A shaed is a type of cloak made by using the Fae magic of grammarie which is made out of shadows. In The Wise Man's Fear, Felurian makes a shaed for Kvothe to protect him when he returns to the mortal world. It is referred by many people relating Kvothe's stories as the shadow cloak. The act of wearing a shaed is called being enshaedn.
Making of the Shaed
The making of the shaed by Felurian is described only vaguely in The Wise Man's Fear as Kvothe is not familiar with the magic that is used to create it. First, Felurian travels with Kvothe deep into the Faen realm to a part that is very densely dark. There Felurian gathers pieces of shadow from the trees, bushes, and stones.
Next, she sits down between rays of starlight and starts collecting pieces of the starlight and sewing them into the shadow. Kvothe is immensely startled by this whole process as he understands that shadow and light are not physical. When he asks Felurian how she can take hold of a shadow, she motions with one hand, as if reaching for a piece of fruit, suggesting that the process is completely natural for her. Nevertheless, Kvothe does learn that a Fae magic called grammarie which is the "art of making things be" is used to make the shaed.
After the starlight was woven into the shaed, Felurian tells Kvothe that the moon will help her enbighten the shaed. When the moon came out, she wefts strands of moonlight into the folds of the shadow.
Kvothe relates to the Chronicler that though he helped a little in the shaed's creation, it was Felurian "who gathered the shadow, wove it with moon and fire and daylight." This suggests that fire and daylight were also woven into the shaed.
For the final part of the shaed's creation, Felurian uses an iron buckle of Kvothe's to finish her work on the shadow cloak. She tells Kvothe to leave her alone until she finishes making the shaed, leaving us ignorant as to how iron is used in the shaed's creation. It was during this time that Kvothe encounters the evil Cthaeh.
Properties of the Shaed
The shaed has several unique properties associated with it.
- It is very malleable, able to be bent according to the wearers will. After some practice Kvothe is able to transform the shaed "from a short cape to a full hooded mourning cloak or anything in between.”
- The shadow cloak also provides camouflage to the wearer when it is dark, making him very difficult to spot. This characteristic helps Kvothe sneak past the Edema Ruh impersonators without being detected.
- It also moves on its own accord, even on a night with no wind. When Kvothe returns to the Pennysworth Inn, a person remarked that it was blowing gently as if by a breeze even though there was no wind out.
- The shaed also has protective properties of some sort. After Kvothe is stabbed by the false trouper Alleg, the blow that should have been fatal merely gave him a long, shallow cut across his belly.
- Due to its ordinary appearance, most people assume that the shaed Kvothe wears is an ordinary, albeit fancy, cloak. Elodin recognizes the cloak for what it is and asks Kvothe how he came to possess a shaed, prompting Kvothe to relate his encounter with Felurian with him.
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