Hey friends, long time no write about the Name of the Wind, Kingkiller, etc. I’ve intended to do a Name of the Wind analysis reread (not to mention the other books) for some time now. — 

You should assume spoilers henceforth! Forthwith! This post shall take a fortnight of hours to read!

Table of Contents

• You should assume spoilers henceforth! Forthwith! This post shall take a fortnight of hours to read! 
• Note about me:
• Name of the Wind Analysis — Ch 15:
• Navigate to other chapters:

Note about me:

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Name of the Wind Analysis — Ch 15:

Turn your hymnal to the appropriate page and chapter. “The town was called Hallowfell.”

As in the sacred fall. 

Also as in Allhallowmas as in  Allhalloweven as in Halloween. 

“Ben got the offer he couldn’t refuse.”

This is unmistakably a cultural referent to The Godfather. For starters, Ben is literally a Godfather of Kvothe if his mom’s story is even remotely true or if Haliax is the ultimate sire of his father’s line. 

It’s also a reference to the meaning of the line: if you refuse, you die. 

If he refused to join up with this woman, he would have died. 

Or… perhaps he’s connected to the killing itself? 

Maybe I’m wrong. 

Then again… too much weirdness is, as I’ve said, adding up around Ben. That coupled with Rothfuss’s almost obsessive Nabokovian need to satirize the hero’s journey. 

The other thing with Abenthy is the real name’s meaning. 

I’ve talked about A.B.C. and Alpha and Beta. 

What I haven’t done is break down his literal name. 

• A. 
• Ben.
• Thy. 
• A (as in the indirect article)
• Ben (as in בֵּן, the Hebrew word for Son)
• Thy (as in θεος, the Greek word for God)

So he’s “one like A Son of God” — or perhaps just is. 

In this case, the Old Ben Kenobi of the story is — if I’m a betting man — a better candidate for betrayal in the long run than Arliden or any of his friends. 

I think Ben’s around, closer than we think, and we know he meets him later. 

My money is still that Ben’s Haliax and therefore Lanre. 

Anyways, at a place called, basically, Halloween (back to the bonfire stuff), Ben gets made “an offer he can’t refuse.”

“I don’t think anyone could have built a better snare for Ben if they had tried.”

Maybe they did?

And maybe it wasn’t a snare?

“It is a deep red flower that grows on a strong vine. Its leaves are dark and delicate. They grow best in shadowy places, but the flower itself finds stray sunbeams to bloom in.” I looked at her. “That suits you. There is much of you that is both shadow and light. It grows in deep forests, and is rare because only skilled folk can tend one without harming it. It has a wondrous smell and is much sought and seldom found.” I paused and made a point of examining her. “Yes, since I am forced to pick, I would choose selas.”

I do wonder about the Modern royal lineage. Particularly for Laniel Young-Again.

Particularly because it’s one of four nations touching The Eld. 

Is Illien Lanre? 

While we’re here, since I didn’t link to it in Ch 11, I’m going to put this here:

CHAINSAW’S THEORY: The Lackless rhymes explain every secret in the KKC.
byu/chainsawx72 inKingkillerChronicle

“Even the fire seemed subdued” 

Was it? 

As for the song — it’s interesting that he does it for Ben. 

“Sit and listen all, for I will sing 

“Sit and listen all, for I will sing 
A story, wrought and forgotten in a time 
Old and gone. A story of a man. 
Proud Lanre, strong as the spring 
Steel of the sword he had at ready hand. 
Hear how he fought, fell, and rose again, 
To fall again. Under shadow falling then. 
Love felled him, love for native land, 
And love of his wife Lyra, at whose calling 
Some say he rose, through doors of death 
To speak her name as his first reborn breath.”

Again, this sounds to me like a mythopoetic origin story of the sunrise and sunset. It’s interesting in line two that the story is “wrought.” 

Lanre, strong as the spring steel in his hand. What’s stronger than the iron rod in your hand? 

Fought, fell, rose, fell to shadow. 

Felling, Reaving, Cendling, Mourning. 

And he fell under shadow. Perhaps the shadow’s hame? 

Love felled him. How? Love for native land and love of his wife Lyra — this sounds like a split decision here. Either the fae or the moon. At her calling — she named him to rise through the doors of death, but he named her as soon as he was awakened. 

Did naming the moon, break the moon, and make it impossible for him to love the woman for whom he was fallen first? 

Did that shattering of her made it impossible for him to be properly so called again, and turn him into the Draugar? 

His mother danced with his father and shows their love. 

But then Ben dances with his mom. “They complimented each other by contrast.” Again this “bright, pale, smooth-skinned” moon fae descriptions, but this time of his mom. 

I ached knowing I might never see them together again. 

After their dance, dawn. 

“It would be a great long time before I saw him again. Years.”

“Defend yourself well” — I do wonder, since this is logic and rhetoric, if this is the word “apologetic.” Be wary of Fally. Folly. Foilie. 

I don’t know what to make of this note outside of the surface.  Part of me wants to unscramble every single word. I still think that book and that note hold far, far more than so much in the whole series.

Navigate to other chapters:

I’ll put this at the end of each chapter so we can actually navigate the text. Because this is getting unwieldy — we’re going to eventually have dozens of links — I’m going to just link to the category from here on out: