Ghostblood Hemalurgist?

[AonSoo he/him]

Felt, a ghostblood that appears in mistborn and the stormlight archive, seems to have access to connection along with awakening (Awakening has been confirmed). This is because people seem to trust him a lot even if they have a reason not to. In mistborn he is a very effective spy for Straff and Elend uses him. He also was a trusted assistant of Dalinar's and Dalinar even reflects on how much he trusted Felt. Shallan never suspects him of being a spy on the trip to Lasting integrity. He was also a spy for Lyn. He kidnapped Felt and got information out of him. The copper mind says, "Despite the fact that Felt originally worked for his father, Elend respects him and his opinions." It also says, "It is not clear how Felt came to know Dalinar, but by 1168, he was one of the Blackthorn's most trusted associates. Like Elend, Dalinar respects Felt and seeks his counsel despite Felt's relatively low social status.^[1] Felt's skillset and personality have kept him close to Dalinar and his family, and he is considered a friend rather than just a subordinate. Adolin respects Felt in the same way that his father does.^[6]" Then in WaT Shallan decides to work with him even though he is a ghostblood. The easiest way to mess with connection is through feurochemy. As Felt doesn’t have the appearance of a terrace in mistborn, I find it more likely that he used feurochemy to get connection. I just want to know if anyone has thoughts on this and how likely or not you think it is.

[Treamayne]

1 hour ago, AonSoo said:

Felt, a ghostblood that appears in mistborn and the stormlight archive, seems to have access to connection along with awakening (Awakening has been confirmed). This is because people seem to trust him a lot even if they have a reason not to. In mistborn he is a very effective spy for Straff and Elend uses him. He also was a trusted assistant of Dalinar's and Dalinar even reflects on how much he trusted Felt. Shallan never suspects him of being a spy on the trip to Lasting integrity. He was also a spy for Lyn. He kidnapped Felt and got information out of him. The copper mind says, "Despite the fact that Felt originally worked for his father, Elend respects him and his opinions." It also says, "It is not clear how Felt came to know Dalinar, but by 1168, he was one of the Blackthorn's most trusted associates. Like Elend, Dalinar respects Felt and seeks his counsel despite Felt's relatively low social status.^[1] Felt's skillset and personality have kept him close to Dalinar and his family, and he is considered a friend rather than just a subordinate. Adolin respects Felt in the same way that his father does.^[6]" Then in WaT Shallan decides to work with him even though he is a ghostblood. The easiest way to mess with connection is through feurochemy. As Felt doesn’t have the appearance of a terrace in mistborn, I find it more likely that he used feurochemy to get connection. I just want to know if anyone has thoughts on this and how likely or not you think it is.

While I would not say this is impossible, I'm also not sure how he would have gotten a Bendalloy Spike to steal Spiritual Quadrant Feruchemy before the fall of The Lord Ruler. I guess it's possible that could have happened afterward, but that would not explain your portion of the theory about Elend. 

I also do not think that he is so much "a Ghostblood," as that the Rosharan Ghostbloods drafted him for the Lasting Integrity mission, and he complied out of respect for Kelsier (he doesn't really try to hide his disdain for Iyatil and Mraize). However, as you pointed out, he has been a trained spy for around 300 years, and he was very skilled even before worldhopping. We also know, via WoB, that he was part of the House Venture Shadesmar Economy before the fall of TLR (which means he was at least a bit Realmatically aware before Harmony ascended) and we know that he (likely) moved to Roshar for normal reason (not secret-society reason) which is part of why he continued to use his real name. 

We know he's smart and resourceful by how he discovers the broken grate in WoA, So, it's also possible he's just an affable person, skilled actor, etc.

WoBs:

Spoiler

Quote

Questioner

In Secret History, Hoid says something to Kelsier about him destroying the Pits and destroying an entire mercantile system. Is he talking about literal inter-Realmic trade?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes. Interplanetary trade, yes.

Questioner

Follow-up: Is House Venture involved?

Brandon Sanderson

House Venture is not involved. People in House Venture might be.

