History YMMV / TheWiseMansFear

Watch out! here there be '''SPOILERS!'''

* CompleteMonster: The Cthaeh is seen by the Fae as the most horrible creature in existance. The way Bast describes it fits the trope description to a T: It can see all possible futures perfectly and supposedly influences anyone who talks to it in a way that will ensure the most disastrous consequences for that person and the world at large. Bast attributes all negative things that have befallen Kvothe (including causing a war that ravages the entire world) to his brief chat with the creature. However, not all characters are convinced that its power is really that absolute.
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome:
** The bandit camp/outpost. [[spoiler:Kvothe uses the dead body of a Bandit sentry as a mommet to kill several other Bandits, then uses a bow string and a six-piece sympathy link to sever the strings of five Bandit bows, followed by taking advantage of a storm to use sympathy to call down Lightning upon the bandit camp itself.]]
** Using the name of the wind to save Denna from what appears to be an asthma attack.
** Shutting down Felurian, either with the name of the wind or, as Elodin suggests, by calling ''her'' name.
* IdiotBall: For how intelligent he is, Kvothe can't come up with a good argument to prove that sexual intercourse causes pregnancy. This is partly due to his incomplete scientific knowledge. Also gets thrown into his hands whenever he is near Denna, looking for Denna, thinking about Denna, etc.
* MarySueTopia
** The Edema Ruh are the greatest performers in the world. They treat each other like family, with no petty rivalries or distrust between groups. They're always kind and generous to fellow travelers. And they ''never'' commit crimes. The rose-colored view of the Edema Ruh might be due to Kvothe's personal biases as a fiercely proud Ruh himself.
** The Adem, an entire society of warrior-philosophers. They're ruled by their elite mercenary schools, whose martial arts secrets are several orders of magnitude greater than any other society's. Even their lowliest, stupidest members look like superheroes compared to other people. Their leaders are selected purely on merit. They have absolutely no sexual inhibitions, yet also have absolutely no venereal disease. Their language is far more subtle and elegant than any other. They all have iron-clad composure. Their food is delicious. Their medicinal skill rivals the greatest academic institutions. They are technologically advanced. They live in great wealth and comfort, but without needless frills or vanity. They seem to lack crime, corruption and poverty. They do have a number of oddities, but they are all well defended: While their culture believes that women are basically better than men, they are a meritocracy, so their culture is basically ''evidence'' of this conclusion. They don't believe that men contribute to pregnancy, but even Kvothe cannot provide evidence to the contrary that they cannot refute with sound logic. They disapprove of music played in public, but only because they cherish it so much.
* PlotTumor: The interminable interlude of faerie sex. Someone counted the pages. ''60''.
* StrawmanHasAPoint: For all that Ambrose is exceedingly prejudiced against the Edema Ruh and abusing his influence to attack him, by the end of the book Kvothe has in fact 1. Robbed him, and 2. Committed an act of extreme malfeasance.
* TearJerker: Kvothe crying about missing his mother in Auri's arms while he's under the influence of the plum bob.
* WackyWaysideTribe: Kvothe spends a very long time visiting the Adem, a culture of free-love ninjas.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: It has been noted by fans that the Cthaeh doesn't make sense as both TheOmniscient and a CompleteMonster--if it was really that powerful, no one would have been able to trap it, and there are better ways to do damage than to let everyone ''know'' that's all you want. Whether this means it isn't as powerful as people think or it isn't as evil is up for debate.

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel:
** Kvothe using the bandit's body as a Sympathy link to kill the others.
** Kvothe's cold-blooded murder of the fake Edemah Ruh clan. His reasons? Totally understandable, but ''damn.'' May also count as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome.
** The Cthaeh: Looking into your future, then leading the conversation in such a way, that your life will result in the most disastrous outcome possible. Not just for you, but for everyone around you.
** The Plum Bomb. Just think about someone going around with absolutely no concept of right and wrong, and how much damage they could do when murder seems on par with stealing a pie.

* HighOctaneNightmareFuel:
** Kvothe using the bandit's body as a Sympathy link to kill the others.
** Kvothe's cold-blooded murder of the fake Edemah Ruh clan. His reasons? Totally understandable, but ''damn.'' May also count as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome.
** The Cthaeh: Looking into your future, then leading the conversation in such a way, that your life will result in the most disastrous outcome possible. Not just for you, but for everyone around you.
** The Plum Bomb. Just think about someone going around with absolutely no concept of right and wrong, and how much damage they could do when murder seems on par with stealing a pie.

* PlotTumor: The interminable interlude of faerie sex. Someone counted the pages. '60.'

