The Kingkiller Chronicle

The Kingkiller Chronicle

See list of books in series
Author	Patrick Rothfuss
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Heroic fantasy
Publisher	DAW Books

The Kingkiller Chronicle is a fantasy trilogy by Patrick Rothfuss (b. 1973), telling the biography of "Kvothe" (pronounced as "Quothe", but with a [v]), an adventurer, arcanist and famous musician. The plot is divided into two different action threads: The present, where Kvothe tells the story of his life to Devan Lochees (known as the "Chronicler") and Kvothe's past, where most of the story is located.

Books in the series

As of 2011, the first two books have been released, with the release date of the third still unknown.

1. Day One: The Name of the Wind (April 2007)
2. Day Two: The Wise Man's Fear (March 2011)
3. Day Three: The Doors of Stone

Structure

The series is essentially the biography of a famous musician, arcanist (a student of "The University", has "scientific" knowledge that enables the user to perform magic), and adventurer named Kvothe. After gaining notoriety at a young age, he disappears from public life and is eventually tracked down to a backwater inn by Devan Lochees, who goes by the name "Chronicler". After some persuasion, Chronicler convinces Kvothe to tell him his life story, which Kvothe announces will take three days (hence the name of the novel—The Kingkiller Chronicle, Day One—and its division into volumes). However, Kvothe's tale is occasionally punctuated by interludes set in the story's "present day", during which it becomes clear that faerie folk, known to the locals as demons, are showing up uncommonly frequently. Meanwhile, Kvothe's friend and apprentice Bast is unwilling to let Chronicler tell all of Kvothe's story, and Kvothe is implied to be an untrustworthy narrator. The story thus proceeds on two levels: Kvothe tells his life story via First-person narrative, while the framing device hints that his life story may not actually be complete yet. The 3 books are just divisions in the same narrative, none of them standing alone in the story.

Settings

The world is referred to as "the four corners of civilization" in the book, but the kingdoms are not explicitly named. Kvothe commonly travels, and the books follow his adventures across multiple lands.

Tarbean

Tarbean is described as the capital of the Commonwealth (one of the four kingdoms), and is (informally) divided into two sections: Waterside and Hillside. Waterside is the poorer section of the city, described as being similar to a slum and home to beggars, thieves and whores. Hillside is the more affluent section of Tarbean, home to solicitors, politicians and courtesans.

University

Situated across a river from the town of Imre, the University is the main center of higher learning described in the story so far. Students come from far and wide to study here. Master Elodin hints that the University is very old, with the subject of Naming having much more importance in the earlier days.

Several subjects taught at the University include:

• History
• Algebra and Geometry
• Sympathy: Sympathy is a type of magic based on a combination of voodoo and quantum entanglement
• Artificery: This is a form of sympathy based on runes and engineering
• Naming: Another type of "magic" taught at the University, which appears to be based on true name folklore
• Medicine: At the Medica
• Rhetoric/Logic
• Languages
• Alchemy

During Kvothe's time at the University, there are nine Masters each specialising in a different area. The first among the masters will also hold the title of Chancellor and they are responsible for the day to day running of the University:

• Master Physicker. Known holders: Master Arwyl
• Master Arithmetician. Known holders: Master Brandeur
• Master Namer. Known holders: Master Elodin
• Master Sympathist. Known holders: Master Elxa Dal
• Master Alchemist. Known holders: Master Mandrag
• Master Archivist. Known holders: Master Lorren
• Master Artificer. Known holders: Master Kilvin
• Master Rhetorician. Known holders: Master Hemme
• Master Linguist. Known holders: Master Herma
• Chancellor. Known holders: Master Elodin, Master Herma, Master Hemme

Ademre

A harsh, barren, rocky and windy land inhabited by the Adem people. Ademre is famous for its reputation of producing the powerful, capable, and talented fighters known as Adem mercenaries. It has many schools which teach different "paths" or styles of fighting. The people of Ademre practice a philosophy known as the Lethani. See In Ademre and Origin of the Lethani

The Fae

The world of fairies and other creatures that do not originate in the world of men. In the Fae, the sun and moon do not move across the sky. Instead, one can walk from lighter areas to darker areas, moving from morning to evening to night then back toward morning, or vice versa.

