Concerning Earrings (spoilers)

[Young Bard]

Okay. I was browsing through the Coppermind when something clicked in my head.

 

I present to you, Exhibit A:

 

HoA major spoilers:

Vin's earring is hemalurgically charged with the power's of a seeker. It is given to her by her mother on orders from Ruin (simplified). It is unknown what happened to the earring after the Final Ascension.

 

Exhibit B:

 

HoA major spoilers and AoL very minor spoilers:

Wax's earring is hemalurgically charged, but it is unknown with what kind. It is primarily used for communication with Sazed. It is given to him by MeLaan, but it's history is unknown.

 

I propose that the 2 are in fact the same thing.

 

The only reason Wax hasn't worked this out already is that he's never TRIED to burn zinc, brass, copper, or bronze. He knew he could burn steel, so he figured he couldn't burn anything else.

 

Why would Brandon have two nearly identical objects in the same series unless it were the same thing? Comments?

Edited June 28, 2015 by TheYoungBard

[natc]

Because it makes no sense to use anything but an earing?

Nobody but the crazies would follow a religion that requires stabbing yourself in the heart or eye socket or whatever, and Sazed wouldn't approve anyway.

[Voidus]

I think it was confirmed somewhere that the earring was pewter, and also that it came from a dead Inquisitor, I'll try to hunt down the qoutes on it.

Edited June 28, 2015 by Voidus

[Curious Anamaximder]

MeLaan! What!

[natc]

MeLaan! What!

Yes. MeLaan.

We can't exactly let TenSoon do all the dirty work in AoL.

[Guest]

I think it was confirmed somewhere that the earring was pewter, and also that it came from a dead Inquisitor, I'll try to hunt down the qoutes on it.

All the questions I've seen regarding the Earring have been RAFO'd, unless he recently broke the silence.

I don't see why it couldn't be the same Earring but I also think it far more likely that if anyone has it, Marsh does.

[Oudeis]

There are a number of Sharders who agree that it must be Pewter, though I have pointed out a number of flaws in their arguments. To the best of my knowledge, is has most decidedly not been confirmed. (EDIT: Here's a RAFO.)

There is a WoB I will try to find confirming that the earring came from an Inquisitors spike.

 

EDIT: I have searched and cannot find the WoB saying it is a spike. I'm gonna continue looking cuz I'm really sure we've seen one.

Edited June 28, 2015 by Oudeis

[+Slowswift]

Well, remember that "RAFO" stands for "Read And Find Out." He could just be telling us to go back, reread, and figure it out.

[Oudeis]

Well, remember that "RAFO" stands for "Read And Find Out." He could just be telling us to go back, reread, and figure it out.

 

...No. RAFO specifically means that the information has not been revealed.

 

[+Slowswift]

...No. RAFO specifically means that the information has not been revealed.

 

 

Ah well, I hadn't seen that card before.  

[Somthingmachine]

There are a number of Sharders who agree that it must be Pewter, though I have pointed out a number of flaws in their arguments. To the best of my knowledge, is has most decidedly not been confirmed. (EDIT: Here's a RAFO.)

There is a WoB I will try to find confirming that the earring came from an Inquisitors spike.

 

EDIT: I have searched and cannot find the WoB saying it is a spike. I'm gonna continue looking cuz I'm really sure we've seen one.

 

Did you ever find this WoB?

 

After rereading AoL I was beginning to wonder if the earring was Hemalurgic at all.  I say that because it seemed like Preservation had the ability to communicate with people without them needing to be spiked in HoA because Vin was able to kind of communicate with Elend, and I believe there were other instances of that happening with the use of Preservation's power.  I kind of assumed that since Sazed held both Ruin and Preservation that he may just be able to communicate with people and that the earring is just a symbol because of Vin.  But idk, tbh.  haha

[Oudeis]

Have not yet found the WoB that it's specifically a bit of a spike, but here's a WoB that it is hemalurgic.

[Arook]

This most likely the one you were thinking of but is not exactly what you wanted.

 

 

 

KILOMTRS (JUNE 2012)

So in the trilogy, we see that when someone has a Hemalurgic spike implanted in them, they can hear Ruin talking to them, both as a vision and in their head. However, we learn in the Hero of Ages that Ruin cannot hear a person's thoughts no matter how much under Ruin's influence they are.

In Alloy of Law, we see that Wax (and other Pathians) uses an earring to "pray" to Harmony, and we see that Harmony can hear his thoughts and respond.

So I guess this leads to three questions:

1. How does Harmony hear the thoughts of Wax, when it's explicitly pointed put that Ruin cannot?

2. Are the earrings that the Pathians use Hemalurgicly charged, as otherwise they would be of no use to Ruin, and therefore Harmony?

3. Or did Harmony completely change how that aspect of Hemalugy works?

BRANDON SANDERSON ()

How this all works dates back to the original design of the Magic system.

I wanted Ruin and Preservation to be complimentary opposites, like many things in the Mistborn world. Allomancy, for example, has Pushes and Pulls were are less "negate one another" opposites, but instead two sides to the same proverbial coin.

Ruin is invasive. The power is more "Yell" than "Listen." The philosopher would probably have some interesting things to say about the masculine symbolism of Hemalurgy and its spikes.

Ruin can insert thoughts. That power, however, can't HEAR the reactions. It's about invasion.

Preservation, however, is the opposite. Preservation listens, Preservation protects. (Perhaps to a fault—if there were no Ruin, there would be no change to the world, and life could not exist.) Because of this, Preservation can hear what is inside people's minds. It cannot, however, INSERT thoughts. (This is important to the plot of Hero of Ages.)

Harmony is both, the two complimentary opposites combined. And so, he inserts thoughts with Ruin and still uses Hemalurgy. He can also listen.

Yes, Wax's earring is Invested. (Or, in other terms, it's a Hemalurgic spike.)

 

Source: http://www.theoryland.com/intvmain.php?i=723#13

[luckat]

Have not yet found the WoB that it's specifically a bit of a spike, but here's a WoB that it is hemalurgic.

I don't think we have that WoB verbatim, but apparently he wrote about it in someone's book.

 

haha, that was me that asked about the earring. he wrote some more information about it in the book, apparently Inquisitor spikes got melted down and reforged to make earrings.

I asked Brandon at his signing in Vancouver today what metal the earring is made of, he wouldn't tell me that, but he DID confirm that it has a slight hemalurgic charge. Also, it seems that a lot of Pathians may have hemalurgic earrings, if not all of them, as they apparently melted down Inquisitor spikes to make earrings.

[Moogle]

Did you ever find this WoB?

 

After rereading AoL I was beginning to wonder if the earring was Hemalurgic at all.  I say that because it seemed like Preservation had the ability to communicate with people without them needing to be spiked in HoA because Vin was able to kind of communicate with Elend, and I believe there were other instances of that happening with the use of Preservation's power.  I kind of assumed that since Sazed held both Ruin and Preservation that he may just be able to communicate with people and that the earring is just a symbol because of Vin.  But idk, tbh.  haha

 

Preservation, in general, cannot communicate into the minds of men. By WoB, Preservation listens, Ruin speaks.

 

The situation with Elend (and with Preservation!Kelsier) is that they had strong bonds with the people they were speaking to, I think. That is speculation, however.

[Ookla the Absent]

I strongly suspect (read: am almost certain) that the amount of hemalurgic charge in the earring is effectively 0 for the purposes of using powers. The purpose is so that Harmony (acting as Ruin) can occasionally communicate.