The Creation Story
Almost every culture has some form of creation myth. This is also true in The Kingkiller Chronicle. Over the course of the two novels we get bits and pieces of stories that can be pieced together to make up the story of the creation war. Here is a brief summary of the events:
Before there was Fae and before there were humans, there were listeners and shapers. Listeners observed and understood all things, living in unison with nature. The shapers however, knew the true names of things, which they would speak to shape a thing to their desire. The shapers became fascinated with the things they could make. As they started to reshape and create new, wondrous things the listeners began to disagree with what the shapers were doing as it was unnatural. The greatest of the shapers came together and created a whole new world with perfect beings and their own sky and stars. One of the shapers named Iax went as far as trying to steal the moon by speaking its name. This act started a war between the shapers and the listeners. The shapers were forced to live in their new world that became known as The Fae, and the listeners lived among the mortals. As Iax only knew a part of the moon's name, it travels between the two realms. When there is a full moon, The Fae has no moon. When there is a half-moon, The Fae has the other half. And when there is no moon, the moon resides in The Fae.1
Before there was Fae and before there were humans, there were listeners and shapers. Listeners observed and understood all things, living in unison with nature. The shapers however, knew the true names of things, which they would speak to shape a thing to their desire. The shapers became fascinated with the things they could make. As they started to reshape and create new, wondrous things the listeners began to disagree with what the shapers were doing as it was unnatural. The greatest of the shapers came together and created a whole new world with perfect beings and their own sky and stars. One of the shapers named Iax went as far as trying to steal the moon by speaking its name. This act started a war between the shapers and the listeners. The shapers were forced to live in their new world that became known as The Fae, and the listeners lived among the mortals. As Iax only knew a part of the moon's name, it travels between the two realms. When there is a full moon, The Fae has no moon. When there is a half-moon, The Fae has the other half. And when there is no moon, the moon resides in The Fae.1
This myth within the story explains how The Fae was created. It is an explanation for why Faen creatures are so different than anything found in the mortal realm. As we are observing the story in a myth perspective, it is also important to observe the morals within it. Like many creation myths there is fault and a consequence. The shapers became too greedy and obsessive, so they were stripped of their freedom to walk the mortal realms. It is somewhat similar to the Christian creation myth. In the Christian myth, Adam and Eve were given the garden of Eden to live in happily. But when they disobeyed orders and ate the fruit of knowledge, they were banned and punished for their actions.10 This myth is important to the story because it suggests the possibility that there may be a god-like character (Iax), who may be vengeful against the mortal realm, a plotline I expect in future novels.