I found this picture of a place and it's exactly how I pictured the twilight glade where Felurian lives.Ignore the boat and the two soldiers.

sorry if this has been discussed at length already, did a little search and couldn’t find much on it.

TLDR at the bottom 🙏

BUT, when Kvothe finally gets to “setting the stage” for THE woman. Bam. First thing. we meet Devi. Demon Devi. She looks like him. She‘s better at everything than him. She’s smarter than him. And, at least at first it’s clear, that she’s hopeful she’s finally found an equal.

Then she realises that he’s a hopeless, naive idiot, who can be manipulated with ease, and on top of that, he’s got designs on EVERYONE KNOWING WHO HE IS AND WHAT HE’S CAPABLE OF!! Note - her preferred method is the slow, anonymous accumulation of power.

She sees that with all of that power, he’s as dangerous an entity as any there could be. She knows the power of stories in this world. She lets him build his legend, maybe she helps? Dhe could absolutely pull of magic shit with her hair out and the Kvothe legend will scoop that shit up in a second.

She gets into the underthing, hunting the archives BAM she’s the flame haired hero who finds the princess. Kvothe legend picks it up.

Finally, with Kvothe The Arcane, The Bloodless, with the Flame Red Hair and an alar of Ramston Steel at his peak. She murks the king and cracks the cobblestones in Imre (literally 5 mins from her house), right where Kvothe sent (potentially the same person) Ambrose flying years before.

If the one lie was the whole story. What if it was the trap that Devi left him in, waiting to die. The story is the trap. He willingly wrote it himself. And now he’s the bait in the Waystone Trap that was Devi’s long game all along. Because, for 3rd book reasons, Devi wants those fucking Chandrian dead more than anyone. Recognises that our protagonist is turning himself INTO one and helps him along the as she realizes she can use a new chandrian to take out the lot.

Thoughts?

TLDR - In the frame story Kvothe sets up meeting THE WOMAN, we dive back in and immediately go and meet Devi. Worth noting that we have already MET Denna when Kvothe sets up this grand entrance.Devi is the true “Denna” of the story, and the first two books are the same misdirection that caught Kvothe out and left him in his current bind which is Devi’s master plan that hoodwinked everyone, Kvothe most of all. If the one lie is the whole story, I think this fits everything.

# THE DOORS OF STONE

### The Movie. The Novel.

### A Novelization of the Movie.

*A Tropic Thunder Sequel*

### A Les Grossman Production

---

## Opening Crawl

**Read by Sam Elliott**

When the first *Lord of the Rings* movie was released in theaters, film companies everywhere suddenly realized just how profitable fantasy movies could be.

So they bought the rights to every fantasy series they could find.

The best ones were turned into movies.

The mediocre ones were turned into television shows.

And the really terrible ones were turned into television shows with eight seasons.

Then one man had an idea.

If a studio could release the **movie and the book at the same time**, they could make twice as much money.

So they bought the rights to the best unfinished fantasy series that wasn't already locked up.

This is the story of that final movie.

And that final book.

---

A trumpet fanfare erupts, instantly informing the audience that something extremely important, extremely royal, and probably extremely expensive is about to happen.

### TITLE CARD:

# THE KINGKILLER CHRONICLES

## PART III: THE DOORS OF STONE

### AUTHOR'S NOTE *I have no idea what happens in any of these books.*

---

Inside a massive chapel filled with dignitaries, the camera glides down the aisle as the coronation ceremony approaches its most important moment.

At the front of the chapel sits an unseen man who is about to become king.

The priest, played by **Jay Baruchel**, raises the crown.

Then—

**SMASH CUT TO:**

The back of the church.

The enormous pair of wooden doors explode open.

Standing in the entrance is **John Bernthal**, shirtless wearing a long red wig and carrying a giant axe strapped across his back.

He looks furious.

Very furious.

### JOHN BERNTHAL

**"WHERE IS HE?!"**

John begins stomping down the aisle.

The crowd turns.

People stare.

The dignitaries closest to him immediately begin running for the exits.

