10 things we need to see in The Doors Of Stone, Kingkiller Book 3

4. The contents of Kvothe’s thrice-locked chest

Another long-standing mystery of the series is the “thrice-locked chest” which Kvothe keeps in his bedroom at the Waystone Inn. It’s an ominous box, constructed of rare Roah wood in such a manner that the seam between the lid and bottom is practically invisible. As the name implies, three locks seal its mysterious contents from prying eyes: one of iron, one of copper, and one unseen.

But the most intriguing part of all is that even Kvothe himself cannot open the chest. In one scene in The Wise Man’s Fear, he goes so far as to open the iron and copper locks, but ultimately ends up laying his forehead against the chest and sagging with defeat over the final, invisible lock.

Kvothe comes across many treasures during his journeys, so there are any number of things that could be in the thrice-locked chest. Theories range from Kvothe’s shaed (a shadow cloak made by the Fae queen Felurian), his sword, or even his true name (names have power in Kingkiller; once you know the name of a thing it grants you control over it).

It’s also been strongly speculated that the box was modeled after — or is in some way related to — the Lackless box, an heirloom of a royal family with a similarly enigmatic construction that Kvothe gets a chance to examine during the second book (and which we’ll talk more about momentarily).

All we know for certain is that the box has yet to be opened, and that given the cryptic moments it’s gotten on the page, with both Kvothe and Bast trying and failing to gain access, whatever’s inside has got to be important.