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What's that got to do with the price of butter?
From the first time I read this phrase in the king killer Chronicles, I loved it. I use it whenever I can, and explain it. I even explained it to my Alexa so she would stop explaining butter economics when I said it. How have these books influenced your life?
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The problem with seeming
Its explained in two parts in narrow roads so lets put the pieces back together. Theres the knife thats the most knife it can be. The essence of a knife. but the essence of a knife is what all knifes have in comon its that its a knife. Turning it into that means remnoving everything else.
thats part one.
part two is the explanaition of the beautiful women. You make her think shes beautifuly and she becomes beautiful by seeming beautifuly to herself.
But here the intersting part, lets combine thsoe ideas. The womone that becomes beatiful by seeming beautiful to herself will become the essence of beauty by removing everything esle.
In other words everyone who embodies an archetype through glamoury will become the exact same person. The most beautiful is felurian so any womone using glamoury will turn into her. From her words we can asume this happens on a moonless night. Thats how the crossing from fae (the world of ideals) into temerant works on a practiacl level.
The chandrian are imortal because people keep glamouring into them. This is also how kvothe can claim to be illian and not be a liar. Its the archtype he embodies he realy is Illian but Illian is not him. Lanre is haliax but haliax is not lanre.
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Kvothe Meets Denna
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Sequel/companion trilogy hypothesis
I recently started rereading the series for the first time in years, and one thing that really stands out is how central Denna is to the story. Outside of Kvothe himself, she is the most important character. It seems pretty clear that she's on her own hero's journey, with her story intersecting and diverging from Kvothe's at key moments.
It got me wondering whether Patrick's original plan was to tell Kvothe's story as a trilogy and then follow it with a companion trilogy from Denna's perspective, similar to how Ender's Shadow complements Ender's Game.
Obviously this is pure speculation, but I wonder if that's part of why the last book has taken so long. If Denna's story was always meant to fit together with Kvothe's, getting the timeline and all the hidden interactions to line up could be incredibly complicated. It reminds me a bit of GRRM's "Meereenese Knot," where the logistics of converging storylines became a major writing challenge.
Or maybe that's just copium. At this point, I've mostly given up hope that we'll ever get the final book, let alone a companion trilogy.
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At this point I've lost all faith.
I know that I'll never hold Doors of Stone in my hands. Pat has dropped off the planet.
How many of you have already been tempted to throw the contents of books 1 and 2 into Claude or Grok and had it write "Doors of Stone"? I'm sure with the right set of prompts I could get something that I wouldn't hate.
Would you read an AI-generated conclusion to the series? Obviously taking it with a truckload of salt.
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Does Fall Follow Spring?
Not a theory, more of an inconsistency.
The calendar of Temerant seems fairly well-established. Nothing in the books would indicate that the seasons occur in any different order than ours. I have seen many timelines refer to Kvothe’s second semester as his “Summer Term.” And yet…
I unfolded and read it. It read: “Kvothe. Spring term. Tuition: -3. Tln.” Less three talents. Of course. (chapter 36)
After the Chancellor managed to regain control of things, I was called forward and given my receipt. “E’lir Kvothe. Fall term. Tuition: 3 Tln. 9 Jt. 7 Fe.”
(chapter 49)
There it is, plain as day. I even checked my anniversary copy to make sure the e-book I was reading wasn’t a misprint. How can he go from his first term (Spring) to his second term (Fall)? The chronology of it is too tight for us to skip over summer, and he even says “I finished my first term with three silver talents and a single jot” the page before.
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Random Thoughts from a 10+ Year Kingkiller Reader
Denna is one of the biggest reasons Kvothe doesn't feel like a Mary Sue. They clearly care about each other, but they constantly misunderstand one another. Neither of them ever seems to understand what the other actually wants, and Denna's personality only makes that harder. Sometimes two people can love each other and still never figure it out. I think Kvothe should have moved on around the time he saved Fela, but he never did. Not everyone gets to win in love, and that makes Kvothe feel more human.
I think Ambrose is secretly one of the Amyr. I also think the Amyr are going to turn out to be awful. Maybe they were once something noble, but not anymore. I picture them as more of an Eyes Wide Shut or Bohemian Grove-style secret society obsessed with power, influence, sex, and protecting themselves.
