Entities

character (101)

• Kvothe — The legendary arcanist and Kingkiller narrating his own life as a quiet innkeeper
• Denna — Kvothe's elusive muse, a secretive musician with a hidden patron
• Haliax — Lanre reborn as the shadow-wreathed leader of the Chandrian
• Cinder — The white-haired Chandrian who killed Kvothe's troupe
• Elodin — The unhinged Master Namer who teaches that danger rouses the sleeping mind
• Bast — The Fae student and protector of the innkeeper Kvothe
• Iax — The greatest Shaper, who stole the moon and started the Creation War
• Selitos — The ancient namer who cursed Lanre and founded the Amyr
• Ambrose Jakis — Kvothe's wealthy, sadistic noble rival at the University
• Laurian — Kvothe's mother, the troupe leader's wife widely held to be a runaway Lackless heiress
• Maer Lerand Alveron — Vintas's most powerful Maer, patron and political minefield for Kvothe
• Tehlu — Chief of Aleph's angels, judge of men in the Tehlin faith
• Chronicler — The scribe who coaxes Kvothe into telling his true story over three days
• Felurian — The deathless Fae who takes mortal lovers and is named, not slain, by Kvothe
• Master Ash — Denna's secretive patron, identity deliberately hidden
• Arliden — Kvothe's father, an Edema Ruh bard whose song about the Chandrian got his troupe killed
• Auri — The fey, broken girl of the Underthing whom Kvothe named
• Meluan Lackless — Lackless heiress, Kvothe's probable aunt, betrothed to the Maer
• Devi — Demon-eyed gaem moneylender and expelled arcanist Kvothe owes in blood
• Tempi — The Adem mercenary who teaches Kvothe the Ketan and the Lethani
• Bredon — The grandfatherly Vintish noble who teaches Kvothe the deeper game of Tak
• Simmon — Kvothe's warm-hearted, alchemy-studying best friend at the University
• Wilem — Kvothe's loyal Cealdish friend at the University, a stone in deep water
• Abenthy — The traveling arcanist who first taught Kvothe sympathy and naming
• Illien — Legendary Edema Ruh musician who wrote 'The Lay of Sir Savien Traliard'
• Lyra — Lanre's love, a master namer who called him back from death
• Master Lorren — The cold, watchful Master Archivist of the University
• Puppet — The strange, puppet-carving hermit who lives deep in the Archives
• Roderic Calanthis — The reigning King of Vintas, leading candidate for the king Kvothe kills
• Skarpi — The old storyteller in Tarbean who tells young Kvothe the tale of Lanre
• Aleph — The supreme power who made the angels after Myr Tariniel fell
• Caudicus — The Maer's longtime arcanist, exposed as a poisoner by Kvothe
• Count Threpe — Music-loving Imre noble who becomes Kvothe's first patron
• Cyphus — The Chandrian who bears the blue flame, first named in the song
• Fela — Beautiful scriv and namer of stone, rescued from the Fishery fire
• Master Kilvin — Cealdish Master Artificer hunting the legend of an ever-burning lamp
• Pale Alaxel — The shadow-cloaked Lord of the Seven from the Adem's Chandrian tale
• Shehyn — Eldest of the Adem who tells Kvothe the Chandrian's true names
• Stapes — The Maer's devoted manservant who gives Kvothe a bone ring
• Taborlin the Great — Legendary wizard-hero of Temerant's folk tales and children's stories
• Vashet — The Adem mercenary who trains Kvothe in the Lethani and Ketan
• Encanis — The masked demon of Tehlin myth, bound by Tehlu's burning wheel
• Manet — The University's perpetual student, an E'lir for longer than his friends have been alive
• Elxa Dal — University Master of Sympathy who knows the name of fire
• Master Hemme — The University's spiteful Master Rhetorician and Kvothe's early antagonist
• Master Herma — The Chancellor of the University and Master Linguist
• Trapis — Gentle Tarbean caretaker of street children who tells the tale of Tehlu and Encanis
• Dagon — The Maer's cold, deadly captain — Alveron's "mad dog on a short leash"
• Grey Dalcenti — The silent Chandrian whose sign is described as 'never speaks'
• Viari — Lorren's sword-carrying giller in acquisitions who fetches rare books
• Penthe — Adem mercenary whose perfect step Kvothe says he could never match
• Aaron — Trebon-born smith's prentice Kvothe tells the truth to in the frame
• Alenta — Chandrian whose sign is blight
• Alleg — Leader of the false Edema Ruh troupe Kvothe destroys at Levinshir
• Perial — The lowborn woman who bore Menda in Trapis's tale of Tehlu
• Stercus — The Chandrian bound by iron, named in the children's rhyme
• The Duke of Gibea — Vivisectionist whose journal links medicine to the hidden Amyr
• Usnea — The Chandrian whose sign is rot and decay
• Andan — One of Aleph's angels, whose name means anger
• Mola — Analytical Medica student who built Kvothe's gram
• Sleat — A seedier gaelet who can get exactly what he wants
• Stanchion — Co-proprietor of the Eolian who awards musicians their talent pipes
• Aethe — Legendary Adem master archer who shot his student-lover Rethe
• Deoch — Co-owner and doorman of the Eolian who knew Denna for years
• Master Arwyl — Master of the Medica at the University
• Nina — Trebon girl whose painting captured the Chandrian and an Amyr
• Savien Traliard — Legendary Amyr hero of Illien's crowning song, sung as a duet at the Eolian
• Master Mandrag — The University's Master Alchemist who taught Auri
• Pike — Tarbean street-gang leader who tormented young Kvothe
• Rethe — Adem figure from the ancient tale of Aethe and Rethe
• Alder Whin — A 'cracked' arcanist confined in Haven
• Master Brandeur — A master of the University who votes against Kvothe
• Remmen — Named Fae father of Bast, Prince of Twilight
• Abbe Leodin — The local priest of Newarre
• Aculeus Lackless — Lord of the Lackless family, father of Meluan
• Alaitis — Vintish Prince Regent whose death unsettled the southern nobility
• Aloine — Tragic lover from the Lay of Sir Savien Traliard
• Anker — Innkeeper of Anker's near the University
• Baron Greyfallow — Patron of Kvothe's parents' troupe
• Baron Jakis — Powerful Vintish noble, father of Ambrose
• Carceret — Adem mercenary and Kvothe's bitter rival in Ademre
• Dedan — Hired mercenary on Kvothe's bandit hunt in the Eld
• Duchess Samista — High-ranking Vintish noblewoman in the peerage
• Feyda Calanthis — Vintish king of the Calanthis line
• Finol — Past wielder of the sword Saicere who fell at Drossen Tor
• Geisa — Beautiful woman of Belen with a hundred suitors
• Geoffrey — Poet and friend of Denna, careless with money
• Graham — Villager of Newarre and regular at the Waystone Inn
• Hespe — Mercenary in Kvothe's bandit-hunting party
• Kellin — One of Denna's well-to-do suitors in Severen
• Krin — Levenshir girl rescued by Kvothe from false troupers
• Lord Greyfellow — Noble patron of Arliden's traveling troupe
• Marten — Veteran tracker and woodsman of the Eld
• Old Cob — Elderly regular and storyteller at the Waystone Inn
• Ordal — One of the angels made by Aleph
• Princess Ariel — A lost princess of myth and rumor
• Rike — Troubled boy Bast comes to know in Newarre
• Roent — Caravan master Kvothe travels with
• Shep — Farmer and Waystone Inn regular
• Tarsus — Character in the play Daeonica
• Trip — Acrobat in Kvothe's childhood troupe

