KKC Theory Wiki

Bast May Be Encanis/Cthaeh Playing a Long Game Against Kvothe

fringe identity · popularity 147 · 1 source thread

Encanis and the Cthaeh are the same bound entity, and Bast is it, manipulating Kvothe to recover something taken from the Lackless box.

About: Bast, The Cthaeh, Encanis

Also involves: Kvothe, Tehlu, The Lackless Box, The Moon, The Fae

The theory§

This theory equates Encanis with the Cthaeh as a single mega-evil entity and identifies Bast as that being playing a long game against Kvothe. It reads Trapis's tale of Tehlu binding Encanis to an iron wheel as the same imprisonment as the Cthaeh's tree, casting the tree as growing over the buried prisoner. The binding is imagined as held forever by the perpetual energy of the moon, sealed within the Lackless box so long as no one opens it; Kvothe, whose family has a special connection to that box and who has a knack for opening things he should not, is supposed to have freed or partly freed the entity. Bast, then, is that entity drawing close and manipulating Kvothe to recover the something it still lacks, perhaps part of its name, while Kvothe, a step ahead, has deliberately become a harmless innkeeper to deny it, the 'beautiful game' between them framed as a contest of Tak. The reading runs into a firm objection: the Cthaeh is confined to the Fae and is not known to cross between realms, and the Cthaeh's own remark that meeting Cinder again is a twice-in-a-lifetime chance constrains how the players can move.

Evidence§

  • They are both described as this mega evil entity. One of them is buried underground, forever bound to an iron wheel while the other is the tree that grew on it. Encanis is using the tree to manipulate people into freeing him from his iron wheel.
    Core claim: Encanis and the Cthaeh are one buried entity using the tree to manipulate. — u/anactualuniquename
  • Tehlu has bound Encanis to the iron wheel using an old form of artificery. But can it hold him forever? Well it could, if it uses the infinite energy of the ever moving moon and put the artificery safe inside a lockless box and as long as no one opens the box Encanis will be underground forever.
    Mechanism: moon-powered artificery in the Lackless box keeps the binding sealed. — u/anactualuniquename
  • But what if someone who has knacks for opening things that he shouldn't be opening, opens it? … Someone whose family has some kind of special connection to the lockless box.
    Identifies Kvothe as the one who could free Encanis via the box. — u/anactualuniquename
  • Kvothe may have freed Encanis but he still has the box, or something of Encanis, maybe a part of his name and Encanis wants this something from Kvothe so bad. So he gets close to him, do anything to gain his trust and do what he does the best, manipulate him.
    Bast-as-Encanis manipulates Kvothe to recover something it still lacks. — u/anactualuniquename
  • But Kvothe is one step ahead, he knows he could be manipulated and he does the perfect move and becomes a useless innkeeper, so that Encanis can't use him. But the game is still not over, Bast is desperately trying to get Kvothe back
    Frames the contest: Kvothe becomes harmless Kote to deny the entity. — u/anactualuniquename
  • To bind the wheel forever you don't need infinite energy, you just need constant energy, like a water wheel in a river
    Refines the mechanism: constant, not infinite, energy suffices for the binding. — u/bluerhino12345
  • But does the Cthaeh travel back and forth between the two realms? I thought it was exclusively in the Fae.
    CounterCounter: the Cthaeh is confined to the Fae, undermining the cross-realm premise. — u/bab10391

Book refs: NOTW, WMF

Tier reasoning§

no change; contradicts Bast's established Fae origin, fringe is correct

Contributors§

Source threads§