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Cataloguing Every Chandrian Sign to Spot Them Hidden in the Story

fringe symbolism · popularity 51 · 1 source thread

Compiling every Chandrian sign from all sources to detect Chandrian masquerading as ordinary characters in the books.

About: The Chandrian

Also involves: Kvothe, Encanis, Cinder, Haliax, Grey Dalcenti, Stercus, The Doors of Stone, Denna, A Quainte Compendium of Folke Belief, Pairs Game, Chandrian Signs

The theory§

This theory gathers every source of Chandrian signs in the series into a single master catalogue, drawing on Shehyn's list, the Mauthen pottery, the eye-witness experiences of Kvothe and Denna, the five lines of the children's song that each name a sign, the seven signs recorded in A Quainte Compendium of Folke Belief, the seven Calamity cards of the game Pairs, and the figure of Encanis. Because the books are built as a mystery that tells Kvothe to watch for the signs, the catalogue is read as instruction to the reader as well, and the proposal follows that individual Chandrian may be hiding in plain sight among ordinary characters, those who do not speak, shun iron, or appear only after dark and are careful never to betray a sign. Encanis is treated as a deliberate amalgam who displays imagery for all seven signs at once: his voice like a knife in men's minds, iron searing him like frost, and his setting of men to murder. From that amalgam one can read individual signs back out, as with Grey Dalcenti, whose sign drives people and animals into murderous rage. The hidden Chandrian are proposed to be steering Kvothe toward opening the Doors of Stone.

Evidence§

  • Kvothe is told to watch for Chandrian signs. For a book that is written as a mystery, with a high likelihood of plot twists the reader should've seen coming, this seems like instructions to the reader as well.
    OP's core premise: the in-world advice to watch for signs is also instruction to the reader. — u/chainsawx72
  • 'A Quainte Compendium of Folke Belief' (AQCOFB) is hand-written, 200 years old, impressively researched, took years to write, four volumes long, and it's an octavo... arguably more information than we have on any other book. It lists exactly seven possible Chandrian signs.
    Establishes AQCOFB as a major catalogued source listing seven signs. — u/chainsawx72
  • The seven 'Calamities' cards in the KKC based game 'Pairs' *might* be stand-ins for Chandrian signs.
    Adds the Pairs Calamity cards as another candidate source mapping to signs. — u/chainsawx72
  • are there any characters closely associated with any of these things? Are there any characters that avoid situations that would expose their signs? People who don't speak, or don't live around iron, or only come out at dark, or who never go around plants?
    Core proposal: Chandrian may masquerade as ordinary characters who hide their signs. — u/chainsawx72
  • what's undeniable is he displays imagery related to all the Chandrian signs. *"Encanis, setting men to murder one another... Encanis, whose voice was like a knife in the minds if men." "Where the iron touched his skin it felt... like the searing pain of frost, like the sting of a hundred biting flies."*
    Refines the Encanis-as-amalgam claim with quoted imagery covering all signs. — u/Jezer1
  • The story of Encanis is the reason I was able to figure out Grey Dalcenti puts people and animals in a violent, murderous rage, before I ever knew about the Chandrian cards and Strife.
    Reads an individual sign back out of the amalgam, cross-confirmed by the Strife card. — u/Jezer1
  • kvothe may have gone mad more so because of stercus and less so because of the trauma from his family's deaths
    Applies the catalogue to Kvothe, attributing his madness to a Chandrian sign. — u/An_Anonymous_Acc
  • Miscarriages, crops withering, wine going sour, and blindness were things people thought to be witches were commonly accused of. While they could be, most of those probably aren't actual Chandrian signs at all.
    CounterCounter: several catalogued signs may be folklore about witches, not real Chandrian signs. — u/Zhorangi

Book refs: NOTW, WMF

Tier reasoning§

tier verified: self-described tinfoil; speculative hidden-Chandrian leap

Contributors§

Source threads§