[quote=@POOHEAD189]
My question is, did Kvothe ever have his abilities explained or gained, or did he start out great at everything? 
[/quote]
As you might have gathered, the word "prodigy" is pretty much the cornerstone of explanation for him being so skilled at virtually everything he decided to put his mind to. XD

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[quote=@Penny]
I agree that Kvothe would be a questionable character in an RPG, but that is true of a majority of characters in novels.
[/quote]
You are absolutely correct there, with no real argument from me.  I feel like I even added in a couple criticisms of my own for that series back near the beginning of this thread.  I'd be more than happy to switch gears to discussing some of the more groanworthy tropes present in [b]The Wheel of Time[/b] if you want, since there is no shortage of content to cover.  Fortunately, this also happens to bring us into the territory where I've been sorta aiming for when it comes to [b]The Name of the Wind[/b].  Mostly in the sense that, while I feel [b]The Kingkiller Chronicles[/b] and Patrick Rothfuss certainly deserve a metaphorical seat at the table alongside other great fantasy series and authors, it certainly does not belong up on a pedestal above them (to be fair, if I didn't think it had a place at the table I don't think I would have recommended it twice already in this thread).

Once we're into the territory of just one good book among similar company, we are at a place where things are easier to contrast based more on personal preferences.  For instance: on the one hand, you could see the painfully slow pacing in the beginning of the series in [b]The Wheel of Time[/b] and contrast it with the relatively good pacing throughout the book in [b]The Name of the Wind[/b].  On the other hand, you might note that [b]The Wheel of Time[/b] has pretty decent representation when it comes to male and female characters, while The Name of the Wind can't even meet the exceptionally low bar set by the Bechdal test and has named female characters outnumbered around 5-1 by named male characters.  At the end of the day it will probably come down to which tropes appeal to you and which ones you find more grating.  Like you have mentioned, the whole "destined hero" is certainly an industry standard which might not appeal so much to some.  On the other hand, other people might find the whole "hubris" idea as a central plot device to be old, stale and not particularly compelling even back in the day when it was the staple in Greek tragedies.

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Fun side note: I like that you mention disliking the "child to destined hero" trope, since I'm pretty sure Robert Jordan isn't super fond of it either.  On the [b]Wheel of Time[/b] audiobooks, the first several have an interview with him regarding this sort of trope.  He brings up the idea of your Gandalf-equse character wandering into a tavern one night and going: "Righto.  Adventure time, prophecy blah blah. Suit up." whereupon the main character pretty meekly acquiesces and moves on to greatness.  He says something to the effect of: "Where I come from, if someone walked into a pub and told you that you were the chosen one and needed to go with him on an adventure, you'd buy him a drink and slip out the back door when he isn't looking.".  Pretty sure that's why the main three dudes spend the first several books of [b]The Wheel of Time[/b] essentially going: "OMG crazy magic lady leave me alone!" as they try to figure out a way to ditch her and get back to normal lives.