The wait is going to kill me.



So, rather than wait patiently, I am going to gather various speculations and list facts to keep in mind.



Please take note: This review contains spoilers for books 1 and 2







The Doors:

So, as the third book in the Kingkiller Chronicle is named 'The Doors of Stone,' it is quite obviously required of us to consider the 'Doors' of which they are speaking. And so, as perfectionism dictates, I will list every single door that I've noticed.



In Skarpi's story of Lanre, Lanre batt

The wait is going to kill me.



So, rather than wait patiently, I am going to gather various speculations and list facts to keep in mind.



Please take note: This review contains spoilers for books 1 and 2







The Doors:

So, as the third book in the Kingkiller Chronicle is named 'The Doors of Stone,' it is quite obviously required of us to consider the 'Doors' of which they are speaking. And so, as perfectionism dictates, I will list every single door that I've noticed.



In Skarpi's story of Lanre, Lanre battles a beast that, while he is able to kill said beast, kills Lanre as well. However, one line is read pertaining to the beast's death that is not, in fact, read pertaining to Lanre's.

"After the battle was finished, and the enemy was set beyond the doors of stone..."

Lyra, of course, calls Lanre back. This leads me to wonder if the doors of stone have something to do with death, the ‘doors to the afterlife’



Kvothe mentions doors in his mind; four of them, to be exact: sleep, forgetting, madness, and death (Another indication that, maybe, death is the 'Doors of Stone' to which the title is referring.) This also brings me to a certain suspicion about the sleeping mind, but I will return to that later.



The main building of the University, Mains, is quite literally described as a 'featureless stone block.' This 'featureless stone block,' inevitably, has stone doors. Inscribed above these doors are the words 'Vorfelen Rhinata Morie.'



In the Archives, there are small rooms of stone for people to meet and talk (or have sex, if what Fela claims is true).



Of more importance are the doors of stone that Kvothe sees just before he is banned from the Archives

"It was quite by accident that I found the four-plate door."

The door is described as 'one seamless slab of grey stone.' Four copper plates are on the outside, flush with the stone of the door, which is flush with the frame, which, in turn, is flush with the wall. It is also described as 'not a door for opening, but a door for staying closed.' The word 'Valeritas,' is inscribed upon them.



There's a ventilation-shaft-like entrance to the Archives from the Underthing, but I'm not sure whether or not that matters.



Elodin's cell in Haven is made of stone.



And, last but not least, the Mauthen farm is made with stone reinforcements. Stone that is, in fact, dug up from barrows (burial mounds) in the ground, and used to build the house. This house was most likely destroyed by the Chandrian. However, that has to do with a certain vase that, again, I will return to later.



Felurian mentions Doors of Stone in one of her stories.



There are many more doors mentioned below in the comments; I don't have room to add them, or edit completely.



The King

So, we all know that Kvothe is called 'Kvothe Kingkiller' for a reason. In fact, he says that he earned the name, 'bought and paid for it.'

So. Nobility that is either a king, or will be a king, in the future:



At the top of our list is Ambrose, the first born heir to a Vintish barony. His father is one of the twelve most powerful men in Vintas. He is sixteenth in the Peerage.

Lanre, also known as Lord Haliax, is a little more than nobility... and I can't see him gaining power enough to be recognized as a King by others, but he must be mentioned.

Sovoy is of Modegan Nobility.

Kvothe's mother and likely aunt Meluan Lackless are of Vintish nobility.

Maer Alveron is said to be higher in the peerage than Ambrose.

Last, and the most painful to admit, is Simmon. Simmon is said to be of Aturan nobility; according to Sovoy, he is not high nobility, but he is nobility nonetheless.

I feel like Kote talks about Simmon's innocence so constantly as if to prove a point of surprising his audience in the end. If it is Simmon he ends up killing, I wouldn't be terribly surprised. Among other references to Simmon's 'goodness' is this passage:

'"I love you Sim."

He looked me over. "You're drunk."

"No, it's the truth! You're a good person, better than I'll ever be."

He gave me a look that said he couldn't tell if he was being made fun of or not.'



