KKC Theory Wiki

Atur May Be the One City That Survived the Creation War

plausible identity · popularity 219 · 1 source thread

The city Tehlu saved from Encanis on the seventh day is likely Atur, explaining why the Amyr made it their headquarters.

About: The Amyr, The Creation War

Also involves: Haliax, Encanis, Tehlu, Selitos, The Eight Cities, Myr Tariniel, Skarpi, Shehyn, The Chandrian

The theory§

In Trapis's telling of Tehlu and Encanis, the demon flees for six days and razes six great cities, but on the seventh day Tehlu draws near before Encanis can bring his power to bear, and the seventh city is saved. Tehlu then runs Encanis down on the eighth day and, carrying the demon's body through the night, arrives at the city of Atur on the morning of the ninth day. The theory reads this chronology as a loop: Tehlu chases Encanis one day out from the city he has just saved, catches him, and bears him back, making Atur itself the surviving seventh city. This would explain why the Amyr, the order born to confound the Chandrian and protect what remained, planted their headquarters in the Aturan Empire. It dovetails with Shehyn's parallel account, in which one unfallen city remains but even its name is lost to time, the kind of erasure a later Tehlin church might impose. A competing reading favours Tinusa, whose present-day descendant is Tinuë, over Atur.

Evidence§

  • on the seventh day, Tehlu drew near before Encanis could bring his power to bear and the seventh city was saved.
    OP's starting point: one of the great cities was saved from Encanis. — u/Vardil
  • on the eighth day Tehlu did not pause to sleep or eat. And thus it was that at the end of Felling Tehlu caught Encanis. … on the morning of the ninth day he came to the city of Atur.
    Chronology read as a loop: one day out, caught, one day back to Atur. — u/Vardil
  • Could have Tehlu chased Encanis for one day, caught him and then return to the city he saved one day after? If that is so, that remained city could be Atur.
    Core claim: the saved seventh city is Atur itself. — u/Vardil
  • it would make sense that the Amyr had their headquarters in Atur once the creation war finished
    Supporting motive: explains why the Amyr were based in Atur. — u/Vardil
  • With one unfallen city. But even the name of that city is forgotten, buried in time.
    Shehyn's account: a surviving city whose name was erased, fitting later church censorship. — u/Vardil
  • considering that that amyr belonged to atur... who presumely were lead by selitos. That's a big chance here.
    Comment reinforces the Amyr-Atur link as evidence for the theory. — u/Rucs3
  • I had always presumed that the "surviving" city in all of the stories was most likely Tinusa, as there is a present-day Tinuë. … they just didn't get to Tinuë, which we know is on the far eastern side of the map
    CounterCounter: favours Tinusa/Tinuë as the surviving city instead of Atur. — u/scowlbear
  • My guess is because the seventh destroyed city was Myr Tariniel. … it was convenient for them to censor Myr Tariniel from their version, as it was the home of Selitos, place of Lanre's betrayal
    CounterAlternative explanation for why Trapis's count drops a city, complicating OP's reading. — u/scowlbear

Book refs: NOTW, WMF

Tier reasoning§

tier verified: timeline reading is a reasonable fit, plausible

Contributors§

Source threads§