Hoid has purified dor?

[Ceradis]

I’ve been re reading OB for the first time since lost metal and I noticed this (ch 67 hoid telling the story of Mishim to refuges)

Quote

He hopped up and began gathering his things. Shallan slipped forward and glanced inside his pack, catching sight of a small jar, sealed at the top. It was mostly black, but the side pointed toward her was instead white. Wit snapped the pack closed.

Was hoid using purified dor to power whatever invested arts he was using to tell his story? Sure looks that way to me but can’t find anything else on this.

[TheSurvivorofDeath]

I think it’s sand from Taldain. It’s white pointing towards Shallan because of her investiture, but the rest is black. Though I wouldn’t put it past Hoid to have some pure dor.

[Treamayne]

1 hour ago, Ceradis said:

I’ve been re reading OB for the first time since lost metal and I noticed this (ch 67 hoid telling the story of Mishim to refuges)

Was hoid using purified dor to power whatever invested arts he was using to tell his story? Sure looks that way to me but can’t find anything else on this.

1 hour ago, TheSurvivorofDeath said:

I think it’s sand from Taldain. It’s white pointing towards Shallan because of her investiture, but the rest is black. Though I wouldn’t put it past Hoid to have some pure dor.

Yes, that's White Sand from Taldain, you may have noticed that it was how he found Shallan in the crowd in that scene (OB Ch 67), it was also refereneced in RoW (Ch 84/89):

Spoiler

OB Ch 67:

Quote

 It was remarkable, and Shallan found her jaw dropping. This was an image that lived.

Wit glanced to the side, where he’d put his pack. He started, as if surprised. Shallan cocked her head as he quickly recovered, jumping back into the story so fast that it was easy to miss his lapse. But now, as he spoke, he searched the audience with careful eyes.

<snip>

Wit used powders to send up four different smoke lines—blue, yellow, green, and intense orange. He swirled them together in a transfixing vortex of hues. And as he worked, his blue eyes fell on Shallan. They narrowed, and his smile became sly.

He just recognized me, she realized. I’m still wearing Veil’s face. But how … how did he know?

When he finished his swirling colors, the moon had become white, and the single straight tower he made by swiping up in the smoke was instead pale green.

<snip>

He hopped up and began gathering his things. Shallan slipped forward and glanced inside his pack, catching sight of a small jar, sealed at the top. It was mostly black, but the side pointed toward her was instead white.

Wit snapped the pack closed.

RoW Ch 84

Quote

“I will,” she said. “But Lady of Wishes, I’m running into another problem. I need a way to measure the strength of Stormlight in a gemstone.”

Raboniel didn’t press for details. “There is sand that does this,” she said.

“Sand?”

“It is black naturally, but turns white in the presence of Stormlight. It can, therefore, be used to measure the strength of Investiture—the more powerful the source of power nearby, the quicker the sand changes. I will get some for you.” She hummed loudly. 

RoW Ch 89

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Raboniel gave her the strange black sand, explaining the difference between static and kinetic Investiture. Navani observed and measured, learning for herself. The sand slowly turned white when exposed to Stormlight or Voidlight. However, if a fabrial was using the Light, the sand changed faster.

You could wet the sand to reset it to black, though it had to be dry again before it could turn white. It was a useful way to measure how much Light a given fabrial was using. She noticed that it also changed colors in the presence of spren. This was a slow change too, but she could measure it.

WoB:

Quote

Questioner

Mraize's Basement Emporium. Is that more like a trophy room or a "In case of emergencies" room?

Multiple people

Or a bank vault?

Or a weapon's vault?

Or both?

Brandon Sanderson

So, yes...

I mean, he can't use the aether, right? ...He can't use the aether, he doesn't have an aether. But the sand, the sand does stuff. So a handful of sand is a really useful amount of sand to have if you're not a sandmaster. Because sand reacts to Investiture. So if you let it fade and you take it somewhere, as soon as Investiture goes kinetic, it'll turn white again. So you'll be able to use it to tell who's using Inve-- it works just like a Seeker, like bronze pulses...

So having white sand, having sand around is really good. If you can keep the little beasties that are growing on the sand around, they will react to basically the Investiture equivalent of radiation. So that's handy.

Emerald City Comic Con 2018 (March 1, 2018)

 

 

[alder24]

14 hours ago, Ceradis said:

I’ve been re reading OB for the first time since lost metal and I noticed this (ch 67 hoid telling the story of Mishim to refuges)

Was hoid using purified dor to power whatever invested arts he was using to tell his story? Sure looks that way to me but can’t find anything else on this.

As others said, it was the White Sand, but Hoid is a collector, he has a lot of stuff in his collection, some Hemalurgic spikes, even Atium. He definitely has some pure Dor as well. 

Spoiler

Questioner

If Hoid took lerasium in Mistborn: Secret History, does that mean his hemalurgic spikes are feruchemical?

Brandon Sanderson

What hemalurgic spikes?

Questioner

Hoid and his magic systems, he had hemalurgic spikes...

Brandon Sanderson

He does hold some. They may not be in him. Does that make sense? Hoid has hemalurgic spikes carried with him. ('Cause the people who asked me if Hoid has hemalurgic spikes didn't say which one.) He does not necessarily have them spiking him. He actually has, like, a little bandolier type thing. Hoid's got one of those with a bunch of spikes. He was gonna use them in one of the books, but it turned out to not be necessary, so I didn't put it in.

Dragonsteel 2023 (Nov. 21, 2023)

 

Spoiler

Aaron

Does Hoid have a spike?

Brandon Sanderson

He possesses many interesting artifacts! You didn't ask if he was spiked. I would say he definitely has in his ownership many Hemalurgic spikes.

YouTube Spoiler Stream 3 (Dec. 16, 2021)

 

Spoiler

Skaiiwalker (paraphrased)

We know that Hoid has a bead of lerasium. Does he have any atium?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

He has access to atium, yes.

Teen Author Boot Camp (April 11, 2015)

 

[Ceradis]

Thanks for the reply’s! White sand definitely makes more sense with that description. Why does he need it to find Shallan I assumed he would just use seeking? Maybe the screaming spren would be able to sense it?

[Treamayne]

4 hours ago, Ceradis said:

Thanks for the reply’s! White sand definitely makes more sense with that description. Why does he need it to find Shallan I assumed he would just use seeking? Maybe the screaming spren would be able to sense it?

While that is possible, also consider that we don't know how practiced he is with Seeking. Also, he would need bronze for Seeking; which means he would need to know that he has a reason to Seek. White Sand just sits there all of the time, and changes color in the presense of Investiture. Though, it is possible that after seeing the Sand he did use Bronze to "refine" which person in the crowd had caused it to change.