The Amyr

The Amyr are a Holy Order of the Aturan Empire created to avenge the fall of Myr Tariniel, according to Skarpi. They are a group of people under Selitos, if the stories are to be believed, that hunt the Chandrain. The most trusted and powerful of them are known as the Ciridae, and their mark is a burning tower. If Master Archivist Lorren is to be believed, they are equal part knight-errant and vigilante. They had judiciary powers and could judge in both religious and secular courts. All of them are exempt from the law, in varying degrees. They were also disbanded 300 years ago.

The Ruach, named by Aleph as the Amyr in Skarpi's story:

Tehlu.

Kirel- Tall, burned but left living in the ashes of Myr Tariniel.

Deah- a woman having lost two husbands to the fighting in Myr Tariniel. Face, mouth, and heart are cold as stone.

Enlas- Would not carry a sword or eat the felsh of animals, would not speak hard words.

Geisa- Fair, with a hundred suitors in Belen before the walls fell. The first woman to know the unasked for touch of man.

Lecelte- Laughed easily and often, even when there was woe thick about him.

Imet- Hardly more than a boy, who never sang and killed swiftly without tears.

Ordal- The youngest of them all, who had never seen a thing die, a girl with golden hair.

Anden- A face with burning eyes, his name means 'anger.'



It is said that Atreyon is one of the Amyr. He is, in fact, the one who is subject in the Maer's favorite story, a bloody story.

Sir Savien is also mentioned as one of the Amyr.

Kvothe also suspects that the Duke of Gibea is one of the Amyr, or that he worked for them at least. He's a medicinal worker of great skill under the authority of Maer Alveron.



"None but the most powerful can see them, and only then with great difficulty and at great peril."

Kvothe, when he is near death in an alleyway in Tarbean, says that he saw a bird of fire and shadow. He thought it was the bird of death, come to greet him, and he is about to slip away when, ironically, a man dressed as Encanis gives him a silver talent and warms him.

"The last time [Aleph] touched them there was pain, and wings tore from their backs that they might go where they wished. Wings of fire and shadow. Wings of iron and glass. Wings of stone and blood."

Kvothe is indeed powerful, and is not death the greatest peril of them all? Could they have, in fact, saved him? But why? To spit in the faces of the Chandrain who killed his family...?



Who knows. Why not.



The University

I happened to list a few things, in case I wanted to refer back to them later on:

Master Linguist, Chancellor.

Master Rhetorician Herma Hemm

Master Archivist Lorren (Amyr?)

Master Arithmetician Brandeur

Master Physiker Arwyl

Master Chemist Mandrag

Master Artificer Kilvin

Master Sympathist Elxa Dal

Master Namer Elodin



The three most important Rules of the Chemist:

-Label Clearly

-Measure Twice

-Eat Elsewhere.



Mains is the oldest building at the University, and, apparently, nearly as complicated as Hogwarts Castle.



It came to my attention that Master Lorren wanted Kvothe to ignore the Chandrain and Amyr. It makes me wonder. I decided that it was worthy of note.



The Three Cs of Sympathy:

Correspondence: Similarity enhances Sympathy.

Consanguinity: Once together, always together.

Conservation: Energy cannot be created nor destroyed.

(Sympathy is based off of the laws of Thermodynamics, the Quantum Entanglement theory, and voodoo dolls.)



Alder Whinn, we hear, went crazy at the University. He now has accommodations at Haven, where it seems Elodin has a special fondness for him. He demands that Whinn should be allowed to come and go as he pleases, and that nothing should be added to his drink or food without his permission. This, I find curious.



And, the first Name we hear Elodin speak.

"Cyaerbasalien," and the stone broke. Or, in this case I suppose, the stone wall moved. Either way, he recited the story of Taborlin while he did it, replacing Taborlin's name with his own. I will return to this later.



Auri:

"I can tell you stories no one has ever heard before. Stories no one will ever hear again. Stories about Felurian, how I learned to fight from the Adem. The truth about Princess Ariel."

Could she be the Princess that Kvothe claims he 'rescued from the barrow kings'? Could she be Princess Ariel?

After all, she does 'pour beer as if she were among kings.’



It is mentioned while Simmon, Wilem, and Kvothe are talking of Ambrose's revenge methods that a girl named Tabitha 'made noise about how Ambrose had promised to marry her,' and she disappeared. We know of a young woman, around Ambrose's age, that lives alone on a rooftop. Kvothe assumes that she must have gone insane from a too weak mind at the University. However, Ambrose seems to have friends in very high places.

