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[Devastator]

I've been reading these books for some time, and think they're amazing, and would like to discuss some of the hidden plot points and secretive elements in them..  most of them would be spoilers.

Would anyone else like to delve into some of the details that Patrick Rothfuss put into his work?

[Doomblade187]

I would be very interested, and while I don't remember too much in the way of details, I do wonder where the spider-things originated from. Maybe I just forget, but is it the Fae?

Also, those books have one of the greatest magic systems I've seen in a while, imo. Just saying.

[Arx]

The naming thing is amazing.

And the Master Namer is the best character ever.

[i2amroy]

Just checking, but are we allowed to say things from the second book as well? I don't want to spoil you of anything if you haven't gotten that far yet.

I would be very interested, and while I don't remember too much in the way of details, I do wonder where the spider-things originated from. Maybe I just forget, but is it the Fae?

It's hypothesized by fans that they are Fae due to their weakness to iron, but it hasn't been stated outright yet. My guess is we will find out more in the 3rd book.

Also, those books have one of the greatest magic systems I've seen in a while, imo. Just saying.

I do like that he establishes some rules for sympathy and hint at very precise ones. I do think he ran into a bit of a problem with Sanderson's law there where he made a rule based system that is too complex to explain though. As such even though the rules of the system (constants of heat transfer, etc.) are hinted at we never actually learn much about them, which somewhat limits their use in the story. It still manages to vastly outweigh our understanding of naming and the other Fae magics though, which is probably part of the reason why the story uses sympathy pretty occasionally to solve problems, but naming has only been used a very small number of times to address problems. (Most of which were Deus Ex'd into existence, so it's not too big of a deal when they get solved with a Deus Ex). As such while the magic system does serve as an excellent tool to emphasize Kvothe's other traits (intelligence, music, etc.), I don't know if I'd rate it as one of my top ones.

Spoiler: Best magic system side note (click to show/hide)

If you want to see what I personally consider the best magic system I've ever run into I suggest picking up the Mistborn series. It's got a magic system (3 interrelated ones actually) that are definitely unique, and are almost totally constrained by very logical, yet simple enough for the reader to understand rules. As a result you get a world where the reader is able to say "but why don't they just do X to solve their problem", and then the characters do. It was also logical enough that even though only about half of the total system ends up getting defined by the end of the first book, readers were able to (correctly) figure out what almost all of the missing pieces were supposed to be, some of which weren't actually revealed until the second trilogy began.

[~Neri]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Another Mistborn fan~? By far my favorite series~

[Mr. Strange]

Good books, but I only read the first one so I'll stay out of here before someone spoils it for me.

[Devastator]

Yes, spoilers are allowed.

I'm not sure if the spider things were confirmed as being from the Fae.  Kvothe called them Scrael, and Bast had solid knowledge of what they are, but Kvothe also said they were from across the mountains.  There might be confirming details, but I don't have them in front of me right now.

There are also other magics that are unknown to the current civilization.  One of the things that struck me was in Wise Man's fear, there's that recap chapter where Willem, Sim, and Kvothe are going over the kinds of magic and a few demonstrations of Sympathy for Denna...  but she then mentions in passing a different kind of magic none of them know, about 'making things true just by writing them down'.  That's the kind of stuff that really got to me when reading them through, that Rothfuss would drop details like that in what could be considered a recap chapter.

... now that I think of it, didn't she have her hair braided into a story knot saying 'lovely' later on in that book?  Hmm..

[i2amroy]

There might be confirming details, but I don't have them in front of me right now.

A quick google reveals that (so far) there haven't been any actual confirmations given.

There are also other magics that are unknown to the current civilization.  One of the things that struck me was in Wise Man's fear, there's that recap chapter where Willem, Sim, and Kvothe are going over the kinds of magic and a few demonstrations of Sympathy for Denna...  but she then mentions in passing a different kind of magic none of them know, about 'making things true just by writing them down'.  That's the kind of stuff that really got to me when reading them through, that Rothfuss would drop details like that in what could be considered a recap chapter.

Going back to that particular scene I'm getting the definite impression that the conclusion of that scene on the magic writing was "it's a bunch of hooey". Though thinking about it now you might be able to get something similar if you could somehow do Naming in the form of writing. The sygaldry to Naming's sympathy, if you will. It would certainly be an interesting thing to see show up in book 3.

That said there are definite other crazy ones out there, though from the impression I got most of them are linked to either a Fae creature (such as some of the things Felurian does) or to something that is somewhat Namer and somewhat other (like the Chandrian). And it is definitely a nice touch to see for worldbuilding purposes, though as I mentioned before personally I much more fond of seeing 1-3 systems that have been fully locked down and explained in their uses than an unknown number of systems where the uses of each are virtually unknown.

[Devastator]

I'd be more willing to consider it a load of hooey, if it were not for the very significant chance of Cinder being Denna's patron, and her later writing a song which was praising Lanre.  There was also a few throwaway lines such as the one about the theory of perception being an active force..

It would also fit with the theory of the Creation War, which seems to be between a group of 'knowers' and a group of 'shapers', if you trust Felurian's comments about it.