Kingkiller Chronicles Speculation

[metaphasia]

So, I have recently been doing a rereading of Kingkiller Chronicles, and wandering through the tor.com reread threads as well, which has made me think about my thoughts about the series, and speculation as to what will be coming in the next novel. I call what I’m going to outline below the “meta theory”, partly as a reference to my screen name, but mostly because it’s not so much a single theory as it is a collection of smaller theories aggregated together.
On that note, while I strongly doubt that all my speculation is correct, I think that any given point on which I have theories has at least even odds for being correct, and that most of the points are either wholly or partially right. In other words, while I would be shocked if I’ve correctly outlined everything that will be told on Day Three, I do think that most of the major beats I’ve outlined here will be seen.

The Meta Speculation, or A Fair Mystery
Generally speaking, the best detective stories are the ones that play “fair”. By which I mean that they provide sufficient clues that, if a reader has paid careful attention and thinks about it, they are capable of solving the mystery that has been presented. When insufficient information is given, it causes readers to experience disbelief, that the ending is a deus ex machina since it seemed to come out of nowhere. I believe that Pat Rothfuss is aware of these sorts of issues, and is trying to play fair with the books that he is writing - that there are sufficient clues in the text so that, when the third book is released and everyone knows how the story ends, that they can go back and reread and see the evidence that was pointing towards the actual ending all along. In other words, I am operating under the assumption that there is foreshadowing in the text as to what is going to eventually happen, and while the evidence we gather may lead to several possible endings that seem plausible, the real ending of the story will be foreshadowed, and not a surprise.

The Meta Speculation Part 2, or A Beautiful Game
Before I delve into the theories that I have developed, I want to take a moment to highlight two theories that I became familiar with from the tor.com reread. When I first read through Wise Man’s Fear and encountered Meluan for the first time, I was sure, absolutely and completely, that she was Kvothe’s aunt, from the first time it was mentioned that she had a sister who was kidnapped by Edema Ruh. I just had no way to prove it, until I read through the tor.com reread, and saw the theory advanced by Alekhia that the rhyme that Kvothe’s father told him once of “It’s worth my life to make my wife not tally a lot less” is homophonic for “Netalia Lackless”. The second theory that I want to discuss is by Thistlepong, that the eponymous king that Kvothe kills is Roderic Calanthis; since a caesura is “a break in an eld vintic line” of poetry, and Roderic is the last of the “eld vintic line” of kings, the sword Caesura will be used to kill him.
The reason I want to mention both of these theories specifically, is that I am convinced that both of them are correct. So, if these two theories are correct, what can they tell us about what to expect? Well, both rely on elegant wordplay and puns built into the story that serve as foreshadowing for what will happen. The “not tally a lot less/Netalia Lackless” homophone, and the double meaning of caesura and “eld vintic lines” are both similar in that they describe events yet to come and are based in clever phrasing. So, if this sort of foreshadowing is Rothfuss’ style (or, at the very least, Kvothe’s style, which is not necessarily the same thing), are there any other instances in the text that would support this “style” of clever wordplay foreshadowing future events?
I believe there is. Throughout the first book and a half, we get constant references to the “ever-moving moon” and Elodin even asks during one set of admissions questions “Where does the moon go when it is no longer in our sky?”. But it is not until Hespe’s story during the hunt for bandits that we begin to get a hint of what is actually going on with the moon, and Felurian who finally confirms that the moon, in fact, does leave the sky of the world of Temerant and winds up in Faen. I think this incident in particular confirms that clever, elegant wordplay can be seen as foreshadowing, and that the two theories that I mentioned above are correct.
Put together, these two meta-speculations also give us a helpful barometer to determine if we are on the right track, or have gone off into full blown Illuminati conspiracy depths. The more elegant a theory is, the more evidence that supports it in the text, if there is a piece of clever wordplay that alludes to it, the more likely we can be certain that it is correct, in whole or in part.

