Aether Allegiance?

[i’m in the details]

Line from ch. 46 

“No aetherbound will serve them. “

Spoiler

Scadrians

Did that group attack one of the aether worlds? Bendjal (probably wrong spelling) or Aditil’s home world?

Not a crazy big theorizing point since it’s stated that they are a big empire but I can’t help thinking about how that could make a good flashback or something in 

Spoiler

Era 4

 

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

It's also interesting considering that in Era 2, a Roseite Aetherbound was part of the Ghostbloods in exchange for their aid in gathering help to fight the Dark Aether, and Kelsier was considering gaining allies from the 'Land of the Aether's', alongside Sel and Mythos.

Also interesting is that the Malwish have formed an Empire, something that Kel would very likely be against, unless something really big makes him change his mind. So perhaps the Sovereign no longer has influence over the Malwish Post-Era 3? Or worse, perhaps Kel has gone down a similar path as Rashek? Crossing all his previous moral lines in order to protect his world?

Lots of potential implications for Era 4, but especially Era 3, since this story is meant to take place before Era 4, and Era 3 will likely lay the groundwork for this 'Malwish Empire'.

[RedBlue]

7 hours ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

So perhaps the Sovereign no longer has influence over the Malwish Post-Era 3?

I’m not convinced that Kelsier has much influence over the Malwish by Era 2. The Sovereign is spoken of as a mythological figure, not a person with real political power. He might have some cultural/religious influence, but that doesn’t count for much in the face of a real government that disagrees.

[Treamayne]

10 hours ago, i’m in the details said:

Line from ch. 46 

“No aetherbound will serve them. “

  Hide contents

Scadrians

Did that group attack one of the aether worlds? Bendjal (probably wrong spelling) or Aditil’s home world?

That line (spoilers):

Spoiler

Was later shown to be disinformation the Malwish perpetuate to hide state secrets. 

Ch 47:

Spoiler

“Not interested,” he said. “Can we continue on, please? We have our own aetherbound serving back on Scadrial, and I’m certain they can do anything your friend can do—better, even, as their buds still work.”

“Wait,” Starling said. “There are aetherbound serving the Malwish? How? Who?”

Dajer moved on, leaving her stewing. 

Ch 48:

Spoiler

“Esandi,” he said to the screen. “Thank you for taking my call.”

“Anything to repay the favor, Dajer,” she said in accented Malwish.

“Will you show my friend your palm?” he asked, and the woman raised her hand—exposing a fully alive aether bud.

Though Ed and Aditil had been certain no aetherbound served the Malwish, here was proof otherwise.

“You realize,” the woman said, “that this reveals closely guarded state secrets to that woman.”

“Don’t worry,” Dajer said. “She’ll soon be in my personal service.” He looked to Starling. “Isn’t that so?”

“An aetherbound, actually serving you?” she asked. “How? The aethers allow it?”

“There are ways around that,” Esandi said.

 

Hope that helps

[RedBlue]

1 hour ago, Treamayne said:

Was later shown to be disinformation the Malwish perpetuate to hide state secrets. 

I don’t think it’s entirely disinformation. The ban on aetherbound serving the Malwish seems genuine.

If the Malwish could have aetherbound working for them openly, that would be more effective than having to sneak around.

I think what we’re looking at is political tension between the Malwish and the aethers, resulting in the aetherbound being banned in some way from working with the Malwish. The Malwish have found a way to circumvent this ban in a few cases (maybe just one case).

This means the Malwish have access to reliable intel about how aethers and aetherbound work, but they can’t openly make use of the aetherbound skillset or they’ll risk giving away their sources.

[+Oltux72 he/him]

6 hours ago, Treamayne said:

That line (spoilers):

  Hide contents

Was later shown to be disinformation the Malwish perpetuate to hide state secrets. 

Hope that helps

The issue is that making that claim makes only sense if it is remotely plausible. Hence they need to be at least rare.

4 hours ago, RedBlue said:

I think what we’re looking at is political tension between the Malwish and the aethers, resulting in the aetherbound being banned in some way from working with the Malwish. The Malwish have found a way to circumvent this ban in a few cases (maybe just one case).

Or alternatively the Aethers wish to keep their cooperation with the Scadrians (or some Scadrians) a secret. We cannot know what of what we learn is misdirection and what is genuine.

