KKC Theory Wiki

The Current War Starts When Kvothe Takes a Flower From the Cthaeh

fringe timeline · popularity 54 · 1 source thread

Bast and Chronicler's speculation foreshadows that Kvothe takes a Cthaeh flower and uses it to trigger the war.

About: Kvothe, The Cthaeh

Also involves: Bast, Chronicler, The Doors of Stone, Auri, The Sithe

The theory§

This theory reads the closing conversation between Bast and Chronicler in The Wise Man's Fear as Rothfuss foreshadowing the true origin of the war ravaging the current timeline. In that exchange the pair trade scenarios about how meddling with the Cthaeh's flowers might unfold, and the theory takes this as a coded preview: in the final book Kvothe takes a flower from the Cthaeh and does something with it that ignites the war and forces him to kill a king. The reasoning ties together the loose political threads of the frame story, where a power vacuum after a king's death could trigger a war of succession, and notes how close Kvothe stands to nearly every high seat of power in the Four Corners. The strongest objection turns on Bast's own reactions: Bast is horrified merely to learn Kvothe spoke with the Cthaeh once, and was genuinely baffled at how Kvothe slipped past the Sithe, so a second journey to the tree to steal a flower would not have surprised him. A competing reading holds that the war instead begins when Kvothe opens the Doors of Stone and looses an ancient enemy, reigniting the Creation War between the Fae and Temerant.

Evidence§

  • At the end of WMF when Bast and Chronicler are talking about the Cthaeh, my theory is that Bast is telling the truth about how the war in the current timeline started.
    OP's core claim: the Bast/Chronicler Cthaeh exchange reveals the war's true origin. — u/RustyPieCaptain
  • Perhaps Kvothe, in the third book, takes a flower from the Cthaeh and does something with it (Bast and Chronicler go back and forth on a few different scenarios) that starts the war and makes it so he has to kill a King.
    OP's central mechanism: a stolen Cthaeh flower triggers war and forces a kingslaying. — u/RustyPieCaptain
  • Do you all think this is Rothfuss giving us some foreshadowing as to how the war started?
    OP frames the exchange as deliberate foreshadowing. — u/RustyPieCaptain
  • Kvothe is so close to so many high political figure it’s wild. The highest three in power before Ambros family is said to be The king, the Maer Alvaron and the Lackless family.
    Refines the political stakes: Kvothe stands near every high seat of power. — u/immeasmyself
  • I'm guessing when "he kills a king" it starts a war over the succession
    Adds mechanism: the kingslaying creates a succession war. — u/Salamok
  • I find that unlikely. Bast is horrified when he learns Kvothe talked with the Cthaeh during the first telling. If Kvothe goes back a second time to steal a flower, surely Bast would've known that element, right?
    CounterCounter: Bast would know about a second Cthaeh visit if it caused the war. — u/ProfessorMoosePhD
  • I really doubt Kvothe managed to get to the Cthaeh again. Bast was truly baffled about him getting past the Sithe … It wouldn’t be realistic that Kvothe manages to get past them twice.
    CounterCounter: the Sithe guarding the tree make a second visit implausible. — u/Hamilcar84
  • Kvothe lets out an ancient enemy from behind the doors of stone, and the creation war kicks off again. Fey vs. Temerant.
    CounterCompeting reading: the war begins via the Doors of Stone, not a flower. — u/zaphodava

Book refs: WMF

Tier reasoning§

speculative and heavily countered; fringe fits

Contributors§

Source threads§