On Naming
Naming is one of the core aspects of the series, and how exactly this magical power works is referenced, but never outright stated. Since it is central to some of my theories, I want to go over how I understand the power to work on a technical level, and make sure that everyone else reading this is on the same page.
It seems to be that there is a True Language, that when one speaks in it, that utteration has power; that Names are words spoken in the True Language. The Sleeping Mind that people have is capable of understanding this True Language; when it wakes up, a person is capable of speaking and understanding the True Language directly, but when the Sleeping Mind is slumbering, it subconsciously translates the True Language into a more mundane language for people. It is also possible to train yourself to understand specific words in the True Language, so that you can speak certain Names even when your Sleeping Mind remains asleep. While this is similar to many other magical powers throughout fiction, I grew up reading Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series, which has the power of the Speech, which I think is very similar, and caused me to arrive at this specific understanding of how Naming works.
The most useful piece of evidence of how Naming works we get is at the end of Name of the Wind; when Kvothe calls the Name of Wind down on Ambrose, his sleeping mind awakens, and he enters a semi catatonic state. Wil and Sim summon Elodin to help him, and Elodin asks him to say “aerlevsedi”, but Sim hears Elodin say the word “wind” instead. Elodin knows the Name of Wind, which is “aerlevsedi” (or, is at least at that moment, since there are several references to “the ever changing name of the wind” throughout the series); Kvothe has his sleeping mind awake, and is therefore able to understand the Name that Elodin is saying; Sim does not know the Name and has his sleeping mind asleep, so only hears a translation. This is Elodin testing Kvothe, since Elodin is mostly sure he has correctly diagnosed the problem, that Kvothe spoke a Name in an emotional moment, but wants to make certain that his Sleeping Mind actually woke up and it wasn’t some clever piece of Sympathy that Kvothe performed. I am also convinced that if we knew what Wilem, heard, it would be the Cealdish word for wind, since his sleeping mind would translate True Language into his native tongue, although there is no evidence in the text to support this.
This explanation for how Naming works is supported by when Kvothe asks Elxa Dal about the Name of Fire; Elxa Dal Names Fire to alight a brazier, but Kvothe hears him say “fire”; at this point in the text, Elxa Dal knows the Name of Fire and so is able to speak it, but Kvothe’s sleeping mind is asleep and translates it for him into the word “fire”. Elxa Dal also confirms that he said something else that Kvothe just heard as “fire”.
The third incident that I want to discuss in regards to how Naming works is the time when Kvothe and Elodin visit the Rookery, and Elodin uses Naming to break the stone wall. The first time I read this section, I interpreted the description of the air as “different, thicker” to mean that the creators of the Rookery had placed some sort of block on Naming over it, that most people couldn’t sense that made it more difficult to speak in the True Language. Therefore, the first time Elodin tries to Name his way out of the cell, he says “break” because they had adjusted the block to counter his first escape, and the second time he says “cyaerbasalien” which is the Name of stone, and Kvothe is capable of hearing it because whatever the block is brought his Sleeping Mind closer to waking or had some similar effect.
However, when I was recently rereading, I found speculation on the tor.com reread that “cyaerbasalien” is actually a Yllish word, which - I’ll be honest, I’m absolutely rubbish at identifying the root language of a word, especially a fictional one, so this being a Yllish word had never occurred to me. However, the more I thought about it, the more I think it makes sense. My new interpretation of what happened during this scene is as follows.
We know that Yll is a very dependent language, with words changing meaning based on their relationship to other concepts; for instance, owning socks changes the nature of a person as pertains to the words used to describe them. So, I believe that initially, Elodin tries to Name “stone” but fails, because as a result of his escape they put copper mesh in the walls, to change the nature of the Stone, so that if someone tried to Name “stone” it would fail to break the walls. Elodin Names stone, Kvothe doesn’t know the Name of Stone and his Sleeping Mind is asleep, so he hears it translated as “break”. But Elodin is able to figure out what the masters have done, and Names “stone with copper mesh inside” - I’m assuming that if you know the Name of stone than you also would know the name of specific types of stone, subsets like that, but it would be difficult/impossible to figure out just from looking at it. And since there is no word in English (or whatever language Kvothe is normally speaking - Aturan?) for “stone with copper mesh inside” his Sleeping Mind translates the True Language into Yllish, since it is the only language that has a word for “stone with copper mesh inside”.
We know that esoteric and elemental concepts, like Wind, Stone, Iron, and Fire all have names, but people and Faen also have Names - Elodin tells us that it is possible for a person to change their Name (and that doing so has consequences) and that Kvothe managed to Name Felurian during his duel with her. This gives us a good idea as to what objects, or types of objects have Names.
The last piece of the puzzle as to how Naming works is what Elodin tells us at the end of Wise Man’s Fear - that it is possible to change a Name, and that doing so has consequences, but that Names and “calling names” are distinctly different. I think that this is slightly misleading - that it is possible to change or create a Name by using a “calling name” repeatedly and over time. This is the one part of how Naming works that isn’t explicitly supported by the text, but, as I will get into, seems to fit in three different places.

