# Patrick Rothfusss **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [September 19, 2023, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-rothfusss/990379 "2023-09-19T19:39:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2023, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-rothfusss/990379/1 "2023-09-19T19:39:24Z")
Why are fantasy writers not finishing their series?- Patrick Rothfuss. The first two books of his Kingkiller “trilogy” were very well received. The first _[The Name of the Wind](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Name_of_the_Wind)_ came out in 2007, the second _[The Wise Man’s Fear](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wise_Man%27s_Fear)_ , in 2011. The 'third" the _The Doors of Stone_ was promised on a regular schedule. As of today, not only has _The Doors of Stone_ not been released, there is solid evidence it never will be- _In July 2020, Rothfuss’s editor and publisher [Betsy Wollheim](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betsy_Wollheim) responded publicly on her Facebook account to an article speculating on reasons why The Doors of Stone , the concluding volume of the trilogy, had not been published,[[17]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Rothfuss#cite_note-newsweek-2020-17) saying she had “never seen a word of book three” and that she didn’t think Rothfuss had written anything since 2014… In December 2021, Rothfuss tweeted that he would “[s]hare a full chapter of Doors of Stone” if his charity reached a $333,333 fundraising goal.[[20]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Rothfuss#cite_note-20) Later that month he added more stretch goals, with the largest being for $666,666 to “assemble the Geek Glitterati equivalent of the Avengers and record [the full chapter] for you”. He noted that such a goal would take some time but said “I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to get it done early next year. February at the latest.”[[21]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Rothfuss#cite_note-21) The chapter has not been released, with Rothfuss saying in April 2022 that the process was “moving more slowly than [he] would like.”[[22]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Rothfuss#cite_note-22)_ ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2023, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-rothfusss/990379/2 "2023-09-19T19:50:42Z")
What’s funny, or maybe sad, is that for a while he became very surly if you brought up that third book. Then, at some point, he seem to sort of embrace the joke. Now he just seems weary of the whole topic. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2023, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-rothfusss/990379/3 "2023-09-19T19:54:35Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > What’s funny, or maybe sad, is that for a while he became very surly if you brought up that third book. I think Fantasy publishers have to start demanding the final book in a series be sealed in a mayonnaise jar on Funk & Wagnalls porch. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2023, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-rothfusss/990379/4 "2023-09-19T22:30:27Z")
It’s fairly obvious from the second volume - one can argue from the first - that Rothfuss has no plot and no plan. He’s two thirds of the way through a trilogy and the story hasn’t actually started yet. He’ll never finish it because it can’t be finished. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2023, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-rothfusss/990379/5 "2023-09-19T23:37:00Z")
Yeah, this is the answer. He wrote himself into a corner and has been living there for a few decades. When reading A Song of Fire and Ice I can at least see where it is headed and how things should shake out, specially after watching the show. With the Kingkiller Chronicles there is absolutely no hint of where the story might go, the damn king that is supposed to be killed is still unknown 2/3rds through the trilogy. He wrote two amazingly entertaining books that went nowhere and I doubt we’ll ever get more. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-rothfusss/990379/6 "2023-09-20T00:01:13Z")
Better no book than a half-baked book. That said, I do not personally know Rothfuss therefore have nothing to say about him specifically, but there are many reasons why trilogies do not get finished (he would be far from the first), ranging from [writer’s block](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Writer%27s_block) to lack of rigid writing discipline to not having the thing plotted out in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-rothfusss/990379/7 "2023-09-20T00:03:46Z")
You can always write yourself _out_ of a corner. It’s writing. He can do anything. Someone else can show up at the tavern and tell us the story of why everything Kvothe has said so far is bullshit (which is probably true anyway), and restart the story from scratch. Or whatever. Our obviously unreliable narrator gives Rothfuss _more_ freedom than most. I think the real reason is just that he has a severe, possibly insurmountable case of writer’s block. He’s written almost nothing else in the meantime, so it doesn’t seem explicitly tied to the Kingkiller universe. Some authors, like Stephen King, seem incapable of _not_ writing for an extended period of time. Rothfuss is not one of these people. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-rothfusss/990379/8 "2023-09-20T00:32:57Z")
I’ve bitched about this series in several other threads, all of which had the same sort of plaintive, yet rueful bitch about the series. Rothfuss created powerful, overwhelming characters, and set up a great tragedy, but never seemed to figure out how such powerful characters would end up in the tragedy. Sure, we have hints that he’ll destroy himself out of both love and hate, but Rothfuss has spent so much time building up before the fall he’s in no position to finish the story in the format (framing narrative of 3 nights and physical format of 3 books) he stated originally. Honestly, if I thought he had any desire to finish (distinct from writers block @Dr.Strangelove mentioned, I think he’s tired of writing, and made enough from the first two to go on to other passions), he could tell his fans it’ll be two books instead of a monster tome (Think “Too Green Angle Tower” which to finish Memory Sorrow and Thorn as a trilogy was huge as a paperback, but split into two releases for paperback) - and while doing so, break up the framing tale with a “current world” interruption - the spider-monsters, a bounty hunter following the bard, practically anything. But again, I think he doesn’t care to keep going - it reminds me of a lot of TT-RPGs I’ve played (and occasionally run!) : you/they build a great setting, a solid intro, and know how it’s going to end, but you get tired trying to work out all the bits and niggles in the middle. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-rothfusss/990379/9 "2023-09-20T00:34:09Z")