Questioner

The guy who--

Brandon Sanderson

Here is a RAFO card for your follow-up. House Venture is-- Yes.

Footnote: The questioner was likely referring to Felt, a spy that worked for House Venture, who is a worldhopper.
Arcanum Unbounded Chicago signing (Dec. 6, 2016)

Quote

Khyrindor

Was Felt cosmere-aware during Era 1?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Khyrindor

Was he directly involved in the interplanetary trade through the Pits?

Brandon Sanderson

He was involved. Whether directly is the right term or not I will not say.

Khyrindor

And is he part of the Seventeenth Shard?

Brandon Sanderson

He has been a member of various different groups and had various different motivations over the years. I would not put him, right now, as a member of the Seventeenth Shard.

Khyrindor

As in, like, Stormlight Archive--

Brandon Sanderson

As of Stormlight Archive Era: Not a member of the Seventeenth Shard. Obviously--well, I won't go any further on that.

Skyward Seattle signing (Nov. 10, 2018)

Quote

Edited for length and relevance

Brandon Sanderson

But if run into someone like Felt, right? Felt doesn't care. He's not hiding from anybody. Felt is, you know, he's more like "I moved from Nebraska to Texas," right? "And now I'm living in Texas." That's more how he views it a little bit. He's not a secret agent (ooh, big spoilers). Felt just, you know, he moved, so he goes by the same name. And that's, you'll see some of that as well. If someone's going by an alias, I'm doing it to indicate one of those two things, usually.

YouTube Spoiler Stream 2 (June 3, 2021)

 

I'll admit, the Felt reveal in Interlude 1 was one of the parts of the book I hated. After the "moved to Texas" WoB, I felt that we had been lied to about Felt with this reveal, until I got to Ch 25 when it seems more apparent he was working with Mraize at-least grudgingly, if not coerced or forced somehow. Now I'm hoping for clarification (preferably by WoB, sooner than SA6)

WaT 

Spoiler

I-5:

Quote

I was about to interrogate him, Ala,” Felt said.

“There might not be a need,” Ala replied. “I’ve already relayed the information on Mishram’s location to Iyatil.”

“And Lord Kelsier?” Felt said. “I don’t work for that masked witch.”

“Him as well,” Ala said. “Obviously.” The spren hovered around Kalak’s head. “Do we use the dagger?”

Felt considered it, saw Kalak’s distress, and frowned. “No. I don’t trust it—Iyatil gave it to us, and Lord Kelsier said to be careful.

Ch 25:

Quote

 

“Thank you,” Mraize said. “Ala and you have done well. You will be compensated.”

<snip>

“I don’t want your rusting coin, Mraize,” Felt said. “I never wanted any part of any of this. Though Ala specifically asked me to tell you she wants a pony. I … I think she might be joking?”

 

 

 

Edited January 16, 2025 by Treamayne
SPAG/Examples

[MagicMaggot]

1 hour ago, Treamayne said:

he has been a trained spy for around 300 years,

Not totally relevant, but do we actually know that he extended his life? I mean, there is also time dilation that could explain him still being around, isn't there?

[AonSoo he/him]

 

1 minute ago, MagicMaggot said:

Not totally relevant, but do we actually know that he extended his life? I mean, there is also time dilation that could explain him still being around, isn't there?

Era 1 & 2 are hundreds of years apart scadrial time so time dilation wouldn't change anything.

[Treamayne]

5 minutes ago, MagicMaggot said:

Not totally relevant, but do we actually know that he extended his life? I mean, there is also time dilation that could explain him still being around, isn't there?

Correct - deduction (in that the Catacendre was approximately 340 years before WoK, and Felt was already with Dalinar before the Shattered Plains because he led Dalinar to the Nightwatcher). The one WoB does mention he spent time in various Comere societies (but is not now part of 17th Shard - as of the WoB's timing). 

If he spent time at Silverlight, I would guess that city experiences time dilation of some kind since there is a perpendicularity nearby. 

We know Demoux is also around somehere and he is Seventeenth Shard (as is his wife). 

