I agree - Ambrose is too built up to not be included and supplies our tie to royalty. However it goes down, he will somehow be involved and likely lead to the confrontation where the king dies.

 

Agreed. The other thing of note, as I mentioned in an earlier post, is that Kvothe is likely hiding out in Vintas in the present day. Either that, or some other minor country that uses Vintish currency. Sort of interesting that he remained in the part of the world where the authorities would most want his head on a platter.

 

Just finished reading and rereading the books and noticed something i don't think has been pointed out yet.

In NotW it is established that Ambrose is in line for the throne, and he is 16th in peerage.
But what was also thrown in was that Meluan lacklass was ahead of Ambrose in peerage, which was before marrying Maer.

I think its an established fact at this point that Meluan is Kvothes aunt. The poem in NotW by Kvothe's dad basically stated her name at the end.

If you take that peerage= line to the throne then that would mean that Kvothe is ahead of Ambrose for the throne. I'm guessing that this conflict over who gets to become king will lead to the conflict that makes Kvothe's sword a poet killer. Whether that poet is Ambrose or Ambrose's father i haven't seen any hints about.

 

I don't think Kvothe has much of a claim to the throne, though. From what I can recall, he's the illegitimate son of a mother who was disinherited for what she did. People like that don't tend to make much headway in the line of succession.

 

No.

Kvothe was born out of wedlock and thus out of any lines of succession regardless of his parentage. He's not a legitimate heir to the family and does not carry its name.

The "Kaysera, the poet killer" line was assigned by a mistold story. Caesura's name MAY have a double meaning, but it may just be a twisted reference to the name's other meaning as an internal break in the metre of a certain nation's poetic form (which nation it is, I can't say with certainty unless I check my book). It's first named at the moment where Kvothe sees the beginnings of Fela falling in love with Simmon, after Simmon recites a poem written in such a form. Rothfuss may have Kvothe accidentally kill or somehow be responsible for Simmon's death, and the story be embellised by hearsay like his others. There's no way of knowing.

Only two things are certain: Ambrose is an arrhythmic jackass, NOT a poet, and Kvothe will not be in line for the throne. It'd be handed to him too easily, and his character is defined as being awesome without having more than quick wit and the clothes on his back.

And a vast intellect, musical genius, magic powers and the ability to satisfy a woman. But they don't count.

 

To be clear i don't think that Kvothe has a legitimate or clear line to the throne, if he did there wouldn't be a civil war going on at the moment. The rebels have to be fighting to put someone on the throne, Kvothe already seems to be a symbol of opposition against Ambrose and his royal connection would make a good reason to rebel. The fact that his mother was disinherited is a pretty big hole in this theory though. I guess i can always hope Meluan reverse the disinheritance on her death bed.

Kvothe still has to steal a princess though so i guess that could be his legitimate connection to the throne. NotW did mention prince regents and a royal family so i guess the princess could be a Vinti one.

 

If this were true I highly doubt Kvothe would be hiding in a tavern in BFE. He'd have an entire army at his disposal! I wouldn't be sitting idle with power like that.

And I believe the poetry is in Eld Vintic. I'm assuming we can conclude its genesis from its name.

 

I do think lines of succession are going to play a moderately significant role. Why? The other day, Rothfuss wrote on his Facebook:

Now, this may have just been random musing. But it seemed to me that it was a hint, and reminded me of Ambrose and all the talk about how far he was from the throne.

 

Rothfuss Q&A

Hi Everyone,

I've been lurking on these forums for a while but have never posted for a few reasons, mainly due to my horrible grammar/spelling and not knowing how to post.

I saw this Q&A interview with Rothfuss and thought it was quite interesting and almost answers a few of the questions in this thread. I say almost answers because he often refuses to talk more on spoilers subjects. He also has his ideas on Denna and how babies are made. Hopefully this hasn't been posted before.

http://vimeo.com/27217461

There are also other interviews with him that are very good too.

Sorry for any mistakes, hope you enjoy the video.

 

On the topic of Rothfuss Q&A, he's taking questions in the comments section of his blog at the moment.

That said, he's only answering retarded questions like "Gandalf vs. Merlin" and questions about high-fives, so if you want to ask him anything meaningful or about the books, don't bother...

 

U MAD TAURE?

