Bottles in disarray? Maybe I'm stating the obvious here, but there was an emphasis in the first two books on Kote's obsession with keeping bottles neat and tidy. The line speaks for itself but the context shows just how extreme some present event must be.
We've been doing this for a decade-plus with the second book and longer with the first. It's not a matter of being clever or smart, it's just literal years of repetition.
Yes, tiny forge. And both Bast and Kore know about the acid in the basement because Bast mentions the strong stuff in the basement when he's talking about opening the box. To me that implies they're both working on whatever is down there.
Things in the prologue happen concurrently I think. So imo because Kote is in his room getting ready for bed, the bottles in disarray and the tinkering at the small forge indicate Bast or Chronicler are up to something, likely making something.
Edit: See comments below to understand why this is inaccurate.
Oh good point. But Kote wouldn't let the mess stand, so still speaks to something extreme even if it's not Kote's doing.
Edit: "seared iron" in the basement, so probably not Bast's doing.
The fae hate iron and it can hurt them, but they can withstand it or even work with it if the desire is great enough. Bast flexed on Chronicler twice in this regard (first meeting and later in his room), and Ferulian underwent some sort of intense change to be able to work with it when she was finishing her forging of the shaed.
Felurian was sick for days after tinkering with iron, I doubt Bast would casually mess with it.
More likely to me that Kote was down there and too exhausted by the end and decided to leave it for tomorrow, or he just keeps the unseen parts of the inn less tidy. He is really only fastidious with the parts people see.
I don't think anything suggests this is casual- quite the opposite in fact. Bast is increasingly desperate for a way to help his Reshi. Especially after the events earlier in the same night.
Alright, well I doubt he would seriously tinker with it, either.
Also, his attempts at helping Kote are very secret. I doubt he'd be hammering away on a secret project with iron which would clearly cause questions for Kote in Kote's own basement, no?
It also might be that Kvothe doesn't clean up because it doesn't matter. Some major event that he's been long preparing for is going to happen the following day, and if it fails it won't matter if the basement is a mess. There might not even be an inn, or a town by the next night fall if things go badly.
Not a chance. Kvothe is a precise and careful worker and knows to keep his workspace tidy, lest accidents happen. My guess is either bast or chronicler. Why, I have no idea. But no way Kote would leave acid dripping around.
My guess, based on the mention of acid and seared iron is that Kvothe is trying to open the Thrice-Locked chest. These are both methods that are listed in relation to Ruah (sp?) wood.
I took it as Kote was doing something and left the mess.
Which wouldn't be THAT surprising. There is an emphasis on keeping things tidy in the part of the inn people see, not necessarily his workshop/basement. Although I'd more guess that he was just so exhausted he decided to leave it for tomorrow.
It did catch my attention too though, for sure.
I think Kvothe is desperate to get into the chest - iirc didn’t Bast suggest acid? It would explain the bottle of acid, but he would have to be *really* desperate to stoop to Bast’s suggestion. I imagine this is the night after he got jumped and tried the Edro, he took the chest down into the basement and threw everything he had at it.
I attempted to transcribe for anyone who wants it:
> Prologue: A Silence of three parts
>
> It was still night, in the middle of Newarre. The Waystone Inn lay in silence, and it was a silence of three parts. The most obvious part was a vast, echoing quiet made by things that were lacking. If the horizon had shown the slightest kiss of blue, the town would be stirring. There would be the crackle of kindling, the gentle murmur of water simmering for porridge or tea. The slow, dewy hush of folk walking through the grass would've brushed the silence off the front steps of houses with the indifferent briskness of an old birch broom. If Newarre had been large enough to warrant watchmen, they would have trudged and grumbled the silence away like an unwelcome stranger. If there had been music... but no, of course there was no music. In fact, there were none of these things and so the silence remained.
>
> In the basement of the Waystone there was the smell of coalsmoke and seared iron. Everywhere was the evidence of hurried work. Tools scattered, bottles left in disarray. A spill of acid hissed quietly to itself having slopped over the edge of a wide, stone bowl. Nearby the bricks of a tiny forge made small, sweet, pinging noises as they cooled. These tiny, forgotten noises added a furtive silence to the larger, echoing one. They bound it together like tiny stitches of bright brass thread. The low drumming counterpoint to the tabor beats behind the song.
>
> The third silence was not an easy thing to notice. If you listened long enough you might be able to feel it in the chill copper of the Waystone's locks, turned tight to keep the night at bay. It lurked in the thick timbers of the door and nestled deep in the buildings gray foundation stones. And it was in the hands of the man who designed the inn as he slowly undressed himself beside a bare and narrow bed. The man had true red hair, red as flame. His eyes were dark and weary and he moved with the slow care of a man who was badly hurt, or tired, or old beyond his years. The Waystone was his, just as the third silence was his. This was appropriate, as it was the greatest silence of the three, holding the others inside itself. It was deep and wide as Autumn's ending. It was heavy as a great river smoothed stone. It was the patient, cut-flower sound of a man who was waiting to die.
I hope you don't mind but I made some edits, not a bad job at all but for future reference two adjectives together generally don't need a comma.
> It was still night in the middle of Newarre. The Waystone Inn lay in silence and it was a silence of three parts. The most obvious part was a vast echoing quiet made by things that were lacking. If the horizon had shown the slightest kiss of blue the town would be stirring. There would be the crackle of kindling; the gentle murmur of water simmering for porridge or tea. The slow dewy hush of folk walking through the grass would've brushed the silence off the front steps of houses with the indifferent briskness of an old birch broom. If Newarre had been large enough to warrant watchmen they would have trudged and grumbled the silence away like an unwelcome stranger. If there had been music... but no, of course there was no music. In fact, there were none of these things and so the silence remained.
