Inquisitor Heights

[CosmereMaths]

In Mistborn, it is often mentioned that Steel Inquisitors tower over regular Scadrians. Vin comments that all steel inquisitors seem to be 2 feet taller than her which would imply they are at least 7 feet. It seems incredibly unlikely that inquisitors would be chosen for there height when it appears they are chosen for their allomantic abilities. I previously didn’t associate inquisitors as hemalurgic constructs like Koloss or Kandra, which are physically altered but more just like a human being with a ton of hemalurgically stolen powers. (Like Pewter enhanced Spook) but the height is enough to make me question this. Are there any book quotes or WOBs explaining the height of steel inquisitors?

[That1Cellist he/him]

14 minutes ago, CosmereMaths said:

In Mistborn, it is often mentioned that Steel Inquisitors tower over regular Scadrians. Vin comments that all steel inquisitors seem to be 2 feet taller than her which would imply they are at least 7 feet. It seems incredibly unlikely that inquisitors would be chosen for there height when it appears they are chosen for their allomantic abilities. I previously didn’t associate inquisitors as hemalurgic constructs like Koloss or Kandra, which are physically altered but more just like a human being with a ton of hemalurgically stolen powers. (Like Pewter enhanced Spook) but the height is enough to make me question this. Are there any book quotes or WOBs explaining the height of steel inquisitors?

I don't know about WOBs, but I do think that he mentions the inquisitors height because they are intimidating, and so seem taller than they actually are.

[Mr. Misting he/him]

 

On 8/26/2022 at 1:17 PM, CosmereMaths said:

In Mistborn, it is often mentioned that Steel Inquisitors tower over regular Scadrians. Vin comments that all steel inquisitors seem to be 2 feet taller than her which would imply they are at least 7 feet. It seems incredibly unlikely that inquisitors would be chosen for there height when it appears they are chosen for their allomantic abilities. I previously didn’t associate inquisitors as hemalurgic constructs like Koloss or Kandra, which are physically altered but more just like a human being with a ton of hemalurgically stolen powers. (Like Pewter enhanced Spook) but the height is enough to make me question this. Are there any book quotes or WOBs explaining the height of steel inquisitors?

Yeah Inqusitors are definitely weird because of their hemalurgy. I don't remember exactly where it was said but I've read somewhere that Inquisitor's brain and heart actually grow around the spikes and form different shapes. I don't remember any specific quotes or Wobs about the height and I couldn't find any on Coppermind.

Part of the added height might be because of all the spikes in their body and therefore added body mass. Inquisitors might have also hemalurgicly stolen strength, which would make them bigger. Most of it though is just how physically mutated they are from so much hemalurgy. Another way for Brandon to make Inquisitor's feel alien.

 

[Treamayne]

On 8/26/2022 at 3:17 PM, CosmereMaths said:

In Mistborn, it is often mentioned that Steel Inquisitors tower over regular Scadrians. Vin comments that all steel inquisitors seem to be 2 feet taller than her which would imply they are at least 7 feet.

Not quite - Sazed is 7 ft tall, and Marsh is a bit shorter than Sazed (even after becoming an inquisitor - see below)

On 8/27/2022 at 6:29 PM, Mr. Misting said:

Yeah Inqusitors are definitely weird because of their hemalurgy. I don't remember exactly where it was said but I've read somewhere that Inquisitor's brain and heart actually grow around the spikes and form different shapes. I don't remember any specific quotes or Wobs about the height and I couldn't find any on Coppermind.

Part of the added height might be because of all the spikes in their body and therefore added body mass. Inquisitors might have also hemalurgicly stolen strength, which would make them bigger. Most of it though is just how physically mutated they are from so much hemalurgy. Another way for Brandon to make Inquisitor's feel alien.

There could definitely be some physical changes - either because of the spikes themselves, or because healing reaches toward the spiritual ideal - and that ideal has been warped by hemalurgy - possibly making Inquisitors Taller and Leaner. Here are all of the references I could find:

Spoiler

TFE Ch 2 - First Inquisitor appearance

Quote

Beside Kelsier, Dockson suddenly grew stiff.

The second man was tall with a strong build. As he turned, Kelsier was able to see that a thick metal spike had been pounded tip-first through each of the man’s eyes. With shafts as wide as an eye socket, the nail-like spikes were long enough that their sharp points jutted out about an inch from the back of the man’s clean-shaven skull. The flat spike ends shone like two silvery disks, sticking out of the sockets in the front, where the eyes should have been.

