Seven and Seven is

Seven and Seven is…

Apocalypse in 7/8

Have you ever noticed that the following lines appear on NotW p. 77?

Seven things has Lady Lockless

Keeps them underneath her block dress

One a ring that’s not for wearing

One a sharp word not for swearing

Right beside her husband’s candle

There’s a door without a handle

In a box, no lid or locks

Lockless keeps her husband’s rocks

There’s a secret she’s been keeping

She’s been dreaming and not sleeping

On a road that’s not for traveling

Lockless likes her riddle raveling

I’ll tell you right now, I don’t have all the answers. This is one of those that is a work in progress.

Rings are a tradition in Vint stemming back to the dawn of time, ie Tehlu Day. They also feature in both of the Lockless riddle rhymes, 

The Lockless box 

The first thing to point out is that whoever wrote this song clearly purports to know the contents of the box. For that to be true then the author must have been present when this box was last opened which I'm pretty sure will also be the same date as when if was first closed. With this box being described as the root of the family name that makes this an equally ancient song and it must then be written about the original founding members of that house meaning this is actually a song about Lady Perial 

The second thing we are told is that Perial had a husband who would therefore be Lord Lockless. 

The goal of this piece is to put a name to him 

The tRIaNGle Cycle.

If you have come from my Lady Perial and her rings of gold theory to get here you will start to see how fiendish this riddle unravelling game can be. My approach to translating the two Lockless songs is more algebraic than prosaic and involves reducing each line down to its most salient word and ignoring the prose for now, as it is easier to work with smaller pieces at this level. And one line at a time…for now.

The first Lockless rhyme was sung by a girl and is therefore called the girls song. Seven different things are being described, and the first two items that Perial Lockless currently has about her person are a Ring (for which I shall assign letter O) and a Word. (W)

Then things start to get a bit funny. The second Lockless rhyme (recited by a boy) lists all seven things more clearly in 1,2,3 order while the girl version does not, it only really defines the first two of them as hers before the next items are shared out equally between the husband and the wife. the riddle continues by naming her Husband’s one-time posessions. We have his candle (C) which stands outside the door (D) which is plainly going to be the door that Caudicus mentions as an heirloom that lies on the oldest parts of the family estates and is at least as ancient as the box. Being the Husband of the Lady Lockless would mean that this door should be regarded as being his door, too.

Lady L might physically have possession the Box (B) but without the means of opening it, she cannot in full hosnesty claim full ownership of the contents…his Rocks (R), The seventh and final thing that the lady keeps is a Secret (S) and this final item appears to be just hers alone.

Using Algebraic lettering like this gives us the simple identifiers O,W,C,D,B,R,S.

Factoring in Lord Lockless as being an equal partner in their union implies that if 7 things has the Lady then  7 things also has (or had) the Lord… presuming all ownership to be oddly dual… just like the chancellors socks !

They might have one each or share

This line of thinking would obviously only work whilst they were still married and/or alive and when they both died the stewardship of this door and box, and their encumbent rocks and attendant candle, would naturally be passed down through the family tree as dual heirlooms to be held in keeping by the eldest remaining member of the next generation.

Now, if you have B in your hands then you would by default also have possession of R. You cannot really have one without the other and similarly if you are standing in the presence of D then you must at the same time be also in the presence of C! or in plainer English, the rhyme dictates that you cannot own the box without also owning the rocks, or be by the door without also being by the candle meaning that these 4 items are actually 2 pairs of 2, his n hers.

This leaves us with the W and S which do actually fit nicely enough together as Secret Words are the key to revealing secrets of the mouth, a thing much spoken of by Teccam in his Theophony.

‘There are two types of secrets, Secrets of the mouth and Secrets of the heart.’

Words are necessary devices for the revealing of Secrets of the mouth. The other kind of secret he explains is a secret of the heart and whilst we do not know quite what that means yet, this line of reasoning does provide another nice double link between the last bits of our mad algebra the third pair in our triangular diagram. It would also be expected that half of each pair would correctly be positioned under her husbands triad of possessions to make all three brackets neat and tidy Since the Lady has claimed posession of the S, his contribution must be the W by default.

This has now become a ring problem with the three superimposed triangle corners being C/D, B/R and W/S which should also follow the pattern dictated that one triad is specifically associated with the Lord and the other is designated for his Lady. Cross of David. 

The remaining O I have already identified as being the Golden ring around the eye and they are unique to Lady Perial Lackless (and her heirs) but this ring is singularly spoken of which doesn’t quite fit with a pair of eyes or the dual pattern emerging since her husband would not share her ocular appearance as he lacks the requisite link since he is in no way regarded as being God’s father. He does have eyes of his own although we have no idea as to their colour. 