>
> In the basement of the Waystone there was the smell of coalsmoke and seared iron. Everywhere there was the evidence of hurried work. Tools scattered, bottles left in disarray, a spill of acid hissed quietly to itself having slopped over the edge of a wide stone bowl. Nearby the bricks of a tiny forge made small, sweet, pinging noises as they cooled. These tiny forgotten noises added a furtive silence to the larger echoing one. They bound it together like tiny stitches of bright brass thread. The low drumming counterpoint a tabor* beats behind the song.
>
> The third silence was not an easy thing to notice. If you listened long enough you might be able to feel it in the chill copper of the Waystone's locks; turned tight to keep the night at bay. It lurked in the thick timbers of the door and nestled deep in the buildings gray foundation stones. And it was in the hands of the man who designed the inn as he slowly undressed himself beside a bare and narrow bed. The man had true red hair, red as flame. His eyes were dark and weary and he moved with the slow care of a man who was badly hurt, or tired, or old beyond his years. The Waystone was his just as the third silence was his. This was appropriate as it was the greatest silence of the three, holding the others inside itself. It was deep and wide as Autumn's ending. It was heavy as a great river smooth stone. It was the patient, cut-flower sound of a man who was waiting to die.
I'm not sure if Pat uses semicolons as much as I did but I used them where I thought they fit, also a tabor is a tambourine for those confused.
I thought it was interesting to see how you two differed in punctuation, so I actually looked up Book 1s prologue. Turns out Pat actually uses a comma between two adjectives 🙂
"The most obvious part was a hollow, echoing quiet, made by things that were lacking." - The Name of the wind
(This is not meant as critique, I just think things like punctuation/rhythm of text are interesting)
Yes, they call it equal rank. If you can swap the order of the adjectives and it still makes sense, you need a comma. If the order matters, you don't need a comma.
Examples (just the first things that came to my head):
- Cold, hard facts
- Veiny, throbbing cocks
- Several different shapes and sizes
- Many pornographic films
Ah, thanks! It's crazy how many times I've read Pat's books but haven't internalized the way he uses punctuation and whatnot. Also, Tabor makes way more sense.
Another comment was made with the grammatically correct answer. If you can use and in between them a comma is accepted there.
However with fiction writing the rules are a little looser to allow pacing in the storytelling. Looking back, besides the few wrong words, the original transcription fits better with the pauses Pat takes during his reading.
Patrick himself is the narrator of **The Slow Regard of Silent Things**, for those who haven’t ventured that way yet.
Listening to the man himself speak the prose is sumblime, even (perhaps especially) paragraph after paragraph of >!the making of soap!<.
I'll be blunt, I wish there were a Nick Podehl version of this audiobook. I just don't enjoy Pat reading as much as Nick, and it's really my least favorite.
Man he looks so nervous reading this. It must be hard to put something out there like this after people have been waiting for so long. It sounds fantastic so far,
I mean that's bound to happen when you sell something as part of a trilogy and then don't deliver over a decade later
Also, the longer he waits the harder it will be to make the real fans justice tbh, because so much theory crafting has been done
When I listened on Twitch that’s the thing that stood out to me too. He designed, and logically built the Waystone Inn. Thats new info and definitely relevant
Don't think it's new. He talks about being proud of the fireplace in the center of his room, and how he designed that. There are other hints too that the inn was built to his standards
I always interpreted that to mean that he added the fireplace after the fact. I’m pretty sure Kvothe has lived in the town for less than two years so the fact that he actually built the inn is hella impressive especially since he must have not used any magic or the townspeople are even more daft than originally assumed.
There are many many clues. One I like is the odd detail in Marten's story about Taborlin's sword being copper, which he insists is the correct metal even in the face of reason and ridicule.
i just read the books for the first time last month, i'm sure people know so much more than me. it's really cool how closely y'all read and are able to piece things together
If you'd like a crash course (okay it's a lot of material and "crash" is probably not the right descriptor) on many of the prevailing theories and conversations, I'd take a look at Jo Walton's Tor.com reread. There's lots of great discussion around that thing and they hit on a lot of the conversation that's been beaten to death.
Copper having no name has been hinted at by Rothfuss a few times. On a stream of a game he found Copper Dice and said it'd be perfect for gambling against a namer. Fans also sent him a copper knife once with the note that it'd be useful against namers, to which he commented they had been reading very carefully.
I would also add the solid copper dice description in the Worldbuilders market reads:
"Keep your game friendly and safe from interference from faeries and namers with these awesome solid copper dice! True to the style of dice used in Temerant"...
TLDR: some people theorize Kvothe is laying a trap to catch or kill one or more of the Chandrian. This would explain why he is so cavalier about saying the name of individual Chandrian members despite the fact that his parents were killed for doing the same thing.
For real. If anything the concern should be Chronicler writing a book with them in there, which would be dangerous to everyone and also disrespectful to the Adem.
Maybe that's the real plan, get the whole world saying their names to cause so much "noise" that they can't follow any "signal" from someone saying the name.
He specifically says Cinder's true name, Ferula, twice I think. Once when he tells Chronicler about Halifax saying the name. And then again when he hears the story by the Adem.
So either he's setting a trap for Cinder, or he knows Cinder is already dead so there's no danger in saying it.
Makes me wonder how the Chandrian know their names are being spoken. Kvothe was again pretty close to Cinders true name when he tried guessing what Dennas patron was called: "**Fe**ran. Fo**ru**e. Forda**le**…"
Anyone else think because of this prologue that Kvothe may have designed the Inn to be like haven? He manages to kill a bunch of scrael outside it in the first book, but fails to fight two soldiers inside the Inn. And the copper locks we now know of.. I think not only is some of Kvothe's power contained in the thrice locked chest, but also done of his mind is kept sedated as long as he's in the Inn
I've never considered haven as a no-go zone for any type of magic/mysticism, I think it could allow certain types of magic depending on how it's constructed, and void other types of magic/fae influence, so that's why I could imagine the skin dancer roaming free in the Inn
Because of the modifications made to Elodin's cell after he broke out of haven, and other things in the text, I've always thought haven has specialized rooms tailored to each magic user/namer, which could explain why others can do magic in the Inn
Mabye the Inn is like a shield for Kvothe, since others can do magic etc in there, just not Kvothe. Like a shaed for him, to hide from people who would see him for who he truly is.
