Wax's uncle was a Spinner **Spoilers**

[Red Ferring he/him]

I think Edwarn Ladrian is a Spinner Ferring. A Spinner stores furtune (luck) to tap later. At the end of AoL, Edwarn's villainous monologue got me thinking. I don't have a strong train of logic, but there are clues throughout AoL that back up this theory.

 

Edwarn was a known gambler. I believe horse races were his stated fancy. The butler told Wax that he was actually quite good and always came out with a great profit. Pretty lucky huh? Possibly tapping luck there to build up his funds for the Set's operations.

 

Before "dieing" himself, his son actually died from disease, leaving him without an heir. Apart from being his only son, he may also have been part of Edwarn's initial schemes to manage the Ladrian house in his stead. How unfortunate. Possibly was storing too much luck in preparation for his future endeavors. And depending on how luck storage works, that may have been a ton of luck stored for Edwarn, but of course at the unintended cost of a loved one.

 

Weaker clue/theory: We don't know much of Wax's parents but we can assume they died, due to the fact Wax and his sister were in Edwarn's care. Perhaps they died from Edwarn's luck manipulation. Perhaps Edwarn was second in line to run the Ladrian house (Wax's father being first) and Edwarn's tapping of luck led to the death of Wax's parents and his bump up to House Lord. I know, weak theory. But very characteristic and would go quite well with the rest of the theory and just go great with Evil Uncle Plot.

 

Side theory that's not mine: Wax's sister was a Connector Ferring (stores spiritual connectedness). (someone please find the WoB where someone asks Brandon this and he answers the question with another question) During Wax's absence, he hardly thought of her even though they had a solid relationship to start. From what we know of Connectors (which isn't much) she was probably storing a lot. (Maybe she's part of Edwarn's plan and will use the power to form trust relationships quickly. perhas that's not part of the plot). And when Wax found out she was alive, he was surprised that he felt a powerful and unusual sense of relief considering his prior coldness towards her, indicating (by this theory's logic) that she was no longer storing their spiritual connection by that time.

Edited June 15, 2015 by Red Ferring

[Curious Anamaximder he/him]

Interesting! Nice theory! I always thought that Edwarn was a Soother.

[Araris Valerian he/him]

The two aren't mutually exclusive. Brass allomancy and chromium feruchemy I think would fit that. And Wax clearly has enough Terris blood in his family lines for ferrings.

[king of nowhere]

I think you are grasping at straws here.

if you know about horses, you can come on top by betting on horse races. mat cauthon could tell you how the whole race would unfold after looking at the horses, and it was always explicitly stated that it was his knowledge of horses, it had nothing to do with his ta'veren luck.

furthermore, if he really had been a spinner, then he would have had his best interest in storing when betting, not tapping. he had no need of money. he owned a few % of all the real estate in elendel, he was rich beyond belief. think about somebody owning one or two square kilometers of manhattan. I'm not sure bill gates could afford it. he was practically like a small king, and while he also had great expenses because he had to pay tens of thousands of wages, getting huge sums of money was no big deal for him. in fact, as the butler mentioned, while he made a small fortune in horse races, he lost a big fortune in mishandled deals. if you wanted to make money, wouldn't it make sense to use your stored luck when doing those deals? and since he wanted to lose money as a part of his plan, why winning at horse races? would it make sense to use your luck on something so trivial, when you have such big plans in motion?  Consider that edwarn was anything but a fool.

 

As for exhibit 2, I don't think luck feruchemy works  that way. you store it, and a loved one dies? feruchemy is all internal. i doubt it affects other people like that. even people who are dear to you, or who are part of your plans. furthermore, the "bad luck" in it was only that wax would eventually become house lord and ruin the plans one year later. You store luck, and something random happens that is apparently of little import at the moment (I doubt he cared much for his son, he had his daughter kidnapped and impregnated) but will lead to consequences that will ruin your secret plans one year later? I'd definitely say that's far too indirect to be the effect of luck feruchemy.

 

As a last piece of evidence, alloy of law is a book. a work of fiction. I challenge you to name me a work of fiction that does not rely on unlikely coincidences to advance the plot or simply to set the scene.

[Oudeis he/him]

While I neither endorse nor espouse this theory, I am currently re-reading Final Empire, and I must say, having a man use a power that has been briefly alluded to, yet isn't explained to or understood by the readers, does seem like a Sanderson thing to do.

[yurisses]

Feromancy being "all internal" is a red fherring. It's not "internal" like Allomancy has external and internal metals. It's internal in that it uses your own Investiture. It can still affect others: "While filling a duraluminmind, other people's awareness and friendship of the Feruchemist will be reduced. Tapping the metalmind will allow the user to form trust relationships with others much faster".

Also, Red Ferring, here are the WoB you asked for.

Irothtin

Is Wax's sister a Duralumin ferring?

Brandon Sanderson

I'm curious what makes you guess that particular power.

(source)

TheOneKEA

I also referenced the recent Q&A and this post, and speculated that the reason why the original poster thought Wax's sister was a duralumin ferring was because of Wax's comment that he did not feel any strong emotions as a result of her death. I told Brandon that the poster must have thought that she was deliberately suppressing her Connection with Wax by using Feruchemy.

Brandon Sanderson (paraphrased)

I said that I didn't need a yes or no answer from him, and he replied that he would neither confirm nor deny my statement and would only agree that it was very interesting.

(source)

My opinion is that either Wax's sister or his uncle or both probably have allomantic or feruchemical powers, and Spinner and Connector are two very attractive possibilities, considering they are new powers. Perhaps more attractive than realistic, but who knows.

[skaa he/him]

Strange, I could've sworn I saw someone else theorize that Edwarn was a Spinner, I think last year, but I can't seem to find it now. I even remember being quite impressed by it.

 

Anyway, I still like this theory. It would be interesting to see an actual Spinner in action, if only so we could have a more concrete understanding of Feruchemical Fortune.

Edited June 16, 2015 by skaa