Could Auri be Tabitha? It's a weak idea, sure, but it's still there.



Auri gives Kvothe a key and a ring. Could the key be the key to the 'Doors of Stone?'

If you read the Slow Regard of Silent Things, she’s certainly important enough to the story.



The ring is wooden, which is interesting. At the Court in Vintas in the Wise Man's Fear, wooden rings are exchanged as tokens of hatred. We know that Ambrose's family is from Vintas. How do you suppose Auri came about a ring like that, if the ring is in fact what I assume it to be? And if my earlier theory about Auri being Tabitha proves true, perhaps the ring came from Ambrose. She claims that the ring keeps secrets.



It should also be noted that Auri gives Kvothe 'Key, Coin, and Candle.' Taborlin Stories mention Key, Coin, and Candle as his three tools.



Auri's name is in Kvothe's mother's Trouper name: Laurien. Not that that should have any significance.



"Little Moon Fae."



The Cthaeh

He spoke to the Cthaeh... He killed a king... Could the Cthaeh have driven him to do all of the things that he's done? Could the entire story merely have been created through the will of the Cthaeh? Bast seems to think so.



Denna

So, we all know who she is. Well, maybe not her name exactly, but we all know that whatever he real name is, it stars with a D. Diane. Dyanae. Denna.

It occurs to me that the Lay of Sir Savien Triliard may very well describe Kvothe and Denna's relationship.

Love lost, than found, than lost again.

He lost her when he left the caravan. He found her at the Eolian as he is singing this song, but where do you suppose he loses her for the last time? He does, obviously, for she is not present at the Waystone, and he crushes a bottle of her favorite wine when driven to despair.



As a side note, when she and Kvothe talk about the Chandrian, there’s a pale woman mentioned. Could be a coincidence.



Of course, the song also describes something of Lanre's story. He dies and loses Lyra, Lyra resurrects him and they find each other, then Lyra dies and the love is lost again. Odd, considering that Savien is one of the Amyr...

There is a lot of mystery surrounding Denna's patron. I read theories everywhere.

"I think he's one of the Amyr!"

"I think he's one of the Chandrain!"

"I think it's a plot twist and he's actually a dragon!"

"I think he's possessed by a skin-dancer!"



Sovoy says, when Kvothe meets Denna again ‘for the first time,’ that if he promised her anything to repay her that she would order him off to find her a 'leaf from the Singing Tree' on the other side of the world.

I admit it's ridiculous, but when I heard Singing Tree, I immediately thought of the Cthaeh.



Kvothe also mentions Felurian around the same time the 'Singing Tree' is mentioned.

"I might keep referring to you as Felurian, but that would lead to confusion."



Felurian and the Cthaeh are connected, if you remember.



Denna has not so far called him "Dulator." And, if I'm remembering correctly, neither did Felurian in WMF. Correct me with a direct quote and page number if I'm wrong, please.



'My first mentor called me E'lir because I was clever and I knew it. My first real lover called me Dulator because she liked the sound of it. I have been called Shadicar, Lightfinger, and Six-String. I have been called Kvothe the Bloodless, Kvothe the Arcane, and Kvothe Kingkiller.'



Could there be another woman we have yet to meet?



Kote and the Waystone Inn

Bast explains that you don't merely begin to believe that you are the mask you wear, but you also, eventually, become the mask you wear. He wants 'Reshi' to open up to Chronicler in order to remember when he was a hero. He's already broken down once, I can only imagine what'll happen to him next.



It is mentioned that 'Kote' means 'disaster.'

Expect disaster every seven years.



Kvothe

This is a small section, but it has my most recent (and exciting) theory in it.

Starting with the less important notes:

Kvothe's eyes:

They turn frosty green when he's terrified.

Muddy when he's in a horrible state of stress.

Dark when he's angry, protective, or in any way filled with adrenaline (Or, as Kvothe jokes, 'It could be just old fashioned lust,' which, I suppose, makes sense if I'm right about the adrenaline.)

Normally, they are a bright green with a gold ring around the pupil.

He claims he gets them from his mother... but his mother was dark-eyed.

And both of his parents have dark hair, whilst his is a fiery red.



Well, I say he's a changeling. As do many others.