The moon sways between the world of the Fae and the world of men, tethered tight to both. The Creation Wars were prompted by one of the shaper of the Fae who pulled the moon into the world of the Fae. When the moon is full, the two worlds are close; it is then an easy matter for one of the Fae to enter into men through one of thousands of "doorways" between the worlds. Conversely, when there is a new moon, men can accidentally enter the Fae (at their peril). This is why wise men fear a moonless night.

Sympathy

Sympathy is a type of magic that can be done by focusing one's will. By believing that two or more objects are connected and creating a "sympathetic link", the sympathist can manipulate all of the connected objects at once. For example, by creating a link between two coins, a sympathist can move both coins while only physically moving one of them, though the action would take as much effort as actually picking up two coins. Another example would be linking a flaming match to a bonfire and dropping the match into a glass of water. Depending on how much thermal energy the bonfire has, the bonfire would either be extinguished, or the heat of the bonfire transferred through the match would cause the water in the glass to boil, all without the bonfire ever touching the water. Sympathy can also take on a voodoo aspect if a sympathist creates a doll of a person. If a sympathist can add some portion of a person to a doll (e.g., hair, blood), then heating the doll would cause hyperthermia in the person, chilling the doll would cause hypothermia, stabbing the doll would cause stab wounds, etc.

The energy for these actions can either be taken from the sympathist's body or from an external energy source (usually some form of heat). The sympathetic link between two objects can either be strong or weak, depending on the similarity between the two objects. The strength of the sympathetic link depends upon similarities on shape, size and material, as well as how strong the sympathist's will is. For living objects, strength can be increased by using a portion of the body (e.g., hair, blood, etc.). The weaker the link, the more energy goes to waste in performing any action.

Sympathy can also be made permanent without constant attention from a sympathist in the form of sygaldry. Sygaldry is a skill that uses 197 different runes to create words and sentences, which in turn creates sympathetic bindings. Sygaldry can be used to create anything from handheld lamps to clocks to refrigeration devices.

Sympathy is viewed with extreme superstition by the populace and is associated with demons and dark powers.

Characters

Central Characters

Kvothe: Kvothe, pronounced nearly the same as "quothe" with the "kv" sounding as in the Yiddish word "kvetch", is the main protagonist of The Kingkiller Chronicle.

Kvothe is born as an Edema Ruh, wandering entertainers who are often despised and mistrusted. His father is Arliden, leader of the troupe, and his mother is Laurian who fell in love with Arliden and left her home to be with him.

Throughout his life Kvothe (which his father once told him meant "to know") accumulates a multitude of names: E'lir; Reshi; Dulator; Shadicar; Lightfinger; Six-String (named after his self-taught ability to play a lute with only six strings instead of seven), Kvothe the Bloodless (inspired by his use of painkilling pharmaceuticals during an administrative flogging, side-effects of which resulted in significantly reduced bleeding); Kvothe the Arcane; and Kvothe Kingkiller. The name Maedre—which can mean The Flame, The Thunder or The Broken Tree depending on the pronunciation—was given, or seen in him, by Magwyn, a namer of the Adem. He was also given a sword by the Adem called Saicere (meaning to break, to catch, and to fly) which he prefers to call Caesura (meaning a breath taken in a line of poetic verse).

Living as an inn-keeper in a small, remote town, he uses the name Kote, which translates into "disaster". This is the "present" in which the books are written, when Kote/Kvothe is telling the true story of his life to the Chronicler. To the rest of the world, the famous Kvothe is believed to be dead and is the subject of many stories and songs. Though he thinks and acts like a much older and wiser person, Kvothe is not yet thirty years old. He has little regard for his own life, blaming himself for the troubled state of the kingdom and believing his life spent hiding has little worth.

The first novel in the trilogy, The Name of the Wind, is a retelling by an adult Kvothe of his own life, from his earliest memories to some point after he has gained access to the University's library. Born with fiery red hair, he is the only child of a pair of gifted and loving artists who head a talented and successful traveling entertainment troupe. With this upbringing, Kvothe himself becomes a good actor and has learned to play the lute by the age of 8.