And so it appears this dual path is becoming a dead end as the happy couple cannot share this same golden eye ring. So we can either give up … or assume that there must be a second riddle ring to discover. OO

The Ring Cycle. part II

As I pointed out earlier, Lord L would himself have been the joint custodian of both the Lockless door and Loeclos box. however the candle and rocks were definitely once his own personal belongings and are only in his wife’s current safe keeping since his absence. There ought to be a rhyme somewhere that lists the seven things that Lord Lackless owned too, really, and that would double up to fourteen things in total.

Seven things stand before the entrance to (Lord)Lockless’ door.

One of them a ring(O) unworn

Two a word(W) that is forsworn

Three a time(T) that must be right

Four a candle(C) without light

Five a son(S) who brings the blood

Six a door(D) that holds the flood

Seven a thing(T2) held tight inn keeping

Then comes that (the answer) which comes with sleeping.

O,W,T,C,S,D,T²

The Lord of the Rings.

Unraveling 

There is a lot of similarity between these two song lists content and the two rings are close enough at first glance to be assumed as being one and the same thing, but this is not so. this is where the prose differences inherent in the two seven word riddles answers begin to appear, if they refer to seven answers for each partner. So what is the Lord's ring all about? If we are looking for ‘his n hers’ then her ring unworn and his ring that’s not for wearing are  not the same thing. Perial’s rings are not exactly worn they are visibly for wearing and cannot be taken from her. Unworn might mean in mint condition. Gold standard.

We hear from Bredon about the tradition of exchanging courtly rings among Vintish society as a way of displaying your rank and power and that the three levels of power are lowly Iron, Silver for parity and finally superior Gold. On that basis, Lady Perials own golden ring marks her as being accorded a status far above all others in the way of such things and the most important O that there can ever possibly be. None is held in higher regard than she, not even her husband can claim that accolade and although we do not know his own ring status to properly compare them, we can assume that at best he was most likely regarded as silver for parity in the three ring scale as you wouldn’t insult such a man with iron. but then we are told that there is a fourth ring to consider, a lower rung of the ladder than iron which once used to appear in the rankings long ago to mark a servant but the practice has now fallen out of use completely and is only remembered as a plot device in a number of old plays…

In a modern comparison to our historical investigation, the difference between the top ring and bottom rung of the status symbols would be best depicted by when Lady Meluan Lackless gives the Edema Ruh Kvothe a wooden ring with her own name freshly burned into if. Such is the depth of division displayed to all here by the Lady Lackless giving anyone a wooden ring shows to the whole world that she is taking the most extreme method of making her point, telling the recipient that he is to be considered as far beneath her in every shape, way and form imaginable, and that the ravel ruh are ranked in her eyes as the lowest of the low, that the Edema are an excresence on the arse of world, or even that they are like the discharge that drips from it. Compared to her own lofty golden station they are lower than the shit on her horses shoes and that they aren’t even bracketed as being the same species as herself. This is her own opinion of someone in the know as to the two opposite ends of the social spectrum and is the view of the Lackless family as a whole who even disowned their daughter for joining with a different family, the One family of the Edema Ruh.

‘That means to her you aren’t even a person. You aren’t worth recognizing as a human being… It’s not the sort of ring you wear,’ Said Bredon uncomfortably, ‘It’s quite the other sort of ring actually.’

Stapes confirms this on the next page when he asserts that ‘You really shouldn’t wear it’ to which Kvothe, who understands her accompanying letter, replies ‘I’m not ashamed of what I am, If this is the ring of an Edema Ruh, I’ll wear it.’ Stapes sighed, ‘It’s more complicated than that.’

It doesn’t look that complicated to me, it is twice clearly stated that a wooden ring is a ring that’s not for wearing and is therefore a match the ring of the original Lord Loeclos and of the Edema Ruh both. Lord Lockless is then considered as deserving the same rank as Kvothe does, and Lady Lackless is dismissing Kvothe Utterly. His rejection has further comparisons to the Adem’s act of ‘cutting away’, which is the ultimate in exile from their own silent family for breaking the unbreakable rules. The implication is that the whole Lackless family, their song, their history of misfortune and scandal and the origins of the old Vintish tradition the giving of ‘a ring that’s not for wearing’ is the same method the original family used to deliver the ultimate message to any that they consider the Edema Ruh men that the all Lackless ladies never want to ever even think of again. It is a banishment and an instruction to never darken their door again… which is a bloody good line to use here as their door in question is already lit by the ravel lord’s own candlelight as per the Lackless song. Perhaps Stapes was right, it IS more complicated than that. Illian was the first Lord of music.