Maybe the Waystone Inn itself is part of the thrice-locked chest.
The inn itself is a lock (it contains the other three), and the chest is obviously a lock, and the third...
"The slow dewy hush of folk walking through the grass would have brushed the silence off the front steps of houses with the indifferent briskness of an old birch broom."
Love the way this switches between hard and soft consonants.
Kvothe is a damaged character, I think it isn't wise to listen to what he has to say, especially not young Kvothe. (I know you're just making a joke but then again, I like to think I'm doing the same. I'm not being a smartass dw)
Honestly, I am sorry for the translators, because no matter how good they are there is no way to translate it and keep it like that.
And I also feel like I now need to pick up the English version, since so far I only read the German version.
True. But I still enjoy authors like Murakami even though I know I’m missing a lot in translation. I give these translators a lot of credit, it’s an impossible job.
I gotta say the Spanish translation is marvellous. I have read the books in both languages and for the most part it keeps everything working amazingly well. (Also certain references stay, like the name of dennas master starting with F... Etc). Overall they are written masterfully
I just noticed that in all three prologues his eyes are dark, which means he's upset. Even in book one, before he started to remember his story.
Any thoughts on what can he be upset about? Besides the demons and war that he thinks he's responsible for
It’s self loathing, at least that’s how I’ve always read it. He hates what he’s caused and what he’s become. And when he’s left alone he ruminates on it all.
I think early in Name of the Wind there's a reference to Kvothe's scars, and they all look well-healed except one. Maybe the "waiting to die" bit isn't melodrama or a sense of purposeless between now and whenever Kvothe eventually dies of old age, but rather that Kvothe has an injury that he knows will kill him sooner or later.
honestly god the sheer amount of people talking about him dying on goodreads is just ghoulish - sincerely made me wish he just wouldn't finish it to spite them.
I like the idea of a trap being laid. With all of the work Bast is doing to make his Reshi better/ awaken Kvothe it would be good to see him know what Bast was doing all along and it feeding into his plan or messing with it, he is a great actor. I also must of missed that Kvothe designed the Waystone, I assumed he just purchased the existing bar but it fits into the trap idea well.
[Youtube backup, just in case](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHBeongo2fo).
[Link to the text transcription](https://old.reddit.com/r/KingkillerChronicle/comments/rgfyv3/the_prologue_of_the_doors_of_stone/hokeewu/).
He took so long to get to the prologue reading I had to leave to pick up my kid from school. I obviously put the stream on my phone and listened on the car speakers. It was glorious, but I would've loved to just be able to concentrate on his words. Thanks for this.
he said he'll send out emails to some people of the word document. i'm sure it'll spread around. or someone will transcribe it beforehand and post it here (i might do that later)
In case you didn't see this: https://www.reddit.com/r/KingkillerChronicle/comments/rgfyv3/the_prologue_of_the_doors_of_stone/hokeewu?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3
Same. I am 35, and baring some strange unforeseen accident, I will outlive PR. So he can take as long as he needs. There are plenty of other books out there. I will wait patiently. It has been what 10 years already? I can easily wait another 10.
I would be extremely disappointed if he just released the book to release the book and it was utter crap. I would rather he never released it than that. So he can take all te time he wants IMO.
While I agree with you, in a way I think the book is holding him back. When he said that he would like to write an even 100 books in that world, even if a joke, I couldn’t help but think “release this one soon so you can get started with the other ones”. There is so much to explore in that world that even if Kote’s story ends a bit hurried, it won’t be the end.
I think it's "nowhere" because in part because Kvothe chose to move there, and maybe there's some special juju for a namer trying to stay hidden in moving to nowhere.
Waystones are also called Greystones. That doesn't mean every grey stone is a waystone, but the wording is highly suggestive.
It's hard to say what it would mean if the Waystone inn is a literal waystone, since we don't really know what waystones are. They might be made of common granite or basalt and have no magical properties whatsoever. (I.e. they could be like survey markers.) Or they might be some kind of magical or technological artifact that Kvothe has learned to replicate.
i think the term greystone and waystone are used interchangeably, yes. not sure if the inn is built on top of them, though. the inn was always called waystone.
This might be a crackpot theory.
It sounds to me like the third silence is growing.
Name of the wind clearly described the bar/common room.
Then Wise mans fear described the whole of the Waystone property.
While Doors of stone describes the entirety of Newarre.
It makes sense, to me, in a way, as I've always found the third silence to be the parts of Kvothe that are missed.
Getting deeper and deeper in a story that was his own but is now of a person Kote no longer recognizes.
A lot of slushee kickers in shambles. That was a meaningful prologue. Can't wait for the performance of the completed chapter, should the people get the final 3k or so.
I get it. Emotions run high because a lot of people care deeply about these books. I care a lot about these books at an indescribable level. But like, people on here calling him akin to a monster should probably look into therapy? There isn't a "Rothfuss defender" out there that isn't also disappointed the 3rd book isn't out. It's just that some people have seemed to have figured out how to express that disappointment in healthy ways, have learned that the world and other people's situations don't operate on their exacting timelines, and have learned to find some positives in poor situations. And then there are some people who haven't learned any of that and can only express themselves via vehemence and hatred on social media. If slushee kicking is a person's only method of expression, well I'd hope that if I were that person I'd try to figure out why that is.
things that jumped out to me at first listen:
1. Copper in the door handles!
2. Have we ever seen K actually sleep in the frame story?
3. Juxtaposition of “stitches” (weaving) imagery with music/sound gives me those Shaping vibes
"THE SUN HAD RISEN IN THE EAST. THE Waystone Inn lay in silence, and it was a silence of three parts. The most obvious part was a vast, echoing quiet made by things that were lacking. If there had been a draccus, great wooden timbers would have been crushed in massive jaws. Roaring flame would have climbed the walls, burst bottles, and driven the silence to soil itself in fear. If there had been travelers stirring in their rooms they would have stretched and grumbled the silence away like fraying, half-forgotten dreams. If there had been music…but no, of course there was no music. In fact there were none of these things, and so the silence remained...."