Through the course of his family's travels with the troupe, Kvothe comes into contact with an assortment of people from who he is quick to learn a variety of trades and knowledge. One of these people is Abenthy (who he nicknames Ben). Ben and Kvothe become good friends, and Ben spends much of his time training Kvothe in the ways of science and the basics of sympathy. Ben also recognizes that Kvothe is a prodigy, learning anything taught to him after seeing it only once, and claims that whatever Kvothe decides to become as an adult, he will most certainly be the best. Eventually Ben leaves the troupe, but before doing so tells Kvothe that he should make an attempt to gain entrance to the University as soon as he is of age and capable. After Ben's departure, Kvothe is orphaned when his whole troupe, along with his parents, are killed by an ancient and mysterious group known as the Chandrian. Kvothe makes his way alone to the large city of Tarbean where he survives as a street urchin and becomes a proficient thief. During this time he is still grieving the loss of his family and home with the troupe, claiming he was not functioning with his whole mind and was living just to survive without any goals or thought of the future. Finally, after three years Kvothe is "wakened" from his state of grief after listening to a storyteller recount the tale of Lanre and the origins of the Chandrian. Now with a goal, Kvothe sells his most precious belonging, a book given and inscribed to him by Abenthy, and is able to make his way to the University and gain acceptance. Once accepted, Kvothe becomes obsessed with gaining access to the University library, known as the Archives, so that he can learn more about the Chandrian. This time of his life is difficult because most of the students are children of wealthy merchants or noblemen, while Kvothe usually has to get by on pennies.

Academically Kvothe does well, but he also develops a strong sense of pride due to his self-consciousness about being poor while among so many wealthy people. This sense of pride sometimes leads him to folly in the choices he makes at the University, one of them being that he develops a dangerous rivalry with a powerful, wealthy student named Ambrose, the firstborn heir of an influential baron. During this time he also begins to have romantic feelings for an elusive local woman, Denna, who frequents a tavern not far from the University and joined Kvothe in a memorable musical performance.

Denna: A beautiful young woman from uncertain circumstances, she flits in and out of Kvothe's life at unexpected times. She and Kvothe first meet when they are traveling in the same caravan, Kvothe to the University and Denna to a city named Anilin. It is during this trip that Denna and Kvothe partake in subtle romantic actions, spurring their incessant flirting throughout the novel. For unspecified reasons, she has no family or friends to rely on, and thus is in a position to understand Kvothe's poverty, though the attention (both personal and monetary) paid to her by suitors is generally enough to get by on. She is also a talented musician and singer, helping Kvothe show his talent by joining in on a difficult song which she had heard only a few times before. Denna, like Kvothe, does not speak about her past and frequently changes her name as she takes on different personas. By her own drug-induced confession, she is just as attracted to Kvothe as Kvothe is to her. She is supported, at least in part, by a mysterious wealthy patron of whom Kvothe is both jealous and suspicious.

At Kvothe's Inn

Devan Lochees: Also known as Chronicler. Chronicler is making his way to a small inn owned by the adult Kvothe in an attempt to secure an interview with him, and after some prodding, is able to convince a somewhat reluctant Kvothe to dictate his memoirs to him. Chronicler has developed his own note-taking language based solely on phonemes; this cipher allows him to take notes as fast as a person can speak, and could theoretically allow him to transcribe a language by pronunciation alone, and can only be read by Chronicler himself (at least, until Kvothe gets his hands on it). Chronicler is also knowledgeable about the fae, realizing Bast's true nature, and wears an iron pendant around his neck for protection. He is a distinguished graduate of the University's Arcanum, knows the true name of iron, the author of the first book Kvothe ever read at the Archives, and is considered to be the foremost biographer of his time.

Bast: Bast is a student of Kvothe's who assists him in running the inn. Although he attempts to pass himself off as human, Bast is actually a Faerie; he is over 150 years old and his whole title is Bastas, son of Remmen, Prince of Twilight and the Telwyth Mael. He secretly leaked the location of Kvothe to Chronicler in order to have Chronicler seek Kvothe out and convince him to tell his life's tale. He is concerned about Kvothe's mental state, fearing that Kvothe is no longer "acting" as Kote the innkeeper, but is instead wholly becoming "Kote". His greatest hope is that by recounting his life and adventures, Kvothe will cease being Kote and return to the man he originally was.

At the University and Imre

Ambrose Jakis: The firstborn son of a powerful and wealthy baron. Ambrose and Kvothe take an immediate dislike to each other; Ambrose holds Kvothe in contempt because Kvothe is young, poor, and not nobility, Kvothe hates Ambrose's arrogance and presumptuous attitude. They have repeated verbal confrontations, most of which Kvothe wins. Ambrose uses his wealth and influence to make Kvothe's life difficult by denying Kvothe a musical patron and most job opportunities. Kvothe, in turn, has broken Ambrose's arm by calling the name of the wind, set fire to Ambrose's rooms, wrote a song mocking Ambrose titled "Jackass, Jackass" (a pun on Ambrose's surname), and many other similar acts.

