Kvothe’s Sex Life Part 2: Felurian & The Adem


Well, gang, here we go again. Last time, I talked on Kvothe’s Sex Life, I had only finished NOTW and started WMF. Having finished WMF, I got a flurry of questions about sex and literature. Spoilers below.

After a romp through the rainy tent-sheets, Kvothe comes out the other side of the enemy encampment saying I do not believe in faeries. Which, by the way, gave me chills. I yelled from the sixth floor of an Upper West Side apartment building, “IT JUS GOT SUHRIOUS!” In retrospect, it had just gotten voluptuous, but who’s keeping score?

Here’s the question too keep at the forefront of your mind:
How was Kvothe able to name Felurian?

He was a virgin. Think about it: young orphan, fledgling namer, misses his momma, girl he loves acts like a selas flower and the wind combined, he’s sixteen, horny, blah blah blah. Got it?

She was a fae, and not just any fae, but the fae who lured you in through sensuality, forced you to indulge in the lust of the flesh and exploded your heart from the inside out through… well… you get the picture. In other words, she’s like lust incarnate.

Virgin. Lust incarnate. Virgin. Lust incarnate. See the contrast? Virgins tend to stand for more than just sexually abstained whatever in novels, they tend to stand for innocence, purity and the rest. When this virgin, the hero of the story, gives himself away to lust incarnate you might normally infer what would be seen in stories like Faerie Queen by Spencer – that the dude just got seduced. But why the control?

Felurian, until that moment, killed men who had been around the bases a time or two. Every other man who came to her died in her arms through an appetite unquenched. Not Kvothe. Kvothe’s a virgin, and when he went to her, he had the chance (especially as a namer) to see her as she was, all of her, inside and out, spirit and body, before and after. He sings four lines of a song, names her, and so does what no man could: I stayed the night with Felurian and left with both my sanity and my life.

That’s power, and it may or may not say something about the spiritual side of sex. In addition, it climaxes (quite literally) in the Albedo, giving Kvothe the greatest enlightenment he could receive for his sleeping mind. He now named a Fae, and the Faeland is the easiest way to get at your sleeping mind. Thus Elodin’s jealousy of the shaed.

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  1. doberman

    I am not particularly interested in Kvothe’s sex life outside of his time with Felurian. He makes a deal with her and promises to return. He cleverly manipulates her pride. Then he ends up knowing her name. When he goes out into the world I would say that he is curious. “Unless I leave and taste the fruits mortal women have to offer, I’ll never know how skilled you truly are.”

    However skilled Felurian is…he is not in love with her. He is in love with Denna. The Cthaeh taunts him about this. Maybe they never have sex. Maybe they do. I don’t think anybody else really matters to him the way Denna does with her “perfect mouth” etc. I guess I don’t understand why anyone wants to ask who he will have sex with in the next book. He is in love with Denna at this point. Whatever happens, it is what occurs between Kvothe and Denna that will end up being significant.

    I think it a pointless exercise to rule out who he will or will not have sex with in the next book.

    1. lanceschaubert

      Yeah, me neither, but apparently the online world is. The two kvothe’s posts got nearly 200 hits yesterday alone (not to mention the other stuff), so I figured if people are asking about it, why not writes something up.

      I like your second bit. I agree with you entirely, that the relationship between the two is significant for the STORY not for the sexuality, however I would define it as “platonic” and in the strictest sense: it is a shadow of things to come, a symbol of his interaction with the wind, naming & the Chandrian.

      As for the last, my only point is to eliminate the discussion by nipping it in the bud. I, like you, really do not care and hope that we can move past it onto greater things by admitting that, as of right now, neither of the four look promising and THEREFORE must not be the main point/storyline he’s driving at.

      1. doberman

        Hi: Off topic here….
        Does most of the discussion happen here or on Facebook?

        Alos, I just watched “Winter’s Bone” not a great PR film for Southern MO! Yikes.

