- Hey, brother!
Okay guys, week four of Name of the Windsday,
and so far we've already tackled some pretty meaty theories,
but we needed to first
before we could stretch ourselves to today.
So if you haven't already checked out
the first three videos in our "Name of the Wind" playlist
I highly recommend you do so by clicking right up here.
But otherwise, here we go.
Now, there are more than plenty of massive questions
that remain at the end of the second book
of this three-part series.
Like who even is the king that apparently Kvothe might kill?
What war is going on during the Interludes?
What are the Scrael are why are they attacking?
Also, who is Bast and what are his motives?
And it just keeps going on and on and on.
Like there's so much to wrap up in this third book.
Maybe that's why it's taking so long. Huh.
But the one that we shall try and tackle today
I believe we can tackle today
because we have already answered
two of the other unanswerable questions.
Unanswerable. How'd you answer them?
Mostly whiteboards and coffee.
No, but seriously, those questions were
what is Kvothe's last name and who is Denna's patron?
In our previous videos, we have outlined the reasons
why we believe that Kvothe is almost certainly a Lackless
by his mom's side of the family.
And Denna's patron is none other
than Chandrian top man number two, Cinder.
And those bits of information I believe
help us answer today's question.
What happened to Kvothe's powers?
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Hey, brother!
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Okay, so we all know that the story is hopping
back and forth between Kvothe's retelling his entire story
and the Interludes that are happening in Newarre,
where he is the innkeeper named Kote.
If you've read the story then you absolutely know
that names are important things.
And the fact that Kvothe has changed his is significant.
If not, you know, fairly on the nose,
how is nobody in this town picking up on the fact
that there is a red haired man named Kote in front of them
while they're telling stories
about a red haired man named Kvothe
in front of a red haired man named Kote.
I already said that part.
Heck, he outright tells one of the boys in the town
who he is and the boy literally laughs in his face.
"Aaron burst into a sudden laugh.
"'I'm just having some fun with you, Mr. Kote.
"'Lord and lady, but I ain't never heard a liar
"'like you before my whole life.'"
Think he got a little extra twangy Southern
by the end of that.
But most assuredly, this is no laughing matter
as we know from when Kvothe asks Elodin
at the end of "Wise Man's Fear"
why someone might keep changing their name.
"'What would you think of someone
"'who kept changing their own name?"
"'What? What have you done?'
"'Nothing. It's not me.
"'It's a girl I know.'
"'Fela? Oh, no.
"'No. She wouldn't do something like that.
"'She's too smart for that.'"
Now to be fair, Elodin does calm down
when Kvothe assures him that it's just calling names,
not true names.
But his reaction suggests that the changing
of your true name could be disastrous.
And disastrous is the right word,
especially when you consider
what Kvothe ultimately changes his name to: Kote.
The meaning for this particular word
is not exactly right on the nose,
but if you look carefully,
we are told exactly what it means.
It takes place shortly after the fire in the Fishery
and Kvothe and Kilvin are talking to each other
and exchanging story-worthy tales
of how they handled their parts of the problem.
"I am. Do you know the saying, 'Chan Vaen edan Kote'?
"'Seven years, I don't know Kote.'
"'Expect disaster every seven years.
"'It's an old saying, and true enough.'"
J says that I'm reading these quotes
at like the same speed that I listen to the book,
which is that like the two times speed.
So I dunno, is it weird that it's fast?
But do you get it? No?
Riley, could you play the clip again?
"Expect disaster every seven years.
"It's an old saying, and true enough."
Do you get it now?
Kote means disaster, which is sad
and tells us a lot about how Kvothe views himself.
That said though, good old Bast or bad old Bast,
I'm really not sure.
Bast is desperately attempting to get Kote to realize
that he is still Kvothe.
To take up the mantle once again and do something.
Frankly, we have no idea what Bast's motivations are.
Nonetheless though,
he does seem to be getting moderately successful results
in getting Kote to realize he is still Kvothe.
At the end of "The Name of the Wind,"
the skin dancer or demon, or whatever it is,
attacks and Kote tries to catch it on fire using sympathy.
"Kvothe dipped a finger into the liquor
"that spattered the bar.
"He muttered something under his breath,
"his forehead furrowed in concentration.
"He stared intently at the bloody man
"standing on the other side of the bar.
"Nothing happened."
Then towards the end of "Wise Man's Fear,"
when the Waystone Inn is being robbed by the two men,
he tries to use that special form of Break Lion
that he was taught by Celean.
But again, he fails.
These two instances suggest that it's not simply
a matter of will involved.
It's not that he's unwilling to attempt to do something.
It's that he actually can't do it.
The reason for which is because he changed his name
in the way that Elodin warned against.
So he, Kote, knows the story of Kvothe.
He lived as Kvothe.
He has Kvothe's memories.
But he is not Kvothe.
Not to worry, though.
Kvothe is still around, just locked away.
But more on that later.
So far into this theory though,
we're not even touching the meat of the bone,
like analogy wise.
It's more like the napkin or possibly the plate?
You know what they say about finding the right analogy.
It's as hard as...
Raise your hand if you've got that reference.
