hoid Hoid’s Curse

[Adonalsium Will Return He/him]

So, as I believe most of us know, Hoid’s curse prevents him from hurting people, and I assumed that extended to himself. However, in one of the Stormlight books, he hits himself over the head with a rock. So, can he hurt himself? If so, could he, with enough Identity tricks, view someone as part of himself and be able to hurt them?

[PanLin they/he]

Well, he had to ask someone else to punch him to remove a tooth, which I think is enough evidence that he can't hurt himself either.

Seeing as the rock thing was part of a joke/insult, I assume he only pretended to hit himself.

[Treamayne]

2 hours ago, Adonalsium Will Return said:

So, as I believe most of us know, Hoid’s curse prevents him from hurting people, and I assumed that extended to himself. However, in one of the Stormlight books, he hits himself over the head with a rock. So, can he hurt himself?

First, Hoid does not consider it a curse:

Spoiler

Brandon Sanderson

Let's talk about the Torment for a second. Hoid would not call what has happened to him a Torment. Hoid, by holding a Dawnshard, was made permanently unable to cause physical harm to other beings. Eating meat makes him nauseous (if he is somehow able to eat it, and a lot of the times he just can't). That is because of the nature of the Dawnshard that he held actively warping and changing his spirit. He would not name it this. 

<Sunlit Man Spoilers redacted>

Secret Project #4 Reveal and Livestream (March 29, 2022)

Second, if hitting himself with a rock would not cause injury then he would have no problem doing so (he is very hard to injure) - which is why he needed soembody to knock out his tooth for him - that was definitively an "injury," not just a comedic sight gag like the rock incident. 

Quote

If so, could he, with enough Identity tricks, view someone as part of himself and be able to hurt them?

Unlikely - not just because that stretches the concept of identity to breaking, but because Hoid would not want to do such a thing. Sunlit Man has much more info on the quandries this "curse" can cause. 

Hope that helps

[alder24]

19 hours ago, Adonalsium Will Return said:

So, as I believe most of us know, Hoid’s curse prevents him from hurting people, and I assumed that extended to himself. However, in one of the Stormlight books, he hits himself over the head with a rock. So, can he hurt himself? If so, could he, with enough Identity tricks, view someone as part of himself and be able to hurt them?

It's based on his perception. If he believes he's not hurting himself or others then he can do it. Identity tricks won't work because that's not how identity works - you can't just view someone else as a part of yourself. 

Spoiler

Matrim

Hoid gets his tooth knocked out while in Kholinar. He prompts somebody else to help him with that. Is that because he has issues hurting not only other people but himself?

Brandon Sanderson

Yep.

Matrim

And then he considers healing that at a later point in time. Which magic system does he consider using to heal that?

Brandon Sanderson

A magic system that predates-- predates any of the others.

Oathbringer Chicago signing (Nov. 21, 2017)

 

Spoiler

Questioner

I have a question about Hoid. If he was previously a Dawnshard that prevented him from hurting himself or others, how could he use a hemalurgic spike on himself?

Brandon Sanderson

We don't know that he has.

Questioner

But would he be able to?

Brandon Sanderson

I think there is a way he could get around that if he needed to. Basically, he has to convince himself that this isn't actually hurting him, it's helping him.

Questioner

Similar to how he could do damage to Cognitive Shadows, because they're not really...

Brandon Sanderson

Yep, exactly.

Dragonsteel 2023 (Nov. 21, 2023)

 

Spoiler

AAKS_

If Hoid were a bloodmaker, could he store health or would that count as hurting himself?

Brandon Sanderson

I think he could psychological his way around it. It would probably fail the first few times. Whether he could psychologically convince himself that it was largely for preservation purposes, I think he probably could.

YouTube Spoiler Stream 7 (Dec. 19, 2025)

 

Spoiler

Windrunner Savant

So, [Hoid] can't hurt anyone, he physically can't hurt anyone in Dragonsteel. Yet, in Secret History...

Brandon Sanderson

He has a quip when he says that. Yeah, if you look at Secret History, there's kind of a "Huh. Since you're already dead, I can do this." And he goes a little crazy. There's a bit of built-up aggravation.

Arcanum Unbounded release party (Nov. 22, 2016)

 

[Adonalsium Will Return He/him]

Thank you for the answers, everyone.