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Alloy of Law Reactions *spoilers*


Chaos

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Agreed... I read somewhere else that Brandon said he couldn't write or talk too much about some of the loose ends because they are a main plot thread in the 2nd planned trilogy set in the "modern" Scadrial.

I do think that a goal is to use Hemalurgy in some form, even if they don't kill the "subjects", though what a sad person that would leave them...

I really want to know what was in the book that Marsh gave to Marasai...

That probably will be wrapped up in any sequel. After all, Brandon said he might do a sequel, and a sequel without that book in it would be a very odd place to start. Even with that, though, I'm guessing unsavory elements are going to successfully breed a new Mistborn, and that how they do it isn't going to be particularly nice.

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I think the missing girls have something to do with Hemalurgy. A "Kinder, gentler" hemalurgy, maybe, that doesn't slaughter them but spikes them then lets them live out their sad, tattered-soul lives in peace.

I think "the set" is trying to use Hemalurgy to build a Mistborn. I think there's something of that in their name.

They're trying to complete the set - give someone a full set of Allomantic abilities.

I was thinking the same thing, I doubt the whole breeding program theory of Wax's.

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Agreed... I read somewhere else that Brandon said he couldn't write or talk too much about some of the loose ends because they are a main plot thread in the 2nd planned trilogy set in the "modern" Scadrial.

Isn't the villain of the second trilogy planned to be a Mistborn Serial-killer?

*Tam-tam-TAAAAM!*

I guess this must be part of the answer.

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I laughed when I saw that Breeze had gotten himself named the "Counselor of the Gods".

Also, High Imperial, Wax and Wayne, and the tin-foil hats.

Does anyone remember what Trell (Miles's religion) worshiped?

never mind, it's in the wiki

Also, the scene where Wax shoots the bullet with another bullet to kill the Koloss guy was absurd, yet awesome.

Edited by Sir_Read-a-Lot
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Also, did anyone notice the metal symbols on the Elendel Basin map? They run Iron, Larasium, Iron, Steel, Tin along the top and Atium, Malatium, Gold, Electrum, Chromium, Nicrosil down the side? Perhaps latitudes and longditudes are given metal symbols with the 'centre' of the world, if you will, being above the Tyrian Sea, where Atium and Larasium lines cross? This doesn't particularly fit with the traditional compass directions (see Luthadel map), although the Irongate river does run East/West, and Iron was the symbol for West.

Any thoughts?

No, nobody noticed that at all. ^_~

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I loved all the references to the characters of the original trilogy. "High Imperial" about made me shoot milk out of my nose.

The theories above about the Kandra replacing Brettin make a lot of sense to me. I think Wax made the right decision in going with Steris, but I was a little dissatisfied because it felt really unfair to Marasi not to even have any threads of possibility other than "she might meet someone else in the future." I loved Wayne as a character. "Trading" was awesome and memorable, as was his obsession over his lucky hat (does he ever get it back?).

I don't think the women are being taken for a breeding program. We basically already saw that with Lord Venture back in Well of Ascension when it explained how Zane was born. If the set people are aware of Hemalurgy, it wouldn't surprise me to find out they are trying to create a Mistborn that they can control.

I am interested in knowing what all Sazed is capable of doing as Harmony. Do we have any sort of precise knowledge of his abilities?

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I'm honestly unsure what to think about the accuracy of the "breeding program" theory.

Points for: Would explain why they're going after the genetic line instead of people with powers. Kind of explains why they only target women

Points against: There's no indication that any of the victims have Feruchemical powers. Would presumably not produce a Mistborn

However, the Hemalurgy explanation is also kind of odd. The Set already has: 1 coinshot, 1 lurcher, 1 bloodmaker, 1 thug, plus an uncertain number of other allomancers and twinborn, so if they were really planning to make a Mistborn they could simply spike their existing people and have the resulting powerhouse hijack a train and spike every Allomancer onboard. And there's really no reason to go to all the trouble of elaborate kidnappings on high nobles disguised as raids instead of just killing assorted Roughs residents. And they apparently haven't killed anyone yet, despite there really being no reason to wait.

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I can't imagine why you couldn't breed a mistborn unless you had people with feruchemical abilities...makes no sense :P mistborn can clearly be born from people with just allomancy!