Let us know.
Okay, but so getting to the meat of it.
Kvothe lost his powers because he made a promise to Denna
and broke it.
Actually, you know what? That was kind of it.
Now to the bone!
The promise in question is in regard to Denna's patron,
which is a huge point of contention between these two.
Kvothe is deeply skeptical of the unusual practices
of this patron,
while Denna, on the other hand, is so proud of herself
for securing such a patron.
But a huge part of her being able to maintain that patron
is not telling anyone who he is.
Kvothe is the only exception.
And even for him, they make up a name to use
when talking about him, Master Ash.
This secrecy is so important to Denna though
that she makes Kvothe swear
to not try to uncover his true identity.
And Kvothe being Kvothe and trying to impress her
I think maybe it goes a little bit too far
in how much he swears on.
"'Promise me you won't try to find anything about him.
"'It could ruin everything.
"'You're the only one I've told in the whole wide world,
"'but he'd be furious if he knew
"'I'd mentioned him to anyone.
"'What would you swear it on?
"'What's important enough that it will hold you
"'to your word?'
"'I swear I won't attempt to uncover your patron.
"'I swear on my name and my power.
"'I swear it by my good left hand.
"'I swear it by the ever-changing moon.'"
See what I mean? It was too much.
It's a big swear.
Also, what control do you have over the moon, Kvothe?
On the whole, I do still think that Kvothe
is pretty suspicious of who this guy is and what he's up to,
but I also do think he genuinely means it
when he makes this vow.
He will not attempt to uncover her patron's true identity.
The problem with this particular promise though
lies in Kvothe's number one mission: Finding the Chandrian,
and specifically amongst the Chandrian, Cinder.
And if you recall who we believe to be Denna's patron,
it's Cinder.
Do you kind of see the problem here?
Like Kvothe means it when he makes this promise.
He swears it on his name and his power,
which if you can guess where we're going with this
means that at some point Kvothe is gonna find Cinder.
And if I know anything about Denna and Kvothe's relationship
she's probably gonna walk in right as it happens.
Classic Sir Savien and Aloine, am I right?
I am, but that's a topic for a different day.
My point is Kvothe is just unlucky, a man without luck.
What would we call that? Luckless!
Oh right, Lackless. The last name we believe him to have.
But do you know who is also described
as not having any luck whatsoever?
Jax, the guy who literally captures
the name of the moon in a box.
Oh, the thoughts we have about Jax, but moving on.
Kvothe's name is in a box, and not just any box,
a box that he could only open with the powers of Kvothe.
It's like locking your keys inside of your car.
Now that was a good analogy. Get it?
Because you can't get inside without the keys,
but the keys are inside.
It's a conundrum.
But this idea of keeping a name inside of a box
comes up more often than you might think.
Again, going back to the story about Jax,
who literally it takes the power of the moon
by trapping it inside of a box.
It's actually this moment right here.
But Jax only gets part of the name.
Other parts can still slip out.
But the same idea also comes up when Kvothe is making up
the story about Chronicler.
"The high king's name is written in a book of glass,
"hidden in a box of copper.
"And that box is locked away in a great iron chest
"where nobody can touch it."
But don't worry. It gets better.
We even know the box.
As you may recall, during one of the Interludes
Bast wants a lesson, but not a book lesson, Reshi.
Book lessons are boring.
It's a bold statement to put in a book
that's 150 chapters long, but whatever.
I know it's 152, okay?
But the point is he doesn't get a book lesson.
No, instead Kvothe challenges him to get inside
of his thrice-locked chest.
And Bast offers up a whole bunch of different solutions,
and Kvothe explains why each of those solutions
wouldn't work because of the built-in defenses of the chest.
First of all, it is made out of rowan wood,
which makes it extremely heavy and extremely hard to burn
unless you could literally put it in a forge fire,
which you probably couldn't do
because of the aforementioned weight.
Plus, even if you did, you would risk destroying
the contents inside.
Which by the by is the exact same reason
why Meluan Lackless doesn't want to destroy
the physical box from her family.
Say it with me, Bernie.
- Coincidence? I think not!
- Anyway, finally Bast goes for his last resort,
wood's worst enemy, besides fire, hatchets.
"'This is where I would go next, Reshi.
"'If I were genuinely interested in getting inside.
"'But if you'd rather I not...'
"'Don't look at me, Bast.
"'I'm dead. Do as you will.'
"Bast grinned and brought the hatchet down
"on the rounded peak of the chest.
"There was a strange, soft, ringing noise,
"like a padded bell being struck in a distant room."
Two points here.
One, the hatchet didn't do anything.
And two, here's the thing about this particular lesson.
I don't think that he's just testing Bast.
I think Kvothe is literally trying to figure out
if Bast can find a way inside the chest
because he also wants in.
In fact, we absolutely know this to be a fact
because later in the story we literally see him
try and fail to get inside
while he has even more resources at his disposal.
He literally made the chest himself
and has the keys to the chest.
Like if you can't get into a chest that you made
with keys that you have,
what do?
We also see him go so far as to try
the Taborlin the Great method, just commanding it to open.