I wish Rothfuss could just keep revising the books forever. I'd honestly buy updated editions if he changed a paragraph or even a sentence. I wonder if being able to continuously tweak the books would make it easier for him to finally release The Doors of Stone.
What if Kvothe unknowingly starts the disease that eventually wipes out the Adem? It could come from Losi at the inn, or even from Felurian. It would fit the tragedy of the series perfectly: Kvothe doesn't destroy the Adem with a sword or a war, he does it completely by accident.
I don't think the tree Kvothe destroyed in the Eld was just a tree. I think it was some kind of prison, portal, or gateway Cinder was using, and destroying it let something out. The Adem name him Maedre: Flame, Thunder, and Broken Tree. I've always wondered if those aren't just descriptions of Kvothe, but of that single moment: he calls the lightning, breaks the tree, and everyone thinks he saved the day, when in reality he may have just made everything worse.
And finally, Pater Leoden being Elodin pretending to be the local priest is hilarious. Bast saying they don't get along just makes it even funnier.
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What does the rank of El'the mean?
If Re'lar is "speaker" and E'lir is "see-er", what is the rank of El'the? I'm sure this question was already answered in this subreddit at some point.
However, I cannot find the answer.
What are your thoughts, please?
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Work Ethic (or Lack Thereof)
I read a great twitter post by Larry Correia about how GRRM and Rothfuss have done incredible damage to the fantasy genre by not finishing their series.
Many readers will now only read a fantasy series that is finished. Obviously, this is very difficult for writers. Any books released until the last book will have far fewer sales, so writers basically cannot support themselves through book sales until the series is finished, which takes years. Very few writers can endure this financial strain. So, a lot of writers have just stopped writing fantasy.
GRRM is probably the main culprit. The difference is that GRRM has multiple hit TV shows from ASOIAF. He made a ton of money, achieved incredible commercial success, and lost motivation to finish his magnum opus.
So...WTF is Rothfuss' problem? Is two popular books of a planned trilogy enough to warrant a complete lack of motivation to finish the third? In my opinion, no way.
GRRM has shown progress on Winds of Winter, expressed regret, has had distractions with other legitimate writing and editing work. Rothfuss has nothing.
I still recommend ASOIAF to people. I don't recommend Kingkiller anymore because Rothfuss doesn't deserve the attention. I think no one should give him any credit, recommend his books, etc. until he undoes some of the harm he's done to the genre and finishes Doors of Stone.
He's clearly high on the first positive attention he's ever had in his life from 2 good books. Ridiculous hubris. Will be encouraging boycotting Rothfuss until he finishes Doors of Stone.
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'flow' state where you see things clearly, no hesitation. In Zen art no-mind is represented as an ensō (円相; "circular form")
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Enso.jpg
Now in Elodin's class Fela mentions an interesting fact about people who were blind, but gain their sight.
>Fela continued. “After they could see, they were shown objects. **A ball, a cube, and a pyramid all sitting on a table**.” Fela made the shapes with her hands as she spoke. “Then the physickers asked them which one of the three objects was round.”
>Fela paused for effect, looking at all of us. “They couldn’t tell just by looking at them. They needed to touch them first. Only after they touched the ball did they realize it was the round one.”
My last post covers this a little more in-depth but for this post you only need to look at the shapes mentioned. A ball, a cube, and a pyramid. In NotW we hear the story of Menda and Encanis, and we see a great iron wheel whose name "cannot be spoken", it is *silent*. It is a silent iron circle.
Then in WMF we hear the story of Jax and Ludis, featuring an empty iron box, the "emptiest thing you've ever heard", meant for keeping things inside. How do you "hear" emptiness? It's silent. So this time we have an iron, silent square.
Then in DoS... jk. But in each of the first two books we do see a "third silence" being mentioned.
>There, behind the tightly shuttered windows, he lifted his hands like a dancer, shifted his weight, and slowly took one single perfect step.
>The Waystone was his, just as the third silence was his. This was appropriate, as it was the greatest silence of the three, **wrapping the others inside itself**. It was deep and wide as autumn’s ending. It was heavy as a great river-smooth stone. It was the patient, cut-flower sound of a man who is waiting to die.
That's the tell, the third silence wraps the other two inside of itself. We had a silent iron circle, we had a silent iron square... and the last will be a silent triangle (arrow, spear), wrapping the others inside itself. Ball, Cube, and Pyramid.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Squared_Circle_%28alchemical_symbol%29.png
That's the symbol for the philosophers' stone. NotW Ch18 *Roads to Safe Places* mentions only four doors of the mind
>PERHAPS THE GREATEST FACULTY our minds possess is the ability to cope with pain. **Classic thinking teaches us of the four doors of the mind, which everyone moves through according to their need.**
But that silence is the philosophers' stone, it's a door of the mind. A door of stone. Silence, iron focus / riding crop belief, and an empty mind like a spinning leaf. So you know exactly what to do, never hesitate, never miss. You take perfect steps.
>Kote was a long while in answering. “I tend to think too much, Bast. My greatest successes came from decisions I made when I stopped thinking and simply did what felt right. Even if there was no good explanation for what I did.” He smiled wistfully. “Even if there were very good reasons for me *not* to do what I did.”
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“You know exactly what to do. You never hesitate, you just see and react.” He was thoughtful for a moment. “I imagine that’s the way the Amyr used to be. Small wonder folk were frightened of them.”
This one is about stones and silence. This is sort of a part 2 to this post if you're curious.
Let's start with stones, sophists, and fallacies
>“What will happen if I let go of this rock?”
>I thought for a bit. Simple questions during lesson time were very seldom simple. Finally I gave the obvious answer. “It will probably fall.”
>He raised an eyebrow. I had kept him busy over the last several months, and he hadn’t had the leisure to accidentally burn them off. “Probably? You sound like a sophist, boy. Hasn’t it always fallen before?”
>I stuck my tongue out at him. “Don’t try to boldface your way through this one. That’s a fallacy. You taught me that yourself.”
The scene is especially funny because Ben is literally a sophist
>A sophist was a professional travelling teacher in ancient Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Sophists specialized in one or more subject areas, such as philosophy, rhetoric, music, athletics, mathematics
but in our case it's more important to look at the etymology of 'philosophers', not just sophists
>A philosopher is literally a "lover of wisdom," from the Ancient Greek φιλόσοφος (philósophos), combining φίλος (philos, "loving") and σοφία (sophia, "wisdom")
Pretty simple, yeah? Beware of Folly. Love Sophia. You get it. Ben uses the rock to teach Kvothe about probabilities and Alar, the cornerstone of sympathy, and is not just focus. It's about clearing your mind and maintaining belief. Just because it always fell before does not mean it will fall this time. It probably will though.
>He brandished the slapstick a bit. “And none of your petty philosophy or I’ll make you sorry you ever took a shining to that little game.”
>I nodded. I cleared my mind with one of the tricks I’d already learned, and bore down on believing. I started to sweat.
Then Kvothe learns Heart of Stone, and plays Seek the Stone, his Alar becoming iron
>Practically, it teaches valuable mental control. If you can really play Seek the Stone, then you are developing an iron-hard Alar of the sort you need for sympathy.
Now we set that lesson aside for a moment and lets look at another mental state from Eastern philosophy called 'no-mind'. This isn't about focus, it's about emptying your mind. It's about silence.
>The effortless state of "no mind" is one which is cultivated by artists, poets, craftsmen, performers, and trained martial artists, who may or may not be associated with Buddhism or Daoism. In this context, the term may have no religious connotations (or it may retain it, depending on the artist's own context), and is used to mean "the state at which a master is so at one with his art that his body naturally and spontaneously responds to all challenges without thought". This has been compared to the psychological concept of flow and "being in the zone"
No-mind is the mental state where you respond without thought. Kvothe does this often and without meaning to. Sim comments on it:
>“The world needs people like you,” Simmon said in the tone of voice that let me know he was turning philosophical. “You get things done. Not always the best way, or the most sensible way, but it gets done nonetheless. You’re a rare creature.”
>“How do you mean?” I asked, my curiosity piqued.
>Sim shrugged. “Like today. Something bothers you, someone offends you, and suddenly you’re off.” He made a quick motion with a flat hand. “You know exactly what to do. You never hesitate, you just see and react.” He was thoughtful for a moment. “I imagine that’s the way the Amyr used to be. Small wonder folk were frightened of them.”
So for no-mind, instead of focusing on the stone and your Alar turning iron, you focus on Silence, Oneness, Emptiness. For the purpose of engaging that
Marvelous, aromatic piss
I love the line where Kvothe says,
“The following day I abandoned my pointless searching and planted myself in one of the open air-cafés where I drank coffee and tried to find inspiration for the song I owed the Maer. Ten hours I spent there, and the only act of creation I accomplished was to magically transform nearly a gallon of coffee into marvelous, aromatic piss.”