Well, those were actually two separate issues. The issue with breeding a Mistborn is that the genetic line they'd be trying to cultivate does not in fact have a demonstrated capacity to create Mistborn at present, and given that there are actually no Mistborn as opposed to very few Mistborn cropping up seemingly at random (at least, as far as we know) it is quite possible that even literally cloning Spook would not result in a Mistborn. I mean, they could simply want to get a hundred or so normal Allomancers, but that leads to the question of their outlandishly specific targeting.

The issue with not including Feruchemical abilities is that clearly being Mistborn and being a Keeper is not mutually exclusive and I cannot imagine why they'd pointedly target a group containing absolutely no possibility of producing a Keeper if they're intent on creating a super-soldier. And worrying that they wouldn't be able to control the result doesn't seem like it would stop people who feel fully confident that they can control a Mistborn, because clearly their control mechanism doesn't depend on being able to kill the result in any sort of a hurry anyhow. I mean, they'd be trusting an incredibly mobile and deadly person to go out pretty much on his/her own regardless of whether or not that person can abuse compounding.

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The issue with not including Feruchemical abilities is that clearly being Mistborn and being a Keeper is not mutually exclusive and I cannot imagine why they'd pointedly target a group containing absolutely no possibility of producing a Keeper if they're intent on creating a super-soldier.

If they are wanting to use hemalurgy, however, they can only steal one ability, so it would be a wast to harm the feruchemical line to steal allomantic abilities when they can steal allomancy from the general population and feruchemy from the Terris people later if they feel the need.

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Guest Jacob Santos
And worrying that they wouldn't be able to control the result doesn't seem like it would stop people who feel fully confident that they can control a Mistborn, because clearly their control mechanism doesn't depend on being able to kill the result in any sort of a hurry anyhow. I mean, they'd be trusting an incredibly mobile and deadly person to go out pretty much on his/her own regardless of whether or not that person can abuse compounding.

It would certainly depend on the trust. I would think that they would be treating any mistborn kindly and using bribes and promises to get the Mistborn to do what they want, if in any event they get one. Also, if you remember Zane, he could have done anything and did do somethings that his dad did not approve, but he also knew that his dad kept mistborn killers around just in case. Which I believe the final result was that they could do nothing to stop Zane, since he was crazy prepared.

Even so, the threat of human to the Mistborn's mother, siblings, etc might be enough to keep some Mistborns in line. If it was me, I would raise the mistborn separately from their mother, being firm and teaching trust, respect and loyalty to the "cause" whatever the cause might be. Doing this and pretending that I'm the father, which most likely I would be anyway, is the better way to go about doing it. Of course, there is a risk of the child learning the secret anyway, but I would slowly tell the truth and wouldn't outright lie. Trust is very easy to lose and I would get the Mistborn to do what I wanted without force. That is the better way I think.

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Hello everyone, first time poster :) love Mr. Sanderson's work, read the Mistborn trilogy - no, devoured it.

Currently reading Alloy of Law and I got to a line that just forced me to look if there's an official fan forum, register and comment.

Two words that just a minute ago made me go :lol: : High. Imperial.

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Hello everyone, first time poster :) love Mr. Sanderson's work, read the Mistborn trilogy - no, devoured it.

Currently reading Alloy of Law and I got to a line that just forced me to look if there's an official fan forum, register and comment.

Two words that just a minute ago made me go :lol: : High. Imperial.

You and everybody else. It's the best kind of joke: it makes sense, is in character, and yet is unexpected and ridiculous.

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On the topic of the theory about a kandra replacing Brettin:

pg 152, when Wayne impersonated a police officer to interrogate the captured Vanishers:

"Yeah," Wayne said, trying to sound dejected. "Guess you'll just have to keep working on them."

"It won't work," Brettin said. "I'll be dead and buried before these men talk."

Remember: due to Wayne's influence, one of them talks later that evening.

I consider this case closed. Sure, it's not really proof of anything, but...

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Just got to the end, great book. Need more.

The way I understood it, this was a side story to the main storyline, yes?

Does that mean that Mr. Sanderson will not be returning to these characters? I guess that Mister Suit's plan will in that case be a foreshadowing of something to happen in the next trilogy or a crucial part of that trilogy's backstory perhaps? :unsure:

Also, loved the Marsh cameo :lol:

And I'm wondering if the writer of this book's Ars Arcanum is perhaps Hoid...

