Just laying in bed, the comfiest mfer who ever lived and of course right as I'm about to fall asleep...

Kvothe's rings align with the Chandrian.

"On his first hand he wore rings of stone,

Iron, amber, wood and bone.

There were rings unseen on his second hand.

One was blood in a flowing band.

One of air all whisper thin,

And the ring of ice had a flaw within.

Full faintly shone the ring of flame,

and the final ring was without name."

Iron is Stercus

Stercus is in thrall of iron.

Amber would be Grey Dalcenti because of the etymology behind amber

The word referred to what is now known as ambergris (ambre gris or "gray amber")

Grey Dalcenti never speaks.

Kvothe's wood ring is the wood ring that Meluan "gifted" him, comprised of pale wood, so that'd be Pale Alenta. Plus she hates him so the blight / crumbling wood at the troupe and wedding massacre lines up nicely

I picked it up and turned it over in my hands, puzzled. It wasn’t

iron, as I’d expected, but pale wood. Meluan’s name was burned crudely into the side of it.

Pale Alenta brings the blight.

The bone ring makes sense to pair with Usnea

Usnea lives in nothing but decay.

The ring of ice with the flaw would be Ferule

Ferule chill and dark of eye.

and Cyphus would obviously be the faint flame

Cyphus bears the blue flame.

That leaves the ring of blood, the ring of whispered air, and the one without name. Which is kind of frustrating because Kvothe is "the new Chandrian"

“Some are even saying that there is a new Chandrian. A fresh terror in

the night. His hair as red as the blood he spills.”

So maybe he's the blood ring. Then whispered air is a Name of the Wind reference sure, but the whispered part differentiates the Wind's Name from the scene where Elodin says it to Kvothe

He looked at me. His dark eyes steadied me somewhat. Slowed the

storm inside me. “Aerlevsedi,” he said. “Say it.”

“What?” Simmon said somewhere in the distant background. “Wind?”

Elodin doesn't whisper it, Kvothe does. With Ambrose he shouted it, but with both Denna and Felurian, Kvothe whispers the air

I leaned close enough to kiss her. She smelled of selas flower, of green

grass, of road dust. I felt her strain to breathe. I listened. I closed my eyes. I heard the whisper of a name.

I spoke it soft, but close enough to brush against her lips. I spoke it quiet,

but near enough so that the sound of it went twining through her hair. I spoke it hard and firm and dark and sweet.

and the ring without name would be... emptiness. Void. Absence, ache and longing.

The voice came from a man who sat apart from the rest, wrapped in

shadow at the edge of the fire. Though the sky was still bright with sunset and nothing stood between the fire and where he sat, shadow pooled around him like thick oil. The fire snapped and danced, lively and warm, tinged with blue, but no flicker of its light came close to him. The shadow gathered thicker around his head. I could catch a glimpse of a deep cowl like some priests wear, but underneath the shadows were so deep it was like looking down a well at midnight.

Which is Nine rings. Interesting.

We got to chapter 16, "Hope", and his response to the Chandrian murdering the troupe was "Skill issue. Get fucked, why don't you choke yourself out with the wind again, idiot?" I had a different reaction first time around 😂 good thing I'm in love. *edit: reread the chapter with him not falling asleep. He acknowledges it's said but still thinks kvothe should choke himself out with the wind again, "dumbass."

I just can't help to be in absolute awe about the organic, gigantic, interwoven, lively puzzle that is the kingkiller chronicles!

EVERYTIME I come to this sub, I find something new! The first read, I thought I was just reading some excellent and poetic prose that opens up to the most realistic worldbuilding I had ever read. But on every reread, I find out more and more details and literally EVERYTHING in this book seems to be referring something else, a concept, another story, a name, which then, in combination, references something new again.

The story, it's themes and topics the narrative discourse down to the smallest possible atoms of single syllables (Newarre, Ferula), all reference each other and are connected in their multiple meanings. Sometimes the connections are inside the world of the story, sometimes they are just known to the reader and subtly break the fourth wall, by referencing something to the reader that seems to be unknown within the world of the told story.