I would love to get a coffee mug that says “Marvelous, aromatic piss” on the side. I think it would be hilarious. Unfortunately, I don’t think most people would get the joke.
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Just finished listening on Audible for the first time in ~12 years.
WTF Pat. George I can forgive, if not forget, for not finishing, but you have no excuse. Where's my goddamn part three? Why on earth did I listen to these again?!
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Kote is waiting to die, not Kvothe.
Just a theory.
That the man waiting to die is only the man named kote, and not Kvothe. And that like when lanre dies and is called back by Lyra, maybe kote will die and Kvothe will be called back by someone who understands his true nature and can speak his "name" such as Denna.
Just an idea. Would provide the tragedy with a parallel to lanre story outcome that fits the rest, and completes the circle back to his first story from skarpi. But Kvothe will be a good guy in the end making Denna right in their debate over the song she wrote about lanre/Kvothe
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The Lackless Family line - theories, speculation, and timeline
My sister asked me about Netalia and Meluan, and before I knew it I had written a full ass wall of text, so I thought I'd share.
The Lackless family is interesting to think about. Yes, I do think Laurian is Netalia Lackless traveling under an alias. Let's take it as a given, being probably the most accepted theory in the series. There are clues in the song Arliden wrote about her, and we learn in one of the early chapters that Kvothe's mom came from a noble family before she was a trouper. And all the other stuff frequently mentioned around here, blah blah blah.
We are given 3 Lackless names. In book 2, Kvothe learns in Severen that young Netalia Lackless ran off with a trouper and forsook her position as heir. When Sim names the Vintish line of succession in book 1, he names Aculeus, then Meluan Lackless. We know that Meluan is the new heir, leaving Aculeus to be the father (or mother, but in this world, this sounds like a male name. This is my operating presumption).
Kvothe's mom Laurian is about, let's say, 28 when she is killed (Kvothe's age, 12.5, plus "Arliden robbed her of her virtue", and also, being called "young Netalia Lackless" at the time of leaving... therefore, 16).
When we meet her, Meluan is still described as young. The fact she is in a regarded noble family, the way she is pursued by all manner of young suitors as well as the Maer, all rings of "debutante" to me. Let us guess that she is 17 or 18. We'll call it 17.5.
Kvothe is right around his 16th birthday (3.5 years after the killing of the troupe) when he's helping Alveron court Meluan. Therefore, Meluan was about 14 when Kvothe's mother is killed.
Let's summarize what we've so far surmised:
>Aculeus - probably the father
Netalia - Kvothe's mother, and \~28 when she is killed
Meluan - Netalia's sister, and \~14 when Netalia is killed
14 year gap. No male heirs, in a patriarchal society. Interesting. This also means that Meluan is only 2 YEARS OLD when Netalia disappears. ***Of course*** she hates the Ruh and doesn't understand her sister's choice. She has no real memories of her! She was brought up for the last 15 years hearing from father about how Netalia did wrong.
I might guess that the Lackless mother had trouble bearing children. Or perhaps there WERE sons, and they were killed in combat during the 'bloodless rebellion' we hear of (that's the conflict that resulted in the independence of Tinuë, freeing it from the control of the Lacklesses). This may in fact have been a very recent conflict -- maps refer to "The Free City of Tinuë". This would probably not be important to call out, **unless** it was *specifically* a recent event. Also that [episode 1 of the KKC TV series was set to titled "Tinuë Burns"](https://www.reddit.com/r/KingkillerChronicle/comments/1u40t2f/theory_tinu%C3%AB_burns_how_the_title_of_the_premiere/). Tinuë is even more relevant to the Lackless story if the bloodless rebellion was quite recent ([Theory: The Lackless lands are just north of Tinuë](https://www.reddit.com/r/KingkillerChronicle/comments/1sr0hh8/theory_these_are_the_lackless_lands_and_what_it/)). It may also help explain the Maer's interest in Tinuë -- it's an important city near his region that thinks it should be independent. Maybe he sees it as ripe for a conquering, if its government has only been in power for \~15 years. Marry Meluan. Win Tinuë back for her.
