KKC Theory Wiki

Kvothe's Thrice-Locked Chest Is a Door Connecting Him to Auri

fringe connection · popularity 123 · 1 source thread

The chest behind the bar is Kvothe's connection to Auri, who still tends the Waystone but keeps him locked out.

About: The Thrice-Locked Chest, Auri, Kvothe

Also involves: Chronicler, Waystone Inn, The Slow Regard of Silent Things, Naming, The Underthing, The Doors of Stone

The theory§

The thrice-locked Roah chest behind the Waystone's bar is read as a door connecting Kvothe to Auri. The clue is that Chronicler, who spent the day in the company of Kvothe and Bast, finds his bed sheets changed and pleasantly scented with lavender, an act neither host had time to perform. This matches Auri's care in The Slow Regard of Silent Things, where she prepares a perfect creamy sheet and a sorrel candle pressed with lavender, smelling of bay and bees. From this the theory infers Auri still moves unseen through the inn setting things in their proper place, and that the chest is Kvothe's connection to her, perhaps holding the name she made for him, while her stone box, a literal door of stone, is her connection back. A further leap holds that Kvothe entrusted his name to Auri the way Iax stole the moon, and cannot open the chest because the final key is hers.

Evidence§

  • Turning down his bed, Chronicler was surprised to see the sheets had been changed sometime during the day. The linen was crisp and smelled pleasantly of lavender.
    OP's anchor clue: sheets mysteriously changed and lavender-scented during the day. — u/Zhorangi
  • Chronicler has just spent the entire day in the presence of Kvothe and Bast, so we can be sure neither of them had time to go up and change his sheets.. Who else is in the Waystone that could be responsible for such a thing?
    OP argues neither host could have done it, implying a hidden third presence. — u/Zhorangi
  • Then he grinned playfully, reached out with a hand, and knocked on the lid of the chest. It made barely any noise at all, as if he were rapping his knuckle against a stone. “Out of curiosity,” Kvothe asked. “What would you do if something knocked back?”
    OP ties the chest to a someone who could knock back, framing it as a door. — u/Zhorangi
  • She flushed a bit on thinking that, then brought the perfect creamy sheet and wrapped it all around his bed. She smoothed it gently with her hands. … It was not long before Auri returned to Mantle with a sorrel colored candle pressed with lavender. It smelled of bay and bees. It was a perfect thing.
    OP's parallel: Auri's book-text sheet and lavender match the inn's clues. — u/Zhorangi
  • The box is Kvothe's connection to Auri.. She still comes out to set things in their proper order.. But for now she keep's him locked out.
    OP's central claim: chest links Kvothe to Auri who tends the inn unseen. — u/Zhorangi
  • The stone box on the mantel is Auri's connection back to Kvothe... Literally a door of stone..
    OP completes the loop: Auri's stone box is her door back to him. — u/Zhorangi
  • So... What if kote trusted auri with his name? … if he could store his name in a box like Iax with the moon, and then gave it to auri (maybe the lackless box?) … why he can't open the chest (the last key is auri's)
    Commenter extends theory: name entrusted to Auri explains the missing final key. — u/z4m97
  • The thrice locked chest though. It has Kvothe's stuff in it. Shadow cloak, rings, lute, book, maybe his amulet. If Names went in boxes, Auri would have it in that stone box.
    CounterCommenter counters: chest holds physical items; a name would be in Auri's box. — u/Imaterd005

Book refs: NOTW, Slow Regard of Silent Things

Tier reasoning§

tier unchanged: the lavender parallel is suggestive but the chest-contents claim is a leap

Contributors§

Source threads§