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Auri/Iax/the moon/doors of stone connection
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Also when Elodin promises he won't send Auri to Haven he promises on the ever-moving Moon, rather than the usual ever-changing wind. He says it's the the place for many, the only place for some, but he would not wish it upon someone if there were a better place. The Underthing doesn't seem like the nicest place to live, so maybe Elodin is implying she never went to the university.
Kvothe names her Auri because he believes it is Suiaru for Sunny.
If Auri is Ariel... then how come Kvothe 'steals' her? To be stolen, she first has to be kept, don't you think?I do think Auri went to the University and the part when Elodin reacts to Auri's name also caught my eye. I'm sure he knows her story, so I guess she studied naming. Besides, if she didn't go to the University, how can she make little lights and candles? And how does she know of the Ciridae?
I have the same problem as you. I keep turning things around in my head, but I just feel like there is too much missing, too much we don't know (how will all that fit in one book, i have no idea) and I try to bind the Chandrian and what the Chtae said and sometimes it makes sense in my head, but not most. It's a little frustrating. Besides, I can't comment or speculate with anybody because none of my friends have read the second book.
I apologize for another long post.In my theory I said that Auri is one of the Faen created by Iax from the piece of the name of the moon that he put in a box.
Some interesting things that connect her to the moon, is that she only comes out on nights when the moon is out, she's Kvothe’s little moon fae, on page 105 in WMF she tells Kvothe that of course she’s special because she’s lovely as the moon, 5 pages later Elodin swears on the ever-moving moon that he won’t tell anyone about her, and at another point she gives Kvothe a key to the moon. There's something connecting her to it, Pat wouldn’t do this without reason. The only other two characters connected to it are Iax, and Haliax.
If this is close to being accurate, then that would mean Auri's true name is in a box, a box owed by Iax, which means he has power over her. When Kvothe makes up a story about the hero The Chronicler, he says that if someone hides their name away they were safe from the Chronicler because he could not access their true name.
So if Iax owns her name he would basically own her, and no one else including her would be able to access it.
It's been made clear by Felurian that he's locked behind the doors of stone.
I think it's pretty safe to assume that the moon is the most important thing to Iax, he created to fae just to hide it there. If my theory on Auri's origin is accurate, then it's pretty safe to assume that if he weren't locked away he'd keep a pretty tight grip on her.
Here’s the quote you're referring to:
“I have stolen princesses back from sleeping barrow kings. I burned down the town of Trebon. I have spent the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life. I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in. I tread paths by moonlight that others fear to speak of during day. I have talked to Gods, loved women, and written songs that make the minstrels weep. You may have heard of me.”
I believe that Kvothe has taken all of these statements from stories about him, because he didn't burn down Trebon, he may have led the Draccus there, people may credit it to him, but he didn't actually do it. So he could have stolen Auri the way princes in fairy tales steal princesses from witches, monsters, and other evil creatures.
I think that in he set her free, but Iax would probably feel that she was stolen from him. Kvothe says he stole the princess back from the sleeping barrow king, implying that the sleeping barrow king stole the princess before Kvothe stole her back. At several points Kvothe says (like when he thinks about killing the Chandrian for revenge)that he'd have better luck stealing the moon, it could be foreshadowing, or just a reference to Iax stealing the moon.
I feel like if Auri had been a student then Kvothe wouldn't be surprised that Elodin knew her, only a handful of girls attend the University, and he would at least know her from admissions, and if a cracked student went missing I'm sure the Master's would be aware of that. Also Elodin seems to know more about her than he says, but he clearly states that they have never been within 10 paces of each other, or spoken more than a dozen words per meeting, despite years of effort on his part.
Also Auri has the appearance of a young women putting roughly in the 18-24 year old range, if she attended the University anywhere in the past 6-10 years Mola probably would have recognized her when Kvothe introduces them, especially considering all the girls at the University all know each other because there are so few of them, and they live in the same place, if one of them had cracked, I’m sure Mola would have been able to put the pieces together.
I think the reason why Kvothe believes that no one at the University has any idea of her existence, and the reason why neither he or Elodin mention her being cracked or ever having been a student, is because she wasn't a student, and Kvothe's sleeping mind recognizes that.
