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The Four-Plate Door Hides the Archives' Forbidden Amyr and Chandrian Books

plausible other · popularity 274 · 3 source threads

Behind the locked Valaritas door lie restricted Amyr, Chandrian and Fae books removed from the Stacks, not a mythic prison.

About: The Four-Plate Door, The Archives, The Amyr

Also involves: The Chandrian, The Creation War, The Doors of Stone, Elodin, The Fae, Haliax, Iax, Master Lorren, Naming, Puppet, Shaping, The University

The theory§

The four-plate door, marked Valaritas and sealed within the Archives, is widely held to be the secure storage where Master Lorren keeps the world's most dangerous knowledge rather than a mythic prison. In its plainest form the theory holds that whole topics are demonstrably missing from the Stacks, so the locked room simply houses the restricted books a Master does not want available to ordinary students, much as Kilvin and other Masters keep their own private collections. A bolder reading binds this to the Amyr: if Lorren and Puppet are Amyr, the door guards the suppressed histories of the Amyr, Chandrian and Fae that would expose the 'hidden turnings of the world' and the true story of the Creation War. The motive offered for the erasure is that the power to call Iax lies in knowing his deep name, which is bound to the names of the Seven, as suggested by Haliax meaning 'breath of Iax' (hal-Iax); removing all knowledge of Iax, and then removing knowledge that it was removed, would prevent anyone from Naming and calling him. A competing strand instead treats the door as a literal seal over Iax and other old Shapers, whose leaking 'breath' would explain why students such as Auri and Alder Whin 'crack.'

Evidence§

  • Books. Amyr books. Chandrian books. And lastly but not leastly, Fae books. It's in the archives right? And we already know that there are whole topics missing from the archives.
    OP's core claim: the door stores Amyr, Chandrian and Fae books missing from the Archives. — u/shifaci
  • So if we assume that the University or maybe just the Archives are run by the Amyr, they need a storage for the big boy books. All the Iax being locked behind doors of stone stuff is a red herring I think.
    OP frames Amyr-run Archives needing secure storage; dismisses the Iax-prison reading. — u/shifaci
  • IMO it's just books that Lorren does not want to be available to all students.
    Second OP refines: plainly restricted books Lorren keeps from students. — u/BlueVCoin
  • Lorren and Puppet are Amyr and the 4 plate door is just another section of the archives that contains all the missing Amyr/ Chandrian books.
    Third OP binds theory to Lorren and Puppet being Amyr. — u/newportonehundreds
  • Many of the masters ask scrivs to spot books that not everyone should be able to get their hands on … Those masters seem to have private libraries, or at least Kilvin does. Perfectly reasonable to think that Lorren has one too … as books on the Amyr and Chandrian would give away the secret of Temerant itself. The "hidden turnings of the world." The true story of the Creation War.
    Strengthens motive: parallels Masters' private libraries; the books expose Temerant's secret. — u/bluesy22
  • The motivation is simple, knowledge is power, and the power to call iax lies in knowing his true deep name. That name is bound to the sevens names. No where is this more clear then haliax, hal-iax. So how do you prevent people from calling iax? Simple, you remove all knowledge of him/it from the world. Of course, such a thing might make people curious, so you remove knowledge that you removed it.
    Supplies the erasure motive: hiding Iax's name (Haliax = hal-Iax) prevents Naming him. — u/TheLastSock
  • No. Elodin said it almost killed him. Something in that door almost killed him. Theres definitely something dangerous there
    CounterCounter: Elodin's near-death implies a dangerous entity, not mere books. — u/Suman_Hpider_
  • However, I think it's more likely they'd be hidden somewhere less conspicuous. We know the masters have private libraries somewhere, so there's probably some sort of high-security section of the archives or even a different building elsewhere.
    CounterCounter: restricted books would more likely sit elsewhere, not this conspicuous door. — u/elihu

Book refs: NOTW, WMF

Tier reasoning§

distinct from University-is-Jax's-library theory; mundane reading well-grounded, plausible holds

Contributors§

Source threads§