2 minutes ago, AonSoo said:

Era 1 & 2 are hundreds of years apart scadrial time so time dilation wouldn't change anything.

It might change how many of those 300+ years he actually lived.

Edited January 16, 2025 by Treamayne
Update

[AonSoo he/him]

1 hour ago, Treamayne said:

While I would not say this is impossible, I'm also not sure how he would have gotten a Bendalloy Spike to steal Spiritual Quadrant Feruchemy before the fall of The Lord Ruler. I guess it's possible that could have happened afterward, but that would not explain your portion of the theory about Elend. 

I also do not think that he is so much "a Ghostblood," as that the Rosharan Ghostbloods drafted him for the Lasting Integrity mission, and he complied out of respect for Kelsier (he doesn't really try to hide his disdain for Iyatil and Mraize). However, as you pointed out, he has been a trained spy for around 300 years, and he was very skilled even before worldhopping. We also know, via WoB, that he was part of the House Venture Shadesmar Economy before the fall of TLR (which means he was at least a bit Realmatically aware before Harmony ascended) and we know that he (likely) moved to Roshar for normal reason (not secret-society reason) which is part of why he continued to use his real name. 

We know he's smart and resourceful by how he discovers the broken grate in WoA, So, it's also possible he's just an affable person, skilled actor, etc.

WoBs:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I'll admit, the Felt reveal in Interlude 1 was one of the parts of the book I hated. After the "moved to Texas" WoB, I felt that we had been lied to about Felt with this reveal, until I got to Ch 25 when it seems more apparent he was working with Mraize at-least grudgingly, if not coerced or forced somehow. Now I'm hoping for clarification (preferably by WoB, sooner than SA6)

WaT 

  Reveal hidden contents

I-5:

Ch 25:

 

 

You bring up great points. I do think he has some metallic arts though. A simpler explanation could be that he has A-Zinc.

2 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

It might change how many of those 300+ years he actually lived.

What do you mean?

[Treamayne]

3 minutes ago, AonSoo said:

A simpler explanation could be that he has A-Zinc.

Rioting? Did you possibly mean A-Cadmium so he could pulse away some of those years?

[AonSoo he/him]

6 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Rioting? Did you possibly mean A-Cadmium so he could pulse away some of those years?

I was meaning his interactions with others could be inflamed emotions. 

 

I feel that if he wasn't born with a metallic art he would get him self one because he can awaken (which is most often gained intentionally). But you're right about it being rare pre-catacandra, that's why I think he was born with one. Brandon seems to include this trust theme a bunch with Felt but I might just be looking for something that's not there.

14 minutes ago, AonSoo said:

Era 1 & 2 are hundreds of years apart scadrial time so time dilation wouldn't change anything.

Sorry, I was thinking large scale time dilation like on Roshar. It could be small scale but I find that unlikely.

Edited January 16, 2025 by AonSoo

[Treamayne]

7 minutes ago, AonSoo said:

I feel that if he wasn't born with a metallic art he would get him self one because he can awaken (which is most often gained intentionally). But you're right about it being rare pre-catacandra, that's why I think he was born with one. Brandon seems to include this trust theme a bunch with Felt but I might just be looking for something that's not there.

Well, he was not a Misting before the Catacendre. However F-Duralumin is hardly the only way to manipulate Connection. There is a WoB that implies he has some way to do so, but if that is an H-Bendalloy spike for F-Duralumin, or some other method of manipulating Connection - we have no data.
WoB:

Spoiler

Questioner

You know Felt?

Brandon Sanderson

Felt, I know Felt.

Questioner

Is Felt originally Scadrian?

Brandon Sanderson

Yep... You guys know about that, right? I don't think that's a big secret. But, he is, and that should be raising other questions.

Questioner

About his name? Or how he's showing up on Roshar?

Brandon Sanderson

About that and the fact that-- He should stand out more.

Orem signing (March 10, 2018)

Note: He's also never mentioned as having accented Alethi - but we also do not know how long he has been on Roshar. 

