Hemalurgic chromium spikes

[Hmmm lies she/her]

In the Ars Arcanum for TLM, we see the effects of the 16 metals on Allomancy and Feruchemy and Hemalurgy. However, for Chromium, rather than saying "Steals X" it instead says "Might steal destiny". Why would Khriss not know, surely experimentation would happen. I suppose they are not sure exactly what the effect is, but still, destiny is not exactly a thing that makes sense to steal. The only real concept of destiny in the Cosmere are the Returned, and even then it's shaky. I wonder if it actually does steal Fortune, or the ability to access it, and most people just have so little that they have not noticed the effects, other than the Hemalurgist showing up in places the spiked would have otherwise or something. All in all, I feel that if it really stole destiny, it would have just said so, rather than saying it might. Any ideas?

[Trusk'our he/him]

4 hours ago, Hmmm lies said:

In the Ars Arcanum for TLM, we see the effects of the 16 metals on Allomancy and Feruchemy and Hemalurgy. However, for Chromium, rather than saying "Steals X" it instead says "Might steal destiny". Why would Khriss not know, surely experimentation would happen. I suppose they are not sure exactly what the effect is, but still, destiny is not exactly a thing that makes sense to steal. The only real concept of destiny in the Cosmere are the Returned, and even then it's shaky. I wonder if it actually does steal Fortune, or the ability to access it, and most people just have so little that they have not noticed the effects, other than the Hemalurgist showing up in places the spiked would have otherwise or something. All in all, I feel that if it really stole destiny, it would have just said so, rather than saying it might. Any ideas?

I believe that H-chromium does steal some form of Fortune or a similar aspect of a person's Spiritweb. The reason it's a "might" steal is probably because your own Destiny interferes and competes with the new Destiny. Plus, the future isn't a set thing in the Cosmere, so it would be impossible to guarantee that you get the outcome you want, no matter how skilled at Hemalurgy you may be.

I discussed some of these possibilities on some other threads. Here's a few of them if you're interested ;

 

Edited November 13, 2023 by Trusk'our

[alder24]

11 hours ago, Hmmm lies said:

Why would Khriss not know, surely experimentation would happen.

You're assuming Khriss wants to kill people?

Harmony didn't leave detailed notes on Hemalurgy in the Words of Founding, Kelsier and Spook experimented a little bit with Hemalurgy, but we don't know much about what they discovered. This probably comes from Spook's book, and his thoughts on chromium. I think that simply nobody ever tried this, and the concept of Fortune, Luck or Destiny is very unknown on Scadrial. Only recently the Set started experimenting with Hemalurgy and they did it to get more powers, not to gain detailed understanding on complicated spiritual concepts. For more than 1340 years, this aspect of Hemalurgy was completely unknown. Harmony knows, but he isn't willing to share. That's why it is so uncertain and the table says "might".

You noticed yourself, there is some concept of Destiny in Cosmere. There was a topic in the Q&A section about differences between Fortune and Destiny, inconclusive of course, as there is almost no information about it. But I wouldn't exclude the possibility that Hemalurgy indeed can steal Destiny.

Link to the topic, full Cosmere spoilers ahead: