The Kingkiller Chronicle, #2
The Wise Man’s Fear
by Patrick Rothfuss
Contents
Chapter 132: The Broken Circle
Overview
At dawn, Kvothe brands the slain impostor troupe with the Ruh’s broken circle, asserting they were not Edema Ruh. He interrogates the dying Alleg, learning the impostors seized genuine Ruh wagons after an attack and mimicked their customs. Krin takes part in branding, while Ellie remains unstable. Kvothe resolves to take the girls home and departs.
Summary
With sunrise, Kvothe finishes reshaping a horseshoe into a brand while oats boil. Krin, awakened by the hammering, discovers the row of corpses and Kvothe’s bloodied state. He reveals Felurian’s cloak turned a gutting into a shallow cut and begins branding the dead impostors with a broken circle to mark them as not Ruh.
Kvothe explains the Edema Ruh’s closed-circle family and the rare, punitive broken-circle brand for unforgivable betrayals. He asserts the slain troupe were never Ruh, likely thieves who killed a real troupe and took their wagons and instruments, and that he killed them for murder, theft, and kidnapping.
When Kvothe brands Alleg, Alleg revives. Provoked, Kvothe demands to know how they learned Ruh customs. Alleg admits he once guarded and then traveled with a real Ruh troupe; after an attack killed the players, he survived and later taught his new partners to impersonate Ruh, enjoying the life they gained from the deception.
Disgusted that an adopted Ruh enabled the imposture, Kvothe offers the brand to Krin. Hardened by anger and grief, Krin burns the broken circle into Alleg’s chest despite his attempts to manipulate her. Kvothe silences Alleg’s further words with kicks, then resumes heating the brand.
Kvothe asks after Ellie; Krin says Ellie is not well enough to witness the scene. Krin recounts how the impostors entered Levinshir five days earlier, charmed the town, and lured her with fortune-telling and drugged tea before kidnapping her; Ellie received a similar “invitation.”
Exhausted and numbed after finishing the branding, Kvothe forgoes food and tells Krin to wake Ellie so he can take them home. He addresses the corpses with bitter formality, receives no objection, and leaves the camp, ending his brief, bloody entanglement with the false troupe.
Who Appears
- KvotheBrands the dead impostors with the Ruh’s broken circle, interrogates dying Alleg, and prepares to return Krin and Ellie home.
- KrinRescued captive; witnesses the aftermath, brands Alleg’s chest in anger, and describes their abduction from Levinshir.
- AllegDying impostor; admits the group took real Ruh wagons after an attack and learned customs from him.
- EllieTraumatized captive from Levinshir; remains asleep and unstable, to be taken home by Kvothe.
- TimSlain impostor; Kvothe brands his hand with the broken circle.
- OttoSlain impostor; receives the broken-circle brand from Kvothe.
- Old woman of the impostor troupeDrugged Krin with tea; lies among the branded dead.