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The Waystone Is the Door That Holds the Flood and Kvothe Will Strike Down the Moon

fringe mechanism · popularity 64 · 1 source thread

Read via Chekhov's gun, the standing-stone Waystone is the door holding the flood, and Kvothe means to bring down the moon.

About: Waystone Inn, The Moon, Kvothe

Also involves: The Fae, The Chandrian, Chronicler, Felurian, Cinder, Auri, Naming, Wheel Of Fire, Encanis

The theory§

A sequel to the 'Waystone is a bomb / Wheel of Fire' reading, this theory applies Chekhov's principle — that every story element must serve a purpose — to the verse 'one a door that holds the flood,' arguing the standing-stone Waystone Inn is itself that door and a trap. Kvothe, having taken a deliberate new name and settled in a place built atop a waystone, is read as luring the Chandrian to him: Bast spreads word of his presence, the brass-ringed barrels and the sword's mounting board double as cages and trapdoor, and the inn stores vast thermal energy. The frame's moonless nights, which the book associates with being pulled into the Fae, link the plan to the moon itself: Felurian's standing-stone doorway lets men pass into the Fae, and the theory holds Kvothe intends to strike down the weaponized moon at this door. The reading is reinforced by Auri's lightning verse, which closely describes Cinder, and by the repeated equation of 'the flood' with the scrael or the Doors of Stone.

Evidence§

  • This is sort of a sequel to … The Waystone is a bomb / Wheel of Fire … "Every element in a story must be necessary".
    Frames the theory: applies Chekhov's gun, every story element must serve a purpose. — u/Smurphilicious
  • Nights with no moons, like the one at the start of NotW, are what Wise Men Fear because they pull you into Fae. Kvothe isn't just waiting at the Waystone.
    Moonless frame nights link Waystone to the Fae; Kvothe is acting, not idle. — u/Smurphilicious
  • Claimed at certain times men could pass through the stone door into the fair land where Felurian herself abides
    Standing-stone door-post lets men pass into Fae; basis for Waystone as the door. — u/Smurphilicious
  • The Waystone isn't just the Wheel of Fire, it's the door that holds the flood. It has bottles filled with... stuff. Made of Standing stone because of what those stone monoliths are capable of when used to create a structure.
    Core claim: the standing-stone inn is the door that holds the flood. — u/Smurphilicious
  • It's not a shield. It's not an insulator. It's like an extra layer of skin that burns away before your real skin gets hot.” … But if it mixes with a lot of water, say a hundred parts to one, it will turn flammable
    Sim's heat shield: survives heat, turns flammable with water — the flood mechanism. — u/Smurphilicious
  • I can no more extinguish it than I could throw a stone and strike down the moon.” … You don't get much bigger than the moon, and big things fall hard. Kvothe created the Weigh Stone to make the moon come to him
    Galvanic pull plus square-cube logic: Kvothe draws down the weaponized moon. — u/Smurphilicious
  • Kinda crazy that Auri almost perfectly describes Cinder in the lightning.
    Comment reinforces theory: Auri's lightning verse maps onto Cinder. — u/ConsortByNew
  • Kote is storing vast amounts of thermal energy in the way stone inn via a stone heat eater.
    Comment adds evidence: the inn stockpiles thermal energy for the trap. — u/danielsaid
  • the Waystone seems to lack any real connection to iron or the wheel, I think. … But the Chandrian themselves are the iron wheel, right? He's luring the wheel to him.
    CounterCounter/refine: questions iron link, suggests Chandrian are the wheel being lured. — u/Katter

Book refs: NOTW, WMF

Tier reasoning§

chained speculative leaps; fringe fits

Contributors§

Source threads§