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

The third book in Patrick Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicle series has a lot of ground to cover. When’s Kvothe gonna kill that king, huh?

When it comes to long-running fantasy series with highly anticipated sequels in the pipeline, it’s hard to find a more popular tale than A Song of Ice and Fire The Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss. When the first book, The Name of the Wind, came out in 2007, it made major waves with both fans and critics. That momentum only built when its follow-up, The Wise Man’s Fear, hit shelves four years later in 2011. Yet after that, the years have whiled on, with anticipation and reaching the sort of height that few stories outside Westeros ever see.

With around six months to go until the 10-year anniversary of The Wise Man’s Fear, fans have had plenty of time to spend dreaming about how the epic saga will end. And while we may still not have any release date (the last update was the following video from April 2020, when Rothfuss said the novel was still underway), we still have our dreams and fan theories.

The Kingkiller Chronicle follows Kvothe, a wizard prodigy who has gone into hiding as a humble inn keeper. When a famed chronicler comes to Kvothe’s inn, he decides to tell his life story in his own words — recounting adventures like meeting the immortal Fae Felurian, training with the renowned Adem mercenaries, and even facing down a dragon. Rothfuss tells the story with fantastic flourishes, subverting tropes and doing all sorts of things that catch fantasy fans hook, line and sinker.

Although the third (and presumably final) book, tentatively titled The Doors of Stone, hasn’t yet arrived, with each day that passes, we get one day closer to having the completed Kingkiller Chronicle on our shelves. For now, let’s not focus on the long wait, or the controversies. Let’s take a few minutes to dream about what long-foreshadowed events might await us in The Kingkiller Chronicle’s epic conclusion.

1. Kvothe and Bast’s first meeting

Right at the outset of The Kingkiller Chronicle, we’re introduced to two characters: Kvothe and his roguish assistant Bast. Bast is to Kvothe (or Kote, as he calls himself when tending the Waystone Inn) what Puck is to King Oberon in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. One part helper, one part student, and one part mischievous Fae who serves his own ends. While he may appear human, he in fact is a Fae under a glamour spell that hides his cloven hooves and entrancing blue eyes.

He’s also a fan favorite character. Bast even got his own short story, The Lightning Tree, in George R.R. Martin and Gardener Dozois’ Rogues anthology in 2014.

Bast came from the Fae realm, and part of Kvothe’s claim to fame is that he is one of the few humans to visit that fabled plane and return to tell the tale. Bast also deeply respects Kvothe, despite the fact that Kvothe is a human and young (only in his late twenties or early thirties in these sections of the book, compared to Bast’s 150 years). Bast goes so far as to use the honorific Reshi for him, the Fae word for teacher.

There’s a scene in The Wise Man’s Fear where Bast says he once met Denna, Kvothe’s on-again-off-again love interest. So the two have history, but to date Rothfuss has kept the details of their meeting unclear, leaving fans something to look forward to in Book Three.

There’s also Bast’s under-riding motive to consider, one that drives the story. Bast is the one who invites the Chronicler to come record Kvothe’s story, in an effort to remind the disillusioned magician who he once was..and to help him reclaim his power, so that he can set the world to rights.

Telling the story of how Bast and Kvothe first met is something that has been hinted at a lot, and that will be integral to Kvothe’s transformation into Kote. We definitely need to see a young(er) Bast show up in The Doors of Stone.

2. Kvothe leaving the University

Speaking of things that have been foreshadowed for a long time, these words adorned the back cover of The Name of the Wind:

"I was expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in."

Yet by the end of The Wise Man’s Fear, Kvothe is still a student at the University, the fabled academy which teaches the magical/scientific arts to the most talented people on the world of Temerant. He’s been in trouble there more times than anyone can count, sure, but still firmly on the registry. At one point in The Name of the Wind, the masters of the University do go so far as to expel him, but the order is almost instantly repealed, allowing Kvothe to return to his studies.

But The Doors of Stone is supposed to catch Kvothe’s past up to his present as a humble innkeeper, which means we’re finally going to see the circumstances under which Kvothe is booted from the University for good. Granted, his expulsion may be an instance where the details of his tale are blown out of proportion, a common theme in Rothfuss’ books, but at least we’ll know exactly what happened, and we know he has to eventually leave the University behind.

The big question is, will his leaving be related to his ever-present, snot-nosed noble of a rival Ambrose Jakis? (We’re betting yes.)

3. The death of a king

This one should come as no surprise. To date, despite the fact that the series is called The Kingkiller Chronicle, no kings have bitten the dust. That’s almost certainly going to change in Book Three.

