thorgrim29
2011-08-13, 10:24 PM
I found Wise Man's fear in a bookstore a few days ago, and despite final exams (we have summer terms because of internships, long story) and A Dance With Dragons (heresy I know, but if Dresden is popcorn, Kingkiller is crack), it is now finished. I really liked it (could have stood less time with Ferulian and Tempi and more with the Adem and Elodin, but that's just me), and I thought we might have a speculation thread, see where everyone thinks the story's going.
There will be spoilers and speculation in this thread, everyone is warned twice, no need for spoiler tags unless you talked to Pat Rothfuss and he gave you some secret info
I've browsed the TvTropes WMG page, and the interesting ones seem to be mostly about where Kvothe's powers are gone, if his mother was Meluan Lackless' sister, who's the king he killed, and just how much of trouble the world is due to Kvothe (and therefore possibly the Ctaeh's influence), so let's start with those. Oh and of course what happens after book 3, but that's a given.
-Kvothe's powers and skills: I think they are not at all gone due to some curse or broken promise, merely asleep, as Bast says. If he knew he had no powers, he wouldn't have tried to light up the skinchanger in book 1 with Sympathy, or tried to open his chest. Also, a curse would not explain why his combat skills are just as rusty as his magic. I think he's basically just so good an actor that when he started playing the role of Kote the innkeeper that persona slowly started becoming his true self, much like after he saved Fela the hero persona started imposing itself. I believe by the end of book 3 he will be thinking more like Kvothe the Bloodless and less like Kote the innkeeper, and I claim as proof (well, clue) the fact that he started practising his uber-martial art/meditation kata at the end of book 2, something he has presumably not done since he bought the Waystone.
- About his parenting... I think it's very possible his mother was Meluan Lackless' sister, but it would be a bit contrived, maybe she came from a lesser branch of the family?
- I have no theories about the war, other then the rebel king the farmers spoke of might be the Maer
- Who's the king he killed? Ambrose or his father would seem to be the logical narrative choice, or maybe the Maer.
- What happens after book 3? I don't think Kvothe dies, especially since it's pretty unlikely he manages to get expelled from the University, resolve the mystery of the Amyr, kill the Chandrien and settle things with Denna in a book, not to mention loose his Adem sword, get Folly, return to Felurian, meet Bast, etc..., and I don't think Kvothe would consider his story done if the last 2 had not been done of at least failed completely. So I think he'll reclaim most of his skills, who are perhaps locked away in a corner of his mind along with his music (music he has mentioned several times is about as essential to him being himself as his intellect, music he has specifically not used since he opened the Waystone unless a crowd was singing).
Also, I think his expulsion will have something to do with Ambrose and Kvothe doing alchemy, since the book he's always trying to get Bast to read is an alchemy book, and you can't teach what you don't know.
There will be spoilers and speculation in this thread, everyone is warned twice, no need for spoiler tags unless you talked to Pat Rothfuss and he gave you some secret info
I've browsed the TvTropes WMG page, and the interesting ones seem to be mostly about where Kvothe's powers are gone, if his mother was Meluan Lackless' sister, who's the king he killed, and just how much of trouble the world is due to Kvothe (and therefore possibly the Ctaeh's influence), so let's start with those. Oh and of course what happens after book 3, but that's a given.
-Kvothe's powers and skills: I think they are not at all gone due to some curse or broken promise, merely asleep, as Bast says. If he knew he had no powers, he wouldn't have tried to light up the skinchanger in book 1 with Sympathy, or tried to open his chest. Also, a curse would not explain why his combat skills are just as rusty as his magic. I think he's basically just so good an actor that when he started playing the role of Kote the innkeeper that persona slowly started becoming his true self, much like after he saved Fela the hero persona started imposing itself. I believe by the end of book 3 he will be thinking more like Kvothe the Bloodless and less like Kote the innkeeper, and I claim as proof (well, clue) the fact that he started practising his uber-martial art/meditation kata at the end of book 2, something he has presumably not done since he bought the Waystone.
- About his parenting... I think it's very possible his mother was Meluan Lackless' sister, but it would be a bit contrived, maybe she came from a lesser branch of the family?
- I have no theories about the war, other then the rebel king the farmers spoke of might be the Maer
- Who's the king he killed? Ambrose or his father would seem to be the logical narrative choice, or maybe the Maer.
- What happens after book 3? I don't think Kvothe dies, especially since it's pretty unlikely he manages to get expelled from the University, resolve the mystery of the Amyr, kill the Chandrien and settle things with Denna in a book, not to mention loose his Adem sword, get Folly, return to Felurian, meet Bast, etc..., and I don't think Kvothe would consider his story done if the last 2 had not been done of at least failed completely. So I think he'll reclaim most of his skills, who are perhaps locked away in a corner of his mind along with his music (music he has mentioned several times is about as essential to him being himself as his intellect, music he has specifically not used since he opened the Waystone unless a crowd was singing).
Also, I think his expulsion will have something to do with Ambrose and Kvothe doing alchemy, since the book he's always trying to get Bast to read is an alchemy book, and you can't teach what you don't know.