Arcanist Lupus he/him Posted December 13, 2011 Posted December 13, 2011 I feel like this must have been asked before, but I can't find the answer. If the mists didn't snap nobles, and skaa can't become Allomancers, who were the mists snapping?
Windrunner he/him Posted December 13, 2011 Posted December 13, 2011 (edited) If the mists didn't snap nobles, and skaa can't become Allomancers, who were the mists snapping? In a perfect world that followed the Lord Ruler's decrees this would be true, however there have been a lot of broken laws, with nobles having children with skaa. Most of the nobles had already been beaten to the point where their Allomantic abilities would have been uncovered. I'm sure that a few have Allomancy that could be brought to the surface by the mist snapping but since Allomancy is, as a whole, stronger in the nobility, most of those who could be Allomancers would have probably been snapped by the beatings. Most of those who snapped were skaa. Those who had noble ancestors, but so far back in their family tree that their powers wouldn't be brought out the regular way. The mists snapped all these, whose Allomancy was too weak. The real question to me is why 16%? I know it is important to the cosmere, but what is the likelihood that exactly 16% of the Scadrialese(?) had Allomantic ability? The odds would be phenomenal. This suggests to me, either that the mists were leaving some unsnapped or, (but probably more unlikely) were creating extremely weak Allomancers who's only ability comes from the tiny piece of Preservation innately inside of them. My other question is, how does snapping work, now that Sazed changed it? The only thing that is for sure is that in order to obtain the power of Allomancy, the person would have to do something inline with the intent of Preservation (and have the correct sDNA). Edited December 13, 2011 by Windrunner
Haven Posted December 13, 2011 Posted December 13, 2011 My guess for the 16 percent is sheer preservation (pun not intended) of the human species. Considering that anyone affected has a chance to die its better to err on the side of cautions and leave some unSnapped rather than leave the populous destroyed.
Arcanist Lupus he/him Posted December 13, 2011 Author Posted December 13, 2011 In a perfect world that followed the Lord Ruler's decrees this would be true, however there have been a lot of broken laws, with nobles having children with skaa. Most of the nobles had already been beaten to the point where their Allomantic abilities would have been uncovered. I'm sure that a few have Allomancy that could be brought to the surface by the mist snapping but since Allomancy is, as a whole, stronger in the nobility, most of those who could be Allomancers would have probably been snapped by the beatings. Most of those who snapped were skaa. Those who had noble ancestors, but so far back in their family tree that their powers wouldn't be brought out the regular way. The mists snapped all these, whose Allomancy was too weak. The real question to me is why 16%? I know it is important to the cosmere, but what is the likelihood that exactly 16% of the Scadrialese(?) had Allomantic ability? The odds would be phenomenal. This suggests to me, either that the mists were leaving some unsnapped or, (but probably more unlikely) were creating extremely weak Allomancers who's only ability comes from the tiny piece of Preservation innately inside of them. My other question is, how does snapping work, now that Sazed changed it? The only thing that is for sure is that in order to obtain the power of Allomancy, the person would have to do something inline with the intent of Preservation (and have the correct sDNA). about the 16%, Preservation took a deliberate hand in making sure that the mists would Snap exactly 16%, in order to draw people's attention to the number.
discipleofhoid he/him Posted December 13, 2011 Posted December 13, 2011 Those snapped by the mists did not have to have noble ancestors. Alendi was a seeker. That was before anyone had eaten larasium. Allomancy was just so buried in some people that nothing short of the mists could bring it out.
Deus Ex Biotica Posted December 13, 2011 Posted December 13, 2011 While we're on the subject of Mist Snapping, I've been meaning to ask: did we ever learn whether the Mists still Snap people in Alloy of Law?
fyodor Posted December 13, 2011 Posted December 13, 2011 I feel like this must have been asked before, but I can't find the answer. If the mists didn't snap nobles, and skaa can't become Allomancers, who were the mists snapping? Basically the people who were snapped were people of marginal ability whose ability couldn't be brought out by normal physical abuse. It's probably a combination of people with noble blood or just mistings in the general gene pool. Basically the population at large has a limited ability for allomancy but most people who are strong enough to Snap normally are noble descendants of the original seven who ate the beads at the Well. But the population at large has some weak allomantic potential. The "spoiler" section of this annotation discusses it in greater detail. http://www.brandonsanderson.com/annotation/318/Mistborn-3-Chapter-Forty-Nine-Part-2
fyodor Posted December 13, 2011 Posted December 13, 2011 While we're on the subject of Mist Snapping, I've been meaning to ask: did we ever learn whether the Mists still Snap people in Alloy of Law? Sanderson said that the way snapping works has changed since Sazed didn't like the way it worked before. Presumably it can be done without excruciating pain now.
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