[OB][SH] Theory on "Fusion"

[Discord]

After lurking for a year, I’m finally taking the leap and posting my first theory to the 17th Shard! (Also posted it to the r/Cosmere subreddit, in case anyone saw it over there.) I couldn’t find anything here (or there) covering this specific topic—apologies if this has already been discussed. 

Kelsier remains one of my favorite Cosmere characters, and I’m positive that his incredible story arc, irreverence for authority, and status as a Sliver of Preservation will make him a key source of knowledge and insight into the inner workings of Investiture and the Cosmere. 

In particular, I can’t stop wondering how he pulled off his latest “feat,” seen at the end of The Bands of Mourning—namely, returning to the Physical Realm after dying and turning into a Cognitive Shadow during the events of Mistborn: Secret History. 

Re-reading Secret History after reading Oathbringer has given me an idea for a theory that I find increasingly plausible: I believe that Kelsier returned to the Physical Realm in a very similar fashion to the creation of The Fused: I imagine that he used Hemalurgy to “staple” his Cognitive Shadow into a living person, much like the Fused are Ancient Listener Cognitive Shadows “inserted” into the gemhearts of living Listeners. (Possibly related to the spike going through his eye and brain?)

 

Kelsier, The Survivor of Death

Quote

 

“Your ties to the Physical Realm have been severed. You’re a kite with no string connecting it to the ground”

— Leras to Kelsier, Mistborn: Secret History, Part 2, Chapter 1

 

Quote

 

“And you?” Spook asked. “What do you get from this?”

“Nothing big,” Kelsier said. “Just a little thing. Someone once explained my problem. My string has been cut, the thing holding me to the physical world.” His smile broadened. “Well, we’re just going to have to find me a new string.”

— Mistborn: Secret History, Epilogue

 

The two passages above highlight Kelsier’s problem as a Cognitive Shadow: he’s missing the “string” (whatever that actually means) that connects him to the Physical Realm, enabling him to have a body. 

Quote

 

It was a difficult perspective to experience, for only half of the viewer’s eyesight was normal. The other was all in blue, lines everywhere. The vision of a man spiked through the eye … 

That arm … That arm. Lined with a network of scars layered atop one another, as if made by scraping the skin time and time again. The haunting word he’d spoken echoed in Wax’s mind.

“Survive.”

— The Bands of Mourning, Epilogue

 

From the end of The Bands of Mourning, we can see that Kelsier succeeded! He’s back in the Physical Realm, able to physically interact with his surroundings and other people, and clearly inhabiting a body that looks a lot like his previous body (note the scarred arms). We know that Kelsier couldn’t possibly be inhabiting his original body, as it was eaten by OreSeur near the end of The Final Empire. Somehow, Kelsier has obtained a new body that looks like his original body (or… more likely, he’s managed to transform a different body to look like his own). 

The timing of events also gives us some clues in terms of just how quickly Kelsier managed to accomplish this: he’s down on the Southern Hemisphere while the people there are literally still in process of freezing to death—he walks by recently frozen corpses and comes upon the remnants of a people waiting to die. From this we can infer that Kelsier got his body back fast enough following the Catacendre that some of the Southerners were still alive. Given how quickly Allik and the other Southerners started experiencing hypothermia in “normal” temperatures, it’s hard to imagine that Kelsier had more than a few months (if not weeks) to figure out his Physical return. 

 

The Mechanics of “Fusing”

Quote

 

“FOR WHEN THESE DIED, THEY REFUSED TO PASS ON … THEY ARE THE SPREN OF PARSHMEN LONG DEAD … THEY ARE REBORN USING THE BODIES OF PARSHMEN TO BECOME THE FUSED.” 

— Oathbringer, Chapter 38

 

Quote

 

“I said,” Ulim hissed, “that you were opening yourselves up. I didn’t say what would enter. Look, your gods need bodies. It’s like this every Return. You should be flattered.”

“Flattered to be killed?”

“Yeah, for the good of the race,” Ulim said. “Those are the Fused: ancient souls reborn.”

— Oathbringer, Interlude 6

 

These passages reiterate the mechanics of “fusing”: a living Listener opens him/herself to the Cognitive Shadow of an Ancient Listener, who then completely takes over the body of the living Listener, forcing out the original soul, and “fusing” to the body to create a new being. 

