The Name of the Wind

Still on display, Kvothe straightens. The audience is silent. Unsure of the response, Kvothe waits. Then, there is applause: “A roar like leaping flame, like thunder after lightning” (371).

As Stanchion gathers crowd opinions, Kvothe realizes someone has sabotaged his lute, but he can’t figure out how, as it has been with him the whole time. Soon, though, his mind is on other things; on stage, Stanchion presents Kvothe with the coveted silver pipes: “I turned and held my pipes aloft for everyone to see. The Eolian roared again. This time it roared a welcome” (373).

Kvothe celebrates with Stanchion and his school friends and meets Count Threpe, a patron who gives Kvothe money—seven talents—“for the sake of the music” (376), with the amount based upon number of the years Savien spent with the Amyr. The others praise him, and he receives more money throughout the evening.

Eventually, Kvothe thinks to look for Ambrose, but his friends say Ambrose left before Kvothe finished playing. They tell him that Ambrose, shivering and shaking, looked bad. Kvothe deduces that Ambrose used sympathy to break his string.

Kvothe wants to look for his Aloine and goes to the upper levels to search for her. He’s afraid he missed her, but as he heads down the stairs he hears “a voice like burning silver, like a kiss against [his] ears” (381) and there she is.

Kote’s story trails off because he is not sure how to describe the woman in a way that justifies her importance to the story. Bast fidgets, reminding his master that he has met her. He describes her as having perfect ears, which makes Chronicler laugh. As Kote begins to talk about her uniqueness, Bast reminds him that she had a crooked nose and was not a perfect beauty. The innkeeper admonishes, “We are more than the parts that form us” (383).

Kote begins to describe her, detailing her looks and her charisma, but he stops again: “How can I make any sense of her for you when I have never understood the least part of her myself?” (384). Chronicler has written even this down, but Kote tells him to cross it out. When Chronicler is slow to do so, Kote takes the sheet and starts to rip it apart. He gets a new sheet and tells the scribe to copy up a certain point. Then he starts to describe Denna again.

Denna turns out to be Kvothe’s Aloine. He thinks she is lovelier even than when he met her before. She rushes to him but stops at the last moment and smiles instead. Too stunned to speak, Kvothe retreats to formal and traditional greetings. He quotes a play about ships passing in the night, and she finishes it. He is so grateful that he offers her his silver pipes, knowing that if he does so, he will have to earn them again. She responds, “I think you might be a wonderful person” (389). However, she says she would rather have him owe her a debt.

Denna tells Kvothe she could not believe he waited for a stranger to join his song. She is there with Kvothe’s friend Sovoy, and the three have a conversation in which Sovoy takes credit for bringing Denna to the Eolian that night. When Kvothe asks Denna’s name, she hesitates because she knows Sovoy and Kvothe are students at the University and giving him that information will give him power over her. He tells her he is Kvothe, and she replies that her name is Dianne.

Kvothe and his friends get drunk, then walk back to the University. It is quiet and the night is “like warm velvet around them” (395), beautiful and wild. The boys do not notice the night, and their youth and drunkenness help them ignore both the future and their mortality: “They also know they are friends, and they share a certain love that will never leave them” (395).

Admissions takes place the next day, and Kvothe attends with a hangover. The lottery for exam slots goes well for him; his will take place five days later. He decides to sell his slot, and Ambrose, who wants a better slot, bargains insultingly with him, but Kvothe sells the slot to someone else. At Admissions, his tuition is set at six talents.

Kvothe returns to the Eolian to get his lute, which he left behind for safekeeping since he was drunk. Count Threpe is there and promises to help Kvothe find a patron. Kvothe also asks him for help looking for Denna. Threpe brings the other Eolian owner, Deoch, into the conversation. Deoch says he sees her off and on, as she travels quite a bit: “Careful boy, that one will steal your heart” (403).

At Devi’s, Kvothe pays off his interest. While doing so, he notices that Devi has an impressive collection of books that will help him in his studies. She offers to allow some reading in return for music and says she may even let him borrow one.

Next, he goes to Kilvin to pay for the materials he used for his studies. Kvothe says he’d still like to work in the shop, even though he can play music professionally. Kilvin approves: “Music is a fine thing, but metal lasts” (407). Kvothe is not sure he agrees. Finally, Kvothe goes to a local inn called the Horse and Four, where he will receive room and board as well as payment in return for playing music.

Ambrose keeps trying to make Kvothe’s life difficult, so Count Threpe and Kvothe compose a song about him called “Jackass, Jackass” that is catchy and vulgar. The song spreads throughout the University community very quickly.

Kvothe goes to the Archives to buy his book back from Master Lorren and asks how he can attain readmission to the Archives. He says he’s willing to do a lot for the privilege. Lorren requires just one thing: “Demonstrate the patience and prudence which you have heretofore been lacking” (412).