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I knew cadmium was going to play into it somehow as soon as Wax made that cryptic comment about it being useful, but it seeing it come into play the way it did was really gratifying.

Yeah me too. Brandon always does that, turning the smallest things mentioned into something awesome!!

Personally, I loved the very ending, with that foreshadowing for the future. Especially that cloaked figure from the legends ;)

AND HARMONY!!!!

Rawr!

The hardest part, now, will be waiting for the sequels :'(

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Just got to the end, great book. Need more.

The way I understood it, this was a side story to the main storyline, yes?

Does that mean that Mr. Sanderson will not be returning to these characters? I guess that Mister Suit's plan will in that case be a foreshadowing of something to happen in the next trilogy or a crucial part of that trilogy's backstory perhaps? :unsure:

Also, loved the Marsh cameo :lol:

And I'm wondering if the writer of this book's Ars Arcanum is perhaps Hoid...

I think that Brandon also set up hooks for "intermediate" sequels, with Wax (and probably Wayne). Otherwise, why bother with the extra information they got at the end (e.g. Wax got his uncle's itinerary and Marasi got handed something by Marsh.)

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Wow. Of course it was amazing, and "You're welcome," High Imperial, and aluminum foil hats have already been mentioned many times. Allomantic/Feruchemical gun fights are better than any other gunfights ever, and Wax's double bullet trick was incredible (it makes me wonder if the trace hemalurgic boost he gains is in mental fortitude). Thank you to everyone who has posted extra bits they have gleaned from signings (the melted inquisitor spikes are genius). I was forming a Lord Ruler theory before, and Alloy of Law has not contradicted it, so that will be forthcoming. Thanks also to KChan for posting Alloy of Line pictures; I could vicariously experience some small part of it, even though I live a few states too far away to actually go.

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[shocking opinion totally different from anything else in this thread] I loved Alloy of Law. [/shocking]

In addition to its many literary and entertainment merits discussed in previous posts, I find it a really interesting development in Brandon Sanderson's style. It is much shorter and lighter on subplots than any other book of his I've read, and also much more liberal with action sequences (I think that Hero Of Ages might have had as many, but sometimes the heroes win unambiguous victories in the fights from Alloy Of Law). Getting to taste some of the variety of powers available in the form of Twinborn was very cool, too - it is fascinating to me that the Metallic Arts have grown from the versatile but in many ways limited 10 metals of The Final Empire's opening to a system with 288+ different powers available*, but since we've seen it develop every step of the way, those powers still seem logical and intuitive.

The only major complaint I have about it is the announcement implying that the next Mistborn books after this will be a timeskip, so we will not get to see the rest of Wax's story directly. I am certain that Brandon Sanderson knows what he's doing, and that will be fulfilling once we see it in action, but it still made me somewhat uneasy.

My minor complaint of choice is that this book has made it impossible for me to picture playing the upcoming Mistborn RPG (the one from Crafty Games, not the Inquisition one hosted on this site) in the Final Empire setting. Any group of heroes there would just wind up feeling like rehashes of Kelsier's crew to me; while the much larger range of options, removal of the "Mistborn who is just more important than anyone else in the group" factor, and society where people being adventurous is much less often answered by slamming hooks through their necks all make Alloy-era play seem more logical and appealing to me. Sorry, Crafty guys, I know you've put a lot of work into researching and writing the setting info in the RPG book, but when I get my copy, I'll be adapting it to this era right off (on the plus side, I'm pretty well certain to buy the Alloy of Law supplement, when it comes).

-- Deus Ex Biotica

* I counted 16 types of Misting, 16 types of Ferring, and another 16x16 options for the Twinborn, some of whom seem more like distinct powers from the sum of their parts than others (at the very least, all the Doubles like Miles deserve that credit, I think, and combinations like Crashing open up some exciting new ground, too). You'd have to add a whole bunch more to cover the possibilities of Mistborn (who seem to be gone, but possible), and Feruchemists (who might not be gone at all) with one ability from the other Art (no, I do not know if that can happen), and to cover all the combinations with Koloss-Blooded, if you count them separately. And according to the Ars at the end, Atium and Larasium, if they're still around, don't just add two more metals to the mix, they add 34...

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