Til Brooklyn
Having your Sleeping Mind awake seems to be the way that people learn Naming. But, it seems that there are also consequences to this - we know from Kvothe’s reaction that it can drive people into a catatonic state. I think it also makes sense that leaving a Sleeping Mind awake for an extended period of time can cause madness and insanity. It’s a popular theory that after Kvothe’s family was killed, and he was living as a feral child in the woods and later in Tarbean, his Sleeping Mind was awake for most or all of that time, and it was only when he encountered Skarpi that it went back to sleep - that Skarpi Named him, to put his Sleeping Mind to rest, the same way that Elodin Named him and put his Sleeping Mind to rest when he Names Wind against Ambrose at the end of the first book. This could also explain part of the description of Haliax (or be supported by that description) - that he has been “sleepless” and “sane” for five thousand years, could mean that his Sleeping Mind was forced awake, and that it has been left that way for an extended period of time, which has caused some sort of psychic damage to him, but that he has not been allowed to go insane as most who have their Sleeping Minds awoke do. This suggests to me traces of the Medjay and Imhotep in the Mummy films - a group of guardians (the Medjay/Sithe) placed a curse upon a powerful person (Imhotep/Haliax) that caused him eternal torment, but also left him more powerful and needing to be contained.

A Tricky Proposition
It has been alluded to that copper either has no name - although it’s not part of the text, Pat Rothfuss mentioned in a blog post that someone sent him a copper knife, and that they were correct in their assertion that “a copper knife could be really useful if you wanted to kill a namer”. The fact that copper is what is put in the walls of Elodin’s cell also supports this - although Elodin is able to break the stone, he can’t break the copper mesh inside of it.
Fighting a Namer is, as just mentioned, a very dangerous proposition. If you bring a sword to fight a Namer, there is a very real chance they could turn the blade back against you, if they know the Name of Iron. I believe it is alluded to somewhere that Iron is one of the more common names for people to learn, which means that if you are going after a Namer, having a sword has a better than even chance of being more dangerous than it is worth - and, especially if Namers took care to hide which Names they knew, you could never be certain if the Namer you were trying to fight knew the Name of Iron or not, and you would have to assume that they did.
One solution to this problem is to wield a copper sword. If copper has no name, then a purely copper sword would be a weapon that you could use to fight a Namer without having to worry whether or not the Namer would be able to turn the blade back on you. The fact that Taborlin the Great is always referenced as having a copper sword supports that this was a common practice once, back when Namers were more commonplace.
I believe that the Adem found a different solution however. We know that at least some Adem fought at Drossen Tor during the Creation War, when Naming powers were rampant, so they must have found a counter to their abilities. Further, we know this because in the oral history of Saicere we are given, we are told that one of its past wielders fought at that battle, with Saicere. This is the first of the three ways that I think “calling names” can influence Names. I think that the Adem give their swords Names by the act of repetition and heritage - passing a sword down for thousands of years, always reinforcing the name of the blade and its prior owners by insisting that each owner learn the oral history of the blade, causes the sword to develop its name, or “calling name”, into a Name. And therefore, merely knowing the Name of Iron would not be enough to let you control an Adem sword, you would also have to know the Name of that particular blade - while some Namers might have their sleeping minds awake and be able to learn Names instinctually, most would not be able to learn the Name of a sword that they have never seen before. We know that individual people have Names, so it is at least plausible that individual blades could be given Names.
When Vashet is giving Kvothe his sword, she seems to go from more recent blades to older ones, before settling on one of the oldest blades that they had to give him. If Vashet is aware that Kvothe is planning to hunt Chandrian and go up against Namers, then it would make sense that she would give him an older sword, one with a more well established Name, that would be harder for someone who knows the Name of Iron to control.
But Kvothe changes the Name of the blade he is given from Saicere to Caesura, which could break the strength of the Name of the sword, and leave it vulnerable to Naming control, which could explain how Caesura is lost before the framing story. We know from Elodin that changing Names is possible, and that it has consequences, but not as simple as just calling yourself something different. If Kvothe does change the Name of the blade from Saicere to Caesura somehow (perhaps, by “breaking an eld vintic line” and killing the King of Vint), it could be what causes him to lose the sword before the frame story and switch to Folly.

