KKC Theory Wiki

The King Kvothe Killed May Be Haliax, Tied to Encanis via Shattered Stone

fringe identity · popularity 68 · 1 source thread

Shattered stones at Imre, Encanis's death, and Lanre's voice share a motif suggesting Kvothe killed Haliax.

About: Kvothe, Haliax, Encanis

Also involves: Imre, Cinder, The Chandrian

The theory§

This theory proposes that the king Kvothe is rumoured to have killed by the fountain in Imre is in fact Haliax. It links three passages by a shared motif of shattered stone: the cobblestones in Imre that 'no one can mend,' Encanis's death-scream beneath Tehlu's wheel that 'shattered stones for half a mile,' and Lanre's cry of 'There is no joy!' before Selitos, at which 'stones shattered at the sound.' Read alongside the common identification of Haliax with Encanis, the shattered-stone echo is taken as a clue that Kvothe's royal victim is Haliax himself, against the more popular expectation that Kvothe kills Cinder. The counter-evidence is heavy: the shattered cobblestones in Imre are tied to Kvothe's confrontation with Ambrose over his stolen belongings, and Skarpi's tale records that even Selitos could kill Lanre but could not keep him dead for more than a day, making a permanent killing by Kvothe doubtful.

Evidence§

  • He gives us our only concrete piece of information about the king Kvothe has supposedly slain.
    OP frames the blonde man's account as the sole concrete clue about Kvothe's royal victim. — u/Comprehensive_Owl_99
  • I saw the place in Imre where you killed him. By the fountain. The cobblestones are all shattered.' He frowned and concentrated on the word. '*Shattered.* They say no one can mend them.
    Core clue: the king died in Imre amid shattered, unmendable cobblestones. — u/Comprehensive_Owl_99
  • Encanis threw his body tight against the chains again and the sound of his scream shook the earth and shattered stones for half a mile in each direction.
    Encanis's death-scream also shatters stones, paralleling the Imre cobblestones. — u/Comprehensive_Owl_99
  • There is no joy!' Lanre shouted in an awful voice. Stones shattered at the sound and the sharp edges of echo came back to cut at them.
    Lanre/Haliax's cry shatters stones too, completing the shared motif. — u/Comprehensive_Owl_99
  • Many suspect Haliax and Encanis to be one and the same, a theory strengthened by this shared dominance over stone. If we believe this theory to be true, I believe it strongly hints at Haliax being killed by Kvothe, possibly even the slain king.
    OP's conclusion: shared stone-shattering links Haliax=Encanis, hinting Kvothe killed Haliax. — u/Comprehensive_Owl_99
  • Encanis is called the "Lord of Demons" and Lanre is described as looking "regal behind the lines of grief".
    OP addresses the kingship gap by noting Encanis/Lanre's lordly, regal descriptions. — u/Comprehensive_Owl_99
  • This would explain: … why they think Kvothe became a chandrian, cause he killed their leader and it was assumed that the leadership went to him
    Commenter adds that killing the Chandrian's leader explains Kvothe's reputed turn. — u/headnecklace
  • other than my overriding thought that the King Kvothe kills is Vashets’ Poet King.
    CounterCounter: the slain king may instead be the Poet King, not Haliax. — u/tiaravoncrumpet
  • I just always assumed that first paragraph was when he called the wind on ambrose, and the story got out of hand, so when it's retold somebody died.
    CounterCounter: shattered Imre stones stem from the Ambrose confrontation, not a king's death. — u/Nomedi2
  • We learn from Skarpi's story that Selitos was able to kill Lanre/Haliax but was unable to keep him dead for more than a day. … I still see a higher probability of Kvothe killing Cinder.
    CounterCounter: even Selitos couldn't keep Haliax dead, so a permanent Kvothe kill is doubtful. — u/determanisticLemon

Book refs: NOTW

Tier reasoning§

tier verified: motif-based identity leap, fringe is correct

Contributors§

Source threads§