[Disclaimer: audiobook listener, apologies for any spelling errors] (TL:DR at the bottom)

In introducing a friend to The Name of the Wind, I started another read (listen) through and given this is my nth trip down this rabbit hole... at some point we all start throwing darts to see what sticks, right? ... well here's my crackpot theory...

Chapter 40: On the horns. After Kvothe's first time on the horns is dismissed Master Brandeur approaches Master Hemme and Kvothe eavesdrops the exchange:

Brandeur: "Weren't you wearing a Gram?"

Hemme: "No, I wasn't. And don't take that tone with me. As if this was my fault. You might as well blame someone stabbed in an alley for not wearing armor."

B: "We should all take precautions, you know as well as-"...

Why would Masters of the University need to be taking precautions? Why was this conversation behind closed doors? What does Hemme know as well as who?...

Maybe Brandeur and Hemme are a little more closely allied than a simple clique among the Masters. Maybe Hemme's association with Ambrose is more than just a rich and powerful father and a shared disdain for Kvothe.

Given that we are led to believe later on that the Amyr are 1, not as benevolent as the stories. 2, very much active to date, only in secret... and 3, their number has included men of learning as well as Nobility...

AND! someone with free reign of the archives (possibly multiple people through the years) have been censoring the archive of all things amyr...

Plus Baron Jakis's swift rise in power...

All of this just feels like it's a little too easy to connect the dots with... So yea...

TL:DR I think Masters Hemme and brandeur are secret Amyr and so is Baron Jakis and/or Ambrose.

So this contains spoilers for WMF.

First post here, relatively new to the thread. I was talking with the my cousin about the book and he posed this theory I’m about to share. I hadn’t thought about it but it does make sense.

There is a part where Kvothe asks Elodin what he thinks about people who change their names often. Elodin reacts strongly asking who is foolish to do that, that it’s extremely dangerous, is it Fela? (Couldn’t find the passage sorry). Then he realizes Kvothe means calling names, and not deep names.

So the theory is, what if Kvothe when he becomes Kote actually changed his deep name. And his original name is locked inside of his thrice locked chest. Along with all of the stuff that makes him in essence Kvothe. And the reason he lost his sympathy is because it’s an essential element to his original name so that ability is also in the chest.

There is also a scene later in the book when Aaron is talking about enlisting, and Kvothe tries to dissuade him by telling him who he is. Aaron doesn’t believe him, and asks him where are his rings. Could those rings also be locked in the chest?

So the whole theory is that he changed his deep name, had to give up everything that made him up and it’s all locked in the chest. And he cannot open it anymore because his ability to do that is also inside the chest.

Just room for thought, haven’t seen this theory before anywhere and wanted to discuss. Could be canon and I just don’t know of it. Happy to hear your thoughts.

So I’m just rereading WMF and I noticed that the story they tell in the eld about Taborlin escaping from the chandiran repeatedly mentions cyphus- hence “cyphus bears the flame” might not refer to his deep name. The story mentions the name multiple times so kvothe’s candle in the dark metaphor obviously doesn’t apply. It is a mystery why Bast would still freak out at the mention of the chandrian’s names….

I've been re-reading Wise Man's Fear, and I'm at the point where Felurian explains the moon, and when it's at a certain shape the Fae realm is so close you you cross it as easy as you can cross a door. She then says that some of the Fae visit the mortal world sly, enshaedn, or glamored, wearing gowns of a queen, or as a pack mule laden.

I had a fun little etymology dive today and wanted to share. So caesura has been discussed on the sub plenty, here's the definition for presentation's sake

"a pause about the middle of a metrical line" (often coinciding with a pause in sense), 1550s, from Latin caesura, "metrical pause," literally "a cutting," from past participle stem of caedere "to cut down" (from PIE root *kae-id- "to strike")

And that gives theorycrafters a ton to work with. Especially when you factor in tangential overlapping stuff like Cinder / Scindere, but this post is only about these cae- words like Caesura.

What started me down this rabbit hole was Caesarea

Caesarea, a city name derived from the Roman title "Caesar", was the name of numerous cities and locations in the Roman Empire

Etymology - Learned borrowing from Latin Caesarēa, from Caesar + -ea. Both the Algerian and Turkish cities were named in honor of Augustus. Doublet of Kayseri and Cherchell.