I don't doubt that Auri has some power we're unaware of, or partially aware of. She could be a namer, she probably is, she knows about naming, and when talking to Elodin about Kvothe she acknowledges Kvothe's skill at naming. If she has been alive since the time of Iax then that could also explain her knowledge on the subject, because naming was a much more common skill back then.
If she were a princess or at a noble with strong blood it would explain why she’s so obsessed with being proper, and why she is very proud and refuses second hand clothes. But if she were a princess or a noble one would think that her family would cause a lot of commotion for the University, and put a lot of money into finding out what had happened to her, I believe something like that would still be fresh in people’s minds. Also she talks down to Elodin, as if he is a troublesome child and that she is his superior, and refusing the things he’s left for her. He seems to have a great deal of respect for her, he doesn’t talk to her like she’s one of the patients in Haven asking if she’s okay, and if she’s getting enough food, he only seems concerned with pleasing her, and not upsetting her.
Also when it comes to her knowledge of the Ciridae, when Kvothe asks Felurian of them, she says there were never any human ones, if Auri is 5000 years old like Iax, Felurian, and Haliax, then she would have known of the Amyr when they were first formed. She may refuse to share her knowledge because she knows secrets about them, but she is willing to call Kvothe her Ciridae,basically stating that she is powerful enough to command one of the highest ranking members of The Amyr, a group so powerful that the Chandrian fear them.
I tried to find as many subtle connections as possible, every connection I found seemed to lead to three more things. So this is quite lengthy and complicated. But this connects , The Doors of Stone, Auri, the Moon, and Iax.
On the topic of Auri, as many people on this site have already stated, I also believe that she is Princess Ariel. I think Elodin knows who she is, and he let's Kvothe join his class, because he recognizes Kvothe's innate skill at recognizing the true names of things. Kvothe also calls her his little moon fae so I think she could possibly be fae (like Bast), and linked to the moon.
I think that Kvothe's sleeping mind has recognized Auri's true name, and so he fashioned her a name similar to he real one, and a nickname that describes what she is, but his waking mind is unaware of all of this. The same way that he recognized Felurian's name and spoke it, without realizing it.
Auri is very whimsical and eccentric which could be because she's faen, and not actually cracked. Or a combination of the two.
She seems to know a lot of non-University things, she obviously has a lot of secrets, and she has a lot of odd trinkets. So she is obviously more than meets the eye.
This is where it gets weird.
As for the sleeping barrow king I think that could very well be Iax, and that he is locked behind the Doors of Stone. Felurian states that the greatest shaper and namer of all time was locked behind the Doors of Stone.
According to Skarpi's story about the creation wars, Selitos names Iax as one of the most powerful namers, and it is made clear that he has been sealed behind The Doors of Stone.
If Lanre’s power kept him from being able to stay dead, then chances are a more powerful man with darker powers like Iax wouldn’t either, so after he was defeated in the Creation Wars he was forced into a deep magical sleep, so he could no longer be a danger to the world.
The Doors of Stone could very possibly be the Lackless Door. The Lackless family is the oldest family in Vintas, Kvothe tells Denna that Barrows don’t exist in areas like Trebon but are common in Vintas. It would make sense that the oldest and one of the most powerful families in Vintas would have one. The family may have been entrusted with watching over the place, the same way they watch over the Lackless box.
If Iax is Locked behind the lockless stone doors that are the doors to the Lackless family barrows, then that could make him “The Sleeping Barrow King.”
In the story about Jax it said he stole part of the moons name, and kept it in a box, in order to trap her in his folding house. I believe Jax is Iax, and the folding house is the Fae, and that the box he trapped part of the moons name in is The Lackless box.
Assuming this, and knowing Iax created the Fae, and the faen, it seems likely that if he did capture part of the moon's name in a box, that he'd be able to create a girl from that name, and that girl is Auri or Pricess Ariel. Kvothe’s sleeping mind recognized this when it discovered her true nature and her true name, hence the reason he calls her “His little moon fae.” If Kvothe opens the Lackless box, that could be how he frees Princess Ariel from the Sleeping Barrow King.
I was wondering what you guys thought on all of this.
I keep finding ways to tie the Chandrian into this, but I can't find substantial information that shows what Haliax wants to do, or how he plans to do it. But there are moons around his head on the the vase found in Trebon.