concept (36)

• Naming — The deep art of speaking a thing's true name to command it
• Shaping — The will-magic that wrought the Fae from whole cloth
• The Doors of Stone — The unwritten third book and the stone doors of in-world myth
• Sympathy — Temerant's taught, equivalent-exchange magic of energy and will
• The Moon — The stolen moon that travels between the mortal and Fae realms
• Alar — The riding-crop belief that lets a sympathist bend reality with the mind
• Glamourie — Fae magic of making things seem
• Grammarie — Fae magic of making things truly be
• The Lethani — The Adem's guiding moral path of right action
• Sygaldry — Rune-based artificing magic, a 'written' form of sympathy
• The Ketan — The Adem's named sequence of fighting movements
• The Penitent King — The frame-story monarch Kvothe's rebellion opposes, widely theorized to be Maer Alveron
• The Lightning Tree — Bast's day-in-the-life novella, and the lightning-scarred tree where he trades favors
• Yllish Knots — An Yllish system of writing meaning in knots, possibly a hidden magic
• Alchemy — Arcane discipline of distilling and transforming substances
• Aleu — Nameless beings that fall from the sky
• Artificing — University craft binding sympathy into physical devices
• Cealdish — The people, language, and coinage of the Ceald
• Chan Vaen edan Kote — Siaru saying: expect disaster every seven years
• Chandrian Signs — Omens that herald the presence of the Chandrian
• Eld Vintic — Old Vintish language and classical poetic form
• Four Doors of the Mind — Sleep, forgetting, madness, and death
• Heart of Stone — Mental discipline of perfect emotional detachment
• Knack — Innate, often inexplicable personal talent
• Name of Silence — A true name governing silence and stillness
• Nine Prime Fallacies — Logical fallacies taught at the University
• Rhetoric — University discipline of persuasion and argument
• Rhinta — Term for the Chandrian; a man more than a man
• Seven Words — Words said to make a woman love you
• Siaru — Language of the Ceald
• Silence of Three Parts — The threefold silence of the Waystone Inn
• Skin-changer — A being able to alter or disguise its form
• Sleeping Bear — Two-handed Ketan joint lock and escape
• Tema — Formal language used by the Tehlin church
• The Doors of the Mind — Classical model of the mind's defenses against pain
• Vorfelan Rhinata Morie — Inscription carved above the Archives doors

