Kingkiller Chronicle: Names Were Important to Him

As I said in the last post, I spent the month of August doing a pretty in-depth re-read of the first two books of Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicle. I used color-coded post-its to keep track of a variety of things, and as you can see in the picture it got a little intense

I used blue to track the Chandrian and any stories concerning Lanre and Haliax. Red tracks Kvothe and any hints to his past or what he's been up to between the story he's telling and the present-day frame. Green tracks Denna, who remains a mystery. Yellow is for any mention of faeries and the moon. Orange tracked stories and history, and especially things connected with Tehlu and the Amyr.

So I have several blog entries planned. There's a lot in these books that I want to start. I'm going to start with something pretty straight-forward, though: Kvothe's various names.

Fairly straightforward, but I wanted to gather Kvothe's names. We get a list of them right at the beginning and then discover the stories behind them over the course of the book.

Kvothe - Kvothe's given name. He claims that it means "to know", which is certainly fitting.

Maedre - The name given to Kvothe by the Adem. It's supposed to be his true name and has a triple meaning.

• The Flame - Kvothe says that this refers to his hair, which makes sense and is pretty basic. I wonder if there will be a deeper meaning in the third book.
• The Thunder - Kvothe says that this refers to his baritone voice. It's also a nice parallel to the fact that the Chandrian are said to "strike like lightning". Thunder follows lightning, and Kvothe always seems to be a step behind the Chandrian, following Cinder around the Four Corners.
• The Broken Tree - Kvothe says that he doesn't understand this part of his Adem name, but thinks that it could be slightly prophetic. He then offers no explanation, leaving the audience to work this out once they know his story. But we do know how his story ends - with him in an Inn unable to fight or perform sympathy and unwilling (or unable?) to play music. So I think the broken tree is Kvothe himself. Something will break him (or perhaps he'll break himself) in the third book. This also fits in with what his studies in Ademre. When he meets Shehyn, she talks about his body in terms of a tree. I'll have to wait and see how this plays out in the third book.

E'lir - This is the nickname Ben gives Kvothe because he "was clever and [he] knew it". It's also the first rank of the Arcanum at the Univerisity, meaning seer.

Dulator - Kvothe says his first lover gives him this name. We know that's Felurian, but we never see her call him this in the story. I have no idea what this could mean.

Shadicar - There's no mention of this in the first two books. I guess it will come up in the third book.

Lightfinger - Another name that isn't mentioned in the book. Although I suspect it could be a reference to his lute-playing ability

Kvothe to Bloodless - It's revealed early on that Kvothe earns this nickname by getting whipped and not bleeding. He repeats this act later, solidifying the nickname. It's also a bit of an underhanded compliment. Kvothe is Edema Ruh, lowest of the low. He has no noble blood in his veins (to his knowledge anyway), and is therefore "bloodless". Ambrose was probably partially responsible for how quickly this nickname spread.

Kvothe the Arcane - This nickname is a reference to Kvothe's ability in the Arcanum. He mentions it first when he talks about his duels with Fenton and the other students in his Sympathy class. However, he later says that the first time he hears this name is when he's listening to stories about himself in Tarbean near the end of the second book.

Kvothe Kingkiller - This is the name of the entire trilogy, so it will clearly be important, though not until the last book. I expect the king will be Ambrose, as he and Kvothe have a nasty history and Ambrose keeps getting closer to the throne. By the end of the second book he's about ten people away from being king.

Kote - Kote is the name Kvothe chooses for himself, and a careful reading of the book reveals that it is Siaru for disaster. For a while I did think that it could mean expect. The first time it comes up is when Kilvin says "Chan Vaer edan Kote" which translates to "Expect disaster every seven years". We already know that Chan means seven, so kote could mean a few things. But later Kilvin curses "Kist, crayle, en kote", which definitely points to the theory that kote means disaster.

Reshi - This is Bast's nickname for Kote. We have no hints about why he chose this name or what it means. Perhaps it translates to "teacher" or "mentor" or something similar.

I believe that's a complete list of the various names Kvothe gathers over the course of the story. I'm almost positive I missed a couple of double and triple meanings, since Rothfuss is extremely fond of word-play.