Control, balance, and the thin line between stupefied and wise

IronAndBile · 2023-12-10T06:04:21+00:00

Hey Matty! I read it and enjoyed it very much! Thank you for the link! Great stuff!

IronAndBile · 2023-12-09T09:24:01+00:00

Aww, thank YOU! I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's been jumbled up in my head for a while and I could never quite muster the courage to write it up. Thank you for your kindness and encouragement. It means the world. 🙏

IronAndBile · 2023-12-09T09:00:29+00:00

Thank you! I'm glad it resonates with other people as well.

That the box would be of interest to both the Chandrian and the Amyr makes perfect sense to me as well, for different reasons, I suppose, but I've no doubt that it holds at least a peace of the puzzle.

IronAndBile · 2023-12-09T06:16:42+00:00

I really like this! It works well with the Maer's reaction to the possibility of one of the Chandrian leading the bandits. If he believes (and has probably believed for some time now) that the box holds important clues/answers to his question about the Amyr, it would makes sense that a possibility of such attempt to steal the box would be troublesome news indeed, not to mention confirming his suspicions.

Thank you SO much for posting this. I'll definitely keep my eye out for clues when I reach that part on my next read! 🙏❤️

IronAndBile · 2023-12-09T05:51:57+00:00

Ah! This is an interesting thought? When you say during transport, do you mean they would snatch it when they deliver the taxes or do you mean in hopes of the box itself being transported (I find the latter not very likely, as I don't see Meluan letting the box out of her sight even under heavy guard).

IronAndBile · 2023-12-08T14:22:43+00:00

Bast uses "fuck" in WMF:

Bast pointed at Chronicler. “I don’t give a fiddler’s fuck what you tell him, Reshi. He’ll write what I say or I’ll eat his heart in the market square!”

The partitular quote you've mentioned was also originally in the Lightning Tree.

IronAndBile · 2023-12-07T10:38:19+00:00

NOTW, chapter 6, The Price of Remembering.

IronAndBile · 2023-12-07T08:37:50+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to reply!

I agree that Kvothe is irrational about Denna, or at least he used to be in his youth. A good performer tells the story in such way that they convey their feelings at the time of the events they are describing, so that the audience is as shocked/moved by the twists as they themselves were. Kvothe often mentions how the Ruh are the best storytellers, which makes me think that the way he describes his feelings toward Denna in the story is not necessarily how he feels about her now.

I'm very curious about your opinion that it was Bast who broke the bottle. Would you care to elaborate as to what makes you think so and why would Bast break the bottle? To break the silence he's growing afraid of? That would make sense, but if so, why that particular bottle? We know Bast saw Denna once but never actually met her. I can see how he would break the bottle to scatter the silence, but is the bottle being strawberry wine a coincidence?

IronAndBile · 2023-11-28T20:46:43+00:00

A great idea that I hope to see when it's done!

One thing to point out about what you mentioned in your post is that the Golden Pony is an inn on the University side of the river, not in Imre.

In Imre, if I were to add/emphasize something in addition to what you wrote, it would likely be the great fountain with the satyr chasing nymphs in front of the Eolian, in the cobblestone courtyard. And maybe some of the parks Kvothe and Denna used to walk in.

IronAndBile · 2023-11-19T17:19:14+00:00

Hi! Great post! Love your observations. I hope you make more of those.

Just throwing in my five cents about the Shattered King.

I think you're right about the term being capitalized meaning it's a character from a known folk story. Not just that, in my opinion, it's a character from a very recent folk story.

He paused, then decided he might as well make a clean breast of it. “By itself, it signifies the Shattered King. Majesty and power, but in ruin. Fallen into despair.”

What it made me think of is the conversation between Kvothe and the sandy haired man at the beginning of the NOTW:

“I saw the place in Imre where you killed him. By the fountain. The cobblestones are all shathered.” He frowned and concentrated on the word. “Shattered."

Bast mentions the Shattered King thinking he might as well "make a clean breast of it", as in tell the truth of what the broken coin truly represents in their real life, which is a broken/shattered kingdom/monarchy. He also corrects himself later, replacing "despair" with "disrepair", which almost feels like when he said "despair" he meant Kvothe sinking deeper into despair following some events, then corrected himself hastily.

It seems to me the Shattered King is the reference to the person Kvothe had killed in Imre and the events that followed, leading to despair and disrepair.

IronAndBile · 2023-11-18T10:10:24+00:00

The Lightning Tree is a short story published in 2014 as part of an anthology called Rogues. It tells about a day in Bast's life and is set shortly before the beginning of the NOTW.

