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Arliden's Lanre Song

object · importance 50 · 4 theories

“The song Arliden was writing that got Kvothe's troupe killed”

also known as the song about Lanre

Appearance§

As a song rather than a physical object, it has no described visual form in the corpus. It exists as Arliden's work-in-progress, performed and refined around the troupe's fires, and survives in the narrative only as the dangerous, accurate account of Lanre that the Chandrian sought to erase, contrasted with the written or performed versions of Lanre's tale that circulate elsewhere, such as Denna's heroic rendition and Skarpi's spoken story.

Description§

Arliden's Lanre Song is the ballad Kvothe's father was researching and composing about Lanre, painstakingly assembling the true history of Lanre, Haliax, and the Chandrian. The song is the cause of the catastrophe that defines Kvothe's life: because the Chandrian guard the specifics of their existence, they descended on the Edema Ruh troupe and killed Arliden along with everyone who might have heard the song. Kvothe, away from the camp, survived. The song's accuracy is what made it lethal; Kvothe believes his father uncovered the true names that torment the Chandrian and worked them into its later verses, drawing them to the troupe. The song stands in contrast to Denna's later 'Song of Seven Sorrows,' which recasts Lanre as a wronged hero and Selitos as a monster, drawn from a story she found locked away in a private library. Kvothe accepts Skarpi's account of Lanre and the Creation War over Denna's sympathetic version. The argument over Arliden's song leaves Kvothe with lasting regret that he failed to say the right thing to Denna.

Relationships§

  • Believed By Kvothe — Kvothe believes Arliden worked the Chandrian's true names into later verses
  • Subject The Chandrian — Assembles the true story of Lanre, Haliax, and the Chandrian, who massacred the troupe over it
  • Contrasted With Denna — Contrasted with Denna's 'Song of Seven Sorrows'; argument over it left Kvothe with regret
  • Subject Haliax — Gathers the true story of Lanre, Haliax, and the Chandrian
  • Setting The Creation War — Tells of Lanre as a hero of the Creation War
  • Doomed Troupe Edema Ruh — The Chandrian killed Arliden's Edema Ruh troupe to destroy the song
  • Mentions Selitos — Denna's rival song recasts Selitos as a monster, against this song's account
  • Composer Arliden — Arliden, Kvothe's father, was researching and writing the song
  • Aligned Account Skarpi — Kvothe accepts Skarpi's account of Lanre over Denna's sympathetic version
  • Mentions Lyra — The Lanre story includes his lost wife Lyra

Established facts§

  • Arliden, Kvothe's father, was researching and writing a song about Lanre, gathering the true story of Lanre, Haliax, and the Chandrian.
  • The song is the reason the Chandrian massacred Kvothe's Edema Ruh troupe: they killed Arliden and anyone who may have heard it.
  • Kvothe survived the massacre, having not been at the camp.
  • The Chandrian want to prevent people from learning the specifics of their existence, which is the motive for destroying the song and those who heard it.
  • Kvothe believes Arliden uncovered the true names that torment the Chandrian and worked them into the later verses of his song, drawing them to the troupe.
  • Concrete, true information about Lanre and the Chandrian is extremely scarce in the mortal world, which is what made Arliden's accurate account so dangerous.
  • The song is contrasted with Denna's later 'Song of Seven Sorrows,' which portrays Lanre as a wronged hero and Selitos as a monster, drawn from a story she found locked in a private library.
  • Kvothe accepts Skarpi's account of Lanre and the Creation War, which differs from the sympathetic version Denna sings.
  • In the story of Lanre, he was a hero of the Creation War who lost his wife Lyra, was changed and renamed Haliax, and became leader of the Chandrian.
  • Ben's inscription points Kvothe back toward Lanre and the Chandrian, the same subject as Arliden's song.
  • The argument over Arliden's song leaves Kvothe with lasting regret that he failed to say the right thing to Denna.

Theories§

Appears in theories§

Top contributors§

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