Edited January 16, 2025 by Treamayne
SPAG

[MagicMaggot]

2 minutes ago, AonSoo said:

I was thinking large scale time dilation like on Roshar

Yeah, but there are characters that are technically older around that were explained through time dilation. 

 

Spoiler

Argent

We've always understood Elantris to be one of the earliest books in the Cosmere, but we see Kaise as Codenames in The Lost Metal, one of the latest books. Has the timeline contracted significantly, or are we just looking at the typical Shadesmar time dilation tricks?

Brandon Sanderson

So, here's thing, Argent. I'm not going to be able to give you strict timelines until I write Elantris 2 and 3. So my plan, originally, which might have been a bad plan, was Elantris 2 to take place some ten or fifteen years after Elantris 1. Maybe a little less than that. But years have passed. It was called Dakhor, in my notes. And then for 3 to be hundreds of years later. I don't know if that's the right move anymore, and if 3 isn't hundreds of years later, then where we slot Elantris in is going to change because of where I need certain characters to be in some of these things, and certain things to happen. We are getting really close to where this is going to be nailed down and locked down, and I'll get locked down. Probably right when we start Era 3 is when all of this is just gonna start... I've promised you guys a timeline. Once we've released that, we don't want to retcon it, does that make sense? So that's why we're waiting to release it.

But Kaise does have some time dilation going on, though. Though I say her name wrong because I'm not from Sel. But yeah, she has time dilation going on, she is... yeah. More time has passed than the ten or so years that... she's like what, 7 in Elantris? And she's like young 20s now, visibly, the age that she appears. I believe, something like that. So yeah, there you go. There's some information for you on that. I'm playing loose and free with this until I really get down to writing these. My loose plan is still write Mistborn Era 3 book 1, Elantris 2, Era 3 book 2, Elantris 3, Era 3 book 3. Five years of writing there that I can't even really think about until I've got Stormlight 5 in Tor's hands, if not your hands.

YouTube Spoiler Stream 5 (Dec. 2, 2022)

 

So there is enough extreme time dilation around, be it Silverlight, the Dor's investiture, or just an overlong trip to the spiritual realm. Felt certainly lived through some time since Mistborn Era 1, but not necessarily too much time for a mortal. 

[AonSoo he/him]

2 minutes ago, MagicMaggot said:

So there is enough extreme time dilation around, be it Silverlight, the Dor's investiture, or just an overlong trip to the spiritual realm. Felt certainly lived through some time since Mistborn Era 1, but not necessarily too much time for a mortal. 

Good point he could have left right after we see him in Era 1. WAIT! How many worldhoppers look young because of time dilation instead of stuff like Hoid does?

7 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

He's also never mentioned as having accented Alethi

This is interesting... Adolin does not have a accent when Dalinar uses connection so he can speak Azish and neither does Nomad...

[Treamayne]

18 minutes ago, AonSoo said:

Adolin does not have a accent when Dalinar uses connection so he can speak Azish and neither does Nomad...

Nor does Axindweth, when speaking Listener tongue in RoW (ch 52):

Spoiler

The female gestured for permission, then sat next to Venli. She was the one with the rings on her exposed hand. Some kind of surgeon, Venli had been told. She didn’t seem important. Most everyone ignored her—she was basically one of the servants.

“It’s quite impressive, isn’t it?” the human said in the listener tongue, looking over the Shattered Plains. “Something terrible must have happened here. Doesn’t seem like those plateaus could have formed naturally.”

Venli attuned Anxiety. The woman spoke the words without a rhythm, yes, but they were perfectly understandable.

“How…” Venli said, then hummed to Betrayal.

“Oh, I’ve always been good with languages,” the female said. “My name is Axindweth. Though few here know me by that name, I give it to you.”

As for Worldhoppers and Agelessness, we have this WoB:

Spoiler

Iceblade44

So White Sand [then Elantris] is earlier... Then how the heck old is Khriss then? Will we ever get an answer as to why every worldhopper is flippin' immortal?

Brandon Sanderson

There is some time-dilation going on. I'll explain it eventually; we're almost to the point where I can start talking about that. Suffice it to say that there's a mix of both actual slowing of the aging process and relative time going on, depending on the individual. Very few are actually immortal.

