Deadeye Spikes

[Trusk'our he/him]

So, we just got this new WoB.

Spoiler

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/546-worldcon-2025/

FearTheOldBlood (paraphrased)

I remember in another WoB you confirmed that the living nature of spren would make them unviable for Allomancy. So I was wondering, if a Radiant were to kill their spren--but will it into the shape of a spike beforehand, and use that spike for Hemalurgy, could the person who was spiked have a Connection established between them and a Vessel of Honor or Cultivation?

Crowd (paraphrased)

*Applause, laughter*

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

You horrible person. But this would work. Yeah, you're absolutely horrible, that would work. Remember that that's going to make a god metal spike and that's going to have some weird effects being a god metal, but yeah, that could work.

FearTheOldBlood (paraphrased)

And can you tell us what abilities that spike could steal?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

RAFO!

Apparently, a Deadeye is far enough removed from being a living Spren that it can function as a Hemalurgic spike (though it's possible Brandon just forgot about this older WoB from 2020 on the topic).

Spoiler

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/450-waterstones-row-release-event/#e14427

Questioner

Can Shardblades, dead or alive, be used as Hemalurgic spikes? And if attempted, what would the result be?

Brandon Sanderson

Technically yes, but in practicality no.

To use something as a Hemalurgic spike, it basically just needs to be able to already have a charge of Investiture, or be able to adopt one. Technically, Shardblades are made from a god metal. You could do this. But the Blade is gonna be big and unwieldy, and the form it’s in right now, it’s going to slice the soul rather than rip pieces off. You would have to jump through a bunch of hoops that wouldn’t be worth it in order to use one.

It would basically mean that you’d have to separate the metal of the Shardblade from the concept of a Shardblade itself, is what’s going on there.

Guess if this holds there's some practical sense in Spiking a Radiant in order to break their oaths and kill their Spren now. . .

 

Also, I think this confirms that all Godmetal spikes should Connect you to the parent Shard. It's not just Trellium, it seems.

Makes me wonder, did Inquisitor's Atium spikes add an additional weakness to them in regard to Ruin's control? they'd be more Connected to it, after all, perhaps widening the bridge for it to get into their Spiritwebs.

Also, would a hefty amount of Atium spliced into a person (multiple railroad-sized spikes) perhaps help with learning general Hemalurgy since you'd become significantly more Connected to Ruin (and have a bunch of Ruinous Investiture spliced in)?

[JustQuestin2004 he/him]

53 minutes ago, Trusk'our said:

(though it's possible Brandon just forgot about this older WoB from 2020 on the topic).

Ah, cut him some slack, that was 5 years ago.

53 minutes ago, Trusk'our said:

Also, I think this confirms that all Godmetal spikes should Connect you to the parent Shard. It's not just Trellium, it seems.

Makes me wonder, did Inquisitor's Atium spikes add an additional weakness to them in regard to Ruin's control? they'd be more Connected to it, after all, perhaps widening the bridge for it to get into their Spiritwebs.

This seems pretty interesting, imagine if a Lerasium spike existed in Era 1, would that allow proper communication with Preservation without Ruin interfering? Not that Leras would be rational enough to hold a conversation, but it would be better than nothing. Maybe the Spiked would need to be in the Mists for the best communication?

55 minutes ago, Trusk'our said:

Also, would a hefty amount of Atium spliced into a person (multiple railroad-sized spikes) perhaps help with learning general Hemalurgy since you'd become significantly more Connected to Ruin (and have a bunch of Ruinous Investiture spliced in)?

That leads me to a question I've had for a long while, Scadrians have more Preservation in their Innate Investiture, enough of it can give them Allomacy, but what if they had more Ruin instead?

Maybe there would be an effect similar to the Sixth Heightening, only instead of Instinctive Awakening, it would be Instinctive Hemalurgy, having an innate sense of what metals to use for spikes and where to put them? Though it would likely require a whole lot of Ruin Investiture, reaching the Sixth Heightening requires 3,500 Breaths after all.

