I was talking about this with someone in Aches ' stream . It feels like they are scrimming because they have to know how the game plays and not because they want to . They love the game , but they don ' t love THIS game . <| sep |> Yes , the cheating at games analogy is perfect ! I mean , in the first book Abenthy says Kvothe has such a bright future and can do anything , that is pretty ironic foreshadowing . Rothfuss keeps saying This isn ' t the story you think you are reading , but I think I ' m reading a story about a guy who was really bright , had an amazing future , insane luck , then completely blew it , dun goofed if you will , and has a tragic ending . That last part is pure speculation but I feel it would be a really bad story if he went back to unearned awesomeness .