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Fela's Mastery of the Name of Stone Will Be Key in Doors of Stone

plausible prophecy · popularity 57 · 1 source thread

Fela's rare command of the Name of Stone is a Chekhov's gun, likely needed to open the Doors of Stone.

About: Fela, The Doors of Stone

Also involves: Naming, Elodin, The Archives, The Lackless Box, Chronicler

The theory§

Fela, an Arcanum scriv and one of Kvothe's circle, is shown naming the stone of a ring during Elodin's class—the only student besides Elodin himself demonstrated to command the Name of Stone. The theory treats this as a deliberately planted Chekhov's gun: the Name of Stone is rare (where Iron and Wind are the common Names a namer first finds) yet it sits at the heart of Taborlin the Great's legend and shares its substance with the book's title. From this it argues that opening the Doors of Stone in the final volume will require the Name of Stone, supplied by Fela, perhaps in addition to any key hidden in the Lackless box. Her standing dreams of the four-plate door and the king behind it, together with her role as the scriv Kvothe turns to inside the Archives, are taken to bind her to that door specifically. Her stone-naming is further noted to have been guided by Elodin, who had her working in the fishery—which explains her presence at the bone-tar accident.

Evidence§

  • Fela's mastery over the Name of Stone might actually play a big role in DoS. … Fela's the only character shown to have mastery over it (aside from Elodin). So why would Patrick include this, for such a secondary character, and never use it?
    OP's core claim: Fela uniquely commands the Name of Stone, a planted detail. — u/MrHeavenTrampler
  • This is definitely a prime example of a Chekov's Gun. The whole scene where she makes her ring during Elodin's class is also a huge thing imo, since Pat went so far to describe her using the name of stone.
    Frames the ring-naming scene as a deliberate Chekhov's gun. — u/MrHeavenTrampler
  • Imo in order to open the Doors of Stone, aside from the key that could be within the Lackless box, the knowledge of the Name of Stone could also be required. … the name of stone is rather uncommon, yet is also one of the names featured in Taborlin's legend.
    Central inference: opening Doors of Stone needs the rare, legend-linked Name of Stone. — u/MrHeavenTrampler
  • Fela's already been mentioned as having dreams about the 4-plate door and the king that's behind it. … I'd be shocked if it wasn't linked in some fashion or other.
    Adds evidence: Fela's recurring dreams bind her to the four-plate door. — u/ProfessorMoosePhD
  • Fela is the one that Kvothe goes to when he finds a back way into the archives. She's a scriv. So by the same Chekov's Gun we can assume that her role involves the archives and the name of stone. Aka the 4 plate door.
    Refines: her scriv role ties her to the Archives and the four-plate door. — u/Katter
  • Unlike Kvothe's self discovery of the name of the wind, it would seem Fela's discovery of the name of stone was assisted by Elodin. Notably it would seem Elodin had her doing work for him that adds context as to why she was in the fishery when the bone tar incident happened.
    Refines origin: Elodin guided her stone-naming, explaining her fishery presence. — u/Sandal-Hat
  • I also don't think the 4-plate door is the door of stone. I think the doorS of stone are the waystones.
    CounterCounter: disputes linking the four-plate door to the Doors of Stone. — u/SteveDad111
  • For starters, this shows (once again) that Kvothe isn't the best at everything he does, while also showing how there are a lot of overlooked women in the University.
    CounterCounter: offers an alternative thematic reason for the detail, not a plot gun. — u/LightningRaven

Book refs: NOTW, WMF

Tier reasoning§

distinct theory; plausible fits the planted-detail reading

Contributors§

Source threads§