KKC Theory Wiki

The Lackless Box Holds an Ancient Mommet Binding One of the Seven

fringe mechanism · popularity 107 · 1 source thread

The Lackless rhyme reads as a recipe for a malfeasance doll, and the box itself holds that finished mommet.

About: The Lackless Box, The Chandrian

Also involves: Sympathy, Naming, Haliax, Meluan Lackless, Alar

The theory§

Read through the sympathy taught at the University, the Lackless rhyme reads like a recipe for a mommet, a malfeasance doll. The required components map line for line: 'a candle without light' is the wax to shape the body, 'a son who brings the blood' the blood-link, 'a ring unworn' the personal object belonging to the target, and 'a word that is forsworn' the binding word or Name. The line that follows, 'a thing tight-held in keeping,' is read as the finished doll itself, kept inside the lidless, lockless box of the girl's rhyme. The theory speculates this mommet binds one of the Chandrian, which would explain Haliax's perpetual shadow (a doll kept from light), why the Seven destroy every image and artifact of themselves (they seek the link that controls them), and why so dangerous a secret survives only in a children's rhyme. Counter-considerations note that the box's described contents are stone or glass, not wax, that wax and blood do not mix, and that the box is no great secret, freely shown by Meluan.

Evidence§

  • I tried looking at the verses purely through the logic of sympathy as it’s taught at the University. And some of the lines start looking a lot like the components used to create a mommet (a malfeasance doll).
    OP's core premise: read the Lackless rhyme through sympathy as a mommet recipe. — u/EvylenVA
  • one a candle without light → wax used to shape the doll • one a son who brings the blood → blood link • one a ring unworn → personal object of the target • one a word that is forsworn → binding word / possibly a Name That already looks very close to the structure of a mommet.
    Maps four rhyme lines line-for-line onto mommet components. — u/EvylenVA
  • one a thing tight-held in keeping This could be interpreted as the object produced by the ritual itself — something created and then carefully kept.
    Reads the next line as the finished doll, kept inside the box. — u/EvylenVA
  • The rhyme mentions seven things, and the number seven is constantly associated with the Chandrian. So it raises the possibility that this mommet may have been created to affect or control one of the Seven.
    Ties the seven rhyme items to the Chandrian as the mommet's target. — u/EvylenVA
  • we know the Chandrian actively try to erase records about themselves, destroying songs, stories, and any kind of historical account. If that’s true, a children’s rhyme would actually be a very effective way for information to survive over time.
    Explains why so dangerous a secret survives only in a children's rhyme. — u/EvylenVA
  • What if that’s why Haliax is all shadowy? The mommet doesn’t get light, neither does he. It also explains why the Chandrian try to destroy artifacts/images of themselves; they’re looking for the link!
    Comment adds new corroborating evidence: explains Haliax's shadow and the artifact-destroying. — u/Fit-Detective1086
  • It being contained in the loeclos box goes against the 'husbands rocks' line from the lackless poems and 'stone or glass' description by Kvothe
    CounterCounter: the box's described contents are stone or glass, not wax. — u/TacticalDo
  • The Lackless box isn't much of a secret. It's passed down through the family, and Meluan doesn't take much convincing to show it to an unknown like Kvothe. Wouldn't the Chandrian have gone after it already?
    CounterCounter: the box is freely shown by Meluan, so it's no guarded secret. — u/DaymanTargaryen

Book refs: NOTW, WMF

Tier reasoning§

fringe correct: imaginative rhyme-mapping, speculative leap

Contributors§

Source threads§