The Name of the Wind

Kvothe owns three separate lutes in this tale—one from his father, which Pike destroys; a secondhand one he purchases while at the University; and the second lute’s replacement after Ambrose throws and breaks it. For Kvothe, the lute is a comfort. It is a symbol of his Edema Ruh background, a reminder of childhood, and one of the few things that can soothe his soul during troubled times. More than that, the music the lute makes connects people to him and helps him make money. With the lute in Kvothe’s hands, the power of music, which is paramount in Kvothe’s life and in the course of the narrative, is tangible.

Waystones, within Kvothe’s world, mean sanctuary, although it is not exactly clear why. Sometimes they are standing, sometimes they are not. The waystones (or greystones, a colloquial difference) appear starting at the beginning of his life in Chapter 14; the Edema Ruh troupe he travels with stops at them whenever they see them. Kvothe says, “I think they’re supposed to be good luck” (100). Greystones appear in the dreams that help him survive following the death of his parents. His relationship with Denna progresses atop a waystone; he and Denna take shelter on a waystone when searching for signs of the Chandrian in Trebon. Later in Kvothe’s life, he becomes an innkeeper at the Waystone Inn.

Tinkers, who travel while selling and repairing wares, often appear in fantasy stories, and The Name of the Wind is no exception. The idea of the tinker occurs in the first chapter, when the usual crowd at the Waystone Inn discusses how it’s good luck to be nice to a tinker because one saved the great Taborlin: “A tinker pays for kindness twice” (4), Graham says, but Kvothe corrects him. The song “Tinker Tanner” is repeatedly played within the text, and at the end, Kvothe meets one and sells him a horse for a loden-stone. These characters tend to be nomads and travelers, like the Edema Ruh, and thus have something in common with Kvothe.

Several wheels appear throughout the book, and they are usually significant. When Kvothe’s parents die, the boy puts his hand on a wheel that collapses because rust destroyed its iron bands. Chronicler wears an iron wheel around his neck to stave off “demons.” Skarpi’s story about the god Tehlu searching out demons ends when he binds Encanis to an iron wheel, which is then set on fire. When Kvothe kills the draccus, he does so by collapsing a giant iron wheel onto the beast from above, and later surfaces atop it, unconscious. The rusted iron is important as a sign of the Chandrian. Wheels traditionally represent cycles of repetition and the lack of an ending—the circle of life, for example. They are simple machines that allow movement, control, and progress. 

For Kvothe, demons are both human and supernatural, and he has encountered them in various forms since his childhood. However, demons do not seem to truly exist within the world of Temerant. Instead, the word is a convenient shorthand for beings, often evil, that are difficult to understand. Ignorant societies would consider Bast a demon. Kvothe clearly considers certain terrible humans demonic, yet all the creatures called “demons” have other names, such as skin-dancers, which the society within the narrative does not fully understand. Demons, however, exist both within Kvothe’s personal story and the framing story.

Throughout Kvothe’s entire coming-of-age narrative, he struggles with issues of finances. As a child in Tarbean, he learned to steal and beg because he had no other way of getting money, and he suffered because of it. As he enters the University, his admission depends upon the decision of the masters because he cannot afford to attend if the price is too high. He must take a loan from a dangerous young woman, Devi, to meet his expenses. Much of the way he operates in his life comes about because of his lack of money and his need for it. He is very aware how close he is to disaster even when he can earn money. Such a mindset clearly affects his development as he becomes Kvothe, the hero: “I had very real obstacles to overcome close at hand. My poverty. My low birth” (304). 

Rothfuss’s narrative begins in silence and ends in silence. One overriding trait of Kvothe’s personality is a silence that hides multitudes. In this world, there are multiple, complex types of silence. There are silences from fear, silences of uncertainty, the silence of “things that are lacking,” and Kvothe’s own brand of silence, “wrapping the others inside itself” (1). Silence means more than simply the absence of sound: It can mean pain—it’s hard to talk about things that hurt you; it can mean confusion, love, suffering, or fear; and it can be there to prevent people from looking foolish. In The Name of the Wind, all these different meanings give silence different personalities.

When Kvothe goes to Admissions, Master Elodin asks him, “Do you know the seven words that will make a woman love you?” (234). Later, Kvothe repeats the question to Denna, to which she replies, “Is that why you talk so much? Hoping to come upon them by accident?” (442). She tells him on two occasions that he has already told them to her: “I was just wondering why you’re here” (442), and “Looks like I’m destined to be loveless” (515). This wordplay is a sign of their ambiguous relationship dynamic.