History WMG / TheAlloyOfLaw

[[redirect:WMG/TheMistbornAdventures]]

[[WMG: Bloody Tan had a Hemalurgic spike]]
Bloody Tan can somehow move fast enough to shift Lessie into the path of Wax's bullet, either through Feruchemy or Allomancy, but Wax gives no indication that Bloody Tan had any powers. He also claims to have seen Death and that "Someone else moves us." Both are references to Marsh. Marsh spiked Bloody Tan, then used duralumin enhanced emotional allomancy to take control of him to ensure Lessie's death. But why, you ask, would Marsh want Lessie dead? To ensure that Wax goes back to Elendel to stop the Vanishers. Marsh wagers that Wax wouldn't leave the Roughs as long as his wife was there, so he removed her from the equation.

[[WMG: Wax's earring is a Hemalurgic spike]]
It gives him a direct path to speak to Harmony (who normally gives vague advice because his attention is elsewhere), in addition, it gives him the ability to burn Pewter. He never tries to do so actively, so he doesn't even know, but on misty nights when he has his earring in, such as at the climax, he draws in the mists themselves for extra vitality and energy to keep going despite massive injuries. This is possible only because Ruin and Preservation are merged into one being, hence the spike not preventing the mists from entering him.
** I've just come home from Brandon's book signing here in Vancouver, and I asked him what the earring was made of, he wouldn't tell me what metal it's made of, but he DID say it has a slight hemalurgic charge.
* My theory is that it's a re-used Koloss spike and the bind point in the ear gives only minimal effects. It seems that all of Harmony's worshipers have one, and there's no way he murders enough people to make new ones, but there's literally over a million left over, and even if only one of the four spikes is suited for this use that's still a lot of spikes.
** Actually he wrote in my book that it's part of a re-used Inquisitor spike that was melted down and reforged. You could get a lot of little earrings from those great big spikes in the Inquisitors.

[[WMG: Wax's earring was given to him by a Faceless Immortal: [=TenSoon=]]]
Because, why not?
** haha it was actually given to him by [=MeLaan=] (not sure of spelling) according to Word of Brandon.


[[WMG: The Ars Arcanum is written by Hoid]]
It's written in a first-person point of view, not an omniscient narrator. On the other hand, the writer has knowledge of things from other worlds. He compares Allomancy to the form-based Investitures from Sel, presumably he's speaking of the Awakening found in Literature/{{Warbreaker}}. So far, only one character has appeared in all of Sanderson's main works, and that is Hoid. Therefore, the Ars Arcanum was written by Hoid.
** Actually FYI Sel is the world of Literature/{{Elantris}}. Also I think it was written by one of the members of The Seventeenth Shard, a group mentioned in The Way of Kings that seems to consist of worldhoppers.
** Investiture is a word used by The Seventeenth Shard to describe magic's effects and power across universes, so that points to them.
** We aren't actually sure of that. Although we have a vague idea what investiture is, we have no specifics, and Brandon has explicitly stated he won't answer any questions even vaguely related to it.
** Also, members of the Seventeenth shard appear in The Way of Kings, and Galladon (an Elantrian) and Demoux (from Scadrial) are two of them. It's quite possible they wrote the respective entries in the Ars Arcanum.
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[[WMG: The Ars Arcanum is written by [[BigBad Odium]] from Literature/TheStormlightArchive]]
Similar reasoning above, but with the additional note that he takes a peculiar interest in Hemalurgy. Although he tries to defend it as not necessarily evil, it seems like the reasoning someone trying to sound less evil to observers would use.
* Notably, there is WordOfGod confirmation in one of the "Note from Brandon" sidebars in the RPG that Hemalurgy IS evil.

