History Literature / TheWiseMansFear

* HighClassCallGirl: {{Discussed|Trope}}. Denna rescues a runaway girl forced to play prostitute to make ends meet from a violent client, then has a long talk with her about how if she doesn't want to return home she can at least make herself one of these. The glamor only goes so far, though: Denna compares a High-Class Call Girl to a normal prostitute by comparing a lord's well-kept horse to a shabby, run-down steed - including the part where at the end of the day they both get ridden.

* AgonizingStomachWound: After Kvothe fights a group of bandits/kidnappers, one survives but has a horrible stomach wound. Kvothe specifically [[InvokedTrope invokes]] this trope, and gives him a water bottle so that his death will last longer. Kvothe stills considers it the cruelest thing he's ever done.

* BetaCouple: Kvothe witnesses Fela slowly falling for Simmon's [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan gentle good nature]] Fela and by the time Kvothe returns from his half-year absence in the university, Fela and Simmon became a couple. Simmon is [[InsecureLoveInterest somewhat insecure about it]] when Kvothe returns since he knows Fela had a crush on him, but she quickly reassures him she's not interested anymore.

* BrickJoke: In the [[Literature/TheNameOfTheWind first book]], Elodin asks Kvothe, "Do you know the seven words that will make a woman love you?" Several examples pop up:[[spoiler: "I need you to breathe for me," "I was just wondering why you're here," "I guess I'm doomed to die loveless," "You know, I could have carried you," and "For all that, she lacked your fire,"]] showing that the right words are based on context, as does Naming.

* CannotSpitItOut:
** Kvothe continues to have trouble confessing his feelings to Denna.
** It's implied that the reverse is also true, making this a case of EveryoneCanSeeIt. Kvothe has started doing much as Denna is doing (slightly different in that she is mostly doing it to survive, and he doesn't do it for money/presents), i.e. having brief relationships that end when the other individual realises Denna[=/=]Kvothe will never actually commit. He and Fela have a conversation about this wherein this exchange occurs:

* TheDreaded: The Cthaeh, a being that can see the future perfectly and is one of the most evil things in existence. It specializes in [[ButterflyOfDoom creating butterflies of doom]] by acting as a malicious oracle, telling visitors whatever truths will cause the most damage. And if that weren't enough, the flowers that surround it act as a panacea so there's always someone trying to talk to it. Bast says that he would rather fight all the Chandrian together than exchange ten words with the Cthaeth. There is an ancient order of immortal Fae, wielding bows that can kill a man with perfect accuracy from half a mile off. Their ''only'' purpose is to make sure ''no one'' speaks to the Cthaeth, and no one even goes near anyone who went near it.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: This book ends on a slightly brighter point of Kvothe's story, with him [[spoiler:surrounded by friends, able to study freely at The university, and moderately wealthy for the first time in his life.]] However, Kvothe mentions that going forward a bit, things get darker real quick, so this is just a [[HopeSpot Hope Spot]].

* GenreBlindness: Rather perplexingly, given how [[GenreSavvy savvy]] he usually is, Kvothe does not realize that Elodin's inane and pointless requests are not designed to directly give answers, but to enable a person to find the answers themselves, until long after he has left the class. [[spoiler:This directly ties back to his FatalFlaw: impatience.]]

** [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by Elodin as a reason he's not keen on teaching Kvothe.

--> "It wasn't hot and furious, as some of my flashes of temper tend to be. This was different, slow and cold."

--> I was one of ''those''. I meddled with dark powers. I summoned demons. I ate the entire little cheese, including the rind.

-->'''Kvothe:''' I refuse to throw myself at her like every other man she's ever met. She hates it. I've seen what happens.
-->'''Fela:''' Have you ever thought she might feel the same way? You do have something of a reputation with the ladies.

-->"The Maer has already come close to the Amyr, though he doesn't realize it. Stick by the Maer and he will lead you to their door." The Cthaeh gave a thin, dry chuckle. "Whatever else you might forget, remember what I just said. Eventually you'll get the joke. I guarantee you'll laugh when the time comes."

--> '''Maer Alveron''': My dear, I don't care for them much more than you, but law is law. When-.\\

-->'''Devi:''' "Money is nice," she said, her eyes glittering. "But the world is full of things that people would never sell. Favors and obligation are worth far, far more."

* SufficientlyAnalyzedMagic: Sympathy and Alchemy, analyzed to the point that they aren't even considered magic anymore.

* HornyDevils: Felurian magically causes men to be overwhelmingly attracted to her. When she has them, either she exhausts them with her desires or discards them to go insane with unfilled desire for her. Kvothe's memory of AttemptedRape saves him.

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: The Adem consider themselves to be on a higher moral level than "barbarians," and part of that is their total lack of sexual inhibitions. However, Felurian is [[BlueAndOrangeMorality completely amoral]], and has terrific sex as well.

* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Sovoy is a rare literary example. While popping up occasionally in the first book as one of Kvothe's school acquaintances, he's dropped completely out of the story in this book. In [[http://www.tor.com/blogs/2012/05/rothfuss-reread-pat-answers-the-admissions-questions an interview]], the author joked that he now "lives on a farm out in the country now. He's happy there. He has pleny of room to run and play." This is the stereotypical lie parents tell their kids about pets that have been put down.
** He makes a cameo appearance in, of all places, the Tak Companion Book.

* NotSoDifferent: Kvothe and [[spoiler:Denna. Both stay somewhere where they're abused because it's the only place they can learn what they want to learn.]]

Kvothe, now a young man studying at [[WizardingSchool the University]], decides to take a few terms off and travel the world after a particularly eventful month leaves him on the outs with the Masters. Armed with a letter of introduction from a noble friend, Kvothe travels to Vintas, where he becomes embroiled in [[DeadlyDecadentCourt courtly politics]], bandit attacks along the King's Road, a beguiling faerie enchantress, training from the legendary [[WarriorMonk Adem mercenaries]], and a troubling homecoming. All while trying to come to grips with his growing love for Denna, and trying to tease out information on the mysterious Chandrian, as well as [[UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar the Amyr]], a band of warriors who even the Chandrian still fear, despite the Amyr supposedly being disbanded hundreds of years ago...

* StandardRoyalCourt: The court of the Maer of Vintas. Since we're seeing this story from Kvothe's point of view, it comes off as a bit of a DeadlyDecadentCourt.

* TeacherStudentRomance: {{Downplayed|Trope}}, Kvothe. Twice.
** He enters a FriendsWithBenefits relationship with his Adem mentor [[HotTeacher Vashet]]. She just views it as a way of keeping his mind on the training instead of on finding her distracting.
** Kvothe is turned on by grappling with his Lethani instructor so much that he gets a boner. Luckily, she takes care of it for him whenever he needs.

* HotForTeacher: Kvothe is turned on by grappling with his Lethani instructor so much that he gets a boner. Luckily, she takes care of it for him whenever he needs.

* TeacherStudentRomance: {{Downplayed|Trope}}, Kvothe enters a FriendsWithBenefits relationship with his Adem mentor [[HotTeacher Vashet]]. She just views it as a way of keeping his mind on the training instead of on finding her distracting.

* TeacherStudentRomance: {{Downplated|Trope}}, Kvothe enters a FriendsWithBenefits relationship with his Adem mentor [[HotTeacher Vashet]]. She just views it as a way of keeping his mind on the training instead of on finding her distracting.

* MusclesAreMeaningless: A discussed trope. The Adem mercenaries say that women are better fighters even though they are smaller and weaker than men. Vashet asserts that strength has very little to do with fighting ability.

* MusclesAreMeaningless: A discussed trope. The Adem mercenaries say that women are better fighters even though they are smaller and weaker than the men. Vashet asserts that strength has very little to do with fighting ability.

* SublimeRhyme: Felurian speaks almost entirely in rhymes. As mentioned above, Kvothe and Denna also get into the act when bantering. More easily noticed in the audio book.

-->'''Devi:''' "Money is nice," she said, her eyes glittering. "But the world is full of things
that people would never sell. Favors and obligation are worth far, far more."

** Kvothe works on an intricate and difficult bit of artificiery that uses a kind of chemical that can seep through the skin,[[note]]This is a real thing, as is much of the magic in the story, albeit with fantastical effects. DMSO, or dimethyl sulfoxide is an example of such a delivery agent. Many compounds will dissolve in it, and it moves readily through the skin, making it an effective delivery agent. It gets even worse when the sulfoxide group is replaced with mercury. The main researcher on dimethyl mercury had a drop of the compound fall on her rubber gloved hand, and was dead five months later of severe mercury poisoning.[[/note]] and the text stresses the danger when, after getting ''a single drop'' on his sleeve, he cautiously lifts the cloth away from his skin with tongs and cuts it off with scissors rather than risk touching it. Later, he's drugged using that exact same method.

* UndressingTheUnconscious: When Kvothe faints at the fishery from the heat (caused by a [[VoodooDoll a Mommets]]), he wakes up in Medica next to Mala with all of his clothes gone and under a ModestyBedsheet. He's actually far more distressed that she undressed him because it means she noticed all the injures he got when he fell off the roof while escaping Ambrose's room at the inn. He and Wil eventually convince her to keep it a secret.

* AndIMustScream: Kvothe's response to Felurian, trapped inside his own lusty body.
* ApothecaryAlligator: Caudicus has one. It was actually his predecessor's. He admits he doesn't know why he had one, but kept it anyway. Kvothe is actually quite amused to see it.

* ArrogantKungFuGuy: Carceret is a female version.

* EccentricMentor: Elodin. ''Finally.''

