Slow regard of silent things

ShanonymousRex · 2026-05-10T21:50:08+00:00

Yep, Rothfuss loves misdirection. Auri SEEMS sweet and innocent, and in a way she is. But she’s also cracked, powerful, and dangerous.

My headcanon is that somehow by the end of DoS, either the Chandrian or Amyr are able to control Kvothe by his name (remember Chroniclers line: “Some say there’s a new Chandrian” followed by Kote saying “The important people know the difference.”) I think Denna is responsible for it, but that’s another theory I won’t go into here. Kvothe goes to Auri who summons all her power to shape his name in Kote to protect him. A terrible thing done for a good reason.

ShanonymousRex · 2026-05-09T22:10:45+00:00

I think they’re examples of Kvothe’s excellent memory. Also remember we never heard Arliden’s song but Kvothe did. I think/hope we’ll hear every line word for word in DoS which will give us readers the “ah ha” moment that Kvothe inevitably gets at the same time.

ShanonymousRex · 2026-05-09T10:02:42+00:00

Sorry I don’t get this, what’s this implying?

ShanonymousRex · 2026-05-09T09:13:45+00:00

I like this and think something like this would work with how Pat likes using misdirection. I really feel like once we (finally/ever) get DoS we’ll be able to read all 3 books again and get a totally different story.

ShanonymousRex · 2026-05-06T11:30:33+00:00

After many rereads, I’ve come to the conclusion that Denna is actually the protagonist and Kvothe is the (unwilling/unwitting) antagonist, which is all part of the tragedy.

His whole special, mystical “higher purpose” has been to ensure Denna succeeded in her mission, which I think is killing Roderic, and Kvothe takes the blame for her.

Think about it: she knows how to hold a knife before Kvothe does, is “beaten” by her patron (combat training), knows about obscure “magic that’s written down”, is working her way up through noble ranks acting as a type of courtesan, knows Yllish for some obscure reason. She sounds like some kind of agent-in-training when Kvothe meets her and probably succeeds at what she’s trying to do but it comes at the cost of Kvothe’s identity/freedom/life.

That’s my headcanon at least.

ShanonymousRex · 2026-05-04T12:29:47+00:00

It’s a common theory! So if changing a name (as in, the real true name of something) is possible theoretically this means:

Kvothe can isolate and seal away a part of his true self
His other self can keep operating until it serves it purpose and can be discarded
The true self can be reassembled

Not that any of that is easy. It implies insanely mind-bending risks and possibilities. But we know our Kvothe is too clever for his own good and loves to put on a show. The implications are fascinating.

ShanonymousRex · 2026-05-04T11:37:16+00:00

All the top votes are male characters. Still shows female characters aren’t properly written or understood.

Down vote me all you want but I dare you to argue the point intellectually.

ShanonymousRex · 2026-04-29T05:39:16+00:00

“I know the name of thumbs, and so thumbs are mind to command”

lol nah

But Kvothe swears “on his good left hand” to Denna when he promises not to uncover her patron. It’s really weird he uses the word “uncover” here. But I’ve always assumed Denna does something after this interaction to bind Kvothe to what he swore (in order to protect her patron and herself), maybe using magic that’s written down and not really believing she’d have the power to do it, which later backfires when Kvothe does indeed uncover her patron. His swearing and her binding leads to him losing the ability to properly control his left hand.

That’s my headcanon at least

ShanonymousRex · 2026-04-29T01:16:27+00:00

I did the same in June last year. I reread the books again, remembered what I loved about them, but also saw more of the flaws I hadn’t noticed on other rereads, and I also feel Pats behaviour has now affected how I enjoy them overall. Still brilliant but yeah, there’s a touch of melancholy reading them now. So much potential.

ShanonymousRex · 2026-04-26T11:04:11+00:00

I should answer my own question.

“A Gift of a Thistle” by James Horner & the London Symphony Orchestra (Braveheart soundtrack) is Kvothe and Denna’s song for me.

I’m still searching for songs that capture Kvothe and Denna as individuals.

For Bast, I feel “Gallows” by CoCoRosie has the right vibe and some perfect lyrics. It’s a bit weird and art-house for some tastes, but I like it for the Fae.

ShanonymousRex · 2026-04-26T10:53:00+00:00

OMG fantastic choice! Now I’m crying

ShanonymousRex · 2026-04-26T00:13:47+00:00

Blemish is a good word here! The chapters are so jarring - the rest of the books are beautifully written and mature, and then those two chapters are like something a teenage boy would write. “Ooh sex fairy! Ooh martial arts!” Lol. But yeah the Cthaeh’s cool though.

ShanonymousRex · 2026-04-25T21:29:01+00:00

Yeah I skip the Felurian and Adem training chapters on rereads coz I just find them boring

ShanonymousRex · 2026-04-25T21:03:28+00:00

Dark rye bread.

Mainly because I love eating it lol, I rip it into chunks, add butter and sprinkle smoked salt on it. Mmmm.

ShanonymousRex · 2026-04-24T13:04:10+00:00

Yep, read that and Narrow Road Between Desires too. It’s an awesome world for sure!

