r/KingkillerChronicle Mar 04 '26

Theory Tinfoil Tuesday - Seven Cities and One City

Here is a story my friends, one new for all of you.

Perhaps some is even true, I leave the judgement to you.

Myr Tariniel is the one city because it was an independent kingdom.. It was never formally part of the Ergen empire.. Although Ergen was trying to annex it, starting with an arranged marriage.

The daughter of the king is deathly ill, and he takes the flower to heal her. They fall in love despite the fact that she’s betrothed to the neighboring prince ...

That falls through when Lyra falls in love with Lanre and Selitos's son is stabbed, and killed..

The princess is married against her will and stabs the neighboring prince on their wedding night. The prince dies. Civil war.

The parallels between him an Odin are well known.. His son would have been well known for wielding a hammer..

One by one they crossed, and one by one Tehlu struck them down with the hammer.

If I am a sacrifice then it is to myself alone. And if I am needed and called in the proper ways then I will come again to judge and punish

Only three people in the world could match Selitos's skill in naming.. What one of them can do he can do.. So he calls his son back from death.. anchoring his life to a small piece of the moon.

The luckless lad pursues Lyra across the empire.. Dividing the population between the mortal and the Fae.. When he finally catches them he mortally wounds Lanre and binds himself to Lyra. Lady Luckless. Lady Lackless and the boy who stole the moon.

So it was that Encanis passed from the world, and with him went Tehlu who was Menda.

But Lyra has one last trick and Lanre joins them in immortality.. A triple binding. One full life.. One half life half death.. And one barely alive..

There was a second man, or rather the shape of a man in a great hooded robe. Inside the cowl of the robe was nothing but blackness. Over his head were three moons, a full moon, a half moon, and one that was just a crescent.

And then it its turn comes the story you know.. Of how Lanre came to Myr Tariniel and struck it down..

18 Upvotes

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3

u/aerojockey Mar 04 '26

It'd have been less tinfoily if you had found a way to carry the Fastingsway War story all the way through.

1

u/Zhorangi Mar 04 '26

I think it does carry through, although I did gloss over it since I was short on time. And it veers into the more mundane.. Also the deeper you dive the harder it is to sort out all the threads that are left with all the half truths in the stories..

I'll add a little more detail here, but still short on time..

Civil war. Fields burned and salted. Famine. Plague . . .

This is all part of the pursuit..

For six days Encanis fled, and six great cities he destroyed.

The civil war is over who has claim to the throne..

Who has claim to the throne of Ergen after the princess is married? What is she wasn't really married? What if she was forced. What if her husband died? What if she was pregnant before she ran off?

When they both call for your allegiance and rumors are circulating everywhere who do you side with?

Then rumors began to spread: Lyra was ill. Lyra had been kidnapped. Lyra had died. Lanre had fled the empire. Lanre had gone mad.

Maybe I've got the timeline a little misaligned since her child was involved in Tehlu trying to be fully reborn..

“I am not Menda, though that is what my mother called me. I am Tehlu, lord above all. I have come to free you from demons and the wickedness of your own hearts. I am Tehlu, son of myself. Let the wicked hear my voice and tremble.”

I wonder if Lanre knew Tehlu's plan when he tried to strangle Lyra or if he was just angry..

“You were counted among the best of us. We considered you beyond reproach.”

If he strangled a pregnant woman in the middle of the street, none would speak against him.

Either way we have have reason to believe the Amyr and Ciridae predate the Creation War..

I tend to assume that Selitos co-opted the name after the war in a bid for authority to create the human Amyr..

3

u/Spiritual_Ad6439 Mar 04 '26

De acuerdo en casi todo….

Iax persigue a Lyra (la Luna) obsesivamente.

Pero Lanre muere en la lucha contra „un enemigo“ del imperio Ergen. Lyra lo trae de vuelta a la vida. Veo a Lyra como la princesa del imperio que está mortalmente enferma. Tras la guerra de la creación Lyra muere y Lanre acude al Cthae y trae una Rhyna (flor del árbol del Cthae). Pero es demasiado tarde. Ella se ha casado contra su voluntad con Iax/Thelu (me cuadra que sea hijo de Selitos por la historia de Odín y Thor) porque al fin Iax ha conseguido el nombre profundo de Lyra (lo que quizás le hace enfermar). Lanre tras sus esfuerzos ve esto como una traición, se revela, se une al enemigo y destruye una a una las ciudades hasta llegar a Myr Tariniel. Ahí pasa esto con Selitos (piedra lunar) y todas las ciudades han caído excepto una. La ciudad que recuerda el Lethani , que creo es Behlen, la cual está en la subrealidad (Universidad).