The Turkish name was why it caught my attention. Because suddenly this quote from WMF isn't just a phonetic clue or joke about how the folk in Newarre pronounce things a little differently

“You might have had a chance if you’d picked something easier to

swallow,” he said. “But everybody knows Kvothe’s sword was made of silver.” He flicked his eyes up to the sword that hung on the wall. “It wasn’t called Folly, either. It was Kaysera, the poet-killer.”

So again, both Caesarea and Kayseri are names derived from Caesar, and Caesar is

Caesar (Latin: [ˈkae̯.sar] English pl. Caesars; Latin pl. Caesares; in Greek: Καῖσαρ Kaîsar) is a title of imperial character.. The title remained an essential part of the style of the emperors, and became the word for "emperor" in some languages, such as German (kaiser) and Russian (tsar)

Caesar means Emperor. "A King". Supposedly caesarian's were named for Caesar as well, bringing us back to the "cut" meaning from caedere

Supposedly from Caius Julius Caesar, who was said to have been delivered surgically. Thus also legend traces his cognomen to Latin caesus, past participle of caedere "to cut" (see -cide). But if this is the etymology of the name, it was likely an ancestor who was so born (Caesar's mother lived to see his triumphs and such operations would have been fatal to the woman in ancient times). Rather, caesar here may come directly from caesus.

Which might be more relevant to the story than we know, considering all the theories regarding why Ludis is mentioned as being "full and round-bellied" in Jax's story.

But it keeps going, because as stated regarding caesarian sections, the caesar may come directly from the meaning of caesus

"tool with a beveled or sloping cutting edge at one end, used for paring, splitting, gouging, or cutting out,"

and the previous -cide mention means

word-forming element meaning "killer," from French -cide, from Latin -cida "cutter, killer, slayer," from -cidere, combining form of caedere "to fall, fall down, fall away, decay, fall dead" (from Proto-Italic *kaid-o-, from PIE root *kae-id- "to strike")

And that "fall down or decay" mention ties us to caducous (pronounced "Caudicus" :D)

"having a tendency to fall or decay," 1797, in botany, from Latin caducus "falling, fallen, fleeting," from cadere "to fall, decline, perish" (from PIE root *kad- "to fall")

And last but not least, the final tie-in to KKC brings us to caecum

in human anatomy, "the pouch at the beginning of the colon," 1721, from Latin intestinum caecum "blind gut," from neuter of caecus "blind, hidden," from Proto-Italic *kaiko-, from PIE *kehi-ko- "one-eyed," cognate with Old Irish ca'ech "one-eyed," coeg "empty," Welsh coeg-dall, Old Cornish cuic "one-eyed;" Gothic haihs "one-eyed, blind."

His ass falls off lmao

“Eventually he went to the King of Vint, the richest king in the world. But

the king didn’t know. He went to the Emperor of Atur, but even with all his power, the emperor didn’t know. He went to each of the small kingdoms, one by one, but no one could tell him anything.

“Finally the boy went to the High King of Modeg, the wisest of all the

kings in the world....

“Then the high king carefully turned the golden screw.

Once: Nothing. Twice: Nothing. Then he turned it the third time, and the boy’s ass fell off.”

These books are neat

I’m completely new to annotating books, but I want to annotate KKC. I know annotating can be very individual, but a little guidance would be great.

I’m annotating for themes like naming and the wind as well as puzzling out all the mysteries in the series. There’s so much possibility that I’m getting a little overwhelmed, so topics I could flag or that you’ve found useful in your own copies would be very helpful.

“Every Fae girl and boy knows the Cthaeh’s nature, but there’s always someone eager to seek it out. Folk go to it for answers or a glimpse of the future. Or they hope to come away with a flower.” “A flower?” Kvothe asked. Bast gave him another startled look. “The rhinna?” Not seeing any recognition in the innkeeper’s face he shook his head in dismay. “The flowers are a panacea, Reshi. They can heal any illness. Cure any poison. Mend any wound.” -WMF p.689.

Kvothe promptly looks down at his goddamn folded hands. I believe in the oath he makes to Denna, that he swears by his good left/right hand and breaks the oath and ends up being powerless at the Waystone. But he seems to believe a panacea could restore his hands.

Thoughts?

