Iax is a historically powerful being from the time period of The Creation War.
Description[]
Little is actually known about Iax, though much is assumed. He is summarily described as one of the only characters considered a match in power and ability to Selitos, Lyra, and Aleph.
He was a Shaper and is most prominently known for pulling the moon into Fae, thus sparking the Creation War.
In The Chronicle[]
Though Iax does not physically appear in the narrative, his character is often stigmatically alluded to.
It is generally agreed upon that Iax is the being Felurian refers to as being shut beyond the doors of stone. Though what this actually consists of is of much consideration among fans. In another instance, It is also suggested that Iax is one of the few known characters to have spoken with the Cthaeh and lived.
Jax[]
According to Hespe's story narrated in the Eld, Jax stole the moon, which seems to indicate he is Iax, the name changing while the stories are told (especially since in many languages the sound for 'J' and 'I' are the same). Also according to her story, he built the 'house with multiple entrances, different sky and multiple seasons', which is probably a reference to the Fae Realm, so that he probably either created the Fae Realm or participated in its creation.
In that story, Jax is a boy with no luck, and everything he touches breaks. He can't have happiness and makes a bet with a Tinker, who says that if he couldn't find anything that would make the boy happy in his packs, he would give them all to the boy, but if he found something, the boy would have to give him his Broken House.
Jax doesn't find anything that makes him happy in the packs, but upon seeing the moon, he decides he could be happy if he had 'her'. He disrespects and disregards the Tinker, angering and worrying the man, and leaves with the packs.
He encounters a man on a cave, listening for the Name of the Wind, who tells him of Names and of the treasures he carries on his third pack, the one with the rarest things the Tinker had. The boy then continues onward and builds the house described before, probably the Fae, and invites the moon to it, stealing part of 'her'.
Speculation[]
Many fans find it very interesting that Iax is the last 3 letters of Haliax (Hal is the latin for breath, so Haliax loosely translates to the breath of Iax.), a character who also seems to have connections to the moon, as described on the piece of pottery recovered from the Mauthen farm.
In Hespe's story[]
- Jax is a boy with no luck, Luckless, a word very similar to 'Lackless', so that he could be the founder of the Lackless Family.
- Jax finds a man on a cave, barefoot, which is similar to how Teccam is described on the books, so that the man could be the philosopher
- As Iax spoke with the Cthaeh before stealing the moon, the barefoot hermit could also be the figure of the Cthaeh, isolated from the rest of the world, who told him what he needed in order to steal the moon
- Another possibility for the Cthaeh in Hespe's story is the Tinker himself. Tinkers are able to predict events in a way, knowing what a man might need, so that a person should never ignore a Tinker's opinion, and never show disrespect to one. The Tinker is the man who gave to Jax all the tools he would need to capture the moon, so that he can also be blamed for what happened. Also, disrespecting a Tinker is a bad omen, and the fact Jax written the Tinker lose all he had, including his packs, may be enough reason for the Tinker to get angry at him - so maybe the Cthaeh was born by a 'Tinker' gone bad
- As the story of Jax is incredibly old, it could be from a time before the Tinkers, so that Knowers with enough power to see the future (possibly the Cthaeh) would be the beings that ended up originating the Tinkers of today, who still retain a strange power to predict the needs people may have on the future, offering assistance even before the trouble comes
- Many people also believe the hermit is the ctheah. He gives advice to Jax, in which he misconstrues into stealing the moon and building fae (the house). A little manipulation or misunderstanding, the trademarks of the ctheah, and he steals the moon. "That's not what I actually said," the old man murmured. But he did so in a resigned way. Skilled listener that he was, he knew he wasn't being heard.