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Stapes Is Tracking Kvothe With a Sympathetic Bone-Ring Compass

fringe motive · popularity 244 · 1 source thread

Stapes colluded with Caudicus and gave Kvothe a bone ring whose matching fragment serves as a dowsing compass to track him.

About: Stapes, Kvothe, Caudicus

Also involves: Meluan Lackless, Maer Lerand Alveron, The Lackless Box, Denna, The Amyr, The Chandrian, Sygaldry, Dowsing Compass

The theory§

This theory recasts Stapes, the Maer Alveron's lifelong manservant, as a conspirator rather than a loyal servant, allied with Caudicus to keep Alveron weak and unmarried and so prevent the union with Meluan Lackless that would consolidate the Lackless line and its thrice-locked box. Three details anchor the suspicion: Stapes's earnest midnight visit to Caudicus from which he leaves carrying nothing, his furtive concealment of dead birds that betray the poison's progress, and the ring of bone he presses on Kvothe before the bandit hunt. Bredon explains that a bone ring signifies a blood debt, and the matching fragment of that bone would make a near-perfect sympathetic link for a dowsing compass, a tracking technique the text already demonstrates with hair-based compasses, letting Stapes follow Kvothe indefinitely. Counter-arguments note that Stapes could dowse Kvothe far more easily with a stray hair, that Kvothe would not carry the bone ring everywhere, and that no real motive separates Stapes from his childhood loyalty, with several readings preferring that Stapes is himself Amyr; a closing aside extends the same tracking logic to Denna and the lute case she gave Kvothe.

Evidence§

  • Stapes seems like a sincere, dutiful character without any ulterior motives. Which, in a Rothfuss book, smells as strong as a shamble-man drunk on scutten.
    OP frames Stapes's apparent sincerity as itself suspicious, setting up the theory. — u/roseinapuddle
  • Stapes had stopped by in the middle of the night to have a private conversation with the man who was trying to kill the Maer.
    First suspicious detail: secret midnight meeting with the poisoner Caudicus. — u/roseinapuddle
  • He wants the Maer weak and unable to court Lady Lackless. Stapes and Caudicus are probably connected with the Amyr or Chandrian, and are trying to control access to the Lackless box.
    Proposed motive: keep Maer weak to block the Lackless union and control the box. — u/roseinapuddle
  • Stapes hides the dead “flits” (birds) to make it look like the medicine isn’t poisonous. He tells us it is because he didn’t want to upset the already sick Maer. No no no no no.
    Second detail: concealing the dead birds shows Stapes covering for the poison. — u/roseinapuddle
  • Stapes gives Kvothe a bone ring, which Bredon explains represents a blood debt. … Stapes is using the bone ring to track Kvothe’s movements. How? A dowsing compass.
    Core claim: the bone ring is a tracking device via dowsing compass. — u/roseinapuddle
  • A dowsing compass is a piece of artificery that points in the direction of the person whose hair or blood you use. The alley bandits used this to track Kvothe. We know runes for bone also exist, so I think it is possible to make a compass using bone
    Mechanism: text already shows dowsing compasses work; bone runes make a bone link plausible. — u/roseinapuddle
  • Given that Stapes gives him the ring of bone BEFORE he goes into the forest to hunt the bandits I think we can draw a few conclusions … he is likely an Amyr trying to keep the lockless chest under control.
    Refines timing of the gift to argue Stapes is Amyr, not Chandrian. — u/Spazgasim
  • A specific person's bone would be a very strong link.
    Supports the mechanism: bone makes a strong sympathetic link. — u/Lawlcopt0r
  • There isn't really any disconnect between his words and actions which would call his motivation into question, and he could dowse Kvothe much more easily just by using one of his hairs.
    CounterCounter: no motive gap, and a hair would track Kvothe far more easily than bone. — u/Liesmith424
  • Kvothe probably wouldn't keep a bone ring on his person at all times … As far as we know Kvothe didn't take the bone ring to the Eld to hunt the bandits, or to Ademre, but he did take his lute.
    CounterCounter: ring isn't carried everywhere, so it fails as a reliable tracker. — u/elihu

Book refs: WMF

Tier reasoning§

tier downgraded: speculative chain (Stapes treachery + bone-ring compass), top comment countered

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