Is there any good fan fiction for the series? Since we may never see Book 3 I thought maybe some fanfiction could fill that hole a bit.

Okay, I KNOW I'm over thinking this. I guess this post is for the over thinkers.

Iron hurts faens. Copper is theorized to be 'nameless'. Silver hasn't been shown to have any known supernatural properties... but these three metals and colors are a repeated theme in the books, so I took a closer look. Symbolically, this triple theme may exist:

• Iron = black/shadow (wrought all of black iron, haubergeon of black iron, the black iron box)
• Copper = red/flame
• Silver = glass/mirrors

______________

Examples:

THREE COINS TO THE TINKER: Iron, copper, silver

• Plus I’ll give you an iron penny, a copper penny, and a silver penny. I grinned. It was a pittance. But that’s what tinkers in stories ask for when they trade some fabulous piece of magic to an unsuspecting widow’s son when he’s off to make his fortune in the world.
• the tinker sold it to him for nothing but an iron penny, a copper penny, and a silver penny.
• A silver penny was worth ten copper pennies, or fifty iron ones.
• I fished around in my purse and handed over an iron drab, two Vintish half-pennies, and, much to my pleasant surprise, an Aturan hard penny.
• a tipsy scriv had tossed a hard penny into my lute case where it lay shining among the dull iron and copper.

HALIAX'S POTTERY SYMBOLS: Shadow, flame, mirror

• it was grey with a black flame, and the space around it was smudged and darkened
• One was yellow with a bright orange flame.
• There was a mirror by his feet

THINGS FAENS FEAR: Iron, flame, mirrors

• what keeps these from moonlit trespass? iron, fire, mirror-glass.

THREE THINGS DEMON'S FEAR: Iron, flame, silver-mask

• Demons fear three things: cold iron, clean fire, and the holy name of God... (silver-masked Tehlu)

THREE WAY THE KING'S NAME HIDDEN: Iron, copper, glass

• The high king’s name is written in a book of glass, hidden in a box of copper. And that box is locked away in a great iron chest

THREE LOCKS OF THE THRICE-LOCKED CHEST: Iron, copper, ?

• It had a lock of iron, a lock of copper, and a lock that could not be seen.

______________

I keep trying to use this information to find out how Encanis, Illien, Cinder, Taborlin etc fit in to Skarpi's character names. But they don't line up in any convenient way despite their heavy association with these colors/metals.

THREE FAMOUS SWORDS: Iron (steel), copper, silver

• LANRE: Proud Lanre, strong as the spring Steel of the sword he had at ready hand. A human weapon?
• TABORLIN: Lastly he brought out his copper sword, Skyaldrin. A namer weapon?
• HALIAX: He came alone, wearing his silver sword. A shaper weapon?

HIGH MOURNING MASKS: Black, Red, Silver (and green?)

• ENCANIS: in the traditional black mask
• ?: two red-masked figures cowered
• TEHLU: silver-masked

________________

That same information plus a few more, in table format:

______________

I don't see anything that conclusively confirms anything. Maybe one of you can find something interesting here, I hope. IF there is an intentional pattern here:

• The third lock on the thrice locked chest would probably be silver or mirror-glass somehow. Maybe a silver lock that can only be seen through mirror-glass, idk.

• Taborlin might use a copper sword because he is a namer. Humans use steel swords. Lanre is debatably an early human, and he carries steel as 'a man', but as Haliax he gains immortality and power and now wields silver, possibly suggesting shaper skill?

• A silver penny was worth ten copper pennies, or fifty iron ones: If there is a symbolic dual meaning, this might suggest a Shaper is as powerful as 10 namers or 50 humans.

• Haliax may have mastery of all three since he has a dark candle, lit candle, and mirror symbolism.

• Since demons/faens fear all three things, it might suggest that they are neither human nor namer/shapers.

Sorry... I know how tinfoil this gets. I still feel like it would be dumb NOT to consider details like these, even if I'm chasing a wild goose in the end.

Not a theory, just some neat stuff I bumped into while reading about Halloween.