Aaaanyway. So, the Lackless mother had trouble bearing children, OR, the sons were all killed fighting for control of Tinuë. "Wait," I hear you say, "It was called the bloodless rebellion. So uh, probably no one was killed." Ah, perhaps that is not the entire truth! Or, perhaps, frustrated at the matriarch not being able to produce a male heir, Aculeus went and had some bastard sons out of wedlock, and THESE bastard sons are the ones who are killed. They might be called bloodless, unable to inherit, but perhaps being raised as wards, with the thought of installing them as the governors of Tinuë, etc... and the folk of Tinuë did
Is Lanre haliax and he just wants to die?
Other dedicated readers probably know this but it was a haha moment for me. I also could be wrong.
Listening to the audio books - and I don’t know why I’ve never made the connection. Selitos says the words to lanre that your name will be a curse that will be used against you. Slightly earlier he also said he can see that his name and power will always call him back and therefor he cannot die.
It was also said: “Can I confound the plots of Lanre and his Chandrian who killed the innocent and burned my beloved Myr Tariniel?”
Is it possible the chandrian are not always around or evil and that haliax is currently beyond the doors of death - however when someone finds his old name it calls him back and he has to kill them and erase the knowledge. Hoping to finally get sleep?
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Kvothes deal with the Bursar
Does this deal seam incredibly stupid to anyone else? We are told kvothe gets half of whatever his tuition is above 10 talents. Apparently this is because Kvothe is so good at keeping his tuition low. But its also common knowledge he has been causing trouble for the masters and manet speculates he would have gotten a 30 talent tuition had he not left to vintas. We also are told tuitions tend to rise when you reach higher ranks. We are also told the tutions are largely arbitrary so the Bursar could easily just let the masters know to jack up his tuition because the Maer is good for it. The agreement that kvothe and the bursar come to considerably opens up the Bursar to a ton of risk and we are supposed to buy it because he's greedy? Are we supposed to think he is personally enriched by the Universities coffers.
Kvothe making dumb decisions is pretty par for the course but this also seems incredibly dumb for the bursar as well. If Kvothe keeps up this schtick at some point someone other than the bursar is gonna check the books and see that a not insignificant portion of the expected tuition is uncollected. Its possible the total collected money is so large that a few dozen talents wont be missed but if thats the case why try to gouge the maer at all? Why loop in an infamously problematic student as your coconspirator?
The only way I reconcile this is that the Bursar is allowed to charge a transaction fee for collecting payments from an account. We are told about moneychangers fees in the first book so he could be running some sort of racket. But even so, its doubtful that fee offsets the shortfall to the university.
I have to believe this will certainly come back to bite kvothe in the ass and lead to his true expulsion from the university. At some point Hemme is gonna look into how the pennyless trooper his affording exorbitant tuition.
My guess is the Bursar will be fired once the discrepancy is found and the Maer notified of the fraud. The Maer may be richer than god but I dont think he will enjoy that his money is being wasted certainly when their relationship has already been considerably strained.
My belief is that the Maer will forcibly call Kvothe back into his service and with the "Bloodless" device flying off the shelf news of a marvelous invention will surely reach him.
Kvothe ends up pressganged into service for the Maer making weapons that Kilvin would never approve. We dont know if the Masters try to police the behavior of students once we've left the university but I dont doubt that they do. We know they actively go out and procure books. And Im sure they can just as easily be tasked to police other rules.
I think that kvothe will make some sort of stick like piece of artificery for the maer and as a result will be aprehended the Amyr who police the use of Magic "for the greater good" and we will see how good the C'thaes Joke actually was.
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What announced plot points remain to be resolved in Book 3?
Kvothe/Kote has given several lists of deeds he's accomplished by the time of the frame story. Some but not all of these have come to pass during the first two books.
What remains on Kvothe's stated to-do list for Book 3? What other things must happen in Book 3 to conclude the story satisfactorily?
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Opinion: Posts that are solely about being tired of waiting for the new book are understandable, but they don't add much to the subreddit and should no longer be allowed on this subreddit.
Not sure if this post is allowed? Please delete or comment if the case. I’ll delete. But: what is your opinion please share! I would rather discuss about theories / news / art
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Possible Disguises for The Chandrian?
Has Kvothe met any of the Chandrian in disguise throughout the first two books? The Chthea mentions that they have experience in hiding their telltale signs, which leads me to believe that we encounter them elsewhere in the series, disguised as regular people.
