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Cobalt blood


Dymphna1

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We've got a few statements from Brandon on it. The summary is that Harmony changed the nature of the Koloss, so they became a true-breeding group (they could reproduce sexually, instead of through hemalurgy alone) and create infant "koloss blooded" individuals. These individuals have some Koloss traits like strength and toughness but would not be "full koloss" unless they accepted hemalurgic spikes, which would transform them to be more similar to what we see in Vin's time.

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Kogiopsis

How did koloss-blooded people happen?

Brandon Sanderson

Koloss-blooded people-- A koloss-blooded is the result of two koloss having a child. A full koloss is only made once you accept the spikes and are mutated into the final form. And so a koloss-blooded-- The koloss can breed true now but that's what you get. And so they actually have a ritual at coming-of-age where you can accept the spikes or you can leave. And so all koloss in the wastes-- in the Roughs that are in the koloss tribes are-- have chosen that and outsiders can choose it too.

Words of Radiance Portland signing (March 7, 2014)

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Questioner 1

Alloy of Law.

Brandon Sanderson

Mhm.

Questioner 1

We've got koloss-born guys.

Brandon Sanderson

Mhm. 

Questioner 1

What's their origin?

Brandon Sanderson

So... Currently in Mistborn-- And I delve into this a lot more in the later books, but, you know, it's not a big spoiler so I can tell you. Um... Koloss have become... They can breed, but when some-- when a child is born to them it is born as a koloss-blood. It is not born the full thing, right? Grows up normally, and at maturity, at their right of passing, they can choose to ma-- take the step, gain-- get the spikes, and turn into actual, true koloss. Or if they don't, they have to leave the tribe and go... You know.

Questioner 1

But they're more, like, human size? Like, human looking?

Brandon Sanderson

They're human size, human-- I mean, they've got some residual effects. They're a little bit tougher. But yeah...

Questioner 1

Yeah, that's what I thought. Okay.

Brandon Sanderson

But yeah. General, they can be human. And so what you're seeing in Tarson is some-- one of those who actually came and-- He's the son of a full koloss-blood and a human Allomancer, which makes an Allomancer koloss-blood.

Questioner 1

Okay. So that's what I thought. A little human interbreeding. *unintelligible* weird.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, um, and a human could, if they wanted to, go convince the koloss to accept them, join the tribe, and get spiked. So yeah...

Questioner 2

It makes their skin saggy, and they start growing...?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah. It makes their skin saggy, and start growing, and start ripping, and all that sort of stuff.

Salt Lake City signing (March 29, 2014)

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Questioner

How do koloss breed? It doesn't make any sense to us?

Brandon Sanderson

So... A child born to a koloss and a koloss, or a koloss and anybody else, is what we call a koloss blooded. They don't become a full koloss until they undergo the ritual and are spiked.

Questioner

Okay. But also they didn't have the gender parts.

Brandon Sanderson

They do have gender parts.

Oathbringer Houston signing (Nov. 18, 2017)

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Questioner

How do koloss breed with humans, because you say in Alloy of Law that one of the--

Brandon Sanderson

What happens is the koloss breed with each other and a koloss-blooded is the result, because a koloss needs the Hemalurgic spikes to make them full koloss.  So if two koloss breed you get a koloss-blooded, which is basically a human with some weird genetics in them and if they choose to go through the transformation to full koloss they will become one.

Holiday signing (Dec. 12, 2015)

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Questioner (paraphrased)

So what does the term koloss-blooded mean?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Well, Sazed changed how the koloss reproduce, so now they reproduce naturally, and when the kids come to a coming-of-age, they decide if they're going to accept the spikes and become a koloss, or if they're going to stay normal.

Orem signing 2014 (Dec. 6, 2014)

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Brandon Sanderson

Chapter Five

Koloss-blooded

I've mentioned before, obliquely in interviews, that Sazed transformed the koloss during his ascension. Part of what he did restored their sentience to more human levels, and he changed the way they interact with Hemalurgy. (And that's all I'll say about it for now.)

Anyway, yes, it's possible for someone to be a koloss-blood. I'm reserving an explanation for precisely what this is, and how it works, for a future book.

The Alloy of Law Annotations (March 14, 2014)

 

Edited by Returned
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To add to what returned said, Kolloss are actually not created from dead humans in the sense that they're zombies. The spikes implanted in them are made by killing humans, but the Kolloss themselves are ordinary, living humans who have been warped by those spikes into what they are now.

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