Hemalurgy Table and Bindpoints

[Trusk'our he/him]

The Hemalurgy table has four quadrants; physical, mental, spiritual, and temporal. The spike placements on the table seem to use the same representation for the entire quadrant of Hemalurgic metals. Does this mean that Bindpoints of the same quadrant can be used interchangeably for different Hemalurgic metals, so long as they are from the same Hemalurgic quadrant? For example, could I put a pewter spike in a Hemalurgist's eye socket instead of a steel one, since they are from the same quadrant?

 

[Quantus he/him]

No, or at least not reliably across the whole system. Several things all go into the overall effect of Hemalurgy: Metal, Harvest Bind Point, Implantation Bind Point, and Intent (which must also supplement for the Metal specificity if "universal" Atium is used).  All of those together will determine the overall effect, and not every combination will produce an effect.  If you have everything else right but the bind point is wrong, you can get death, no effect, or even something unanticipated.  That's where need for research and experimentation came into play, even for a Fullborn like the Lord Ruler.   

[Quantus he/him]

1 hour ago, Trusk'our said:

I was under the impression that you could excise any part of someone's Spiritweb just by piercing them with the correct metal and the correct Intent. But I don't actually have any evidence to back it up except that I don't recall any scenes about that mattering, only the implant point mattering.

 

58 minutes ago, alder24 said:

I remember they only spike victims through their heart, even Spook got pewter from a thug being spiked through his heart with a sword. So I think spiking ability out must occur mostly through heart, but it can be placed in recipient in multiple different bind points. There are between 200 and 300 bind points in the human body. For example bronze spike with allomancy was granted to Vin via earlobe, to Pendrod via heart (he has A-copper in spike, but we never saw him using it, but he might not know about it), and to Quellion via upper arm.

There are somewhere between 200 and 300 bind points in the body, most of them just happen to be clustered in and around the heart, "It depends on where in the heart."

 

 

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Chaos2651

Is there a rationale to how Hemalurgic powers are distributed? I tried to look for a system, but they seem rather randomly distributed. For example, the spike which steals Allomantic powers for a particular quadrant is not always in one particular spot.

Brandon Sanderson

That is correct, it's not always in one particular spot. None of them are. I used as my model on this magic system the concept of acupuncture and pressure points. Placing a Hemalurgic spike is a very delicate and specific art. Imagine there being a different overlay on a human body, like a new network of nerves, representing lines, points, and 'veins' of the soul's spiritual makeup.

What is happening with Hemalurgy, essentially, is that you're driving a spike through a specific point on a person's body and ripping off a piece of their soul. It sticks to the spike on the Spiritual Realm. Then, you place that spike on someone else in a specific place (not exactly the same place, but on the right spiritual pressure point) and 'hot wire' the spirit to give it Hemalurgy or Feruchemy. It's like you're fooling the spiritual DNA, creating a work-around. Or, in some cases, changing the spirit to look like something else, which has the immediate effect of distorting the body and transforming it into a new creature.

Hemalurgy is a very brutal way of making changes like this, though, so it often has monstrous effects. (Like with the koloss.) And in most cases, it leaves a kind of 'hole' in the spirit's natural defenses, which is how Ruin was able to touch the souls of Hemalurgists directly.

Barnes and Noble Book Club Q&A (July 8, 2009)

 

 

 

 

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Brandon Sanderson

So, since I was doing other things.  Hemalurgy-when you spike, you place the spike in a place that determines which charge the spike gets.  

Kythis

Through the heart seems to pick up universally.

Brandon Sanderson

It depends on where in the heart. It's like acupuncture. This was designed from acupuncture and you get very specific on which nerve you're hitting and things like that

Kythis

So the spike will never pick up more than one power.

Brandon Sanderson

Well, the way they know how to do it.

Footnote: This clarifies two previous questions.
Words of Radiance Omaha signing (March 13, 2014)

 

 

 

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Lhyonnaes (paraphrased)

Okay, next question. The Hemalurgic bind points for the right and left eyes - are they the same?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

In terms of...?

Lhyonnaes (paraphrased)

Like, the Inquisitor spikes, is it the exact same process for either eye? Is it interchangeable?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

They're slightly different.

Lhyonnaes (paraphrased)

And on bind points... are these something that we could figure out ourselves one day, through analysis and guessing? Or is it something we'll just have to wait and see?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

They're... it would be a lot of trial and error, but it's... possible? And you need Intent, so... it would be a lot of trial and error. It wouldn't be easy. Probably not.

Arcanum Unbounded Seattle signing (Dec. 1, 2016)

 

 

 

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Questioner

My question was about Hemalurgy. There was a disagreement on the last Shardcast. When spiking a Mistborn to charge a Hemalurgic spike, does it matter how the Mistborn is killed or is what power is stolen based only on the metal?

Brandon Sanderson

So you want to place the spike in a specific place.

Questioner

In the donor. In the recipient, not the donor.

Brandon Sanderson

In the recipient. And you want to use the specific metal and so basically if you aren't precise about how you spike, you risk taking the wrong thing within the same family. Some of those, that's not as big a deal, but for some it is kind of a big deal. And so you want to be very precise, you'll get something, but if you're not placing the spike in the right place and going into the right place, then you risk it.

Questioner

You risk stealing the wrong thing.

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah. Now if you're going off of somebody who's not a Mistborn, you can be a little more flexible, but you still have the danger that you're not going to end up stealing the power, you're going to steal something else. So, precision is advisable, how about that?

Questioner

Yeah. Because the question was kind of specifically about, like, we know that atium spikes can kill-- can steal pretty much any power.

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. You want to be super precise with your atium spike.

Questioner

So, part of the question was like, exactly, if you just killed a Mistborn, you stab a Mistborn in the heart with an atium spike, and you're not placing it immediately--

Brandon Sanderson

What do you end up with? You are rolling the dice, let's say. Not as big a roll of the dice as you might think, but you still are. You might not get what you want.

Questioner

And then when you place the spike on the recipient, if you like tore that spike out again and put it in someone else, you're not going to be able to get more than one power out of it?

Brandon Sanderson

No. No, and if you place the spike in the wrong place, then you're going to end up with interference and things like this where the spike might just not work the way you want it to. Taking a spike and putting it in the wrong place in someone is not going to make them have a different power, in other words.

Idaho Falls signing (Dec. 29, 2018)

 

   

[IlstrawberrySeed]

I believe so, thouhg there are almost certainly less important bind points that only work for 1-3 metals.

[Trusk'our he/him]

20 hours ago, Quantus said:

No, or at least not reliably across the whole system. Several things all go into the overall effect of Hemalurgy: Metal, Harvest Bind Point, Implantation Bind Point, and Intent (which must also supplement for the Metal specificity if "universal" Atium is used).   

I was under the impression that you could excise any part of someone's Spiritweb just by piercing them with the correct metal and the correct Intent. But I don't actually have any evidence to back it up except that I don't recall any scenes about that mattering, only the implant point mattering.

[alder24]

2 minutes ago, Trusk'our said:

I was under the impression that you could excise any part of someone's Spiritweb just by piercing them with the correct metal and the correct Intent. But I don't actually have any evidence to back it up except that I don't recall any scenes about that mattering, only the implant point mattering.

I remember they only spike victims through their heart, even Spook got pewter from a thug being spiked through his heart with a sword. So I think spiking ability out must occur mostly through heart, but it can be placed in recipient in multiple different bind points. There are between 200 and 300 bind points in the human body. For example bronze spike with allomancy was granted to Vin via earlobe, to Pendrod via heart (he has A-copper in spike, but we never saw him using it, but he might not know about it), and to Quellion via upper arm.