Rothfussians discussion

It has been forced down our throat that Kvothe has an alar as hard as ramston steel. Ramston is known to be brittle.

The Cthaeh’s tree’s flower is known as a panacea. When Kvothe hears this, he looks down at his hands and says - “Ah... I see. I can understand how that might draw a person in, though they knew better.”

Since Kvothe cannot use sympathy, or his silver tongue, and it seems the skills he learned from the Adem. OR! even know how to unlock his thrice locked chest.

Could his alar be the thing he wants to fix? Is that why he left to his Inn, and changed his name... waiting to die?

He broke his alar and cannot be the little Taborlin the Great, he is in his story?

I think the thing he wanted to fix was his clever left hand. There is more than enough foreshadowing and references to his fear of injuring it.

My guess is that he maims it beyond repair in the fight with cinder. I'd further speculate that caesura breaks and he cuts his hand to the bone by picking up the broken off end caesura's blade and using it naked in his left hand.

There was a thread about this in years past, but I think that Kvothe lost the use of his left hand in his promise to Denna. In the WMF, he swears by the moon, his power and his good left hand that he won't say or do anything about the Song Master ash taught/had denna write...I think that swear had more implications than Kvothe thought it did, and when the oath was broken he lost everything.

I suspect the reason Kvothe's alar is broken is because something caused him to change his true name- remember when he went to discuss "someone who changed their name all the time" with Elodin, who panicked? I think either he voluntarily changes his name to something less, maybe in a deal, or it could be because of a promise he's broken.

Also, @Mark & @Gaard, those are great theories!

@Moirhaa I was gonna say the exact same thing. Patrick Rothfuss seems to love foreshadowing.

I doubt he would have added that scene where Elodin freaks out in WMF at Kvothe's poorly chosen words regarding Denna constantly changing her name for no reason. Kvothe said he chose the name Kote intentionally in the beginning of NOTW. The story of Lanre told by Scarpi includes mention of how in pursuit of the power to bring Lyra back to life Lanre changes his name to Haliax, and that Selitos saw deep within him a longer, darker name by which Haliax could be bound and accursed.

Add in Kvothe's issues with music (you'd think that the villagers of Newarre would take notice of Kvothe's skill as a musician in the beginning of NOTW when he sings the extra verses to Tinker Tanner), his inability to gain access to the thrice locked chest, his failure to successfully bind the bandits in WMF, and even the details regarding the radiance of his red hair as mentioned in NOTW as having lost its fiery aura.

That being said, I'd bet that Kvothe's efforts to change his name was a conscious choice, and an ongoing (if not failing) effort. There are multiple instances where Kvothe seems to bleed through into Kote. Such as when Chronicler attacks Bast at their first meeting. Kvothe's eyes seem change color, the power behind his voice is enhanced, and his Alar seems to instinctually influence the area around them when Kvothe intervenes.

Though, I have another theory that maybe there's more to the connection between the Chandrian and Kvothe than meets the eye. That perhaps in some way he is one of them or related to them or maybe even joins them (it's mentioned that Kvothe is blamed for killing an angel to gain power he never should have had). There's also the unconfirmed relation between Kvothe and Meluan Lackless (who I think is obviously his Aunt, which makes him the heir to the Lackless box that likely holds the key to the Doors of Stone that imprison the beast mentioned in Lanre).

Point being, I completely agree. Kvothe likely changed his true Name. Everything added up together makes it seem like the only logical conclusion.