Thus begins the story. Not much more than a "It was just another day (night) in the life." Infinitely better than "It was a dark and stormy night." Nowhere near as engaging as "In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit." But now I kibitz.
The prologue is low on information, despite being presented to us as if from the mind of God himself. It teases a bit, but is mostly poetry in prose that establishes the mood and tone of the book - much like the first notes of music that come up before the titles of a movie. Remember Danny Elfman's awesomely ominous theme for Batman? Yeah, it's kind of like that.
And it works on many levels that have nothing to do with the story. It's the firm grip handshake of a deal well made that got me excited about the book.
What do we learn from it?
- It's night.
- We are in the "Waystone Inn."
- Waystones are generally found on the way between destinations. The name Waystone Inn suggests we are in the middle of nowhere, and we are.
- The number three is special in this story (as it is in many stories).
- There is no wind (= no Denna - more on this later).
- Autumn is evoked, though not directly stated as the season.
- Patrick Rothfuss has the heart of a poet.
- The Inn is not very busy.
- Of course there is no music - we don't know yet how "off" this is for the Innkeeper we are about to meet. After reading the books, one really is brought to wonder "Why 'of course'?"
- The pair of men huddled in a corner and drinking with "quiet determination" while avoiding "serious discussions of troubling news" speaks of solid country folks making their way as best they can in troubled times.
- And then our first Caesura, or jarring break in a continuum: a silence more felt than heard; that of the unnamed man of true-red hair and dark and distant eyes.
- He is deliberate, pendantic and clean.
- He owns the inn.
- He is patiently waiting to die.
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