KKC Theory Wiki

Eating a Rhinna Flower Grants Naming Power and Creates the Chandrian

fringe mechanism · popularity 57 · 1 source thread

WMF Ch 47's fake Chronicler lore encodes real answers: the Rhinna flower is the panacea that makes one an immortal Rhinta.

About: Rhinna, The Chandrian

Also involves: Naming, Chronicler, Shehyn, Felurian, The Adem, The Wise Man's Fear, Kvothe, Shaping

The theory§

This theory reads the invented Chronicler lore Kvothe and Bast concoct in WMF Ch 47 as a vessel for genuine plot answers, on the principle that the Chronicle hides truth inside stories-within-stories that warp over time. The fake tale of a high King whose name is 'written in a book of glass, hidden in a box of copper, and locked away in a great iron chest' is read as a coded echo of Kvothe's own threefold self-protection and of Felurian's glass/copper/iron rhyme. The accompanying fragment about a magic fruit that grants 'the names of all things' and 'powers like Taborlin the Great' is identified with the Rhinna, the flower that grows on the Cthaeh's tree. Linking 'Rhinna' to 'Rhinta'—Shehyn's Adem word for the Chandrian—and to the skin-dancer's question 'te rhintae?', the theory concludes that eating a Rhinna flower confers immortality and turns its eater into a Chandrian, possibly as an agent of the Cthaeh. A rival etymology holds that 'Rhinta' instead means 'Shaped', from the Archive motto Vorfelan Rhinata Morie, implying the Chandrian were altered by Shaping rather than created by a flower.

Evidence§

  • The two following things become part of fake Chronicler lore
    OP frames the WMF Ch 47 invented lore as the vessel hiding real answers. — u/Enjoyschess2
  • “The high King’s name is written in a book of glass, hidden in a box of copper, and that box is locked away in a great iron chest where nobody can touch it.” This is what Kvothe has done with his name/sympathy/music. These protections are a trilogy (gets touched on a lot): 3 layers of protection (like Kvothes chest), glass/iron/copper (like Felurians rhyme)
    OP maps the fake high-King tale onto Kvothe's threefold self-protection and Felurian's rhyme. — u/Enjoyschess2
  • “I seem to remember a story about this Chronicler fellow going to look for a magic fruit. Whoever ate the fruit would suddenly know the names of all things and he’d have powers like Taborlin the Great.” This is very similar to how I think the Chandrian came to be. The Rhinna flower is a panacea. Rhinta is what Sheyen calls the Chandrian. So I think this points to the conclusion that taking a Rhinna flower makes you immortal/a Chandrian.
    OP's core claim: the magic-fruit fragment is the Rhinna, and eating it makes a Chandrian. — u/Enjoyschess2
  • Given how much of these books are about stories within stories and how they get twisted over time, it makes perfect sense to me that Pat would hide answers to the larger story inside these little fake stories.
    OP's interpretive principle justifying reading hidden truth into invented lore. — u/Enjoyschess2
  • It might just be an interesting aspect of the language Rhianna is life giver but rhinta is all living or something.
    Commenter offers an alternative linguistic reading of Rhinna/Rhinta. — u/AzureDreamer
  • My long-held belief is that the Adem name for the Chandrian, Rhinta, means "Shaped" and means that the Chandrian's names were all changed and shaped by shaping magic in some way.
    CounterCounter etymology: Rhinta means Shaped, so Chandrian were Shaped, not made by a flower. — u/LostInStories222
  • Being Rhinta does not mean you are a Chandrian. Only those who follow Haliax are Chandrian.
    CounterCounters OP's equation of Rhinta with Chandrian. — u/LostInStories222
  • Now, the Rhinna flower heals and possibly does shape. Perhaps it's responsible for all the shaping. Kvothe looks at his hands so much in the frame, and he did bet his good left hand to Denna. But if he took the flower his hands should be healed and they still seem troublesome in the frame story.
    CounterRefines the flower's role toward shaping but notes evidence against Kvothe having taken it. — u/LostInStories222

Book refs: WMF, WMF ch 47

Tier reasoning§

rests on coded-lore and etymology leaps; fringe fits

Contributors§

Source threads§