KKC Theory Wiki

The Cthaeh's 'Stops to Buy a Drink' Line Foreshadows Cinder Entering the Inn

fringe prophecy · popularity 75 · 1 source thread

The Cthaeh's odd phrasing about Cinder buying a drink may be future-tense foreshadowing of Cinder walking into Kvothe's inn.

About: The Cthaeh, Cinder

Also involves: Kvothe, Denna, Waystone Inn, The Doors of Stone

The theory§

This theory parses the Cthaeh's taunt about Cinder, 'You'd think a man with coal-black eyes would make an impression when he stops to buy a drink,' as a piece of tense-play rather than a comment on the past. Because the Cthaeh sees all possible futures and chooses its words to wound, the line is read as foreshadowing a moment still to come: Cinder walking into the Waystone Inn, the place where, as an innkeeper, Kvothe sells drinks to strangers. The follow-up phrase, that Kvothe has not managed to 'catch wind of him,' is taken as a pun on the naming and mastery of the wind. The chief objection restores the line to its plain context: the Cthaeh is explicitly speaking of the recent Eld encounter ('you've seen him just a day or three ago') and frames a future reunion as a 'twice-in-a-lifetime' chance. Read that way the Cinder meetings number three in total, the parents' murder, the Eld, and a final confrontation in Book 3, where the third meeting decides who lives and who dies.

Evidence§

  • You'd think a man with coal-black eyes would make an impression when he stops to buy a drink. How can it be that you haven't managed to catch wind of him in all this time?
    The Cthaeh quote the theory parses; sets up the buying-a-drink and catch-wind phrasing. — u/cfiggis
  • So I think the Cthaeh is having some fun with time and verb tense. He insinuates that Kvothe should have noticed him when he stopped to buy a drink, as if this event had already happened. But I think it hasn't yet. I think this meeting is in the future.
    Core claim: the line is future-tense foreshadowing, not a comment on the past. — u/cfiggis
  • we know Kvothe is an innkeeper, where people stop to buy drinks all the time. … I think Cinder will walk into the inn at some point in book 3.
    Connects buying-a-drink to Kvothe-as-innkeeper; predicts Cinder enters the Waystone Inn. — u/cfiggis
  • I think the Cthaeh's expression "haven't managed to catch wind of him" is not accidental. … I think that's a euphemism for naming/controlling him, as he named and controlled, or "caught" the wind.
    Refines the wordplay: catch wind read as a pun on naming/mastering the wind. — u/cfiggis
  • Third time they will meet will decide who lives and who dies. Third time pays for all.
    Supports a final future Cinder meeting being decisive, consistent with a Book 3 confrontation. — u/OldHolly
  • the Cthaeh **is** specifically talking about the encounter in the Eld when it says it. … It is specifically and unambiguously talking about the meeting in the Eld.
    CounterCounter: the line refers to the recent Eld meeting, not a future drink-buying. — u/nIBLIB
  • You've seen him just a day or three ago. Pity he got away. Still, you must admit you've had quite a piece of luck. I'd say it was a twice-in-a- lifetime-opportunity meeting up with him again.
    CounterCounter-evidence: the full quote anchors the taunt to the past Eld encounter. — u/nIBLIB
  • Bandits in the woods may very well hang around at bars in Crosson … Perhaps cinder was in the pub that day, having a drink with his men when kvothe and tempi walked in?
    Alternative reading: the drink line could refer to a pub during the Eld, not the inn. — u/MattyTangle

Book refs: WMF

Tier reasoning§

tier downgraded: rests on a speculative tense-play reading skeptics say plainly refers to the past

Contributors§

Source threads§