[[WMG: Bloody Tan is an Atium Misting]]
He managed to move Lessie into position for the bullet to hit her head. Short of steel compounding, Atium is pretty much the only way to do that, and if he were compounding steel he'd presumably have enough left to dodge. Atium, however, could do it and burns quickly enough he could easily have run out. Furthermore, it would help explain how he murdered the dude posed as flying, presumably a Coinshot, despite allegedly only using knives. Now, you might object that all the Atium is gone and the Pits are non-functional, but Kelsier said he'd ended Atium production for "hundreds of years" and it's been hundreds of years since then.
* This has now been {{Jossed}} as of Brandon's Q&A on Twitter. He did say that asking if he as a Seer was a good question though,which makes me think there's definitely more going on there then is obvious.
* It was stated that Blood Tan stole a shipment of Bendalloy, so I assumed that he was a Slider and altered time a bit to move her into the shot. What exactly did the Q & A say on the subject, exactly?
** Except that a Slider bubble would have altered the trajectory of the shot. Electrum's far more likely - he "sees" his Electrum shadow get shot it the head, and moves Lessie so that she'll be in the path between the gun and that spot instead.
** Not necessarily - Tan could have put a bubble up, moved Lessie, and dropped the bubble before the bullet hit the edge. Wax does something similar against Tarson.

[[WMG: Any bullet that kills someone by being fired into their heart becomes a hemalurgic spike]]
OK, not any bullet, it has to be of an appropriate metal such as the steel ones that Wax uses. Steel bullets would steal Allomantic physical powers, Aluminum bullets steal Allomantic enhancement powers. Let's just hope no one finds out.
** Well we know the heart is an appropriate point to drive a spike through to steal the ability to burn steel, as Ruin tried to get Spook to impale Beldre through the heart to get another spike in him, so that definitely works. And yeah, that could get messy.
** I've asked at a book signing and the verdict from WordOfGod is that it would not matter so much where the bullet hits so long as it does kill.

[[WMG: Bloodmakers can be killed with a single bullet to the heart]]
All you would need is the correct metal to hemalurgically steal their ability to heal. It just depends on whether they need to be dead for the bullet/spike to steal the piece of their soul, it's a bit of a chicken and egg scenario. Perhaps it won't work until the bloodmaker runs out of healing anyway.
** WordOfGod says that a single bullet 'could' kill by stealing the healing ability. He said that death is normally a prerequisite of stealing a power so a blood maker who is still healing should be immune, but the bullet will still damage the soul and interrupt the healing. Basically it could work by cheating.

[[WMG: Wax's sister is a Connector / Duralumin Ferring]]
Duralumin stores one's spiritual connection with others, reducing other people's awareness and friendship with them while storing. Wax notes that he never had a close relationship with his sister, but [[spoiler: when she is revealed to be alive in the epilogue, he feels notably relieved.]]
* Note that "while storing" thing. If Wax's sister was a Duralumin Ferring [[spoiler: the kidnappers would have had to have let her keep a duraluminmind with her the whole time. [[FridgeLogic Not to mention,]] how would she know to stop storing when her brother found out she was still alive?]]

[[WMG: Hoid is dead by the time Alloy Of Law happens.]]
We don't know the relative timeframe of [[Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy the]] [[Literature/TheStormlightArchive other]] [[Literature/{{Elantris}} Cosmere]] [[Literature/{{Warbreaker}} books]] so far, so it's possible that they all fall within a normal lifespan. Alloy Of Law is explicitly set 300 years after to original Mistborn trilogy, and it's the only one with no mention of Hoid.
* Per WordOfGod, ''Alloy'' takes place somewhat before ''Way of Kings'', so Hoid is definitely still alive. WordOfGod has also said that he's lived longer than a normal human lifetime. Check out 17thshard.com for a place where you can find links to a lot of this background info, mostly in interviews.
** Also, the scruffy guy in black at the wedding dinner was Hoid, he wasn't as involved in events this time as what's going on in Alloy isn't really that important to the overall story, he's basically just there for the cameo and so that the people at 17thshard didn't drive themselves nuts looking for him.
* Since Hoid is confirmed to have been present at the Shattering of Adonalsium, which according to word of Brandon happened thousands of years in the past, then he has some form of immortality (and given his presence in the Liar of Partinel, may well be the oldest living being in the universe). So no, he would not be dead even if he wasn't present in the book.

[[WMG: Nicrosil's Feruchemical use.]]
A Twinborn can store their ability to use Allomancy in a nicrosilmind, denying themselves their Allomantic power during storage; tapping the metalmind temporarily enhances the amount of power the Allomancer gets from burning the same amount of metal, in a similar fashion as a Hemolurgic spike of the appropriate metal. Much like bendalloyminds can store either food or water, using nicrosil to store Feruchemical talent is also possible, increasing the amount of an attribute the Feruchemist can store in a given quantity of metal.

