tecslicer Posted May 9, 2013 Report Share Posted May 9, 2013 So, I have a knadra in one of my Mistborn adventures and he is currently ingesting a smoker with some tattoos. It got me wondering, are there references to tattoos in the books? Would a kandra be able to mimic tattoos correctly (I suspect yes, since they can obviously correctly mimic birth marks/scars.) Would they be able to shift the ink around to form new tattoos? Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
makromag Posted May 9, 2013 Report Share Posted May 9, 2013 That's actually a very interesting question. I believe a kandra would'nt be able to use the actual ink used to create the tatoo, because it is not a natural bodily fluid, instead they could change the pigmintation of their skin to form the tatoo.That's completely hypothetical though, so take it with a grain of salt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Monstrosity Posted May 9, 2013 Report Share Posted May 9, 2013 Well, kandra can't make hair. I think they could maybe sandwich themselves around a thin layer of the original skin, and gradually transfer the tattoo by slowly dissolving it. It'd probably take quite a long time, and blur it a little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Senor Feesh Posted May 9, 2013 Report Share Posted May 9, 2013 This really depends on how much control kandra have over the pigmentation of their skin when mimicking someone. Obviously they need to be able to form a range of skin tones to be able to do what they do, but I don't think colours that don't naturally occur in the body have been covered. As a secondary but possibly relevant point, what else can a kandra mimic? Dogs certainly. Could they mimic a reptile? A koloss? If so, they'd need to be able to create the right skin colours here too. In the case of the Rpg, I would personally set the tattoo as some kind of skill challenge, with the difficulty dependent on the complexity of the tattoo and how much time the character had to study them first (or simply include this as part of the mimicry roll anyway). It's not an obligator you're mimicking by anny chance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voidus Posted May 9, 2013 Report Share Posted May 9, 2013 Well they can presumably mimic any eye-colour pigmentation so I'd say almost certainly yes, they would be able to mimic a tattoo, whether or not most of them would know how is entirely different, probably need TenSoon level body awareness for something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king of nowhere Posted May 9, 2013 Report Share Posted May 9, 2013 i'd think the kandra would not be able to reproduce the pigmentation, but could use the one from the ingested body, just like he uses bones. some natural colors he may be able to reproduce, but not all colors. I think a particularly skilled kandra, like tensoon, may also be able to rearrange the pigments to produce a different tattoo, but it'd take lots of skill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phantom Monstrosity Posted May 13, 2013 Report Share Posted May 13, 2013 Okay, I turned this up http://brandonsanderson.com/article/93/Tweets-November-14-16-2011 CorbyCampbell Mon Nov 14 @BrandSanderson #torchat 'IronEyes' at the end of AoL is actually Marsh? It could be any kandra could it not? BrandSanderson Mon Nov 14 @CorbyCampbell It could be a kandra, but I will tell you specifically that this time it is not. It is him. #torchat Marsh has tattoos, so if a kandra can fake him convincingly, they should be able to fake tattoos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Windrunner Posted May 13, 2013 Report Share Posted May 13, 2013 I don't think that you'd need to use the actual tattoo or ink itself. Since kandra are able to mimic things like, freckles, birthmarks, and skin tone, it seems to me that mimicking a tattoo wouldn't be too much trouble. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nihilum Posted May 13, 2013 Report Share Posted May 13, 2013 The kandra, if they could mimic a tattoo , would have to alter the pigment in their own skin. Tattoo ink does not stay liquid in the skin, it cures and stains the skin and scar tissue. The possiblity of mimicing a tattoo would depend greatly on what the tattoo actually is. As for the tattoos of an obligator or Inquisitor, if the mimic is possible it would be easy. The way they are discribed in the book, the ministry tattoos are tribal-like. This means they are lines or shapes that are filled in with color...usually black or red. Now rendering a tattoo that contains a great amount of detail, may prove to be impossible...or at least take an excessive amount of time to reproduce. A tattoo is nothing more than a scar, but it's not like a scar from a normal wound. Tattoos that contain graduated shading, or really fine detail, would be exceptionally dificult to reproduce as the scars intertwine, leaving no definite pattern to mimic. It would probably turn out like a blob of muttled color. As an expample...I actually have tribal flames tattooed on my right forearm. It would be easy to reproduce for a kandra, as it is solid black in the shape of flames. On the other hand, I have a tattoo on my left forearm, from wrist to elbow, that is full of minute details and lots of graduated shading. This would be more difficult to mimic as it blends colors and contains swirls...which means the lines in the scar itself are intertwined so there is no definite pattern to mimic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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