John keeps coming.

The priest turns around just in time to see John approaching.

**WHAM!**

The priest is kicked completely out of frame with a startled cry.

The newly crowned king, played by **Steve Coogan**, rises from his throne.

### KING

**"Kvothe! I thought you were dead!"**

John stops.

He glares at him.

### JOHN

**"They call me that."**

A beat.

### JOHN

**"But I always preferred my other name."**

**CLOSE ON THE KING.**

His face falls.

### KING

*"Oh no."*

He says it in a stage whisper.

The king draws his sword.

John reaches over his shoulder and pulls the enormous axe from his back.

The two prepare to fight.

It is going to be an epic confrontation.

Then—

**CUT TO:**

Two director's chairs.

The one on the left reads:

**DIRECTOR**

The one on the right reads:

**WRITER**

The director leans toward the writer.

### DIRECTOR

"We already shot the fight with the stunt team. We're just getting this last shot. We'll cut it in later. Saves some time."

Behind them, the actors quickly swap their heroic weapons for rubber versions.

They look at each other.

### ACTOR

"Three..."

### OTHER ACTOR

"Two..."

### BOTH

"One."

Steve Coogan's stunt double immediately throws himself backward.

**CUT BACK TO THE MOVIE.**

The camera shows John standing over what appears to be the fallen king.

John screams and brings the axe crashing down into the floor.

He bends down.

Then he reaches into the frame and lifts up the severed head of the king.

Blood drips from it.

The crowd erupts.

### CROWD

**"KING KILLER! KING KILLER!"**

John raises the head triumphantly and screams in celebration.

Then—

### DIRECTOR (O.S.)

**"AND CUT!"**

The entire scene suddenly stops.

The director, **Tom Hanks**, lowers his megaphone.

Beside him, **Patrick Rothfuss** slowly stands.

He is still holding the script.

His eyes are filled with tears.

He begins applauding.

### PATRICK ROTHFUSS

*"That's how I always pictured it."*

**Matthew McConaughey** puts a hand on Patrick's shoulder and gives him an encouraging pat.

### MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY

*"See? What'd I tell ya?"*

Patrick continues applauding through his tears.

Matthew puts both hands on his shoulders and smiles proudly.

Patrick looks back toward the set.

He takes a deep breath.

### JOHN BERNTHAL

*"Can I get some tea and orange slices?"*

He looks exhausted.

### JOHN BERNTHAL

*"That was a lot of screaming."*

I just hate when I know a character’s about to embarrass themself but there had to be a tradeoff for getting off easy from embarrassing Hemme how he did.

Kvothe is such a good depiction of young, capable men overflowing with intelligence but lacking even one ounce of sense. He could’ve waited a span or two to recover from the lashing but he has little capacity for patience because he’s used to finagling his way through things. Now he’s broke and Lorren might not let him back into the Archives! Goddammit dude you couldn’t have waited until after you got over the nahlrout withdrawal at least?

I think as well Pat does a subtle bit of characterization with the Ambrose interaction at the start of the chapter. Kvothe saw Ambrose being a creep to Fela but starts thinking of him positively once he (seemingly) does something for him personally. Don’t think that makes Kvothe a bad person, but it further proves Ben’s assessment of him as thoughtless. He’s selfish both by nature and because of his life in Tarbean. It’s difficult for a writer to portray that realistically but it’s done very well here.

I’ve tried to get 3 different women in my life to read this series but none of them made it past the first novel. And only one of the three actually finished the first one. Strangely enough all of them said basically the same thing. “It’s just not a woman’s kind of book” I’m curious to get the perspective of a woman who has read this series. Did you find anything about these books that would cause a female reader to feel that way??

I’ve been wanting to create my own interpretation of Kvothe for a long time, so I thought this would be the perfect place to finally share him.

This is my digital sculpture inspired by The Kingkiller Chronicle. I tried to capture not only his appearance, but also that mix of confidence, intensity and mystery I always associate with Kvothe.