Though seriously, not really a spoiler or hard to answer.

 

Yeah, it really does keep to all the rules:

Bite sized: can be read in 10 seconds, can be answered with a yes or no. Only one question in the comment. I only asked 2 questions in total. The spelling and grammar is fine, and it wouldn't involve him giving out any spoilers. The only "rule" it appears to break is that the question isn't trivial enough.

I considered writing a reply explain all of this, but meh. If he wants to be a douchebag about it, it's whatever. Worldbuilders probably won't be getting another donation from me any time soon though...

 

If you go against the rules you should expect to be called out on it. Hell, the same thing happens here all the damn time.

Seconding that Pat++.

 

The only rule Taure broke was having multiple parts to a question, and even then both parts were basically different ways of phrasing the same question. It wasn't a spoiler and didn't really break any other rules either. Pat can be as protective about spoilers as he likes, but it was kind of a dick move to call him out on shit he didn't even do.

I don't know, is it unusual for fan Q&A to ask about the books? If I wanted to know random details about a person's life I'd ask a friend.

Also, just a quick note about the interview that was posted a little while ago. One of the questions was about how it was difficult to represent characters on first person, specifically Denna. Pat offered possibly the most bullshit explanation I've heard. He said that it was mostly women who had a problem with Denna, and it was because they a) had a 'big sister' complex toward him and thought she wasn't good enough, and b) wanted to date him themselves, which he followed with "Sorry, hes not going to date you" *chuckles*.

Honestly felt like punching him for a second. I'm one of the more Denna-receptive people on this board, and even I can acknowledge the huge flaws in that relationship and the flat character he gives her for the most part. I hate it when authors brush off stuff like this and push the blame onto fans.

 

When I first read it I thought you were breaking all the rules as a joke, but on second glance at the list you weren't violating any of them. At best, it seemed like you were simply asking him: "Do the previous books contain clues to what will happen next?" At worst, answering the question would just motivate more speculation. It wouldn't give anything away as far as I can tell.

As much I admire him, gotta admit he was a bit of a dick...

 

Denna's the moon, though. Right? I've been reading http://www.tor.com/features/series/patrick-rothfuss-reread and it makes a convincing argument.

 

I haven't read the books in a while, so I'm unsure as to whether I should understand that phrase or not. On the other hand, I'm on holidays and have a lot of free time. I'll report back after I've read the entire analysis. And just to clarify what I said, I think there are reasons to people hating Denna, not just irrational character love and reactionism.

In her introduction, she supports the Ambrose as King theory. Probably my biggest pet hate about the entire series. Goddamnit. There is a lot of interesting stuff, but she also missed some very obvious clues, while assuming things I totally disagree with. Mostly minor stuff, but still.

Spoiler

Holy crap, what a theory. Denna as being, literally, the moon. Her name stolen by Iax and trapped in the world, she moves in and out of Kvothe's life in much the manner of the moon into fae. Maybe thats where she disappears to. Reading this thing has left me with a great impression of the importance of the moon. I always got the feeling it was big, but damn. So much stuff is related to it. The theory supports her strange behavior, which often made no sense to me, but might for an astral body. And her body must be truly out of this world, if the theory is true.

An updated version of the theory is that Denna possesses a portion of the Name of the moon. Since (during the Denner Resin scenes from book 1) she died as a child momentarily and came back with a different spirit, possibly. Makes a lot of sense, really. But it does sound so bloody ridiculous its hard to take seriously.

 

Patrick Rothfuss is doing an AMA ("Ask Me Anything") at reddit.com/r/Fantasy on December 20th - http://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/n3f2d/patrick_rothfuss_will_be_joining_us_for_an_ama_on/

No restrictions on questions here...this is your chance, Taure.

 

Lol, I should copy/paste the exact same question and see if he remembers.

Other questions I would love to see:

- Is there any connection between the magic of Names and Sympathy?

- How would you respond to those who consider the sexual content in Wise Man's Fear as too close to wish fulfilment?

- What are your feelings on the Adem's philosophy about the baby-making process? Was it meant to be a philosophy that the reader should take seriously (albeit metaphorically), a parody of feminism, or just part of a story which means nothing beyond being a part of a fictional world?

- How difficult do you find it to have a protagonist who is unashamedly good at everything he does, but also maintain real conflict?