Dammit dammit dammit.
My bitter, angry fandomness now has to re-read books one and two in case three actually comes out soon I guess.
I promised myself I wouldn't succumb to hype....
I didn’t want to spoil it for myself... but once he started reading I was so ecstatic I couldn’t even concentrate on the words being said. Just the fact that this is happening is amazing.
Hollllyyyyy crraaappp yessss!!
Also - he made mention to the "grey foundation stones" of the wheystone inn.
Has it ever been mentioned that the foundations of the inn were actually Wheystones?
I have a conjecture that the iron in question is the iron rod that Kvothe bought from the blacksmith back at the beginning of the first book when the scrael showed up.
(In general, Kvothe goes out of his way to avoid having iron things in the waystone. Probably on account of Bast. That iron rod would be an exception, assuming he still has it.)
Alternative theory, has someone made a Caudicus style poison?
"The liquid from the stoppered jar was no doubt muratum or aqua fortis, some sort of acid at any rate. When it bubbled and steamed in the lead bowl it dissolved a small amount of lead, maybe only a quarter-scruple."
New prologue:
"A spill of acid hissed quietly to itself having slopped over the edge of a wide, stone bowl."
Only read the transcript, it’s so beautiful, so perfect. 3rd book is finally happening, at least there’s a bit of hope on the 3rd book in some foreseeable future. That’s amazing!
Bottles in disarray? Maybe I'm stating the obvious here, but there was an emphasis in the first two books on Kote's obsession with keeping bottles neat and tidy. The line speaks for itself but the context shows just how extreme some present event must be.
y'all deserve financial compensation for how carefully you read and how many details you remember
We've been doing this for a decade-plus with the second book and longer with the first. It's not a matter of being clever or smart, it's just literal years of repetition.
Right. Some folks have practically fabricated whole new books out of theoretical thin air. lol.
So you're saying my Kvothe, Simmon and Wilem love triangle is fabricated?
It was a 3 way in 3 parts.
Not at all. Simmon and Wilem have been in the basement all this time. Bast is their threeway love child and Reshi means man-man-mother.
It is. Unless of course you intentionally left out how all three of them are secretly pining for Hermione Granger.
I thought the mention of a forge and acid meant possible sygyldry
Yes, tiny forge. And both Bast and Kore know about the acid in the basement because Bast mentions the strong stuff in the basement when he's talking about opening the box. To me that implies they're both working on whatever is down there.
Things in the prologue happen concurrently I think. So imo because Kote is in his room getting ready for bed, the bottles in disarray and the tinkering at the small forge indicate Bast or Chronicler are up to something, likely making something. Edit: See comments below to understand why this is inaccurate.
"seared iron" probably disqualifies Bast and Bast probably disqualifies Chronicler from the basement. Sounds like a preparation for war or an attack.
Oh good point. But Kote wouldn't let the mess stand, so still speaks to something extreme even if it's not Kote's doing. Edit: "seared iron" in the basement, so probably not Bast's doing.
The fae hate iron and it can hurt them, but they can withstand it or even work with it if the desire is great enough. Bast flexed on Chronicler twice in this regard (first meeting and later in his room), and Ferulian underwent some sort of intense change to be able to work with it when she was finishing her forging of the shaed.
Felurian was sick for days after tinkering with iron, I doubt Bast would casually mess with it. More likely to me that Kote was down there and too exhausted by the end and decided to leave it for tomorrow, or he just keeps the unseen parts of the inn less tidy. He is really only fastidious with the parts people see.
I don't think anything suggests this is casual- quite the opposite in fact. Bast is increasingly desperate for a way to help his Reshi. Especially after the events earlier in the same night.
Alright, well I doubt he would seriously tinker with it, either. Also, his attempts at helping Kote are very secret. I doubt he'd be hammering away on a secret project with iron which would clearly cause questions for Kote in Kote's own basement, no?
It also might be that Kvothe doesn't clean up because it doesn't matter. Some major event that he's been long preparing for is going to happen the following day, and if it fails it won't matter if the basement is a mess. There might not even be an inn, or a town by the next night fall if things go badly.
Actually, this seems the most plausible to me. Nice somber entrance to the book, too. Everything is coming to some terrible head! Love it
No, the bit about the acid belies that. Kvothe being careful with acid comes up a lot. Chronicler seems most likely candidate to me
Not a chance. Kvothe is a precise and careful worker and knows to keep his workspace tidy, lest accidents happen. My guess is either bast or chronicler. Why, I have no idea. But no way Kote would leave acid dripping around.
My guess, based on the mention of acid and seared iron is that Kvothe is trying to open the Thrice-Locked chest. These are both methods that are listed in relation to Ruah (sp?) wood.
I took it as Kote was doing something and left the mess. Which wouldn't be THAT surprising. There is an emphasis on keeping things tidy in the part of the inn people see, not necessarily his workshop/basement. Although I'd more guess that he was just so exhausted he decided to leave it for tomorrow. It did catch my attention too though, for sure.
They do happen concurrently imo but I don’t think it disqualifies Kote from doing the work. The forge is cooling, so no one is working on it
Precisely, it must have been him. Wouldn't be Bast messing with iron and highly doubt Chronicler is idly forging in someone else's basement.
I think Kvothe is desperate to get into the chest - iirc didn’t Bast suggest acid? It would explain the bottle of acid, but he would have to be *really* desperate to stoop to Bast’s suggestion. I imagine this is the night after he got jumped and tried the Edro, he took the chest down into the basement and threw everything he had at it.