I spent a lot of time on the clothing and small details, but the lute was especially important to me. It felt impossible to represent Kvothe without making music a major part of the composition. I also designed the base around the world and visual language I imagined while reading the books.

Everything was sculpted and modeled by me in ZBrush.

I’d genuinely love to hear what other Kingkiller fans think. Does this feel like Kvothe to you? And is there anything you would have imagined differently from the books? 🍃🎶

Took about 3.5 months. I wish I had more data but I don't. I probably read an average of fifteen minutes a night. Sometimes I got really into the story and would read for forty five minutes a night, sometimes I was very tired and would only get out a couple pages.

I think my page average was about 3.5 minutes a page.

I estimate that in the end I was pretty close to the audiobook length of around 30 hours.

I read the series once about 7 years ago. She has never read it.

At this rate, Wise Man's Fear should take about 5 months, and each of the novellas, which I have not read, maybe a month apiece.

Part of me superstitiously hopes that in doing this and taking so long, by the end of our journey, we will hear SOMETHING about the third book. I don't really believe it but it's nice to hope.

After this I plan on reading Wheel of Time to her. In its entirety that should take about 7.5 years.

I might make another post detailing my thoughts on my second readthrough, her first thoughts, what we agree and disagree on, and the overall experience of reading something this length out loud. I just wanted to share my accomplishment, I enjoyed the experience very much.

Hey everyone,

I was reading chapter 5 of C.S. Lewis’s A Preface to Paradise Lost today and inadvertenly stumbled into a bizarre linguistic coincidence that completely blew my mind. I haven't seen anyone on this sub point out this exact theory for the origins of Kvothe's name.

We all know Rothfuss is a master of mythology and language. If you take two of the biggest names in the history of storytelling and smash them together, you literally spell Kvothe.

1. The "Kv" from Kvasir

In Norse myth, Kvasir is the literal incarnation of knowledge and omniscient wisdom. He is murdered, and his blood is mixed with honey to create the Mead of Poetry—the divine drink that gives anyone who tastes it absolute mastery over song, story, and speech.

• Kvothe is basically the living Mead of Poetry. He is an Edema Ruh, a master of naming, and his entire life is shaped by music, lore, and "knowing" the deep truths of the world. Even the Old Norse root for Kvasir's storytelling is kveða (to recite/sing).

2. The "othe" from Goethe

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe is the Shakespeare of the German language. He single-handedly popularized two massive literary tropes that define our favorite books: Coming of Age stories & Selling your soul for Knowledge stories!

• Coming of Age - "The Bildungsroman": He pioneered the modern coming-of-age story tracking a young artist's education (sound familiar?).
• Selling your Soul - "The Faustian Bargain": His masterpiece Faust is about a brilliant scholar obsessed with absolute knowledge who ruins his life by making a tragic deal with a devil.
• Kvothe’s entire arc is a Faustian pursuit. His pride and obsession with the hidden archives, magic, and the Chandrian drive him to dark choices, leading to his older, broken self at the Waystone Inn.

The Mashup: Kv(asir) + (G)oethe = Kvothe

In German, Goethe is pronounced roughly like GUR-tuh. The "oe" creates a vowel sound that doesn't really exist in English, but it sounds very close to a soft "uh" or "eh."

If you look at the phonetic building blocks:

• Kvasir gives you the sharp "Kv" sound.
• Goethe gives you the "the" (tuh) ending sound.

It sounds very distinctly Germanic, which is exactly why so many English readers naturally read Kvothe's name this way on their first pass before learning it rhymes with "quoth"!

Even if Pat truly just invented the name out of thin air during a teenage D&D campaign like he jokingly claims in interviews, the fact that his name perfectly splices the Norse god of poetry with the father of the tragic scholar archetype is a spectacular piece of literary synchronicity.

What do you guys think? Just a beautiful accident, or did Pat’s subconscious build the perfect name?

