Hemalurgy and Offspring

[Cosmer]

If a non-scadrian couple, both hemalurgically spiked to have allomancy, had a child, is there any chance that child could have allomancy? 
 

Since allomancy is a genetically granted ability (and only scadrians can be born with it), I am not sure if this is even possible. But I know there’s spirit web stuff at play beyond genetics…apologies if there’s a WoB out there on this. 

[Treamayne]

20 minutes ago, Cosmer said:

If a non-scadrian couple, both hemalurgically spiked to have allomancy, had a child, is there any chance that child could have allomancy? 
 

Since allomancy is a genetically granted ability (and only scadrians can be born with it), I am not sure if this is even possible. But I know there’s spirit web stuff at play beyond genetics…apologies if there’s a WoB out there on this. 

Any chance? I would state it as a non-Zero chance. But not likely.
WoBs have changed very slightly over the years:

Spoiler

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Questioner (paraphrased)

Would Inquisitors' kids have Allomancy?

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

Not usually. It happens sometimes, but not usually. He then mentioned a little about sDNA, but that it's not inherited as much as it is when it's natural.

Orem signing 2014 (Dec. 6, 2014)

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Questioner

You’ve spoken before how DNA exists on multiple different levels in your magic systems. I was curious about something else that I think I read that that the Hemalurgy system actually splices something into the DNA - so what does that imply for heritability of those?

Brandon Sanderson

So, it is not inheritable when it's Hemalurgic because it's splicing. It's basically ripping off a piece of the soul and spiking it on someone else's. So, it would not transfer.

Shadows of Self San Jose signing (Oct. 9, 2015)

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Questioner

I wondered if an Inquisitor had children, if they would inherit stronger Inquisitor abilities, or if they would just inherit the lesser lines from being a Seeker, for example?

Brandon Sanderson

Excellent question. I don't think I've ever been asked this before... The way Hemalurgy works, if you're not aware, you are taking someone else's soul, and you are basically nailing it to your soul... That won't affect the children. So you will have the weaker lines.

They have tried that. Unfortunately.

Berlin signing (May 14, 2019)

Despite the above, we do have:

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Kogiopsis

How did koloss-blooded people happen?

Brandon Sanderson

Koloss-blooded people-- A koloss-blooded is the result of two koloss having a child. A full koloss is only made once you accept the spikes and are mutated into the final form. And so a koloss-blooded-- The koloss can breed true now but that's what you get. And so they actually have a ritual at coming-of-age where you can accept the spikes or you can leave. And so all koloss in the wastes-- in the Roughs that are in the koloss tribes are-- have chosen that and outsiders can choose it too.

Words of Radiance Portland signing (March 7, 2014)

So, some Hemalurgic changes have to be inheritable or Koloss-blooded would not exist; but it seems that MoI parts of the spiritweb are not part of that inheriable legacy. 

Hope that helps

[NameIess]

On 11/4/2025 at 1:43 PM, Treamayne said:

Any chance? I would state it as a non-Zero chance. But not likely.
WoBs have changed very slightly over the years:

  Reveal hidden contents

Despite the above, we do have:

So, some Hemalurgic changes have to be inheritable or Koloss-blooded would not exist; but it seems that MoI parts of the spiritweb are not part of that inheriable legacy. 

Hope that helps

Koloss are likely an outlier, considering that Harmony specifically intervened to allow them to reproduce:

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Kaimipono

Also, are koloss just naturally bad-tempered, even without Ruin's influence? Cause the koloss are still taking swipes at Sazed immediately after the merger. (And, does Sazed zap all the koloss? Did they all get toasted by the sun? But what about Human and his friends underground? Are there still koloss around? Just wonderin'.)

Brandon Sanderson

Koloss were bad tempered before Ruin's influence, though he certainly made them worse. They were designed by the Lord Ruler to be aggressive, so aggressive that they would destroy themselves if they got loose and away from him. (This was intentional. Note that he didn't give the spark of humanity in them enough credit, and they managed to overcome this and 'evolve' in a way to keep their species going, even after he died.)

There ARE still koloss around, though many of them were vaporized. Human is alive. Sazed took pity on them, however, and they have been transformed. They are now a race that breeds true, like the kandra, and have different thought processes from what they once had. You'll see more of them in the sequel series.

Hero of Ages Q&A - Time Waster's Guide (Oct. 15, 2008)  

 

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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)