The Wise Man's Fear

By Patrick Rothfuss

Season 2 | 30 Episodes

The Wise Man's Fear is an excellent continuation of the Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss. We follow Kvothe as he speaks to Chronicler for the second day about his life's journey. In terms of worldbuilding, this book expands upon so much of what we experienced in The Name of The Wind because Kvothe leaves The University to travel through Temerant. He spends time among the Maer's court in Vintas, the Adem school in Haert, Felurian's twilight glade in the Fae realm, and visits the small town of Levinshir. By way of Kvothe, we are introduced to so many new cultures, folktales, languages, and histories than we were in The Name of the Wind.

As for plot, this book is a long and winding road that eventually leads to Kvothe gaining some incredible powers and seeking knowledge that will hopefully help him defeat the Chandrian. For example, he improves his sygaldry and artificing by crafting both a gram and the arrowcatch, he improves his fighting by training under Vashet, he learns courtly ways from the Maer, and gains incredible knowledge from both Felurian and the Cthaeh in the Fae realm. We joke a number of times that Kvothe is leveling up all his stats in this book, becoming more adept in numerous skills. He also levels up his belongings, adding a gram, new sword (Saicere), shaed cloak, a wooden ring, and a bone ring to his person. Additionally, he gains a lot of knowledge that will aid him in his quest to defeat the Chandrian. Kvothe knows about some of the hints he receives, such as the information he receives from the Cthaeh, but he also hears many new myths, songs, and storis that contain hidden clues that might aid him as well. These include the story of Jax/Iax, stories about the Creation War, information about the Amyr, and his encounter with Cinder, among others.

At a surface level, things are going well for Kvothe by the end of the book. He has gained all that was mentioned above, he pays off his debts, he re-joins his friends at the University, and returns Denna's ring to her. Running under that, however, is a current of destruction and irrationality that indicates that Kvothe may be heading towards a darker path in the third book. He makes some truly difficult choices that push him past irreversible lines and into a realm that isolates him from his peers. He reveals his Edema Ruh background and is shunned from the Maer's court by Lady Lackless. On his trip to the Eld to oust the bandits, he performs malfeasance. On his return from Ademre, he kills the false Edema Ruh in cold blood. Lastly, let us not forget that he speaks to the Cthaeh, which is known to lead to absolute destruction and downfall.

Although we delight in puzzling out the pieces of this book and discussing an abundance of fan theories, we cannot ignore the dark streak that has formed and wonder what it means for the conclusion of the Kingkiller Chronicles.

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