hemalurgy Humans with kandra blessings

[sespe14 he/him]

Does giving a person one of the blessings do anything special or does it work like it does with kandra? Does it make like a kind of koloss or just enhances what it does for kandra? Does it work? Do they give allomantic/ferruchemical abilities instead?

Perhaps there are some WoBs i missed or some other information i forgot.

Anyways here Is what the coppermind says about the blessings.

Quote

Blessing of Awareness
    A pair of tin spikes that grant a kandra increased senses, similar to Allomantically burning tin.

Blessing of Potency
    A pair of iron spikes that give a kandra more strength, like that of an Allomancer burning pewter. It is not exactly the same effect, however; it does not grant the limitless energy received from burning pewter.

Blessing of Presence
    A pair of copper spikes that grant increased mental capability. This capability includes the ability to focus despite physical discomfort or distraction, exceptionally sharp memory, resistance to madness, and the inability to lapse into unconsciousness due to shock. This Blessing also counters at least some of the mental weakness that is caused by Hemalurgy; kandra with this Blessing are much less vulnerable to being controlled by Ruin than others.

Blessing of Stability
    A pair of zinc spikes that endows its receiver with emotional fortitude, rendering them much more resistant to control by emotional Allomancy. This Blessing was rarely used.

Also, are the blessing spikes filled with allomancy/ferruchemy? It could be a possibility that instead of giving them the powers it just enhances some things and gives them awareness

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

2 hours ago, sespe14 said:

Does giving a person one of the blessings do anything special or does it work like it does with kandra?

Unclear, we've never seen an actual Blessing used on a human, only on Mistwraiths which give them sentience. So one could make the argument that Blessings of potency would have less deforming effects on a human than regular iron spikes, but one could also make the argument that Mistwraiths are just really weird and it's because of their unique types of bodies and minds that they don't turn into Koloss like a human might.

2 hours ago, sespe14 said:

Does it make like a kind of koloss or just enhances what it does for kandra?

One particular note to make is that a regular iron spikes used to make Koloss cause physical changes, they enlarge the muscles to the point that they tear  through skin. But Blessings of Potency are confirmed to have a more magical effect like Allomantic pewter, they don't enlarge a Kandra's muscles they just make them stronger.

We also don't know how a Blessing is actually made, only that it's probably not as simple as just stabbing some poor sod like with regular spikes.

2 hours ago, sespe14 said:

Do they give allomantic/ferruchemical abilities instead?

Most Blessings don't, but Bleeder figured out how to make Trellium Blessings that grant Metalborn powers. They need to be made for it.

2 hours ago, sespe14 said:

Also, are the blessing spikes filled with allomancy/ferruchemy? It could be a possibility that instead of giving them the powers it just enhances some things and gives them awareness

Again, Bleeder. The Kandra were very surprised that one of their own could actually use the Metallic Arts the way she did.

Also, Potency Blessings are made from Iron, which steals Physical Strength. So they cannot grant Allomancy or Feruchemy.

 

Wish we knew more about Blessings, but we'll probably need to wait till Era 3, since it's confirmed that that's when the magic will start being science'd out.

[Isilel]

On 5/22/2025 at 8:25 AM, JustQuestin2004 said:

Most Blessings don't, but Bleeder figured out how to make Trellium Blessings that grant Metalborn powers.

 

Didn't Bleeder impersonate an Inquisitor when working for TLR? He must have known how to temporarily give her Allomancy for it to work, no?

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

1 hour ago, Isilel said:

 

Didn't Bleeder impersonate an Inquisitor when working for TLR? He must have known how to temporarily give her Allomancy for it to work, no?

Yeah, but that's the guy who made Blessings in the first place, and that could probably have been how Bleeder learned how to make her own Blessings in the first place, since Rashek would have needed to make around 8-9 Blessings that grant Allomancy to pull that off.

[Isilel]

@JustQuestin2004:

My point was that Bleeder likely didn't need to figure out the method of making a Blessing that bestowed Metallic Arts, she already knew how TLR did it. And producing them didn't require access to trellium, she just used it to prevent Harmony from seizing control over her. 

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

9 hours ago, Isilel said:

@JustQuestin2004:

My point was that Bleeder likely didn't need to figure out the method of making a Blessing that bestowed Metallic Arts, she already knew how TLR did it. And producing them didn't require access to trellium, she just used it to prevent Harmony from seizing control over her. 

Oh, yeah I couldn't figure out what you were getting at, it's been a while since I thought about this topic.

But making Blessing specifically from Trellium for their Anti-Harmony properties does make sense. 

It was also said that TLR and Inquisitors was always looking to create new Hemalurgic Constructs, so maybe Bleeder got the idea of the Chimeras from them as some sort of failed experiment. It'd make sense why Chimeras weren't used even if they were discovered in the Final Empire, because they only use one spike and are immune to being controlled, which would make for a less potent and less controllable creature than a Koloss.

[Trusk'our he/him]

On 5/22/2025 at 12:00 AM, sespe14 said:

Does giving a person one of the blessings do anything special or does it work like it does with kandra? Does it make like a kind of koloss or just enhances what it does for kandra? Does it work? Do they give allomantic/ferruchemical abilities instead?

As far as we know, no human being has ever received a Blessing intended for a Mistwraith, so it's hard to say for certain.

Kandra Blessings are distinct from spikes made for Koloss, targeting different parts and different amounts of the Spiritweb. If you tried taking a pair of Koloss spikes and implanting them in a Mistwraith, you wouldn't get a true Kandra with the Blessing of Potency, for example.

