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The Nine Prime Fallacies Map Kvothe's Logical Errors and Coming Tragedies

plausible symbolism · popularity 57 · 1 source thread

Kvothe commits or overlooks the nine prime fallacies, and the ones without a tragedy yet foreshadow disasters to come.

About: Kvothe

Also involves: Denna, Simmon, The Chandrian, Ambrose Jakis, Trebon, Haliax, Iax, Nine Prime Fallacies

The theory§

In his early lessons Kvothe recites the nine prime fallacies, the formal errors of reasoning taught in Rhetoric and Logic. This theory reads that list as a structural key to the saga's tragedies: each fallacy Kvothe commits or fails to recognise corresponds to a disaster, so the fallacies not yet paired with catastrophe foreshadow ruin still to come. Worked examples include simplification (treating blue fire and oddness as proof of the Chandrian), false analogy (refusing to pursue Denna so as not to be 'one of the hundred cow-eyed suitors'), and reduction (eyeballing the dose of Denna's antidote, linked to the destruction at Trebon). The framing predicts that a fallacy will make Kvothe the cause of Simmon's death, and supposes Lanre and Iax fell to similar errors. The fallacy Kvothe and Ben nicknamed 'Nalt', after Emperor Nalto, 'history's favourite whipping boy', is read as a fallacy of misplaced blame, hinting Kvothe's folly lies in scapegoating the wrong figure, such as Ambrose.

Evidence§

  • Many of the nine prime fallacies are committed or not caught by Kvothe, resulting in actual tragedies. This makes me think that the ones that don't have a tragic ending yet WILL. Like Sim dying, for example... I'm predicting that a logical fallacy leads to Kvothe being the reason for Sim's death.
    OP's core thesis: each fallacy maps to a tragedy; unmatched ones foreshadow ruin like Sim's death. — u/chainsawx72
  • SIMPLIFICATION … A group of people brutally killed. Blue fire. Oddness . . . Chandrian. … Other things can kill people, cause blue fire, and cause oddness.
    Worked example: oversimplification fallacy in Kvothe blaming the Chandrian. — u/chainsawx72
  • REDUCTION … FOLLY: I started with a bead the size of the last digit of my little finger, my guess as to how much resin Denna had actually swallowed. … TRAGEDY: Trebon is destroyed.
    Worked example: reductionist fallacy eyeballing Denna's antidote dose, linked to Trebon's destruction. — u/chainsawx72
  • ANALOGY … I will not be one of the hundred cow-eyed suitors who go mooning after her like love-struck sheep.” … TRAGEDY: Kvothe misses out on a relationship with Denna.
    Worked example: false analogy keeps Kvothe from pursuing Denna. — u/chainsawx72
  • NALT aka SUPPRESSION … WHY NALT? Emperor Nalto (possibly as church scapegoat) might be associated with 'suppressing evidence' … FOLLY: The Amyr suppress relevant information, but more specifically Lorren, Cthaeh, and Skarpi all do this to Kvothe.
    The ninth fallacy 'Nalt' read as suppressed evidence, the key to Kvothe's hidden folly. — u/chainsawx72
  • Maybe Kvothe's one lie to Chronicler is that he didn't miss this question. He knew the nine fallacies, but couldn't say the name of the ninth one without drawing attention to his own use of it.
    OP ties Kvothe forgetting the ninth fallacy to his own concealed use of suppression. — u/chainsawx72
  • At some point, Kvothe refers to Nalto as "history's favorite whipping boy." Makes me think that Kvothe's folly will have something to do with misplaced blame. … he always suspects Ambrose is behind everything bad that happens to him. I think it's likely that Kvothe is blaming the wrong guy (at least some of the time).
    Comment refines Nalt as misplaced-blame fallacy, predicting Kvothe scapegoats the wrong figure like Ambrose. — u/adaintydisaster
  • Nalt being a 'fallacy of suppressed evidence' came up here once before, but never sat right with me … It implies that people in this culture actively know that historical facts are being hidden from them … It also implies that the concept comes up so frequently that it behooves being nicknamed. I don't see anyone sitting around talking about suppressed evidence
    CounterCounter: the suppression reading is implausible from a worldbuilding standpoint. — u/czechancestry
  • The problem with the draccus was not faulty logic, it was trying to eyeball a lethal dose of a substance you haven't studied for a creature you have no knowledge about LMAO
    CounterCounter: Trebon disaster was inexperience, not the reduction fallacy. — u/Inmate-4859

Book refs: NOTW, WMF

Tier reasoning§

distinct theory; named fallacies map to actual textual events, plausible holds

Contributors§

Source threads§