Kvothe In Patrick Rothfuss's The Name Of The Wind

It can be said that all people spend their lives searching. Some searches are instinctive and an impetus of a person’s need to survive, such as a place to live, a job, or, arguably, love. Other searches are more to the shape of personal wants and abstract fulfillments, such as self-worth, equity, and finding one’s ‘true purpose’ within the vastness of the universe. Kvothe, the main character from Patrick Rothfuss’s The Name of the Wind, has his own personal searches to ascertain. His tale thus far has been a wild one. He has survived an encounter with demons (just barely), lived homeless on the streets for three years, glamoured his way into the University of magical arts, and has recently met face-to-face with a drugged-off-of-his-scales
(Hyphenated Modifier) drake. Of his many searches, three have affected him the most drastically: his search for knowledge, his search for love, and his search for truth. Even from an early age, Kvothe shows a prowess for learning.
He is a prodigy among his family of performing troupers, able to juggle, act, sing, and play the most complex pieces of music known to such tiny fingers. Kvothe absorbs knowledge like rainwater to a desert-cactus (Simile), retaining the wisdom inside him and guarding it from prying souls with his prickly demeanor. Kvothe’s search for knowledge, formostly, has shaped the nature of his character. Everything he does as a child is to further his intelligence and learning. The result of this is Kvothe being an absurdly smart person. Besides being a general embodying character trait, his search for knowledge has also influenced him during a specific crisis in his life. When Kvothe was living on the streets of Tarbean, he thinks life is hopeless. He lives day by day, scrounging for his next meal and skulking about the shadows to cut into purses. He realizes, however, that he must change his lifestyle if he is to sate his hunger for knowledge: “The more I thought on it, the more questions arose… there was only one place for me to go, of course” (Rothfuss 214) The place he is describing is, unsurprisingly, the University. Despite his hardships, Kvothe’s drive to learn at the University gives him the motivation to pick himself up, brush himself off, and straighten his life into something that vaguely resembles a beneficial use of his brilliant brain (Alliteration). It is his need for education that prompts him to improve
his situation, not starvation, not riches. This choice, along with his general personality, displays the effect Kvothe’s search for knowledge has had on him. Knowledge may be important to Kvothe, but it must also not be forgotten that he is a fifteen-year-old boy. With this age comes a certain type of thinking, as well as a different kind of ‘quest’. Thus, Kvothe’s search for love must also be included as a pursuit that has affected his life. He shows interest in one girl and one girl only: Denna. Denna is, shortly, a terrible influence on Kvothe. Not herself persay, but rather the effect of the lovesickness he receives from being around her. In her company, he acts childish and jealous, two attributes that can rarely be applied to Kvothe’s personna otherwise. He broods, he mopes, and he plays hard-to-get in an exceedingly immature manner. Although he thrives to learn more at the University, he nearly sets aside all of his intentions for her: “I considered it. For half a heartbeat I almost threw my whole plan aside just to stay with her a little longer” (Rothfuss 245). Kvothe dreams of going to the University for years, and yet he is nearly willing to part with that dream for the sake of Denna. His search for love makes him foolish and smitten, ready to act through gut-instinct rather than well-planning. Love is Kvothe’s mortal weakness. This is most likely due to how starved Kvothe is of love and affection, as he has had no one to call family or friend since his troupe was still alive. As such, it can be said that Kvothe’s search for love makes him desperate and earnest for endearment, as well as appreciative and mournful of the love that he had to leave behind. Kvothe’s last and most significant search could be called many things.
Revenge. Understanding. Closure. A search for truth is the best way to describe it, however, as it emcompasses attributes of each of these. Kvothe’s family troupe, as previously stated, is no longer alive. Specifically, they were murdered in cold-blood by the Chandrian, a group of demons that are only supposed to exist within legends. A majority of the book has to do with Kvothe’s ongoing journey to figuring out why and how the Chandrian killed his troupe. This journey may be sidestepped at times in favor for knowledge and love, but he always comes back to it in the end. He is vengeful. He is confused. He is alone. Most of all, he wants the simple truth: “Revenge might be beyond me, at least for now. But I still had a hope of knowing the truth” (Rothfuss 206). Kvothe wishes to reveal the motives of demons and, through this revealing, prevent them from hurting anyone else. There is a bleeding wound inside him that is unable to heal (Figurative Language) without answers. This search for the truth has affected Kvothe radically. It points a way, as vague as that way may be, to where Kvothe should go. Knowledge is his motivation and love is his joyful weakness, but this search is something deeper. It is what governs Kvothe’s priorities since the day he found his family laying on the ground, the smell of burning hair and rotten flowers permeating the air, and it has not wavered since. Kvothe’s search for
truth is, in his mind, the reason for him to live. Ultimately, Kvothe follows the same line that all else do. Everyone searches for something in their life, and he is no different (Full Circle). He pursues knowledge, gets entangled in the sticky web that is love, and refuses to give up in his quest of uncovering the truth. Without these searches, the book would fall apart, as the searches themselves is what makes up the story of Kvothe. There is only one question now: what will he do when his searches come to an end?