Quote

 

Leshwi, the other had called her. She had a face that was all three Parshendi colors: white, red, and black, marbled like paint swirled together. He had rarely seen someone who was all three colors before, and this was one of the most transfixing patterns he’d seen, almost liquid in its effect, her eyes like pools around which the colors ran.

— Oathbringer, Chapter 54 (emphasis added)

 

This passage seems to suggest that the “fusion” process fundamentally changes the physical appearance of the Listener body beyond that of form, as form changes don’t seem to correspond with a Listener’s marbling coloration (i.e., we’ve seen Listeners of the same form have different colorations, so we can infer that coloration is not form-specific). If we assume that marbling coloration is a more fundamental physical attribute of the individual listen related to his or her Identity (much like a fingerprint), this change in coloration would be suggest that the “fusion” process is directly changing the Identity of the Listener’s SpiritWeb. 

 

Conclusions

In spite of the very limited information that we have thus far, it’s difficult not to see a parallel between Kelsier’s Physical return and the creation of the Fused: both are instances of a Cognitive Shadow returning to the Physical Realm by inhabiting a body of some sort (literally stated in the case of the Fused, strongly implied in Kelsier’s case). We know that the Fused require a gemheart of some sort to facilitate the process (the existence of Thunderclasts show that the it may not even need to be a Listener body or gemheart), and the “storage” of Investiture (spren) within a gemheart certainly evokes the “storage” of a Hemalurgic charge within a spike, in many ways. 

(Note: I’ve used the word “return” to describe Kelsier’s inhabiting a Physical body—Kelsier’s parallels to the Returned on Nalthis, who are also Cognitive Shadows AND Splinters, certainly exist as well, but the analogue seems a bit more oblique than that of the Fused? If anyone has thoughts on how this phenomena is also similar, I’d love to hear them!) 

Would love to hear feedback and thoughts on this theory! I couldn’t be more excited for The Lost Metal! Really hoping that it comes with some big answers around our favorite scarred Survivor. 

Edited February 25, 2018 by Discord

[Leyrann]

Alright. I'm going to blatantly attack actually more support and interpret this theory with my own view on the Cosmere.

To start off, the ties to the Physical Realm. I have theorized that these ties are created by the Progression Surge, forming what we consider to be "life". What Kelsier and the Fused may very well have done and be doing, is to create new ties, directly or indirectly (to be fair I doubt they straight up use the Progression Surge; we haven't seen any unmodified use of the Surges yet, though it's implied it was possible on Ashyn). Perhaps they basically hijack the existing Progression ties, replacing the Cognitive and Spiritual parts of the person with their own Cognitive and Spiritual self.

Doing this would also mean that the Physical self no longer corresponds properly to the Cognitive and Spiritual self - after all, you also have a Cognitive and Spiritual view on who you are. However, you're already messing with Progression, and we know that the healing done by the Progression Surge in the Stormlight Archive works through altering the Physical self to correspond to your Cognitive or Spiritual self (it's got to do with both). It's not much of a stretch to assume, in that case, that the physical body would then change to fit the new Cognitive and Spiritual self.

As for the Fused and the gemhearts, I suppose those gemhearts might be a requirement, but I don't think we know for certain; maybe they can use the gemheart to attract a spren (probably even in the same Everstorm?) that grants them access to a Surge/two Surges (I don't think we have confirmation yet on whether they can use one or two each...). From my (admittedly very contested and not confirmed) view of the Cosmere, a gemheart should not be needed.

I also think Thunderclasts are something totally different, a kind of spren that specifically has the ability to become a Thunderclast.

[RShara]

Yep, I agree that Kelsier has stapled himself back into a body.  We have indeed seen this with the Fused, and we see this with...oh Warbreaker spoilers

Spoiler

The Returned on Nalthis are Cognitive Shadows stapled back into their bodies with a Divine Breath.

Now, how Kelsier managed to figure out how to do that, or what the mechanics of it are....I haven't the foggiest idea.  Because it seems like he has something quite similar to his original body.  At least, it has all the scars on the arms.  Is that just because that's how he perceives himself, and whatever he did forced that imprint onto the body he's in?  Or what?  So many questions!

