How Hoid knows so much about Tress (and other oddities)

[ShroudedMoon]

For context, I just finished reading TotES, and I have read pretty much every book in the cosmere except Yumi, Sunlit Man, and White Sand. 

Question 1:
I can't help wondering how Hoid knows so much about Tress's thoughts, and what she does even when Hoid isn't around. How does he know what Tress does in her private quarters, or when Hoid isn't there to watch? This story is presumably told from Hoid's perspective, so perhaps he is embellishing (and thus making parts of the study uncanon)?

Question 2:

Where does Hoid store his belongings? This may seem like a stupid question, but Hoid is supposed to have hemalurgic spikes, unkeyed metalminds, Stormlight spheres, metal vials and possibly midnight spores. Where does he store these on his person? He can't be stuffing it all in his pockets. Also, Ulaam stole his jacket, so they couldn't stored in that.

[Treamayne]

4 hours ago, ShroudedMoon said:

Question 2:

Where does Hoid store his belongings? This may seem like a stupid question, but Hoid is supposed to have hemalurgic spikes, unkeyed metalminds, Stormlight spheres, metal vials and possibly midnight spores. Where does he store these on his person? He can't be stuffing it all in his pockets. Also, Ulaam stole his jacket, so they couldn't stored in that.

They are not all on-his-person. WoBs:

Spoiler

Quote

Cheese Ninja

Does Hoid have a safety-deposit box somewhere, or does he carry all his souvenirs with him?

Brandon Sanderson

He has a home base.

17th Shard Forum Q&A (Sept. 28, 2012)

Quote

drughat

Is Hoid's home base a place that can only be accessed through Shadesmar?

Brandon Sanderson

Hoid has a home base on Shadesmar, yes.

/r/books AMA 2015 (June 16, 2015)

 

 

4 hours ago, ShroudedMoon said:

Question 1:
I can't help wondering how Hoid knows so much about Tress's thoughts, and what she does even when Hoid isn't around. How does he know what Tress does in her private quarters, or when Hoid isn't there to watch? This story is presumably told from Hoid's perspective, so perhaps he is embellishing (and thus making parts of the study uncanon)?

Well, mostly we only have speculation. I'm sure at least part of it is "artistic liscense," and part is "unreliable narrator." Hoid also had the whole voyage back from the Midnight Sea to question Tress and learn the parts he did not yet know. 

However, also remember he has tools others do not (such as being Mistborn from his stolen bead of Lerasium), so some of this could be eavesdropping with Tin and other sneaky Hoid tricks (such as - where was Design in this story?). 

4 hours ago, ShroudedMoon said:

except Yumi, Sunlit Man, and White Sand. 

You will find similar conundrums in Yumi, as that is also a Hoid-narrated story (with different explanations). And when you are ready for White Sand, we have a guide to help choose what works best for each individual (enough context to make informed decisions).  Sunlit Man is it's own thing.

Hope that helps.

[alder24]

6 hours ago, ShroudedMoon said:

Question 1:
I can't help wondering how Hoid knows so much about Tress's thoughts, and what she does even when Hoid isn't around. How does he know what Tress does in her private quarters, or when Hoid isn't there to watch? This story is presumably told from Hoid's perspective, so perhaps he is embellishing (and thus making parts of the study uncanon)?

We have WoBs that answer this question:

Spoiler

Rshara

Is Hoid telling these stories accurately?

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah. As accurately as superhumanly possible.

Secret Project #3 Reveal and Livestream (March 22, 2022)

 

Spoiler

Joe H

Does Hoid do any sort of investigative research to verify important details of the story he tells?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes, he does quite a bit. You can assume that he, again... You're just reading them as they come up. I do think that this is relevant and important. You can assume that this is canon. That he has done his leg work and that he is telling a story the best that he can, which is better than any normal storyteller could.

Secret Project #3 Reveal and Livestream (March 22, 2022)

 

Spoiler

SleepoPeepo

How is Hoid able to talk about events that he wasn’t present for in such great detail, including a person’s internal thoughts and emotions?

Brandon Sanderson

A combination of things. One, he was there for some of it. Two, in some cases he was there kind of. And in other cases, artistic liberty.

He is, particularly in [Tress of the Emerald Sea], taking some artistic liberties. Now you can assume he has tried very hard to get his stories right when he is taking artistic liberties to the point that you can take most of it as canon, even in Tress. Did I get to the point in Tress about the Dougs? I don't think I did. There's a point, for instance, in Tress where Hoid's like, "I can't remember all these people's names. I'm going to all them all Doug." He does things like that--him acknowledging that he's telling the story after the fact. But he has a supernatural ability to retain stories and get close to the actual soul of the story. You may view all of these things as canon except for some of the places where he obviously fudges a little.

Secret Project #3 Reveal and Livestream (March 22, 2022)