The most common theory I have seen is Cinder as the bandit camp leader, as it's basically confirmed in the conversation with Chthea. (Tho my gut feeling is this is not true, I have wondered if the bandit leader is actually Haliax)
I have also seen theories that Devi is Usnea, hence the smell of rotting meat at her place. Tho I have also seen a theory that Threp is actually Usnea, as he was out of town the time Kvothe visits Devi and there was no smell.
Another theory I have seen a lot is that Shep the pig herder is Master Ash in disguise which is possibly Cinder.
Commander Dagon, the Maers chief guard also seems suspicious, but I don't have any theories as to who he could be.
I would love to hear any additional thoughts or suspects on this matter. "The old beggar us almost always just an old beggar".... *almost* always but not every time.
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(tiny)Questions about (tiny)God(s)
So in frame story when Kote is about to tell Chronicler, Kovthe's story he says that Aleph spun the world from a nameless void and gave everything a name or learned the names of everything.
Godish doings
Then later on
Aleph makes the angels (singers of power)
Again godlike
So why is Tehlu the one with the church?
Is Aleph a god? or just the first listener, namer, what have you
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Cryptic enaugh for you?
one is a bit weird and esoteric i hope you bare with me.
There is the mael and the fae (mael). Lets call them f and m.
Then there are fael urian and mael urian. urian means devil. heres a picture of the devil tarot card:
>At this place was a picture of teh devil card but it deppicts nudity wich pisses of reddit so google it yourself.
Fael and mael women and man chained in iron to urian. In the interpretation the thing chaining them is desire for oneanother untransformed libido.
So whos master ashe? its not urian not our devil/Lu-cypher
Mael aster ashe.
We already know mael is bound to urian or chained-to-rian.
Aster means star. aster + ashe = stardust
A burned out sun. Kvothe is a burning sun mael aster the burned out sun. They are mirror images but the mirror between them isnt made from glas but made out of nothing but time.
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I just hope Rothfuss won't burn his notes before he dies...
I haven't interacted with him online, but saw people saying that he is very hostile towards his fans, even to those who aren't mean to him...
Does he really have enough money that he won't need to work till he dies?
I can see how that would reduce his motivation to write, especially if he ran into some plot troubles and having mental health issues...
Now that I think about it, he clearly reminds me of Kote. He has written some notes, he doesn't like it and stops. And he is not who he used to be. And the fans try to get him to remember who he was before, but he is satisfied with his life as is.
I hope Pat finds a way to open his trice-locked chest...
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Kvothe meets Devi
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“You know exactly what to do. You never hesitate, you just see and react.” He was thoughtful for a moment. “I imagine that’s the way the Amyr used to be. Small wonder folk were frightened of them.”
This one is about stones and silence. This is sort of a part 2 to [this post](https://old.reddit.com/r/KingkillerChronicle/comments/1ugze3o/doesnt_matter_elodin_said_in_an_offhand_way/) if you're curious.
Let's start with stones, sophists, and fallacies
>“What will happen if I let go of this rock?”
>I thought for a bit. Simple questions during lesson time were very seldom simple. Finally I gave the obvious answer. “It will probably fall.”
>He raised an eyebrow. I had kept him busy over the last several months, and he hadn’t had the leisure to accidentally burn them off. “Probably? **You sound like a sophist, boy**. Hasn’t it always fallen before?”
>I stuck my tongue out at him. “Don’t try to boldface your way through this one. That’s a fallacy. You taught me that yourself.”
The scene is especially funny because Ben is literally a sophist
>A sophist was a professional travelling teacher in ancient Greece in the fifth and fourth centuries BC. Sophists specialized in one or more subject areas, such as philosophy, rhetoric, music, athletics, mathematics
but in our case it's more important to look at the etymology of 'philosophers', not just sophists
>A philosopher is literally a "**lover of wisdom**," from the Ancient Greek φιλόσοφος (philósophos), combining φίλος (**philos**, "loving") and σοφία (**sophia**, "wisdom")
Pretty simple, yeah? Beware of Folly. Love Sophia. You get it. Ben uses the rock to teach Kvothe about probabilities and *Alar*, the cornerstone of sympathy, and is not just focus. It's about clearing your mind and maintaining belief. Just because it always fell before *does not* mean it will fall this time. It probably will though.
>He brandished the slapstick a bit. “And none of your petty philosophy or I’ll make you sorry you ever took a shining to that little game.”