Like our original ring unworn, this ring also happens to be a ‘ring that’s not for wearing’… and it’s a wooden one. Meluan Lackless knows better than any the import of this old tradition to let her true feelings about the Edema Ruh known to Kvothe. His newly given ring he keeps as a memento of his own, it is also really an heirloom since it is the ring of the lackless outcast and given his mothers bloodline this is his true birthright on his great* grandfathers side and this one is even a true Lackless ring, it’s even got the name burned into it. Of course, being his mother’s son, he already has the Golden rings of the Lackless family great* grandmother and so now he has a matching set . OO. So if the Golden ring is from his ultimate grandmother, and the bloodline is still unbroken all down through the ages, then the wooden ring must represents his ulimate grandfather…whoever that may be, and Kvothe the Bloodless is looking like he is in all actuality going to be the 'son that brings the blood.'

Auri say’s that a wooden ring holds your secrets, and Auri is very wise about such things.

We should also note that among the earliest spellings used in Lockless history for the true family name are Loeclos, or Loklos, or Loeloes and they were all at one time valid. But although the Loeclos Box is how Meluan Lackless, the current Lady of the house Lackless, refers to this ancient family heirloom herself. This does not quite end our digging. That name relates to the boxes age. The name Loklos might just be a transitory step in the whole chain of events that led to the box, and may indicate a time where the ‘ck’ part was first married to the ‘Loe’ part, creating the lock. The bottom of the pile theory is that LoeLoe’s could indicate loe + loe which I might even suggest to be an acronym for the combined initials in Lord Of Ergen and Lady Of Ergen.

Ooooooo-K! Back to work on Ringlore.

Trying to compare the two riddles as one for alternate lines for his Lordship and her Ladyship is the way forward. Remembering that the original way into this mess was by closely examining a Vintish copper penny, I will hazard a guess that our puzzle is a lotlike looking at a newly broken penny where each part is now a single and seperate thing. It would appear that for some unknown reason the happy couple are no longer together, their marriage has been reft apart like everything else in this part of the world has been, and while if is for her to remain by the door, he has gone into exile. This separation would also seem to be a tragic event in her Ladyship’s eyes in that it was enough to make her afterwards become famously noted as wearing a black dress and black is readily acknowledged as being the colour of mourning.

note: this shouldn’t be confused with the name of the last day of the week, or that Mourning’s colour would likely be Tehlin grey! although i’m sure that the sentiment is the same. Or even mentioning that ‘blak’ meant ‘battle’ in the old tongue of Ergen…

All the indications and hints I am getting from the various songs we hear of in the world are that a mutually happy separation doesn’t exist. The Lay of Sir Savien is a tragedy of love lost and this seperation is comparable in that it has also left our lady all alone. There is further musical indications of lonliness due to separation like the lady in the lyrics to Violet Bide perhaps, who waits for her lover to come back from the sea, or maybe like the one from In the Village Smithy! who’s husband has gone off to war. I would guess that if music is anything to go by, the Loeclos seperation was almost certainly deemed to be a necessary one and that it has been imposed upon the lovers not by cruel fate, but by design. Since our Lady is also known to be the mother of God among her other titles, (pure of heart and above any reproach, saviour of the world, mother of dragons etc. etc.) and considering that her ex-husbands keepsakes are all she has left to remember him by, and are the whole families most treasured possessions, then it really ought to be the case that nobody could ever have the authority to be able to tell her who she must or mustn’t be with, not the Emperor who couldn’t tell her to cross the road,, nor the King of Modeg who was more wicked than she, not even the Pontifex could make that decree, since she is the Queen of the world and outranks him. No, Only a higher authority than man could have been responsible, namely her own first born son Menda/Tehlu/Aleph/God. Only He would dare have the right to demand any such a thing of her and her choice of husband. No mere mortal man could hope to dictate their will to be above that of God’s own mother which suggests that their parting must have been an essential part of God’s own plan, the sort of thing that was held to be a necessary sacrifice… possibly because it was for the greater good…

The alternative is that she threw him out for diddling the chambermaid or something like that.

The bottom line is that the husband is clearly no longer on the scene and only his ex-wife knows the importance of his last remaining possessions, and she isn’t telling anyone what that is because it’s a secret of the heart, and the unhappy couple are both holding onto the answers very tightly.