* EyeScream: Kvothe's treatment of the bandits.

** An offhand reference to persecution of the Edema Ruh begins at the start and eventually culminates in the encounter with Lady Lackless.
** Bast's [[spoiler:strange reaction to Kvothe being mugged is a sign that he paid the soldiers to rob the inn.]]

* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: Bast panics when he realizes Kvothe spoke to [[spoiler: the Chteah]]. The Chronicler snaps him out of it with a slap, which is the opposite of their usual interactions.

** When Tam calls Tempi's mother a whore, Tempi responds, "You are very kind. I thank you." Prostitution is unknown to the Adem because they have no sexual taboo and practice free love. If someone's paying you for sex, that says ''very'' flattering things about your prowess in the sack!
** Dedan attempts to insult Tempi by saying that he fights like a woman. The Adem culture, however, believes that women are superior fighters because they have a better understand of Lethani morality. Tempi affirms, "Yes. I fight like a woman."
* IntoxicationEnsues: The "plum bob" alchemical concoction Kvothe is dosed with completely strips him of his inhibitions and moral grounding. When asked if he would consider murdering his mortal enemy in cold blood worse than stealing a pie, he asks whether it's a meat or fruit pie. Because RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil, however, he still considers the act literally unthinkable.

* RightMakesMight: The Adem claim that being morally superior and having more self control makes women better fighters.

* MrFanservice: During the entire expedition in the woods of Vintas, Tempi usually wears his skin-tight mercenary reds. Except the time that he spends most of the day stripped to the waist, or the times when Kvothe and Hespa discover that the Adem have [[InnocentFanserviceGirl no nudity taboo]].

* OhCrap: Many, many times. But probably the most notable was when [[TheFairFolk Bast]] hears that Kvothe has spoken to Cthaeh.
* OldMaster: Shehyn of the Adem looks like a grandmother but leads her village's school.
* TheOmniscient: The Cthaeh, who can see all possible futures perfectly, and is "perfectly malicious." It knows the exact outcome of every single possible action it could ever make, and always chooses the one that will cause the most harm to the world. Bast describes people who come into contact with it as "plague ships sailing for a harbor," because their actions will [[ButterflyOfDoom set up terrible events to occur]]. Bast describes it as infinitely more dangerous than even the apparent BigBad of the series, the Chandrian. In fact, Haliax himself turned evil after a meeting with the Cthaeh. Chronicler, however, isn't quite as convinced that it can have as much influence as Bast believes. The Fae in general however are so afraid of it that they kill anyone who talks to it from out of hearing range. And then shoot the crows that come for the body, too.
* PlayingCyrano: Kvothe to Maer Alveron of Vintas.
* PrecisionFStrike: Bast delivers the only instance of the f-word as of yet after Kvothe gets done talking about the Cthaeh.

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: When Kvothe gets drugged with a poison that completely removes his ability to judge morality, he can't figure out which is worse, killing a man or stealing a pie. But when it's suggested he might rape a girl, he just says, "I could never do that. Just like I couldn't eat a stone or walk through a wall."
* RapidFireShutUp: Bast does this as Kvothe tries to convince him that he did in fact speak with the Cthaeh.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Kvothe goes on one against the [[spoiler:fake Edema Ruh]].
* ShaggyDogStory: Kvothe tells one to the mercenaries he's leading so they stop asking him for stories.
* ShockAndAwe: There's a thunderstorm when the mercenary band confronts the bandits. Kvothe puts this to good use.

* VestigialEmpire: The Aturan Empire.
* VirginPower: An interesting variation: [[spoiler: When Kvothe meets Felurian, a faerie seductress who [[OutWithABang loves men to death]] or drives them mad, he's never been with a woman before. Afterwards, he composes a beautiful song about her, but she's rather offended when he sings of his experience with her being "nice". So he explains that that was his first time and he has ''no basis for comparison.'' As such, she ought to let him go so he can gain enough experience with women and compose a song that will do her justice. [[{{Pride}} It works.]]]]

* VoodooDoll: Mommets, a key component in Malfeasance. [[spoiler:Though an actual corpse serves this purpose later on in a grisly and disturbing fashion. There's a reason people used to burn arcanists at the stake.]]
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Some of the Amyr are implied to have been this. And at times Kvothe is well on his way.

* XanatosGambit: Alveron's scheme to send Kvothe after bandits would result in either the bandits being removed or severely weaken the Maer's debt to Kvothe. It also gets Kvothe out of the way so as not to interfere with the Maer's courtship.

* SpellMyNameWithAThe: The Ctheah. It's not clear if this is a name, or a title, or both.

** In ''Literature/TheNameOfTheWind'', Bast sneaked into Chronicler's room at night and opened a discussion with the line, "We need to talk." Mostly, Bast talked and Chronicler listened. In this book, it's Chronicler's turn.