>I nodded. **I cleared my mind with one of the tricks I’d already learned, and bore down on believing**. I started to sweat.
Then Kvothe learns Heart of Stone, and plays Seek the Stone, his *Alar* becoming iron
>Practically, it teaches valuable mental control. If you can really play Seek the Stone, then you are developing an **iron-hard Alar** of the sort you need for sympathy.
Now we set that lesson aside for a moment and lets look at another mental state from Eastern philosophy called 'no-mind'. This isn't about focus, it's about emptying your mind. It's about silence.
>The effortless state of "no mind" is one which is cultivated by artists, poets, craftsmen, performers, and trained martial artists, who may or may not be associated with Buddhism or Daoism. In this context, the term may have no religious connotations (or it may retain it, depending on the artist's own context), and is used to mean "**the state at which a master is so at one with his art that his body naturally and spontaneously responds to all challenges without thought**". This has been compared to the psychological concept of flow and "being in the zone"
No-mind is the mental state where you respond *without thought*. Kvothe does this often and without meaning to. Sim comments on it:
>“The world needs people like you,” Simmon said in the tone of voice that let me know he was turning philosophical. “You get things done. Not always the best way, or the most sensible way, but it gets done nonetheless. You’re a rare creature.”
>“How do you mean?” I asked, my curiosity piqued.
>Sim shrugged. “Like today. Something bothers you, someone offends you, and suddenly you’re off.” He made a quick motion with a flat hand. “**You know exactly what to do. You never hesitate, you just see and react.**” He was thoughtful for a moment. “I imagine that’s the way the Amyr used to be. Small wonder folk were frightened of them.”
So for no-mind, instead of focusing on the stone and your Alar turning iron, you focus on Silence, Oneness, Emptiness. For the purpose of engaging that
Theatrical
Today i feel inspired to pick up an old thread. This post pointed out how lanre and selitos are litraly a guy standing in front of a mirror:
https://www.reddit.com/r/KingkillerChronicle/comments/1ufnvdm/skarpi\_took\_another\_drink\_no\_more\_than\_a\_sip\_this/
Wich reminded me of an old idea of my own thats elaborated here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/KingkillerChronicle/comments/1qi16cn/thespi\_the\_first\_actor/
Because when do we talk to our mirror image? The answere is a sort of rehersal. Its practicing lines.
But it gets better because what if lanres betrayl is a oneman show?
>Lanre spoke to the Cthaeh before he orchestrated the betrayal of Myr Tariniel.
Who speaks those words that lanre speaks? who do we wittness speaking them?
Skarpi says
>"No,” said Lanre.
To rephrase in that very second lanre and skarpi said no out of the same mouth. This is not a story that happend and now gets told this is a story that happens while its beeing told. Telling and happening are the same thing here. Take this one for free and have a look where else they are the same thing.
\-
And remember if your in need of another eye color dont use a spoon to change your contact lenses,
else you might hurt yourself. Instead do it with your fingers or ask for help.
https://redd.it/1ui5hwv
@kingKillerChronicle
About the bloodless.
What would happen if you had an arrow catch right behind you and you tried to fire a crossbow away from it?
If i understand the way it works properly, i think it would deflect your own shot.
Now if I imagine a squad of archers all loosing their arrows at once while standing around the device, i can't but think one of them will get hurt.
Thoughts?
https://redd.it/1uhwsyk
@kingKillerChronicle
My cousin found this in a book he bought
https://redd.it/1uhge70
@kingKillerChronicle
not acquiesce to that idea.
Anyway, let's build a timeline for the Lackless mother:
* 17 y.o. - marries Aculeus Lackless
* 18 y.o. - Netalia born
* (19-31 y.o. - sons born, or bastards born?)