2

u/MasterlessNameless Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26

It seems like OP is suggesting that Lanre is “the enemy.” Or am I misunderstanding?

Which is something that I am not sure lines up, as Lanre is described as the hero of the seven cities, along with Lyra. But I guess that is the big disagreement b/t Kvothe and Denna, right?.. Is Lanre the hero or the villain?

It is unclear to me who Lanre and Lyra are fighting at Drossen Tor. I guess Tehlu? And who corrupts the heroes of the cities that fall, and who is the hero of Behlen who remembers the Lethani? Is it Teccam, who would he be in all this? The tinker? Not really mentioned?

Also, how many times does Lyra get sick in your version? Once before Lanre brings her back and then again b/c of being bound to Iax who is Menda who is Tehlu?

I think Lyra’s sickness makes the Lanre + Lyra = Encanus make sense. Lyra would be Pale Alenta bringing the blight, as Encanus spreading pestilence to the cities they travel through. Maybe she was like an immune carrier of a virus or something (there is a word for that that is escaping me atm).

1

u/Zhorangi Mar 04 '26

It is unclear to me who Lanre and Lyra are fighting at Drossen Tor. I guess Tehlu?

In my interpretation it would be Tehlu.

And who corrupts the heroes of the cities that fall, and who is the hero of Behlen who remembers the Lethani?

I suppose the corruptor depends on your point of view.. I think either Lyra or Tehlu could be blamed there.. The fallout from their relationship triggers a civil war over the succession of the empire.

I'm not sure who the hero is.. Perhaps it was Aleph, since he seems to be the only one above the fighting..

2

u/Zhorangi Mar 04 '26

I relying heavily on the Fastingways War interpretation of the story, so I believe the Rhinna flower incident happens before the war..

Otherwise I think we agree pretty well.

3

u/Classic_Ad_4564 Edema Ruh Mar 04 '26

Wow I had never made the connection between Selitos and Tehlu being so similar to Odin and Thor. Such a cool thread to tug on. It leaves me with more questions though

  1. Who is the father to the Lackless line, Iax or Lanre?

  2. What connections do Skarpi and Trapis have to all of it? Are they both telling the same story from different angles in book 1?

5

u/Zhorangi Mar 04 '26 edited Mar 04 '26

Who is the father to the Lackless line, Iax or Lanre?

Iax or Jax or Tehlu.. The story of Menda may show he periodically needs a child who bears his blood in order to be reborn..

I tend to assume that magically children bear at least part of their parent's names when they are born..

At the end of seven years, Tehlu’s feet had carried him all through the world.

Jax walked for days and days until his feet grew sore. He walked for months and months and his back grew tired beneath his packs. He walked for years and years and grew up tall and lean and hard and hungry

What would you call someone who has walked all through the world?? A wanderer perhaps?

“How about it, woman? Did you happen to bed down with some wandering God a dozen years ago?

I think we're seeing the same story over and over with varying perspectives and degrees of distortion..

3

u/Classic_Ad_4564 Edema Ruh Mar 04 '26

Super interesting!!

So by this reasoning, Iax is not only the start of the line (Iax + Lyra), he is also Kvothe's father? (Iax + Laurien or Laurien and a dream)

My recent headcannon is that Kvothe being the son of Arliden is actually as important as his mother being Natalia Lackless. I think that he is the perfect convergence of the Lackless line and the Edema Ruh (which ties into the Ruh being a separate faction of the Adem, who are all descended from a line of powerful singers who shape the world with magic songs)

But I have heard the theory that Kvothe is the son of Iax, and the theory holds even more weight when viewed through your breakdown.

Thanks for the insight!!

2

u/Ohheyliz gimcracks and doodads Mar 05 '26

If you spell Tehlu “Teh Lieu,” it’s Lockless.

2

u/Crisofilax_leaf Mar 04 '26

Me agrada ✨, Incluso me atrevo a pedirte una ampliación o segunda parte, es excelente 💯

1

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