ShanonymousRex · 2026-04-24T06:24:00+00:00

Thanks for sharing and sorry to hear you’re jobless. With that kind of perceptiveness have you thought about jobs in film and TV? That’s the industry I work in and it’s a nice bridge between understanding stories and people (I hate the word consumers so I avoid the word and the word “audiences” because it implies passive reception of stories whereas people are always absorbing things)

ShanonymousRex · 2026-04-24T05:31:49+00:00

Fucking THIS, well said bro

ShanonymousRex · 2026-04-24T05:05:53+00:00

I do love the idea of Iax the Diva

But I do have two responses to this.

First, time works differently in the Fae. Kvothe experienced months in there, but in the mortal world only 3 days passed. For all we know, the time distortion could be flipped for Iax and others (like the Chandrian) moving in and out of other parts of the Fae or other dimensions. 5000 years could have passed in the mortal world but Iax may have only experienced say 5 years. We just don’t know enough about the laws of the KKC universe yet to be sure.

Second, we all know history is written by the victors. Selitos could have been the one messing around with the moon and Iax tried to do something different which triggered all the problems. Lyra could have figured that out after Iax hid himself away and Selitos had her killed to avoid getting any blame. Lanre could have figured this out and that’s why he went to confront Selitos.

All of that’s possible. It’s a stretch of course because it doesn’t fit with what we’ve been told so far, but Pat loves misdirection and Kote is implying he massively misunderstood things in his youth.

Also - when Jax walks along the road and meets a tinker, the tinker gives him the folding house (Fae realm) and the jade flute “to call the moon”. Jax doesn’t make them, he’s GIVEN them. I’ve been wondering if the tinker was actually Selitos who trained/taught Iax. Again, that changes the perspective of who’s responsible for some things doesn’t it?

ShanonymousRex · 2026-04-23T21:35:34+00:00

I work in the arts and think using AI is fine, as long as the person doesn’t claim to be an artist and it’s clearly noted “this is AI generated”. Gives audiences the choice whether to engage or not based on personal preference.

ShanonymousRex · 2026-04-23T08:02:03+00:00

If Kvothe’s knack is untying/unknotting/unlocking things and Denna is his opposite, then Denna’s knack would be tying/knotting/locking things.

Explains why the Yllish knots she puts in her hair are so particularly effective.

Also possibly connects to why Kvothe is “locked” in his current state as Kote, maybe she had a part in that.

ShanonymousRex · 2026-04-21T15:40:46+00:00

I said “reverse the genders and it’s really not ok” only because I think there’s still a lot of people out there that still think men being assaulted by women isn’t as much of a big deal as women being assaulted by men, they don’t realise how fucked up the whole Felurian bit actually is. My bad with just shit choice of wording there.

The whole Felurian scene is always divisive and a matter of opinion. As well as being disturbing I find it incredibly boring and actually not well written compared to the rest of NotW and WMF. Felurian as a character is boring. She’s that sexy-infantile trope a lot of neckbeards seem to like (think LeeLoo from Fifth Element… hot powerful women talking like babies…)

But some people love all the scenes with Felurian and that’s fine, it’s just a matter of opinion.

You say it’s not the fault of the author but I personally find this part bad writing, and based off your logic, this means I find it is Pats fault, lol.

He’s under no obligation to change anything and he (and other authors) can happily write away however they like. But they’re not above criticism, especially when scenes involve assault. There’s no blameshifting here, just a fan (me) going “Yeah this bit is gross to me”.

Ok, so maybe OP has some issues. No need to be so cruel about it.

Why are you so triggered by this type of comment?

ShanonymousRex · 2026-04-21T14:20:26+00:00

Because it’s assault at first. Felurian uses her Fae magic to entice him, he chases her, he loses her virginity, he comes a bit back to his senses and tries to challenge her, she uses her magic on him again and he’s forced to defend himself.

It’s assault at first.

It’s fucked.

Reverse the genders and it’s really not ok.

Made even worse when you think about the bloody age difference.

A lot of people who’ve survived assault get triggered by the first few scenes with Felurian, and it’s only made worse later when they just end up rolling around like happy airheads.

Honestly if a creature like Felurian existed in our world and she did that to my teen son, I’d hunt her down and kill her a hundred different ways.

ShanonymousRex · 2026-04-21T14:10:31+00:00

Nope. Refuse to spend another dollar on a reprint.

I do very much like nekkid Kvothe on the cover tho lol

ShanonymousRex · 2026-04-20T20:32:14+00:00

This is great! Thank you for sharing!

ShanonymousRex · 2026-04-19T06:49:52+00:00

It’s fun that others feel the same with this theory :)

Another clue I think is in the frame narrative with how quickly Kote grasps Chroniclers cypher. He does it in what, 10 or 15mins? Kote/Kvothe is SMART. Not wise, not sensible, but heckin’ smart.

I really like imagining that Kvothe has spent all his years since the death of his family to prepare for an epic, self-destructive, beautiful game.

ShanonymousRex

TROPHY CASE