Preserving Hemalurgy

[Trusk'our he/him]

Rosharan Investiture leaks based on its Intent and, I believe even more importantly, the system it is part of (else how could any Investiture type permanently exist in Spiritwebs as innate Investiture?)

Spoiler

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/3-firefight-chicago-signing/#e63

Argent

Awakening and Surgebinding, Stormlight and Breath seem really similar in some aspects--

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Argent

--except Breaths seem to stick to things better--

Brandon Sanderson

They do.

Argent

--than Stormlight. So when you are holding the Breath it doesn't expire when you put it in something it doesn't go away. Can you tell me something about why that's happening?

Brandon Sanderson

Part of this is kind of inherent to the Shard and the power it's coming from. I mean the power of Endowment is just going to stick, that's part of the nature of its magic. Does that make sense? But it also kind of has to do with how the ecosystems are working. For instance the Stormlight is essential to the ecosystem of Roshar, it needs to be expended, it needs to get out and-- It's like evaporation, does that make sense?

Argent

Recycling? Not the recycling but the cycle of--

Brandon Sanderson

Yeah, yeah like the cycle of water. And so just part of the way the nature of it works, it has to get out, it has to leak out, it has to run out. I mean it leaks even from spheres, right?

Argent

And when you lash things it's temporary--

Brandon Sanderson

Yep. And even though Szeth says that he thought Voidbringers could hold it they can't. Like it is just not the way that it works.

Argent

Can they just hold it better?

Brandon Sanderson

They can hold it better. It's not permanent. Now there are things that can do it permanently but--

Argent

Like the black sphere for example?

Brandon Sanderson

Well we are not going to... The black sphere is something different. You guys have guessed what the black sphere is, right?

Argent

Well we have some ideas. I support that it holds an Unmade. Am I wrong?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm not going to answer that.

Argent

But you said--

Brandon Sanderson

I'm just curious what the theories are. Book 3 the black sphere is-- Everyone who reads the books will know what the black sphere is by the end of Book 3.

I wonder then, could the process modern Hemalurgy uses (or could change to make use of) to prevent unnecessary decay be Connecting stolen Investiture to the spikes themselves?

My initial impression for the preserving of Hemalurgic spikes was just aluminum, but presumably you'd still suffer a little leakage whenever you had to move it from the aluminum to a host or a second donor. If keying and/or Connecting the Investiture to the spikes removes this, it would be way easier to handle spikes.

[NerdyAarakocra They/Them]

I think loss of Hemalurgic investiture has more to do with the fact that a spike is an incomplete fragment of someone's spiritweb than anything about the system it is part of (although it does make the system more Ruin-coded, so I could be totally wrong there). Supporting this theory, the reason that Hemalurgic spikes don't decay when inside humans is the fact that they're connected to a complete spiritweb.

Or just soak them in blood, which I think helps curb decay?

[Treamayne]

1 hour ago, NerdyAarakocra said:

Or just soak them in blood, which I think helps curb decay?

Prevents decay. WoBs:

Spoiler

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Master_Moridin

What is the relationship between blood and the Spiritual Realm? (Since Hemalurgy needs blood to graft the sDNA in a spike into someone else's sDNA)

Brandon Sanderson

The blood being in motion is part of it.

17th Shard Forum Q&A (Sept. 28, 2012)

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Maru Nui

What happens when you break a Hemalurgic spike or metalmind? What happens to that power?

Brandon Sanderson

Hemalurgic power can be split among multiple spikes and reforged, but remember that the longer a spike is outside of a person, the more the power is going to decay. Things like splitting it will decay it even further. Metalminds can also be broken and still be accessed

Tor.com Q&A with Brandon Sanderson (Jan. 10, 2011)

Oversleep

If a spike was covered in blood - stopping the Hemalurgic decay - and then split into smaller spikes, would there be power loss or not?

Let's say the splitting took place in a bathtub full of blood, so that the spikes would be covered in blood at all times.

Brandon Sanderson

The split should work.

Stormlight Three Update #5 (Nov. 21, 2016)

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WeiryWriter

Hemalurgic spikes lose power unless they are in a person’s body (or immersed in blood), does that body need to be living, or would a corpse suffice? If so, at what point in the decomposition process would the spikes cease to be protected? When they are no longer encased in flesh, before, after?

Brandon Sanderson

I haven't put a specific number or date on it, but I'd say as long as the blood itself would be viable if moved to a living body, it will work.

Skyward Pre-Release AMA (Oct. 22, 2018)

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yulerule

If a spike has gone too long without being stored in blood, will it completely lose its charge?

Brandon Sanderson

It will never completely lose its charge.

JordanCon 2018 (April 22, 2018)

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Questioner

Hemalurgy spikes lose power after they are taken out of a body, right?  So why did Vin’s spike still give her power after being so long out of her ear?

Brandon Sanderson

They decay, but it's not a really fast decay. And it also kind of works like a half-life thing. Does that make sense?  So you get an initial just "that's bad" but that had happened to hers long ago when she had taken it out for the first time, right? And then over time, like if that had sat out for hundreds of years you're going to end up with something like Wax's earring that's like-- it gives a bit, but it barely gives anything. But as long as you're kind of keeping it in and out you're going to be a lot better off.

Shadows of Self release party (Oct. 5, 2015)

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swieczq

Had a hemalurgic spike been encased in aluminium, would it still decay?

Brandon Sanderson

Nobody has tried that! (It might work.)

Kraków signing (March 21, 2017)

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Argent

The Lost Metal Ars Arcanum calls Hemalurgic decay a thing of the past. The term has been used to describe the loss of power in spikes outside of bodies, as well as the small amount of power that is lost at the moment a spike is created. Which one of those things no longer happens?

Brandon Sanderson

The first one, the decay of spikes outside of a body. They have figured out how to make that no longer a thing.

Argent

So it's still a thing that happens in the cosmere, they just know how to avoid that completely?

Brandon Sanderson

Yes.

Shardcast Interview (July 30, 2023)

 

Hope that helps

[Trusk'our he/him]

3 hours ago, NerdyAarakocra said:

I think loss of Hemalurgic investiture has more to do with the fact that a spike is an incomplete fragment of someone's spiritweb than anything about the system it is part of (although it does make the system more Ruin-coded, so I could be totally wrong there). Supporting this theory, the reason that Hemalurgic spikes don't decay when inside humans is the fact that they're connected to a complete spiritweb.

Or just soak them in blood, which I think helps curb decay?

You know, that reminds me, spike decay is supposedly (as I interpret the WoB) due to the Spiritweb fragment being pulled into the Beyond to reunite with its original owner (technically I think the Investiture itself really moves to the Spiritual Realm to be recycled, but you know, similar function)

Spoiler

https://wob.coppermind.net/events/517-tampa-bay-comic-convention-2023/#e16198

Dairetron

If a Hemalurgic spike loses its charge, does that mean the remaining part of the person's soul trapped will move on to the Beyond?

Brandon Sanderson

Yep.

So, maybe by re-Keying a spike's Identity or even just blanking it the spike would no longer have that competing force.

So maybe it's more an Identity thing than strictly a Connection thing.

 

Also, as a side note, does this maybe mean that non-lethal Hemalurgy could lead to some minor Spiritweb restoration, the stolen Investiture slowly returning to the donor, at least partially if the spike is allowed to decay?

Edited November 7, 2025 by Trusk'our