Halloween, or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve

Most of the traditions seem to have originated from Samhain, so you've got 'guising' and 'souling' as explanations for why "trick or treating" is a thing, with 'souling' being the more relevant KKC-wise

In Scotland and Ireland, "guising" – children going from door to door in disguise – is secular, and a gift in the form of food, coins or "apples or nuts

A soul cake, also known as a soulmass-cake, is a small round cake with sweet spices, which resembles a shortbread biscuit. It is traditionally made for Halloween, All Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day to commemorate the dead in many Christian traditions. The cakes, often simply referred to as souls, are given out to soulers (mainly consisting of children and the poor) who go from door to door during the days of Allhallowtide, singing and saying prayers "for the souls of the givers and their friends", especially the souls of deceased relatives, thought to be in the intermediate state between Earth and Heaven.

The cakes are usually filled with allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger or other sweet spices, raisins or currants, and before baking are topped with the mark of a cross to signify that these were alms.

This isn't a theory thread so I won't go into the significance of giving alms to the mendicant. But my favorite bit is the about the bells

By the end of the 12th century, the celebration had become known as the holy days of obligation in Western Christianity and involved such traditions as ringing church bells for souls in purgatory. It was also "customary for criers dressed in black to parade the streets, ringing a bell of mournful sound and calling on all good Christians to remember the poor souls".

In some localities, Catholics and Protestants continued souling, candlelit processions, or ringing church bells for the dead

It just puts Tehlu's Midwinter procession in a whole new light for me, same goes for the scene with Encanis giving "alms" to Kvothe in the snow. I thought it was all very interesting to read about.

I watched the pageantry from my vantage there. People poured by,

shouting and laughing. Tehlu stood tall and proud in the back of a wagon drawn by four white horses. His silver mask gleamed in the torchlight. His white robes were immaculate and lined with fur at the cuff and collar. Grey- robed priests followed along beside the wagon, ringing bells and chanting. Many of them wore the heavy iron chains of penitent priests. The sound of the voices and the bells, the chanting and the chains mingled to make a sort of music.

In WMF when he gets captured by pirates and the story just skips it, is that a HAMLET reference?!? Rothy must think he's real slick for that one.

Spoiler warning: quote from wise man's fear ahead

Quote

After a moment Tempi caught his breath. “Yes,” he said simply. “Yes. I know sex.” Dedan smiled. “That’s how she kills men.” For a moment, Tempi looked more blank than usual, then a slow horror spread across his face. No, not horror, it was raw disgust and revulsion, made all the worse by the fact that his face was usually so blank.

Despite the fact that I have reread the book several times I could never figure out why this disturbed Tempi so much. I mean, if anything, the Adem were looser towards sex. So why was it so much worse for him?

I just realized that maybe it's because of the Adem attitude toward STDs. As in he at first thinks that Felurian kills them by transmitting some kind of STD.

Idk maybe this was obvious to everyone else or there's a better explanation I'm missing

Kilvin’s face broke into a great white smile. “Good. I would not have wanted to lose you to the other side of the river. Music is a fine thing, but metal lasts.” He struck the table with two huge fingers to emphasize his point. Then he made a shooing motion with the hand that held his unfinished lamp. “Go. Do not be late for work or I will keep you polishing bottles and grinding ore for another term.” As I left, I thought about what Kilvin had said. It was the first thing he had said to me that I did not agree with wholeheartedly. Metal rusts, I thought, music lasts forever. Time will eventually prove one of us right.

I though this part was significant, especially the last line, because the absence of music in the way stone is rather emphasized.

Perhaps music, here, is linked to kvothe's power. And metal something he traded his powers for....

Thoughts?

I'vejust been listenning to NOTW and Denna mentions.

“Did you ever hear the story about the boy with the golden arrows?” Denna asked. “That always bothered me when I was young. You must want to kill someone really badly to shoot a gold arrow at him. Why not just keep the gold and go home?”

And earlier its mentionned

“Maybe it would like copper and zinc,” I said. “That’s what brass is made of.”

I just thought, maybe the brass penance pieces used to be arrows used in battle for or against Tehlu. Which is where the Tehlian church at least based them off of but possibly even used the arrow heads. Like Jesus being assosiated with the cross he died on.

And to the copper. Kilvin asks kvothe

“Galvanic throughput of copper,”

Which is

"Relating to or involving electrical current produced by chemical action"

Which could be related to how he died too

Edit. Lostinstories222 has pointed out they're bronze not brass and I was mistaking in my head.

