Moon Mapping
Empty Moon
When you rattle the books, something new always falls out that you never noticed before. I’ve found some pretty big clues in my time, but this find might just unlock a whole new level for exploration and imagination both. In Chapter 53. Auri presents Kvothe with a key. This is the first gift that she brings him and it turns out to be key to unlocking what comes next.
“What does it unlock?” “The moon.” “That should be useful.”
Her timing is perfect as holding thoughts about the moon in my head over the next few chapters led me to noticing a few familiar shapes in the overall pattern of things, and when you notice a pattern to follow, if gives you some idea of where the next step really ought to be, even if you cannot actually see it, and that gives you the confidence to take a more confident leap into the unknown, relying on what isn’t actually stated there to support you and your theory both. And I can show the path to you, too. Chapter 59 is the part you need to re-read, NotW p.395. All This Knowing.
‘See them as they go’ directsour Pat, asking us to picture the scene for ourselves, assuming a viewpoint more usually taken by a narrator than a barman. Pat wants us to imagine the scene being described as the stage props are put in place and then tells you everything that you need to know to paint the details on the scenery. It is written very much like the ‘silence in three parts’ chapter in many respects, a detailed overview from a more distant viewpoint. We have an indication of the time, it being ‘the late hour’, which suggest it is long past closing time and the hour when most normal god-fearing folk should be safely tucked abed. The hour is late and the small stitched sounds described underpin the general backdrop of respectful silence.
‘The night was like warm velvet around them. The stars, burning diamonds in the cloudless sky’ and so we can imagine our stage lighting and that we are lit by starlight which shines bright and clear on the Old Stone Road beneath our feet, adding some silver to the grey stones and waystones both. We know our starting point and we know our destination, but right now we are approaching a point somewhere between, neither here nor there, and we know that on such a journey the boys must navigate the crossing point found between the two towns. Superstition abounds around the Old Stone Bridge, ‘spit for luck!’ It is a high place with a chance of falling, a dangerous place. A greystone is nearby among the old trees stones, a place where the fae are rumoured to frequent and this all fit’s well with the line that ‘The night is perfect in a wild way, almost terrifyingly beautiful.’
The scene is set in shades of silver and shadow and you can see this feeling echoed in the three boys, ‘one light, one dark, one …fiery.’ …who are remarkably oblivious to the obvious, that there is clearly a hint of …’something’ blowing on the wind. On another night on this very road, we are told that the boys decided they are far too wobbly to attempt the bridge road and chose to shelter down by a greystone to sober up for a while, but not tonight, this is a night when a wise man would go straight home and close the door firmly behind him. Tonight is a wild and special night, one that still has a touch of the fae about it.
‘Something that appeals to all the fae are places with connections to the raw,true things that shape the world. Places that are touched with fire and stone. Places that are close to water and air.
When all four come together…’
Tonight was also a night for celebration and drunkeness enough for the boys natural bravado to banish the unseen fears. What is Unseen is exactly what is missing here, it is not spoken of in any sense, colour or form, as secrets often aren’t, and the best way I know to understand what someone is really saying, is to listen to what they don’t say instead and focus upon all that is implied by omission. There is, quite deliberately, no mention of the moon.
Statement #1. Kvothe won his talent pipes on a moonless night. Change My Mind.
FullMoon
Now I wrote that piece a long time ago, but every good idea needs a sequel so lets take this further. Knowing the Synodic Period (SP) to be 72 1/3 nights long, we can simply add or subtract to identify the other moonless nights. What is more, if it takes the moon 1 SP to turn all the way through her phases and return to her starting point, then SP/2 will be the time she takes to change from one side to the other, which in this case involves turning from empty moon O to full moon O.
So what is the reference date for Kvothes mOonless night? Well he tells Simmon he will play on ‘Mourning’ which narrows the field a bit, and we later read that the next day Kvothe enters the admissions lottery which always falls on the 34th day of any given month. Therefore O=33. However, and this is Important! Our magical Chapter 59 tells us that it was ‘the late hour’ and if that, as I assume, means that midnight has now passed, then it is officially a new day, which means that we need to add +1 to our magic formula making O = 34 instead.
To find the date of the next full mOon requires the formula O = (O + SP/2)
Since Aturan months all have 44 days that will now need to subtracted for our final answer to reveal the date for the following month to reveal that O ‘s next appearance should be due just past midnight on the night of the 26th* day of the following month. Yes, I really did need to explain that bit out loud. So do we have anything in the books about this random , yet auspicious date? Of course we do.
