KKC Theory Wiki

Denna Is on Her Own Hidden Hero's Quest, Possibly for Revenge

fringe motive · popularity 54 · 1 source thread

Denna's mysterious behaviour hints at a personal quest of her own, possibly revenge against the Chandrian, mirroring Kvothe's.

About: Denna

Also involves: Kvothe, The Chandrian, The Lackless Box, The Moon, Yllish Knots, Bredon

The theory§

This theory asks what Denna ultimately wants, prompted by her counsel to a young woman in which she asks what one wants so badly that one would pay anything to get it. The central reading holds that Denna and Kvothe are mirror characters, and that the same story retold from her vantage would render Kvothe the mysterious, hard-to-read figure, implying Denna pursues a hidden quest of her own, possibly revenge against the Chandrian. Surrounding her are unexplained signs: she sleeps poorly and is troubled by dreams, she claims to have died young of pneumonia yet lives, and she keeps her distance from any living family. From these threads grow further readings, that she dreams of the future or the end of the world, that she may be a Lackless, or that she works a written magic of Yllish knots, all circling a purpose she has never named.

Evidence§

  • She says something at the end like "what do you want more than anything else? What is it you want so badly you'll pay anything to get it?" What does Denna want? What's her end goal?
    OP's core prompt: Denna's counsel implies a driving, unnamed personal goal. — u/spencecorpuz45
  • Everything she's done over the past two books is just so weird and mysterious, I'm dying to know what her game is. … I wonder what she's working towards, what her plan is.
    OP frames her mysterious behaviour as evidence of a hidden plan. — u/spencecorpuz45
  • last re read it struck me that K and D are very similar. You could write a very similar book from Denna’s perspective in which K would be super mysterious and hard to understand. Maybe Deanna is on her own hero’s quest for revenge, maybe she’s even after the chandrian
    Central mirror argument: same story from her vantage yields her own revenge quest. — u/66nix
  • She says that she doesn't sleep much and has dreams. She also said that she died once when she was young and had pneumonia or something like that. She's apparently alive, though, so there must be something more to that story. If her family is living, she doesn't seem to have much to do with them. There's some knowledge that she's looking for, but we don't know what it is. It's apparently important.
    Catalogues unexplained signs (dreams, dying young, distant family, sought knowledge). — u/elihu
  • I think Denna is on a similar quest to Kvothe.... chasing down mysteries of the world that are connected to her past in some fashion.
    Independently echoes the mirror-quest reading tied to her past. — u/arvy_p
  • I think it would be cool if it turned out she was after the Chandrian as well
    Reinforces the revenge-against-Chandrian endpoint of the theory. — u/Smurphilicious
  • She’s writing a song portraying the Chandrian as the good guys, possibly because Cinder is plotting against Haliax.
    CounterCounter: her work casts the Chandrian as heroes, not as targets of revenge. — u/Not_Insightful
  • She is the dark haired girl who helps the Chandrian. She might not even know it. Cinder is Master Ash
    CounterCounter: she may serve the Chandrian rather than hunt them. — u/SerHunts

Book refs: WMF

Tier reasoning§

tier unchanged; open-ended speculation about Denna's motive

Contributors§

Source threads§