Can Kandra reproduce?

[abernell]

Alright, hear me out. Kandra create perfect copies of people's muscles. So, if one were to do the deed, could the Kandra use the reproductive organs they created to reproduce? Also, what would, say, Trell mixed with Kandra be? Asking because I'm doing DnD with a bit of homebrew, and I want to give my character familial bonds. And yes, Trell is actually my character's spouse.

Edited August 8, 2025 by abernell

[Treamayne]

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12 hours ago, abernell said:

Alright, hear me out. Kandra create perfect copies of people's muscles. So, if one were to do the deed, could the Kandra use the reproductive organs they created to reproduce? Asking because I'm doing DnD with a bit of homebrew, and I want to give my character familial bonds.

A few notes:

1. You need to define "reproduce" - do you mean two Kandra have a Kandra child?
   • That answer is No - it was answered in HoA because Kandra come from Mistwraiths; but do not birth young Mistwraiths after becoming Kandra. 
2. Do you mean "mate with non-Kandra Sapient they are imitating to have a half-breed child"
   • In this case, Brandon has gone back and forth because he has not disclosed if a Genetic Test could determine a Kandra or not - he intends to answer this in Era three.
   • We do know MeLaan was able to craft flesh close enough to Marasi's to not be rejected as a transplant, but that level of mimicry is still well below "identical down to the DNA" which would be required 
     • Also, if the Kandra were identicle down to the DNA enough to reproduce, it's entirely possible the child would simply be of that copied Race (possibly with different sDNA
3. Do you mean imitate a female (specifically) to become impregnated by another race and gestate that fetus to term?
   • In this case, we can only know when Brandon answers or discusses in book - it may be possible, it may only be possible if they do not change forms for the entire pregnancy, or it may not be possible at all. 

Other threads where this has ben discussed/theorized:

• How Do Mistwraiths Reproduce
• Half Kandra Powers
• Kandra Procreation
• Why Can't Kandra Reproduce?

WoBs:

Spoiler

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Brandon Sanderson

MeLaan

It's never fully explained who MeLaan is, so I'll give you the background here. One thing that kandra do is take Contracts serving mankind in exchange for atium. However, there are other jobs that kandra can do back in the Homeland. One of the more prestigious ones includes the training and instruction of a child kandra.

This can take years and years, as kandra grow very slowly. TenSoon was appointed as a "parent" of a single kandra during his lifetime. (Many of the Fifth Generation have been parents dozens of times, but the Thirds are a rebellious group, and it was only after much consideration—and political pressure in the Homeland—that Thirds were given chances.)

MeLaan, then, is kind of TenSoon's adopted daughter. She has something of a hero-worship crush on him, inspired by his gruff style and adventuresome personality. Her idolizing of him borders on a romantic crush, and this makes TenSoon somewhat uncomfortable.

There you go. Now you can astound your friends with Mistborn background trivia.

The Hero of Ages Annotations (July 16, 2009)

Questioner

My favorite god, Sazed/Harmony, in my recent reread I got a bit angry at him because he didn’t let kandra be able to reproduce, but he let the koloss be able to do it. And I’m wondering if there’s a way he could have allowed that, but he chose not to? And also if there’s a way that it could happen in the future, so that two of my favorite people could have a baby?

Brandon Sanderson

There are a couple things that he was facing, and let me walk you through his philosophy on this, which you are allowed to disagree with. I want, for every character I write, there to be things they do that you disagree with, because otherwise I’m writing all characters to be the same person, if that makes sense.

The kandra have immortality and are able to perpetuate their culture by being immortal for as long as the individuals live. The koloss don’t have that, meaning that if he didn’t make koloss able to breed true, the entire people vanish in one generation and all culture associated with them. And so because of that, he took the extra effort to change the koloss to allow for this sort of thing. But he did it in such a way that they would not have to have hemalurgic spikes, because the idea of making new hemalurgic spikes is extremely distasteful to Harmony. Reusing old ones is a thing he was willing to allow, but new ones he didn’t.

Could he have changed the kandra to be similar? Well, the answer is kind of a fairly... yes, but they would no longer have been the kandra, they would have been rolled back to being what they were before the Lord Ruler. And so they basically would stop being what they are that makes them unique as a culture. And he decided not to do that.

You can disagree with that, and I think there are some pretty valid arguments against the choice he made, but that is the choice he made.

Is there a way going forward? Yes, this is theoretically possible.

Dragonsteel 2022 (Nov. 14, 2022)

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Questioner

Could a kandra imitating a human have a child with the human?

Brandon Sanderson

So, I kinda go back and forth on this. So-- 'Cause I think about it, then I tweak the magic, and I think "no this isn't possible," and then I go back, and I'm like, "but..." So it kinda comes down to a lot of things, such as, would I want a DNA test to be able to determine if a kandra is real or not. And I haven't canonized that yet, so your answer is, Read And Find Out, once I decide. I go back and forth on that one so much.

Oathbringer release party (Nov. 13, 2017)

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Questioner

If a kandra and a human were to have a baby, what would that baby be like?

Brandon Sanderson

I would say that right now… It would depend... The kandra would have to remain in human form, keep the same body, and then would give birth to a human. If it was a woman [human] with a man [kandra], it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, with a kandra. Does that make sense? Because when the kandra is in human form, they can identically recreate the bodily functions and things if they want to.

Calamity Chicago signing (Feb. 22, 2016)

 

 

Hope that helps

Edited August 8, 2025 by Treamayne
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