KKC Theory Wiki

Vashet Knows Kvothe's True Name and Hunts Him for Killing Her Poet King

fringe motive · popularity 71 · 1 source thread

Kvothe assassinated Vashet's beloved poet king for Alveron, and she now hunts him with power over his true name, Maedre.

About: Vashet, Kvothe

Also involves: Maer Lerand Alveron, The Adem, Caesura, Naming, Newarre, Roderic

The theory§

This theory holds that Kvothe put his Adem training to lethal use as an assassin for Maer Alveron, slaying King Roderic Calanthis to install the Penitent King and ignite the civil war that smolders in the frame story. The further leap is that Roderic was Vashet's 'poet king'—the poet-monarch of the Small Kingdoms she served four years as bodyguard and captain—and that her affection for him drives her to hunt Kvothe in vengeance. Knowing his true name, Maedre, she would hold power over him, which is offered as the hidden reason he buries himself in Newarre under the name Kote. The chain strains against canon at several joints: Vashet's poet king ruled in the Small Kingdoms, not Vintas; the Adem display no naming craft beyond a reverent care for words; and a person's true name should shift as the person changes, making a stolen name an unreliable leash.

Evidence§

  • I've always wondered what could possibly make Kvothe hide away in Newarre, change his identity and name and work so hard to stay hidden.
    OP frames the puzzle the theory aims to solve: why Kvothe hides. — u/Pius_Thicknesse
  • There's been a lot of theory about how Kvothe must have used Caesura to kill King Roderic to install Alveron as the penitent king and cause the civil war. I wonder if Roderic was Vashet's "poet king".
    Core claim: Kvothe assassinated Roderic, who OP proposes was Vashet's poet king. — u/Pius_Thicknesse
  • From a re read of WMF, the way Vashet talks about "her" poet king comes across very affectionate. She spent a lot of time with him and always refers to him as "my".
    Textual support: Vashet's affectionate possessive language supplies a vengeance motive. — u/Pius_Thicknesse
  • now Vashet is after him with vengeance? With knowledge of his true name Maedre, which gives her a certain power of him? What else could force him into hiding?
    Conclusion: Vashet hunts him and holds power via his true name Maedre. — u/Pius_Thicknesse
  • if he was Vashet's poet king then she'd be pretty pissed at Kvothe. . .
    Commenter endorses the motive, finding the connection newly plausible. — u/TrentBobart
  • But did'nt she say that her Poet King was of a very small Kingdom?
    CounterCounter: Vashet's poet king ruled a small kingdom, not Roderic's realm. — u/PaddyMac297
  • A true name shouldn't be static because the person does change. … Vashet would have to be a namer, and powerful one.
    CounterCounter: a stolen name is an unreliable leash, and Vashet isn't a namer. — u/jrh038
  • I can’t seem to remember them having any particular capabilities with naming, other than placing the same care of distinction upon a name as they do all their spoken vocabulary.
    CounterCounter: Adem show no naming craft, undermining power over Maedre. — u/J4pes

Book refs: WMF

Tier reasoning§

tier confirmed: speculative chain countered by text

Contributors§

Source threads§