"After replacing the keys in their box,
"he put his hands back on the sides of the lid
"in the same position as before.
"'Open,' he said under his breath.
"'Open, damn you. Edro.'
"He lifted his back and shoulders
"tensing with the effort of it.
"The lid of the chest did not budge.
"Kvothe gave a long sigh and leaned forward
"until his forehead pressed against the cool dark wood."
Seems a little bit ridiculous,
but he did actually successfully use this trick
at the bandits camp on the lockbox they had.
Although, again, it's not that surprising
that it didn't work this time
because the power that he needs for it to work
is inside the box.
But don't worry. It gets better still.
First, let's go back just ever so briefly
to the hatchets that Bast tried to use to damage the wood
or otherwise just mar his way inside.
What did it say?
"There's a strange, soft, ringing noise,
"like a padded bell being struck in a distant room."
Boy howdy if that doesn't sound an awful lot
like what Kvothe's arrow catch invention does
when Kilvin tries to shoot it with a crossbow.
"There was a harsh, metallic clank,
"and the bolt stopped midair
"as if it struck an invisible wall.
"This time Kilvin spotted the source of the noise.
"Hanging from the ceiling in the far corner of the room
"was a metal object the size of a large lantern.
"It was rocking back and forth and spinning slightly,
"as if someone had just struck it with a glancing blow."
It's a really cool invention
and Kilvin is very impressed with it.
"'And we'll do you call it?'
"That was one part of my invention
"I hadn't managed to finish.
"I'd thought of a hundred names,
"but none of them seem to fit."
Kvothe, who we believe to have a literal knack for naming,
can't think of a name for his own invention?
"'Delevari had it easy, Master Kilvin.
"'He just made a better axle and stuck his name on it.
"'I can't very well call this the Kvothe.'"
And to be fair, you, Kvothe, probably can't,
but master namer himself, Elodin, basically does.
If you'll recall, Kvothe shows Kilvin the arrow catch
just before he heads off to chase the wind
for like 100 chapters.
During that time, it is believed
that he actually died at sea.
And in order for the Fishery to sell the device,
it needed a name, so they brought in Elodin.
Here's Kvothe discovering what they called it.
"I turned it over in my hands
"and saw a word grooved into the metal.
"The blocky letters went deep into the iron,
"so I knew they were part of the mold.
"They read, 'Bloodless.'"
Bloodless, as in Kvothe the Bloodless.
This is the first name that Kvothe got
on his journey to becoming a legend.
And it kind of weirdly works in two different ways.
On the one hand, it represents his kind of low birth
as being a member of the Edema Ruh,
but also his inability to bleed when whipped.
Okay, so I feel like I haven't properly explained
why this is super cool yet.
Bast tries and fail to strike the box with his hatchet,
but instead of actually being able to strike it,
there's a soft ringing noise in a distant room.
Meaning that in addition to the other defenses
that Kvothe put into this particular chest,
the weight of the thing, the wood,
the copper lock, the iron lock,
it's very likely that in addition to all that,
it's also a bloodless.
Meaning that the box contains the name of Kvothe
and is a bloodless.
It is literally Kvothe the Bloodless.
A bloodless that I expect is a much more advanced version
of the one that he made for Kilvin,
which could only take eight blows.
You need an endless supply of energy
for something like that, though.
But if we go back to the very first question
Kilvin ever ask Kvothe,
"How would you make an ever-burning lamp?"
Sounds to me like he figured it out.
In summary, it goes like this.
Kvothe promises Denna that he won't try to find out
the true identity of her patron,
but it just so happens to turn out
that her patron is somebody that Kvothe is already chasing.
So when he accidentally ends up breaking that promise,
he creates a chest with the power of his name
and puts his name inside of that chest.
And now, it can only be opened with that power
that resides in the chest. Poof.
Guys, for my question of the day,
this wraps up the four weeks of Name of the Windsday
that we had originally set out to do.
How have you felt about them?
Do you want more "Name of the Wind" theories?
Let us know in the towel section down below.
Also, don't forget that next week
is Super Carlin Brothers Spirit Week starting next Monday.
Each day of the week has a different specific theme
related to the fandoms that we discuss here on the channel.
We highly recommend that you go
and find a way to show your fandom
and use the #SCBSpiritWeek.
We have PokeMonday, Harry Potter Tuesday,
Marvelous Wednesday, Disney Pixar Thursday, Formal Friday.
That's where you just dress up in really fancy stuff.
Star Wars Saturday, and SCB Sunday.
Get creative with it however you see fit.
Wear a costume or dress up as a certain character
or show off a cool collection you have.
J and I will be reposting as many of your photos
as we possibly can over on Instagram.
So if you wanna go and follow us over there,
you can do so at the spots.
And finally, we will close out the work week on Friday,
May 21st with a trivia stream right here
on the Super Carlin Brothers channel.
Otherwise guys, as always thank you so much for watching.
Be sure to like this video and subscribe to the channel
if you haven't already.
If you'd like to see the rest
of our "Name of the Wind" playlist,
you can do so by clicking right over here.
Otherwise, until next week, bye.