The Church of Tehlu appears in Patrick Rothfuss’ novel The Name of the Wind. It is the established religion in the regions in which the story takes place.

Rothfuss tells us fairly little about the Church of Tehlu as an institution. We know that there are priests, and that the priests have the support of the rulers. There are persistent rumors about pedophilia among the priesthood; in one city, the street urchins sometimes accept help from the priests of Tehlu, but run when invited to come inside the church. We also know that some of the priests are zealous to seek out and arrest heretics. The general notion is of a corrupt and venal priesthood: Priests Behaving Badly. We do meet one saintly man, one who lives with and cares for the street children, especially those with special needs; and it is hinted that he might once have been a priest of Tehlu. Thus, we have the sense that if there are saints, they are not found in the church.

Rothfuss tells us nothing about the practice of the church. Not only is the main character pretty much unconcerned with religion, there’s little sense of religion playing any significant part in the day-to-day lives of the people he runs into. If there’s a regular day of worship, or any usual sacrifices or tithes, or any daily practice of religion, we are not informed. We do meet one street bully who’s concerned not to anger Tehlu, and we gather that the country folk are more religious (read, more credulous) than the city folk.

There is a yearly festival that is celebrated all across the land that celebrates Tehlu, who delivered mankind from fierce demons.

Tehlu, it seems, is the creator of all that is and of mankind in particular. Tehlu looks down upon earth and sees mankind behaving badly all across the land. In all the world, he finds one good person, a woman whose name I don’t remember, and he speaks with her, and asks petulantly why he shouldn’t destroy mankind for their sins? She argues with him, and asks him how he expects mankind to act, when they are so plagued with demons? They have no time to be good, being so afflicted. Tehlu then incarnates himself in her womb, is born as a man, and grows to adulthood in a matter of months. Declaring himself to be Tehlu, he travels the world hunting down and killing the demons. (As so often in fantasy novels, demons are portrayed as corporeal entities who can be slain.) At last Tehlu gives his life to slay the last of the demons, using a vast iron wheel to cook the demon to death, and returns to the heavens. Hence, the symbol of Tehlu worship is the wheel—which, surprisingly, does not appear to be a symbol of the wheel of time.

The festival celebrates Tehlu’s victory over the demons. During the festival, which lasts a week, the young and young at heart in each town dress as demons and roam about, wreaking havoc, except to those that invoke Tehlu; and one man dresses as Tehlu and roams about banishing the demons one by one.

The essential question to ask about any religion, fictional or otherwise, is “Is it true?” Some fictional religions are intended to be true within the fictional world, and some are not. I’ll use the world theosphere to connote the supernatural reality of a fictional world.

So, is the Church of Tehlu true within the theosphere of Rothfuss’ world? It would appear not. At least, the main character, a man of wider experience than most, thinks that the church of Tehlu is simply a convenient fiction that most people use to explain a world they do not understand. There are no demons; but there are creatures that it’s convenient to call demons when dealing with the simple (i.e., almost anyone but the main character). The true nature of Rothfuss’ theosphere remains opaque.

Thus, The Name of the Wind uses the following standard tropes:

• Priests Behaving Badly: as explained above.
• Esotericism: the ultimate truth about the world is veiled from almost everyone, and from the conventionally religious most of all. The hero, however, knows better.
• Corporeal Demons: As is usual in fantasy, the line of demarcation between the physical and spiritual realms is muddy.
• Heterodox Saints: saintly behavior is inversely proportional to orthodox church membership.
• Absence of Practice: although religion is present in the book, practice of religion is conspicuous by its absence. It’s not clear, though, whether practice is absent from Rothfuss’ world, or simply from Rothfuss’ book.