[bmcclure7]

On 7/3/2025 at 11:31 PM, JustQuestin2004 said:

It's also interesting considering that in Era 2, a Roseite Aetherbound was part of the Ghostbloods in exchange for their aid in gathering help to fight the Dark Aether, and Kelsier was considering gaining allies from the 'Land of the Aether's', alongside Sel and Mythos.

Also interesting is that the Malwish have formed an Empire, something that Kel would very likely be against, unless something really big makes him change his mind. So perhaps the Sovereign no longer has influence over the Malwish Post-Era 3? Or worse, perhaps Kel has gone down a similar path as Rashek? Crossing all his previous moral lines in order to protect his world?

Lots of potential implications for Era 4, but especially Era 3, since this story is meant to take place before Era 4, and Era 3 will likely lay the groundwork for this 'Malwish Empire'.

Why would Kel be against an empire? He has absolutely no reason not to push for empire after all this whole point is to make his planet strong being the center of the entire empire is pretty strong.

[bmcclure7]

On 7/3/2025 at 10:52 PM, i’m in the details said:

Line from ch. 46 

“No aetherbound will serve them. “

  Reveal hidden contents

Scadrians

Did that group attack one of the aether worlds? Bendjal (probably wrong spelling) or Aditil’s home world?

Not a crazy big theorizing point since it’s stated that they are a big empire but I can’t help thinking about how that could make a good flashback or something in 

  Reveal hidden contents

Era 4

 

We know that they have multiple colonies. And that they have access to Aether if they’re going around colonizing Aether worlds then it’s likely that would make them enemies of the Aethers

[teknopathetic he/him]

I wonder if an Aether would serve a Northen Scadrian. How apart are these two powers? 

[lacrossedeamon]

One thing that isn't really clear is do they specifically mean core aethers generally don't work with Malwish but individual aetherbounds can be swayed or do aetherbounds generally not but the aethers themselves might not care? Like could the aetherbound Dajer consults with be a Malwish person that got a bud? Or is it a collaborating Dhatrian?

[+Oltux72 he/him]

On 7/15/2025 at 7:30 AM, lacrossedeamon said:

One thing that isn't really clear is do they specifically mean core aethers generally don't work with Malwish but individual aetherbounds can be swayed or do aetherbounds generally not but the aethers themselves might not care? Like could the aetherbound Dajer consults with be a Malwish person that got a bud? Or is it a collaborating Dhatrian?

I guess the issue is that the bond between an Aether and a person is much more political, as you are bonding to the core Aether, not to another individual, if you bond an Aether.

[i’m in the details]

On 7/4/2025 at 9:48 AM, Treamayne said:

That line (spoilers):

  Hide contents

Was later shown to be disinformation the Malwish perpetuate to hide state secrets. 

Ch 47:

  Hide contents

“Not interested,” he said. “Can we continue on, please? We have our own aetherbound serving back on Scadrial, and I’m certain they can do anything your friend can do—better, even, as their buds still work.”

“Wait,” Starling said. “There are aetherbound serving the Malwish? How? Who?”

Dajer moved on, leaving her stewing. 

Ch 48:

  Hide contents

“Esandi,” he said to the screen. “Thank you for taking my call.”

“Anything to repay the favor, Dajer,” she said in accented Malwish.

“Will you show my friend your palm?” he asked, and the woman raised her hand—exposing a fully alive aether bud.

Though Ed and Aditil had been certain no aetherbound served the Malwish, here was proof otherwise.

“You realize,” the woman said, “that this reveals closely guarded state secrets to that woman.”

“Don’t worry,” Dajer said. “She’ll soon be in my personal service.” He looked to Starling. “Isn’t that so?”

“An aetherbound, actually serving you?” she asked. “How? The aethers allow it?”

“There are ways around that,” Esandi said.

 

Hope that helps

Still implies that there was a large conflict. That woman serving them appears to be an outlier and a secret. So I imagine they don’t have many. 

[teknopathetic he/him]

6 hours ago, i’m in the details said:

Still implies that there was a large conflict. That woman serving them appears to be an outlier and a secret. So I imagine they don’t have many. 

For some reason I thought the Aetherbound was a Kandra. Maybe a kandra would be able to trick the aether bond in some way? 

Brandon has said in WoBs that Kandra could form nahel bond with a spren, so an Aether seems possible as well. 

Edited July 18, 2025 by teknopathetic

[RedBlue]

1 hour ago, teknopathetic said:

FOr some reason I thought the Aetherbound was a Kandra. Maybe a kandra would be able to trick the aether bond in some way? 

I doubt the Malwish have many kandra working for them, if any, as most kandra are aligned with Harmony and I can’t imagine Harmony being OK with the Malwish military’s actions.

