The Wise Man's Fear
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Why does Kvothe have no skill?
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yeah i think its because hes Kote and not Kvothe, something happens that limits his abilities sure we will know the truth in 2 to 4 years time, cmon Rothfuss.
There are numerous and lengthy theories about this on various forums. But the one you mention, that he's changed his true name, is probably the most popular and the most likely (in my opinion).
Wrong topic type. Like this, you'll have a hard time keeping track of all the answers as soon as all the hardcore theory fans come in.Please never forget, these books were told from Kvothe's perspective. His first person perspective. You can never trust your first person narrator if you are a reader. After all, rumours become legends by word of mouth.
Kvothe tells the Chronicler at the beginning of book 1 that the version of his story he tells is the one he likes best. What makes you possibly think that everything he told him is true?
I don't know where the theory about Kvothe changing 'his true name' comes from. Maybe some Eragon fans? You can find the true name of something in this series. Sometimes it's quite elusive or changes all the time, like the name of the wind. But so far Kvothe never mentioned 'real names' when it comes to humans.
Humans are too complex for that.
I bet the most simple explanation is, that Kvothe is a very good actor. Using magic at his inn? Suspicious!
Sparrowlicious wrote: "Wrong topic type. Like this, you'll have a hard time keeping track of all the answers as soon as all the hardcore theory fans come in.Please never forget, these books were told from Kvothe's pers..."
I agree. I don't think he used magic because that would blow his cover. He's waiting to die so he's obviously hiding from something/someone nasty. Maybe they can pick up his use of magic.
the two most prominent theories so far are that Kote is either lying or exaggerating about kvothe or that Kvothe changed his true name to Kote.the former means the books were a complete lie, the latter means that the whole trilogy has been completely predictable
It's probably going to come out. I have a feeling he messed up with that evil tree in the fay realm.
i thinks its the fact that he change his name, there is few reference in the books about it like this one (view spoiler)
my theory is that he locked him name away in the lackless box
In regards to Sparrowlicious saying there has been no mention of true names :Kvothe is given the name Maedre and was told not to tell anybody. Im sure that wasn't for nothing.
Also, Elodin tells Kvothe that he could not have subdued Felurian with the name of the wind alone. He must have known Felurians name as well.
Also, remember after Kote tried to fight the two mercenaries and got his butt kicked, he says, Forgot who I was for a second there.
I most definitely subscribe to the Kvothe somehow changed his name and locked it in the thrice locked chest.
I also think there is something of importance in the thrice locked chest, however, what if he didn't lock his name away? What if he's just exaggerating, or out of practice?The one thing that I can't reconcile is how he managed to kill the scraelings. If he was just Kote, how did he manage that?
What does the wise man fear? His attempts to do the right things, however always went wrong and though he tried to correct those mistakes by doing the things right, still always led to more tragedies.Eventually he discovered the truth about his destiny and his powers – powers far too dangerous and which cannot be easily rid of. So what else is there to do for the greater good than to lock them away? Behind doors – behind one’s heart of stone and its secrets to be forever forgotten whispering within the name of the wind.
Thus ends the third day and a man standing behind the bar, gazing into the night, waiting to die...
... Is there a reason for someone to wait for his death (a natural death)? In all his stories he mentioned that he was many times close to the edge of death. There seems to be a reason why he cannot die until his duty, destiny is fullfilled.
I go for the changed his name theorie. Sometimes the wind can destroy whole cities and somtimes it is just a pleasant breath, I think that's why its name changes. Elodin said that peolpe could change their name, so maybe that's what happened to Kvothe.He changed from a hurricane to a drizzle (to use a John Green metaphore).I don't think he lied about his magic abilities, maybe exaggerated a bit, but Bast would have noticed if he just lied.
I doubt Bast would be there if Kvothe were lying about the kind of abilities he had. What possible reason would a creature of the Faen have, dealing with someone without any real power?
