KKC Theory Wiki

The Bad Thing on Shep's Farm: Bast and the Shepherd's Wife

plausible connection · popularity 100 · 1 source thread

The shepherdess Bast beds in The Lightning Tree is Shep's young wife, and Shep's grief comes from discovering the affair.

About: Bast

Also involves: Kvothe, Shep, The Lightning Tree

The theory§

This theory identifies the unnamed shepherdess Bast beds in 'The Lightning Tree' as Shep's young wife, and proposes that the 'bad thing' that befell Shep's farm last Cendling night was Shep discovering the affair. In 'The Name of the Wind' it is noted that something bad happened on Shep's farm last Cendling, that his friends pointedly do not ask about it, and that Shep drinks more heavily than the rest of the crowd. The theory leans on the symmetry of the husband being called Shep (a shepherd) and his lover being a shepherdess, and on a friend's remark that Shep should be home kissing his young wife rather than out facing the scrael. It further reasons that a heartbroken, untrained farmer no longer caring whether he lives would explain why Shep recklessly knifed a clearly supernatural scrael. The theory is undercut by 'The Narrow Road Between Desires,' which ties the Shepherdess to a Shepherd rather than to Shep, and by timing: that tale falls at midsummer, not the autumn of last Cendling.

Evidence§

  • In the Name of the Wind, it says that something bad happened last Cendling night on Shep’s farm, but his friends don’t ask about it. Whatever it is causes Shep to drink more heavily than the rest of the crowd.
    OP's starting fact: a bad event on Shep's farm, avoided by friends, and Shep's heavy drinking. — u/Mildly_Sprained
  • In the Lightning tree, Bast has a dalliance with a shepherdess. She is unnamed in the book.
    Identifies the unnamed shepherdess Bast beds as the figure to be matched. — u/Mildly_Sprained
  • They probably are having an affair, but Mary is not the shepherdess Bast sleeps with in The Lightning Tree.
    Rules out the alternative candidate, Mary Bentley, narrowing to Shep's wife. — u/Mildly_Sprained
  • Shep’s friends say that instead of being dead, Shep should be home kissing his young wife. I think the unnamed shepherdess is Shep’s young wife. There is even a satisfying symmetry in the the husband/wife being referred to as Shep/the shepherdess.
    Core claim: the shepherdess is Shep's wife, supported by Shep/shepherdess symmetry. — u/Mildly_Sprained
  • The bad thing that happened last Cendling is Shep discovering his wife was having an affair.
    The theory's conclusion linking the affair to the bad event. — u/Mildly_Sprained
  • Would also explain why a farmer (untrained In combat) like Shep would throw caution to the wind and just up and knife a clearly supernatural demon. He kinda doesn't give a fuck anymore.
    Adds supporting evidence: heartbreak explains Shep's reckless attack on the scrael. — u/VegaLyra
  • Seems unlikely the screal would have attacked the sheep and nothing else.. So chances are he bumped into some other fae creature attacking his sheep.
    CounterCounter: the bad thing may be a fae sheep-attacker, not an affair. — u/Zhorangi
  • Unfortunately, it ruins your theory because the Shepherdess is charged to a Shepherd, and we know that the line is "Shep should be home kissing his young wife."
    CounterCounter: newer tale ties the Shepherdess to a Shepherd, not Shep. — u/LostInStories222

Book refs: NOTW, The Lightning Tree

Tier reasoning§

single genuine theory; tier plausible fits the reasonable-but-undermined evidence

Contributors§

Source threads§