*****SPOILERS*****
Edema Ruh
When
Kote tells his story (of Kvothe), it’s in first person. This makes sense: he is
telling the Chronicler his own story. Occasionally we get Interludes back at
the Inn where it changes back to third person. He remains ‘Kvothe’ in the prose
until he has to become the innkeeper again, when the prose returns him to
‘Kote’. This was a good feature and it helps to delineate the Kote of the
present with the talented Kvothe of the past.
Kote
is of the Edema Ruh.
These are travelling court
performers with a noble patron. They have many traditions that separate them
from other people. The way they offer food/drink to new guests is particularly
distinctive. They all take a day off whenever they encounter a
greystone/weystone (standing stones, said to lead to the Fae). This last one
stood out because it’s not expected for travellers to stay put.
At one town, the mayor will pay them
to leave. Kvothe lists the things the mayor should’ve done! (Spoilt, much?) Yes
the mayor was disrespectful but Kvothe’s idea of respect is a bit… bratty?
There’s definitely an element in this but his troupe is dead. Is it
unsurprising that his opinion of them is a little higher and other people’s
opinion of them isn’t as high as it should be?
Kvothe makes Abenthy join the troupe
after seeing him control the wind (‘storybook magic’). My favourite description of him is
that his singing kept ‘wondering off, looking for notes in the wrong places’
which is also the best description of bad singing I’ve ever seen. Abenthy
teaches the young Kvothe Alar and sympathy, the keys to magic.
Kote
mentions that he’s of the Edema Ruh a lot and we get loads of tidbits. But I
still have plenty of questions!
The book gave the strong vibe that
the Ruh are an ethnic group. Yet later at the University, Kvothe meets a
Caeldian (who are of different ethnicity to everyone else) who knows Kvothe is
Ruh and says ‘one family’. So this implies that the Edema Ruh isn’t a race?
Although we get many examples of Ruh adopting other people into their families
so perhaps ethnicity isn’t the defining factor of being Ruh.
The Ruh often clear the road of
trees. Kvothe’s dad states that he should charge the consular for every tree
they remove. A consulate is a diplomatic delegation either to significant areas
in a foreign country (other than the capital with the embassy) or to represent
a significant areas in the home country to a foreign country. The patron of
Kvothe’s troupe is only a baron: for the lowest noble rank to have a consulate
seems odd.
University
After
his parents died, Kvothe spent half a year in the wilderness then as a beggar
in Tarbean. He travels to the University (he’s accepted as a student at 15)
with a woman called Denna (he fancies her a lot).
He’s accepted aged fifteen to the
University. To be admitted into the Arcanum, where magic is taught, he must
show the Masters evidence of sympathy. He has access to the Archives at long
last to do his research on the Chandrian.
Elodin, the Master Namer, is full of
eccentricities and humour. Naming is ‘storybook magic’ and often drives people
mad (he spent time in an asylum). Kvothe begs to be his student so Elodin asks
Kvothe to jump off the roof. When Kvothe does so, Elodin says Kvothe’s too
stupid to be his student. That made me laugh for ages.
Kvothe
interacts with a student for a page and a bit and only then in the prose does
he name him as Ambrose. In all other introductions, we learn the names by
people’s speech or Kvothe giving context in the prose as soon as the new
character is mentioned. So for Kvothe to wait for Ambrose and Ambrose alone was
odd.
The next time Kvothe sees Ambrose is
when he’s accosting Fela. Kvothe, who’s only fifteen, makes perspective
comments about how body language can pin you down and yet it’s the victim
(Fela) who feels guilty, not the perpetrator (Ambrose). Kvothe rants about
Ambrose’s poetry (honestly I could directly quote the entire passage. It was
golden perfection).
Ambrose gets Kvothe banned from the
Archives and their rivalry begins (it’s why Kvothe came to the University,
after all). There’s sabotage and humiliation on both sides but Ambrose breaking
Kvothe’s lute makes it truly personal. The
scene of Kvothe with his broken lute was so painful. I’ve never felt a
character’s sorrow so vividly before.
The
Master that we see the most is Hemme. What a prat!
Master Hemme is rude to everyone
except Rian, the only woman in the class. Until, that is, he tells her to close
her legs then says, ‘“Now the gates of Hell are shut”’. It’s a funny line but
it solidifies Hemme as a resounding git.
Hemme tries to embarrass Kvothe into
giving a lecture about sympathy. Kvothe does so and humiliates Hemme with a
fiery demonstration. Sure, Kvothe gets whipped but he uses this as evidence of
sympathy, meaning he’s admitted into the Arcanum. His friend Simmon
congratulates him by offering to buy a bandage or a beer. (Simmon will make
anyone laugh.)
For his broken lute, Kvothe charges
Ambrose with theft and destruction of property. Master Hemme says that theft
implies possession and people can’t possess something that’s been destroyed.
This is stupid because (1) theft is the act of taking, not the state of
ownership, (2) the pieces can be possessed, and (3) Hemme’s argument would mean
we could never destroy our own property. All this went through my head, and
then the book spelled out 1 and 2. It was nice to see the stupidity was
Hemme’s, not the author’s!
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