Spoiler

Barnes & Noble B-Fest 2016 - Arcanum

Questioner

What's the difference between a spike prepared for a Koloss and a spike prepared for a Mistwraith or Kandra? What side effects might occur from... [?]... Koloss spikes?

Brandon Sanderson

It's the pieces of the soul that are being ripped off and the amount of the soul that's being ripped off. That's a big part of it. What side effects would there be? You would probably not get something as intelligent.

Questioner

What's the difference in how you prepare those spikes?

Brandon Sanderson

The Koloss spikes, you've seen how they're done. The Kandra spikes were prepared by the Lord Ruler. He gave them to them, and so we don't know what he did, at least in canon.

Questioner 2

That means that we kind of screwed up the role playing.

Brandon Sanderson

You can totally do- I imagine all the role playing happening in a slightly different alternate universe, where there are slight variations and differences.

But yeah, there are no- Kandra spikes are prepared and given by the Lord Ruler, they didn't even know how to make them themselves. I mean they had an inkling of what went on, but they didn't know.

 

On 5/22/2025 at 12:00 AM, sespe14 said:

Also, are the blessing spikes filled with allomancy/ferruchemy? It could be a possibility that instead of giving them the powers it just enhances some things and gives them awareness

As @JustQuestin2004 brought up, Bleeder shows that Kandra can potentially use Hemalurgy to wield Allomancy and Feruchemy, but the standard Blessings don't do this as they're centered around human attributes.

Interestingly, ReLuur's Blessing might be something of an exception to this general rule, as it seems to be made of pewter, which transfers physical Feruchemy when used Hemalurgically. Perhaps TLR did some tinkering with some of the Blessings to grant powers to Kandra but given how hard he worked to remove Feruchemy in the Terris and how surprised Harmony was that she could do this it might have just been a fluke from of Marasi's perspective, or the pewter is capable of taking the "sapience" component necessary to enlighten a Mistraith without an attribute boost like most Blessings.

Spoiler

Rather than sit and simmer in her own petulance, Marasi dug in her purse, pulling out the little spike that belonged to ReLuur. Such a small thing, and so clean- a shining sliver of . . . pewter, was it? Staring at it in the light of Steris's lantern, she wished she didn't know its history.

BoM, pg. 353

Spoiler

Bleeder can use Hemalurgy, but in a way she should not be able to. Kandra do not have Allomantic or Feruchemical powers. She has learned to take these, and to use them to maintain her Kandra form.

Sos, pg. 133

 

[TheUnInvestedCremling he/him....]

On 6/6/2025 at 4:54 AM, Trusk'our said:

As far as we know, no human being has ever received a Blessing intended for a Mistwraith, so it's hard to say for certain.

Kandra Blessings are distinct from spikes made for Koloss, targeting different parts and different amounts of the Spiritweb. If you tried taking a pair of Koloss spikes and implanting them in a Mistwraith, you wouldn't get a true Kandra with the Blessing of Potency, for example.

  Reveal hidden contents

Barnes & Noble B-Fest 2016 - Arcanum

Questioner

What's the difference between a spike prepared for a Koloss and a spike prepared for a Mistwraith or Kandra? What side effects might occur from... [?]... Koloss spikes?

Brandon Sanderson

It's the pieces of the soul that are being ripped off and the amount of the soul that's being ripped off. That's a big part of it. What side effects would there be? You would probably not get something as intelligent.

Questioner

What's the difference in how you prepare those spikes?

Brandon Sanderson

The Koloss spikes, you've seen how they're done. The Kandra spikes were prepared by the Lord Ruler. He gave them to them, and so we don't know what he did, at least in canon.

Questioner 2

That means that we kind of screwed up the role playing.

Brandon Sanderson

You can totally do- I imagine all the role playing happening in a slightly different alternate universe, where there are slight variations and differences.

But yeah, there are no- Kandra spikes are prepared and given by the Lord Ruler, they didn't even know how to make them themselves. I mean they had an inkling of what went on, but they didn't know.

 

As @JustQuestin2004 brought up, Bleeder shows that Kandra can potentially use Hemalurgy to wield Allomancy and Feruchemy, but the standard Blessings don't do this as they're centered around human attributes.

Interestingly, ReLuur's Blessing might be something of an exception to this general rule, as it seems to be made of pewter, which transfers physical Feruchemy when used Hemalurgically. Perhaps TLR did some tinkering with some of the Blessings to grant powers to Kandra but given how hard he worked to remove Feruchemy in the Terris and how surprised Harmony was that she could do this it might have just been a fluke from of Marasi's perspective, or the pewter is capable of taking the "sapience" component necessary to enlighten a Mistraith without an attribute boost like most Blessings.

  Reveal hidden contents

Rather than sit and simmer in her own petulance, Marasi dug in her purse, pulling out the little spike that belonged to ReLuur. Such a small thing, and so clean- a shining sliver of . . . pewter, was it? Staring at it in the light of Steris's lantern, she wished she didn't know its history.

BoM, pg. 353

  Reveal hidden contents

Bleeder can use Hemalurgy, but in a way she should not be able to. Kandra do not have Allomantic or Feruchemical powers. She has learned to take these, and to use them to maintain her Kandra form.

Sos, pg. 133

 

i mean if we were thinking imaginatively, why shouldn't it be possible, but then mistborns will lose their worth a little