* 32 y.o. - Meluan born (32 makes sense as an older age for a woman to give birth at this time)
* 34 y.o. - Netalia runs off with a Ruh troupe
* 35 y.o. - Netalia gives birth to Kvothe's
* (\~ 40 y.o. - sons/bastards killed in Tinuë fighting in the bloodless rebellion)
* 46 y.o. - Netalia killed
* 49 y.o. - grandson Kvothe enrolls in the University
Now, because Simmon details the Lackless lineage soon after Kvothe enters the University, and it only shows one parent, the Lackless matriarch must have died at or before 49. And she must be alive at least til the birth of Meluan. So, the Lackless matriarch dies sometime between age 32 and... Let's put the upper bound at 48, since her passing seems to be common knowledge by 49. Personally, I think the matriarch probably dies closer to 32 than 48, for Meluan to have such strong concern for family duty and lineage. Also, given her prejudices, it just doesn't feel likely that Meluan had a strong female role model growing up, or anyone advocating for Netalia's decisions
If Aculeus was out there having bastard sons, maybe there is a bastard daughter as well... Yes, I mean Denna. She certainly has a strong physical resemblance to Meluan, as is often noted. Is she Kvothe's half-aunt? I can believe it. The Lackless rhyme (WMF version) speaks of a son who brings the blood (Kvothe) being needed to open the entrance to the Lackless door. Maybe it doesn't need to be a son. Maybe there is another. Denna.
https://redd.it/1uh9e6t
@kingKillerChronicle
The Lackless Family line - theories, speculation, and timeline
My sister asked me about Netalia and Meluan, and before I knew it I had written a full ass wall of text, so I thought I'd share.
The Lackless family is interesting to think about. Yes, I do think Laurian is Netalia Lackless traveling under an alias. Let's take it as a given, being probably the most accepted theory in the series. There are clues in the song Arliden wrote about her, and we learn in one of the early chapters that Kvothe's mom came from a noble family before she was a trouper. And all the other stuff frequently mentioned around here, blah blah blah.
We are given 3 Lackless names. In book 2, Kvothe learns in Severen that young Netalia Lackless ran off with a trouper and forsook her position as heir. When Sim names the Vintish line of succession in book 1, he names Aculeus, then Meluan Lackless. We know that Meluan is the new heir, leaving Aculeus to be the father (or mother, but in this world, this sounds like a male name. This is my operating presumption).
Kvothe's mom Laurian is about, let's say, 28 when she is killed (Kvothe's age, 12.5, plus "Arliden robbed her of her virtue", and also, being called "young Netalia Lackless" at the time of leaving... therefore, 16).
When we meet her, Meluan is still described as young. The fact she is in a regarded noble family, the way she is pursued by all manner of young suitors as well as the Maer, all rings of "debutante" to me. Let us guess that she is 17 or 18. We'll call it 17.5.
Kvothe is right around his 16th birthday (3.5 years after the killing of the troupe) when he's helping Alveron court Meluan. Therefore, Meluan was about 14 when Kvothe's mother is killed.
Let's summarize what we've so far surmised:
>Aculeus - probably the father
Netalia - Kvothe's mother, and \~28 when she is killed
Meluan - Netalia's sister, and \~14 when Netalia is killed
14 year gap. No male heirs, in a patriarchal society. Interesting. This also means that Meluan is only 2 YEARS OLD when Netalia disappears. Of course she hates the Ruh and doesn't understand her sister's choice. She has no real memories of her! She was brought up for the last 15 years hearing from father about how Netalia did wrong.
I might guess that the Lackless mother had trouble bearing children. Or perhaps there WERE sons, and they were killed in combat during the 'bloodless rebellion' we hear of (that's the conflict that resulted in the independence of Tinuë, freeing it from the control of the Lacklesses). This may in fact have been a very recent conflict -- maps refer to "The Free City of Tinuë". This would probably not be important to call out, unless it was specifically a recent event. Also that episode 1 of the KKC TV series was set to titled "Tinuë Burns". Tinuë is even more relevant to the Lackless story if the bloodless rebellion was quite recent (Theory: The Lackless lands are just north of Tinuë). It may also help explain the Maer's interest in Tinuë -- it's an important city near his region that thinks it should be independent. Maybe he sees it as ripe for a conquering, if its government has only been in power for \~15 years. Marry Meluan. Win Tinuë back for her.
Aaaanyway. So, the Lackless mother had trouble bearing children, OR, the sons were all killed fighting for control of Tinuë. "Wait," I hear you say, "It was called the bloodless rebellion. So uh, probably no one was killed." Ah, perhaps that is not the entire truth! Or, perhaps, frustrated at the matriarch not being able to produce a male heir, Aculeus went and had some bastard sons out of wedlock, and THESE bastard sons are the ones who are killed. They might be called bloodless, unable to inherit, but perhaps being raised as wards, with the thought of installing them as the governors of Tinuë, etc... and the folk of Tinuë did
