The truth about Fitz

[Serack]

So I'm now home from the Washington DC signing, and I got to ask Jim if there was significance to his choice of Fitz's name.  First he confirmed that he was aware Fitz means bastard, and he softly confirmed that this was intentional, and we would see how eventually. 

So Electric MacButters and I were discussing this on the 3 hour drive home, and during some serious mutual brainstorming, I came up with THE DEFINITIVE ANSWER to who Fitz is (with some key insights from EMacB)

But I'm not going to tell you.  (ooooh that is fun!) Instead I will give you a big hint, and let you work it out yourselves.  We have everything we need to figure it out now that we know for sure that the name was intentional.

The hint:  He's cursed.  edit:  This is conjecture if the "definitive" theory is true ^-Serack

P.S. Toe-mas took a flip video, and will be posting the entire signing on youtube asap.


Edit:  Copied from reply #30

Ok, so the "definitive answer" part might have partially been due to my being up waaaaaay past my bed time, but here's the evidence which still has me convinced.

He was youthfully scrawny, his skin bronze enough to look Native American, though his tangled red hair and pug nose argued otherwise. His eyes were an odd shade of brown, so light as to be nearly golden.

Ok first bronze skin on a redhead is really unusual.  ESPECIALLY in a snow storm.  Redheads typically have fair skin.  When they get a lot of sun they get freckles on top of freckles.  So the Redhead and bronze skin are off, and are probably from the 2 different sides of the family.
But here's the clincher.

I broke out into a cold sweat and looked out the other window.
Directly into a pair of brilliant, feral, amber eyes.
...
"I am Harley MacFinn's fiance.  Miss West," she said.  "I am called Tera."

Tera West was there, [/snip]
She was naked, her body a uniform shade of brown

Also, after mentioning how Father Forthill could sense Harry and Stuart because the good priests, ministers, shaman's can sense spirits Stuart says:

"And dogs."  Sir Stuart added.  "Maybe one in ten of them seem to have a talent for sensing us.  Probably why they are always barking."

So if he is half wolf=>human shape-shifter, that might help explain why he can hear spirits.

Finally we have this.

“I seem to remember at a Q&A a few years ago, you said Tera West would be showing up in Book 13 aka Ghost Story. Is this still happening, or has her character been shuffled down the line a bit due to the change in total number of case file books?”
My first answer is “bump her down a couple.” But on the other hand, it might be interesting to see her again in this book.
We’ll see what happens.

I think she showed up in proxy too, as in not her, but as the mother of a new main character.

I believe Tera West is the only other character described with golden colored eyes, she had bronze colored hair, she was a Wolf, thus likely to have progeny that sense sprits, and she was the Fiancee of an Irishman she never married.

Sounds like all the pieces you need to put together a young man described in the first quote.

The only off part is the timeline.  I believe FM was around 12 years before GS, which means that either Fitz was already around somewhere, or he aged quickly (dog years).

[Vairelome]

*happy dance*

My Fitz-post was my first one on these forums!  (I think I was the first person to point out his possible name significance?  I didn't see earlier ones when I posted.)

Thank you for asking Jim about it, Serack.   

[rags]

Oh this is cruel!! Its bad enough that Jim keeps things secret!! 

[Serack]

*happy dance*

My Fitz-post was my first one on these forums!  (I think I was the first person to point out his possible name significance?  I didn't see earlier ones when I posted.)

Thank you for asking Jim about it, Serack.   

Yes and no.  Actually parthagenon seems to have been aware of the meaning, and referred to it obliquely before you did.

Fitz, the bastard.   

The Summer Knight is Fix.

But you were the first to point out the significance.

A possible tell-tale for future revelations concerning new character Fitz...his name.

From Webster's Online Dictionary (Uh...Google it to verify, I'm a nub at making links.  Oh, emphasis mine.):

Fitz (n.):  1. A son; -- used in compound names, to indicate paternity, esp. of the illegitimate sons of kings and princes of the blood; as, Fitzroy, the son of the king; Fitzclarence, the son of the duke of Clarence.

(The duke of Clarence during the Regency period of England [early 1800s] had 10 illegitimate children, collectively known at the time as "the Fitzclarences."  Also, the duke of Clarence was a royal duke--one of the younger sons of George III--not merely one of the high nobility.)

Now, the royal bloodline may or may not be implied here for SotC purposes, but the name itself directly calls attention to paternity, and in my opinion, that is highly unlikely to be accidental.  I don't have the book in front of me, but the physical characteristic I remember about Fitz was his red hair; perhaps one of the very clever people on this board remember more details that might be salient?

This post is what inspired the question, and I'd say it's one of the better poster observations I have seen on here. 

Kudos

[Serack]

Oh this is cruel!! Its bad enough that Jim keeps things secret!! 

If I figured it out within a week of release, someone else would have been sure to figure it out before the release of the next book.  I suspect the "Big clue" will be a honking giant arrow to the answer for someone before I get up later.

[Vairelome]

Ah, congrats to parthagenon, then, good catch!

[Serack]

Ah, congrats to parthagenon, then, good catch!

No good catch for you to have realized that this was significant enough to start a topic highlighting it.  I started my own topic because yours emphasizes the SotC angle, which isn't significant to my revelation. 

[Icecream]

Oooh, first thought on hearing Fitz's name was that means bastard (I only know from a different series FitzChivalry as a name) but didn't give any thought to it. Ooooh new SotC theory, good one guys. Or Hendrick's bastard child 

[Vairelome]

If Fitz's mother conceived and gave birth to him while unmarried, and then later married a physically abusive man, it would both make a perfectly plausible addition to his backstory, as well as set up a rather dark joke for Jim to make later, once someone found out that Fitz had been "beaten like a..."   

Another angle to approach this from might be to consider who named him "Fitz."  Would it have been Baldy, or a name he was given earlier in life?  Considering that Jim has said the name is relevant, I think it's likely that the namer must have had some insight into the reasons for conferring the name upon him, as opposed to it being a happy accident of name and circumstance.

[The_Tuninator]

So, the next Knight of the Cross, then?

[Serack]

So, the next Knight of the Cross, then?

Although Jim has been saying this signing tour how he isn't sure who he wants to give the swords too among the candidates he has in mind, because he's not sure he wants to be that mean to them, I was being more literal when I said he's cursed.

[raidem]

so FitzMacFinn? the next loup-garou?

[Serack]

so FitzMacFinn? the next loup-garou

My clue isn't based on the text.  So now you have to back your claim

[Farwind]

Red hair (does he have red hair?) = possible Irish Decent
Fitz = Bastard. The last Loup-Garou is dead, and if he were the father, that would make him a bastard.
Loup-Garou is a curse which got passed from generation to generation. If he is from the same family, then he would be afflicted with the curse.
(This is all the evidence for that theory that I can think of off the top of my head. It isn't very much though. I'm sure there are several thousand kids in the Dresdenverse which have the traits of being a cursed redheaded bastard)

Though I have to wonder, why the hell can he hear dead people?

[rags]

Appearence:

He was youthfully scrawny, his skin bronze enough to look Native American, though his tangled red hair and pug nose argued otherwise. His eyes were an odd shade of brown, so light as to be nearly golden.

a little under 6 feet.

He can communicate with spirits and has some weak(??) magic in him.

Apparently, he's also a bastard and is cursed........

Thats all the info i could synthesize from GS. Frankly, I am lost......I have spent over an hour breaking my head over this and have come up with squat.....