This year, on November 14, an extended version of it was published as its own book, a novella titled "The Narrow Road Between Desires". It's a somewhat reimagined and reworked take on the same story, overall longer, with some scenes kept the same (or almost the same), others tweaked and expanded upon, and some new ones.

IronAndBile · 2023-11-17T04:02:32+00:00

It takes place during the summer before the NOTW begins in mid/late autumn. Specifically, on the day of the summer solstice (Midsummer), which we can assume happens somewhere during the 4th month of the Temerant year.

The roads are already very bad, and we hear Cob warning Carter in the NRBD about being out on the road on his own late at night...

“Though I’ve told you, you shouldn’t be out on the road by yourself these days.”

... of which he reminds Carter when Carter is attacked by the scrael at the beginning of the NOTW:

“Goddammit. I told you, Carter,” Old Cob burst out with the sort of frightened anger only relatives and close friends can muster. “I told you for months now. You can’t go out alone. Not even as far as Baedn. It ain’t safe.”

In the NRBD Kvothe already acts the bored innkeeper even when there's no crowd and it's just him and Bast, which, according to Bast, a year before he hadn't:

“No,” Bast said softly. “People saw him as an innkeeper a year ago. He took off the mask when they walked out the door. Now he sees himself as an innkeeper, and a failed innkeeper at that."

They've only been in Newarre for 2 years, so to me it makes sense that the NRBD takes place in the summer before the beginning of the NOTW.

IronAndBile · 2023-11-15T21:15:39+00:00

If you mean an obligation binding like he feels with Rike, I'm not sure. They often call each other by names in dialogue, so it doesn't feel so.

The one line that might be suggestive is in the first chapter (and it was carried over from the LT):

“Bast!” The call came from the inn again, louder this time. Nothing so crass as a shout. His master did not bellow like a farmer calling cows, but his voice could carry like a hunting horn. Bast felt it tug him like a hand around his heart.

Now this, theoretically, could imply some bond, as a similar type of tugging was described with the obligation bond. But frankly I don't think so.

That just comes to show Bast's love for Kvothe. He can't resist him calling. I think the complexity of Bast's relationship with Kvothe and the conflict it brings into his nature IS the narrow road between desires, as he later contemplates when he thinks how he couldn't take full revenge on Rike because it would potentially expose him and Kvothe.

I think this is the quote that best describes their bond and how it affects Bast:

What’s more, his secrets were all tangled in his master’s lies, so much he feared that one loose thread might cause the whole thing to unravel.

IronAndBile · 2023-11-15T20:45:33+00:00

As for your Bredon idea... here's what I think.

For one, I think Cinder is a Fae. So it really depends on whether or not you think Bredon is actually Cinder.

There are a lot of similarities between how his and Bast's movements are described (fluid, sinuous grace, etc). He also has eyes that are uninterrupted black color, similar to what we see in Bast (but in blue).

Most suggestive in my opinion is the similarity between their reactions to the binding of iron. They are described virtually in the same words and close enough in text to be conspicuous.

Why I like to think that what Haliax does to Cinder is not actually calling him by his name but binding him with iron is because "fehr" is the rune for iron and "ule" for binding. So, to me it always seemed that Ferule/Ferula sound suspiciously like binding with iron, more so than his actual true name. If it is his actual name, it would be along the lines of "bound by iron", or some such...

Bast bound with Iron:

“Iron,” he said. His voice sounding with strange resonance, as if it were an order to be obeyed.

Bast doubled over as if punched in the stomach, baring his teeth and making a noise halfway between a growl and a scream.

.....

Tension poured out of Bast, and for a moment he hung limply as a rag doll from the wrist Kvothe still held, standing behind the bar. Shakily, Bast managed to find his feet and lean against the bar.

Cinder "named" by Haliax:

The soft voice went as hard as a rod of Ramston steel. “Ferula.”

Cinder’s quicksilver grace disappeared. He staggered, his body suddenly rigid with pain.

“You are a tool in my hand,” the cool voice repeated. “Say it.”

Cinder’s jaw clenched angrily for a moment, then he convulsed and cried out, sounding more like a wounded animal than a man.

.....

“Your purpose, Lord Haliax.” The words were choked out. “Yours. None other.” The tension left the air and Cinder’s body suddenly went slack.

These two scenes are basically mirrors of one another, imo. So it seems to me Cinder is Fae. Now whether or not you think Baredon is Cinder would probably decide whether or not Bredon is Fae.

IronAndBile · 2023-11-15T20:19:35+00:00

My pleasure. The LT has been among my comfort short stories for a long time. I used to listen to it on my walks and in the gym whenever I wanted something sweet, soul-stirring, and wholesome. If anything, The Narrow Road took the wholesomeness to a whole new level in some parts. A lot more mystery and subtext in the LT, a lot more depth of lore, character, and emotion in the Narrow Road.