For example Kvothe sounding like "Quote", which fits him being a storyteller of oral tradition, or quite literally a manifested quote of Taborlean the great. Or the main villain in the side story with the fake Ruh, being called "Alleg", which hints to the reader that it is an allegory on something else. And all of this being in harmony with the stories theme of names always having a meaning, sometimes for other characters (Auri, Denna, Kote), sometimes only for us readers, and stories being told within stories.

The more you read, the more it feels like there isn't a single word without meaning in these books and especially the most mundane, nearly boring and repetitive passages, seem to hide a powerful hint. Sometimes they seem to be deliberately hidden by something else, to distract us from the sign right in front of us. (Like Lauren always seemingly having some good enough other reason to ban Kvothe from the archive and take away books related to the Amyr from him, so we don't realize it's always him stopping the search for them).

And as I write this, I realize, that this describes perfectly the way Kvothe and Tempi search for tracks of the Bandits in the Eld! Marten teaches them how to hide their tracks, without them being obviously hidden. The search is tiring and repetitive but it's important they don't let their guard down, so Marten puts up false tracks! And isn't that the very quality of an unreliable narrator, like Kvothe is himself?

And all of this could be a completely tinfoil hat idea, or a perfect allegory, because that's just how this book works. Everything is connected, interwoven. The storytelling itself is a story, it is a giant Yllish knot and I really cannot handle the perfection and depth of this storytelling being an allegory of the story it tells anymore! 😩

P.s.: I have a major in literature studies, hence my nerdy fascination for narrative structures, haha 😅

Edit: yes! I am aware that the series is not finished. No, that was not the point of this post. If someone planned to paint a tryptich and only managed the first two, those can still be masterfully crafted and appreciated for their standalone artistic value. That's everything I'm saying, please stop with the bitterness about that third book, my god.

Sometimes I feel the Adem may be right, given that this is a much stranger universe than ours and there are mysteries much more magical than in our own universe.

Legit wheezed 😂

Hi guys! this is my first time reading name of the wind and i absolutely love it!

I noticed that in Chp 75, in teh interlude, Kvothe pauses the story to gauge a reaction from Chronicler or bast:

"I'm giving you the opportunity to say something," Kvothe said. "Something along the lines of, 'That can't be!' or 'There's no such thing as dragons. Chronicler wiped the nib of his pen clean, "It's not really my place to comment on the story," he said placidly. "If you say you saw a dragon . . ." He shrugged. Kvothe gave him a profoundly disappointed look. "This from the author of The Mating Habits of the Common Draccus? This from Devan Lochees, the great debunker?"

idk, to me it just seems that Kvothe forgot he was teh debunker

or maybe im missing something

ALSO!!!

i notice that the Draccus book is mentioned a lotta times throughout the book... is it a tool for Rothfuss to further elaborate on kvothe's lack of logic/his trust in fairytales or could it be something deeper

Saw The Name of the Wind mentioned in a post on r/fantasy from someone asking for a novel suggestion and from a brief read of the synposis I have reserved it from my local library.

However I have since read several posts here suggesting or summizing that it may be years before its released, if ever.

So as the title suggests, are TNOTW and TWMF worth reading anyway?

Inspired by a thread a couple of months back, where rainier-cherries posted their guesses/theories for the series going forward. I've recently completed another re-read while getting back in to discussions and fan theory deep-dives, so I'd like to try something similar for myself: To throw out my own theories, wild guesses, finely picked fan theories, and unsubstantiated feelings for how this will go, while it's all still fresh in my mind.

First, an overall caveat: I suspect that many of the plot lines are set up individually by Pat, but that he struggles in bringing them together in an order that makes sense. For instance, characters playing a role in a scene that takes place earlier than where it makes narrative sense to reveal their big twist, or dying quite early on, chronologically, while having to be present for a scene that takes place much later. So if my ideas make sense in a vacuum, but don't fit well together ... I suspect I might have stumbled onto the reason why this book is taking so long to finish.