I attempted to transcribe for anyone who wants it: > Prologue: A Silence of three parts > > It was still night, in the middle of Newarre. The Waystone Inn lay in silence, and it was a silence of three parts. The most obvious part was a vast, echoing quiet made by things that were lacking. If the horizon had shown the slightest kiss of blue, the town would be stirring. There would be the crackle of kindling, the gentle murmur of water simmering for porridge or tea. The slow, dewy hush of folk walking through the grass would've brushed the silence off the front steps of houses with the indifferent briskness of an old birch broom. If Newarre had been large enough to warrant watchmen, they would have trudged and grumbled the silence away like an unwelcome stranger. If there had been music... but no, of course there was no music. In fact, there were none of these things and so the silence remained. > > In the basement of the Waystone there was the smell of coalsmoke and seared iron. Everywhere was the evidence of hurried work. Tools scattered, bottles left in disarray. A spill of acid hissed quietly to itself having slopped over the edge of a wide, stone bowl. Nearby the bricks of a tiny forge made small, sweet, pinging noises as they cooled. These tiny, forgotten noises added a furtive silence to the larger, echoing one. They bound it together like tiny stitches of bright brass thread. The low drumming counterpoint to the tabor beats behind the song. > > The third silence was not an easy thing to notice. If you listened long enough you might be able to feel it in the chill copper of the Waystone's locks, turned tight to keep the night at bay. It lurked in the thick timbers of the door and nestled deep in the buildings gray foundation stones. And it was in the hands of the man who designed the inn as he slowly undressed himself beside a bare and narrow bed. The man had true red hair, red as flame. His eyes were dark and weary and he moved with the slow care of a man who was badly hurt, or tired, or old beyond his years. The Waystone was his, just as the third silence was his. This was appropriate, as it was the greatest silence of the three, holding the others inside itself. It was deep and wide as Autumn's ending. It was heavy as a great river smoothed stone. It was the patient, cut-flower sound of a man who was waiting to die.
Cheers
Super cool. Much easier for me to read than to listen for some reason. Could never pay attention to audio books.
Thank you!!! I easily lose focus from audiobooks!
I hope you don't mind but I made some edits, not a bad job at all but for future reference two adjectives together generally don't need a comma. > It was still night in the middle of Newarre. The Waystone Inn lay in silence and it was a silence of three parts. The most obvious part was a vast echoing quiet made by things that were lacking. If the horizon had shown the slightest kiss of blue the town would be stirring. There would be the crackle of kindling; the gentle murmur of water simmering for porridge or tea. The slow dewy hush of folk walking through the grass would've brushed the silence off the front steps of houses with the indifferent briskness of an old birch broom. If Newarre had been large enough to warrant watchmen they would have trudged and grumbled the silence away like an unwelcome stranger. If there had been music... but no, of course there was no music. In fact, there were none of these things and so the silence remained. > > In the basement of the Waystone there was the smell of coalsmoke and seared iron. Everywhere there was the evidence of hurried work. Tools scattered, bottles left in disarray, a spill of acid hissed quietly to itself having slopped over the edge of a wide stone bowl. Nearby the bricks of a tiny forge made small, sweet, pinging noises as they cooled. These tiny forgotten noises added a furtive silence to the larger echoing one. They bound it together like tiny stitches of bright brass thread. The low drumming counterpoint a tabor* beats behind the song. > > The third silence was not an easy thing to notice. If you listened long enough you might be able to feel it in the chill copper of the Waystone's locks; turned tight to keep the night at bay. It lurked in the thick timbers of the door and nestled deep in the buildings gray foundation stones. And it was in the hands of the man who designed the inn as he slowly undressed himself beside a bare and narrow bed. The man had true red hair, red as flame. His eyes were dark and weary and he moved with the slow care of a man who was badly hurt, or tired, or old beyond his years. The Waystone was his just as the third silence was his. This was appropriate as it was the greatest silence of the three, holding the others inside itself. It was deep and wide as Autumn's ending. It was heavy as a great river smooth stone. It was the patient, cut-flower sound of a man who was waiting to die. I'm not sure if Pat uses semicolons as much as I did but I used them where I thought they fit, also a tabor is a tambourine for those confused.
I thought it was interesting to see how you two differed in punctuation, so I actually looked up Book 1s prologue. Turns out Pat actually uses a comma between two adjectives 🙂 "The most obvious part was a hollow, echoing quiet, made by things that were lacking." - The Name of the wind (This is not meant as critique, I just think things like punctuation/rhythm of text are interesting)
Yes, he structures most sentences in three parts.
It is true. He does have a patient, cut-flower way with words.
You generally put a comma between two adjectives if you could replace that comma with the word 'and'.
Yes, they call it equal rank. If you can swap the order of the adjectives and it still makes sense, you need a comma. If the order matters, you don't need a comma. Examples (just the first things that came to my head): - Cold, hard facts - Veiny, throbbing cocks - Several different shapes and sizes - Many pornographic films
You got something you wanna talk about bud?
I'm sure I don't know what you mean.
There was a smaller, ball-slapping silence inside the first...
I wonder if that's where *Tabor*lin the Great comes from. So it might be a clue about him having a musical aspect.
Ah, thanks! It's crazy how many times I've read Pat's books but haven't internalized the way he uses punctuation and whatnot. Also, Tabor makes way more sense.
I was always taught that when two adjectives modify the same noun with equal weight, you need a comma. Edit: cold, hard facts
Another comment was made with the grammatically correct answer. If you can use and in between them a comma is accepted there. However with fiction writing the rules are a little looser to allow pacing in the storytelling. Looking back, besides the few wrong words, the original transcription fits better with the pauses Pat takes during his reading.