[Leyrann]

9 minutes ago, RShara said:

Yep, I agree that Kelsier has stapled himself back into a body.  We have indeed seen this with the Fused, and we see this with...oh Warbreaker spoilers

  Reveal hidden contents

The Returned on Nalthis are Cognitive Shadows stapled back into their bodies with a Divine Breath.

Now, how Kelsier managed to figure out how to do that, or what the mechanics of it are....I haven't the foggiest idea.  Because it seems like he has something quite similar to his original body.  At least, it has all the scars on the arms.  Is that just because that's how he perceives himself, and whatever he did forced that imprint onto the body he's in?  Or what?  So many questions!

I'm gonna go with what I mentioned above. He's been fiddling with what, at the deepest level, is the Progression Surge, and that meant that the body he took automatically started resembling how he considered himself to be.

[Discord]

14 minutes ago, Leyrann said:

To start off, the ties to the Physical Realm. I have theorized that these ties are created by the Progression Surge, forming what we consider to be "life".

I haven't seen this take on the Progression Surge! I like the idea of "healing" being a more fundamental "force" that Connects your Spiritual, Cognitive, and Physical selves (Brandon has basically said as much when explaining why Lopen could heal his arm vs. why Kaladin couldn't heal his scars), so I think you may have just convinced me with your theory. 

14 minutes ago, Leyrann said:

I also think Thunderclasts are something totally different, a kind of spren that specifically has the ability to become a Thunderclast.

Hmm... I could see this too, I was assuming that they were particularly corrupted Fused, but you're right that they kinda seem like an entirely different thing... 

6 minutes ago, RShara said:

Yep, I agree

Not gonna lie, pretty jazzed to be hearing this from RShara  

6 minutes ago, RShara said:

Because it seems like he has something quite similar to his original body.  At least, it has all the scars on the arms.

Exactly—hence why I brought up the passage on Leshwi's coloration (and also maybe the Returned's ability to change their physical appearance). I would be pretty surprised if the mechanism by which Kelsier got his "old appearance" back were not very similar to how Leshwi always seems to end up in a body with that unique tri-color marbling (we know Moash has seen her in multiple Listener bodies, given that he killed one of them). 

[RShara]

(TBH, the theory has been floating around for a while, and I'm definitely in that camp.  Coming up with it independently is way better than I could do). 

Yeah, I'm sure the CS has some control over their appearance.  I just really want Secret History 2 to see how he accomplished it

[Mah'alleinir]

I always figured he somehow attached his cognitive shadow to a blank kandra. Any thoughts if posible? I can see a few advantajes in doing so

[marles]

6 hours ago, Mah'alleinir said:

I always figured he somehow attached his cognitive shadow to a blank kandra. Any thoughts if posible? I can see a few advantajes in doing so

I wouldn't think that is impossible but I wouldn't think it likely. But it's been a while since my read of SH so I forget exactly how much Kel knows about spikes and entities containing spikes being susceptible to control by Ruin/Harmony. Even if he made it through SH without knowing that spikes could lead to being controlled, he would surely have learned of that fact through Spook and/or Sazed. We already know from the memory in BoM that Kel has a spiked eye. That makes me think he would minimize any other spikes needed in his body so he can continue acting as he wishes.

-----------------------------

Now for completely tin foil wrapped speculation/questioning. Is it possible for Kel to be spiked into Sazed's physical body? Do the vessels need their physical bodies from their time as a normal living being after they have ascended? We've seen several shardholders interacting within/through the spiritual realm while seemingly not having bodies in the physical (although having other physical manifestations; atium, lerasium, tears of edgli?). What would happen if Kel was spiked (or fused?) into Sazed's body? Would he then have his own mistborn powers as well as Sazed's feruchemical?

[RShara]

Their physical body is still their own.  It's kind of blended in to the power, like, it's been converted largely into investiture.  But as we've seen, once the Shard power leaves them, their bodies return to the Physical plain.

[marles]

1 hour ago, RShara said:

Their physical body is still their own.  It's kind of blended in to the power, like, it's been converted largely into investiture.  But as we've seen, once the Shard power leaves them, their bodies return to the Physical plain.

Thanks for more clarification RShara. I figured something happened with their bodies but wasn't sure if we had seen any real evidence as to what that may be. For some reason I'm not remembering any of the shards' bodies returning to the Physical once they lose the power. But I'm about half way through my second read of the Cosmere works so I will be sure to keep an eye out.