A Steel Inquisitor.

TFE Ch 3 - First seeing Kel

Quote

Then she saw the man standing quietly in the stairwell doorway. He was unfamiliar to her. Tall and hawk-faced, he had light blond hair and wore a relaxed nobleman’s suit, his cloak hanging free. He was, perhaps, in his mid-thirties. He wore no hat, nor did he carry a dueling cane.And he looked very, very angry.

TFE Ch 6 - First seeing Marsh

Quote

A man stood there. Tall and broad-shouldered, he had a statuesque rigidity. He wore modest clothing—a simple shirt and trousers with a loose skaa jacket. His arms were folded in dissatisfaction, and he had a hard, square face that looked a bit familiar.

Vin glanced back at Kelsier. The similarity was obvious.

TFE Ch 7 - Kel and Marsh are about the same height

Quote

Marsh stepped forward, stopping right in front of Kelsier. They were about the same height, but Marsh’s stern personality always made him seem to loom taller.

TFE Ch 14 - Inquisitors are tall - but everybody is tall to Vin

Quote

Vin froze. To the sides, she saw two other black-robed Inquisitors stride through open archways. Tall, lean, and bald, they were also marked by their spikes and intricate Ministry eye tattoos.

TFE Ch 26 - If the Obligators are average (5'6" to 6') - the the inquisitors would be between 6'2" to 6"10" to be "a head above"

Quote

Standing beside the noblemen were the obligators—regular ones in gray, Inquisitors in black. Vin shivered. There were eight Inquisitors, their lanky forms standing a head above the obligators. But, it wasn’t just height that separated the dark creatures from their cousins. There was an air, a distinctive posture

TFE Ch 33 - We know Kelsier is over 6 ft tall and the Inquisitor is taller than that, but not towering over Kel

Quote

He spun. And came face-to-face with a tall figure wearing a brown robe. Kelsier paused, stepping back as the tall form reached up, lowering his hood, revealing a pair of eyes impaled by spikes.

WoA Ch 1 - Vin's height at 5 ft tall

Quote

 Even now, she was not what one would likely envision as a warrior. Slight of frame and barely five feet tall, with dark hair and pale skin, she knew she had an almost frail look about her. She no longer displayed the underfed look she had during her childhood on the streets, but she certainly wasn’t someone any man would find intimidating.

She liked that. It gave her an edge—and she needed every edge she could get.

WoA Ch 7 - Shows marsh is still below 7ft tall

Quote

And an ominous danger it was. The stranger waited quietly on the worn road, wearing a black robe, standing almost as tall as Sazed himself. The man was bald, and he wore no jewelry—unless, of course, you counted the massive iron spikes that had been driven point-first through his eyes.

HoA Ch 3 - Vin seems to be btwn 5ft and ft 1in - even after she finishes her growth spurts through TFE and WoA - so she would have been at least a few inches below 5ft in TFE. Also, notably, she estimates the Vetitan Inquisitor's weight as near Eland's (so he could be taller than Eland, but leaner)

Quote

They associated large size with danger and had difficulty understanding how a small woman like Vin—twenty years old, barely over five feet in height and slight as a willow—could pose a threat., about the Steel Inquisitors.

...

And, sure enough, she soon caught sight of a speck in the air, shooting toward her through the falling ash. The speck resolved into a figure in dark robes, bounding over the army by Pushing down on koloss swords. The tall figure was bald, its face tattooed. In the ash-darkened light of midday, Vin could make out the two thick spikes that had been driven point-first through its eyes. A Steel Inquisitor, one she didn’t recognize.

...

It assumed that its weight would transfer through the coin, then hit Elend’s weight, since Elend would be Pushing as well. Two Allomancers of near-similar weight, shoving against each other.

