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The Possessed Waystone Mercenary Passed Through the Fae Before Returning

plausible connection · popularity 209 · 1 source thread

The mercenary who kills Shep may have entered the Fae between robbing Chronicler and reappearing, returning possessed.

About: The Fae

Also involves: Chronicler, Bast, Waystone Inn, Kvothe, The Moon, Waystone Mercenary, The Sithe

The theory§

The mercenary who arrives at the Waystone Inn and kills Shep appears with a beard five days after robbing Chronicler, who recalls him as clean-shaven at the time of the robbery. This growth echoes the established detail of Kvothe returning from the Fae with a beard despite having left only three nights earlier by mortal reckoning—beard length serving as a marker of the Fae's distorted passage of time. Combined with the mercenary's plainly possessed behaviour and a moonless night around the robbery (the moon being away in the Fae, which opens the way between worlds), the theory proposes that the mercenary and his four companions stumbled through a waystone into the Fae, where something killed the others and possessed or reshaped him before he emerged. Variants suggest the Sithe dispatched him to kill Kvothe, or that mere exposure to the Fae 'shapes' a person—as Kvothe himself returned feeling barely human—or that this is what follows being 'bitten' by the Cthaeh.

Evidence§

  • This fellow and four of his friends robbed me about five days ago. I didn't recognise him at first. He was clean-shaven then, but it's him.
    OP's core anchor: mercenary clean-shaven at robbery but bearded five days later. — u/Amavene_Sedai
  • Where else have we heard a specific mention of someone reappearing in the story with a beard? … What about his beard then? When he ran off three nights ago his face was smooth as a baby's ass.
    Parallels Kvothe returning from Fae bearded after only three nights mortal time. — u/Amavene_Sedai
  • given that the mercenary turns up possessed by some sort of Fae creature, I don't think it's a huge stretch to postulate that he entered the Faen realm for a while after robbing Chronicler
    Core inference: possession plus beard implies a Fae detour. — u/Amavene_Sedai
  • I believe the mercenary and his friends stumbled through a greystone into Fae, where they encountered something old (or new!) and terrible which killed the other men and possessed their leader.
    OP's full mechanism: greystone crossing kills companions, possesses the leader. — u/Amavene_Sedai
  • On chapter 1 page 10 there is the quote "Looking up he saw a thousand stars glittering in the velvet of a night with no moon". After Kote puts an iron coin on the Scrael. As this happens concurrent with the robbing there's definitely no moon.
    Confirms moonless night, supporting the moon being away in Fae, opening the way. — u/Maxwiell
  • I've had a small theory that being in the Fae "shapes" men after a fashion and turns them into Fae. … Kvothe essentially says when he got back from the Fae that for his part, he didn't even feel human.
    Refines mechanism: Fae exposure itself reshapes a person, citing Kvothe's return. — u/thek3vn
  • What if he was sent to kill Kvothe by the Sithe?
    Variant: the mercenary was dispatched by the Sithe to kill Kvothe. — u/Locke_Fucking_Lamora
  • After 5 days I feel like most men could be described as having solid stubble but not a full beard
    CounterCounter: five days of growth could be ordinary stubble, not Fae evidence. — u/Blue--Blue--Blue

Book refs: NOTW, WMF

Tier reasoning§

no change

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