Are Linchpin Spikes Forever?

[Trusk'our he/him]

Simple question/proposition here, can you remove a Hemalurgic Linchpin spike from someone without killing them if you first remove enough other spikes to negate the need for a Linchpin spike in the first place?

I've had the idea in my head for the longest time that a Linchpin spike binds to the Spiritweb in some way that makes its removal always lethal, but looking back I see no real evidence to support this belief.

[alder24]

29 minutes ago, Trusk'our said:

Simple question/proposition here, can you remove a Hemalurgic Linchpin spike from someone without killing them if you first remove enough other spikes to negate the need for a Linchpin spike in the first place?

I've had the idea in my head for the longest time that a Linchpin spike binds to the Spiritweb in some way that makes its removal always lethal, but looking back I see no real evidence to support this belief.

The linchpin spike holds your soul together when you have too many spikes and also it coordinates those spikes and links spikes in the head with the spikes in the torso and limbs.

If you have so many spikes that you need a linchpin spike, then no, removing other spikes isn't a possibility. Your soul is already strained so much that it can't hold itself together without that additional linchpin spike. Spikes leave permanent damage in your soul, even if it's lessened by removal of spikes, they still leave a hole. Not every spike is placed in a bind point that can be safely removed - a hole straight through your body is deadly in general. 

Not to mention that at this point it's the magic of Hemalurgy that sustains your body. If you remove a vital spike, like in the eye, it's the Hemalurgy that sustains you, despite lethal injuries. If you remove too many spikes, this will fail and you would simply die from having too many holes in your body.

In HoA one of the inquisitors was pushed by Vin so hard into the ground that the impact removed several of his spikes. While we don't know which spikes were removed, it proves that if you remove too many spikes, you die. The linchpin spike was unlikely to be removed, because it didn't stick out of his back, which hit the ground. HoA ch 73:

Quote

Inquisitors hit the spire she had Pushed off of, and they leaped up to follow her. Vin smiled, then threw the spikes she still carried, catching one of the Inquisitors in the chest with them. Then, she Pushed. The unfortunate Inquisitor was thrown downward, and he hit a flat rooftop so violently that it pushed several of his spikes up out of his body. They sparkled and spun in the air, then fell beside his immobile corpse.

I don't think this is possible. If you have so many spikes that you need a linchpin spike, you can't live without those spikes, you can't remove them.

Spoiler

Kaimipono

Why exactly do some spike removals kill (dual eye, or central spike) but most don't?

Brandon Sanderson

For the same reason that a bullet through one part of the body will kill you, but getting shot somewhere else won't. The physical form of a person who has undergone a Hemalurgic transformation is no longer what we think of it. The direct connection to Preservation starts keeping them alive. (Imagine stapling someone's soul to another person's soul, their life essence, then stapling that to the power of creation itself, giving you a conduit directly to power, letting you leech it and steal it.) That power keeps you alive, despite the wounds. Some of the time, the other staples are enough to keep you alive, even if one is pulled out. Others are too important.

Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide (Oct. 15, 2008)