Just finished WMF and must say that I enjoyed it as much as the first one.
I've forced myself to stay away from this thread as I wanted to read it first.
It's great to see everyone's observations and theories appearing, most fascinating and enthralling. Like a lot of you I wondered whether Bredon was Denna's patron. I had not considered him being of the Chandrian, still not sure, but I did wonder during the attack on the bandits about the leader. Could the two be the same, or two different people.
Do we know how old Kvothe/Kote is at the framing sequences? I initially got the impression that he was nearing middle age, but might have got the image in my head at the start of the first book and not been able to change it. It makes me wonder is the series actually going to be three books? Is this a certainty, or are the three books going to take us to the end of Kvothe's university years? We know he was expelled from the University at a younger age than most are admitted, so with him still there at the end of book 2 it seems a long step to go from the student to the full fledged hero to the older Kote tending bar.
Although I hope that Ambrose turns out to be the red herring and does not turn out to be the king, I'm not so sure. Early in the book Wil and Sim talk about how one of those in line to the throne has been killed which mean Ambrose jumps a place and that he is boasting about it. Then later when Kvothe returns to the Maer there is a throw away line that another ion line has been killed in a duel, which would bump Ambrose further up the list. (And one would assume that his father would be one ahead of Ambrose in the list, so technically once his father reaches the throne, Ambrose would be secured as the next king.)
I'm not so sure about Kvothe's loss of power, when he is doing things like lighting the fire I keep thinking he is going to do it through his abilities, but maybe that's either me, or Rothfuss brilliantly insinuating that Kvothe is about to do then can't or won't.
When it comes to his fighting skills, I'm pretty sure they're all still intact and he let the soldiers beat him. Right at the end of the book, Kvothe begins the ketan and it says:
"There, behind the tightly shuttered windows, he lifted his hands like a dancer, shifted his weight, and slowly took one single perfect step."
If he can still manage that I would imagine he can still fight.
I'm slightly intrigued that Bast was behind the soldiers though - is he trying to trigger something in Kvothe, or is there something darker going on? Just a wild theory (and I mean wild) could Bast be one of the Chandrian or at least working for them? If Kvothe has changed his true name, perhaps it means that the Chandrian are powerless against him, and in order to remove him they need Kvothe as was. Bast's purpose would then be to reawaken the great hero figure that Kvothe is suppressing, and in reclaiming that he is left open to the Chandrian once more. It would then throw into doubt anything Bast has told him...
One finally the Lackless rhymes all mention Seven, in addition to all that has been said are there not seven Chandrian. Could there be a link?
Sorry if its a bit disjointed, a night with little sleep does little for the thought process.