A changeling, in case you are unaware, is a fae infant that is switched with a human infant, in order for the Fae infant to grow off of the human's nourishment. Sort of like a cuckoo bird.

It explains how he picks things up so quickly, it explains why Bastas is his student. It explains why he looks so different from his parents.

The changeling is mentioned a fair bit in Faerie lore, thought not yet in Rothfuss’s faerie lore.



The Chandrain

This is primarily about the pictures on the vase found by little Nina at the Mauthen Farm. The girl describes seeing a woman holding a broken sword; a man next to a dead tree; a man with a dog biting his leg; a man with white hair and black eyes (Cinder, most likely); a man without a face, but rather a hood with nothing inside, a mirror at his feet and moons in different cycles over his head (Haliax?); and a woman with some of her clothes off. These are six of the seven.



Their signs of which I'm aware:

Blue fire

Rotting wood

Rusting metal



The Sleeping Mind

Kvothe says that the locked memories of his family are behind the doors of his mind. When Ambrose breaks his lute, he is reminded of the breaking sound of his father's lute in Tarbean, which probably reminds him of his father, the song, the scene of his dead Troupe.

I believe that Kvothe's sleeping mind contains these things, and that when Ambrose broke his lute, he released those memories, and along with them, the rest of his knowledge. Maybe remembering is the price he has to pay to awaken his sleeping mind.



Meluan Lackless

Lady Lackless.

Kvothe sings a short tune about her in the beginning of the first book, when he was but a child. His mother scolds him for insulting Lady Lackless. His mother claimed that she is a real person, who has real feelings.

He meets her later, and she seems familiar to him, but he can't quite find out why.

Lady Lackless had a sister that was stolen away from her by the Ruh.

Kvothe's mother was mentioned to once have been nobility.

Kvothe might still have family.

An aunt that shuns him for being Edema Ruh. An aunt he barely even recognizes. An aunt that, if she recognizes him, refuses to mention it. But still, she is an aunt.

As Kvothe is so fond of saying, a half of a loaf is better than none, right?



The Thrice Locked Box

A box to hold the name of the moon, kept by Jax in the old Faerie story.

A box belonging to Meluan Lackless that does not have a seam.

A chest in Kote's inn, seamless according to Bast, thrice locked. Kvothe looks upon the chest with longing.

Elodin panics at the mention of someone changing their name, referring to their true name.

Kote. Kvothe.

Just remove that 'v' and 'h'

Could that chest contain 'Kvothe?' Is that what Kote wants, but can't stand to think about?

What does that box contain that is so important to him? His name, his shaed, what?



Kvothe and Elodin

Kote is to Kvothe, as Elodin is to Taborlin.

A possible direct parallel.

Kote is undercover at an inn. Elodin at a school *where he is Master Namer.*

He's been to the Faen Realm, as he so obviously reveals when he identifies Kvothe's Shaed. He also, apparently, knows a smattering of Ademic.

Could he have blown past the years of Taborlin in Fae, and returned as Elodin? And, if not... do we know if Taborlin had children? That is, if he isn't merely a story...

But don't all stories have some truth to them?

Kvothe tries to open up to the young Blacksmith boy at the Inn.

Elodin tries to open up to Kvothe at the Asylum... in a way. Of course, he did order him to jump off a roof.

And he tells the story of Taborlin, yet he uses his own name in Taborlin's place, shattering stone and breaking out of the prison.

He seems young, yet seems to possess knowledge of someone much older.

Maybe I'm thinking about this backwards. Time goes by faster for a man in Fae than in real life, right? So... if that were so, wouldn't he be older than he actually is...?

Of course it has flaws... but it makes equal bits of sense and nonsense and, ultimately, it's extremely frustrating.



Other notable things

There are ten words to break a strong man's will... could these ten word have been spoken to Kvothe, breaking his power?



Wisdom precludes boldness.



"The scrael, the war, all my fault."



Bast demands of Chronicler not to ask Kote why he can’t do sympathy.



The Number Seven

Seven Chandrain.

Expect disaster every seven years.

Seven men didn't cross to Tehlu's side in Trapis' story.



"Is six a good number?”

"Well, for a lucky number I'd have to go down to three, or up to seven. "-Kvothe.

It took Kvothe seven days, start to finish, to memorize all of the runes for Sygladry.

Lackless keeps seven things beneath her black dress.



That's it, for now.