Dec 30., 2022 / Everything
“official” Art of Bast
Before my husband fell ill, I had gathered a bunch of scans & art to use for a series of posts, but unfortunately after 4 years I don’t remember a lot of my threads of thought. As I try to put …well everything… back together, I do remember some of it had to do with comparing images of different subjects.
Like many, I have a soft (slightly swoony) spot for Bast. So I’ll start there. Here are all the images of Bast I am aware of that Patrick Rothfuss had input into.
AVG / January 12, 2023., 9:54 pm
So. Those plants growing on that branch on the Fae Bast card are Red Caps. Which by itself is pretty unassuming. BUT- the Redcap faerie of Folklore is a creature who kills people who come to his lair. And he soaks his hair in their blood. Hence the name. But I think of Chronicler’s line “hair as red as the blood he spills.” AND one story in particular to give you one bonus to think about: Sir Walter Scott in Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border records a ballad written by John Leyden entitled "Lord Soulis" in which Redcap has granted his master safety against weapons and lives in a chest secured by three strong padlocks. Three strong padlocks? That sounds familiar :)
aethel / January 12, 2023., 10:12 pm
wow. ok. I am familiar with redcap legend, but the fact those are red-capped mushrooms had never occurred to me. I am SURE you’re right that connection is deliberate, at the very least, to remind us that Bast is very dangerous. Great catch.
AVG / January 13, 2023., 8:50 am
Ah ha, makes it easier to explain then! :) Yeah, the fact that Bast calls Kote by a mushroom name as well (I know it was originally Kashi. And Kashi and Reshi kind of resemble a Jewish acronym- specifically Rashi. Which would make sense too if Kvothe is inspired by Yddish words like kvetch. But that’s a whole other thing) kind of puts it all together. Even Chronicler’s name- Devan- hints at the significance I think. Devon is a notable fairy-stitious (I made that up) county in England. With a lot, I mean A LOT, of valleys, hollow(fell?)s and tors. They even specifically have Tre-(bon anyone?) named places. And all kinds of faerie stories. Could be coincidence. Maybe. Some of it for sure. But I doubt all of it is!