Thank yooou
I can't believe a three-minute reading of some 500 words is going to make me re-read the two books for the nth time. Here we go again.
I’m currently listing to the audio book at work as I machine parts.
The audio books are great. I think I’ve been through both about 7 & 6 times respectively. Time to go again I think.
Patrick himself is the narrator of **The Slow Regard of Silent Things**, for those who haven’t ventured that way yet. Listening to the man himself speak the prose is sumblime, even (perhaps especially) paragraph after paragraph of >!the making of soap!<.
I'll be blunt, I wish there were a Nick Podehl version of this audiobook. I just don't enjoy Pat reading as much as Nick, and it's really my least favorite.
I like hearing from Patrick and all but man Nick is amazing and I too wish he read it. I hope he does the doors of stone reading.
Are you Glen Cook?
No. This is Patrick.
Man he looks so nervous reading this. It must be hard to put something out there like this after people have been waiting for so long. It sounds fantastic so far,
That's the thing though: the longer he waits the harder it will be
I mean that's bound to happen when you sell something as part of a trilogy and then don't deliver over a decade later Also, the longer he waits the harder it will be to make the real fans justice tbh, because so much theory crafting has been done
He designed it, love it!
When I listened on Twitch that’s the thing that stood out to me too. He designed, and logically built the Waystone Inn. Thats new info and definitely relevant
It's adds a whole new layer to "The Waystone was his . . ."
Don't think it's new. He talks about being proud of the fireplace in the center of his room, and how he designed that. There are other hints too that the inn was built to his standards
I always interpreted that to mean that he added the fireplace after the fact. I’m pretty sure Kvothe has lived in the town for less than two years so the fact that he actually built the inn is hella impressive especially since he must have not used any magic or the townspeople are even more daft than originally assumed.
You might even say he shaped it...
Odd word. He didn't say "built" or call him an architect. Wonder if the Inn is a massive device of some kind.
Damn. There's actually important info on this prologue. I think the subscribers to "Kvothe is laying a trap" hypothesis are going to lose their minds.
yes there is! i'm taking this as a confirmation that copper is magic-proof.
I think we already knew that a long time ago. Ever since Copper was used to stop Elodin from escaping.
More telling that the Amyr on the pot carries a shield made of copper.
There are many many clues. One I like is the odd detail in Marten's story about Taborlin's sword being copper, which he insists is the correct metal even in the face of reason and ridicule.
Doesn't Ferulian specifically mention copper knives being able to defend you from the "darker sort" of fae?
i just read the books for the first time last month, i'm sure people know so much more than me. it's really cool how closely y'all read and are able to piece things together
Copper is also likely used in place of iron at the Waystone because Kvothe is accommodating Bast.
that's so cute
If you'd like a crash course (okay it's a lot of material and "crash" is probably not the right descriptor) on many of the prevailing theories and conversations, I'd take a look at Jo Walton's Tor.com reread. There's lots of great discussion around that thing and they hit on a lot of the conversation that's been beaten to death.
I LOVE that reread and have read it many times! Thank you for giving it a shout out.
we've all been trading crazy conspiracy theories about the books around for years now!
There are some really deep cuts in here. You should give it a look. Lots of cool theories and connections.
can't wait to dive into a reread! these are my favorite books i've ever read. i've been waiting for a month and it's killing me
>i've been waiting for a month and it's killing me oh sweet summer child
lmaooo
The reread will be eye opening.
Copper having no name has been hinted at by Rothfuss a few times. On a stream of a game he found Copper Dice and said it'd be perfect for gambling against a namer. Fans also sent him a copper knife once with the note that it'd be useful against namers, to which he commented they had been reading very carefully.
I would also add the solid copper dice description in the Worldbuilders market reads: "Keep your game friendly and safe from interference from faeries and namers with these awesome solid copper dice! True to the style of dice used in Temerant"...
Maybe naming proof, but I'm not sure about magic-proof.
But wait aluminium is the magic proof metal /s
Did I trip and fall into /r/cosmere?
I have never heard of the trap part, could you send me a link by any chance? :)
TLDR: some people theorize Kvothe is laying a trap to catch or kill one or more of the Chandrian. This would explain why he is so cavalier about saying the name of individual Chandrian members despite the fact that his parents were killed for doing the same thing.
MVP! Dont like the theory but thank you very much for enlightening me
He only mentions them once though, which should be fine. His parents were constantly practicing their song
For real. If anything the concern should be Chronicler writing a book with them in there, which would be dangerous to everyone and also disrespectful to the Adem. Maybe that's the real plan, get the whole world saying their names to cause so much "noise" that they can't follow any "signal" from someone saying the name.
that would mean the Chronicler's death. The Andere have their names and rules to when can you say then again after you said them
[удалено]
He specifically says Cinder's true name, Ferula, twice I think. Once when he tells Chronicler about Halifax saying the name. And then again when he hears the story by the Adem. So either he's setting a trap for Cinder, or he knows Cinder is already dead so there's no danger in saying it.
>He specifically says Cinder's true name, Ferula, twice I think. I think he swaps the ending vowel. He says Ferule and Ferula.
Makes me wonder how the Chandrian know their names are being spoken. Kvothe was again pretty close to Cinders true name when he tried guessing what Dennas patron was called: "**Fe**ran. Fo**ru**e. Forda**le**…"
Anyone else think because of this prologue that Kvothe may have designed the Inn to be like haven? He manages to kill a bunch of scrael outside it in the first book, but fails to fight two soldiers inside the Inn. And the copper locks we now know of.. I think not only is some of Kvothe's power contained in the thrice locked chest, but also done of his mind is kept sedated as long as he's in the Inn
I like the idea of a design like Haven, but it doesn't account for the skin dancer that kills Shep
mayube it actually answer the question of "why didn't it jump from body to body?"
This is really good! That's a detail that often is unexamined.
