To fall dayward?
Or dance wayward?
Or do all roads lead to fire?
And as I ran I could hear Cthaeh speaking behind me. Its dry, quiet voice followed me longer than I would have thought possible. “Come back. Come back. I’ve more to say. I’ve so much more to tell you, won’t you stay?”
NOTW:44:
And we sang! Her voice like burning silver, my voice an echoing answer. Savien sang solid, powerful lines, like branches of a rock-old oak, all the while Aloine was like a nightingale, moving in darting circles around the proud limbs of it.
Except, it's him singing. So we might say kvothe considers himself an Oak.
For me, If it has to be one of the two prime tree's, the Latantha is closer. However, graveyard and lonely make it nearly a tie. In the end, i suspect waves hands the tree's roots are linked. A theory I hope to cover any day now.
But let's have a taste shall we?
Celtic Mythology paints a picture of two who are one, but at war, warring with against each other, warring with themselves. The Oak and Holly. During Midsummer the Oak King is at the height of strength, the Holly king regains power at the Autumn equinox, his power peaking at midwinter, at which point the oak king is reborn.
Guess who else dabbles in duality's?
Later, you might want to read u/quoo's master piece theory on Auri's soap,
I'm not suggesting that Celtic Mythology plays a role here, The Four Corners has it's own lore. For one It's Ivy climbing Oak, Holly isn't an Ivy.
I'm just i'm highlighting that such devices are part of our blood, our very creation, a topic I tried to capture in story and art. Here is a sample of some of roaring heart wilting poetry i spin into being:
This section is slightly more whimsical as it's the process of trying to connect the graveyard to another location. Here are the descriptions of the graveyard tree that we need to match.
In some form as they appear in the graveyard
No obvious Iron fence in either place. A full discussion about Iron can't fit here, because i haven't made up my mind on it. Let's say at best we might view.
Our grave stone has Ivy:
A small, forgotten graveyard, stones overgrown with ivy.
one for loving
Felurian taught me ivy on the oak.
one for hating
she already had hold of my wrist, and soon had my arm tangled firmly in Ivy on the Oak.
both for climbing
There were climbing vines...
These are both related to an oak however.
Here we might be looking simply for Red. In which case we have butterflies
“The red ones offend my aesthetic,”
And obviously Mercenaries
one for hating
The ground below was not a resting place for butterflies . . . it was strewn with lifeless wings.
one for fighting
Shehyn and i returned to the complex of stone buildings
she entered the low stone building
At first glance, Haert seemed to be this sort of town. It was little more than tiny homes, broken stone, and the occasional penned goat.
ok, so why are the Haert's stone homes like gravestones? Well, they aren't when kvothe visits the first time. I suspect they will be when he leaves the second time.
One word for now. Cinder
There is no monument mentioned explicity near either Tree. I only have questions about the Adem's wall
pieced together like a jigsaw. Looking closer, I was puzzled by the lack of mortar. I tapped it with a knuckle, wondering briefly if it might be a single piece of stone carved to look like many stones fit together.
The Cthaeh is hateful, but that's likely in part because it is Lonely.
And as I ran I could hear Cthaeh speaking behind me. Its dry, quiet voice followed me longer than I would have thought possible. “Come back. Come back. I’ve more to say. I’ve so much more to tell you, won’t you stay?”
It's a vicious cycle. It knows everyone will leave it. The Latantha seem's to have lots of friends to dance with.
lets look at the laurel "tree". It's actually hard to pin down anything without the specific Latin species name. It seem's
Given the fruit is "dark blue"
Next she carried in the jar of dark blue laurel fruit
I believe the Laurel to be similar to an English Laurel/Cherry Laurel or maybe Fruit:
This is a problem though, because as you can see from this picture, the wild english Laurel looks nothing like it:
I think it's fair to say that neither the Sword Tree or the Cthaeh's tree looks like a Cherry Laurel tree. But chime in if you see something i don't. Which is leaving me in a tight spot. Did Rothfuss not check the picture? I doubt it. A tree being a metaphor for another tree is really odd. Maybe Auri is confused? I mean, argue she wouldn't screw up the bone earlier because she attended the university, so now i'm in a bit of a tight spot. But maybe the pine cones she picks up are from the tree?
Auri found the place while picking pine cones
Maybe the fruit is from the Ivy? Does any Ivy have fruit?
Well, Hedera Helix or Common Ivy has a dark blue fruit:
Helix, if you didn't notice from my bold bolding. Is very close to Haliax. Which, if that's somehow serving as a metaphor for Helix, would be hypocrisy at its best given
“No,” said Lanre. He stood to his full height, his face regal behind the lines of grief. “There is nothing sweet. I will sow salt, lest the bitter weeds grow.”
Though, i must mention "a weed" is any plant "you" choose. This would mean our tree is what? A Pine Tree? Is now a good time to speculate on why Auri and Elodin both want pinecones (even in jest)?
Finally, Threpe brings up Laurels in a way that suggests Kvothe is the Laurel fruit:
He shrugged. “You see, a laurel needs rain to grow. I can’t do much about that. But I can keep that rain off a few musician’s heads, can’t I?” A sly smile wound its way onto his face. “So God will tend the laurels and keep them wet. And I will tend the players and keep them dry. And wiser minds than mine will decide when to bring the two together.”
If Savien is Lanre. Then there is a kvothe thinks Savien is like an oak
And we sang! Her voice like burning silver, my voice an echoing answer. Savien sang solid, powerful lines, like branches of a rock-old oak, all the while Aloine was like a nightingale, moving in darting circles around the proud limbs of it.
Which Makes Aloine the Nightingale in "Swineherd and the Nightingale".
The "Sword Tree" would fit Lanre, given he was known for his strength of Arm. And his sword never left his side.
I won't bother scoring, between The Sword Tree and The Cthaeh's Tree. I feel it's fairly even. In the end they could all be the same tree or the graveyard could be something we haven't seen. Let me know what you find.
