KKC Theory Wiki

Bast's Secret Plan With the Deserters Centers on a Specific Bottle

plausible motive · popularity 65 · 1 source thread

Bast secretly recruits two deserters for a hidden purpose tied to a particular bottle and to awakening Kvothe.

About: Bast, Kvothe

Also involves: The Cthaeh, Waystone Inn, Chronicler, The Doors of Stone

The theory§

At the opening of The Wise Man's Fear, Kvothe sends Bast out to gather holly against the chance the previous night's attacker was a skin dancer. This theory argues that, off-stage, Bast also locates two deserters from the king's army and arranges an undisclosed plan that requires him to leave the inn during Shep's wake, which is why he resists going even though Kvothe insists. After Kvothe recounts his meeting with the Cthaeh, Bast's nervousness sharpens, and the theory reads his closing-day scheming through that lens: Bast believes he can engineer an outcome the way the Cthaeh steers events, the stone that stirs the avalanche. The favored reading is that the deserters were meant to take a specific elderberry bottle Bast could not 'find' himself at the start of the day, perhaps because it holds a bound skin dancer or is needed for a piece of Faen or alchemical working, all in service of forcing Kvothe to fully reawaken from his Kote persona in The Doors of Stone.

Evidence§

  • Completely off-stage, Bast locates a pair of deserters from the kings army, and together the three of them come up with an undisclosed plan. Bast is to leave the inn, then the deserters are to enter, *do something*, and leave before Bast returns.
    OP's core claim: Bast secretly arranges a plan with deserters timed to his absence. — u/nIBLIB
  • Bast’s eyes darted around nervously. “I don’t want to leave, Reshi.”
    Evidence Bast resists leaving because his all-day plan depends on his absence. — u/nIBLIB
  • It is the stone that stirs the avalanche. It is the cough that starts the plague.
    Cthaeh framing OP uses to read Bast's scheming: engineering outcomes from small acts. — u/nIBLIB
  • “Wait a moment,” the blonde soldier said. He hurried back to the bar and snatched the bottle of wine. “Right, let’s go.”
    Soldiers deliberately grab a bottle on their way out, hinting it was the goal. — u/nIBLIB
  • Bast lowered the bottle and licked his lips. He gave a dry, humorless chuckle. “You got the right bottle,” he said. “It’s elderberry.”
    Keystone: Bast confirms 'the right bottle', the elderberry one he sought that morning. — u/nIBLIB
  • The elderberry bottle tracks well with things hidden in plain sight. Bast must have specified that the soldiers take that bottle for it to be "the right one".
    Comment refines: 'right bottle' implies Bast pre-specified which bottle to take. — u/Jandy777
  • I get vibes that Bast might do something reckless to try and force Kvothe (as opposed to Kote) to fully awaken in DoS.
    Comment extends theory to Bast's larger aim of reawakening Kvothe. — u/Jandy777
  • Why he sent in the soldiers when he already had Chronicler is pretty straight forward to me. Kvothe is happier, more confident, more like himself then he has been in months. Then he fights some ruffians and mops the floor with them, reminding himself that his cleverness and his power are still there.
    CounterCounter: soldiers were for reawakening Kvothe through a fight, not stealing a bottle. — u/Balrog069
  • Honestly, he could have just been acting, knowing kote would push him. And the bottle.. well he does like to drink, but maybe he uses it on his magic??
    CounterCounter: Bast's reluctance may be acting; bottle could just be his drink or magic. — u/TheLastSock

Book refs: WMF

Tier reasoning§

distinct theory; plausible fits frame-story reading

Contributors§

Source threads§