The King Killer Chronicle–Patrick Rothfuss
Names
The
King Killer Chronicle turned Patrick Rothfuss, a begrudging English major
graduate, from a part-time teacher into a full time writer with its great
success (1). The first book The Name of
the Wind tells of the main character Kvothe’s early childhood and beginning
exploits at The University from his perspective as a wanted legendary man of around
thirty, though the book doesn’t say. Throughout the series, Kvothe is
constantly focused on the names of things. It isn’t just that knowing the true
names of things gives you power over them, as the title of the book, The Name of the Wind, indicates. It is
also a recurring theme in Kvothe’s story about himself. Every time a defining
moment in his life happens names are always involved. Saying the names of the Chandrian is what
killed his parents, he receives another name after not bleeding during his
first whipping, and he changed his name after going into hiding.
Realistic Problems?
A
common criticism of fantasy novels is that the authors make everything easy for the
characters. So that they have no problems or flaws. While this cannot be said of
Rothfuss, the problems are introduced abruptly so much so that at times it can
seem like Rothfuss just put them in there to only to avoid that fantasy-trope.
The problems don’t feel like genuine problems that would inevitably come up due
to circumstance or because of who Kvothe is as a character. They were just put
in there so that he has problems to overcome. This isn’t to say all the
conflict is like this. Some problems Kvothe runs into are genuine, such as his
mistaken trusting of Ambrose when he ends up becoming banned from the archives.
Kvothe was really excited to enter the archives for the first time and was
rushing his thinking. On the other hand, when Kvothe and Denna run into the
draccus there was nothing about the countryside or the rumor that took him
there that implied a giant animal. Kvothe running from and eventually slaying it
wasn’t strictly necessary for the plot and it only served to lengthen his
interlude in the countryside.
In
the second novel, The Wise Man’s Fear,
Kvothe’s continues his studies at The University, but they are quickly
interrupted by a leave of absence. While names are still central to the novel,
Rothfuss also asks his readers the question, “How do you know something? What
are the different forms of knowing?” What is the Letantha? Can knowledge be
explicit? Can you know things instinctively? What kind of knowledge does the fae
have? What is the impact of Ctheah’s foreknowledge?
Chandrian Side Quest
In
both the first and second installments of the King Killer Chronicle, Kvothe
searches for the Chandrian that killed his parents. But at the same time it
often feels like a side quest. Supposedly this is what is driving Kvothe, but
all his other side quests end up taking forefront and the search for the
Chandrian falls to the side. During the entire first book, Kvothe learned next
to nothing about the Chandrian, because he couldn’t access the archives, though
through happenstance he is able to find out information about them from
investigating a single random rumor. Even once he gains access to the archives
in the second book, he learns nothing, except that information is released. The
main way he learns about the Chandrian, is through asking the influential
people he comes into contact with about what they have heard. But instead of
the sources being someone who would logically know a lot about the Chandrian,
like the fae who resides in the same realm as them and has been around for around
the same amount of time. Instead it’s through the leader of the fighting
ademere school, or the Maer who happened to have an interest in the Chandrian’s
enemy the Amyr.
Why is this Even Happening?
Despite the fact
that, this entire series rests on Kvothe wanting to tell the Chronicler his
story, he never gives a satisfactory answer as to why he is telling the Chronicler his story. In fact, at first he is
nothing but furious at the Chronicler for attempting to find him at all. Beyond
that, Rothfuss descries Kvothe as a man waiting to die. Is this story going to
turn into the last will and testament of Kvothe the bloodless kingkiller? So
far it hasn’t been revealed and those who want to find out will have to wait a
while the second book came out in 2011 and there is still no planned release
date.
In Total
People who follow
this series love it because of the characters. They want to know what will
happen to Kvothe and Denna, how will he overcome the challenges he comes
across, will he accomplish his goals. But if you are reading this story because
you want to know the mystery of the Chandiran, you will be disappointed the
breakthroughs in the case are sparse and random. Unless the third book is going
to do an information dump on the Chandrian, they probably will not take center
stage for very long at all. It’s a Lord of the Rings type trilogy that replaces the lengthy history and wars with more
legends and a more concrete magic system.
Sources:
Image Credit: King Killer Chronicle The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear covers.
(3) "Interviews" on Patrickrothfuss.com
Comments
Post a Comment