No Party Is Any Fun Unless Seasoned With Folly
While we’re on the subject of Folly, I have a very specific theory as to the origins of this sword, that I have not seen discussed elsewhere. Everyone else seems to think that Folly is either Saicere/Caesura, or possibly Cinder’s sword. In fact, we are explicitly told when Chronicler asks Kvothe about the sword, that it is not Saicere/Caesura. I think it’s neither of those two blades - I think “Folly” is a nickname for the sword, that it has a very different name.
I think Folly’s actual Name, is Sword.
The first time the blade is described to us, we are told that it looks like “an alchemist had distilled a dozen swords, and where the crucible had cooled this was lying in the bottom: a sword in its pure form”. If “Sword” is a Name that can be spoken, that can summon an actual sword, then it makes sense that the sword it would summon would fit that description - that every time someone pointed at an object and said “that’s a sword” it would influence what the Name of Sword was, that it was a mathematical average of all those blades put together.
And, if Kvothe was asked what the blade was called, attempting to call it by its actual name, the Name of Sword, would cause others to hear the word translated by their sleeping minds into their native tongues, and just hear the word “sword” - Kvothe would have to find some other word to call it.

Joseph’s Techni-Color, Obviously
Speaking of Taborlin, and his artifacts, during the adventure in the Eld, the five party members speculate on what color they thought Taborlin the Great’s “cloak of no particular color” is. I can’t remember what I speculated it was when I was reading this section, because I am convinced I know what color it actually is based on what happens next. I think Taborlin’s cloak is a shaed, the same as the cloak made for Kvothe by Felurian. A shaed is described as being woven out of shadow - and shadow is an absence of light, a dimming of the surroundings. Therefore, a shaed could be described as “no particular color” since it is just darkness, a negative definition rather than a positive one.

Expect Disaster
The second reason that I think “calling names” can influence or alter Names was actually the first one that we encounter in the text. There is strong evidence that in the frame story Kvothe has changed his Name. Based on Bast’s descriptions of wearing masks influencing who we are, I think that went Kvothe started working at the Waystone, started calling himself Kote, it began to influence his Name. And he has spent so long working there, so long pretending to be Kote, that it has started to actually change his Name from Kvothe to Kote - that the reason that Bast was searching for people to remind him of who he used to be is to help him reclaim his Name of Kvothe by changing the way that he thinks of himself.

