FitzChivalry Farseer is the bastard son of Prince Chivalry Farseer and a woman of the Mountain Kingdom. Dropped off at The Six Duchies fort of Moonseye without so much as his name, he is officially dubbed FitzChivalry Farseer by his uncle, Prince Verity Farseer. His grandfather is King Shrewd and he has another uncle, Prince Regal Farseer.
The Farseer Trilogy
Fitz is the son of prince Chivalry Farseer and an unknown Mountain woman. Chivalry had been unable to produce a legitimate heir with his wife, Lady Patience. When the existence of his bastard son was discovered, Chivalry abdicated the throne and refused to acknowledge his son, knowing any acknowledgement would leave him in a dangerous situation. Shortly after, Chivalry died from the machinations of his step-mother, Queen Desire.
In an attempt to provide for his son, Prince Chivalry issues orders to Stablemaster Burrich to raise Fitz at Buckkeep Castle. A former soldier and mercenary, the current Stablemaster was gruff and hard on him, attempting to instill the virtues that he felt Prince Chivalry would have supported. Early on, it is discovered that both Burrich and Fitz have The Wit, a form of magical communication with animals that is considered an executionable offense in The Six Duchies. Burrich insists Fitz never uses the wit, which eventually leads Burrich to "kill" Fitz's first Wit bonded animal, a puppy named Nosy.
Eventually King Shrewd takes notice of him, informing Regal that royal bastards have particular use. Important enough to be sent into any situation without being important enough to keep free of risk, they serve as Royal Assassins. King Shrewd gives him a silver pin with a ruby, making a deal with Fitz. He offers Fitz all that he may need in life on the condition that he serve loyally. King Shrewd further promises to will match anyone else's offer for his services.
Fitz begins his apprenticeship as an assassin with his great-uncle Chade Fallstar who became a recluse inside the castle after a disfiguring accident. He is taught horsemanship, penmanship and many other skills. One such notable skill, although a failure during training, is the Skill. Taught reluctantly by Galen of the castle coterie, his natural talent for the Skill is eventually damaged when Galen fogs him with a skill command/impression. Galen commands him to die and makes him think he is a worthless failure that never had any skill talent. Galen leaves after beating him physically and Fitz would have obeyed the skill command to die by throwing himself off the tower if not for Smithy, his dog and wit-bond partner.
While he eventually returns to the lessons after recovering physically, Fitz is still fogged by what Galen did to him, thinking he has no talent. In addition, the experience left him with habitually strong defensive walls that he has a hard time lowering for fear someone will ravage his mind the way Galen did. For these reasons his skill is inconsistent, he doesn't progress much after that and eventually fails the final test for the coterie though it is unlikely that Galen even tried to teach him properly.
During this time he begins the relationships that will determine much of his life. He becomes one of the few in the castle who speak regularly with The Fool. He also starts a turbulent relationship with Molly Chandler and even befriends his father's wife, Lady Patience. He also develops a strong relationship with King-in-Waiting Verity and an antagonistic relationship with Prince Regal. He also wit bonds with the starved and beaten wolf pup Nighteyes whom he purchases for a handful of copper coins.
His first major mission as a King's Assassin takes him to The Mountain Kingdom where he is nearly killed and then befriended by Kettricken, Verity's Queen-to-be. He discovers that Prince Regal is attempting to marry the unsuspecting princess instead and poisoning her elder brother Rurisk so as to have her inherit the throne. Ultimately defeating Regal's attempt with subterfuge, FitzChivalry is left weak and poisoned for some months in The Mountain Kingdom before returning to Buckkeep. Also while in The Mountain Kingdom he finds a now much older Nosy who is bonded to Rurisk but gives his live to save Fitz after Regal tries to drown him.
During this time The Red-Ship War begins in earnest. Building warships from Mountain Kingdom lumber, Verity decides he needs access to the ships without leaving his position. He patches his mind to Fitz's with the Skill and has Fitz taught more martial prowess, particularly with an axe. However, Fitz's emotions run so high during fights that he forces Verity out, as well as losing his own memories of the fighting. He is involved in an early success at Antler Island where they kill numerous raiders and capture Red Ships. Fitz earns such a reputation for his fighting at the island that a song is written in his honor.
When Verity leaves on his quest, Fitz attempts to continue his relationship with Shrewd but it greatly suffers from both Shrewd's ill-health and their disagreement on his interest in marrying Molly when Shrewd would see him married to the daughter of one of his dukes. Fitz eventually decides that he must aid Shrewd, Kettricken and the Fool to escape Buckkeep as Price Regal takes over when Shrewd is killed under Regal's orders during the attempt.
Deciding he must avenge his King, Fitz kills Regal's assassins publicly, leading to his incarceration. Condemned for being Witted, Fitz "dies", however his consciousness leaves his body to join his wolf, Nighteyes, and his tortured body is recovered by Burrich. After some time, Fitz rejoins to his body.
Afterwards Burrich takes Fitz to a secluded cabin so that he might recover from his "death" in Regal's dungeon. Fitz recovers slowly over the next few months both in body and mind before finally deciding that he no longer has any responsibility to the Farseer name and sets out to kill Regal. He leaves the cabin after killing a Forged thief, unaware that the thief wore a shirt with his silver pin. When the body is later discovered, it is believed by Burrich that he died, while Molly, of course, thought he had died in Regal's dungeon months earlier.
After failing to kill Regal at his new home in Tilth, Verity uses the Skill to command him to come to him on his quest to find the Elderlings. After a a lengthy journey to the Mountain Kingdom he sets out with Kettricken, Kettle, Nighteyes, Starling Birdsong and The Fool. Eventually rejoining King Verity, they aid him in retrieving the Stone Dragons. During this time, Verity uses the Skill to borrow Fitz's body as his own is all but ruined by his efforts to create a dragon. He uses the skill to manipulate Kettricken's mind and gives her an heir before entering himself entirely into Verity-as-Dragon. Fitz ends this period of his life by killing the last of The False Coterie and using The Skill to command Regal's unwavering loyalty to Kettricken and her heir. He then sets out on a journey with Nighteyes and surrenders his old name, believing FitzChivalry Farseer is better off dead.
The Tawny Man Trilogy
With the minstrel Starling as his only contact and living under the name Tom Badgerlock, FitzChivalry ends his journey near the former town of Forge. Living in a small cabin with a garden, he becomes the foster father of a young boy named Hap, an orphan brought to him by Starling and lives a life of seclusion. After some fifteen years the return of the Fool to reunite with his Catalyst prompts Fitz to come out of his seclusion to aid in finding and rescuing the missing heir to the Farseer throne, Prince Dutiful.
The Fitz and the Fool Trilogy
Fitz has left the world of intrigue at Buckkeep court to enjoy a quiet life as Tom Badgerlock with his wife Molly and their children.
Other Information
He was also known as Changer by Nighteyes, The Catalyst and Beloved by The Fool, and is strongly suggested to originally be called Keppet by his mother. He also briefly took on the name Cob in his travels.