Anyway, onto the bulleted list:

• • The titular Doors of Stone are the Waystones. They connect the human and Fae realms, and possibly a few other places. Kvothe's big blunder is opening them, causing an invasion of Fae creatures into the Four Corners and plunging the realm into chaos. If any single event dramatically shortens the royal line of succession, expect this to be it. I could see the princes regent riding out in force to stop the monsters, only to be mowed down like wheat, for instance.
• • The king who will be killed is Roderick Calanthis. No, not Ambrose. There are too many other characters ahead of him in the line of succession, most notably Maer Alveron and his wife Meluan Lackless. Roderick's death puts them on the throne. I suspect Kvothe got the start-up fund for his inn, as well as his death sentence, from this couple. It's a sort of "thanks, but now get the hell away" thing, not unlike what he got from them the last time.
• • Kvothe will not kill the king. He will be present for the event, and take the blame, willingly or not, but the kingkiller we've heard about all throughout this series is ... Denna. She is acting on orders from the Chandrian or the Amyr, primarily with the intention of sowing chaos. Maer Alveron might also be involved, but he's probably not the one who actually pulls the strings, just a slightly more glorified pawn in their game.
• • The Chandrian did not kill Kvothe's troupe. They arrived on the scene later, and Arliden managed to pass on information to them before he died. They serve some sort of keeper role, and are hunted by the Amyr, who still hold grudges from the unfinished Creation War all those centuries ago. The Amyr may or may not be the series' main bad guys; my judgement is still out, but I'm leaning towards yes.
• • The Archives hide a vault of censored material. Among it, correspondence between Arliden the Bard and Master Lorren, and a late draft of Lanre's song. Kvothe learns that Lorren, corresponding with the Amyr, was involved in the killing of the troupe, after they had gathered too much sensitive information and was about to spread it to the public through their song. Kvothe promptly takes the song to the streets, spreading to the whole world the information the Amyr have fought for so long to hide. Then he learns some very good reasons why that information was suppressed. Cue the unleashing of ancient evil, or something like that.
• • Ambrose, for all his faults, is innocent. Well, innocent in the matters of Kvothe, at least. He's still a prick and terrible to women. But he wasn't the one to come up with the idea of tricking Kvothe to take an open flame into the Archives, he acted on instructions from Lorren, who really did not want Arliden's son to poke around in there. Animosity between the two was fostered as an excuse to expel Kvothe from the University permanently. Ambrose skipping ahead in the line of succession might be the payment for his services.
• • Denna is involved in the poisoning and death of Master Herma. Kvothe learning Yllish makes him aware of the magic she is using, and that can't be accepted. Expect somebody to be aware that sensitive information is not yet purged from the Yllish collection in the Archive too, prompting the place to be cleaned out.
• • Kvothe will be expelled quite early in the next book. If for nothing else, then because there's a lot of stuff that needs to happen, and the narrative can't linger at the University for too long. I expect the order of events to be something like: Kvothe finds valuable information in the Yllish collection - is barred from the Archives - needs to use hidden entrance again - finds Yllish vaults are being cleaned out - follows the scribes to find secret vault - and then ...
• • Devi seeks access to the Archives to destroy them. I'm not sure what for (although I guess it may be related to Puppet making a doll of her? That's leverage she can't accept to exist), but she succeeds by following Kvothe through the secret tunnel, then does her work. The burning of the Archives leads to Kvothe's permanent expulsion from the University. Auri might be outed in the process. I'm not sure what follows next. A rather prominent fan fic of the third book follows the plot I described closely and has Auri serve a key role in the narrative, but mostly as a damsel in distress, she has a total change of personality, and disappears halfway through. There seems to be some agreement that Auri is a princess on the run, but not that many good ideas for her to interact with the plot, other than as an excuse for Kvothe to get to the king's court and get on with the kingkilling. So, well, maybe that's what happens.
• • Kvothe hurts or loses his hands at some point. And he pays a terrible price to restore them. He has been droning about how much he fears to lose his hands half the saga, and spent way too much time in the narrative setting wringing his hands. This has to foreshadow something.
• • Denna is not of the Moon, she is of the Wind. Possibly a close relative of Wind personified, even a daughter (legitimate or otherwise). Her name is ever-changing, she comes and goes without warning, and she cannot stay in one place. There are many more hints that connect Denna to wind, but not enough space here to recount them. She might be working with the Chandrian as an act of defying her past, seeking to become human. Kvothe binding her with the name of the wind might be her doom in the end, because wind will cease to exist altogether if you trap it.
• • We've already seen the famous showdown at the fountain in Imre. Nobody died there. The cobblestones were not cracked from the event, that's unrelated (water/frost damage? Subsidence?). That particular tale is just a vastly exaggerated account of what happened when Kvothe called the name of the wind upon Ambrose there.
• • Kvothe is or has the key to unleash even more ancient evil. An incursion from the Fae realms is bad enough, but some dark forces are seeking to continue the Creation War they started centuries ago, and the destruction of civilization is presumably accepted as collateral damage. But great evils are still sealed away until a keeper of the Lackless box unleashes them. Lesser-but-still-quite-great evils are out there to "persuade" Kvothe to do so, hence why he is in hiding, with aspects of himself locked away. The four-plate door may or may not be important here; it could also just hold the Archives' secret vault and be checked out of the saga when the Archives burn.
• • Kvothe's plan at The Waystone is, or was, to die. With the Lackless box somehow in his possession, he is its last keeper, and if he kicks the bucket before he can be persuaded to open it, then nobody will ever be able to. However, he might also have good reasons to stay alive for as long as possible, so he can't just skip to the ending, as it were. He might have come up with a better plan while waiting, however, but it depends on the parts of himself that are now locked away.
• • Bast's entry to the story will feel contrived and rushed. I really see no good way to introduce him to the story. He could be one of the Fae who show up after the Doors of Stone are opened, but there isn't really enough time for him to develop this teacher-student relationship with Kvothe after that, and he's too old to be Kvothe's son with Felurian (and even though time does flow differently in the Fae, he must have grown to adulthood without interacting with Kvothe, so even if they are biologically related, there's not really a point to it). In the narrative setting, they talk as if they've known each other for a long time, and Kvothe clearly is the master ... but there's not enough time to build the characters into that relationship.

