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The Thrice-Locked Box Is a Shaper Device That Circumvents Alar Entropy

fringe mechanism · popularity 102 · 1 source thread

The Lackless box lets a sympathist believe anything is inside, bypassing alar entropy as a shaping tool.

About: The Lackless Box, Shaping

Also involves: Sympathy, Alar, The Doors of Stone, The Four Corners of Civilization, Kvothe

The theory§

This theory holds that the thrice-locked Lackless box is a relic of the shaping age engineered to defeat what it calls 'alar entropy' — the difficulty of holding a divided mind firm enough to work sympathy. Because sympathy depends on convincing oneself to believe the impossible, a sealed container whose contents cannot be known makes that belief trivially easy: the worker may suppose anything is or is not inside. Extending the conceit, the theory reads imagery of trifoil compasses, the four corners of a drafting table, and a road of doors at regular intervals as evidence the shapers used such devices to spread cities across time rather than space, sacrificing the far end of the timeline as a prison beyond the Doors of Stone for their undesirables. The box is cast as the key to undoing this, reopenable only by one with 'a knack for believing he knows the price of butter' — a description pointed at Kvothe, who is set apart by his maddening inability to open his own thrice-locked chest at the Waystone. A standing objection is that sympathy appears governed by genuine in-world physics, including conservation of energy, so merely believing a cone is a ball would not let it shift a boulder.

Evidence§

  • If you existed in the time of singers and shapers, wouldn't you love a device that lets you circumvent alar entropy?
    OP frames the box as a shaper-era device that defeats alar entropy. — u/KittyxBomb
  • It allows a sympathist to believe whatever they like is or isn't inside. They can't know what it is, and sympathy is all about believing the impossible and willing it so.
    Core mechanism: unknowable contents make the required belief trivially easy. — u/KittyxBomb
  • Pair that with a trifoil compass for precise placement, and four corners of a drafting table to work with. A road with some doors at regular intervals... One for each month.
    Reads in-world imagery as evidence of shaper placement and timeline tools. — u/KittyxBomb
  • If we are going to build an Ergen empire, why not spread our great cities across time?
    Extends conceit: shapers spread cities across time, not space. — u/KittyxBomb
  • Someone might knock it back into shape someday. He would need to have a knack for believing he knows the price of butter. The box is the key.
    Box is the key to undoing it; opener pointed at Kvothe. — u/KittyxBomb
  • This could be the device that planted all the greystones around the world, as Kvothe remarks on how impossible it seems that they could be laid out so intentionally yet weigh way to much to move.
    Comment adds greystone placement as corroborating evidence. — u/CastorTinitus
  • Can you reconcile your theory with the scene where Kote attempts to get into the box and fails?
    CounterCounter: Kote's own failure to open the box challenges the theory. — u/TasyFan
  • This presumes sympathy is based on belief and not actual in-universe “physics” though. If he believes a cone is a ball it doesn’t necessarily mean he can use the cone in the box to move a giant boulder out of his way just cause he thinks the cone is a ball, does it?
    CounterCounter: sympathy governed by physics, so belief alone cannot move objects. — u/Baramos_

Book refs: WMF

Tier reasoning§

tier verified: speculative mechanism with no direct textual confirmation

Contributors§

Source threads§