      2. lanceschaubert

        Well, two responses:
        1. most of the discussion happens by word of mouth, tweets or here: http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/48993-the-wise-mans-fear-iv/

        2. I actually think it’s good press for different reasons. Yeah, the plot makes it look like the ozarks are bunch of meth-addicted mass murderers, but when you consider that the guys who made it were from missouri, that the locations were all missouri and that it got nominated for an oscar (at least I think it did with that Time article back during oscar season), I think we’ll see a lot more quality films come out of the midwest. Hipsters are getting tired of seeing so much city in films, or at least so much touristy city in films.

  2. doberman

    I just thought of another point regarding Denna. Bast knows what she looked like. So, there is some Denna/Fae interaction in the next book. Also, Kvothe has promised to return to Felurian. Are these connected?

    Many speculate that Bast is Kvothe’s son. What if he’s Denna’s?

    1. lanceschaubert

      HOLY CRAP YOU’RE RIGHT! I never thought about that before… That’s a really solid observation!

      I’ve heard that Bast is some sort of Fae prince, but I’ve no clue where that came from. Thoughts?

      1. doberman

        In NOTW Bast is introduced to the Chronicler as “Bastas son of Remmen, Prince of Twilight and the Telwyth Mael” (93)
        He is 150 years old and has been with Kvothe for two. But time is different in faerie.
        Bast says he has seen Denna, Kvothe says Bast has seen her once. NOTW (382)

      2. lanceschaubert

        right. that’s the piece I’m talking about. How do you know the two years thing?

        Right, I remember that. Hmm…. interesting.

      3. doberman

        I think Kvothe mentions Bast’s age and two years as his student on page 93 or thereabouts.

  3. doberman

    I think you are correct about Kvothe’s virginity. It is also why he was allowed to leave faerie.

    1. lanceschaubert

      Thanks. It makes sense to me.

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  5. doberman

    Yes, it was nominated! I just got the wimmety wim wams watching it because of my job. It involves abused and neglected children.
    It was well made, I would like to see another film of the area that is a paean to the natural beauty in the area along with a compelling story. I’ve never been to Missouri. I had a thought that it is pretty, but this was the wrong movie for that!

    1. lanceschaubert

      what was nominated? I missed something somewhere… winter’s bone?

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  10. Chris blain

    I think your wrong auri’s to shy devi,s too broken fela is with sim but he will have denna

    1. lanceschaubert

      I’d like to think that, but then again, why would he be so emotionally train wrecked? Rothfuss seems to suvert story with story, so I’m wondering how he’s critiquing “happily ever after” ? Maybe the hero really doesn’t always get the girl…

      Thanks for stopping by, Chris.

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Well, see, your comments & sharing whisper a few things to those who come after you:

The first is that this site is a safe place to speak up & stay curious. That it's civil. That discussion is encouraged. That there's no such thing as a stupid question (being a student of Socrates, I really and truly believe this). That talking to one another and growing together is more important than anything we could possibly publish. That the point is growing in virtue and growing together and growing wise. That discovery is invention, deference is originality, that we all can rise together. The only folks I'm going to take comments down from are obvious jerks who argue in bad faith, don't stay curious, or actively make personal attacks. And, frankly, I'd rather we talk here than on some social media farm — I will never show ads and the only thing I'm selling anywhere on the site or my mailing list is just the stuff I make.

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Last, you help me revise. I'm wrong. Often. I'm not embarrassed to admit it or worried about being cancelled or publicly shamed. I make a fool out of myself (that's sort of the point). So as I get feedback, I can say, "I was wrong about that" and set a model for curious, consistent learning, and growing in wisdom. I'm blind to what I don't know and as grows the island of my knowledge so grows the shoreline of my ignorance. It's the recovery of innocence on the far end of experience: a child is in a permanent state of wonder. So are the wise: they aren't afraid of saying, "I don't know. That's new: please teach me." That's my goal, comments help. And I read all reviews: my skin's tough, but that's not license to be needlessly cruel. We teach one another our habits and there's a way to civilly demolish an idea without demolishing another person: just because I personally can take the world's meanest 1-star review doesn't mean we should teach one another how to be crueler on the internet.

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