So the overall, broad-strokes plot of the story, as far as I'm able to construct it, is: Kvothe is expelled from the University, but learns vital information on Chandrian as it happens. He goes public with the song of Lanre, which sets in motion events that either significantly weaken or strengthen the Chandrian, with the relative opposite happening to the Amyr. The calamity takes Kvothe to meet the King, and as usual, he stumbles into Denna while there. She kills the King, is badly hurt, and Kvothe gets tangled up somehow. His hands are mangled as part of the punishment. He opens the Doors of Stone in an attempt to seek help for Denna in the Fae realm, meets Bast, and does find a cure (Cthaeh flowers?). However, Denna is beyond help or is somehow killed/lost/undone in the process. Kvothe uses the cure to heal his hands instead. He learns that great evil is about to be unsealed, possibly with his own unwitting help, and manages to stop or at least halt the process somehow. However, the bad guys are still out there and hope to get Kvothe to lift all restrictions on sealed evil. The new King isn't too pleased about the whole business even though Kvothe did save the world, and gives him a handsome loan to be paid back with his head, should he ever show up in civilization again. Knowing that the bad guys are still out there, Kvothe and Bast flee to the most remote town they can find, to work on a strategy for finally defeating the bad guys. Cue the trilogy ending with Chronicler realizing that nothing is actually settled yet, and that doom is approaching Nevarre. Solving it would be a matter of future books, if any.

So yeah, sorry for the long ramble, but it felt really good to write it all down and sort my ideas out. Hopefully, I'll get to compare them to the finished product one day.

Auri says the apple she gives Mola has a wish in it. Mola then looks at the apple for a long while before taking her first bite. What do you think she wished for?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7ndRwqJYDM&t=53s

I've noticed that in the last couple of chapters in wise mens fear that the narrator stops calling him Kote and instead starts calling him Kvothe as if he's at least started to become his old self again like Bast wanted. I'm wonderring what could go wrong or right because of this. Maybe somebody could use his name on him or maybe he's freefrom being cursed (in a way)? I noticed that he still wasn't able to open the box after though.

