Loyalty

Loyalty is an ever-present theme in Royal Assassin. Everyone in the story has sworn themselves to someone in some fashion. There are moments when loyalty begins to be difficult to understand. Fitz, Burrich, and Chade have sworn loyalty to not only the current king, but the Farseer line. This means that they are just as much sworn to Regal as they are Shrewd and Verity. There are those that are sworn to Regal and so are willing to kill the king or spy for Regal.

The loyalty in the story often causes as much confusion for the characters as it does solve a problem. Fitz knows what Regal has done but King Shrewd forces Fitz to swear he won't hurt Regal. Regal is one of the few characters in the story that isn't loyal to anyone but himself. Molly and Fitz swear themselves to each other but time...