If Kvothe has been lying or exaggerating his story then everything we've read is a complete lie. I choose to believe that everything Kote says is true about Kvothe, if he's lying how else could the author set up mystery's surrounding the chest and context to Kote's depression. I don't understand how people can exactly say that Kote has been lying, we know the fae is real due to Bast, we know Kote can fight due to the scrael, all the evidence in Kote's story points directly to evidence in the future within Kote.
People are only saying this "kote is exaggerating" bullshit because if he isn't then Kvothe is a Mary-sue and that really puts a massive hole into the authors writing.
Seems that some fans will go to the length of creating sub-context's without viable proof AND WITH proof of non-existence; just to show their author doesn't write cliche'd books.
Meanwhile, the valiant knight, Ser Idcboobs, continues his crusade against The Kingkiller Chronicle, proclaiming that literature must be written in the pattern of an IKEA-manual; the holy grail being a literary internet community where ancient pagan practices such as clever narrating and reading between the lines are persistently shunned as "bullshit".
There's a short story in that, Paul. Title: Obsession.
Paul Martin wrote: "Meanwhile, the valiant hero, Ser Idcboobs, continues his crusade against The Kingkiller Chronicle, proclaiming that literature must be written in the pattern of an IKEA-manual; the holy grail being..."Hey all i'm saying is that the whole kote exaggerating thing is complete bs and everyone knows it
I'm trying to follow your metaphor and it's just leading me to an arrogant man who prefers misleading people with words instead of saying what he means. All i can interpret from what you mean however is that you don't know what you're talking about and you're trying to call me out.
I'm fine with both, call me out on disliking a book and an author, if you think i'm the only person who feels this way then so be it, you must know by now though that there are many, many people who know how badly they've been ripped off, just check the reviews of pats new book. This question section is not the time or the place though, if you're done attacking me for attacking your idol you could kindly stop hanging off every word i say, like Renee says, it's obsession. What Renee forgets though is that without context, calling someone obsessed is the equivalent of telling everyone near you that you've run out of genuine discrepancy's and would prefer following a mob mentality instead of private message.
All this because i dislike a book and i don't care to say it out loud, on a site that's main purpose is the review of novels??? how dare i.
Idcboobs wrote: "Hey all i'm saying is that the whole kote exaggerating thing is complete bs and everyone knows it"You really are the master of arguments.
"Everyone" does obviously not know it considering how many of the reviews/topics/groups talk about whether or not the narrator is unreliable.
you must know by now though that there are many, many people who know how badly they've been ripped off, just check the reviews of pats new book.
Again, wow. The book has an average rating of 4.55, so the horde of people who feel they've been ripped quite obviously doesn't exist. Of course it has some one star reviews, and so does War and Peace and The Brothers Karamazov . You see what I'm getting at, right?
And you can stop moaning about being attacked by me. If you can't handle being called out on your narrow minded ranting, then I suggest you relocate. If not, stop complaining.
You know what's kind of sad? You spending all this time and energy trying to defame a book, its author and its fans. Why don't you spend more time on the boards of books you actually like?
Negative reviews are naturally as valid as positive ones (and hey, it's fun to be the unpopular one every now and then, god knows I've done it too), but constantly repeating your own blatant generalizations and accusations of a whole group of readers (which is what you're doing, whether you know it or not) and then act indignantly as if you're the victim when people respond? That's just silly.
Paul Martin wrote: "...Negative reviews are naturally as valid as positive ones (and hey, it's fun to be the unpopular one every now and then, god knows I've done it too), but constantly repeating your own blatant generalizations and accusations of a whole group of readers (which is what you're doing, whether you know it or not) and then act indignantly as if you're the victim when people respond? That's just silly. ..."
You're being kind, Paul.
It's being an attention whore.
I hope he's been exaggerating his abilities. Is he unable to activate his skills, or afraid to? So far I'm going with the latter, because I suspect someone nasty and powerful has an auto-watcher scanning for use of magic at his level, which means he's done something he can't finagle his way through and hiding is the only option.
