Are Steel Inquisitors Cognitive Shadows?

[+Child of Hodor]

They are classified as hemalurgic constructs on the coppermind, but I am unclear on if that rules out them also being cognitive shadows. There is a WoB where he says Kandra are not cognitive shadows because they didn't die they merely changed. 

Two railroad-sized spikes through the brain doesn't seem survivable. Do their spikes simultaneously kill them and "staple" their soul, or an investiture fossil of their soul, to their body? 

 

https://coppermind.net/wiki/Hemalurgy#Hemalurgic_Constructs

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/331/#e9405

 

[Duxredux he/him]

Inquisitors are most likely not Cognitive Shadows. Hemalurgy distorts the body and rearranges the organs to accommodate the spikes, but in a weird way it is survivable. 

Quote

Hero of Ages Chapter 41 epigraph

Hemalurgic spikes change people physically, depending on which powers are granted, where the spike is placed, and how many spikes someone has. Inquisitors, for instance, are changed drastically from the humans they used to be. Their hearts are in different places from those of humans, and their brains rearrange to accommodate the lengths of metal jabbed through their eyes. Koloss are changed in even more drastic ways. One might think that kandra are changed most of all. However, one must remember that new kandra are made from mistwraiths, and not humans. The spikes worn by the kandra cause only a small transformation in their hosts—leaving their bodies mostly like that of a mistwraith, but allowing their minds to begin working. Ironically, while the spikes dehumanize the koloss, they give a measure of humanity to the kandra.

Brandon has said when creating a koloss the transformation is fast. Perhaps the Hemalurgic transformation is fast enough that pounding a spike through someone's head is incredibly painful not just because of well, spike in face, but also due to the body's organs moving and warping to accommodate the new metal. Oh and the piece of soul stapled to your Spiritweb.

Quote

Claincy (paraphrased)

How long does it take for someone who has had four iron spikes in to become a koloss, how fast are the changes?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Very quickly!

General Signed Books 2015 (Jan. 1, 2015)

Edit: It's worth noting that according to the Coppermind, removing an Inquisitor's spikes inverts the transformation. For key locations this process is what kills them.

Edited March 15, 2024 by Duxredux

[Argenti he/him]

As far as we know, they are not cognitive shadows; as mistborn lose their powers when they die. Kel, despite being spiked back into something like his body, can't use his magic. 

[alder24]

3 hours ago, Child of Hodor said:

They are classified as hemalurgic constructs on the coppermind, but I am unclear on if that rules out them also being cognitive shadows. There is a WoB where he says Kandra are not cognitive shadows because they didn't die they merely changed. 

Two railroad-sized spikes through the brain doesn't seem survivable. Do their spikes simultaneously kill them and "staple" their soul, or an investiture fossil of their soul, to their body? 

 

https://coppermind.net/wiki/Hemalurgy#Hemalurgic_Constructs

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/331/#e9405

 

They are not, they are not invested enough and they didn't die (and they wouldn't be dying out of old age like Marsh without Atium is). BUT they will last longer after death in CR before they fade into the Beyond, because all those spikes invested them more.

They are a Hemalurgic construct and Hemalurgy keeps them alive. Their body shifts, organs move around facilitating spikes. Those spikes contain pieces of stolen spirit webs which are hot wired into their souls - but their soul isn't CS, it isn't a fossil.

Spoiler

Questioner (on behalf of Yata)

When someone is spiked, and dies, does that affect the time they spend in the Cognitive?

Brandon Sanderson

If they are spiked, yes because if you are extra Invested, which spiking technically does, if you have a spike stapling a bit of someone else's soul to yours--

Questioner

The other way. Someone spikes through you and you die--

Brandon Sanderson

Ohhhhh, oh okay, no, that might make you go faster.

Questioner

Is that why Harmony doesn’t know who's spiking people? Or--

Brandon Sanderson

Hmm. Yeah. Okay. I had not considered that. But yeah, sure. *laughter* Suuureee. You added to the canon. I mean, the actual answer was, when you're spiking somebody, you're ripping of the soul, so kind of, there's not enough left to talk. I mean, you're ripping off enough of the soul, so it's a bad thing. It's a very bad thing. So you go "Who killed you?" and it's just somebody who is essentially-- But yes, they would go faster too.

Arcanum Unbounded Chicago signing (Dec. 6, 2016)

 

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)

 

[+Child of Hodor]

@alder24 @Argenti @Duxredux

Thanks for the responses! Makes sense.