Whether Kvothe will actually be the one to commit the regicide is a point of much speculation, however. A common theory is that that same Ambrose who Kvothe is constantly butting heads with at the University will actually end up being the king that Kvothe kills. Ambrose is 12th in line for the throne of Vintas, one of the predominant nations in Temerant. There have already been a few massacres at this point in the series, so it’s definitely not out of the realm of possibility that some sort of tragedy could propel Ambrose to the throne. And if it did, we wouldn’t bet on him changing his antagonistic ways. It’s easy to imagine Kvothe being thrust into a situation where killing Ambrose would become unavoidable.

On the other hand, another theory is that Kvothe won’t actually be the one to kill a king, but might take the blame for it and go into hiding. All we know for sure comes in Kvothe’s own words:

"I have been called Kvothe the Bloodless, Kvothe the Arcane, and Kvothe Kingkiller. I have earned those names. Bought and paid for them."

In The Doors of Stone, we’re going to find out once and for all how he earned that last name. Bet on it.

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.

5. What’s in the Lackless Box?

During the course of The Wise Man’s Fear, Kvothe is taken on as a court bard by a wealthy noble patron in the city of Vintas named Maer Alveron. After helping Alveron court the noble lady Meluan Lackless, Kvothe is eventually made privy to one of Meluan’s family secrets: an heirloom box that cannot be opened.

The similarities between the Lackless Box (or Loecless, the Lackless family’s historical name) and Kvothe’s thrice-locked chest are striking. For a start, both are made of smooth, polished wood, so tightly constructed that the seam in the box is nigh invisible. Like the inner layer of Kvothe’s thrice-locked chest, the heirloom box of the Lackless has no visible locks, thus inspiring another name: the Lockless Box. It’s believed that the Lackless box has never been opened, and given Kvothe’s frustrations at being unable to open his own chest, readers have drawn all sorts of conclusions.

It’s said that the Lackless Box contains something ancient, possibly even the key to a “door of stone,” or a piece of the moon itself. There’s also strong evidence to support the idea that Kvothe himself is actually the last heir of the Lackless line, owing to the idea that his mother was a noblewoman who turned her back on her upbringing to travel with her minstrel husband.

All this is to say, there’s a lot of foreshadowing around this box, and we want to know what’s inside!

6. A showdown with the Chandrian

The Chandrian are a group of seven mythical figures who serve as the long-game antagonist of The Kingkiller Chronicle. For most of the people of Temerant, the Chandrian are legendary figures of evil, but for Kvothe they represent a very real and present enemy: it was the Chandrian who killed Kvothe’s parents along with their entire traveling troupe of Edema Ruh bards and performers, all seemingly because Kvothe’s father was collecting stories about the Chandrian to write a new song about them.

Finding and exacting revenge on the Chandrian was one of the motives that drove Kvothe to study at the University. It’s also been something that’s caused him to go off on adventures so he can chase hints and rumors of them to far-flung corners of the map. Yet for all their importance to the story, the Chandrian are a very behind-the-scenes sort of enemy. We simply have not had that much page time with them yet.

Or have we?

The Chandrian have what seems to be an aversion — maybe even a need — to keep stories about themselves from spreading. This is what led to the death of Kvothe’s troupe. They also killed an entire wedding party because of one piece of pottery that bore their image. Then there’s the time that Kvothe attacked a bandit camp only to later discover that the bandits were being run by none other than the Chandrian Cinder.

If there’s one consistent idea that follows the Chandrian wherever they go, it’s that they are actively shrouding themselves in mystery. It’s extremely likely that they’ve operated under the radar throughout the first two books already, with revelations about their identities awaiting in Book Three.

If things are going to get bad enough that Kvothe starts to blame himself for starting a war, goes into hiding, and tries to turn his back on his old life, he’ll have to face his oldest enemy. Moreover, it’s been speculated that the Chandrian are connected to his love interest Denna and her mysterious patron. And that means that the chances are good that whatever does go down between Kvothe and the Chandrian, it’s going to be really messy.

7. Discovering what lies beyond the four-plate door

Deep within the bowels of the University’s vast library, Kvothe finds a mysterious door with seemingly no way to open it. Here’s a description from The Name of the Wind:

"It was made of a solid piece of grey stone the same color as the surrounding walls. Its frame was eight inches wide, also grey, and also one single seamless piece of stone. The door and frame fit together so tightly that a pin couldn’t slide into the crack. It had no hinges. No handle. No window or sliding panel. Its only features were four hard copper plates. They were set flush with the face of the door, which was flush with the front of the frame, which was flush with the wall surrounding it. You could run your hand from one side of the door to the next and hardly feel the lines of it at all."

