KKC Theory WikiBredon Is Master Ash and Also the Baron Jakis, Denna's Patron
The eccentric Vintish noble Bredon is secretly Master Ash, and is in fact the Baron Jakis, Ambrose's father.
About: Bredon, Master Ash
Also involves: Maer Lerand Alveron, Denna, Ambrose Jakis, Severen, Kvothe, Vintas, Baron Jakis
The theory§
Bredon, the eccentric Vintish noble who appears unannounced at the Maer's court in Severen and teaches Kvothe to play tak, is here identified as Denna's hidden patron Master Ash, and further as the Baron Jakis, father of Ambrose. The case rests on Bredon's ash-grey and charcoal colors, his pure-white hair and beard, and the snarling silver wolf's-head atop his walking stick, read as a wolf-in-sheep's-clothing motif befitting a concealed schemer who admits he plays 'a longer, more subtle game.' The link to the Baron is drawn from Bredon's pointed reference to a 'baron at a brothel' and the rumor that the Baron Jakis rescued his daughter from brothel gossip, alongside Bredon's noble access to the entire estate and his role in pressuring the Caudicus arrangement and the Meluan marriage. The identification strains against the Severen rumor-letters, which tell of Bredon's pagan rituals and the Baron Jakis's daughter as though they concern two separate men, and against the political implausibility of a baron of near-equal rank lurking unrecognized in the Maer's household.
Evidence§
His colors weren’t colors at all, merely ash grey … His hair and beard were pure white … The sunlight caught on the polished silver handle wrought in the shape of a snarling wolf’s head.
OP's core imagery: ash-grey colors, white hair, wolf-handled stick mark Bredon as Master Ash, a concealed schemer. — u/SmurphiliciousI am no magpie. I need nothing shiny, nor do I care what gossipmongers think. I play a longer, more subtle game.
Bredon describes himself as a patient, hidden schemer, fitting Master Ash's secrecy. — u/SmurphiliciousI wintered with the Jakis family not long ago. The baron is a widower you know. Quite wealthy and somewhat eccentric.
OP reads Caudicus's pointed Jakis offer as evidence Kvothe's tak partner Bredon is Baron Jakis. — u/Smurphilicious“You took to it quickly, like a baron at a brothel, as they say.”
Comment adds Bredon's brothel quip, linking him to Baron Jakis's brothel-daughter scandal. — u/BlueVCoinBaron Jakis had paid several officials to avoid scandal when his youngest daughter was discovered in a brothel.
OP-included gossip letter ties the brothel rumor to Baron Jakis. — u/SmurphiliciousEven Bredon made an appearance. He was said to conduct pagan rituals in the secluded woods outside his northern estates.
OP concedes a gossip letter naming Bredon separately, the theory's main weakness. — u/Smurphiliciousthere are stories of both Bredon; the story of his “pagan rituals” and Baron Jakis; his daughter being in the brothel. I would think the noble who told either of these stories would know them to be separate individuals.
CounterCounter: separate gossip letters treat Bredon and Baron Jakis as two distinct men. — u/Remote-Sky-7890Why would Baron Jakis be at the Maer's court, especially when they are roughly the same level of society? … How could Baron Jakis not be recognized by the Maer or many others in the Maer's court?
CounterCounter: a near-equal baron lurking unrecognized at the Maer's court is politically implausible. — u/Toes14
Book refs: WMF
Tier reasoning§
tier downgraded: stacks two identity claims; in-text rumors describe them as separate people
Contributors§
- u/Remote-Sky-7890 — countered · 22 pts
- u/rogozh1n — extended · 16 pts
- u/Toes14 — countered · 4 pts