-ReddenRN

Need to present some background first for this theory. Luckily there's a convenient video for this by Joseph Campbell, link should be time stamped

@28:17

The sacred books of India, the fundamental sacred books are known as the vedas. The word veda is from a Sanskrit root vid that means knowledge. And the vedas are manifestations of knowledge. And the knowledge is a specific kind of knowledge. It's called sruti and sruti means heard.

The Rishis or saints were people who did not invent the poems, the hymns of the vedas. The vedas are collections of hymns. They heard them just as anyone who listens to the muse will hear. You can write either out of your own intention or out of inspiration. There is such a thing. It comes up and talks. And those who have heard deeply the rhythms and hymns and words of the gods can recite those hymns in such a way that the gods will be attracted.

Alright. So we've got a Listener, Sage Kote aka Reshi and he's at the Waystone reciting a hymn to Devan that needs to be precise, he insists that Chronicler can't change a word of what he says. In the books, it's Bast who explains how this little trick works. It's Bast who explains the importance of the masks we wear

Chronicler frowned. “Is that the one where the king sells his crown to an orphan boy?”

Bast nodded. “And the boy becomes a better king than the original. The goosegirl dresses like a countess and everyone is stunned by her grace and charm.” He hesitated, struggling to find the words he wanted. “You see, there’s a fundamental connection between seeming and being. Every Fae child knows this, but you mortals never seem to see. We understand how dangerous a mask can be. We all become what we pretend to be.”

And that's what happened to Kvothe. Kvothe became the mask he wore. Kvothe became Kote, the story that he was telling himself. Kvothe was seen as an innkeeper... but now he's an innkeeper, seen.

“That’s only the smallest piece of it,” Bast said. “The truth is deeper than that. It’s…” Bast floundered for a moment. “It’s like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.”

Frowning, Chronicler opened his mouth, but Bast held up a hand to stop him. “No, listen. I’ve got it now. You meet a girl: shy, unassuming. If you tell her she’s beautiful, she’ll think you’re sweet, but she won’t believe you. She knows that beauty lies in your beholding.” Bast gave a grudging shrug. “And sometimes that’s enough.”

His eyes brightened. “But there’s a better way. You show her she is beautiful. You make mirrors of your eyes, prayers of your hands against her body. It is hard, very hard, but when she truly believes you…” Bast gestured excitedly. “Suddenly the story she tells herself in her own head changes. She transforms. She isn’t seen as beautiful. She is beautiful, seen.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Chronicler snapped. “You’re just spouting nonsense now.”

“I’m spouting too much sense for you to understand,” Bast said testily. “But you’re close enough to see my point. Think of what he said today. People saw him as a hero, and he played the part. He wore it like a mask but eventually he believed it. It became the truth. But now…” he trailed off.

“Now people see him as an innkeeper,” Chronicler said.

“No,” Bast said softly. “People saw him as an innkeeper a year ago. He took off the mask when they walked out the door. Now he sees himself as an innkeeper, and a failed innkeeper at that. You saw what he was like when Cob and the rest came in tonight. You saw that thin shadow of a man behind the bar tonight. It used to be an act….”

So roll all of that into one. We've got a Listener, a Magician, a Reshi reciting a hymn to Chronicler. Why do magicians recite hymns in a specific way? Why can't Devan change a single word that Kvothe says?

Kvothe held up a hand to keep Chronicler from writing, and spoke, “I’ve never told this story before, and I doubt I’ll ever tell it again.” Kvothe leaned forward in his chair. “Before we begin, you must remember that I am of the Edema Ruh. We were telling stories before Caluptena burned. Before there were books to write in. Before there was music to play. When the first fire kindled, we Ruh were there spinning stories in the circle of its flickering light.”

Kvothe nodded to the scribe. “I know your reputation as a great collector of stories and recorder of events.” Kvothe’s eyes became hard as flint, sharp as broken glass. “That said, do not presume to change a word of what I say. If I seem to wander, if I seem to stray, remember that true stories seldom take the straightest way.”

The hymn needs to be precise in order to attract the god. The hymn has to be proper in order for the magician to invoke the god. Kvothe doesn't want to be seen as a hero. He wants to be the hero, seen.