This, of course, makes Soulbearer Ferrings as useless as Aluminum and Duralumin Mistings. And before you give yourself a headache trying to figure out how [[LogicBomb a Feruchemist can store their ability to use Feruchemy in a metalmind using their Feruchemy]], keep in mind that somewhere in the middle of ''[[Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy The Well of Ascension]]'', Sazed mentions that while Feruchemists can't fill most metalminds in their sleep, they can still store wakefulness in a bronzemind.
* Nicrosil's Feruchemical use is outlined in the RPG as storing "Investiture", outlined there as being straight up supernatural energy - to the point that it can be added in equal or lesser measure to the energy being tapped from any other sort of metalmind. It can also be used to convert the stores in another Feruchemist's metalmind into Investiture, but this apparently reduces the total store in that metalmind. As for how they store their ability to use Feruchemy by using Feruchemy, while filling a Nicrosilmind they can't use their other metalminds at all - so they store everything but the ability to stop storing to the Nicrosil mind. What effect this has in Twinborn, both those who are or are not Nicro-Compounders, is a very interesting question.

[[WMG: Tarson gained his Koloss blood from a Hemalurgic spike used by Koloss.]]

Koloss are made when the souls of five ordinary people are combined together through Hemalurgy. This is also what warps their body and turns them into AxeCrazy killing machines that will die of natural causes within a decade. But that's with four spikes- what happens when you only use one? Koloss aren't invincible, and a group of well-armed men could hunt one down and harvest the spikes. Using one spike would only attach one soul to your own, which limit your strength increase, but also limit the physical and mental deterioration.

There is also a chance that Tarson is simply the first of many. We know that the Organization is trying to breed Mistings. They may also try to "breed" an army of Tarsons, which are a step up from an army of Koloss. They wouldn't be as strong as full-blooded Koloss, but they wouldn't require powerful Soothers or Rioters to control them, either.

* Though we know for a fact that Harmony/Sazed altered the koloss so they could procreate, who is to say he also didn't make it possible for them to procreate with humans? No one seems disbelieving of the idea of a person being "koloss-blooded", so it could very well be fairly common.

[[WMG: Hemalurgy has been altered by Harmony to be less lethal.]]

While I doubt Sazed approves of people shoving spikes into other people, at least two surviving races- the Kandra and the Koloss- require Hemalurgy for procreation. In order to let the Kandra survive without having to murder people, Harmony altered the requirements for for Hemalurgy- you no longer have to drive a spike through the heart to take some of their power. This way, the Kandra can find sympathetic Mistings and make a few more of each other every hundred years.

In a future book, the protagonists will figure this out, and split their powers- they will be much less powerful, but more versatile.
* According to WordOfGod, Harmony changed the koloss so they would be self-propagating. Chances are, he did the same thing to the kandra.

[[WMG: The metals with unrevealed Hemalurgic powers cover the FunctionalMagic systems from other Shardworlds.]]
I'm not sure which metals go with which powers, but [[NightmareFuel imagine a]] [[Franchise/{{Mistborn}} Steel]] [[TheDreaded Inquisitor]] [[Literature/{{Warbreaker}} Awakener]] who can [[Literature/{{Elantris}} use AonDor]].

[[WMG: The Organization's ultimate goal is to control the Pits of Hathsin]]

We know that the Pits survived the rebirth of Scadrial, and that Kelsier mentions their ability to produce atium was destroyed for three hundred years. Presumably, they need a Mistborn to get whoever's living there- probably kandra- out.
* The problem with this (and most other theories here dealing with atium) being, of course, the fact that Sazed/Harmony should have reabsorbed the part of Ruin's power that atium was the solid form of since the only thing preventing Ruin from doing so was Preservation hiding it (and Sazed/Harmony knows exactly where).

[[WMG: The cryptic last words of Miles Hundredlives were not his own.]]
When he died, whatever is speaking through the dying on [[Literature/TheStormlightArchive Roshar]] also spoke through him.
* This is not my theory; somebody else brought it up at a signing and Sanderson got extremely cagey in response. So it's worth preserving here.