It says

“you get a coin instead.” She held it out at arm’s length, pinched between her thumb and forefinger. “It will keep you safe at night. As much as anything can, that is.” It was shaped like an Aturan penance piece, but it gleamed silver in the moonlight. I’d never seen a coin like it.

I realised I'd been going off that they're being sold online

https://worldbuildersmarket.com/collections/the-kingkiller-chronicle/products/new-tehlin-penance-pieces-from-temerant

I've never taken ideas about Kvothe murdering his own troupe particularly seriously. Until this kind of slapped me in the face just now.

Just a reminder about skindancers from WMF ch2:

“They’re supposed to look like a dark shadow or smoke when they leave the body, aren’t they?”

And NoTW, ch16, "Hope"

Scattered patches of smoke hung in the still evening air. It was quiet, as if everyone in the troupe was listening for something. As if they were all holding their breath. An idle wind tussled the leaves in the trees and wafted a patch of smoke like a low cloud toward me. I stepped out of the forest and through the smoke, heading into the camp.

The wind, wafted a cloud of smoke down infront of Kvothe. He goes right through it. And we all know what he finds on the other side. Have any of the sub veterans seen this brought up before? (Specifically the moment he walks through the smoke before seeing everyone dead, in regard to skindancers)

Someone talk me down, because I'm right on Haven's precipice and Elodin just told me to take the leap.

I made an attempt at this the other day but it's still too spread out to present properly. So I just want to share some neat parallels I stumbled into that are probably the un-fun kind of spoilers so fair warning.

Basically I was tracing mentions of "souls" and trying to tie it into scenes relating to Kvothe's lute, his tangible soul. But what was most interesting was Denna's soul being compared to her voice.

“In some ways, it began when I heard her singing. Her voice twinning, mixing with my own. Her voice was like a portrait of her soul: wild as a fire, sharp as shattered glass, sweet and clean as clover.”

So that's all I'm going to talk about here. Someone's singing voice being equated to their soul. Still looking at Denna's singing voice, again her soul is

wild as a fire, sharp as shattered glass, sweet and clean as clover

But when Denna sings the duet with Kvothe, their voices are "twinning and mixing". Just as when Laurian and Arliden sing Savien's song, their voices are "perfectly enmeshed".

My mother sang the counter-harmony, her voice soft and lilting. Even the fire seemed subdued when they took a breath. I felt my heart lift and dive. I wept as much for the glory of two voices so perfectly enmeshed as for the tragedy of the song.

So here's where it gets awesome. Savien is considered Illien's "crowning achievement", but remember. Illien wrote the song for Savien and Aloine, very much the same way that Kvothe wrote a song for Lerand to court Meluan. And we're talking about souls becoming mixed / enmeshed with each other because of this song.

Now look

*I have thought a while and decided your blood matters but little in

light of the services you have rendered me.*

However, ***my soul is bound to another whose comfort I hold more

dearly than my own***. Though I had hoped to retain your services, I cannot.

Okay so there's a ton to unpack there, we could talk about the Adem's views on playing music publicly, we could talk about Denna's "moving through walls" music-style, but I'll leave all that to you guys because it's fun. I just want to point out some parallels now.

Kvothe's duet with Denna has him down on the stage, and her up on the higher levels. Parallels the "terrible duel" of Aethe and Rethe, who seats herself cross legged at the peak of a hill. Same for Jax playing for Ludis, waiting for her to come to him the same way Kvothe awaits someone to jump in on the duet at the Eolian. It's also very reminiscent of how Kvothe is drawn to Felurian. She sings, and he comes to her.

But the one I've constantly missed was on Nina's drawing. When Kvothe plays at the Eolian, the string breaks and his hand bleeds.

A string broke. High on the neck of the lute it snapped and the tension

lashed it across the back of my hand, drawing a thin, bright line of blood.

and then Kvothe falls into himself and suddenly Aloine is no longer a person or even a voice, she's just a part of the song burning out of him.

The refrain came, and Aloine sang again. To me she was not a person,

or even a voice, she was just a part of the song that was burning out of me.

Similar to the way the Ciridae looks "ready to burn down the whole world" in Nina's drawing. It parallels Selitos and Lanre's confrontation, absolutely... but it's the duet. Savien's duet is the "duel", it's the theft of the moon. Two souls twinning and mixing, becoming perfectly enmeshed, bound to each other.

