KKC Theory Wiki

Kote Is Desperately Trying to Open the Thrice-Locked Chest at the Waystone

well-supported motive · popularity 94 · 1 source thread

Acid in the prologue and the chest-wood mounting board suggest Kote is now attempting to force the Lackless box open.

About: Kvothe, The Lackless Box

Also involves: Bast, Folly, Waystone Inn, The Cthaeh

The theory§

This theory holds that the innkeeper Kote, far from indifferent to the thrice-locked chest at the foot of his bed, is now desperately and repeatedly trying to force it open. In the prologue's lineage of acid, and in the smith delivering a sword-mounting board carved from the same dark roah wood as the chest itself, the theory reads signs of a man assembling tools to breach it. The crucial shift is behavioural: in the first book Kvothe ignores the chest with the calm of a man who could open it at will, while in the second he is found exhausted by it, and earlier he prompts Bast to suggest how it might be opened, drawing the proposal of acid. Because acid or hot iron would likely destroy whatever lies inside, the attempt reads as desperation rather than calculation. A recurring extension is that what is locked within is Kvothe's own name, or his power, or skills such as sympathy and music, which would explain both why he can no longer open the chest and why he was bested by Bast's hired soldiers.

Evidence§

  • After listening to the prologue like everyone else, the part that stood out to me was the acid being mentioned.
    OP's starting observation: acid in the prologue is the key clue. — u/DrKutty
  • I also remember the mounting board for the sword Folly. The smith came in to give it to Kote. A mounting board made of the same wood as the chest. Doesnt burn but he managed to do it with really hot iron.
    OP links smith's roah-wood board to a tool for breaching the chest. — u/DrKutty
  • Seems like Kote might be getting desperate to use acid on the chest?
    OP's core claim: Kote is desperate to force the chest open. — u/DrKutty
  • I think Kvothe and Bast speak about using acid to open the chest themselves. … I distinctly remember Kvothe stating that doing so would likely destroy whatever was inside.
    Confirms in-text acid talk; implies desperation since it destroys contents. — u/b1tchf1t
  • In one of the closing chapters of WMF Kvothe/Kote tries to open the chest and fails. I think he was later pictured as tired, the same way as after being defeated by Bast's bandits. … one of the firsts chapters Kvothe prompted Bast to try to open the chest … and Bast suggested the acid.
    Textual evidence: Kote tries, fails, and prompted Bast for the acid idea. — u/OmenBard
  • I have suspected that when Kvothe asked Bast how he would open the chest it was really because he was looking for suggestions, having become unable to open the chest himself.
    Refines theory: Kote questions Bast because he can no longer open it. — u/stansey09
  • he goes from, like, ***power ignoring*** the chest in book 1 to beating on the damn thing to be let in, in book 2. Something for sure shifted.
    Behavioural shift: calm indifference becomes frantic effort to open it. — u/_jericho
  • He has two keys for it, the yllish knot inscription on the top needs to be 'untied.' Acid or hot iron might still do the trick.
    CounterCounter/refine: chest has proper keys, though force might still work. — u/shooplewhoop

Book refs: NOTW, WMF

Tier reasoning§

well-supported retained: rests on actual WMF/prologue events (he does try and fail to open it), not speculation

Contributors§

Source threads§