[[WMG: Ruin *could* read minds; he was being blocked by Preservation's power opposing him.]]
In the original trilogy, it's a major plot point that Ruin can't read minds, even of the most spike-filled Inquisitors. In this book, though, Harmony appears to respond directly to Wax's thoughts.
* WordOfGod indicates that this is a part of the "complimentary opposites" nature of these two powers, actually. Preservation ''could'' read minds, but had a very hard time communicating with them (remember how Vin had to struggle to get even a simple message to Elend?). Ruin was essentially the opposite, having no real ability to read minds but being very powerful at communicating with and influencing them. Harmony, having access to both powers, could do both.

[[WMG: Atium will return in the third trilogy.]]
If it is indeed a CrisisCrossver, that means [[Literature/TheStormlightArchive Roshar]] will be involved. And if [[Literature/TheStormlightArchive Roshar]] is involved, that means [[FunctionalMagic Soulcasting]]. You might need existing atium to use as a blueprint, and it might take prohibitive amounts of [[{{Mana}} stormlight]], but I see no other obstacles to turning things into atium.

[[WMG: They're not trying to breed a Mistborn.]]
The assumption that Wax goes with, and most other people have followed, is that his uncle is involved in some scheme to breed new Mistborn. However, there's another thing that can be done that takes a lot of Mistings of varied abilities, and would be MUCH quicker. They're trying to make new Steel Inquisitors.
* the preview reading for Shadows of Self strongly implies this is the case.

The assumption that Wax goes with, and most other people have followed, is that his uncle is involved in some scheme to breed new Mistborn. However, there's another thing that can be done that takes a lot of Mistings of varied abilities, and would be MUCH quicker. They're trying to make new Steel Inquisitors.

If it is indeed a CrisisCrossver, that means [[Literature/TheStormlightArchive Roshar]] will be involved. And if [[Literature/TheStormlightArchive Roshar]] is involved, that means [[FunctionalMagic Soulcasting]]. You might need existing atium to use as a blueprint, and it might take prohibitive amounts of [[{{Mana}} stormlight]], but I see no other obstacles to turning things into atium.

When he died, whatever is speaking through the dying on [[TheStormlightArchive Roshar]] also spoke through him.

** haha it was actually given to him by [=MaeLan=] (not sure of spelling) according to Word of Brandon.
** It was MeLaan, who was also seen in Hero of the Ages

* WordOfGod indicates that this is a part of the "complimentary opposites" nature of these two powers, actually. Preservation ''could'' read minds, but had a very hard time communicating with them (remember how Vin had to struggle to get even a simple message to Elend?). Ruin was essentially the opposite, having no real ability to read minds but being very powerful at communicating with and influencing them. Harmony, having access to both powers, could do both.

In the original trilogy, it's a major plot point that Ruin can't read minds, even of the most spike-filled Inquisitors. In this book, though, Harmony appears to respond directly to Wax's thoughts.

* This is not my theory; somebody else brought it up at a signing and Sanderson got extremely cagey in response. So it's worth preserving here.

We know that the Pits survived the rebirth of Scadrial, and that Kelsier mentions their ability to produce atium was destroyed for three hundred years. Presumably, they need a Mistborn to get whoever's living there- probably kandra- out.

[[WMG: The Ars Arcanum is written by [[BigBad Odium]] from TheStormlightArchive]]

It's written in a first-person point of view, not an omniscient narrator. On the other hand, the writer has knowledge of things from other worlds. He compares Allomancy to the form-based Investitures from Sel, presumably he's speaking of the Awakening found in Ltierature/{{Warbreaker}}. So far, only one character has appeared in all of Sanderson's main works, and that is Hoid. Therefore, the Ars Arcanum was written by Hoid.

It's written in a first-person point of view, not an omniscient narrator. On the other hand, the writer has knowledge of things from other worlds. He compares Allomancy to the form-based Investitures from Sel, presumably he's speaking of the Awakening found in {{Warbreaker}}. So far, only one character has appeared in all of Sanderson's main works, and that is Hoid. Therefore, the Ars Arcanum was written by Hoid.
** Actually FYI Sel is the world of {{Elantris}}. Also I think it was written by one of the members of The Seventeenth Shard, a group mentioned in The Way of Kings that seems to consist of worldhoppers.