The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1
The Name of the Wind
by Patrick Rothfuss
Contents
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT Tehlu’s Watchful Eyes
Overview
Kvothe races to hear Skarpi continue the tale, learning how Selitos refused Aleph’s charge while Tehlu and others became divine judges, birthing the Amyr and angels. Tehlin priests interrupt, accusing Skarpi of heresy. The Justice Erlus assaults and arrests Skarpi, who covertly warns Kvothe to run. Kvothe escapes, deepening the conflict with the church and cementing the stakes around forbidden truths.
Summary
Waking late, Kvothe sprints to the Half-Mast to catch Skarpi’s story. He arrives as Skarpi recounts Selitos pleading for power to avenge Myr Tariniel, Aleph’s refusal, and Selitos forming the Amyr to oppose Lanre. Skarpi then describes Tehlu and companions receiving Aleph’s touch, gaining wings and white fire, becoming terrible, righteous judges beyond mortal sight.
The telling is cut short when two Tehlin priests and two armored church strongmen interrupt. The taller priest, a Justice wearing silver scales—Erlus—charges Skarpi with heresy and orders him bound. The barman, panicked, tries to appease them with a barrel’s price “for the children,” which Erlus piously accepts.
Skarpi mocks their hypocrisy, provoking Erlus to smash a cup against his head and forbid him to speak Tehlu’s name. Skarpi taunts Erlus by name, escalating the tension. On Erlus’s signal, a guard strikes Skarpi down. Even dazed, Skarpi laughs and derides Erlus’s appeal to mercy.
Skarpi then speaks as if to the air, telling Kvothe to run and stay out of sight, claiming he has friends in the church and there is nothing Kvothe can do. After another blow renders Skarpi limp, Kvothe slips out and takes to the rooftops, escaping as Skarpi is hauled away.
Who Appears
- KvotheNarrator; rushes to hear Skarpi, witnesses the arrest, and escapes to the rooftops on Skarpi’s warning.
- SkarpiStoryteller; relates Selitos, the Amyr, and Tehlu; defies the priests, is struck, arrested, and urges Kvothe to flee.
- Justice ErlusTehlin Justice with silver scales; halts the story, accuses Skarpi of heresy, assaults him, orders his arrest.
- AnthonyShorter, hooded Tehlin priest; witnesses the charge and echoes Erlus, complicit in the arrest.
- Half-Mast innkeeperBarman who tries to bribe the priests with a barrel’s price, pleading it be used for children.
- Tehlin strongmenArmored church enforcers who bind and strike Skarpi on Erlus’s orders.