Master Kilvin: Master Artificer and one of Kvothe's most influential mentors. Kilvin is a large Cealdish man with a large beard and large hands. Kilvin is shown to have an extremely meticulous mind and he is able to recite long lists of work schedules and inventories from memory. Kilvin's prized possession is a collection of "ever-burning" lamps; Kilvin is attempting to discover a legendary substance that can burn forever.

Master Elodin: Master Namer. Eccentric but brilliant. The Chancellor before Master Herma, Elodin was 14 when admitted to the University, 18 when he graduated. However, an "incident" happened that the Masters don't speak of, and Elodin was locked up in the University's asylum until he regained most of his senses. He teaches Kvothe how to find the name of the wind.

Master Hemme: Master Rhetorician. He hates Kvothe for embarrassing him during Kvothe's first term and tries to make Kvothe's life in the University as difficult as possible. Hemme replaces Herma as Chancellor near the end of The Wise Man's Fear.

Master Herma: Chancellor of the University and Master Linguist. Herma falls ill near the end of The Wise Man's Fear and his duties are taken up by Master Hemme.

Simmon: Often called Sim. A close friend of Kvothe's. Simmon is skilled in alchemy and poetry.

Wilem: Often called Wil. A close friend of Kvothe's. Wilem is Cealdish and works as a scriv(librarian of sorts) in the University Archives.

Manet: A student who has remained at the University for thirty years. Taught Kvothe articifing in The Name of the Wind.

Fela: A beautiful woman at the University. Kvothe and Fela have helped each other out in several occasions, and Kvothe once carried Fela out of a burning building. Fela had romantic interest in Kvothe but Kvothe leaves for an extended period of time and she pairs up with Simmon.

Auri: A young woman and former student of the University who has gone "cracked" and lives in hiding in passages beneath the university. Auri is frightened by strangers, loud noises, and direct questions, but is befriended by Kvothe and is shown to greatly enjoy Kvothe's singing and lute-playing. "Auri" is not her real name, and she will not tell anyone her real name, so Kvothe named her Auri, thinking that the word meant "sunny", matching her personality.

Devi: A moneylender in Imre who makes loans to Kvothe so that he can pay his tuition. A former student of the University, she is extremely skilled in sympathy. Devi claims that she was expelled because she was capable of more than her teacher, Master Exla Dal. Kvothe has become good friends with Devi by the end of The Wise Man's Fear. It is known that Devi, Fela, and Mola are good friends as well.

Mola: A student at the University, she works in the Medica and has helped Kvothe with his injuries on multiple occasions.

Count Threpe: A patron of the musical arts living in Imre, he wants to help Kvothe and tries to find Kvothe a patron(unsuccessfully), as well as recommending him to the service of the Maer.

In Vintas

Maershon Lerand Alveron: Also called the Maer. Ruler of a major portion of Vintas, and descendant of the King of Vintas. During Kvothe's stay, he saves the Maer from poisoning, discovers a traitor in the Maer's court, helps the Maer woo Meluan Lackless, and destroys a minor military installation manned by more than 20 trained mercenaries and Cinder. The Maer is ultimately forced to dismiss Kvothe from his services due to his new wife's (Meluan Lackless) revulsion for the Edema Ruh. However, he allows Kvothe to travel and perform anywhere within his lands and pays for Kvothe's tuition at the University.

Meluan Lackless: Heiress of the Lackless family, which is an ancient family, older than empires, which once ruled vast areas of Vintas. In prior generations and branches it is also known as the Lockless, Loklos, Loeloes and the Lack-key family. In the oldest part of their estates there is rumored to be a secret door without a handle or hinges. Meluan reveals to Kvothe, under strictest promise of secrecy, that she possesses an ancient box without handle, lid, or hinges which contains some unknown threat and or treasure in the hopes that he can help her and the Maer find a way to open it without damaging the contents. Kvothe is able to discern there is some faint engraving on one side but has no recommendations. Shortly after, Meluan discovers that Kvothe is an Edema Ruh, a race of traveling troupers. Her hatred for the Ruh is because her older sister ran off with a Ruh man many years ago. Meluan gives Kvothe a wooden ring with her name on it, showing that to her, Kvothe isn't worth recognizing as a human being.