Because that's what Ruach means

The Hebrew terms נפש‎ nefesh (literally "living being"), רוח‎ ruach (literally "wind"), נשמה‎ neshamah (literally "breath"), חיה‎ chayah (literally "life") and יחידה‎ yechidah (literally "singularity") are used to describe the soul or spirit. In Judaism, there was originally little to no concept of a soul. As seen in the Genesis, the divine breath simply animated bodies.

Then Yahweh God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and so the man became a living being. - Genesis 2:7

Now look at the opening lines of Savien's song

“Still! Sit! For though you listen long

Long would you wait without the hope of song

Still!!

“Silanxi, I bind you. By the name of stone, be still as stone.

Sit!!

Aeruh, I command the air. Lay leaden on your tongue.

Long would you wait without the hope of song...

In confusion and despair, Selitos watched night settle in the mountains.

With horror he saw that some of the encroaching blackness was, in fact, a great army moving upon Myr Tariniel. Worse still, no warning bells were ringing. Selitos could only stand and watch as the army crept closer in secret.

and what does Kvothe do every time he hears Savien's song?

Yes, I cried at the end of it. I did then, and I have every time since.

Even a reading of the story aloud will bring tears to my eyes.

I buried my face in my hands and wept. Not for a broken lute string

and the chance of failure. Not for blood shed and a wounded hand. I did not even cry for the boy who had learned to play a lute with six strings in the forest years ago. I cried for Sir Savien and Aloine, for love lost and found and lost again, at cruel fate and man’s folly. And so, for a while, I was lost in grief and knew nothing.

He bows his head and weeps

Then Selitos bowed his head and wept hot tears of blood upon the

earth.

Last but not least. If souls are singing voices, and all these stories are different versions of a terrible tragedy of deep magic gone wrong... look at Josn's lute scene again. Look at the scene In Ademre where Kvothe plays his song for Vashet.

Then I played the song that hides in the center of me.That wordless music

that moves through the secret places in my heart. I played it carefully, strumming it slow and low into the dark stillness of the night. I would like to say it is a happy song, that it is sweet and bright, but it is not.

He doesn't sing. It's a wordless song. The emptiest thing you've ever heard, meant for keeping things inside.

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Do you guys know if Mr Rothfuss lurks around here and looks at theories? Maybe if he is stuck with writing DOS he can implement some fan theories in a satisfying way and come up with a version of the last book that satisfies him enough to publish?

Almost surely not intentional, but in this art in The Slow Regard of Silent Things (p. 69), you can see stars peering through the dark side of the moon. Makes me think, maybe the moon’s journey between the Fae and Temerant is actually it physically being split between the two realms.

I'm pretty new to the Kingkiller Chronicle series, my friend got me the books a little over a year ago. Never been a huge fantasy fan, but these books are just written so beautifully that I couldn't take my eyes off the page. My biggest problem, however, is the covers. I just don't like the covers I got, they're so boring and gray and don't tell anything about the story.

Lo and behold, I was wondering a large used book store recently and though it would be fun to check for the newest novelle (I've read it but don't own it). Instead, I found a hard cover that looked so different and so beautiful! The cover has so many little details and the valaritas put into the hardcover is awesome. The normal "My name is Kvothe..." is written in the inside cover which I adore! Also Lin-Manuel Mirand has a review on the back which is a wild connection (my theatre kid is showing). I spent a bit more money on it than I should, but it's now the pride and joy of my bookshelf. I'm gonna do a series reread with it soon, once I finish up a few other books I've had lined up. I could genuinly gush about it for hours and wanted to share it with some people who might get excited about it too, even though it's very old news.

How subjective are sympathy links in this universe? Would breaking a piece of chalk, then handing one of the pieces to a sympathist telling them it was a completely different piece (maybe colour it differently or something, to sell the deception) make the link slightly worse because the sympathist thinks it should be slightly worse? Or is it completely objective and consistent with some in-universe laws?