creature (5)

• The Cthaeh — An all-seeing, malevolent oracle bound to a tree that speaks only ruinous truths
• Scrael — Deadly spider-like creatures whose arrival opens the frame story
• Skin Dancer — Body-stealing Fae creature hunted by the Cthaeh's guardians
• The Draccus — The fire-breathing, charcoal-eating beast Kvothe faces near Trebon
• Foxen — Auri's soft blue-green alchemical light

event (3)

• The Creation War — The ancient war that ended the Ergen Empire and made the Chandrian
• Aethe and Rethe — An ancient Adem legend of two lovers and the founding of the Lethani
• Mauthen Massacre — Slaughter of the Mauthen wedding party near Trebon

faction (12)

• The Chandrian — The seven cursed figures who slaughtered Kvothe's troupe
• The Amyr — An ancient order dedicated to the greater good at any cost
• The Lackless Family — Ancient secretive noble line guarding a sealed box and a hidden door
• Edema Ruh — Nomadic troupers and performers, marginalized keepers of songs and roads
• The Adem — Insular mountain mercenaries who keep the Lethani, the Ketan, and old secrets
• The Arcanum — The University's inner body of ranked arcanists, where Kvothe rose youngest in memory
• The Tehlin Church — The dominant monotheistic church of the Four Corners, worshippers of Tehlu
• The Ruach — The ancient people of the Creation War, sundered after Myr Tariniel fell
• The Sithe — Fae guardians sworn to keep the Cthaeh in absolute isolation
• The Singers — A shadowy group the Chandrian fear, named alongside the Amyr and Sithe
• The Tahl — Nomadic singers from beyond the Stormwal whose songs are said to heal
• Tinkers — Wandering traders whose offered goods uncannily fit what travelers will need

group (4)

• Angels — Servants of Aleph who guard against the Chandrian
• Knowers — Ancient namers opposed to the Shapers
• Mauthen — Farming family massacred by the Chandrian near Trebon
• Surthen Family — Vintish noble family lost at sea, raising Ambrose in succession

location (47)

• The University — The seat of arcane learning where Kvothe studies sympathy, naming, and the Arcanum
• The Fae — A Shaped otherworld where time runs strangely and named things were made to be
• The Archives — The University's vast, fire-feared library of dangerous knowledge
• Waystone Inn — Kvothe's quiet hideaway as Kote, possibly a deliberate trap
• Ademre — Mountain homeland of the Adem mercenaries and the Ketan fighting art
• Myr Tariniel — The shining mountain city destroyed by Lanre, namesake of the Amyr
• Vintas — Wealthy eastern kingdom of nobility, intrigue, and the Lackless line
• Temerant — The mortal world where Kvothe's story unfolds
• The Eolian — Imre's renowned music hall where a musician can win the silver pipes
• The Underthing — Ancient ruined tunnels beneath the University where Auri lives
• Tarbean — The squalid port city where orphaned Kvothe survived years as a street urchin
• Imre — The arts town across the river from the University
• Newarre — The tiny backwater town where Kvothe hides as the innkeeper Kote
• Severen — The Maer's split-level city in Vintas, divided into Severen-High and Severen-Low
• The Stormwal — Eastern mountain range walling off desert and the singing Tahl
• Renere — Capital of Vintas and seat of King Roderic Calanthis
• The Fishery — Kilvin's artificery workshop where students craft sygaldry by hand
• The Four Corners of Civilization — The mortal world of Temerant where the main story unfolds
• Trebon — The mining town where Kvothe found Chandrian signs at a wedding massacre
• Belen — An ancient city of the Ergen Empire, widely theorized as the University's foundation
• Drossen Tor — The climactic battle where Lanre defeated the enemy sealed behind the Doors of Stone
• Tinuë — Eastern free city tied to 'how's the road to Tinuë?' and the ancient Tinusa
• The Eight Cities — The last great cities of the Ergen Empire before its fall
• Haven — The University's asylum for arcanists who crack their minds
• Modeg — One of the four corners' major nations, never visited in the trilogy
• Anilin — Distant city on the road Denna once traveled
• Antus — One of the eight cities of the Ergen empire
• Atur — One of the major human nations of Temerant
• Belenay-Barren — Province in the Central Commonwealth housing the University
• Caluptena — Ruined great place of learning destroyed by fire
• Ceald — Northern region home to the dark-skinned Cealdim
• Emlen — One of the eight cities of the Ergen empire
• Ergen Empire — Ancient empire of the Creation War
• Faeriniel — Place where all roads meet, reached on a road not for traveling
• Great Stone Road — Ancient road running toward the Stormwal mountains
• Hallowfell — Town where Kvothe's troupe performed
• Lackless Lands — Ancient independent holdings of the Lackless family
• Levenshir — Town from which the false troupers' captives were taken
• Murella — One of the twin cities of the Ergen empire
• Murilla — One of the twin cities of the Ergen empire
• Rookery — The University's warded cells for the mad
• Small Kingdoms — Cluster of minor realms in the Four Corners
• The Crockery — The University's holding cells for broken arcanists
• The Eld — Vast dangerous forest in northern Vintas
• The Medica — The University's school and hospital of healing
• Vaeret — One of the eight cities of the Ergen empire
• Yll — Coastal nation, home of Yllish knot-writing