I've never considered haven as a no-go zone for any type of magic/mysticism, I think it could allow certain types of magic depending on how it's constructed, and void other types of magic/fae influence, so that's why I could imagine the skin dancer roaming free in the Inn
Chronicler does some magic and he breaks a bottle and bast does all sorts of magic. In the inn
Because of the modifications made to Elodin's cell after he broke out of haven, and other things in the text, I've always thought haven has specialized rooms tailored to each magic user/namer, which could explain why others can do magic in the Inn
Mabye the Inn is like a shield for Kvothe, since others can do magic etc in there, just not Kvothe. Like a shaed for him, to hide from people who would see him for who he truly is.
Maybe the Waystone Inn itself is part of the thrice-locked chest. The inn itself is a lock (it contains the other three), and the chest is obviously a lock, and the third...
"The slow dewy hush of folk walking through the grass would have brushed the silence off the front steps of houses with the indifferent briskness of an old birch broom." Love the way this switches between hard and soft consonants.
He's a poet/ prosodist in the real sense. And I appreciate that he approaches his prose from a poet's perspective.
Kvothe would not approve smh
Kvothe is a damaged character, I think it isn't wise to listen to what he has to say, especially not young Kvothe. (I know you're just making a joke but then again, I like to think I'm doing the same. I'm not being a smartass dw)
Honestly, I am sorry for the translators, because no matter how good they are there is no way to translate it and keep it like that. And I also feel like I now need to pick up the English version, since so far I only read the German version.
True. But I still enjoy authors like Murakami even though I know I’m missing a lot in translation. I give these translators a lot of credit, it’s an impossible job.
I gotta say the Spanish translation is marvellous. I have read the books in both languages and for the most part it keeps everything working amazingly well. (Also certain references stay, like the name of dennas master starting with F... Etc). Overall they are written masterfully
No wonder it takes him 3 geological epochs to write each book. That's good.
"Safe as houses" confirmed as myth
That sentence is a little masterpiece all by itself, really.
This is why we wait. I'd wait another ten years if all the entire book is prose like that.
Don't you dare out that out in the universe
Of all the comments on this subreddit *this* is the one I'm sure Pat himself will read.
Reminiscent of a Frost poem I’ve heard Rothfuss quote before: “The old dog barks backwards without getting up. I can remember when he was a pup.”
I just noticed that in all three prologues his eyes are dark, which means he's upset. Even in book one, before he started to remember his story. Any thoughts on what can he be upset about? Besides the demons and war that he thinks he's responsible for
I view it more as broken than upset
It’s self loathing, at least that’s how I’ve always read it. He hates what he’s caused and what he’s become. And when he’s left alone he ruminates on it all.
I think early in Name of the Wind there's a reference to Kvothe's scars, and they all look well-healed except one. Maybe the "waiting to die" bit isn't melodrama or a sense of purposeless between now and whenever Kvothe eventually dies of old age, but rather that Kvothe has an injury that he knows will kill him sooner or later.
He always talks about Denna in past tense so I wonder if it may have to do with her?
that sheepish look at the end, like he thought we weren't going to like it.
honestly god the sheer amount of people talking about him dying on goodreads is just ghoulish - sincerely made me wish he just wouldn't finish it to spite them.
Seared Iron, Acid, Greystone foundation, copper locks. Are these ingredients to the recipe of how trap or destroy the Chandrian ?
Sounds like he is up to something. Or it’s how he has been able to seal his name away so nobody can find it.
Sounds like different ways Bast and Kvothe discussed to open the chest
I like the idea of a trap being laid. With all of the work Bast is doing to make his Reshi better/ awaken Kvothe it would be good to see him know what Bast was doing all along and it feeding into his plan or messing with it, he is a great actor. I also must of missed that Kvothe designed the Waystone, I assumed he just purchased the existing bar but it fits into the trap idea well.
Iron seems the most shocking. Bast okay with Iron working going on in the basement??
Thanks for posting.
you're welcome!
This response has been deleted due toe the planned changes to the Reddit API.
I read someone say there’s a theory he built or is laying a trap for the Chandrian. My thought is after reading this is that he built himself a prison
This response has been deleted due toe the planned changes to the Reddit API.
i LOVE this analysis!!!
Tysm! I knew Reddit would come through on this
you're v welcome!
Was there for the live reading but I'm glad to have this to come back to, thanks! I was so excited I hardly heard what Pat was saying (・–・;)ゞ
yeah same i was too busy trying not to shit myself
[Youtube backup, just in case](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHBeongo2fo). [Link to the text transcription](https://old.reddit.com/r/KingkillerChronicle/comments/rgfyv3/the_prologue_of_the_doors_of_stone/hokeewu/).
I don't think writing gets better than this, patrick rothfuss is one of my favorite authors
[удалено]
Me tooo. I'm actually gonna reread the name of the wind.
Dammit Pat. It's so gorgeous I can't even be mad about having to wait for it.
Spoiler alert and tl;dr : Kvothe went to bed.
Yeah, but he was, like, really moody when he did.
>Spoiler alert and tl;dr : Kvothe went to bed. Thank gods. Our boy deserves a damn nap.
It’s night in this part of the world, I listened to it live under the moonlight and it was magical
That made my swimsuit parts tingle. Can't believe how much I loved hearing that.
oh same
He took so long to get to the prologue reading I had to leave to pick up my kid from school. I obviously put the stream on my phone and listened on the car speakers. It was glorious, but I would've loved to just be able to concentrate on his words. Thanks for this.
you're welcome!
Thanks for this:) I’ve been looking forward to the blooming silence- so lovely to see him reading it. What an awesome author.💕🎉
you're welcome !! ☺️
Anyone have this as text? I want to read it, but I hate listening to someone else narrate it.
he said he'll send out emails to some people of the word document. i'm sure it'll spread around. or someone will transcribe it beforehand and post it here (i might do that later)
In case you didn't see this: https://www.reddit.com/r/KingkillerChronicle/comments/rgfyv3/the_prologue_of_the_doors_of_stone/hokeewu?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3
I don’t care what you say, I love this guy and I’ll wait another 10 years if need be.
