys him mentally and physically before Burrich intervenes. Verity rescues Fitz from this damage, restores his sense of worth, and sends him on a deadly mission to the Mountain Kingdom to assassinate Prince Rurisk. In the climax, Fitz uses the Skill to warn Verity of Galen's assassination plot, securing the prince's survival and the political marriage that stabilizes the kingdom.

The rise of a royal assassin and the battle to save a kingdom.

On his first night in Burrich's stables, Fitz sleeps beside the puppy Nosy and shares a dream, beginning their mental bond.

Fitz befriends Molly Nosebleed Chandler and a boy named Kerry in the town outside Buckkeep.

Burrich catches Fitz and Nosy stealing sausages, discovers their shared mental bond, and forcibly removes Nosy from Fitz's life.

Fitz collapses in fever and refuses to speak to Burrich after believing Nosy has been killed.

Burrich gives Fitz a pregnant mare named Sooty and sends him to weapons training with the swordswoman Hod.

Fitz returns to town after a long absence, reads Molly's mother's letter aloud for her, and learns her birth name is Nosegay.

Fitz encounters Regal and Verity riding urgently back to the keep and learns from them that Chivalry has just died.

The Fool delivers a strange, cryptic prophecy to Fitz in the woods before the journey to Neatbay begins.

Fitz saves Lady Grace's dog from a fishbone in its throat and manipulates her into pressuring Lord Kelvar about the coastal towers.

Fitz meets a peculiar noblewoman eating alone in the castle kitchens at night without realizing she is Patience, Chivalry's widow.

Patience violently embraces Fitz and weeps after seeing his painting of Smithy, mourning that she was never allowed to raise him.

Galen publicly beats Serene with a riding crop and then beats Fitz for allegedly taking extra food from the kitchen.

Molly begins courting the handsome sailor Jade, deepening Fitz's heartbreak and his sense of isolation from the world.

Fitz carries out a series of assassinations over a lonely summer, including Forged people and a lord who violently abused a girl.

Fitz and Burrich slowly recover from their injuries in the Mountain Kingdom and tentatively begin to bond with each other again.

From his first nights bonding with the puppy Nosy to his friendship with Molly in the town outside Buckkeep, Fitz's early years are defined by the connections he forms and loses. Burrich's discovery of Fitz's Wit severs him from Nosy and begins a cycle of isolation, while moments of warmth—reading Molly's letter, learning her birth name—offer brief relief. Chivalry's sudden death and the growing threat of Forged people mark a darker shift in Fitz's world, and his first assassination mission brings both ingenuity and moral horror. Galen's abusive training accelerates Fitz's loneliness as Patience tries to reach him and Molly turns to another suitor, and a brutal summer of assassinations follows. Through it all, small connections—a puppy, a secret ally, a shared painting—keep Fitz anchored, until he and Burrich find a fragile peace in the ruins of their journey to the Mountain Kingdom.

Friendships, rivalries, and the bonds that shape Fitz's world.

Prince Regal informs Verity that King Shrewd wants Fitz brought to Buckkeep to prevent enemies from using him against the throne.

Fitz instinctively repels a threatening man in the Buckkeep walkway using his mind, surprising himself with the scope of his power.

Fitz uses his mental ability to knock Molly's abusive father unconscious, bewildering Molly, who is distraught at her father's apparent death.

Chade reveals to Fitz that he is King Shrewd's half-brother, born outside of marriage and kept hidden from the court.

The Fool names the puppy Smithy and tells Fitz that Patience's acceptance of Chivalry's abdication helped pave the way for his assassination.

Fitz realizes during Skill training that Galen is afraid of him because of his immense and natural talent with the Skill.

During the Springfest trial, Fitz bonds with Smithy's mind and watches helplessly as a dark figure attacks Burrich and stabs Smithy.

Burrich discovers that Fitz used the Wit to witness the attack during the trial and completely rejects him, sending him away.

Verity and Fitz accidentally conduct a full Skill conversation, revealing that Galen deliberately damaged Fitz's mind out of fear and spite.

Verity draws on Fitz's life force to replenish himself during their Skill work; Fitz collapses from the unexpected and severe drain.

Kettricken warns Fitz that Regal drunkenly revealed the assassination plan to her; Fitz realizes he has already been poisoned.

Rurisk rushes to Fitz's chambers and reveals that Kettricken preemptively poisoned Fitz herself to protect her brother from assassination.

Fitz discovers Nosy alive and thriving in Prince Rurisk's stables, realizing that Burrich never actually killed him years ago.

Unconscious in the stable, Fitz dreams of Galen and Regal plotting to kill Verity; Nosy bites through his ropes to free him.

Kettricken publicly forgives Fitz as kin to shield him from Regal; the aging narrator later considers poison but a gentle voice says no.

From King Shrewd's early decision to use Fitz as a political pawn to Fitz's discovery of the full scope of his own mental powers, the story is shaped by revelations that force him to reexamine his world. Chade's secret identity, Galen's deliberate sabotage of Fitz's Skill, and the true fate of Nosy all emerge as turning points that expose the corruption and hidden loyalties within the royal household. Verity's accidental mental bond with Fitz and Kettricken's preemptive poisoning of him in Jhaampe escalate the stakes dramatically, while Burrich's repeated rejections compound Fitz's wounds. The truth about Regal and Galen's conspiracy to murder Verity crystallizes as Fitz lies unconscious and bound, setting up the novel's violent and desperate climax. In the aftermath, Kettricken's public forgiveness shields Fitz from Regal's revenge, and the epilogue reveals an older Fitz still haunted by his past but held back from despair by an enduring, loving voice.