 

Hope that helps

Edited August 29, 2022 by Treamayne
Formatting

[CosmereMaths]

6 hours ago, Treamayne said:

Not quite - Sazed is 7 ft tall, and Marsh is a bit shorter than Sazed (even after becoming an inquisitor - see below)

There could definitely be some physical changes - either because of the spikes themselves, or because healing reaches toward the spiritual ideal - and that ideal has been warped by hemalurgy - possibly making Inquisitors Taller and Leaner. Here are all of the references I could find:

  Hide contents

TFE Ch 2 - First Inquisitor appearance

TFE Ch 3 - First seeing Kel

TFE Ch 6 - First seeing Marsh

TFE Ch 7 - Kel and Marsh are about the same height

TFE Ch 14 - Inquisitors are tall - but everybody is tall to Vin

TFE Ch 26 - If the Obligators are average (5'6" to 6') - the the inquisitors would be between 6'2" to 6"10" to be "a head above"

TFE Ch 33 - We know Kelsier is over 6 ft tall and the Inquisitor is taller than that, but not towering over Kel

WoA Ch 1 - Vin's height at 5 ft tall

WoA Ch 7 - Shows marsh is still below 7ft tall

HoA Ch 3 - Vin seems to be btwn 5ft and ft 1in - even after she finishes her growth spurts through TFE and WoA - so she would have been at least a few inches below 5ft in TFE. Also, notably, she estimates the Vetitan Inquisitor's weight as near Eland's (so he could be taller than Eland, but leaner)

 

Hope that helps

Thanks so much, from this I would conclude that inquisitor heights likely aren’t changed in the process. 

[Frustration he/him]

There is a WoB confirming that inquisitors are a different race than humans.

[Treamayne]

On 8/29/2022 at 8:17 AM, CosmereMaths said:

Thanks so much, from this I would conclude that inquisitor heights likely aren’t changed in the process. 

10 hours ago, Frustration said:

There is a WoB confirming that inquisitors are a different race than humans.

Here it is:
 

Spoiler

 

Hero of Ages Annotations - Chapter Forty

The Creation of New Inquisitors

Quote

 

It was very convenient for the system I built into Hemalurgy that the Inquisitors were designed and commanded to hunt down skaa Mistings. There were always enough of those that they could create new Inquisitors to replace the ones who eventually died of old age.

The Inquisitors were always so determined to catch the skaa. So passionate. With good reason, for that was the only means by which their race—and Inquisitors are a separate race, just like the koloss and the kandra—could perpetuate itself.

 

 

 

[cometaryorbit]

Don't they also have grindy voices?

I figured that and increased height were visible side effects of their being Hemalurgically transformed (there are large internal changes, their brain, heart etc. are rearranged).

Thank you @Treamayne for putting the quotes together- I had thought Inquisitors were taller than that, 7+ to 8 ft.

Edited August 30, 2022 by cometaryorbit

[Treamayne]

7 minutes ago, cometaryorbit said:

Thank you @Treamayne for putting the quotes together- I had thought Inquisitors were taller than that, 7+ to 8 ft.

I thought the same whn I started looking it up. . . probably the natural result of all of the "looming" and "rigid spines" going on. 

I also didn't realize how tall everybody seemed to be until I looked up the quotes. Sazed was the understandably obvious one; but, for the others, it may have been a subtle clue to mistings' half-noble blood (or just that everybody is tall compared to Vin). 

7 minutes ago, cometaryorbit said:

Don't they also have grindy voices?

I figured that and increased height were visible side effects of their being Hemalurgically transformed (there are large internal changes, their brain, heart etc. are rearranged).

I concur, there is likely some physiological changes going on; just probably not quite as extreme as first impressions indicate. Also (as above), consider that if most/all pre-marsh inquisitors were Noble, then they would have started taller even if the process only "stretched" (tall and lean) them a few inches to half-a-foot.

Edited August 30, 2022 by Treamayne
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[cometaryorbit]

Yeah. I knew Sazed was tall, but I always imagined him as a bit over 6' and Kelsier maybe 5'8" or 5'9" (still very tall relative to Vin at 5').

But then all my initial mental images were wrong. I still have a hard time seeing Kelsier as blond.

[Longshot97 he/him]

21 hours ago, cometaryorbit said:

Don't they also have grindy voices?

I figured that and increased height were visible side effects of their being Hemalurgically transformed (there are large internal changes, their brain, heart etc. are rearranged).

Thank you @Treamayne for putting the quotes together- I had thought Inquisitors were taller than that, 7+ to 8 ft.

It would be an interesting piece of lore if the Inquisitor's voices are permanently raw and hoarse from their screams as they were Hemalurgically impaled.

Worldbuilding-wise, it's possible gold Feruchemy wouldn't heal it, if they feel it matches their ideal self. That self would already be twisted and, given that they constantly feel pain from the spikes and are constantly on the brink of madness, I could see that fitting