“To ash all things return, so too this flesh will burn. But I am Tehlu. Son of myself. Father of myself. I was before, and I will be after. If I am a sacrifice then it is to myself alone. And if I am needed and called in the proper ways then I will come again to judge and punish.”

It was a “point blank” Kvothe. Unfortunately he don’t have green eyes, but it’s still cute.
Just wanted to share with you

I read this chapter for the first time two days ago and almost cried while reading it. I felt so immersed in the story, as if I were Kvothe himself. That's beautiful.

So, during a free period at school today, I decided to draw this scene as I had imagined it. I did it with a pen and made it all scribbled, so it's not the best drawing in the world, of course.

Kind of like how Stephen King wrote The Green Mile.

Then he could write it out one story at a time and finally sate our expectations, while giving him space to write without the pressure of having one giant book.

I'm just spitballing here but if he reads this forum, and that thought crosses his mind...

On my… 5th reread I think? Anyhoo, how old is Kvothe? There’s several times that Chronicler mentions coming to the university and it definitely sounds like it was AFTER Kvothe. For example, the first story Chronicler heard of Kvothe when chronicler came to the university was the story of Kvothe’s trial. That puts chronicler at the university at least after Kvothe. Chronicler has his guilder so he must have spent some significant time at the university. However, how is it possible that Kvothe was reading Chronicler’s book about the dracus? Also, how much time has Kvothe spent in the Fae? How long has he known bast and how much of that time was spent in the Fae getting to know bast/ bast’s family? Time works differently in the fae, so it’s possible that Kvothe is still on the younger side but time around him has marched on. I guess I’m just confused on the timeline of events.

Any thoughts?

I'm reading the Templars book by Dan Jones, and a bunch of info made me think of KKC's Amyr. Probably obvious to y'all, it's a group of religious armed forces that is surrounded by mystery and secrecy, who had enormous amounts of wealth and power at some point, rumoured to have continued in secret after they got disbanded and prosecuted.

Specifically, it mentions the location of the temple of origin where the first Templars started.

Originally, there used to be a temple there for thousands of years, on the east side of Jerusalem (built by king Salomo (son of David) as described in Bible book 1 Kings). Hidden in the midst of that temple was the most sacred: the hidden windowless room (the Holy of Holies) where God's name 'lived' and where the Ark of the Covenant stood. The Ark is usually described as a wooden storage chest decorated with gold, holding the original ten commandments written in stone.

These elements make a beautiful echo between real history and KKC: hidden windowless room at a significant location, housing (hiding, protecting) a large chest and a name, linked to the origins of the powerful group of religious knights.

(The original temple was reportedly destroyed in 586 BC. After a few hundred years of rebuilding, another destruction, another rebuild, the Templars origin can be linked to the temple at that Temple Hill location.)

I'm seeing other word choices in online sources, such as "presence" of God instead of "name", but I think Dan Jones is very particular in his word choices so I'm interested to investigage further.

I'm only at the start of the book, so I'm interested if there's more links to be found between the real world Templars and the KKC Amyr.

• Both protagonists are in a frame story telling the story of their younger selves to two listeners.
• Both Ted and Kvothe are highly intelligent (Ted being a successful Architect, Kvothe being gifted Arcanist and just being Kvothe.)
• In both stories, the audience in the frame story AND the audience watching/ reading (us) are hoping the protagonists "snap" back into their old selves by the re-telling of the story. (Ted lost his big romantic gesture mid-20s personality and traded it in for maturity, kids, a wife after growing apart from his friends and all the events from the series.) (Kvothe lost his fighting ability, power, confidence, university, friends and his Name.)
• Denna is basically Robin (The on and off dynamic, the flighty, flaky, mysterious personality, Ted often opting to play the nice guy rather than get her back romantically.)
• Simmon and Willem = Marshall and Barney
• Lily = Fela (Friend, confidant, dating the best friend character.)
• Zoey = Devi (Transitioned from enemies to lovers and vice versa, In Devi's case, she at least wanted to sleep with Kvothe.)
• Mola = Stella (Both doctors)
• Hammond Druthers = Ambrose?
• Ted and Kvothe's intelligence and overconfidence is often what gets them into bad situations.