Stapes: The Maer's manservant and most trusted friend since childhood. Initially hostile to Kvothe, Stapes has a change of heart when Kvothe saves the Maer from Caudicus's poisoning and gives Kvothe a ring of bone signifying a profound and lasting debt.

Caudicus: An arcanist and alchemist in the employ of the Maer. Kvothe discovers that Caudicus has been killing the Maer slowly for many years by means of lead poisoning and warns the Maer. Though the Maer is initially distrustful, Kvothe is later proven to be correct and the Maer sends soldiers to arrest Caudicus. Caudicus kills several of the Maer's personal guard and escapes for a time, but is eventually killed by the Maer's servant, Dagon.

Bredon: A Vintas noble who lives at the Maer's court and befriends Kvothe by teaching him the game of tak (possibly similar to go) and teaches him court customs, especially regarding the giving and receiving of iron, silver, and gold rings which are used in Vintas to display and respect class and rank. According to the rumors circulating in court, Bredon is involved in pagan frolics.

In Tarbean

Skarpi: A relatively minor character in The Name of the Wind, though he has (in the present day) befriended Chronicler, and was instrumental in discovering Kvothe's post-kingkilling whereabouts. He enters Kvothe's narrative in Tarbean, as an eccentric old man who will tell any story asked of him. Kvothe asks for the story of Lanre and Lyra, two heroes of the ancient world-spanning "Creation War". It is the hearing of this story which breaks Kvothe out of his three-year subsistence-level existence on the streets of Tarbean and spurs him on to the University, to learn as much as he can about the Chandrian.

Trapis: An old man who lives in the basement of a burnt out building and feeds and tends to the needs of street children that nobody else would care about. Kvothe befriended Trapis during his three years of living as a street urchin in Tarbean following the murder of his troupe. In The Wise Man's Fear, after becoming relatively wealthy, Kvothe returns to Tarbean for a visit and gives Trapis gifts and money as thanks.

In the Fae

Felurian: One of the magical Fae, she is the most beautiful and sensual woman in either the world of mortals or the Fae. She crosses over into the mortal world to seduce men and brings them into her own world. There, she proves her power over them by driving them to madness and/or death through excess of yearning and sexual debauchery. Kvothe overcomes her power by (unknowingly) discovering her true name and escapes her by writing (but not finishing) a song praising her beauty and sexual ability. Since he was a virgin before being with her, he has no comparison point amongst mortal women against which he can compare her skills. If allowed to return to the world of men, he will then be able to both compare her talents to the lesser talents of other women and will be able to finish the song and spread the song among the world of men so that all will know of her beauty. Desirous of such added fame, she agrees, and he is allowed to leave, still sane but much more skilled in the art of love making, on the condition that he will eventually return to her. Before he leaves, she gives him a magical cloak called a shaed which she makes from shadows sewn together with starlight.

Cthaeh: An malicious entity living in a great tree in the Fae. The Cthaeh sees all possible futures and uses this power to tell people what will happen in a way that will cause the person to react and bring about the most harm to the most people. Its evil has caused so much harm that a faction of the Fae, the Sithe's, most important goal is to prevent anyone from having contact with the Cthaeh and kill anyone who does. Bast tells Kvothe that the greatest wars and disasters were caused by people who talked with the Cthaeh. Since Kvothe also spoke to the Cthaeh, he is not surprised how his own life has turned out. The Cthaeh helps Kvothe in his quest to find the Chandrian by telling him that Haliax has been alive for five thousand years and the Amyr may help him in his quest to kill the Chandrian, also suggesting that the only help he will get will be to go beyond the Stormwal mountains. The Cthaeh also tells Kvothe that Denna's patron abuses her regularly, and that while she's abused, she thinks about Kvothe. In The Wise Man's Fear, Bast reveals to Chronicler that he is more afraid of Cthaeh than of the Chandrian.

In Ademre

Ademre is a barren land of little value populated by the Adem because the Adem were forced out of every other land they tried to settle in. The Adem are highly skilled mercenaries who are trained to fight in schools and send their earnings back to their homeland to support their schools and families. The Adem follow a philosophy called Lethani and a barehanded/sword-fighting style called the Ketan.

