What Brand of Fused is El?

[nehalem]

So exactly what the title says.

Did I miss where this is mentioned?

Or is El his own special type of fused maybe?

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

13 minutes ago, nehalem said:

So exactly what the title says.

Did I miss where this is mentioned?

Or is El his own special type of fused maybe?

We still know nothing of his Brand.

We know he has a Shardblade, which he used to kill a Fused who wanted to attack the Listeners. But that doesn't mean much.

We have pictures of all the Fused Brands, and none of them have metal stuck to their bodies like El does.

El was a Dawnsinger king 50 years after the Explusion, he knew the Heralds and was a friend.

 

My personal theory is that he could be a Division Fused, and used the Surge to weld metal to his body.

My other, much less likely, theory is that he is the only Fused that can use the Surge of Adhesion and is able to stick things to his body and maybe even use Spiritual Adhesion to some extent like a Bondsmith.

[Elite01]

So I’m really not sure, he is one of the few who have no rhythms right? Is it possible that he isn’t part of any of the brands? 

[Sophrosyne he/him]

I wonder if he's a unique fused, and guess that if it were the case, it's likely because he has a Radiant spren bonded one way or another.

[Treamayne]

7 hours ago, nehalem said:

So exactly what the title says.

Did I miss where this is mentioned?

Or is El his own special type of fused maybe?

7 hours ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

We still know nothing of his Brand.

We know he has a Shardblade, which he used to kill a Fused who wanted to attack the Listeners. But that doesn't mean much.

We have pictures of all the Fused Brands, and none of them have metal stuck to their bodies like El does.

El was a Dawnsinger king 50 years after the Explusion, he knew the Heralds and was a friend.

 

My personal theory is that he could be a Division Fused, and used the Surge to weld metal to his body.

My other, much less likely, theory is that he is the only Fused that can use the Surge of Adhesion and is able to stick things to his body and maybe even use Spiritual Adhesion to some extent like a Bondsmith.

What we do know, summarized:

Spoiler

• El used to be Vyre, He who Quiets (which may imply his abilities)
• For some reason, he was stripped of his name, title and Rhythms
  • Somehow, he lost Connection to the Rhythms without entering Slaveform that happened to normal Singers
• He purposely removes his own Carapace after a rebith, and replaces it with metal
  • He uses some ability, combined with Fused Voidlight healing for this process
• He, with Dai-Gonarthis, used an Elsegate to get to the Shattered Plains
  • It is unclear if the Elsegate was his ability powered by an unmade for greater power, or one of the Unmade's abilities directed by El
• The "El" portion of his name is derived from the same root as the "el" in Nahel (bond)
  • It is implied, but not confirmed, that his pre-Fused name was Elodi
• El is facinated by Humans and Human artforms, and would rather lead and use humans as troops than simply destroy them

Hope that helps.

 

[The Sovereign]

I would guess he is either a Fannahn-im or a Devastating One. Obviously we wont have answers on this for quite a while but I'm going to predict he has a Nahel Bond as well and his Shardblade is a living Spren. Regarding his metal Carapace, I've always had the impression they are Hemalurgic Spikes.

[Slider he/him]

The way that I understand it is that he isn't a brand of fused. Wasn’t that part of his punishment? 

[Nitpicking]

Considering the name similarity to Raboniel, I would expect that El was once one of the Fannahn-im (those of Alteration), whatever he is now. There are also some personality similarities, IMO.

[Treamayne]

Based upon El's description and the various Fused common traits, we have two stand-out possibilities:

• Magnified Ones - El's most identifying natural feature is his horns (which could be grown by a Magnified One)
• Devastating Ones - We have no description here (and all other descriptions have at least one feature that does not match known traits of El).

The third obvious possibility is that he was stripped of his Brand when he was stripped of his title and rhythms and will therefore not be one of the nine brands anyway.

[Lunu’anaki he/him]

I think he's a radiant... or was a radiant and is now an oathbreaker. 

Or... what if he has a nahel bond with one or more of the Unmade? Perhaps he has a bond to Mishram?

[WeLoveMoash]

Feels like El is definitely a Radiant, given the Shardblade. If the scene Brandon wanted to leave us with was him showing his honor by killing the Fused who wanted to break the deal, there's a dozen ways El could have done so. But he specifically pulled a Shardblade - and Brandon isn't the kind of author who aims for huge misdirects or wants to "cheat" his readers. It seems pretty likely that bonding a Spren is what led to him being stripped of the Rhythms. 

If it then comes down to Orders, to me there's only really 3 main candidates. Option 1 is Dustbringers - Division, the engineering-like focus that could tie into his metal obsession and fascination with humans, and most importantly the focus on Control. Option 2 is also Willshapers - he clearly values Independence and autonomy. Option 3 is he's, somehow, a Fused Bondsmith (or Bondsmith equivalent), and Adhesion is his "special talent" that he uses to bind the metal to himself. 

I'm torn on what I think. He's definitely being set up to be the "Dragon" for the back-half - the #1 mortal in Odium's forces that the heroes have to contend with, something we kind of didn't have in the front half (unless you count Moash). In that sense, him being some kind of Bondsmith feels like it would fit the most to make him special and unique. But I just still don't know what his spren would be in that case. Maybe he holds the Nightwatcher, or has a bond with whatever of Stone didn't turn into the Sibling? BAM? Not sure. Its easier, lore-wise, to envision him as a Dustbringer or Willshaper, for sure.

[Schizoposting]

He's obviously a devastating one: 

Spoiler

The tatak-im (rough translation: Those Ones of Devastation), colloquially known as the Devastating Ones, are the brand of Fused who can use the Surge of Division.^[47][48]

Tatak-im have two or more distinctive, nearly always symmetrical carapace horns, beginning just above their eyes, and curving out over their head. These are paired with a smaller spike growing out and back from each cheekbone. They have a moderate amount of spiked carapace growing out of their chest, shins, forearms and shoulders; and they have carapace claws growing out of their fingers which they can use as weapons. They usually grow their hair in wild spikes that extend out from the top and back of their head.^[48]

This brand of Fused is typically used as a chaotic demolition crew, and can leave entire settlements decimated if left unchecked. They enter a euphoric frenzy in anticipation of the pain and havoc they can wreak, and they charge in with reckless abandon, showing little regard for strategy or personal safety. However, they can channel fierce intellect and effective instincts, and can tear through opposition in search of targets to destroy.^[48][49]

and a Dustbringer, given his focus on self-mastery.