The Meta Theory I: They Have A Plan
All of this brings us to the heart of what I call the “Meta Theory”. It starts with one of the first bits of wordplay we are given in the books - the rhyme regarding the Chandrian. The rhyme ends asking us “What’s their plan?”, and I think that this is the crux of the entire story - the Chandrian are not acting randomly. They do have a plan, and the actions that they take are to further that plan and move them towards their eventual goal. And whatever that goal may be, it is strongly hinted at that somewhere there is a Lockless Door they need to open in order to obtain a critical component for their plans.
I phrased that as “a Lockless Door” instead of “the Lockless Door” because I think that Lockless Locks have actually been used a number of times in the story. We are told that in the oldest parts of the Lackless lands there is a “Lockless Door”; we are shown the “Lockless Box” by Meluan; and there are two other chests that seem to be closed similarly and function the same way. I think that the progenitors of the Lackless bloodline developed a way to seal something “Lockless”, and the way that that works is both the third instance of calling names influencing Names (third time pays for all), and the center of the theory.
Elodin tells us that there are consequences to changing your Name. I think it is possible to bind an object to your Name, so that only someone of the same Name can access or use that object. But if you bind an object to your Name and then change your Name, you will no longer be able to use the object.
We know that the Lockless family changed their name over generations, from the discussion on their genealogy - Meluan is not a Lockless but a Lackless. I think that the family changing their name caused the Lockless Name to change, to the point where they were no longer able to open Lockless locks.
There are two different “Lady Lackless” rhymes that are given to us, that seem to describe opening a Lockless lock - among the things that are required are “a son who brings the blood”. A Lockless Heir is needed to open a Lockless lock, an heir in Name and blood.
This is why the Chandrian have taken an interest in Kvothe. His mother is Netalia Lackless, which means that he is of the correct blood to be able to open a Lockless lock - but he also does not realize he is part of the family, and therefore does not identify himself as a Lackless instead of a Lockless. The Chandrian are hoping to use Kvothe as their cat’s paw, to open a Lockless lock for them, by having him Name himself a Lockless.
I mentioned that there were two other chests that seem to be locked Lockless style - the first is the chest in the Waystone Inn in the frame story. If Kvothe has bound this chest to his Name, and then changed his Name (or is in the process of changing his Name) to Kote, it would explain why he does not seem to be able to open the chest in the frame story. When he sobs over the chest at the end of Wise Man’s Fear, it is because his inability to open the third, Lockless, lock is confirmation that his Name is really changing, which he was afraid had begun to happen based on the incidents in the frame story, but did not have hard confirmation of.
The second chest that seems to be locked Lockless style is the one that contains the gold in the bandit camp, where Cinder was. This incident confused me at first - why would a Chandrian bother robbing tax collectors in the middle of a forest for no discernible profit besides some coin? The Chandrian are thousands of years old - surely, in that time, they managed to stockpile sufficient wealth that they don’t need to be robbing peasants?
But, if we work on the theory that the Chandrian have a Master Plan, and that a critical step in that is opening a Lockless lock, and therefore that locating a Lockless heir is a critical step in their Plan - then this incident makes sense. Suppose that when Kvothe’s family was killed by the Chandrian, and Kvothe had wandered off into the woods, the Chandrian questioned his parents about … all sorts of things. Where they had learned the songs that they had learned, who they had told of their theories. And the Chandrian discovered that Kvothe’s mother was Netalia Lackless, and that her son could therefore be a potential Lockless heir. But, they still had doubts. Thousands of years is a long time to wait, and they wanted to make sure that they actually had a potential Lockless heir. So, they set up a test, with a half Lockless locked box (maybe it responds to the blood, but doesn’t require the person to identify as a Lockless by Name). Cinder is sent to act as bait and draw Kvothe out, and does so by ambushing tax collectors belonging to the Maer, who Kvothe is working for. Kvothe is drawn into the Eld, and then presented with the box containing the tax money - a box that can be opened by someone of the Lockless blood only. Cinder makes a show of fighting Kvothe, then allows himself to be driven off. The other members of Kvothe’s party all try to open the box, but none of them are able to - not Tempi, Dedan, Hespe or Marten. But when Kvothe knocks on the box and says “edro” he is able to open it instantly - proving to the Chandrian that they have correctly identified a Lockless heir, and that they can proceed with their plans.