Faera

Implying that some are actually immortal?

Brandon Sanderson

Depends on which definition of immortal you mean.

• Doesn't age, but can be killed by conventional means. (You've seen some of these in the cosmere, but I'll leave you to discuss who.)
• Heals from wounds, but still ages. (Knights Radiant with Stormlight are like this.)
• Reborn when killed. (The Heralds.)
• Doesn't age and can heal, but dependent upon magic to stay this way, and so have distinct weakness to be exploited. (The Lord Ruler, among others.)
• Hive beings who are constantly losing individual members, but maintaining a persistent personality spread across all of them, immortal in that as long as too much of the hive isn't wiped out, the personality can persist. (The Sleepless.)
• Bits of sapient magic, eternal and endless, though the personality can be "destroyed" in specific ways. (Seons. Spren. Nightblood. Cognitive Shadows, like a certain character from Scadrial.)
• Shards (Really just a supercharged version of the previous category.)

And then, of course, there's Hoid. I'm not going to say which category, if any, he's in.

Some of these blend together--the Heralds, for example, are technically a variety of Cognitive Shadow. I'm not saying each of these categories above are distinct, intended to be the end-all definitions. They're off the cuff groupings I made to explain a point: immortality is a theme of the cosmere works--which, at their core, are experiments on what happens when men are given the power of deity.

<edited for length and relevance>

Stormlight Three Update #5 (Nov. 29, 2016)

 

Edited January 16, 2025 by Treamayne
SPAG

[AonSoo he/him]

3 minutes ago, Treamayne said:

Nor does Axindweth, when speaking Listener tongue in RoW (ch 52):

  Hide contents

The female gestured for permission, then sat next to Venli. She was the one with the rings on her exposed hand. Some kind of surgeon, Venli had been told. She didn’t seem important. Most everyone ignored her—she was basically one of the servants.

“It’s quite impressive, isn’t it?” the human said in the listener tongue, looking over the Shattered Plains. “Something terrible must have happened here. Doesn’t seem like those plateaus could have formed naturally.”

Venli attuned Anxiety. The woman spoke the words without a rhythm, yes, but they were perfectly understandable.

“How…” Venli said, then hummed to Betrayal.

“Oh, I’ve always been good with languages,” the female said. “My name is Axindweth. Though few here know me by that name, I give it to you.”

As for Worldhoppers and Agelessness, we have this WoB:

  Hide contents

Iceblade44

So White Sand [then Elantris] is earlier... Then how the heck old is Khriss then? Will we ever get an answer as to why every worldhopper is flippin' immortal?

Brandon Sanderson

There is some time-dilation going on. I'll explain it eventually; we're almost to the point where I can start talking about that. Suffice it to say that there's a mix of both actual slowing of the aging process and relative time going on, depending on the individual. Very few are actually immortal.

Faera

Implying that some are actually immortal?

Brandon Sanderson

Depends on which definition of immortal you mean.

• Doesn't age, but can be killed by conventional means. (You've seen some of these in the cosmere, but I'll leave you to discuss who.)
• Heals from wounds, but still ages. (Knights Radiant with Stormlight are like this.)
• Reborn when killed. (The Heralds.)
• Doesn't age and can heal, but dependent upon magic to stay this way, and so have distinct weakness to be exploited. (The Lord Ruler, among others.)
• Hive beings who are constantly losing individual members, but maintaining a persistent personality spread across all of them, immortal in that as long as too much of the hive isn't wiped out, the personality can persist. (The Sleepless.)
• Bits of sapient magic, eternal and endless, though the personality can be "destroyed" in specific ways. (Seons. Spren. Nightblood. Cognitive Shadows, like a certain character from Scadrial.)
• Shards (Really just a supercharged version of the previous category.)

And then, of course, there's Hoid. I'm not going to say which category, if any, he's in.

Some of these blend together--the Heralds, for example, are technically a variety of Cognitive Shadow. I'm not saying each of these categories above are distinct, intended to be the end-all definitions. They're off the cuff groupings I made to explain a point: immortality is a theme of the cosmere works--which, at their core, are experiments on what happens when men are given the power of deity.