[Weltall]

Yeah, Sazed's physical body has sublimated but would reform if he gave up the power or if he was killed. We see the latter happen with Leras and Ati and the former has been revealed by Brandon outside the books. One thing of potential interest is that Brandon told us that the bodies of the former Vessels might have been handy to have around. We don't know why this is so but apparently Sazed didn't do anything with them... but who's to say that Kelsier didn't? Maybe instead of one of the theories that he returned via a kandra or a mistwraith eating his original bones (they're still around) he's found a way to staple himself to Leras or Ati's body?

[RShara]

13 minutes ago, marles said:

Thanks for more clarification RShara. I figured something happened with their bodies but wasn't sure if we had seen any real evidence as to what that may be. For some reason I'm not remembering any of the shards' bodies returning to the Physical once they lose the power. But I'm about half way through my second read of the Cosmere works so I will be sure to keep an eye out.

Yeah, in HoA when Elend walks off after his convo with Leras, there's a short description of a body slumping to the ground.  Then right before Sazed Ascends, he sees Vin's body and the body of a red-haired man take form and fall to the ground.

Weltall, why are you linking to theoryland instead of Arcanum?  I am offend!  Also, doesn't that preclude Kelsier doing anything with them?

Quote

InsurrectionistFungus

Did Sazed do anything with the bodies of Ati and Leras after he Ascended?

Brandon Sanderson

No, I'm afraid not. Those might have been useful to have around, though.

source

 

[Weltall]

You are offend?! Here, take my boots. Plus, I had the Theoryland link handy at the time so it was slightly faster to use it.

15 minutes ago, RShara said:

Also, doesn't that preclude Kelsier doing anything with them?

Not necessarily, Brandon says that Sazed didn't do anything with the bodies but he doesn't rule out someone else doing something with them. Say, Spook. Kelsier started working on him immediately after the Catacendre so Ati's body at least might have remained in a useable state by the time the two of them figured out whatever trick Kelsier used to reconnect to the Physical.

[RShara]

1 hour ago, Weltall said:

You are offend?! Here, take my boots. Plus, I had the Theoryland link handy at the time so it was slightly faster to use it.

Not necessarily, Brandon says that Sazed didn't do anything with the bodies but he doesn't rule out someone else doing something with them. Say, Spook. Kelsier started working on him immediately after the Catacendre so Ati's body at least might have remained in a useable state by the time the two of them figured out whatever trick Kelsier used to reconnect to the Physical.

Maaaayyyybe.  *Squints*  I don't think the timeline fits though.  By the time Spook puts the earring in, they've had time to build houses and a "manor" so it's been some months.  Unless Sazed Preserved them (which he didn't), they'd be rather icky by that point, yes?

 

Also, these boots are way too big.

Edited February 26, 2018 by RShara

[Weltall]

Hey, how do you know how big my boots are? Have you been spying on me with a spren?!

1 hour ago, RShara said:

Maaaayyyybe.  *Squints*  I don't think the timeline fits though.  By the time Spook puts the earring in, they've had time to build houses and a "manor" so it's been some months.  Unless Sazed Preserved them (which he didn't), they'd be rather icky by that point, yes?

Spook thinks that even after 'all these weeks' he's not quite used to his sense being baseline-human again, so we're probably looking at a month, maybe two at the outside. We know that being a Sliver does things to the body as well as the soul and the implication that the bodies would have been useful to have around (minus Leras and Ati's Cognitive/Spiritual aspects) leaves open that there's something about them that would be different from any old human corpse. So it's possible they would have been viable for a while longer than an ordinary corpse would have been.

Quote

Argent (paraphrased)

What effects does being a Sliver have on a person?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

It can vary (on the Shard, the length of time the power was held, the power itself, etc). In some way a Sliver is someone who has had their mind, body, and spirit expanded due to holding a great deal of power, and then have had that power leave.

source

 

[RShara]

I'll just stick with my, "maaaaaaaaybe"

[Calderis]

@Discord, if I'm incorrect, this is what I find the second most likely option. I personally think that Kelsier was spiked in the Cognitive Realm with the physical connection of someone else, and that his body is his own. I explain in a little more detail here, but this was pre-OB. 