[bmcclure7]

1 minute ago, RedBlue said:

I doubt the Malwish have many kandra working for them, if any, as most kandra are aligned with Harmony and I can’t imagine Harmony being OK with the Malwish military’s actions.

It seems like he allows it at the very least . After all the whole point of following the proper treaties to prevent conflict between the shards it wouldn’t be any conflict if the Southerners didn’t have a shard on the their side

[lacrossedeamon]

1 hour ago, RedBlue said:

I doubt the Malwish have many kandra working for them, if any, as most kandra are aligned with Harmony and I can’t imagine Harmony being OK with the Malwish military’s actions.

We also have the line in Tress about the Kandra being released. I think that's so Brandon can have more freedom in their allegiances. 

[RedBlue]

Just now, lacrossedeamon said:

We also have the line in Tress about the Kandra being released. I think that's so Brandon can have more freedom in their allegiances. 

I’m thinking less in terms of binding contracts and more in terms of what most kandra would feel good about doing. Given their history and the choices they have made as a group, supporting the Malwish Empire would be a very abrupt turnaround for them.

[lacrossedeamon]

1 minute ago, RedBlue said:

I’m thinking less in terms of binding contracts and more in terms of what most kandra would feel good about doing. Given their history and the choices they have made as a group, supporting the Malwish Empire would be a very abrupt turnaround for them.

We've seen kandra aren't quite a monolith with the trial in HoA and Paalm in SoS. I could see older Kandra might be more willing to break away from Harmony due to the weird aspect of being much older than the Vessel.

[RedBlue]

1 hour ago, lacrossedeamon said:

We've seen kandra aren't quite a monolith with the trial in HoA and Paalm in SoS. I could see older Kandra might be more willing to break away from Harmony due to the weird aspect of being much older than the Vessel.

That’s why I said I doubt the Malwish have many kandra. I could see them having one or two. I just don’t think use of kandra agents is an assumption we should make about Malwish military operations.

[Nitpicking]

On 7/4/2025 at 12:31 AM, JustQuestin2004 said:

Also interesting is that the Malwish have formed an Empire, something that Kel would very likely be against ...

Well, Brandon said somewhere that Kelsier would be leading one megafaction in the Space Age. Presumably he's head of the empire.

Also, my reaction to Isles was that Harmony is Kelsier now, Sazed having gone Beyond. No text supports it, just where my mind went after reading SP5.

On 7/18/2025 at 12:35 PM, teknopathetic said:

For some reason I thought the Aetherbound was a Kandra. Maybe a kandra would be able to trick the aether bond in some way?

A kandra could probably speak Malwish without a heavy accent, though.

[Elegy he/him]

On 7/21/2025 at 1:27 PM, Nitpicking said:

Well, Brandon said somewhere that Kelsier would be leading one megafaction in the Space Age. Presumably he's head of the empire.

Where did he state that? Seems very unlikely to me atm, given Kelsier's experiences with empires. I believe he's happy to manipulate from the shadows, it's always been his thing.

I could see the Malwish people excusing their crimes with the religion of the Sovereign, while him handing them the medallions was initially the opposite of what they are doing, an act of helping the abandoned that Harmony had forgotten, like Kelsier always tried to do. That would fit with Kelsier's tendency to make things worse whenever he tries to fix them (rather than willingly making them worse, which is something a large part of the fandom seems to see as his thing instead because of whatever Mandela effect), plus it would create a situation along the lines of "What if a Jesus-like figure was alive to see their religions excuse colonialism with their teachings", which sounds like a Brandon kind of idea.

On 7/21/2025 at 1:27 PM, Nitpicking said:

Also, my reaction to Isles was that Harmony is Kelsier now, Sazed having gone Beyond. No text supports it, just where my mind went after reading SP5.

From what Ed says, Sazed seems to be alive and still a Shard. Or at the very least, if the Pathian religion is led by another Shard by then, it's someone "nice" that contrasts what the other Scadrians do - so not exactly what Ed's opinion on Kelsier would reasonably be.

[Trutharchivist he/him]

On 7/21/2025 at 2:27 PM, Nitpicking said:

Well, Brandon said somewhere that Kelsier would be leading one megafaction in the Space Age. Presumably he's head of the empire.

Considering a plot point in the book is about the assassination of the Malwish Prime Minister that doesn't seem likely, IMO.

Could be a "controlling fron the shadows" situation,but that doesn't sound likely.