‘Please call on me before the 23rd of this month and we will have our lunch, belated. After that I will be about on my business… Denna.’
Autumn term is now passing and ‘this mOnth’ is now the same as Our full mOnth. In the chapters that follow we learn that Denna’s business took her up to Trebon which by boat, the standard means of transportation, takes ‘a couple days’ which will equate to her disembarking at Evesdown docks two days later on the 25th . Some folk may argue that If Denna’s words are taken literally they might suggest that the 23rd would find her still available in Imre, but away from the 24th onwards giving her her an eta of the 26th instead suggesting her arrival being on the day of the actual wedding and the night of the actual full moon both. Whether she arrived early or not we can confidently say that the moon was getting ready to shine her brightest light on both Denna and the happy couple as they began their honeymoon. Having this natural illumination to backdrop their special night was clearly an important factor in making this particular night being selected and Farmer Mauthern would accept nothing but the best for his daughter.
Statement #2. Denna played Mauthern Wedding on a moonfull night. Change my mind.
‘Today was the 28th.’
If you do want to try and change my mind you will prolly start by pointing out this reaction from Kvothe upon reading Denna’s letter as it appears to put a spanner in the works. The easiest answer to that quandary would be to suggest that he made this statement after midnight meaning that the news Kvothe hears a few hours later about the mauthern wedding that was credited as being ‘fresh last night’ which would imply the attack had occurred on the 27th which will put our numbers out by one whole day! Now this sailorman claimed that he was actually in Trebon, in the tavern when they came in with the first news, and he had then promptly boarded his boat and sailed downriver to Imre’s docks over the course of a single night because its always quicker to travel by boat when the water flows with you. We cannot argue with that logic or timing and so the 27th must then be regarded as the day that news of the blue fire first broke. correct. The focus of the argument will then centre around the question ‘how many hours had passed before the news reached the town? If we can assume that just like at the Waystone Inn, the Trebon Tavern shuts his doors at night and re-opens them again the next morning to serve breakfast and beer and that must be the first opportunity forthe sailorman to hear the disturbing news, whilst he drank his breakfast beer.
This then was the morning of the 27th, the day after the wedding ceremony. So the sailor leaves to catch his boat South as the locals send out their wagons to go get the bodies. They find Denna and bring her back to the Tavern where she is tended and questioned and sat with and slept for a full day until Kvothe arrives to the rescue at lunchtime of the next day. the 28th.
Thats how you explain away any 27th day paradox. The Mauthern wedding ceremony was held in the sunshine of the 26th The Pot was presented to the happy couple by a proud father before all of his grummer friends that evening and Denna entertained everyone with her music that night. It was dark by the time Master Ash appeared but the moon should be full and bright, and not by accident either since what better night would a proud father plan for his daughters wedding than under the auspicious blessing of a full harvest moon to illuminate the celebrations until long past the late hour? It all fits too beautifully to be wrong.
Now both of these statements are contingent upon each other. the gap between them is what ties them together so that you cannot have one without the other and if one is assumed correct , then they are both correct. of course the same argument applies to my being wrong about them, too.
Bean counter might find more exact answers to their full moon questions down in the fractions department where they can factor in an extra 1/6th of a day to our semi-synodic maths and remember also that Kvothe adds the caveat ‘give or take’ to his synodic admissions answer. If you are still a disbeliever, then may I suggest you take the question up with Pat himself. He’d love that…
I can easily imagine that Master Rothfuss had/has a huge wall chart up in his writing den and lots and lots of notebooks, stuffed with all sorts of necessary world-building information so that mistakes are simply not allowed to happen. There would be books full of runes and architects plans for all the towns there would be maps showing actual mileage and a masterplan of Kvothe’s location on any given day. To complement this he would have a printed copy of a University Academic Calendar, an Aturan Church Calendar and a Yllish Lunar Calendar which will have all the actual moon phases marked upon it. and I feel it is my duty to recreate these treasures for fans to print off and gift to each other as christmas presents.
That will involve the drawing up a Yllish Lunar Calendar and that is where I will probably go next asI attempt to write Basil’s Homework essay. however thats not proving as easy as it might be asnd I find myself struggling a bit with my UAC to ACC to YLC reckoning. Whilst I’m busy sorting out that little web of deceit I would recommend some further reading for you all from Scowlbear, a fellow Reddit KKC colleague, concerning suspicious university misinformation concerning the dates of all things in our approved sources, A very Amyr sounding practice if ever I saw one.
you can find xyr work on the menu bar under Scowlbear.