As I said though, if I'm incorrect, than what you describe is, in my mind, a sound explanation. 

[DocHoliday]

There's a mausoleum dedicated to Vin and Elend in the center of Elendel. We know from the end HoW that the bodies were repaired, was this supposed to be a tomb for their bodies? While "icky" cold and dry environments might have deterred decay enough that the body might be "habitable". Especially if we're considering the CS more or less teraforms the new body.

[Discord]

16 hours ago, Calderis said:

I personally think that Kelsier was spiked in the Cognitive Realm with the physical connection of someone else, and that his body is his own.

@Calderis, thanks for linking your theory! If I'm understanding you correctly, you're theorizing that the "string" mentioned by Leras is an actual, Spiritual attribute representing a being's Connection to the Physical Realm, which can be stolen via Hemalurgy. Put another way, you're interpreting Kelsier's statement, “Well, we’re just going to have to find me a new string," in a more literal sense—he literally needs to steal this "string" from another person. Very interesting, I like how simple and elegant your theory is!

I think I follow the basis of your theory, which is that flesh-and-blood living beings seemingly "automatically" transform from matter to Investiture (or back) when using a Perpendicularity (or Elsecalling) to move between Realms. I really like the idea of defining the "string" as the Spiritual attribute that transforms a person back to matter from Investiture when transitioning back to the Physical Realm (it'd line up with Leras saying that Kelsier's lack of "string" would prevent him from being able to ride the Perpendicularity). 

However, I have one big question about your theory: We know that matter, energy, and Investiture are fundamentally the same and that they cannot be created or destroyed. Living beings transforming to Investiture while transitioning Realms aren't net creating or net destroying matter/energy/Investiture. Their Physical matter bodies would "disappear" from the Physical Realm, and their Investiture-based Cognitive bodies would "appear" in the Cognitive Realm—the two never exist at the same time, so it seems safe to assume that it's the same matter/energy/Investiture that's undergoing some sort of "phase change." In Kelsier's case, however, (and for any other dead person), the body remains behind in the Physical Realm, while his Investiture-based Cognitive self simultaneously appears in the Cognitive Realm. This difference makes me think that there's definitely a distinction between these two different methods of changing Realms. 

A possible way of reconciling this discrepancy: Perhaps dead people are much less Invested that living beings? As in, the innate Investiture in people is represented by their Physical and Cognitive forms, and when they die, some of that Investiture remains in the Physical Realm (the corpse) and some transitions to the Cognitive Realm (the "ghost")? (By that logic, perhaps the SpiritWeb, or the soul, also represents some of that innate Investiture, though that would also imply that people moving to the Beyond is Investiture leaving the Cosmere, which makes me think this is not the case... but I digress.) If that were true, living beings who transition to the Cognitive Realm via Perpendicularity would be much more Invested than a dead person, as they'd have their Cognitive Investiture as well as their Physical Investiture (also converted to Cognitive Investiture via the "string").

Bringing this all together then, we could conclude that Kelsier likely didn't have enough Investiture to "precipitate out" a body (even if he replaced his "string") immediately upon death, but the infusion of Investiture from Preservation that made him into a Cognitive Shadow may have provided enough extra Investiture to make up the difference? At this point, I'm very much guessing at your response to my question haha so would be curious to hear your thoughts! 

[Calderis]

@Discord you've guessed mist of what I think happened. I think that the very investiture that anchors his spiritweb from can facilitate the transition. I also agree with what I believe @Spoolofwhool posted in that thread that there is a kind of "background investiture" in the Cosmere. So when a living person transitions, much of the investiture of their body dissapates into ambient investiture, and their "string" allows that to be pulled in to form a body on transition back. That's obviously speculation.

The main reason I subscribe to this is that in the Cognitive Realm, Kelsier didn't appear to function on appear any different than characters we saw who were physically whole. I also don't think that a spike could contain the entirety of a person's spiritweb. 

That said, it is all speculative for now and as much as I like my theory, I know it has a high probability of being incorrect. The appearance of the Fused in the Cosmere does lend credence to the idea of a body changing shape to match the Spiritual/Cognitive aspect that's inhabiting it. So I guess we'll have to RAFO. 

All this said, very nice first theory. Very plausible. 

Edited February 27, 2018 by Calderis