The Meta Theory II: Vorpal is Sharpest
If Lockless locks are or were commonplace, the door that bars the Chandrian (let’s call this one “the” Lockless Door, instead of just a Lockless lock) would make sense to have other safeguards - not just any Lockless heir would be able to open it. These safeguards would be those detailed in the Lady Lackless rhymes. One of the other things that we are told is required to open the Lockless Door by the Lady Lackless rhymes is either “a word that is forsworn” or “a sharp word, not for swearing”. I have two theories about what that word is, either or both of which might be true.
First, it’s possible that it’s the Name of Sword - that a Named Sword is somehow required to open Lockless locks. I don’t think this is correct, but I considered it because it seems to fit with the rest of the evidence. I can see a scenario where Kvothe and Cinder have their narratively destined battle, and Kvothe has the upper hand at first - he is probably in the 95th percentile of people in the world at sword fighting (just the amount of Adem training he has guarantees that - most people have no skill or training at sword fighting at all, only some mercenaries and soldiers, and being well trained would put you near the top of the global population even without being an elite). However, Cinder eventually overcomes Kvothe - he is on the order of five thousand years old, carries a sword around, presumably fought in the Creation War, and has evaded or outfought the Sithe and the Chandrian’s other pursuers for all that time. Maybe he kicks Kvothe’s sword out of his hands, or maybe he summons it - if Kvothe has broken its Name of Saicere, and left it vulnerable to Naming control by calling it Caesura - but either way, he stands over Kvothe and starts monologuing. Which is when Kvothe does what a reckless, desparate boy would do - he says the Name of Sword, creates a Sword, and stabs Cinder. And Haliax enters from just off stage, cackling maniacally, because Kvothe has just unwittingly given him the last ingredient to open the Lockless Door. After all, what word is “sharper” than the Name of “sword”? And when all is said and done, and Kvothe escapes with his life and the Sword, he calls it “Folly” for summoning it was what allowed the Chandrian to accomplish their ultimate goal.
However, I think there is a better candidate for the “word that is forsworn” that also fits the “clever, elegant wordplay” type of foreshadowing that is Kvothe’s style.

The Meta Theory III: Open, Damn You
I think the “word that is forsworn” is “edro”. Throughout the course of the books, “edro” is presented as a generic magic word, like “abracadabra” or “open sesame” functions in our world. It fades into the background, not only because we are used to such “magic words” being bandied about in stories and fables, but also because “edro” is the word for “open” in Lord of the Rings. However, what if it is possible to UnName a Name? In other words, to remove a word from the True Language, and stop it from working as a Name? This would fit with the description of “a word that is forsworn” since the True Language Name “edro” would not be a Name any longer. Also, based on the way that Naming works that I have outlined above, Namers are consciously aware of the Names that they have learned, and can speak those words, but they are translated by others’ sleeping minds. So, a Namer saying the Name for “open” (or whatever “edro” represented), would speak the True Language word “edro” but everyone around them would hear “open”. Until the Name was “forsworn” and removed from the True Language - at which point the Namer would say “edro” - and everyone else would hear “edro” instead of “open”. If commoners who were unfamiliar with how Naming functioned were present, or told the story, they could adapt the word “edro” to be a generic magic word - the word that you say when you are trying to make magic happen, but failing.

That … turned out way longer than I was expecting when I started writing this. I wasn’t planning on writing five thousand words of speculation for these books, and I certainly haven’t covered every theory I have regarding this world, but I think that all of these specific ideas are among the more likely possibilities for what to anticipate seeing in Kvothe’s rendition of Day Three.
As I said at the start of this post, these ideas are not necessarily all compatible with each other, and I would certainly be shocked if I got every detail correct. But I think that Pat Rothfuss is trying to play a fair game, give the readers the clues they will need to correctly guess (or at least recognize in hindsight) what the ending for this series will contain. I think that puns and double meanings and homophones and clever wordplay of all types are used by Kvothe to foreshadow what his story contains. I think the fact that the Chandrian have a Master Plan and are actively working towards, and that all their actions are made to further their goals. I think that their plan is based on opening a specific Lockless Door. I think that the Chandrian are actively planning on Kvothe’s presence to accomplish that goal, and that what makes Kvothe special for their plans is less who his ancestors were, but who he Names himself to be, that while he thinks himself the hero of his own story, he serves more as a cat’s paw for the villains. I think that “edro” was an actual magic word once, and might become one again. And I think that if holding someone’s story hostage against them is his greatest trick, then changing a thing’s Name is Kvothe’s greatest folly.