We know not a lot of time has passed since his time at university, kvothe is still young, so that means a lot of people in the story would still be alive, i mean, imagine simmon, or wilem they have heard a lot of stories about kvothe, good and bad, they don't know what to make of them, it's everybody's fantasy but for them it's their friend, and then suddenly this book comes out, what's more it's narrated by kvothe and written by a very reliable author, they wouldn't be reading stories they'd reliving fond nostalgic memories.

Now denna, we know that she is also most of the time trying to find kvothe, but she only catches him some times, what would she thinks, we know from her drug induced ramblings from trebon, that she doesn't think herself worthy of kvothe, and feels lucky with what few times she gets him to herself, what would she thinks when she reads the way kvothe word worships her, and talks about his desire to constantly meet her, I mean he was thinking of her, when he was with felurian even,

Abenthy, for this would be first time he finds out how his troupe was killed, he has heard stories about kvothe, but he remembers the curious kid he taught and loved, and he would understand the trauma kvothe went through first with his parents death, then in tarbean, he'd cry for this tragedy.

And I think about, master lorren he at minimum knew about kvothe's father or maybe even met him, he would definitely read this book being master archivist he remembers the brilliant boy, and his constant adventure in archives, maybe he would be simultaneously amused and furious when he reads how he illegally found his way to archives.

I got excited by this countdown, but I think it’s fake…. It’s nice to hope though…

https://doorsofstone.net

I had a whole post writtten about all the plot and character parralels between pinocchio and kingkiller. I checked the sub to see if anyone wrote about pinocchio before i wrote it. To my surprise noone did so. As a result I felt i had to show how they are similar how pinocchio is relevant. There were many parralels and similarities but it felt empty uninspired and frankly a bit dull so i trashed it. Instead i took a look at the theme of pinocchio and how it could relate to kingkiller. i hope some of you enjoy it.

Pinocchio is first and foremost about the folly of lazzyness and the value of education just as much as it is about careing for others. In the end he gets turned into a real boy as a reward for thinking of others first. While during the story he gets punished again and again for his lazyness wich results in him taking the words of others (like the cat and fox) at face value and taking the first solution to problems isntead of looking for the best. And he gets punished for forsaking education in favour of gratification.

Its a simple story. But is this not also what kingkiller is on some level about. Is it not kvoths desire to be seen as grand that he favours over his education. Is this not a form of gratification. Sure he then regrets it but is that not the nature of instant gratification. The after the fact regret of the decision to forsake a longterm benefit. When i look at kvoth as a pinocchio retelling i see a more realistic less flimsy version of the same story. Just like the mayn parts of kvoths journey that can bee seen as independent storys pinocchio is not one story but a collection of tales. But pinocchio does learn his lesson in the end, his ambition to become real, is small enaugh to be realised. And this is were the paths diverge. Kvoth is not looking to enter the mundane but to escape it. Metaphoricly speaking he is the real boy that wants to become a puppet. Someone who is rooted in the mundane and chasses for the mythical and flimsy, the unreal or half-real world of the fae and talking crickets.

And so it only seems right that he doesnt learn those lessons for they would move him towards the mundane and away from his goal. In piinocchio the fae is a motherly and benevolent figure but besides her the odd and flimsy elements are almost all evil. Encountering them is punishment. In a way seeing the world with childlike wonder is what is villified in this story. Toyland is real but knwoing that it is only helps in so far that it informs you to not go there. Learning about it would be as much a waste of time as reading up on the chandrian. And is kvoth not punished whenever he brings the chandrian up. Doesnt his one visit in the fae end with him beeing cursed. It the same mechanism. The unreal the halfreal the mythical punishing those who seek it out.

I like to think this sub is full of people with one thing in comen. A sense of wonder. Isnt that sense of wonder what makes us coming back. To us temerant is full of wonders, but for those who live in it sharing that sense of wonder must feel like a curse.

This idea came to me at 1am. i just finished WMF a week ago and i've been reading theories here.

i liked the idea that kvothe changed his true name to kote, but i was wondering what would happen to his old name, it feels like something that important should be kept safe, thats when i thought, if hes a Namer and can truly name something and he made thrice locked chest, could he name the last box kvothe? ,it would keep his name safe, under two other locks and make it so the only thing that could open it was someone who completely knew kvothe name. This seems like a pretty solid lock, so only he could name it. In the time line where doors of stone comes out, perhaps by telling his story to chronicler, he is learning about his true self (this might explain why hes tell chronicler so much about the women hes porkin, in a memoir ) and by the end his reclaims his name from the third lock chest, thus opening it and getting whats inside.

