KKC Theory Wiki

Felurian Led Kvothe Through the Ruined Towers of Myr Tariniel

plausible connection · popularity 93 · 1 source thread

The lightless 'center of the Fae' where Felurian gathers shaed material may be the blackened ruins of Myr Tariniel.

About: Felurian, Myr Tariniel

Also involves: Kvothe, The Shaed, The Fae, Haliax, Selitos, Skarpi

The theory§

This theory holds that the lightless place at the 'center of the Fae realm' where Felurian takes Kvothe to gather shadow for his shaed is the ruined city of Myr Tariniel. The argument turns on shared imagery: Selitos curses Lanre that his face be 'always held in shadow, black as the toppled towers of my beloved Myr Tariniel,' and Lanre's shadowed visage is described as 'darker than a starless night,' the same phrasing Kvothe reaches for in the starless dark where Felurian gathers shaed material. Most of the Fae is neither blackened nor ruined, so the deliberate, total darkness of this one place reads as significant rather than incidental, reinforced by Kvothe's careful note that he stood 'in the center of the Fae realm.' An extension proposes that Haliax's curse blinds others from seeing the ruins, which would explain why the location registers as an empty void rather than a recognisable city. Counter-arguments hold that Myr Tariniel stood high on a mountaintop and is likely buried instead beneath the University in Belenay-Barren, the city of Belen, and that the Amyr take their name from the ruined city ('a-myr,' without Myr) which complicates placing it inside the Fae at all.

Evidence§

  • Most of the Fae is neither blackened nor ruined. … But consider the curse Selitos places on Lanre in Skarpi's story:
    OP frames the lightless place as deliberately significant and ties it to Selitos's curse. — u/Bhaluun
  • May your face be always held in shadow, black as the toppled towers of my beloved Myr Tariniel.
    Curse text links Lanre's shadowed face directly to the toppled towers of Myr Tariniel. — u/Bhaluun
  • Lanre, his face in shadow darker than a starless night, was blown away like smoke upon the wind.
    Establishes the 'darker than a starless night' phrasing later echoed at the shaed-gathering place. — u/Bhaluun
  • There were no stars above us. … Or perhaps the sky was black and empty in this portion of the Fae. It was a strangely unsettling thought.
    Felurian's gathering place has the same total, starless darkness as the cursed visage. — u/Bhaluun
  • I was in the **center of the Fae realm,** … if this *weren't* the center of the Fae realm, why would this language have ever been used?
    OP argues 'center of the Fae realm' is a deliberate hint, not incidental wording. — u/Bhaluun
  • She draped a man much like Lanre, in a cloak much like Lanre's, in a place much like the fallen Myr Tariniel.
    OP's capstone: Kvothe parallels Lanre, cloaked in shadow at Lanre's ruined city. — u/Bhaluun
  • the curse on Haliax also blinds anybody else from seeing the ruins of Myr Taraniel. So his curse would be tied to the darkness there!
    Comment extends theory: Haliax's curse explains why the ruins register as an empty void. — u/Lkqrzk1985
  • Tariniel is in the mountains.
    CounterCounter: Myr Tariniel stood on a mountaintop, complicating its placement inside the Fae. — u/mayotte2048

Book refs: NOTW, WMF

Tier reasoning§

tier verified: shadow-imagery link is suggestive, plausible holds

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