KKC Theory Wiki

Ambrose Jakis Becomes the King That Kvothe Eventually Kills

fringe identity · popularity 210 · 2 source threads

A wave of deaths up the line of succession elevates Ambrose Jakis to the throne, making him the king Kvothe is destined to kill.

About: Ambrose Jakis, Kvothe

Also involves: Caesura, The Cthaeh, Maer Lerand Alveron, Vintas, Severen, Imre, The Chandrian, Meluan Lackless, Penitent King, Roderic Calanthis, Renere

The theory§

This theory proposes that the Calanthis royal line of Vintas will be wiped out and that Ambrose Jakis, Kvothe's University rival, will be elevated to the throne to become the king Kvothe famously kills. Kvothe has earned the name Kingkiller and is known to have counselled kings, and Rothfuss confirms Kvothe will travel to Renere, seat of the King of Vint. Ambrose sits far down the succession, sixteenth in the peerage in The Name of the Wind and thirteenth by the start of The Wise Man's Fear, and the steady closing of that gap is noted as people ahead of him die. Supporting omens are read into the text: Caesura's name means a break in a line of verse, paralleling a break in the Vintish royal line; the Cthaeh destroys the last crimson-and-gold butterfly, the Calanthis colours; Alveron warns that swords in the king's court bring the king grief; and the Penitent King's colours are blue and white rather than Calanthis red and gold. The Jakis barony, the 'pirate isles', is positioned to be engineering these deaths, and Kvothe is known to kill a poet in Imre, leaving cobblestones that cannot be mended. The competing reading is that Kvothe kills King Roderic Calanthis and that Maer Alveron becomes the Penitent King.

Evidence§

  • Kvothe has earned the name kingkiller … and the Maer says swords in the kings court will bring the king grief... all possibly foreshadowing the death of the Calanthis royal line.
    OP frames the core claim: foreshadowing points to the fall of the royal line. — u/chainsawx72
  • The Baron's rise in the peerage is brought up twice in the books, possibly foreshadowing a future Jakis king. Kvothe kills someone in Imre, and kills a poet, and if that person was Baron Jakis it would make Kvothe's worst enemy king
    OP's central thesis: rising Jakis peerage plus the Imre killing make Jakis the king Kvothe kills. — u/chainsawx72
  • “Thirteenth,” Simmon said sullenly. “The entire Surthen family was lost at sea two months ago. Ambrose won’t shut up about the fact that his father’s barely a dozen steps from being king.”
    Textual evidence of the succession gap closing as those ahead die. — u/LostInStories222
  • And Ambrose's fathers barony is called the pirate isles. And it's very possible they are responsible for the deaths.
    The Jakis pirate barony is positioned to be engineering the deaths. — u/LostInStories222
  • I saw the place in Imre where you killed him. By the fountain. The cobblestones are all shathered.
    OP-cited book quote establishing Kvothe kills someone in Imre. — u/chainsawx72
  • his first act will probably be to order the Masters to kick Kvothe out of the University now that he is a fucking King. Kvothe corners him somewhere and uses the name of the wind to slam his fucking ass into the ground
    Comment supplies a mechanism: King Ambrose moves against Kvothe, who kills him in Imre. — u/JRockThumper
  • Kvothe kills King Roderic and the Maer Alveron becomes the Penitent King. … the Ambrose family are still farther down the list. The king who will be killed is the current king. King Roderic.
    CounterCounter: the king Kvothe kills is the sitting Roderic Calanthis, not Ambrose. — u/LostInStories222
  • we do not know if Kvothe kills anyone in Imre. We have the word of one drunk boy who has clearly heard many a Kvothe tale. … It could very well be that the stories have gotten mixed together.
    CounterCounter: undermines the Imre-killing premise as unreliable hearsay. — u/LostInStories222

Book refs: NOTW, WMF

Tier reasoning§

tier kept: speculative succession leap, commenters mostly disagree

Contributors§

Source threads§