* PlotTumor: The interminable interlude of faerie sex. Someone counted the pages. *60.*

* IdiotBall: For how intelligent he is, Kvothe can't come up with a good argument to prove that sexual intercourse causes pregnancy. This is partly due to his incomplete scientific knowledge.

* TearJerker: Kvothe crying about missing his mother in Auri's arms while he's under the influence of the plum bob.

** They ''do'' commit crimes, as Kvothe's reasoning for murdering the fake troupers makes clear. However, leading a nomadic lifestyle that involves constantly coming into strange towns means they ''do'' have to ruthlessly uphold their reputation.

** The Adem, an entire society of warrior-philosophers. They're ruled by their elite mercenary schools, whose martial arts secrets are several orders of magnitude greater than any other society's. Even their lowliest, stupidest members look like superheroes compared to other people. Their leaders are selected purely on merit. They have absolutely no sexual inhibitions, yet also have absolutely no venereal disease. Their language is far more subtle and elegant than any other. They all have iron-clad composure. Their food is delicious. Their medicinal skill rivals the greatest academic institutions. They are technologically advanced. They live in great wealth and comfort, but without needless frills or vanity. They seem to lack crime, corruption and poverty. The only mark that might be laid against their entire society is that they disapprove of public music, but that is only because they treasure it so much as an intimate experience.
** Now that's being unfair to the Adem--there's a LOT about them that is worthy of disgust. Their society is so backwards that they refuse to believe that men have any role in propagating the species. They exhibit the worst traits of LadyLand and the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Proud Warrior Race]] including a smug sense of superiority over the foreign barbarians. While Rothfuss almost certainly intended to make the culture interesting, overall the Adem society seems like a Mary Sue ''Dystopia''.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: The bandit camp/outpost. To clarify, [[spoiler:Kvothe using the dead body of a Bandit sentry as a mommet to kill several other Bandits, then using a bow string and a six-piece sympathy link to sever the strings of five Bandit bows, followed by taking advantage of a storm to use sympathy to call down Lightning upon the bandit camp itself.]] Using the name of the wind to save Denna from what appears to be an asthma attack. Shutting down Felurian, either with the name of the wind or, as Elodin suggests, by calling ''her'' name. Hell, any time we see him perform a feat of naming could be considered this.
* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: Kvothe using the bandit's body as a Sympathy link to kill the others.

*** This is actually offset by the whole 'they don't know where babies come from' thing.

** The Adema, an entire society of warrior-philosophers. They're ruled by their elite mercenary schools, whose martial arts secrets are several orders of magnitude greater than any other society's. Even their lowliest, stupidest members look like superheroes compared to other people. Their leaders are selected purely on merit. They have absolutely no sexual inhibitions, yet also have absolutely no venereal disease. Their language is far more subtle and elegant than any other. They all have iron-clad composure. Their food is delicious. Their medicinal skill rivals the greatest academic institutions. They are technologically advanced. They live in great wealth and comfort, but without needless frills or vanity. They seem to lack crime, corruption and poverty. The only mark that might be laid against their entire society is that they disapprove of public music, but that is only because they treasure it so much as an intimate experience.

** The Cthaeh: Looking into your future, then leading the conversation in such a way, that your life will result in the most disastrous outcome possible.

** The Plum Bob. Just think about someone going around with absolutely no concept of right and wrong, and how much damage they could do when murder seems on par with stealing a pie.

* CompleteMonster: The Cthaeh is seen by the Fae as the most horrible creature in existance. The way Bast describes it fits the trope description to a T: It can see all possible futures perfectly and supposedly influences anyone who talks to it in a way that will ensure the most disastrous consequences for that person and the world at large. We don't know the full extent of its influence, however.

* CompleteMonster: The Cthaeh is seen by the Fae as the most horrible creature in existance. It can see all possible futures perfectly and supposedly influences anyone who talks to it in a way that will ensure the most disastrous consequences. We don't know the full extent of its influence, however.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: The bandit camp/outpost. To clarify, [[spoiler:Kvothe using the dead body of a Bandit sentry as a mommet to kill several other Bandits, then using a bow string and a six-piece sympathy link to sever the strings of five Bandit bows, followed by taking advantage of a storm to use sympathy to call down Lightning upon the bandit camp itself.]]

** Kvothe's cold-blooded murder of the fake Edemah Ruh clan. I understand his reasons, but ''damn.''

* TearJerker: Kvothe crying about missing his mother in Fela's arms while he's under the influence of the plum bob.

[[WMG: Bast is Kvothe's Son.]]

Bast is Kvothe's son with Ferulian. Reshi might mean father or dad. The way Bast is so worried for him and trying to measure up to him. Time is also apparently kind of blurry in the Fae realm. These all support the theory that Bast is Kvothe's son.