The four-plate door is interesting, because it doesn’t quite line up with many of the theories about the titular doors of stone, which it’s been speculated are more likely related to standing stones that lead to the Faen realm. This door has copper plates, which is significant in the Kingkiller world because copper supposedly doesn’t have a True Name. As we mentioned before, names have power in this world, and the strongest forms of magic come when you possess something’s True Name and therefore have power over it. Thus, the door is insulated from those who possess enough arcane knowledge to use Naming magic.

Some speculate that the door is connected to the Amyr, the secret order whose purpose is to oppose the Chandrian. If that’s the case, then it would make a lot of sense for it to come into play in the third book.

8. Denna’s fate

Kvothe and Denna have a long-running romance in The Kingkiller Chronicle, and they’ve never had an easy time of it. The two first met when they were children, both orphans of Chandrian attacks traveling with a caravan in hopes of a brighter future. Yet though their affinity is pretty immediate, the cards never seem to quite stack up in their favor. She travels constantly, often taken in by men drawn by her beauty and talent. For all their feelings, it often feels like Denna and Kvothe are destined to forever circle one another rather than find a way to actually be together.

Things get more complicated the older and more entangled Kvothe and Denna become with Temerant’s nobility. Things reach their knottiest when Denna makes Kvothe promise not to try and discover the identity of her mysterious patron…and Kvothe later discovers through the prophetic Cthaeh that that patron, a man who goes by the suspicious alias Master Ash, is actually beating her. It’s pretty likely that promise won’t get kept. And that’s before we get into the plethora of theories swirling around the internet about Denna’s patron, whose appearance has often been likened to that of the Chandrian Cinder.

Since The Kingkiller Chronicle operates with a framing story, we already know or can reasonably assume some things based on Kote’s innkeeper lifestyle. Where Denna is concerned, it seems more than likely that something tragic is going to happen to her in Book Three. After all, if they had a happy ending, why would Kvothe be hiding all by himself in the middle of nowhere?

No matter the outcome, there’s pretty much no doubt that Denna’s fate is going to be a major plot point in The Doors of Stone.

9. Kvothe gets the Waystone Inn / takes the name Kote

The Waystone Inn is located in the small rural town of Newarre (geddit?). It’s the very first setting we’re introduced to, and it remains the backbone location for the story through to the end of The Wise Man’s Fear.

At some point in The Doors of Stone, the story that Kvothe is telling to Chronicler is almost certainly going to catch up with his present, where Kvothe swears off his former life and goes into hiding as an innkeeper. That means that at some point in the next volume, we’re most likely going to see Kvothe either build or buy the Waystone.

It’s difficult to imagine what the transformative moment might look like, when Kvothe changes his name and decides to settle into obscurity to hide from the changes he’s wrought in the world. But we’re sure excited to read that fateful moment when he walks into the finished inn for the first time, wipes the dust off a glass, and places it on one of the shelves behind the bar.

The Waystone Inn is one of the most iconic locations of the series, and it’s going to be surreal to finally read the story behind how it came to be.

10. Finding Out What Comes Next

At Emerald City Comic-Con in 2018, Rothfuss was asked whether The Kingkiller Chronicle was “a DM [Dungeon Master] taking us on a journey where the bard is the hero of the story.” The author responded with an info drop that raised more than a few eyebrows. “It’s way worse than that,” he said. “I am an author who has tricked you into reading a trilogy that is a million-word prologue.”

On the surface, this really shouldn’t be all that surprising. Each novel of The Kingkiller Chronicle trilogy is supposed to represent one day where Kvothe is relaying his story to Chronicler. If the third book brings readers to the point where Kvothe finishes his story and potentially reclaims his identity, it would still leave the question hanging of what he actually has to go do to fix a world that’s fallen into shambles, something he fervently blames himself for.

Setting aside any uneasiness about the release time between Rothfuss’ books, and how likely we are to actually get to read a sequel series to The Kingkiller Chronicle, it’s still fun to hope that with the release of The Doors of Stone, we might actually get confirmation of what that next batch of Temerant novels could look like. Heck, even a clue would be great! Will Kvothe go to war? Will he go around battling daemons and restoring the balance?

Really, it will all depend on what happens in The Doors of Stone. And one day, we’ll be able to read it and find out.

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