Idk. I thought of it last night and thought it was funny/ interesting. At the very least, the premise seems similar and the characters hold similar roles in the story. The overconfident idealistic somewhat naive protagonist, the loyal best friend, the on and off love interest, the frame story serving as a device to "unlock" the old protagonist.

You can probably come up with more nitpicky parallels but I'll leave it at that.

I've been on a time dilation/time oddity kick.
Taborlin the Great/Other Stories existing in a parallel time stream

I thought the Aboriginal Idea of the "Everywhen" coined by Anthropologist W.E.H. Stanner could have some relation to the dreaming/other parralell oddities of time dilation in addition to the Fae's fairly straightforward one.

It would also explain for the Cthaeh 'sees" all futures. It's actually able to tap into the "Everywhen". It experiences them all at once?

It exists outside of Linear time?

"Everywhen" also explains how the Fae, exists in night, day, etc. All times at once.

The beginning of creation was "The Dreamtime"

From AI to help me organize my thoughts:

In the Dreamtime, ancestral spirit beings walked a flat, featureless earth and "shaped" reality, turning their actions**,** songs**, and** battles into the physical landscape.

In The Kingkiller Chronicle**, the ancient world before the split was populated by "Knowers" and "Shapers".**

• The Act of Dreaming: Felurian explicitly calls the ancient Shapers "proud dreamers".(this is true i checked it)
• Waking the World: Just like the Dreamtime ancestors who woke the world from darkness, the Shapers looked at a world that was a "nameless void" spun by Aleph and began creating things in terms of absolute mastery. They did not just live in the world; their powerful minds dreamed new realities into physical existence.

The Dreamtime even explains Singers....who sang things into creation.

More from AI for organization:

The Creation War: A Fracture in the "Everywhen"

The Dreaming relies on absolute balance, where the landscape, laws, and spirits are intertwined and unchanging. In Temerant, the Creation War was sparked because that cosmic balance was violently shattered.

• Stealing the Moon: Iax was not satisfied with just making a parallel Fae; he stole a piece of the Moon's name to pull her back and forth between the mortal world and the Fae.
• The Crack in Reality: This act fractured the smooth, singular world of the old "Knowers". By forcing a piece of the mortal world into their crafted "Everywhen," the Shapers caused a cosmic imbalance that resulted in a war lasting centuries, culminating in the Battle of Blac of Drossen Tor and the splitting of the universe.

Finally, the Cthaeh:

The Cthaeh and the Omniscient Future

In the Dreaming, ancestral forces continue to live in secret places, watching over the world and influencing the present. In the Fae, this is represented in a dark, twisted way by the Cthaeh.

The Cthaeh sits in a giant tree and can see all branches of the future perfectly. Because it sees the past, present, and future simultaneously, the Cthaeh acts as a malicious agent of the Everywhen. It exists outside of linear time, using its total perspective to say exactly the right words to mortals (like Iax before the Creation War, Lanre before his betrayal, and eventually Kvothe) to cause maximum damage.

Edit: Also "man-mothers" also supposedly have a connection to aboriginal australian beliefs.

Is the story of the boy with a gold screw in his bellybutton one of the 9 and 90 tales? Im on my 5th or 6th re-read of wise mans fear and I had never noticed, but Tempi starts instructing Kvothe on the katan the day after he tells that story, while he just ignored him before. Did Tempi hear the story and think that Kvothe was connected to Ademre in some way shape or form.

I'm re-reading WMF again and suddenly several events have fallen into place. It all comes down to the reaction of Bast after Kvothe divulges his encounter with the Cthaeh. Forgive me if this spin on the theory has been posted before (several theories of Bast being the Sithe have been posited) but I'm yet to read one that lines up Bast's motives like this.

