KKC Theory Wiki

Tarbean

location · importance 62 · 0 theories

“The squalid port city where orphaned Kvothe survived years as a street urchin”

Appearance§

Tarbean is a cold, squalid, winter-bound port city of dark alleys and rough streets, dangerous for the homeless children who scrape by there. It is a place of grinding poverty and snow-filled winter streets. Trapis keeps sick children in a basement, one of its few cited interiors.

Description§

Tarbean is a large, grim, winter-bound port city where an orphaned Kvothe lived for years as a homeless street urchin after the Chandrian murdered his troupe, and before he reached the University. On its streets he learned vice and survival: thieving, deception, acting a part, and the feral instincts that later make him recoil from men like Dagon. Grief and shock led him to abandon sympathy and his lute during these years until the storyteller Skarpi reawakened him. Several Tarbean scenes are pivotal. Trapis, a gentle man in a long robe so patched its original color and shape cannot be guessed, nurses and feeds destitute and disabled children and aids a starving young Kvothe. Skarpi recounts the creation-war myths of Lanre, Selitos, Tehlu and his angels, and Encanis before being seized by a guard during one telling. Kvothe is severely beaten by a city guard for 'singing the wrong sorts of songs,' and is nearly raped in an alley as a child. The streets of Tarbean treat the Edema Ruh and other outsiders as lesser, watched over by guards who abuse their power and priests who exploit their position. Kvothe later returns to the city to pay off debts from his time there.

Relationships§

  • Refuge Of Kvothe — where orphaned Kvothe lived for years as a homeless street urchin
  • Aftermath Of The Chandrian — Kvothe fled here after the Chandrian murdered his troupe
  • Precedes The University — Kvothe lived here before reaching the University
  • Marginalizes Edema Ruh — treats the Edema Ruh and other outsiders as lesser
  • Priests Of The Tehlin Church — priests exploit their position over the city's poor
  • Storyteller Of Skarpi — Skarpi tells the creation-war myths here and is seized by a guard
  • Show In Puppet — Puppet's marionette show here depicts a Tehlin priest's violence against a child
  • Caretaker In Trapis — Trapis nurses street children and feeds a starving young Kvothe here

Established facts§

  • Tarbean is the large port city where Kvothe lived as a homeless street child for years after the Chandrian killed his troupe, before reaching the University.
  • On its streets Kvothe survived as a thief and urchin by stealing, pulling tricks, deceiving people, and acting a part.
  • Trapis, a gentle man in a long robe so patched its original color and shape cannot be guessed, nurses sick and disabled children and feeds poor children, including a desperate young Kvothe.
  • Skarpi the storyteller tells the creation-war stories of Lanre, Selitos, Tehlu and his angels, and Encanis in Tarbean, and is taken away by a guard during one telling.
  • Kvothe is severely beaten by a city guard for 'singing the wrong sorts of songs,' and is nearly raped in a Tarbean alley as a child.
  • Grief and shock led Kvothe to abandon sympathy and his lute during his years in Tarbean until Skarpi's storytelling reawakened him.
  • Kvothe's hard survival instincts from the streets stay with him later, such as his gut reaction to Dagon.
  • Kvothe returns to Tarbean later to pay off debts from his time there.
  • Puppet's marionette show in Tarbean depicts a Tehlin priest committing violence against a child.
  • While leaving Tarbean, Kvothe bathes at an inn and the innkeeper remarks that his hair has gone from black to red after washing away the grime of the streets.
  • In Tarbean, a crowd invoking Tehlu's name produces no effect, while elsewhere a woman calls for Tehlu's aid in an older language.
  • The streets of Tarbean treat the Edema Ruh and other outsiders as lesser, under guards who abuse their power and priests who exploit their position.

Theories that reference this§