Paul Martin wrote: "Idcboobs wrote: "Hey all i'm saying is that the whole kote exaggerating thing is complete bs and everyone knows it"You really are the master of arguments.
"Everyone" does obviously not know it c..."
Eh, weird how a book that hasn't been released has a 4.55 rating, of course i was exaggerating when i said everyone, although when you do look through the reviews and questions you most definitely do find quite a bit of people who are coming to the realization of what the author is pulling.
I don't feel like i'm moaning or being attacked to be truthful, i'm okay with an argument, i enjoy it, however like i said this question topic is nor the time or place to discuss this.
The time and effort i put into "defaming this book", compared to really anything I do is insignificant, i put more time and effort into actually reading the books. Talking about the time people put into things they are passionate about is hardly a negative comment, hardly sad at all to be honest. I would spend more time on books that i enjoy but really, i spend the time reading books i enjoy and i leave my feedback on those books in ratings, it's simple really. This series however warrants more time and effort into the discussion of the ethics of the author seeing as it is actually quite a big discussion, which we honestly see happening right now as it occurs within threads that have no relevance.
You're right though, i am constantly repeating my accusations. Not sure how that's a negative comment either really seeing as my original comment was on topic to the discussion, however i don't exactly see where i've accused the readers of anything. If you're talking about my comment on how the "Exaggerating of Kote is a complete bullshit idea used to compensate for the authors repeated cliche's and use of mary-sue like characters" then i fail to understand how that could possibly be "silly" seeing as it's completely within the boundary's of the topic being discussed
Also Renee stop, I embrace the discussion, like i said, i enjoy the arguments. I don't relish in the thoughts of having people feel the need to comment back at me due to me being an "attention whore"...really?
Doesn't exactly help with my accusations of you having run out of genuine negative feedback and how you have been resorting to simple insults more than anything. That's mainly why i use an anonymous account really, this way the only feedback people can have on me as a character are on the comments and reviews i write, if you think disagreeing with how an author acts towards and treats his fans is somehow "attention whoring" then please, feel free to comment towards me or even private messaging me instead of feeling the need to 'team up' with the closest person who agree's with your distaste of my opinion.
Because in this world names are all important, names define us, allow control, and grow as we do. When he deliberately changed his name to Kote he turned his back on everything that was Kvothe. Kvothe may have been powerful but Kote is a simple innkeep and he's who faced those threats.
I guess Bast is a abreviation/ annotation for "Bastard" (not as a swear word). He might be the result due to the time Kvothe spent with Felurian. Felurian might has sent him to guard Kvothe from any harm and to bring him back to the Fae to keep his promise to her.Do you remember when Bast told Chronicler that he wants "his Kvothe back"? That has some meaning in it.
I don't think Bast and Felurian are related. Bast didn't seem like he knew Felurian much when Kvothe was speaking about her.
Paul Martin wrote: "Meanwhile, the valiant knight, Ser Idcboobs, continues his crusade against The Kingkiller Chronicle, proclaiming that literature must be written in the pattern of an IKEA-manual; the holy grail bei..."God I've missed you guys.
I,m almost willing to pay for Idcboobs copy of Doors of stone if he promises to do a joint read and review with Paul.
I know, right. Don't be fooled by the deceivingly unfriendly tone; we really do love each other.
Personally I don't buy the whole Kote is making stuff up/ exaggerating theory.The fact Kote/Kvothe is being targeted by spider monsters and demons pretty much points towards him being a big deal, I far prefer the Power of names theory or even Kvothe having a massive case of PTSD.
Regardless of how it turns out we know that Pat rewrote nearly 60% of the final material so whatever the answer ends up being is likely very different from the intended.
Remember folks Darth Vader was once a minor character who dies in the first movie.....Ideas evolve
Paul Martin wrote: "I know, right. Don't be fooled by the deceivingly unfriendly tone; we really do love each other.":)
What I still find Odd is Idcboobs rates this book higher than the first.Maybe he likes Ninjas ?