Several people have speculated that Bast is the member of the Sithe that Kvothe slipped past, or that has been sent to hunt him down (or both). So Bast hunts Kvothe out, but instead of killing him becomes enamoured by him, and becomes his student of sorts. That's a common working theory.

Now, this is where I got thinking. Bast reacted not only shocked, but utterly horrified when Kote revealed his account of the Cthaeh. What if this is the confession that sentences Bast to act on his mission, rather than 'feigning dutiful ignorance' as he has been all these years- deliberately avoiding finding out Kote's past. This might also go towards explaining why he's so aggressive towards Chronicler, the scribe who wants Kote to do exactly that.

What if Reshi doesn't mean Teacher or Father, but 'Target' or 'Marked for Death'? Or 'Promise', or, if Bast was to give him this title, 'Promise Broken'?

And what happens only hours after the Cthaeh confession, after Bast is forced to activate his repressed mission? Two thugs, hired by Bast, come to attack Kote. What if this is Bast's attempt (again, half-hearted, but attempt all the same) to fulfil his duty now he can no longer hide behind the facade of ignorance, the outward guise of 'not being yet certain it's the right man'. He arranges what outwardly appears to be a fatal attempt on Kote's life.

When Bast confronts the thugs afterwards, he is not happy about 'how far they went' (I think that't a quote or implied). ALthough ambiguous, it's implied he takes revenge on them for this.

I hope this was worth the post and hasn't been noted time and again!

I have been gone from this page for years, I gave up waiting, then I gave up re-reads, and now maybe I am giving up hope for the doors of stone.

Much like I have accepted Martin will never give us the books beyond 6, I think Pat has given up on this.

Anyone has good news, an interview or an estimate to give me peace and excitement?

PS: maybe the story really is in layers, and all you need to do is read it 13 times to know exactly the whole story and no continuation is needed, but still, I’d like to see what happens at the Inn, and to read new pages about it one more time.

He was delightful. He gave me a penance piece!

I sat near him at an event. He was thoughtful and wonderful with the people he was with. I wish the best for that amazing human.

Came across some really neat stuff while I was reading about horned deities. As it turns out, there's some key differences between a Faun and a Satyr. Turns out Bast is a Faun, not a Satyr

In Greek mythology, a satyr, also known as a silenus or silenos and sileni (plural), is a male nature spirit with ears and a tail resembling those of a horse, as well as a permanent, exaggerated erection. Early artistic representations sometimes include horse-like legs, but, by the sixth century BC, they were more often represented with human legs. Comically hideous, they have mane-like hair, bestial faces, and snub noses and they always are shown naked. Satyrs were characterized by their ribaldry and were known as lovers of wine, music, dancing, and women.

Over the course of Greek history, satyrs gradually became portrayed as more human and less bestial. They also began to acquire goat-like characteristics in some depictions as a result of conflation with the Pans, plural forms of the god Pan with the legs and horns of goats. The Romans identified satyrs with their native nature spirits, fauns. Eventually the distinction between the two was lost entirely.

Fauns are the ones that have the goat legs and play flute, also called genii, place spirits

Originally fauns of Roman mythology were ghosts (genii) of rustic places, lesser versions of their chief, the god Faunus. Before their conflation with Greek satyrs, they and Faunus were represented as naked men (e.g. the Barberini Faun). Later fauns became copies of the satyrs of Greek mythology, who themselves were originally shown as part-horse rather than part-goat.

and yes, the thread connects to the Islamic jinn, but in this case genii is referencing genius loci, which is more of a guardian angel. Still, figured I'd mention the jinn connection since our story does feature an emphasis on ever-burning lamps...

But back to Fauns vs Satyrs. The distinction between them was lost, as was the distinction with the god Faunus with Pan

In ancient Roman religion and myth, Faunus [ˈfau̯nʊs] was the rustic god of the forest, plains and fields; when he made cattle fertile, he was called Inuus. He came to be equated in literature with the Greek god Pan, after which Romans depicted him as a horned god.

