Hoid's Foresight

[Vauric]

There will be some Mistborn and Stormlight talk here, so beware.

We've got some WoBs on Hoid, mentioning that he knows where to be thanks to feruchemy. But how though?

Feruchemy itself has two things that might do it, storing Luck with Chromium or perhaps mental speed with Zinc. But that seems easy. Let's get really tinfoily with it.

Assumptions  
1) Hoid has Feruchemical abilties - We have the above report about this, but that's just one source. Nothing confirmed from novels as of yet.  
2) Hoid has Allomantic abilities - This is speculation based on the scene in WoR where Shallan see's him putting something in his drink. Not confirmed, but seems like a nod from Brandon. Whether this is from the lerasium, or another means, isn't relevant right now.

All the Compounding we know works by storing a trait with Feruchemy, and burning it with Allomancy, and getting a giant boost out of the Feruchemical power (i.e. gold compounding causes massive healing, and atium compouding grants youth).

The reverse works (i.e. burning a metal with Allomancy, and storing/enhancing it with Feruchemy to get a massive amount) as confirmed/discussed here. Hoid could be doing that with Electrum to see a massive amount of his personal future, seeing where he will be, and inferring where to go.

TL;DR Hoid is reverse compouding electrum to be a super-oracle

 

EDIT: I posted a reply down below with more info, specifically about Electrum's power. The Ars Arcanum from Alloy of law says "Reveals Your Own Future". In the detailed section, it says "Oracle Mistings burn electrum to see a vision of possible paths their future could take. This is usually limited to a few seconds." This seems again, to be far different from what Vin/Elend were using it for, and could present a large opportunity for use with enough electrum.

Edited March 18, 2014 by Vauric

[Araris Valerian]

While this is a viable theory, to the extent that I understand electrum you can only interpret the future by what actions you see your shadows doing. My interpretation of this, which may or may not be correct, is that if you can't see the electrum shadow then it won't do you very much good. Also, this method of compounding is somewhat redundant when you have duralamin; the only difference is that if you have a full enough metalmind then you won't expend your entire charge at once. I do like this theory, but I don't think we know enough about how electrum works to tell if it is a viable strategy.

[Urilikya]

Unfortunately, I'm a little fuzzy on my metalic arts to remember exactly what effect reverse compounding electrum would have. However, I do think that Hoid probably has a little more of a trick up his sleeve. Probably something that we haven't actually heard yet. But, this could explain a little bit more about how he can throw off some of his pursuers, one of which is a known atium misting. 

[Vauric]

I hadn't thought about just using Duralumin + Electrum, so a bit disappointed in myself there. Perhaps it's just a matter of scale? Duralumin will only burn off what you have injested, and maybe reverse-compounding would grant a far larger amount than someone can physically consume? Definitely need more information there.

 

As to what Electrum does, most of this theory is based off of the Ars Arcanum from Alloy of law. The table there says, in a vague manner, "Reveals Your Own Future" which is definitely different from how it was explained in tHoA. In the detailed section, it says "Oracle Mistings burn electrum to see a vision of possible paths their future could take. This is usually limited to a few seconds." This seems again, to be far different from what Vin/Elend were using it for, and could present a large opportunity for use with enough electrum power.

 

I'm going to edit that last part into my original post. Should have included that first

[NutiketAiel]

You guys are assuming that it has to be one of the metals we have seen.  Both Lerasium and Atium have 16 alloys, of which we have only seen one- Malatium, an alloy of Atium and Gold.  We do not know what the feruchemical properties of any of these metals are (or, for that matter, the feruchemical properties of Lerasium).  I think it is at least possible that Hoid's feruchemical foresight is based on one of these unknown metals.  My money is on an alloy of Chromium and Lerasium.

 

This strikes me as more likely than the compounding idea.  I don't see Hoid going through all the trouble to get a bead of Lerasium just to eat it and gain allomantic powers, especially since the references I have seen when Brandon mentions it say that Hoid has a bead of Lerasium.  If he had eaten it to gain allomancy, wouldn't the reference be past tense?  A thin reed, I know, but we have so little to go on...  Anyway, we know that Lerasium and its alloys have other properties, so I think he is more likely to be using it in some other way.  Alloying some of it with another metal and using it as a feruchemical storage seems a bit more likely to me (and more interesting).

 

Another note- There's a quote from Hoid in Words of Radiance (not sure where it is- I'll try to find it), about how he needs to be somewhere else, but that he doesn't know why, and that he finds it inconvenient that his ability works that way.  That doesn't strike me as a problem he would be having if he was using some kind of Electrum-compounding foresight.  That DOES sound like a problem that would come from an ability that is tied to luck.  That, more than anything else, is why I think a Lerasium-Chromium alloy (or, less likely, an Atium-Chromium alloy) is the medium for this feruchemical ability.

 

To quote Hoid:  "What is it we value? Innovation. Originality. Novelty. But most importantly...timeliness."

 

I theorize that Hoid is using a Lerasium-Chromium Alloy to store Timeliness- the ability to be in the right place at the right time.

[ChimeraRuin]

Something I saw on reddit that is my favorite theory on this.

He compounds luck and throws a dart at a map of the Cosmere. 

[NutiketAiel]

I found the quote I was looking for:

 

 

"Leave?" Dalinar said.  "You only just arrived."

 

"I know.  It's incredibly frustrating, I must admit.  I have discovered a place that I must be, though to be honest I'm not exactly sure why I need to be there.  This doesn't always work as well as I'd like it to."

 

This is from Chapter 67 of Words of Radiance (page 798 in the hardcover edition).

 

This is, to the best of my knowledge, the only in character description we have of Hoid's mysterious ability to be in the right place at the right time, and I feel that it conforms to my thought that the ability is luck based rather than foresight based.

[DoctorWh0m]

 

 

 I understand electrum you can only interpret the future by what actions you see your shadows doing.

Well, that would actually be a good explanation for why he knows where to be, but not why: he can see where he goes, but can't see anything about what's there.

[Shadeshadow227]

 

I theorize that Hoid is using a Lerasium-Chromium Alloy to store Timeliness- the ability to be in the right place at the right time.

 

Timeliness? REALLY?! That'd be awesome...but storing Timeliness...you could easily end up DEAD if a...IDK This post has been reported for attempting to skirt the rules a Ferring of that would be called...stored up enough of it. 

[Stormgate]

Perhaps fortune? We don't know how that works at ALL.

[natc]

That really just brings us back to the map/name list and dartboard with throwing knives though. While blindfolded of course.

Edited April 14, 2016 by natc