<edited for length and relevance>

Stormlight Three Update #5 (Nov. 29, 2016)

 

Thanks! Axindweth is a know full feruchemist and is likely using connection and Identity. 
Here's what the copper mind has to say:

Quote

Blanking Identity and tapping Connection can cause someone to gain an accent for a particular area.^[36]

• Feruchemical Duralumin: In Feruchemy, Connection is stored in duralumin.^[9] Using this, a Feruchemist can communicate with others on foreign lands.^[26] Connection can also be used by anyone by wearing unsealed metalminds.^[37] These medallions are worn by a person who is in a land that is not their own, and they are then able to speak the language of the place they are in. A person wearing their medallion in their own land will still speak their own language, not the language of the person they are communicating with. Occasionally, words do not translate fully.

• Spiritual Adhesion: Using the Surge of Adhesion to manipulate spiritual, rather than purely physical forces, a Bondsmith can touch another person and forge a spiritual Connection between them. This allows the Bondsmith to temporarily speak whatever languages this other person can speak.^[23]

• Regal Forms of Power: By staying out in the Everstorm, singers are capable of bonding with a Voidspren, which has the effect of changing their form, which alters their physical appearance and mental capabilities.^[38] One Regal form of power is envoyform, which allows the user to have Connection to other cultures and allows the user to speak and read their languages.^[38][39]

• Ones Above: The Ones Above have a handheld device that is a language translator and can even translate written words.^[40]

• Nalthian Technology: Fort uses a computer tablet from Nalthis that is said to use Awakened predictive Connection circuits. While Fort uses the tablet to communicate with people who read and write the same language as him, the individual he received the tablet from used it to translate between languages.^[41]

• Dawnshard: At least one Dawnshard can Connect a user to their current location, allowing them to speak and read the local language.^[42] For Sigzil, this requires at least two-thousand BEUs.^[43][44]

• Hoid: Hoid has access to some manifestation of Investiture that allows him to manipulate the Spiritual attribute of Connection. The full extent of this ability is unknown, but its primary known use is to help Hoid speak the various languages of the worlds of the cosmere that he visits. The ability allows him to Connect to whatever land he is in, temporarily altering his Spiritual aspect to believe that he was raised in that place, allowing him to speak as a native.^[30]

I find that the only slightly likely ones are Feruchemy (Felt would need Identity and Connection) or Dawnshard (That would mean there were 3 on the planet at the same time)

[Treamayne]

4 minutes ago, AonSoo said:

I find that the only slightly likely ones are Feruchemy (Felt would need Identity and Connection) or Dawnshard (That would mean there were 3 on the planet at the same time)

Or BioChromatic Breath - that's how Zahel and Azure manipulated Connection to speak like locals (and their "Returned" natures allowed them to look the part too). 

Edit: For that matter, we saw in the very first interlude that Blunt, Grump, and Thinker all managed it. So I would guess that Feruchemy is one of the least likely ways to accomplish this. (only Thinker/Demoux was Scarian - and he's a Seer)

Edited January 16, 2025 by Treamayne
SPAG

[AonSoo he/him]

2,000 BEUs is what Sigzil used and it gives agelessness. Hmm... Sound familiar? The question is can 2,000 breaths give connection without holding a dawnshard and how can we tell if Felt does have 2,000?

From what I can tell he has between 1,000 and 50,000

[AonSoo he/him]

Wait. Shouldn't Felt look Shin?

[Treamayne]

10 minutes ago, AonSoo said:

Wait. Shouldn't Felt look Shin?

He does, a bit.

OB Ch 114:

Spoiler

“The caravan is preparing to leave, Brightlord.”

“Already? The rain hasn’t even stopped yet.”

“I think they’re, um, eager to be rid of us, sir.”

Dalinar pushed open the door. Felt stood outside, a lithe man with long, drooping mustaches and pale skin. Had to have some Shin blood in him, judging by those eyes.

Hope that helps