Someday, a great fanfiction will arise. Either that, or Brandon Sanderson. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-rothfusss/990379/10 "2023-09-20T01:06:25Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > With the Kingkiller Chronicles there is absolutely no hint of where the story might go, the damn king that is supposed to be killed is still unknown 2/3rds through the trilogy. He wrote two amazingly entertaining books that went nowhere and I doubt we’ll ever get more. Yeah the first two were pretty good, and he wrote a couple of novelettes set in the universe. But yeah, it was all about the KINGkiller chronicles, and altho a couple people mentioned a king being killed, so far, it is all taking place years and tears later, or reminises. > [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Someday, a great fanfiction will arise. > > Either that, or Brandon Sanderson. snort. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-rothfusss/990379/11 "2023-09-20T01:21:55Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Yeah, this is the answer. He wrote himself into a corner [![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D225cSNXcAAl_SX?format=webp&name=900x900) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D225cSNXcAAl_SX?format=webp&name=900x900) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-rothfusss/990379/12 "2023-09-20T02:02:09Z")
R.S. Belcher wrote two urban fantasy novels I enjoyed, _ **The Brotherhood of the Wheel** _ (2017) and _ **King of the Road** _ (2018), and the story arc is clearly set up for at least a third novel; but afaik that’s it for the series. ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-rothfusss/990379/13 "2023-09-20T04:10:45Z")
Coincidentally, I just bought The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss from Goodwill. ---
**Author:** ![tullsterx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-rothfusss/990379/14 "2023-09-20T14:41:19Z")
I just know that when I finished the second book I thought there’s no way he’s finishing in just one more book. Of course we haven’t even seen that yet. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2023, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-rothfusss/990379/15 "2023-09-20T20:29:23Z")
In theory in tbe UK a new 240 page book called The Narrow Road Between Desires comes out in mid-November It’s billed as a Kingkiller Chronicle Novella… I’ll only believe it when I actually heft a copy in my hand though! ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-rothfusss/990379/16 "2023-09-21T11:25:30Z")
Think both he and Martin found that its a lot more fun being a famous fantasy writer, going to cons, doing charity events, etc. then it is actually sitting down and writing more books. (agree with @Dr.Strangelove that the “writing himself into a corner” doesn’t really explain it. He _has_ written himself into a corner, but there’s no law that says he has to wrap everything up in the next book, or even ever address the stuff in the framing story. Or if all else fails, its fantasy, just use some variation of “a wizard did it”.) ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-rothfusss/990379/17 "2023-09-21T12:42:08Z")
I don’t think it’s realistic to say he could just write anything for the third book and call it a day. It’s been a while since I thought about it, but I remember thinking there were solid clues about who the king was, what the underlying tragedy was, and how it played out in the wider world. He made a whole bunch of florid and pretty explicitly teasing promises about how the story was going to come together. I don’t think there’s anyone on the planet who genuinely thinks it would be better for him to write another 600 pages of unrelated “a wizard did it” that doesn’t address that stuff, just so he can say the series is finished. He would be despised by people who treated him like a god. To the extent that those people are already mad at him, at least now he can say “I’m working on it.” ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-rothfusss/990379/18 "2023-09-21T12:52:33Z")
On the writer’s block front, Jasper Fforde is _finally_ coming out with the second book of his _Shades of Grey_ trilogy (titled _Red Side Story_) 15 years after the first one came out. Quoth the man himself: > [@](#): > > Finally. > > The sequel to > _Shades of Grey_ > > **February 6th 2024** , totally and absolutely without fail. Even if I were to be struck by lightning tomorrow, run over, kidnapped by aliens and then thrown into a black hole, you would still get it. Promise. I believe his next-and-possibly-final Thursday Next book _Dark Reading Matter_ is also planned for release next year, 12 years after the last one came out. In between he’s written a number of books that were what I shall charitably call “less enthralling”. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-rothfusss/990379/19 "2023-09-21T20:06:22Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > On the writer’s block front, Jasper Fforde is _finally_ coming out with the second book of his _Shades of Grey_ trilogy (titled _Red Side Story_) 15 years after the first one came out. Quoth the man himself: Is a copy in a mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnalls porch? (or actually, in the hands of his editions). If not, then I don’t believe it. Rothfuss made similar claims… at least about a chapter or two. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2023, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-rothfusss/990379/20 "2023-09-21T22:40:21Z")
> [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](#): > > He would be despised by people who treated him like a god. That’s probably inevitable at this point. I haven’t followed any of the speculation or clues or anything, nor anything that Rothfuss has said about it. But there’s no way to ever satisfy fans that have had over a decade to dig up clues, intentional or not, and come up with endless fan theories. Rothfuss has to give up _something_. He can’t make everyone happy. He could try to wrap up everything in one book, ignoring a bunch of subplots and wizarding away the various contradictions. Or he could say that this is really a 7-book series, pushing any problems into an indefinite future (and having the time to justify any contradictions as “well, you thought X happened, but what really happened was Y, and here’s why”). Or any of a bunch of other possibilities. If he was driven to write, he’d be doing so. Yeah, not everyone is a King or Sanderson, but we’d be getting more than one novella (that was originally written in 2014) if Rothfuss really still had the motivation. I do hope he’s not depressed or something. He used to do D&D with the Penny Arcade / Acquisitions Inc. crowd. I enjoyed him in that role (in fact I didn’t know anything of his books initially), but he just stopped at some point. Maybe it was for totally normal reasons, but I wonder if something has sapped his drive. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/patrick-rothfusss/990379.md?page=2)