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The Adem's True Reproductive Biology and the Mystery of Vashet's Poet King

fringe mechanism · popularity 66 · 1 source thread

The Adem's denial of fatherhood may mask a real reproductive biology of low fertility, with implications for Vashet's poet king.

About: The Adem, Vashet

Also involves: Ademre, Penthe, Kvothe

The theory§

This theory examines why the Adem deny that sex causes pregnancy and works toward the consequences of Vashet's implied relationship with her poet king. It weighs three explanations, hermaphroditism or parthenogenesis, genuine ignorance, or simply very low fertility, and favours the last, since the Adem are a small, isolated, closely related people. Rothfuss has confirmed that he chose the Adem's pale colouring to suggest a recessive phenotype, the kind of trait that surfaces in a small closed gene pool, which supports reading them as an inbred, low-fertility population rather than one ignorant of basic reproduction. Penthe's retort that the Adem are not dogs or frogs or trees indicates they exempt themselves from ordinary reproduction rather than failing to understand it. On this foundation the theory speculates that Vashet bore a child to her poet king, with the candidate raised at the University being Simmon, an idea its strongest critics resist on grounds of Simmon's known father, his age, and Vashet's.

Evidence§

  • Adem do reproduce like every other human, but their fertility is significantly lower, thus making the chance of successful insemination and pregnancy very law, creating the dissociation between the number of times they have sex and the prevalence of child birth.
    OP's core claim: Adem low fertility, not ignorance, explains the sex-pregnancy disconnect. — u/IronAndBile
  • The Adem have a recessive phenotype … In fact, Pat has been asked about it specifically and has confirmed that his choice of appearance for the Adem was meant to suggest recessive phenotype, which in a large group of people is always indicative of inbreeding.
    Author-confirmed recessive phenotype supports reading Adem as inbred, low-fertility population. — u/IronAndBile
  • The Adem would have gone extinct over thousands of years, unless they developed a way to increase their chances of conception. … Thus, one of my favorite things about the Adem culture--their attitude toward sex--could very well be something that had developed over time as an evolutionary advantage.
    Explains Adem promiscuity as an adaptive compensation for low fertility. — u/IronAndBile
  • “My poet king actually believed a woman was nothing more than the ground in which a man might plant a baby.” … those topics of conversation don't feel random. They are suggestive of a sexual relationship. … They are also suggestive of possible pregnancy that sexual relationship likely resulted in.
    Vashet's quoted exchanges read as evidence of a sexual relationship and possible pregnancy. — u/IronAndBile
  • I stipulate that Sim's father is "one man who is two political entities". He's the duke of Dalonir AND he's a king in one of the small kingdoms. … I also stipulate that he's Vashet's poet king.
    Identifies Sim's father, a duke and king, as Vashet's poet king. — u/IronAndBile
  • We are told Sim has sandy hair so often, yet we're NEVER told what color his eyes are. I'm thinking... grey? … when Kvothe meets Tempi he notes how he reminds him of Sim
    Sim's Adem-like appearance and Tempi resemblance support him being Vashet's half-Adem son. — u/IronAndBile
  • I don't think the Adem are ignorant about sexual reproduction, just that they think they don't fall under its umbrella. … When Kvothe brought up the animal and plant kingdoms, Penthe said, "We are not dogs or frogs or trees."
    Refines OP: Adem exempt themselves from reproduction rather than failing to understand it. — u/PA55w0rdSkept1c
  • 1. Sim's father loves to fight, to hunt and drink; doesn't sound like a poet. 2. Sim's like 20y - So Vashet should be in her 40y. We don't know her age, all Kvothe says is "she was perhaps ten years older than me"
    CounterCounter: Sim's father seems unpoetic, and ages don't fit Vashet as Sim's mother. — u/Nitrozy
  • To me, a man who would discard a child because they became interested in poetry wouldn’t be described as a poet. And if they were, certainly not a poet first and a king second.
    CounterCounter: Sim's father's behaviour argues against him being the poet king. — u/nIBLIB

Book refs: WMF

Tier reasoning§

fringe confirmed: low-fertility premise has authorial support but poet-king speculation is unfounded

Contributors§

Source threads§