I had forgotten how utterly awesome that rhyme is. Creepy and mysterious, but just familiar enough that you can feel the knowledge of what it is at the edge of your consciousness. Now that I'm done with school I'm definitely rereading this.

 

A ring unworn... Maybe the wooden ring the Maer's wife gives to Kvothe? It is mentioned that no one would ever be expected to wear it.

 

Except as shown in the beginning when the "Story of Kvothe" is told he is wearing the wooden ring along with the bong ring. I'm wondering much more about where he gets the other 8 rings.

 

That is amazing.

 

Up to this point in the books the majority of Kvothe's powers (while amazing and difficult) have not been more than preparation plus opportunity. Sure, he's freaky smart and has the Alar of ramsian(sp?) steel, but I'm waiting for him to wield fire and lightning, naming the elements he sees in the world. We've seen glimpses of this when he calls the wind or when a Master Names something, but I want to see it in actual action. Hopefully at some point in the Door of Stone Kvothe starts swinging for the fences and unleashes something that is all sorts of cool and resembles more the legend he builds for himself than the actual events that take place (even if those events are pretty cool in their own right).

Particularly, a fight between two semi-legit Namers would be epic. All the conflict involving the deep magic that we have witnessed thus far has been pretty one sided and internalized (Breaking Ambrose's arm, Naming Felurian[again, sp?] in the fae, etc). I want to see a dual between two Namers, throwing around jets of flames and erecting walls of stone in defense. But now it sounds like the Dresden Files, while awesome books, might be bit cliche for the series.

The closest thing we've come to such an epic type battle between such mythic powers was Bast and Chronicler when they almost went at it in the first book. Lame.

 

No, no, no.

You've missed the point entirely.

And it makes me sad.

In this world, it's not epic duels of stone and fire. It is reason, logic, and grabbing of the tits. Do you see!?

The sky is blue.

Goddamnit, I don't know how best to put this. The potential for epic-fire-battles is there, but for it to descend to that point, means a lot else has failed.

 

True, but it's not as if the poem is directed personally at Kvothe.

 

So much this!

 

The only epic naming I want to see is Hemme insulting Kvothe's heritage and abilities as an arcanist and Kvothe experience one last relapse of plum bob. Especially if this the basis of the story the man from the caravan spoke of in the beginning of NotW. About how the stones were shattered and couldn't be mended. This is assuming the story about how he broke Ambrose's arm hasn't simply been embellished.

I see this is as highly possible because 1. Kvothe's pride is going to get him in trouble again. 2. Hemme is an idiot who likes to run his mouth. I know this because only an idiot would insult Elodin the master name who broke out of the rookery.

3. Kvothe is obviously one of the better students at the university. His name is both praise and curse as chronicler puts it. Kvothe says, and Kilvin doesn't disagree, he is better possibly the best. He even exceeds Elodin expectations by the end of TWMF. Dal also says he hasn't had a student so talented in years, Im thinking Elodin was the last one because we know Elodin was arguing with Dal when he called the name of the wind. With another name or two, preferably fire or lightning simply because I associate fire and lightning with Kvothe from the number of times he mentions them, Kvothe will be most likely be one of the most dangerous members of the arcanum.

4. The plum bob. I don't think we have seen the last of the relapses for some reason. And under that influence Kvothe is extremely dangerous.

Other than that no epic naming. Kvothe's story is very much based on what people though he did or heard he did. Not what he actually did.

 

I am fairly certain Devi was the student referred to in that dialogue with Elxa Dal.

 

Why can't we have both? I mean, he's not gonna kill the Chandrian - or try to at least - without some kind of epic fire. And having an epic battle doesn't mean that you have to discard everything else. It's not like this book is gonna turn in DBZ if there is one.

 

I only want one! Not a whole slew of wizardry but just a tiny flash of "Oh shit that kid could have torn the whole world apart at that moment". I would hate for the books to degrade to such uber power levels, but as I know the powers are out there I want to see them in action before all is done.

Preferably, right after this he loses his faith/mind/alar and becomes Kote. Looking his true name in that damn chest.

 

To be honest, I wouldn't mind if all of the Name stuff was removed entirely, and Sympathy was the only magic system. Sympathy is so much more interesting and original.

 

The next book cant come quick enough. It hasnt even been a year....

 

I'm rereading them now, and I noticed earlier today that the wood of Kvothe's thrice locked chest (roah) is mentioned to smell of citrus. Aren't the Ctheth's tree and the Lackless box described in a similar manner? I can't remember, or remember if this was mentioned before.

 

It's definitely a specific wood, heavier like stone.

The Cthaeh's tree is described as-

And Meluan's box is described as-

I think it is fair to guess that Kvothe's chest is made of roah, while the Lockless box is made of the same wood as the Ctheah's tree. That would be my bet at least. As to what that implies is inside Meluan's box... well I'll leave that up for further speculation.

Bit of a tangent- is it redundant to put quotation marks inside a quote box? I'm unclear on the SOP.

 

If you ever need another idea for a fic - not now, dammit, you've got enough on your plate - it should be a Kingkiller chronicle fic with Elodin as an important character. Maybe even an Elodin-centric fic.

Damn if you couldn't pull off Elodin's unhinged yet lucid personality well.

 

What are the odds that the currency of the reward money for finding/killing Kvothe is the currency of the kingdom whose king Kvothe kills?

Pretty good in my opinion. Royals are the currency of Vintas. And near the beginning of WMF Kvothe is trying to convince Aaron of who he really is and says, "And suddenly your head was worth a thousand royals and a duchy..."

Seems to me this is further proof that the king Kvothe kills is the king of Vintas and we all know Ambrose isn't that far from the throne and there is still 5-6 years before Kvothe becomes known as Kvothe kingkiller.

 

In WMF, it's mentioned that several people between Ambrose and the throne are killed at sea by pirates, something which also almost happens to Kvothe in an unfortunate 'accident'. The implication that his family is killing their way to the top is heavy, and it fits common storybook themes for Kvothe's nemesis to rise in power parallel to him.

It seems like the obvious conclusion, and for that very reason I think Rothfuss will either avoid it, subvert all expectations in the execution of it, or make the king vs warlock malarkey utterly insignificant compared to the conflict between Kvothe and Ambrose as characters.

 

Im not saying it is Ambrose I personally think its a stretch to jump from 15th or so to king in 10 years. Im saying I think its the King of Vintas which could be Ambrose by the time we get that far.