Tempi: An Adem mercenary whom Kvothe meets in Vintas, under the employ of Maer Alveron. Tempi introduces Kvothe to the Ketan and Lethani, though he does so without permission of his teachers, facing rebuke and expulsion. Tempi is a capable fighter, but is revealed to be only mediocre by Adem standards.

Shehyn: An old woman and master of the Ketan fighting style as well as the head of the school in Haert, where Kvothe stays. She approves of Kvothe being taught the Ketan and the Lethani.

Vashet: Nicknamed "the Hammer", she is the teacher assigned to Kvothe to determine if he is worthy to become one of the Adem and so to learn their ways. Vashet teaches Kvothe how to fight barehanded and with a sword.

Penthe: A young woman, she is a highly capable fighter and beats Shehyn in a sparring contest. She is the first among the Adem to speak to Kvothe of her own free will.

Carceret: A female Adem who first rebukes Tempi for teaching Kvothe their secrets. She hates Kvothe and considers him a thief of their secrets. She hates him more when he is given the sword that once belonged to her mother.

Celean: An exceptionally talented student of the Ketan who becomes Kvothe's sparring partner. She is only 10 years old and much smaller than Kvothe, but wins their sparring matches on a regular basis. By the time Kvothe leaves Ademre, Celean enjoys his presence and talks about him often to her friends.

Magwyn: Grandmother of Vashet, Magwyn gives Kvothe the name Maedre, which can mean The Flame, The Lightning, or The Broken Tree. Later, Magwyn helps Kvothe memorize the history and names of the carriers of his sword, Caesura.

Mythos and history

Origin of the Lethani

The Ademe seek to live by the light of the Lethani, an understanding of what one should do and how one should act, much like Bushido or chivalry. The Lethani was developed from the 99 tales which Rethe told to Aethe. Before the Lethani, it was not uncommon for an Adem to kill another out of jealousy, pride, or proof of skill.

Aethe was a man who strove to master the bow and unwittingly founded the first Adem school. Aethe's skill with the bow was so great that people came to learn from him. Rethe was his best student "who stood nearest his ear and closest to his heart." Eventually, Aethe became so famous and proud that Rethe rebuked him and his teachings. They argued until Rethe challenged Aethe to a duel where they would shoot at each other from a great distance. Rethe carried no weapons and sat down, giving Aethe no target but her chest. Infuriated, Aethe shot her, and the arrow struck near her heart, too close to be removed. Rethe then used her blood to write on a silk ribbon the verse:

Aethe, near my heart.

Without vanity the ribbon.

Without duty, the wind.

Without blood, the victory.

After reading these lines, Aethe repented and knew Rethe to be wiser than he. Rethe lived three more days, during which she dictated 99 stories to Aethe which became the basis for understanding the Lethani and the root of Ademre. Late on the third day, before she slept, she told him the hundredth story would be more important than all the rest, but did not awake again. Aethe lived forty more years but never killed again. He continued to train his students to be masters of the bow but also taught them wisdom, and the nine-and-ninety tales became the first Lethani to be known by Ademre.

The Chandrian

The Chandrian are also known as the Seven and, by the Adem, as the Rhinta. In the book's invented language of Tema, "Chaen" means "seven", and "Chandrian" literally means "seven of them". Most of what has been known of them has either been expunged from written records or were never written down to begin with. They are generally dismissed as a child's tale, but most people fear them and it is thought to be bad luck to speak of them.

In The Name of the Wind, only two Chandrian have been identified by name: the leader is "Lord Haliax", and one of the others is called "Cinder". The Chandrian have appeared 3 times in The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear. Twice, the Chandrian eliminate people who know true details about them: the first is to kill Kvothe's father (and troupe), who was writing a song containing stories about the Chandrian, and the second is to kill a wedding party in Trebon where the groom's family found an urn depicting the Chandrian and their signs. The third time, Kvothe finds Cinder leading a group of bandits and waylaying Maer Alveron's tax collectors.

In a tale of the Chandrian told by Skarpi, their leader is Lord Haliax, formerly known as Lanre. Once a great hero, Lanre, whose wife's love for him was so great that she brought him back from death, finds that after her subsequent death he can neither bring her back nor die to join her. Filled with despair, he conspires to destroy the world and so betrays the the city of Myr Tariniel. He is resisted by Selitos who curses him to be surrounded by shadow. According to another tale also told by Skarpi, Selitos gathers the survivors of Myr Tariniel and together they form the Amyr, opposing the Chandrian whenever and wherever they can.

