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The Lackless Rhymes Encode a Cyclical Tragedy, Not Just Physical Keys

fringe symbolism · popularity 120 · 1 source thread

The seven 'things' in the Lackless rhymes are recurring story events, not objects, mapping a tragedy Temerant repeats endlessly.

About: The Lackless Box

Also involves: Meluan Lackless, Edema Ruh, Haliax, Lyra, Iax, The Moon, Kvothe

The theory§

This theory reframes the seven 'things' of the Lackless rhymes as events that must occur before the door opens, rather than physical objects to be gathered. It proposes that Temerant is caught in a recurring story-loop in which the same tragedy plays out across generations under different names: Lanre and Lyra, Aethe and Rethe, Jax and the Moon, the Fastingsway War. The rhymes are read as encoding the skeleton of that single recurring story. Individual lines are reinterpreted as moments rather than items: the 'black dress' as a funeral, most likely that of Lady Lackless's husband; 'a ring that's not for wearing' as a ringing, a bell-like note signalling a birth; and the 'sharp word' as 'ravel,' marking a Lady Lackless joining the Edema Ruh. Competing readings hold the rhymes to be loose thematic cards rather than a recipe, or tie single lines to concrete canon: the 'black dress' to the Blac of Drossen Tor (supported by foreign translations), and the 'ring that's not for wearing' to the bone ring of mourning custom in Vintas or to the ring Meluan gives Kvothe with the words 'it's not the sort of ring you wear.'

Evidence§

  • I've been looking at the seven "things" as physical (or figurative) objects you need to have/come in contact with before entering the Lackless door. I think the "things" listed in the poems are actually events that will happen before one gains access to the door.
    OP's core reframe: the seven things are events, not objects. — u/melancholy_breadroll
  • I also think that somehow Temerant is in some sort of story loop, where the same tragic story happens again and again (Lanre and Lyra, Aethe and Rethe, Jax and the Moon, The Fastingsway War, etc) … the bones of the stories are the same. The Lackless Rhymes are telling us what that story is.
    OP's second claim: a recurring tragedy the rhymes encode. — u/melancholy_breadroll
  • Personally I think the black dress could indicate either a funeral or a shaed. … Specifically, the **funeral of Lady Lackless's husband**.
    Reads 'black dress' as a funeral event, not an object. — u/melancholy_breadroll
  • I think this means a **ringing like a bell**. When Tehlu touches Perial, "she felt like she were a great golden bell that had just rung out its first note." … this line could be saying that someone gets pregnant/has a child.
    Reads 'ring not for wearing' as a bell-ring signalling a birth. — u/melancholy_breadroll
  • I'm going with my gut here and making an educated guess that the word is **ravel**. Lady Lackless then becomes one of the Edema Ruh.
    Reads 'sharp word' as 'ravel', marking joining the Edema Ruh. — u/melancholy_breadroll
  • I believe they are telling us a neverending chain of events that will keep happening until the cycle is broken somehow. This could be why the Ruh were killed, why Haliax wanted to destroy the world … **They are trying to break this neverending story.**
    OP's synthesis: the rhymes map a cycle that characters try to break. — u/melancholy_breadroll
  • Black dress is a few different things. For one, it refers to the blac of drossen Tor. This is all but confirmed by the translations. But as you point out, it also refers to a shaed. … Also, as you surmise, it is a dress of mourning
    Refines: 'black dress' layers many referents, supporting multi-event reading. — u/qoou
  • What I don't see here is anything supporting your claim that the events are repeating. … in only one case you do even tie any particular thing to more than one event (the ring not for wearing) and you tied that to a story that's probably fictional in universe.
    CounterCounter: cyclical claim is unsupported; no demonstrated repetition. — u/aerojockey
  • My impression is the poems are just themes, not really a recipe of sorts. There like tarot cards, some ideas are better then others, but nothing is set in... Stone.
    CounterCounter: rhymes are loose themes, not an ordered recipe of events. — u/TheLastSock
  • I just thought the ring not for wearing was literally the ring Meluan gives him. “It’s not the sort of ring you wear.”
    CounterCounter: 'ring not for wearing' is a concrete object, Meluan's ring. — u/JCtheWanderingCrow

Book refs: NOTW ch 23, WMF ch 99

Tier reasoning§

no change; speculative reinterpretation of the rhyme lines, fringe is correct

Contributors§

Source threads§