Rothfussians discussion

The King Killer Chronicles are told during a time of war. And the war involves Demons. Kvothe suggested (in WMF) that if anyone knew the true nature of the war, they'd want nothing to do with it.

What can we glean about the war from the little we know?

It could be a war with the Fae... Possibly. Many people confuse demons with the Fae, both of them powerful, both of them malicious (At least most of the Fae have I'll intent.)

From what I have gathered, the war seems to be soley a human war. If not soley then the "supernatural" element of it is unknown to those fighting.

I may be wrong though. @Sanjiv you say there are demons? Where is this stated?

Of course demons exist, as Kvothe and Bast both believe. They prepared for the Scrael, after all, and then prepared for mind-snatchers by fashioning wreathes for their heads. But you're asking a different question: why do I think demons are involved as combatants in the war? Good point. I just assumed that the demons and the war were connected (though I get no impression that normal soldiers knew of such things). Perhaps the opponents are releasing demons behind enemy lines as a war tactic?

What do we know about the front lines of the war, and where the scrael are coming from? Are they from the same direction, or a different direction? What do we know about the start of the war, and start of fae creatures passing over into our world more permanently? Was it all roughly around the same time? Kvothe suggests that the real truth of the war is something common folk shouldn't know, and the main other secret he keeps from them is the existence of demons. Is there a common reason why he keeps these secrets?

Basically, I don't know. I made this thread to outsource these questions.

Aha that makes quite good sense. One of the beauties of Rothfuss's work is that with so many not-completely-revealed details everyone can get a different impression of the events in the book.

One thing I am curious about is the reason for the King being Pentinent.

I may just be ignorant and "Penitent king" may be a commonly used title/phrase but I have not encountered it before. Penitent means remorseful (among other things just keeping this short) so originally I thought that he was a temporary thing. Like a regent but different.
Then I heard the Penitent suffix used in another title in NotW and i have no idea how to assimilate them. Pertaining to the war maybe?

I don't remember anything about a "penitent king," but if he was only mentioned in the present day and not as part of Kvothe's past stories, then we should add that to our list of coincidences that surround the war. As you suggest, the reason he's 'penitent' might in fact be the war.

However, since we assume that lay people don't know about the monsters, and I assume the king's "penitent" title is not secret, then that suggests the two are unrelated. I'm inclined to believe that the Maer is the penitent king, and he's penitent because his snobby wife left him.

'Penitent King' does sound like a good title/phrase though, doesn't it? Even if it's not common in our world, it might be in Rothfuss's. It reminds me of a secular leader who believes in a religious concept like original sin, or the idea that war and stern-rule is a necessary evil.

An easy way to find who the Penitent King is. In NotW the word is only used twice. Once on page 16 and this confirms that the title is not secret as Cob and his friends were discussing the war and the Penitent King was having trouble with the rebels at Resavek. If anyone has a map handy and could find which country/kingdom/empire Resavek is located that would tell us who he is king of. They wouldn't be rebels if they were from another country (or whatever).

The second use is penitent priest but there are no capitals indicating that it is a title rather than an adjective.

In WMF the smiths boy says "once we get the rebels to swear fealty to the penitent king...."
This could mean that Resavek is outside of the boundaries of the kings land but they would still be close to the border. Just a warning so if anyone does find it be aware.

So both references to penitent were in the present, and not the past?

The only kings I remember were the King of Vint(?) and the Maer, who could have been the King of Vint. It's unlikely that a war between them would last very long (given their proximity and the Maer's relative lack of power), so that's clearly not what the current war is about. But I don't know if these two, separate provinces have become one by the time Kvothe is telling his story. Maybe that battle has already taken place, and the new king has been dubbed 'Penitent' as way of emphasizing his humility, and good character that'd enable him to be a good leader.

Off topic, but I think Cinder was actively trying to either topple the Maer, or aggravate him enough to act out against the existing power structure. A secular ruler making an alliance with Cinder seems very much like making an alliance with the devil, and that has consequences. Perhaps the Penitent King truly has something to be sorry about, and his deal with the Chandrian are part of why demons have returned to the world in force.

I think sufficient clues are there for most of what we need to know. Check this thread: http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/7...

It could be something like the creation war.
Realms of men and fae are together again. The Scrael are referred to as demons and Bast says "There are no demons. There are only my kind".
As these realms were separated by shapers just before Creation War, their being together means something momentous has happened.
Kote says that real reason behind the war is not something common people should know.

I'm in agreement that Fae = Demon in laymen terms.

I like the idea that one of the Chandrian is a king. I've always had the impression that Cinder was a fae all along - you know because of the eyes.

So that would be pretty legit if Kvothe killed him and that sort of led to a huge war...with the fae LOL. I could go with that.


I'm definately for the skin-dancer thing being another fae creature - didnt Bast say they had something like that in the Mael? Not exactly the same, but close enough. Probably something that escaped from beyond the doors of stone .... ha ha...chuckle chuckle...

I'm pretty sure also that Tehlu was a legit dude in the world. Didnt he become one of the Ruach? Which I could see being percieved as gods...on another note, doesnt Tehlu hella remind you of Jesus?

I notice that the world has some pretty biblical undertones.