Then again, im not fully sober, so this might not make sense.

I’ll start off by saying I’m about 75% through book 2 and I am definitely grasping at straws here. I just thought I share a fun coincidence.

I recently saw an amazing musical, HADESTOWN, and I couldn’t help but notice some overtones of the story that made me think of the KKC the entire time.

The tale is of a young muse, Orpheus, who is a skilled song writer and musician (the lyre). He is mortal but ‘touched’ by the gods so he is unlike most men. He falls in love with a mortal girl, Eurydice, who is constantly moving from town to town and as the story goes “any way the wind blows”. She is sort of ‘controlled’ by the 3 fates and seems to always be down on her luck and hungry. Orpheus is working on a song to bring spring back to the above world, while Hades keeps his wife Persephone below (the tale of why we have seasons) and while he doing so, Hades temps Orpheus’s love interest Eurydice and brings her below as well. Orpheus must travel below to rescue his woman and convinces Hades through his ‘Epic’ song to give him a trial to save her.

I couldn’t help but notice the connection of Kvothe and Orpheus, Denna and Eurydice, and Hades with Mr. Ash/the Chandrian. There’s even two songs about the Wind, I found it all very fitting!

Side note: I have no affiliation to the musical or anyone in it but it’s touring North America right now and it’s really quite a beautiful show.

So... I'm listening to Bruno Mars-Talking to the Moon and can't think about anything but KKC. Jax/Iax/Halifax and the him talking to the moon. If you've never heard the song take a listen and if you have listen to it now and I bet it's ruined for you. You'll never hear it again without thinking of KKC!!!!! Report back lol!!!

I believe that Elodin is behind a fair share more of the misfortunes that Kvothe blames on Ambrose.

Elodin sending men after Kvothe to assassinate him in Imray: perhaps this is so he can try to get Kvothe to call on the name of the wind. We know it happens in stressful spots quite on accident for most students who stumble onto it. The scene where another is jumped happens after he approaches Elodin to be taught.

Elodin performing malfeasance against Kvothe: again for likely the same reason, but perhaps more. It depends on what the reasons turn out to be for Elodins imprisonment I would guess. But this still could be to weaken his thinking by keeping him awake and help him to see other options, or to feel more desperate all the time and help him call on names in other situations.

Elodin drugging Kvothe before admissions: this I believe is Elodin in an attempt, perhaps to misguided, to help awaken Kvothe’s sleeping mind. The drug makes a person act more with emotion and loose their ability to recognize boundaries, social and otherwise.

I believe there may be other examples of things like this, and there is nothing really here but conjecture and feelings, but if nothing else it’s a fun thought experiment.

I was fooling around and found Pat's website 404 page not found, of course this happens every time you type in a bad link. Example: www.patrickrothfuss.com/error

At least it's something new eh? Or new to me anyhow

I am in the first half of the second book, and I feel like she purposely shows up to mess with Kvothe, and every time the story of Kvothe is going somewhere, she is there to make my heart ache feel like shit after reading her chapter lol

sorry I writing this very poorly, just want to get it off my chest LOL

When Kvothe is in Severen Low, Denna disappears our of the blue. Kvothe then says she returns on the seventh day. I am pretty sure this is the only time where it mentions the tineline of her disappearance. Denna then says that sometimes it's the only thing she can do. We then find out later that the moons trapped name forces her to come back to the fae, when it is no longer showing in the mortal sky.

Each lunar phase lasts 7.3 days, New Moon, First Quarter, Full Moon and last quarter. I believe she is pulled back to the Fae during that period and can only return when shes strong enough, also explains how she gets the pear when it's out of season.

For example, I know that Brando Sando says Alethi is just translated to English for the reader. However, there are quite a few plays on words and idioms in the books that really only work in English. Does Patrick say anything about this anywhere?

So which character, who had a very brief appearance in the series so far, has intrigued you the most? Who would you want to know more about?

