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The Chandrian

faction · importance 90 · 82 theories

“The seven cursed figures who slaughtered Kvothe's troupe”

also known as The Seven, the Chandrian, the Seven-Shadowed

Appearance§

The Chandrian are humanoid but marked by uncanny signs that warp their surroundings: ordinary flame burns blue in their presence, bright metal blackens and rusts, wood rots, and an unnatural cold gathers. Cinder is pale-skinned and elegant, with abnormally black eyes, and bears a pale, elegant sword that cuts the air with a brittle sound, evoking the quiet of the coldest days of winter. Haliax, their leader, is shrouded in an unnatural shadow that swallows the light around his face, earning the group the name the Seven-Shadowed. In a children's book Kvothe reads, the entry for the Chandrian is a blank page framed in scrollwork, every other creature having an illustration.

Description§

The Chandrian are a cursed group of seven beings, also called the Seven and known to the Adem and Fae as the Rhinta, led by Haliax, whose true name is Alaxel. In Adem and Shehyn's telling they were once seven who each betrayed a city of the old world from within. They murder Kvothe's parents and his entire Edema Ruh troupe early in his story, a massacre he witnesses and barely survives, because his father Arliden was composing a song about Lanre. Among them is Cinder, whose true name is Ferule and who carries a pale, elegant sword that cuts the air with a brittle sound; Cinder later resurfaces as the leader of a bandit camp in the Eld, a fact the truth-telling Cthaeh confirms to Kvothe. Each Chandrian bears a distinct sign that betrays their presence, among them flames burning blue, iron rusting and crumbling, wood rotting, unnatural cold, blight, decay and a smothering of light and sound. They are drawn when their names are spoken or when truths about them surface, and they work to suppress all knowledge of themselves, hunting down and destroying songs, stories, images and records, and killing witnesses such as Kvothe's troupe and the guests at the Mauthen wedding. Most of the world, including educated arcanists at the University, regards them as figures of children's stories rather than a real threat. Those who do know of them, including Felurian, Lorren and Shehyn, refuse to speak of them or do so only under ritual constraint.

Relationships§

  • Victim Kvothe — Murdered his parents and troupe; he survived as witness
  • Leader Haliax — Led by Haliax, whose true name is Alaxel
  • Member Cinder — Cinder, true name Ferule, is among the Seven
  • Hunted By The Amyr — Haliax shields them from the Amyr who hunt them
  • Slaughtered Edema Ruh — Killed Kvothe's entire Edema Ruh troupe
  • Killed Arliden — Killed him for the song he was composing about Lanre
  • Hunted By The Singers — Haliax protects Cinder from the Singers
  • Named By Shehyn — Shehyn names the seven under strict ritual rules
  • Massacred Mauthen — Slaughtered the Mauthen wedding at Trebon
  • Raiding The Eld — Raiding the Maer's tax collectors in the Eld

Established facts§

  • The Chandrian are a cursed group of seven, also called the Seven and known to the Adem as the Rhinta, led by Haliax, whose true name is Alaxel.
  • Shehyn names the seven as Cyphus, Stercus, Ferule, Usnea, Dalcenti, Alenta and Alaxel.
  • They murder Kvothe's parents and his entire Edema Ruh troupe when he is a child, because Arliden was composing a song about Lanre; Kvothe is the sole survivor and witness.
  • Cinder, true name Ferule, is among them, bearing a pale, elegant sword that cuts the air with a brittle sound, and is found at the fire when Kvothe returns to the camp.
  • Cinder later leads a bandit camp in the Eld, an identity the truth-telling Cthaeh confirms to Kvothe.
  • Each Chandrian bears a distinct sign that signals their presence: Cyphus the blue flame, Stercus in thrall of iron, Ferule chill and dark of eye, Usnea decay, and Alenta the blight.
  • Their signs include blue flame, iron rusting and crumbling, wood rotting, unnatural cold, blight, decay and a smothering of light and sound.
  • They are drawn when their names are spoken or written, a single utterance faint but constant repetition blazing like a lighthouse.
  • They hunt down and destroy songs, stories, images, artifacts and records of themselves, and kill those who learn too much about them.
  • They slaughtered the Mauthen wedding at Trebon, where a painted vase depicting the seven Chandrian had been unearthed, leaving signs of blue flame, rotting wood and rusted iron.
  • The vase from the Mauthen farm depicts the seven Chandrian together with an eighth figure Kvothe takes to be an Amyr of the Ciridae.
  • Those who know of them refuse to speak of them: Felurian flatly refuses, Lorren dismisses them as a fairy tale, Abenthy would not say their names, and Shehyn speaks them only once under strict ritual rules.
  • Most of the world, including arcanists at the University, regards the Chandrian as figures of children's stories rather than a real threat.
  • The name Chandrian derives from the Temic Chaen-dian, meaning seven of them, reflecting their number.
  • When they sense an approaching power they go still and tilt their heads skyward in unison, and Haliax says They come; they break off and depart from both the troupe massacre and other scenes in this way.
  • Haliax, their leader, protects Cinder from a group called the Singers and binds the others in a hierarchy under his command.
  • Haliax's stated aim amounts to the destruction of everything.
  • The Chandrian are confirmed to be alive in the story's present, per Kvothe and Bast after Kvothe recites the Adem rhyme.
  • A children's rhyme lists their signs: a hearthfire turned blue, eyes black as crow, a man without a face, rust on bright metal, and a woman pale as snow.
  • The Chandrian are wary of and harmed by iron, and no door can bar their passing.
  • A dying skin-dancer at the Waystone Inn demands of Kvothe, Te aithiyn Seathaloi? Te Rhintae?, using the Ademic name for the Chandrian.
  • Kvothe brands the false Edema Ruh leader Alleg with the broken circle, the sign associated with the Chandrian.
  • During Kvothe's time in Severen the Chandrian are raiding the Maer's tax collectors in the Eld.
  • Rumour circulates of a new Chandrian with hair as red as the blood he spills, which Kote dismisses, saying the important people know the difference.
  • Common folk hold that speaking of the Chandrian draws them, a belief voiced by a drunken tanner who warns that if you talk of them, they come for you.

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