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The Loeclos Box Holds Sygaldry Linking It Sympathetically to a Door

plausible mechanism · popularity 76 · 1 source thread

The Lackless box contains internal sygaldry that sympathetically links it to a door, so opening the box opens that door.

About: The Lackless Box, Sygaldry

Also involves: Sympathy, Denna, Kvothe, Ambrose Jakis, Alar, The Wise Man's Fear

The theory§

This theory proposes that the Loeclos (Lackless) box contains sygaldry carved on its inside, creating a passive sympathetic link to a distant door, so that opening the box opens that door. Two scenes in The Wise Man's Fear are read as deliberate instruction. The twin bells at the Grey Man inn, where Denna stays, demonstrate that two objects can be permanently joined by the passive sympathy of sygaldry, ringing one rings the other, without a sympathist's active will. Anker's broken ice box then shows runes failing precisely because they were carved on the outside of the tin bands, where Kvothe observes they should have been placed on the inside where they could not be damaged. Combined, the lesson is a container whose runes live inside it, joining it to something else; the box, which has no lid, handle, or keyhole, would thus be opened not by mundane means but by whatever it is linked to. The name itself reads as 'Lock-close.' One line of counter-reasoning notes the actual box has damaged runes on its outside, like Anker's doomed chest, perhaps marking it as similarly flawed, while Kvothe's own description of something sliding inside confirms it also holds a physical object.

Evidence§

  • I think the Loeclos box has sygaldry inside of it that creates a sympathetic link to a door, and when the box opens, so too does the door.
    OP's core thesis: internal sygaldry links the box to a door. — u/JennaNire
  • the two bells at The Grey Man inn (where Denna is staying). These bells demonstrate to the reader that two objects can be linked by the passive sympathy of *sygaldry* rather than active sympathy held by a person. There are runes on the bells and when one bell is rung, the other bell rings too.
    First hint: sygaldry can passively link two objects without a sympathist. — u/JennaNire
  • When Kvothe is examining the damaged sygaldry, he specifically notes that "the runes should have been on the *inside* of the band, where they couldn't be damaged."
    Second hint: Anker's ice box shows runes belong inside to avoid damage. — u/JennaNire
  • I think the primary goal of both these scenes is to explain the Loeclos box: an item with runes inside, linking it to something else.
    Combines both scenes into the lesson about the box. — u/JennaNire
  • the purpose of the Loeclos box could be to keep a door shut, whether to prevent someone from entering through it, or to keep a person or thing behind it from coming out.
    Proposed purpose: the box keeps a door shut. — u/JennaNire
  • Would make sense that a box with no handles/lid/keyhole is opened by something that it's linked to rather than by mundane means. Quite literally thinking outside the box.
    Refines: lidless, keyless box implies opening via a link, not mundane means. — u/NovelSurprise116
  • This is excellent! It is even in the name of the box. Loeclos = Lock Close(d).
    Adds name evidence: Loeclos reads as 'Lock-close.' — u/Longjumping_Dark_460
  • The Lackless Box also has magic writing that is also on the outside that is also damaged... Is it possible that the Lackless Box is doomed to fail just like Anker's ice box, because someone was silly enough to put the runes on the outside?
    CounterCounter: the real box's runes are outside and damaged, like Anker's flawed chest. — u/chainsawx72
  • we know from Kvothe examination of the Loeclos box that it contains something physical. He can feel it sliding about inside.
    CounterCounter/qualifier: the box also holds a physical object, not only a link. — u/Longjumping_Dark_460

Book refs: WMF

Tier reasoning§

reasonable fit backed by two deliberate-seeming textual setups; plausible holds

Contributors§

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