Marc wrote: "Personally I don't buy the whole Kote is making stuff up/ exaggerating theory. The fact Kote/Kvothe is being targeted by spider monsters and demons pretty much points towards him being a big deal, I far prefer the Power of names theory"Are the two theories mutually exclusive? I believe them both. You're right that Kvothe is obviously a big deal, but calling him an unreliable narrator is not the same as saying that the whole story is made up. I just think he's somehow tweaking it.
Are many people claiming that the whole thing is made up? That doesn't make much sense to me.
Paul Martin wrote: "Are the two theories mutually exclusive? I believe them both. You're right that Kvothe is obviously a big deal, but calling him an unreliable narrator is not the same as saying that the whole story is made up. I just think he's somehow tweaking it."Maybe some tweeks, like I said in another thread, Kote actually dismisses some of the bigger kvothe myths (the bloodless/didnt fight a dragon) so unless his plan is to sell little lies by telling greater truths I dont see a point.
Maybe hes actually underselling himself, any evidence that points to oversell also proves the reverse.
Who knows maybe the final twist is the Chandrian turn out call Kote out for boring travelers with his grampa simpson stories.
"Are many people claiming that the whole thing is made up?"
Theres a bunch of Uber fans who think the whole thing is a story within a story, that this is all a performance within a song within a story with is the mythos of Edema rue .....within a taco.
Ranked the second higher than the first because i liked the mystery involved i guess, first was a better book but really i dislike them both the same amount. I guess i enjoy a book with a lot of questions that force people to come to their own conclusions, kinda worrying for the final book that so many people came to the same conclusions thoughI still believe though, that everything Kote says is true, i mean he emphasizes how the edema are storytellers and are pretty into telling story's, can't imagine him completely lying about himself.
And honestly i don't see the need for him to exaggerate either, if he's already a massive deal, myth's and rumours spread about him why would he want to make himself an even bigger deal?
Idcboobs wrote: "I still believe though, that everything Kote says is true, i mean he emphasizes how the edema are storytellers and are pretty into telling story's, can't imagine him completely lying about himself. And honestly i don't see the need for him to exaggerate either, if he's already a massive deal, myth's and rumours spread about him why would he want to make himself an even bigger deal? "
There is a theory about why Kotes telling his tale in the first place.
Its goes with the whole power of names thing. Kvothe gave up some of his name (not all as that would make him pretty much cease to exist), were are told about how altering a "Name" alters the very nature of a thing but Kvothes teacher friend. The missing part of Kvothe is in the box, but he cant open the box because he cant remember himself, the box only opens for Kvothe....and Kote isn't kvothe.
So deaths finally coming, the whole silence in three parts thing. Kote tells his tale to "remember" who he is. Its a power of stories thing, he corrects the misinterpretations because it has to be a whole and true story so that he unlocks that Kvothe part of his personality.
Or maybe the big twist is Kote is Robert Stanek.
He must have done some horrorful things to be this regretful character as he is now, or perhaps he was even forced to. Maybe he had no choise but to kill the one he loved?You know, being a great arcanist with knowledge of martial arts and stuff. Why do you waste your time being an innkeeper when the world is in peril? Or why are your nemesis still roaming the world?
Because there's a price on your head? At least that's what the story is.Maybe being tired of life, confidence in yourself all but dead, doubts of your own essential goodness, feeling like everything you've done has turned to ashes and death . . . hiding yourself away where you can't do any more damage.
Son_Snow wrote: "He must have done some horrorful things to be this regretful character as he is now, or perhaps he was even forced to. Maybe he had no choise but to kill the one he loved?You know, being a great a..."
Kvothes known as the Kingkiller.....the country s still in a state of anarchy and open banditry.....Guilt ?
