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Trapis Left the Tehlin Church to Atone for Clerical Abuse of Children

plausible motive · popularity 378 · 1 source thread

Trapis abandoned the Tehlin priesthood after witnessing rampant child abuse, and now shelters Tarbean's street children as penance.

About: Trapis, The Tehlin Church

Also involves: Kvothe, Tarbean

The theory§

This theory holds that Trapis left the Tehlin priesthood after witnessing, or being complicit in, abuse of children within the clergy, and that his devoted care of Tarbean's sick and orphaned children is an act of atonement. Street-Kvothe's instinctive, unexplained aversion to entering Tehlin churches is read as awareness of a known danger to children, and the text supplies corroborating motifs: a priest soliciting an apparently underage prostitute, and Puppet's marionette show depicting a Tehlin priest committing violence against a child. The deliberate contrast is between an institution shown to be corrupt, extorting a tavern keeper during Skarpi's storytelling, and Trapis, who keeps apart from the Church and shelters the very children it endangers. A common refinement is that Trapis is not orthodox but an exile following the Mender heresies, devoted to a sect centered on the mother of Tehlu, which would explain both his estrangement from the priesthood and his protective vocation.

Evidence§

  • Even as a little kid Kvothe knows to avoid the church because of what they do the children that come inside the church.
    OP's core claim: street-Kvothe's instinctive avoidance signals known danger to children. — u/Gastay
  • The church is also seen extorting the barkeeper in the bar where Skarpi tells his stories so they are corrupt.
    OP cites institutional corruption to establish the Church's bad character. — u/Gastay
  • Trapis love kids and not in the gross way. He consistently goes out of his way to help. I think he is trying to atone for maybe helping the church before.
    OP's central thesis: Trapis's care of children is atonement for prior complicity. — u/Gastay
  • the unquestioning aversion street-Kvothe shows to the priests seems suggestive to me. We also witness an act of sexual misconduct when Kvothe watches a priest solicit an (underage?) prostitute.
    Adds corroborating text: a priest soliciting an apparently underage prostitute. — u/EmeraldMother
  • Puppet's little marionette show also has a Tehlin priest committing violence against a child.
    Adds further textual motif of a priest harming a child. — u/EmeraldMother
  • I really like the parallel you draw between Trapis and the other priests. He tries to save children while the other Tehlins try to "ruin" them.
    Refines the contrast between protective Trapis and the corrupt Church. — u/EmeraldMother
  • Trapis is a follow of a sect of the tehlian church dedicated to the mother of tehliu.
    Refinement: Trapis follows a heretical sect, explaining his estrangement. — u/shitinmyshardplate
  • On the other hand, a member of Pike's gang started to sleep in the Church and didn't seem traumatized-- brainwashed maybe.
    CounterCounter: a child slept in the church without apparent trauma. — u/EmeraldMother
  • Cos Nina doesn’t seem to have a problem with going into the church and seems quite pious.
    CounterCounter: Nina enters the church freely, undercutting universal danger claim. — u/Cedar18

Book refs: NOTW

Tier reasoning§

tier confirmed: circumstantial evidence is a reasonable fit, plausible holds

Contributors§

Source threads§