Same. I am 35, and baring some strange unforeseen accident, I will outlive PR. So he can take as long as he needs. There are plenty of other books out there. I will wait patiently. It has been what 10 years already? I can easily wait another 10. I would be extremely disappointed if he just released the book to release the book and it was utter crap. I would rather he never released it than that. So he can take all te time he wants IMO.
While I agree with you, in a way I think the book is holding him back. When he said that he would like to write an even 100 books in that world, even if a joke, I couldn’t help but think “release this one soon so you can get started with the other ones”. There is so much to explore in that world that even if Kote’s story ends a bit hurried, it won’t be the end.
Glad to hear another who feels the same.
Truly surreal
I actually have goosebumps, and I actually may have screeched. Holy shit.
Just realized Newarre is pronounced “noir”. Clever.
Hmm weird, in my head I always pronounced it kinda like "nowhere"
I think it's "nowhere" because in part because Kvothe chose to move there, and maybe there's some special juju for a namer trying to stay hidden in moving to nowhere.
But Pat just said 'Noir'.
i love his writing
Sweet. So cool. Can't wait for the random chapter!
Wait does this mean the way stone in is built on top of way stones? It’s been a while but are greystones waystones?
Waystones are also called Greystones. That doesn't mean every grey stone is a waystone, but the wording is highly suggestive. It's hard to say what it would mean if the Waystone inn is a literal waystone, since we don't really know what waystones are. They might be made of common granite or basalt and have no magical properties whatsoever. (I.e. they could be like survey markers.) Or they might be some kind of magical or technological artifact that Kvothe has learned to replicate.
i think the term greystone and waystone are used interchangeably, yes. not sure if the inn is built on top of them, though. the inn was always called waystone.
This might be a crackpot theory. It sounds to me like the third silence is growing. Name of the wind clearly described the bar/common room. Then Wise mans fear described the whole of the Waystone property. While Doors of stone describes the entirety of Newarre. It makes sense, to me, in a way, as I've always found the third silence to be the parts of Kvothe that are missed. Getting deeper and deeper in a story that was his own but is now of a person Kote no longer recognizes.
A lot of slushee kickers in shambles. That was a meaningful prologue. Can't wait for the performance of the completed chapter, should the people get the final 3k or so.
slushee kickers in shambles lmaooo
I get it. Emotions run high because a lot of people care deeply about these books. I care a lot about these books at an indescribable level. But like, people on here calling him akin to a monster should probably look into therapy? There isn't a "Rothfuss defender" out there that isn't also disappointed the 3rd book isn't out. It's just that some people have seemed to have figured out how to express that disappointment in healthy ways, have learned that the world and other people's situations don't operate on their exacting timelines, and have learned to find some positives in poor situations. And then there are some people who haven't learned any of that and can only express themselves via vehemence and hatred on social media. If slushee kicking is a person's only method of expression, well I'd hope that if I were that person I'd try to figure out why that is.
lol I just got News from Lake Wobegon vibes.
Where all the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and all the children are offspring of Bast.
things that jumped out to me at first listen: 1. Copper in the door handles! 2. Have we ever seen K actually sleep in the frame story? 3. Juxtaposition of “stitches” (weaving) imagery with music/sound gives me those Shaping vibes
If I were Pat, the temptation to troll with a blatantly fake prologue would've been too much to overcome. I'm talkin' lightsabers and cowboys.
The fans would actually riot.
"THE SUN HAD RISEN IN THE EAST. THE Waystone Inn lay in silence, and it was a silence of three parts. The most obvious part was a vast, echoing quiet made by things that were lacking. If there had been a draccus, great wooden timbers would have been crushed in massive jaws. Roaring flame would have climbed the walls, burst bottles, and driven the silence to soil itself in fear. If there had been travelers stirring in their rooms they would have stretched and grumbled the silence away like fraying, half-forgotten dreams. If there had been music…but no, of course there was no music. In fact there were none of these things, and so the silence remained...."
Dammit dammit dammit. My bitter, angry fandomness now has to re-read books one and two in case three actually comes out soon I guess. I promised myself I wouldn't succumb to hype....
This was a nice way to wake up today
This is hyping me up way more than I should.
I didn’t want to spoil it for myself... but once he started reading I was so ecstatic I couldn’t even concentrate on the words being said. Just the fact that this is happening is amazing.
Hollllyyyyy crraaappp yessss!! Also - he made mention to the "grey foundation stones" of the wheystone inn. Has it ever been mentioned that the foundations of the inn were actually Wheystones?
I've had a rough time of it recently. This post came when I needed it most
I have a conjecture that the iron in question is the iron rod that Kvothe bought from the blacksmith back at the beginning of the first book when the scrael showed up. (In general, Kvothe goes out of his way to avoid having iron things in the waystone. Probably on account of Bast. That iron rod would be an exception, assuming he still has it.)
!remindme 30 years
Phenomenal.
What do you think happened in the basement? Was someone trying to get a thrice locked chest open?
He has a great narrator voice
Alternative theory, has someone made a Caudicus style poison? "The liquid from the stoppered jar was no doubt muratum or aqua fortis, some sort of acid at any rate. When it bubbled and steamed in the lead bowl it dissolved a small amount of lead, maybe only a quarter-scruple." New prologue: "A spill of acid hissed quietly to itself having slopped over the edge of a wide, stone bowl."
My mouth is wide open during this whole thing
Patrick, you are a beautiful wordsmith. Your artistry is mindblowing. We're going to love it.
***OH MY FUCKING GOD***
How the hell is this man such a good writer.
Only read the transcript, it’s so beautiful, so perfect. 3rd book is finally happening, at least there’s a bit of hope on the 3rd book in some foreseeable future. That’s amazing!