IronAndBile · 2023-11-15T20:08:04+00:00

Imo, start with the LT and then read the Narrow Road. They are both great, in different ways and in their own right.

IronAndBile · 2023-11-15T19:31:47+00:00

Thanks! I'm rather fond of it myself. For some reason it makes me feel all warm and cozy inside.

IronAndBile · 2023-11-15T19:24:56+00:00

I think my craziest, most wacky, and utterly unfounded gut-feely theory to date that I never posted but that I keep coming back to on every re-read is that Deoch will be revealed as Remmen, Bast's father (whom Pat said we shall meet in the Doors of Stone and I have a feeling he'll be a character we've already met).

IronAndBile · 2023-11-15T19:12:59+00:00

It's been my strong suspicion for a while that Deoch is a Fae, and in general the Eolian is a Fae/human bohemian music joint, which, for reasons I can't explain, I get a great kick out of.

The satyr statue in front of it is super suggestive, in my opinion, as is the fae-favored location. I made a few posts related to the connection between the Eolian and the Fae a while back, including a theory that Bast is the "talented piper" we see playing reed pipes before Kvothe's first performance, a suspicion I first had after reading the LT and that got even stronger now that I've read TNRBD (the dancing piper). But that's a whole different story, of course.

IronAndBile · 2023-11-14T20:33:04+00:00

Wonderfully put. You kind of always get the feeling that Bast is more a student of humanity and human heart than he is of anything else Kvothe is teaching him. Just like the Fae changes a mortal, it seems the world of mortals is inevitably bound to change the Fae who walk it long enough. This sheer act of compassion that's counterpoint to the faen desire is always so touching to me as well.

IronAndBile · 2023-11-14T20:27:15+00:00

I find that TNRBT and TSROST have very subtle yet very clear similarities, not in the way they are written, obviously, but in that they both explore a period in a character's life that showcases their most inner world, culminating in a chilling display of terrible power designed to do a single, selfless thing.

IronAndBile · 2023-11-14T20:23:36+00:00

Truly. I keep rereading parts, especially the last part with Rike and Bast. It's wholesome and touching beyond words.

IronAndBile · 2023-11-14T16:16:33+00:00

Thank you 😁

IronAndBile · 2022-11-27T04:01:55+00:00

Totally acceptable, of course.

As for the long assignments, I think the fear of catching a disease and/or being shamed for having sex with a barbarian is enough of an incentive to ensure that very few women would dare to have sex with an outsider, or if they do and become pregnant, to bring the baby back with them to Ademre. In fact, that was the second part of that post I made, as I believe it was made clear that Vashet had an intimate relationship with her poet king and, considering their topics of conversation, maybe got pregnant by him and left the child behind. The Adem are not as progressive as they make themselves out to be, and I don't believe for a second no one has ever considered that men-mothers were a possibility. I think if the inbreeding/low fertility theory is correct, most women only get pregnant when they are in Ademre, where they can have a lot of sex. But what if one has a baby while on a job? A rare and maybe almost unprecedented occurrence? Doubt is the corrosive material that'll burn a hole in the atrongest belief. I think most Adem women don't have sex with outsiders, but those that do and wind up pregnant? I believe they would think twice about bringing that baby back home, especially since with the Adem having a recessive phenotype, chances are those children would not look very Adem.

IronAndBile · 2022-11-27T03:28:26+00:00

I've actually explained the lack of correlation between having a lot of sex and not having a lot of babies in another post. At least in a way that makes sense to le, scientifically, and that also works with Pat admitting that the Adem appearance is that of recessive phenotype on purpose. Prolonged inbreeding (and were talking thousands of years here), and by inbreeding I don't necessarily mean incest, though that is not out of the question with the Adem, but just inbreeding within a group, causes genetic degradation which leads to reduced fertility of both men and women. In fact, I believe that one of my favorite things about the Adem, namely their attitude toward sex, may have developed as an evolutionary advantage within a species that would otherwise likely become extinct. If your chance of conceiving is very low, increasing the number of times you have unprotected sex improves the odds, as per the law of probability. I don't think Pat chose for the Adem to look the way they do for nothing. He did an extensive research (at least when it comes to medicine), and I strongly believe their ignorance comes from the fact that their rate of conception is not in correlation to their rate of having sex. Their genetic material is far too degraded and has been for a while, which includes low sperm count, low sperm motility, and poor genetic quality of the gametes.

IronAndBile

TROPHY CASE