For me it's Lorren's giller, Viari, who passes by Kvothe in the entry hall of the Archives in book 1: speaks multiple languages, recognices one of the Ruh, can probably use his sword, just seems like a cool dude. Also I wonder, if he is part of the "plan" to keep the Archives free of information about the Chandrian.

I’ve been thinking about this since rereading the series recently. I’ve also seen some discussion, mainly with people suggesting that Rothfuss wrote himself into a corner by planning a trilogy when the story may be too grand to finish in that amount of books. I think people assume that there would require a lot more set up for events that need to take place. In the case of Kvothe becoming the king-killer, I think we all believe this moment would be the climax and likely result in the situation the world finds itself in at the beginning of NoTW. I mean it’s also entirely likely Kvothe could kill and king, save a princess, and all the other things we’ve yet to see him do in like 400 pages and still have 600 pages of events that haven’t been promised to us from the beginning. Anyway this is super ramble-y. How do you think Rothfuss planned or plans to finish the series? any theories that i’m missing here?

English is my first language, and I've looked everywhere online for the definition of this word but I can't find it. I don't think this is spoiler-y territory despite it being a sentence from the second book:

The Prince Regent Alaitis had been killed in a duel, sending much of the southern FARREL into chaos as various nobility did their best to capitalize on the death of such a highly ranked member of the court.

Is "farrel" a typo? I can kind of sus out what it means from context clues but I'd like a hard definition. It is in chapter 137 shortly after the first text break when he's chatting it up with Bredon.

Denna is one of the most important characters in Kvothe's life, throughout his time at the university and on his adventures. However, in the framing story at the Waystone Inn, which takes place a few short years later, she is nowhere to be seen. Granted, the perspective of the story never moves outside the walls of the inn after Chronicler arrives, so we can't quite confirm Denna's absence from Newarre, but from context we can infer that she's not exactly a regular customer of Kote's.

So, Denna is not in Kvothe's life at the time of the framing story. The most classical and straightforward explanation would be that she died tragically at some point. However, since this is a fantasy setting, there's a whole host of interesting things that could have happened to her. Let's take some time on a Saturday evening to recount them. Overall, I'll sort the various conjectures into four groups: Gone, lost, elsewhere, and other.

1. Gone. Denna has irreversibly ceased to be.

• Denna is dead in the present. The simple and straightforward trope about a life's lost love who's described adoringly in the past tense by a grieving main character She lost her life at some point. Kvothe's life is full of evil forces who wouldn't hesitate to off her just to torment him, but she is also shown to suffer from a lung disease of some sort, and there's a linguistic similarity to denner resin that shouldn't be discounted either. Frankly, there are all sorts of interesting ways for a character to be dead in this series, and to make it out of the next book alive, Denna would have to slalom around a lot of them. However, this is also the most mundane way for a character not to be present, and there are plenty of other options.

• "Denna" was never actually Denna. One thing we can nearly take for granted about Denna, is that she isn't quite who she seem to be. Popular theories suggest she's fully or half Fae, that she's the Moon personified, that she is the Wind personified, that she's an undercover Chandrian, or an Amyr, an angel, or merely just three racoons in a convincing costume. At any rate, it is suggested she wasn't ever human, but somebody's persona or disguise that is discarded by the time of the overarching story, and that she no longer walks among mortal men. I consider this one a little plausible, but it's unlikely that Kvothe would be so moved by her memory if it was revealed she was never actually a person, and that every moment they ever shared was part of an elaborate ruse.

2. Lost. Denna is taken somewhere out of Kvothe's reach, but could possibly be brought back.

• Denna is trapped. Taken prisoner by the Fae, by Ambrose, by somebody else of her powerful aquaintances, by the Chandrian, by the Amyr, locked behind the Doors of Stone, whatever doors and stones those may be, or put into the Lockless box or the thrice-locked chest somehow. Sealed away, well guarded, beyond where Kvothe could reach her. I find this unlikely too, because it seems very unlike Kvothe to just give up and become a surly bartender if Denna needed his help somehow.

