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Kvothe's Slaughter of the False Troupe Mirrors the Chandrian's Attack

plausible symbolism · popularity 189 · 2 source threads

Kvothe's killing of the fake Edema Ruh deliberately rhymes beat-for-beat with the Chandrian's massacre of his own troupe.

About: Kvothe, The Chandrian

Also involves: Edema Ruh, The Shaed, Caesura, Cinder, Haliax, Laurian, Arliden, The Adem

The theory§

This theory catalogues a deliberate beat-for-beat symmetry between Kvothe's slaughter of the false Edema Ruh troupe and the Chandrian's massacre of his own family: a sword shattered with the sound of a broken bell mirrors Teren's sword broken in his hand, a fatal gut wound mirrors Cinder's slow killing, and a shaed saves the killer in each case, while the broken iron wheel pressed into a palm echoes the crumbling wagon wheel of the troupe massacre. These rhymes are read as showing Kvothe becoming a Chandrian-like figure, an idea the books name aloud through the rumour of a new Chandrian with hair as red as the blood he spills. Teccam's maxim that one finds one's true nature only by travelling where no one knows your name is invoked to suggest Haliax himself is trying to recover his nature as Lanre. The arc is called an exact parallel to Cinder, and the recurring nine-member troupe count is noted in the false Ruh, in Skarpi's tale, and among the angels. A dissenting reading holds that Kvothe killed the impostors for kidnapping and raping the captive girls, branding them to mark them as not Ruh, rather than for the stories they told; a further speculation, drawing on the books' Oedipus echoes, questions whether Arliden and Laurian are Kvothe's biological parents.

Evidence§

  • I was comparing the Troupe Massacre vs Fake Troupe Massacre … the elegance of this is just ^*chef's* ^*kiss*
    OP frames the core claim: deliberate symmetry between the two troupe massacres. — u/Smurphilicious
  • I snapped the iron sharply between my fingers. His sword shattered with the sound of a broken bell … the same thing the Chandrian did to Teren >I saw Teren’s body lying by his wagon, **his sword broken in his hand**.
    First rhyme: shattered sword mirrors Teren's broken sword. — u/Smurphilicious
  • Then there's the gut wound Kvothe gave to Alleg … Same way Cinder gets "stabbed" in the gut >“*Who knows the inner turnings of your name, Cinder*?” … >**Cinder wrapped shaking arms around his midsection and hunched over
    Second rhyme: Alleg's fatal gut wound mirrors Cinder's punishment. — u/Smurphilicious
  • THE BROKEN. IRON. WHEEL. IN THE PALM. OF HIS HAND. … When I gripped it, the iron bands that reinforced the wheel crumbled in my hand … The only ones left living were the ones with the broken wheels in their hand.
    Climactic rhyme: branded iron circle echoes the crumbling wagon wheel. — u/Smurphilicious
  • Also noting both death dealers (Kvothe and Cinder/Chandrian) are saved by shaed. Kvothe by the shadow-cloak accessory from a knife, Cinder and company by the shadow-cloaked being from Amyr/Watchers.
    Adds a further rhyme: a shaed saves the killer in each massacre. — u/vololov
  • Kvothe in that arc is the exact parallel of Cinder. Well spotted.
    Comment endorses the parallel, calling Kvothe an exact mirror of Cinder. — u/123m4d
  • “Some are even saying that there is a new Chandrian. A fresh terror in the night. His hair as red as the blood he spills.”
    Book names the idea aloud: Kvothe rumoured to be a new Chandrian. — u/rattlehead42069
  • The false Ruh troupe has 9 members, as does Sceop's troupe after he joins, as does the angels. There are roughly nine named Kvothe's troupe members killed by the Chandrian.
    Adds recurring nine-member count linking false Ruh, Skarpi's tale, angels. — u/chainsawx72
  • he definitely killed the false troopers for kidnapping and repeatedly raping the poor girls, not for the stories they told about being Edema. He branded them with the broken circle to show the world … they were in fact not ruh
    CounterCounter: motive was the rapes and branding, not the stories told. — u/ShortButHigh
  • agree with everything but I do believe that Laurien is his real mother, without that he wouldn’t be a Lackless
    CounterCounter to OP's Oedipus aside that Kvothe's parents are adoptive. — u/unnecessary_yams

Book refs: NOTW, WMF

Tier reasoning§

merged 2 dupes: false-troupe-mirrors-Chandrian theory

Contributors§

Source threads§