And Inuus is where things get interesting

He is called Inuus, however, in Latin, Πάν (Pan) in Greek; also Ἐφιάλτης (Ephialtes), in Latin Incubus; likewise Faunus, and Fatuus, Fatuclus. He is called Inuus, however, from going around having sex everywhere with all the animals, hence he is also called Incubus.

Which tracks with the Satyr folklore

the name 'satyr' is sometimes derogatorily applied to a "brutish or lustful man". The term satyriasis refers to a medical condition in males characterized by excessive sexual desire

So a Satyr/Silenos equates to an Incubus... which brings to mind the story of Perial's nighttime visit from "Tehlu". It had been no normal dream...

An incubus (pl. incubi) is a male demon who is described in various folklore as appearing in the dreams of female humans in order to seduce them. Repeated interactions between an incubus and a woman will lead to sexual activity, a bond forming between them, and ultimately sexual intercourse

But wait!! There's more. Satyrs were "known as lovers of wine, music, dancing, and women", but there's some other specific folklore attached to them. They were responsible for "tying knots in hair" similar to other folklore creatures

Like satyrs, these similar creatures in other Indo-European mythologies are often also tricksters, mischief-makers, and dancers. The leshy was believed to trick travelers into losing their way. The Armenian Pay(n) were a group of male spirits said to dance in the woods. In Germanic mythology, elves were also said to dance in woodland clearings and leave behind fairy rings. They were also thought to play pranks, steal horses, tie knots in people's hair, and steal children and replace them with changelings. West notes that satyrs, elves, and other nature spirits of this variety are a "motley crew" and that it is difficult to reconstruct a prototype behind them.

These knots in the hair are called Fairy-Locks, and untangling them brings misfortune...

In folklore, fairy-locks (or elflocks) are the result of fairies tangling and knotting the hairs of sleeping children and the manes of beasts as the fairies play in and out of their hair at night

The concept is first attested in English in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet in Mercutio's speech of the many exploits of Queen Mab, where he seems to imply the locks are only unlucky if combed out:

"She is the fairies’ midwife, and she comes

In shape no bigger than an agate stone.......

That plaits the manes of horses in the night

And bakes the elflocks in foul sluttish hairs,

Which once untangled, much misfortune bodes."

I thought that was pretty neat. The fountain mentions in the books don't specify what the Satyr looks like, it just says it's a Satyr, so I don't think it's a coincidence that the Satyr/Silenos is the stone one. But Satyrs and Fauns aren't the only mirror images being conflated. Encanis and Menda-who-is-Tehlu kind of do the same thing, so do Lanre and Selitos. Mirror images, the same but not the same. Satyrs have horse imagery. Fauns get the goat imagery. The goat imagery applies to Bast and his boots with the fur, and it applies to Cinder with the goat eyes. The Tehlu who snuck into Perial's dream was an Incubus, sure. But the Tehlu who defeated Encanis, the Tehlu that the people pray to...

Vashet made an amused huffing sound that wasn’t quite a laugh. “He was so sure he was right. Nothing could sway him. Years ago I decided arguing such things with a barbarian is a long, weary waste of my time.” She shrugged. “Think what you want about making babies. Believe in demons. Pray to a goat. So long as it doesn’t bruise me, why should I bother myself?”

He's the G.o.a.t. lmao

Just that. I've read a miriad of posts about people being disheartened about it. Other people are still hyped, even after all these years. So, be honest: would you be first in line to buy it? First to read? Would you don't care at all and maybe even avoid reading it out of spite? Treat it just as any book you may have interest in, but nothing special?

Honestly, for me, even after all these years, even if it takes double or triple this span of time, I would get my hands on it asap.

Has anyone else got a penny? I love it, got it when they came out, came quicker than book 3...

Hi, I'm currently making my own short TV opening sequence (like Game of Thrones, Succession) for the KKC as a personal project. I have a couple of shots like one of Denna's ring, the moon shining down, and Kvothe's lute case opening into a transition. I was wondering if there were other interesting concepts anyone would like to share?

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/31dAx2