• Denna is transformed. Into the Moon, into the Wind, into an object, into a constellation of stars in the night sky, into ... I don't know, a bush of Selas flowers?, and her consciousness is drifting out there somewhere, where Kvothe can neither reach nor help her. I have a conjecture (not even a theory) that Denna is learning magic so she can stay human, whatever she is otherwise, and if this quest fails, she goes back to what she was before. Consider this death-but-reversible, if Kvothe could only find the means. But like above, it seems very unlikely that he'd just give up if that was the case.

• Denna is ill or injured. Whether by medial or magical means, she is currently being nursed somewhere far away, like the Medica, or by the Adem, or the Fae, or somewhere else Kvothe can't currently go for personal reasons. An unlikely situation, in my eyes, because Kvothe seems to speak of her as if she were already gone.

3. Elsewhere. Denna is fine, she is not held against her will, she just stays out of Kvothe's life and vice versa.

• Denna and Kvothe broke up, and it got ugly. Like, her feelings for him could be pretty much in tune with Meluan Lackless. Or maybe they just drifted apart, or separated as friends. Either way, it's over, and for good. In that case, it's strange and a little pathetic that Kvothe is still pining so for her.

• Denna is closely related to Kvothe. Like, icky close. Cue awkward Luke-and-Leia moment and a decision to stay apart, lest unspeakable things happen. But in that case, it's super weird that Kvothe is still pining so for her, and at least it would be healthy for them to stay in touch.

• Denna is otherwise engaged. She ended up marrying somebody else, whether out of love or duty, and Kvothe is in no position to interfere with or undo it. Even contacting her would put them both in danger and resolve nothing. Possibly even risk other personal relations. I consider this among the most likely explanations, as it allows Kvothe to grieve for her without coming across as overly defaitist or creepy.

• Denna has other duties to attend to. Being the next ruler of some kingdom, queen of the fae, headmaster of the University, leader of the Amyr, shepherding the Moon between worlds, pursuing a successful singing career, or having other important matters that require her to be away, full-time, and unable to contact Kvothe. He's in hiding too, after all. Consider this like the marriage option above, but marrying to a job instead. In this case, it's unlikely she would not stay in touch in some capacity, though. Kvothe acts as if she is truly gone.

• Denna is hiding/hidden from Kvothe. And possibly vice versa. Maybe for the sake of each other's safety, Kvothe cannot know where Denna is, until other matters are resolved. There seems to be shenanigans going on with the Chandrian, for instance, and they'd presumably run through Denna to get at Kvothe. Or the bounty on Kvothe's head, which would endanger her similarly. Kvothe could just be grieving over not being able to see her again.

4. Others Whatever else I can think of.

• Denna is Bast. Mentioned because it's one of those theories that go around. Combines all the weirdness of their relationships to Kvothe, with the aforementioned creepiness and defaitism, and ... yeah, foks, Denna is not Bast. "Reshi" does not mean "Guy I used to love, but seeing as I am myself a man too, things have gotten complicated and turned platonic instead".

• Denna is hiding/hidden with Kvothe's help. In which case her absense from the setting is merely a trick for the Chronicler (and hence, the reader). It's technically possible that she's living in the next village down the road, or that some unnamed villager in Newarre is her incognito, but the way Kvothe talks about her makes it seem unlikely. Also that he seems to mourn her even when in private, which suggests he isn't making up that she's gone. Plus, the story would still have to make up another fate for her in the narration.

• Denna is still around, but not mentioned. She could be living next door, for all we know, just not get out much. This would make all the reactions to her absence feel very strange, however. And Bast would presumably be referring to her a bit more often, rather than saying "I saw her once" or something to that effect.

What do you think is the most likely? Or am I missing something?

So I've been re-reading the series again and I picked up on a scene inside the Aolian where Denna remarks about a type of magic that deals with words. It happens in chapter 18 or 19 I belive in WMF. She talks about the magic words, that when read or written, always comes true. When she speaks about it Kvothe notices she's acting strangely. I am certain this is relevant into her past, like she knows she's doomed and she's searching the world over for a cure to whatever she read. Any theories out there or info I'm sure I'm not aware of?

I've seen a post here some time back that theorized that the chandrian are the original seven masters of the university and that their signs are curses to stop each of them from practicing their art. Can anyone help me find the original post.