[Treamayne]

6 hours ago, Trusk'our said:

Apparently, a Deadeye is far enough removed from being a living Spren that it can function as a Hemalurgic spike (though it's possible Brandon just forgot about this older WoB from 2020 on the topic).

Except that the new WoB is not really like the old WoB. In Fact, the New WoB seems to have been influenced by the old one:

Spoiler

Quote

Brandon Sanderson

Technically yes, but in practicality no.

To use something as a Hemalurgic spike, it basically just needs to be able to already have a charge of Investiture, or be able to adopt one. Technically, Shardblades are made from a god metal. You could do this. But the Blade is gonna be big and unwieldy, and the form it’s in right now, it’s going to slice the soul rather than rip pieces off. You would have to jump through a bunch of hoops that wouldn’t be worth it in order to use one.

It would basically mean that you’d have to separate the metal of the Shardblade from the concept of a Shardblade itself, is what’s going on there.

Quote

FearTheOldBlood (paraphrased)

I remember in another WoB you confirmed that the living nature of spren would make them unviable for Allomancy. So I was wondering, if a Radiant were to kill their spren--but will it into the shape of a spike beforehand, and use that spike for Hemalurgy, could the person who was spiked have a Connection established between them and a Vessel of Honor or Cultivation?

If they willed it into a Hemalurgic Spike before/while Deadeyeing the Spren, then that would seem to meet Brandon's prior requirement to "separate the metal of the Shardblade from the concept of a Shardblade itself."

At least that was my take.

[Trusk'our he/him]

9 hours ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

Ah, cut him some slack, that was 5 years ago.

Come now, the man obviously has access to Feruchemy given his inhuman writing rate. He should have at least skimmed his Coppermind in response to the questioner.

9 hours ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

This seems pretty interesting, imagine if a Lerasium spike existed in Era 1, would that allow proper communication with Preservation without Ruin interfering? Not that Leras would be rational enough to hold a conversation, but it would be better than nothing. Maybe the Spiked would need to be in the Mists for the best communication?

Hmm, well, there was that bead of Lerasium next to the Well of Ascension for a thousand years.

Not likey to have happened given its location, but perhaps if someone had grabbed and shaped it into a pin they could have gotten more information from Fuzz?

9 hours ago, JustQuestin2004 said:

That leads me to a question I've had for a long while, Scadrians have more Preservation in their Innate Investiture, enough of it can give them Allomacy, but what if they had more Ruin instead?

Maybe there would be an effect similar to the Sixth Heightening, only instead of Instinctive Awakening, it would be Instinctive Hemalurgy, having an innate sense of what metals to use for spikes and where to put them? Though it would likely require a whole lot of Ruin Investiture, reaching the Sixth Heightening requires 3,500 Breaths after all.

That's kinda along the line I was thinking, as there's already a system for Ruin's Investiture- Hemalurgy. 

I figure that the Heightenings would be the closest thing to such a system, so increased general perks and an innate knowledge of Hemalurgy would be most intuitive, at least as I see it.

4 hours ago, Treamayne said:

Except that the new WoB is not really like the old WoB. In Fact, the New WoB seems to have been influenced by the old one:

  Hide contents

If they willed it into a Hemalurgic Spike before/while Deadeyeing the Spren, then that would seem to meet Brandon's prior requirement to "separate the metal of the Shardblade from the concept of a Shardblade itself."

At least that was my take.

Interesting.

Since we know Nightblood's shape as a sword also shaped its Investiture, I think this supports that idea.

Spoiler

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/431-san-diego-comic-conhome-2020/#e14005

Questioner

If Vasher and Shashara had Awakened a non-weapon in exactly the same way as Nightblood (say a shield), would the object exhibit the same properties as Nightblood?

Brandon Sanderson

So, if you said "destroy evil" to a shield... no, it wouldn't be exactly the same. The Command is the most important part of all of this, but the shape, how the weapon perceives itself, how you perceive it, is all gonna play into this. They're playing with some real dangerous stuff when they made Nightblood. And it didn't go as intended.

So, I think you're right. That strengthens the idea of Deadeye-ing Spren for Spikes.