The Wise Man’s Fear

I first heard about The Name of the Wind from a post on Penny Arcade, and I was quickly impressed. Perhaps more telling is that I excitedly shared it with Rachel and she was impressed, reading it at a pace at least double mine as is her fashion. A while back I finally finished reading The Wise Man’s Fear. Naturally, Rachel blasted through it in much less time and tapped her fingers for weeks, waiting for me to finish so we could talk about it. Not only are there possible spoilers in the discussion that follows, the book itself is also a sequel. If you’ve not yet read the books, I highly recommend that you stop reading at the end of the next paragraph and set about rectifying that oversight immediately.

I think the book is an excellent continuation from the first. Patrick Rothfuss has said that one of his strengths as a writer is his brevity, and despite the length of his books, I think it’s true. While there are a large number of pages, it’s all story—unlike other works of epic fantasy there are no long areas of description to skim over. It feels like every detail presented means something. Now that we have two out of three books to work from, Rachel and I have been trying to connect up a few of these details. If it sounds particularly clever, she likely came up with it. I’d be interested in hearing what others who’ve read the book think (and now that they’re written down, we can pat ourselves on the back if any of them turn out to be correct).

---

Denna almost certainly dies. She’s not with him now and there are multiple references to her being sick with something (tuberculosis, maybe?). One of the story arcs in the third book is likely going to be her illness; however, she will die because of another reason before it claims her. Perhaps it is a freak accident, a misunderstanding, or one of Ambrose’s antagonistic actions gone wrong, but somehow she is taken before her brief time is over. This likely causes Kvothe to snap, doing things he later regrets with lasting consequences.

It may be because of this that he becomes Kingkiller. However, I also like the idea that he finally catches up with some of the Chandrian, and that some king is being manipulated or controlled by one of them. While it appears to be an assassination to the ignorant world, what Kvothe does is in the service of his mission and is justified. It doesn’t seem like that mission is yet complete, though, because Bast is still very much afraid of naming the seven.

Remember how Kvothe’s mom ran off with his dad, one of the Edema Ruh, in a fairytale romance? Now, the Maer’s new wife Meluan Lackless is a noblewoman who is bitterly angry at the Edema Ruh for stealing her sister away. The Maer’s wife’s sister is totally Kvothe’s mom, making Kvothe both Edema Ruh and a member of the ancient Lackless family.

One of the heirlooms of the Lackless family is a sealed, lockless box. Kvothe inevitably figures out how to open that box, but he also learns how to make one of his own—this eventually becomes the thrice-locked chest he keeps in his room. This also makes it likely that Kvothe has a family connection to the Amyr. It is unlikely that any of the known contemporary Lackless are Amyr, but it seems likely that some of them were connected with the warriors in the deep past. Now, there could be somebody waiting to step up, like Aragorn, and Kvothe could be that person.

That thrice-locked chest contains Kvothe’s name. After doing whatever he did that caused a war, earned him the name Kingkiller, and made him go into hiding, he was so intent on leaving his life behind that he sealed himself as Kvothe into that box, taking on the name and identity of Kote the innkeeper. Normally this might be entirely symbolic, but because Kvothe is a namer, this action actually has power. He has actually changed who he is, which is why the townspeople so readily accept him as nothing more than an innkeeper, even when in one case he directly tells them he is not. This is also why he is unable to defeat the marauding soldiers nor perform the feats of naming necessary to reopen the box. Thus lies the predicament he is currently in – even were he to wish to reopen the chest, he cannot (as evidenced by him trying and failing).

Even so, he is still Kvothe, so it is possible that him telling his story, using his real name and remembering his real identity will help him regain enough of himself to open the box and unlock his full potential again. Something along these lines likely happens toward the end of the third book. The question then becomes, “What next?” If he decides to go out setting things to rights, there is space for a second series of books. While this is certainly possible, it’s been made pretty clear that this is a trilogy, leaving several potential outcomes:

• “Setting things to rights” simply involves Kvothe facing up to who he is and turning himself over to some entity, likely ending in his death.
• Kvothe finishes the story, becomes himself again, and sets out into a new future, which is where the story ends.
• Wrapping up what Kvothe does after he opens the box doesn’t take that long, and is left to an epilogue or a few final chapters.
• The tragedy of Kvothe’s life really is already completed, and he will never be able to reopen the box or even attempt to fix things. Thus, his waiting to die is based not merely on his perception of the truth, but actual fact. There really is nothing else for him to do but wait to die.

It really seems like there is more for Kvothe to do after his story catches up to the present. As mentioned earlier, Bast still seems to be very much afraid of the Chandrian, meaning all or some of them are still at large. It may be that they really are impossible to defeat, but it may also be that Kvothe’s actions, either rash or calculated, forced him to go into hiding so that he is now unable to do anything further against them. Following that path to its conclusion seems like enough material for an entire additional trilogy though.

There’s that rhyme about the rings Kvothe supposedly has on his fingers. His left hand had stone, iron, amber, wood and bone, while his right hand had blood, air, ice, flame, and one that could not be named. When Fela learned how to name stone, Elodin had her fashion herself a ring. Thus, it seems like the rings could represent names that Kvothe knows, as well as being symbolic. The bone ring is the one the Maer’s servant gave to him. He has to know the name of wood to be able to work with Lackless boxes, while air is the first name that he is learning to use. The nameless one might be his own name, or perhaps that of Felurian (he is able to name her during their encounter).

Note also that Felurian let Kvothe go only because he promised to come back—but he is not currently in the Fae, and he hangs out with Bast, a fae, who doesn’t seem to be trying to bring him back there at all. Perhaps when Kvothe is running into hiding, he slips back into the Fae. At this point, though, he’s much too powerful for Felurian to keep him there, so once he decides to take on his innkeeper disguise he simply leaves. He may also just ask her about the Chandrian, as she swore that were he to ask about that she would drive him from Fae. She may also be the one who sends Bast with him, either because she wants him to learn from him, protect him, or both.

Naming at its core is about seeing into the heart of things. This is why Elodin always seems to be looking into people, and why when Kvothe names Felurian he sees into her soul, gaining a full understanding of her. Auri also seems to have this ability, although she is much more in touch with it than Kvothe. Whenever she sees something, she refers to it based on things that may have happened in their past. It’s not nonsense, it’s naming. When she looks at something she sees those aspects of it and speaks—it is natural for her. She may be a kind of prodigy or savant, where her ability prevents her from fitting in to normal society. She may also be Elodin’s daughter or relative, which would explain why he keeps watch over her.

That’s all I have for now. As before I can’t wait for the next book. It’s called The Doors of Stone, which suggests that if nothing else, Kvothe will get his stone ring.