According to legend among the Adem, there was once an empire of seven cities and one city. The seven fell and their names were lost. The one was also destroyed but its name remains, Tariniel (or Myr Tariniel). The empire had a great enemy that poisoned seven to betray the cities that trusted them. Six betrayed their cities. One did not betray a city and so it did not fall. The empire was left with hope, but even that city was forgotten. After the fall of the empire, the "land was broken and the sky changed." The names of the seven traitors and their signs are these:

Cyphus bears the blue flame.

Stercus is in thrall of iron.

Ferule chill and dark of eye.

Usnea lives in nothing but decay.

Grey Dalcenti never speaks.

Pale Alenta brings the blight.

Last there is the lord of seven.

Hated. Hopeless. Sleepless. Sane.

Alaxel bears the shadow's hame.

It can be gathered that "Alaxel" is the same person as "Lord Haliax", and "Ferule" is the same person as "Cinder". (Cinder was described as being "cold and sharp and white" with eyes "black like a goat’s but with no iris", and Ferule is "chill" and "dark of eye")

In "The Song of Seven Sorrows", composed by Denna with the assistance of her mysterious patron, Lanre is portrayed "in tragic tones" as a fallen hero "wrongly used". Kvothe and Denna had an chilly argument over which story is correct, which resulted in a falling out in their relationship.

Among the Fae, it is held that before Lanre betrayed the empire he had spoken to the evil Cthaeh which sees the future and speaks the truth, but also speaks in such a way that puts people on the path that will cause the greatest harm to the most people.

The Creation Wars and the Stealing of the Moon

The Creation Wars ended with the world being split into two and with the moon trapped between both worlds. According to Felurian, the stealing of the moon ended the last chance for peace. She tells Kvothe that before men and the fae, when there was still only one sky, "there were those who walked with their eyes open. They knew all the deep names of things", and live in peace with the world knowing the "space" between things. "Then came those who saw a thing and thought of changing it. They thought in terms of mastery. They were shapers and proud dreamers." The shapers became increasingly bold in reshaping things, and the old knowers told them to stop, but the shapers refused and continued to create, forming the Fae realm "from whole cloth, a place where they could do as they desired." When finished, each shaper fashioned a star for empty sky. For a time there were two worlds and two skies. But then the first and greatest of the shapers, a shaper of the "dark and changing eye" chose not to just fashion his own star, but instead to pull the moon into the sky of the Fae. But he could not make her stay, so she moves between the worlds of man and of the fae. It was this act that provoked a war between the old knowers and the shapers.

A variation on this tale is told by Hespe, a female mercenary. In this tale, an unhappy boy named Jax bet a tinker that he could not make him happy. The tinker lost, but in the course of the contest, Jax looked upon the moon and decided that the only thing that would make him happy was to possess the moon. So taking his winnings, all the tinkers packs and his hat (an unlucky sign), Jax traveled long and far to capture the moon. Many years passed and he met a wise man with knowledge of names. When Jax asks the old man's name, he declines to give it explaining that knowing even a small portion of a true name gives power over that person. When the old man learns of Jax desire to possess the moon, he tells him, "When you love something, you have to make sure it loves you back, or you'll bring about no end of trouble chasing it." The old man then offers to teach they young man how to listen to the moon to see if he is loved. But at the prospect of taking a couple years to learn how to listen in this way, Jax goes on his way. After climbing to the highest peaks, he built a crooked mansion and called to the moon by playing a sad song on a magic flute found in the tinker's pack. The moon came to him, and she was beautiful and Jax had the first moment of happiness in his life. When the moon went to leave, Jax said, "I have given you three things. My song, a house, and my heart," and asks for three things in return. She answered that while she possessed nothing, if she had what he asked of her, she would give it. So he asked for a touch of her hand, a kiss, and her name. After telling Jax her name is Ludis, Jax brought out a black iron box and trapped her name it it, proclaiming that now that he had capture her name, he had power over her. Though he had not captured her entirely, he did catch a piece. This is why the moon must always return to him, yet always slips away again. This is what accounts for the changing of the moon.

See also

• Patrick Rothfuss' homepage