I ask this because of the bandits Kvothe destroyed in the forest by stabbing and cutting the corpse. By all standards they should be completely different and unique people, with the only tenuous link between them being the title 'bandit'. Just because Kvothe thinks they're all the same, does that make a good link? Or was that actually a bad link and Kvothe just powered through because of Main Character energy? This is the only instance I can remember where it could be argued to be subjective but I'd love to hear more

I've just thought, I'm not sure what evidence there is but could the famous musician Illien just be a man from Yll. Or when music written by Illien is mentionned could it just be music brought from Yll. Either way I tend to believe that the singers are Yllish possibly with a musical magic that came from their people which threatens the chandrien

Reading through for the first time, been liking it so far, I came across that after buying boots Kvothe only has 3 jots and a drab left, but literally on the same page my understanding is he got 1 and a half talents, so he spent 1 talent and 2 jots on a pair of boots?

Isn’t that like unreasonably high? Am I missing something here, it doesn’t make or break the story for me, it just feels jarring considering both those facts are on the same page

I don’t know how hard it was to make boots preindustrial revolution, but I would imagine he would try for cheaper or used ones given his finances

In WMF, when K's lute is taken by D to get the case made she leaves a note for K to join her for dinner. Anchor asks K abouth his dinner and finds that Laurel didn't give K the note. Just before this while K is frantically searching for the lute, Laurel asks, "Change your mind about that drink?"

She's making a pass at him.

And K doesn't realize it because he's naive, only has eyes for Denna, and is consumed with finding his lute.

Anchor assumes that Laurel is careless and forgetful, and says, "I swear, sometimes the light should shine right through that girl's head", but I think he missed the mark. I think Laurel actually read the note and didn't give it to Kvothe, because she wanted to have that drink with him instead.

Edit: (for reference this is in chapter 29: Stolen)

Okay, so finally reading these (back to back), and noticed something… not sure if it has been mentioned, but it’s interesting

! Okay, so at some point Auri pops up into the woods, raids a farm and takes some honey. In Basts story, he heads to Rikes farm which sounds a lot like the farm Auri visits, though in a state of disrepair. Bast passes an old well with planks over it before he arrives there. The farm has bee hives, tidy little house, barn. It feels like the same one.

So what does it mean?

1. The under thing is vast, maybe connects to the world like the fae. Auri describes herself as keeping the world together. Maybe she is. Is it unlikely that Neware is super close to the university? I’d think so. Early in Basts story I think Bast mentions some of the bigger cities, like Atur. Implicitly I think he’s saying “other cities in this area/district/county/etc”.

2. Time; Auri visits the farm first. Bast later. And Kvothe doesn’t seem too old. Auri makes a safe place for him, and if it’s some pseudo fae place maybe time moves differently there as well. Kvothe has some confrontation, stones on the bridge are never the same, Kvothe injures a hand and is broken in some way. He is saved by Auri who gives him a new name, like he did for her. He learns how to use her lab (training montage), messes with the black door maybe. His basement might even connect into the underthing, where he’s sourcing stuff for whatever he’s doing.

3. Smaller thing, but the description of how perfect the barn is and Basts description of how perfect the still is makes me think both places are whatever-his-name-is’s. Maybe he’s even Rikes grandfather. Former owner of the farm, goes off to war, family has to make ends meet, daughter grows, Rikes father comes into the picture and takes over the property, then comes Rike. Grandfather returns to ruin, sets up a still. Girl in the window in Auris story is Rikes mother.

!<

So I have a hardcover of The Name Of The Wind with a dust jacket and spine basically identical to the Gollancz UK Special edition but without the extra stuff on the cover itself and without the sprayed edges. I could never find a matching copy for The Wise Man's Fear and I was wondering if you guys knew where to find it. I had the smaller, brown hardcover without the dustjacket before I gave it away to a friend.

Also, if anyone has a copy of the UK Special editions that they are willing to sell, please let me know.

Most of you probably know that a couple years ago Rothfuss read the prologue to Doors of Stone on YouTube. (Link below)

https://youtu.be/3Yc-0DJ5yHI?si=v9NXfy3o2TVv2oMT

Maybe there's another thread about this, but I was wondering what you all think it reveals about Kvothe's state of being and book 3. All speculations of things given away in the prologue are welcome here but I have one main focus.

What is Kvothe up to in the basement of the Waystone Inn? It says there are tools hastily scattered about and a forge glowing. Based on the iron it mentions I'm guessing it's not Bast working down there. So I'm just curious to hear what you think are the implications of Kvothe working in the basement. All crackpot theories welcome.