Flidan

Well I'm not sure if anyone noticed this, but it's something that I picked up on one of my recent rereads of the series. When we first meet our hero, he is Kote the innkeeper, who has changed his from Kvothe, not only that but he tells us that he picked this name because names are important. The exact words were "He had chosen the name carefully when he came to this place. He had taken a new name for most of the usual reasons, and for a few unusual ones as well, not the least of which was the fact that names were important to him". This implies many things the biggest one being that he chose this particular name for particular reasons and that at least 2 of those reason are unusual. First I'd like to point out that "Kote" translates to "expect disaster". [speaking to Kilvin]:“Do you know the saying ‘Chan Vaen edan Kote’?” I tried to puzzle it out. “Seven years... I don’t know Kote.” “ ‘Expect disaster every seven years,’ It took me numerous reads before I caught that little piece of information. Next I would like to bring to your attention the fact that Lanre changed his name to Alexel, and when he did this he gained power enough in naming to be as strong or stronger than Aleph (who spun the world out of the nameless void and gave everything a name) and Iax (who locked away the name of the moon).This implies that changing your name can drastically change things about you. This brings me to my next point, that it is is possible to lock away a name. Kvothe even mentions that "The high king's name i written in a book of glass, hidden in a box of copper. And that box is locked away in a great iron chest..." which for some reason reminds me a great deal of Kvothes' Thrice Locked Chest. And even though he says while describing a fictional hero, there's always some truth in stories. We even hear of Iax locking away the name of the moon, sparking the creation war. This all brings me to my theory that due to whatever happened in his past, Kvothe changed his name to "expect disaster"(Kote), one that he thought much more fitting, and locked his true name away in his chest. When he did this he lost all his great prowess in everything, and it causes everything he does now to end in disaster, as his name dictates he should expect. This would explain why he is unable to perform sympathy, and why he suddenly couldn't fight off the two bandits with his Ketan. Judging by the description he was trying to perform the modified break lion that Celean had shown him, a moved that was designed to break the hold of a bigger, more powerful, opponent. Sure, you could explain the sympathy as him not being able to maintain the proper Alar, but that doesn't explain: Why he can't write his memoirs, Why he can't play music, and why he can't do Ketan. It also explains why he can't open a chest that he designed, even though he has the keys. Anyway, just thought I'd share. And sorry for the disorganization. >.<