KKC Theory Wiki

Haliax Is a Fusion of Trapped Lanre and Escaped Iax

fringe identity · popularity 54 · 1 source thread

Both Skarpi's and Denna's versions of Lanre can be true because Haliax is Lanre's body inhabited by part of the escaped Iax.

About: Haliax, Iax

Also involves: Arliden's Lanre Song, Lyra, Denna, Kvothe, Skarpi, Selitos, The Doors of Stone, The Moon, Shaping, The Creation War

The theory§

This theory reconciles the conflicting accounts of Lanre by proposing that Haliax is Lanre's body inhabited in part by the escaped Iax. After Lyra's death, Lanre, lacking the power that revived him at the Blac of Drossen Tor, seeks out the greatest known Shaper, the imprisoned Iax, hoping to restore her. Instead Iax overpowers him, taking his revenge by wearing Lanre's body and name and so escaping his prison partway, just as Iax once stole only a part of the Moon. This keeps Lanre genuinely heroic, matching Denna's song, while Haliax/Iax commits the atrocities of Skarpi's and Kvothe's version, and it explains why Haliax longs to die: the trapped Lanre still yearns for Lyra. The repeated refrain 'Lanre turned' and the moon-phase imagery on the Haliax vase, where one hand holds a light candle and one a dark, are read as signs of two minds sharing dominance over the body.

Evidence§

  • What if Denna and Kvothe are right and wrong about Lanre but just they don't have the whole story?
    OP's core premise: both conflicting accounts of Lanre are partially true. — u/AdrianFahrenheiTepes
  • Lyra is dead, Lanre will run after her, even through the doors of stone, the second time. … But Lanre has not the power of Lyra. He faces Iax for the second time
    Sets up the mechanism: grieving Lanre seeks Iax to revive Lyra. — u/AdrianFahrenheiTepes
  • Iax, or part of Iax escapes in the appearance of Lanre, becoming Haliax, Half-Iax, Half-Lanre. Like how Iax trapped only a part of the Moon, Iax is only half freed from his jail.
    Central claim: Haliax is fused Lanre body plus escaped partial Iax. — u/AdrianFahrenheiTepes
  • that's not a lie when Haliax said he want to die. That's the Lanre part of him wanting to go back with Lyra.
    Explains Haliax's death-wish as the trapped Lanre still yearning for Lyra. — u/AdrianFahrenheiTepes
  • The whole chapter “Lanre Turned” says the phrase Lanre turned many times and every time Lanre’s demeanor changes. It gives credence that he is at least partly controlled by Iax.
    Adds textual evidence: repeated refrain marks shifts in control. — u/Haiyichshmir
  • the painting on the vase with Haliax shows phases of the moon and each hand over a candle—-one light and one dark. … who has control over Haliax (Lanre or Iax) is influenced by the phases of the moon.
    Adds vase imagery: two candles and moon phases signal two minds. — u/Haiyichshmir
  • Personally I don't believe Lanre intends to be a villain in doing what he does. We are told that Lanre spoke to the Cthaeh which implies everything they do would turn to ruin.
    CounterCounter: Lanre's ruin may stem from the Cthaeh, not an Iax fusion. — u/GentleAutumnRain
  • Skin dancing and possession are what made Lanre do what he did.
    CounterCounter/refine: attributes the change to skin dancing, not a Lanre-Iax fusion. — u/MattyTangle

Book refs: NOTW, WMF

Tier reasoning§

tier unchanged; imaginative reconciliation contradicted by Felurian's Iax-locked statement

Contributors§

Source threads§