The next morning, Kvothe finds he received a charge of Conduct Unbecoming a Member of the Arcanum. This is again the work of Ambrose, who complained about the song. Kvothe defends himself at the Masters’ Hall, saying he only played the song once and didn’t expect it to get around. The masters replace the charge with a lesser one, Undignified Mischief, and require him to write a public apology.

Ambrose has put other revenge plans into action. Suddenly, the Horse and Four turns Kvothe out, and he can’t find a comparable place anywhere—until he comes to Anker’s. Anker himself tells Kvothe that someone has been by telling him how troublesome a “young red-haired fellow” (415) would be. Fortunately, Anker isn’t intimidated and offers Kvothe a small room in return for music. Kvothe starts to realize how much power Ambrose can wield against him when he learns that another student bought the Horse and Four just to turn him out.

His letter of apology is sincere yet venomous, a work of art in Kvothe’s eyes because, in apologizing for every word, he manages to repeat all the insults. He, Wil, and Sim use a chemical adhesive to place the flyer on every flat surface they can find.

Kvothe decides his best chance for making a living is as an artificer. At Kilvin’s workshop, Kilvin tells an assembled crowd that they’ll have bone-tar for making sympathy lamp emitters, but it’s dangerous and can cause, as Manet says, a “cascading huge Goddamn fire” (420). Kilvin tells them to avoid heat in the vicinity of the barrel.

At Anker’s that night, Kvothe is playing when he sees Denna, so he arranges to take the rest of the evening off. He asks where Sovoy is, and Denna asks if Sovoy has staked a claim on her. Kvothe says there is honor among thieves. She replies, “Steal me” (423). They talk about what flowers they would each be; Denna likes daisies and thinks Kvothe would be a willow blossom that is deep-rooted and hidden, but “moves to the wind’s desire” (426).

They walk for hours to the Oaken Oar, where Denna is staying. He considers kissing her but thinks of the tension building between them and doesn’t want to offend her: “Like all boys of my age, I was an idiot when it came to women” (426).

Late to meet Wil and Sim at their usual lunch spot, Kvothe makes his excuses. They ask where he was last night, and he admits that he met the girl he’s been interested in, explaining that she found him. He also tells them what happened the previous night—that he walked her home for six hours but was scared to do anything. Wil is incredulous: “The mighty Kvothe, brought low by a woman” (430).

Sim tells Kvothe to go because if he knew a woman like that, he wouldn’t be eating with them. Kvothe, after trying to change the subject to his sympathy lamp artificing project, thinks it’s not that easy. Sim believes Kvothe should let Denna know he likes her. Kvothe says that now that he knows where she’s staying, “I can find her when I go looking” (431).

Denna has left town, and even though Kvothe keeps looking, he can’t locate her. Later, Kilvin looks over Kvothe’s sympathy lamp but doesn’t like the changes Kvothe has made to make his project more unique, remarking that burglars use this kind of lamp. He knows Kvothe was trying to demonstrate his cleverness and says he has no use for false modesty. In response, Kvothe says, “I am better. I learn faster. I work harder. My hands are more nimble. My mind is more curious” (434).

Kilvin agrees and tells Kvothe that the lamp is excellent work. However, artificing is more than skill; it also involves judgment. He can’t sell the lamp because it might get to the wrong people and give arcanists a bad name. Instead, he will melt it to protect the University’s reputation.

In telling Manet about the results of his meeting with Kilvin, Kvothe pumps the older man about access to the Archives. Manet tells him to be patient and give Lorren time to cool off. Kvothe knows that Manet’s advice is good, but he can’t afford patience—his time at the University might end soon. Kvothe asks Kilvin if he can buy back his lamp, and Kilvin gives it to him under the condition that he does not sell it.

Wil and Sim accompany Kvothe back to the Eolian one night, where Sim notices Deoch with a beautiful woman. It is Denna. Kvothe introduces her to his friends and offers her a drink, but Kvothe’s friends encourage her to take him away. Denna tells Kvothe she likes his friends: “Wilem is a stone in deep water. Simmon is like a boy splashing in a brook” (441). She wants to go for a drink out of doors.

Kvothe and Denna get some food and go to a public garden to talk. Denna asks what he is thinking. He tells her one of the masters says there were seven words that would make a woman love you: “I was just wondering what they were” (442). She says, “You spoke them to me when we first met. You said, I was just wondering why you’re here” (442). He had not thought she remembered the meeting in Roent’s caravan. He asks why she changed her name from Denna, and she remarks that she had almost forgotten Denna, “a silly girl” (443). They arrange to meet at noon the following day at the Eolian. He muses that she called him a liar after his first words to her. She responds, “How well I knew you, even then” (443).

Back at the Eolian’s door, Deoch tells Kvothe that his friends are gone. He wants to warn Kvothe and calls Denna “a waterfall of spark pouring off a sharp iron edge that God is holding to the grindstone” (444).