Also doesn't Kote translate as "disaster"
Marc wrote: "Idcboobs wrote: "I still believe though, that everything Kote says is true, i mean he emphasizes how the edema are storytellers and are pretty into telling story's, can't imagine him completely lyi..."yeah that was the conclusion i came to after reading the second book
Son_Snow wrote: "What does the wise man fear? His attempts to do the right things, however always went wrong and though he tried to correct those mistakes by doing the things right, still always led to more tragedi..."A wise man fears and departs from evil,
But a fool rages and is self-confident
(proverbs 14-16)
Seems to make sense in the context of the series
That does fit well, Marc. Nice connection.One of the things I love so much about this story is that there are no extraneous details. All the puzzling pieces fit together somehow, but we can never quite be sure of what the whole picture is going to look like until the last few pieces have been found and put into place.
We can conjecture and theorize all we like, but we just don't know.
The conversation with Elodin about name changing seems the closest thing we have to an explanation. From what I remember there's a scene where Kvothe semi-jokingly talks to Denna about her knowing his true name. My guess is she does find his real name eventually and gives it to the Chandrian or his other enemies.It does seem obvious that something related to his power is locked in his box.
Renee said it best, all of the small details that seem related are definitely related.
Keep in mind, it has been a couple years or so since I read both books. But based on what I do remember: I think the quote Thor uses above explains enough for readers to understand. Kvothe is an actor. He can "seem" to be whatever he wishes, and do it remarkably well. Bast's explanation to Chronicler encompasses this idea. Something happened that brought Kvothe to the Waystone Inn and convinced him to fade into the background of the world, and we won't know until we get Doors of Stone, which I've heard may release in 2015. Kvothe has studied the true names of things, understands what it means to know a true name. He wanted to disappear (for whatever reason, which we don't yet know), and to do that he is either "seeming" to be Kote or actually "being" Kote. I do not believe he is irrevocably Kote, that he permanently changed his true name. Bast wants his Reshi back. He wants Kvothe back. So doesn't that mean Kote is still Kvothe, meaning Kvothe has chosen to "seem" like a boring innkeeper? Remember that at one point (I can't remember if it was in Name of the Wind or Wise Man's Fear), Kote accidentally uses Sympathy, shattering bottles of wine from across the bar. If he is no longer Kvothe, then how could he still know and use Sympathy? Kote wouldn't know it because he's just a humble innkeeper, right? Bottom line: I think that whatever terrible thing Kvothe did, which we will learn in the next book, it was enough to make him put aside all that he once was. This does not mean he cannot regain it back. He chooses not to "be" Kvothe. Instead, he "seems" to be Kote. Bast believes Kote can be Kvothe once again. I cannot accept that Kote is just exaggerating everything or lying about everything. Making the entire story a lie? I don't think so. As for the lockless box? Yeah. That must have something to do with it, too. We will just have to wait and see how it all fits together.
I just hope I live long enough to find out. I've only got a couple of decades left.
Sparrowlicious wrote: "I don't know where the theory about Kvothe changing 'his true name' comes from. Maybe some Eragon fans? You can find the true name of something in this series. Sometimes it's quite elusive or changes all the time, like the name of the wind. But so far Kvothe never mentioned 'real names' when it comes to humans.Humans are too complex for that. "
Try reading the part where Kwothe ask Master Elodins what hapens if a person changes his name.
His reaction to the question very much indicates that it is possible and very dangerous to do so.
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For example, in Name of the Wind, Kvothe goes to some length to show how adept he is at sympathy. However, when they are attached in the inn, he is unable to perform any sympathy at all on the demon possessed soldier.
In Wise Man's Fear, he is unable to do any of the Ketan on the soldier he is brawling with. That's not exactly correct, he tries to perform some of the Ketan but they have no effect.
I would love your opinions on this.
Do you think Kvothe is exaggerating about his abilities or do you think he has done something to himself which prevents him from using his abilities?
I have a sneaking suspicion that he has somehow changed his True name, altering what he is able to do. He has somehow rejected his true nature so deeply that it has no affected what he is capable of.
What do you guys think?