object (37)

• The Wise Man's Fear — The second book of the Kingkiller Chronicle, covering Kvothe's second day of storytelling
• The Four-Plate Door — The sealed door in the Archives with no hinge, handle, or lock
• The Thrice-Locked Chest — Kvothe's sealed chest with three locks, one of which he can no longer open
• The Lackless Box — An unopenable heirloom box of strange wood that holds the Lackless secret
• Caesura — Kvothe's Adem sword, whose name means a break in a line of poetry
• Folly — The dull grey sword mounted behind the Waystone Inn's bar
• The Name of the Wind — Day One of Kvothe's framed first-person account
• The Shaed — Kvothe's cloak woven of shadow, made for him by Felurian in the Fae
• The Boy Who Stole the Moon — Hespe's folktale of Jax, who caught the moon and started the Creation War
• Rhinna — The Cthaeh's panacea flower, a cure-all said to come at a terrible price
• Talent Pipes — The silver pipes a musician earns by performing at the Eolian
• Arliden's Lanre Song — The song Arliden was writing that got Kvothe's troupe killed
• The Slow Regard of Silent Things — Rothfuss's novella told from Auri's perspective in the Underthing
• Daeonica — An in-world tragic play whose hero sells his soul in hell
• Denner Resin — The world's potent, candy-sweet narcotic — and Denna's namesake
• The Arrow Catch — Kvothe's sygaldry device that stops incoming arrows
• The Book of the Path — The holy book of the Tehlin church
• Arrowcatch — Artificed device that catches incoming arrows
• Black Door — A dark door Kvothe tried to touch in the Fae
• Bloodless — Kvothe's arrow-catching artifice
• Crucible — Vessel used in alchemy for heating and distilling
• Dowsing Compass — Sympathetic device that tracks a person by their hair
• Ever-Burning Lamp — Legendary lamp that burns without ceasing
• Felurian's Butterflies — Butterflies filling Felurian's twilight glade in the Fae
• Gram — Artificed ward that absorbs hostile sympathy
• Greystones — Ancient standing stones marking old roads
• Iceless — Sygaldry-powered cooling box at Anker's inn
• Lockless Door — Doorless door at the heart of Lackless lore
• Loden-stone — A naturally magnetic stone that draws iron
• Mhenka — Powerful and dangerous painkilling drug, 'devil root'
• One Sock — Black horse Kvothe rides to Trebon
• Plum Bob — Alchemical compound that compels obsessive love and obedience
• Ramston Steel — Fine steel that holds an edge but is brittle
• Roah — Dark, dense wood prized for its durability
• Selas Flower — Deep red vine flower Kvothe names for Denna
• Tak — Strategic board game played across the Four Corners
• Warding Stones — Ancient protective relics kept by Kilvin

work (7)

• A Quainte Compendium of Folke Belief — Old handwritten book listing the Chandrian signs
• En Temerant Voistra — An untranslated title from the books
• How Old Holly Came to Be — Ancient tale of a tree-man's making
• Jackass, Jackass — Mocking song Kvothe writes about Ambrose Jakis
• Lackless Rhymes — Children's rhymes encoding Lackless family secrets
• The Mating Habits of the Common Draccus — Scholarly book written by Chronicler
• Tinker Tanner — A common song sung in taverns and inns