Hoid (probably) has Gold Feruchemy

[Kurkistan he/him]

So Brandon's been answering some questions on reddit (with more to come in the form of a video, apparently), and has said this:

 

Source:

woodchuck_vomit:

Does "Alethi" come from or have anything to do with the Greek word for truth or is that just a coincidence?

less serious: does Hoid have all of his fingers

mistborn:

Alethi is a coincidence. However, it is the sort of coincidence that happens a lot for me in languages, as I often look for a "feel" for a language. Alethi, for example, is a semitic language mashup with some Mediterranean influence. So I'm not surprised if it means something in the right languages. (I did this with Straff and Elend from Mistborn, looking for Germanic-sounding words and accidentally using two words from German.)

Hoid has had fingers chopped off on occasion. I doubt he's kept them around after the new ones grow in.

 

We know that he uses Feruchemy to be around at "important events", but this suggests that he's a full Feruchemist, rather than just a Ferring.

 

Of course, Hoid could be using another magic system to heal himself, but this is still rather strong evidence for Feruchemical gold.

Edited September 1, 2013 by Kurkistan

[WeiryWriter he/him]

Hmm... very interesting.  I don't know if I want it to be true though since it is one of my pet theories that Hoid uses feruchemy the "mechanical" way.  Then again I don't see why that couldn't be used to regrow body parts, much like a Regrowth fabrial.

[Windrunner he/him]

Alternate theory, Hoid's secret dragon nature allows him to regrow limbs like his relative, the salamander.

[DocHoliday he/him]

S.O.B.  where did he lose fingers? He does/did have Lerasium, and theoretically he "knows what he's doing". Maybe he is a full fledged Feruchemist.

[Pechvarry]

We have WoB that he uses feruchemy. We're still not sure how much.

Personally, I don't think he bothers using gold.

[Moogle]

Could be possible he's made a Lerasium metalmind, and it lets him use Gold without the rather huge drawback. I'm not aware of the properties of lerasium alloys beyond the that they can make Mistings if alloyed.

[Miyabi She/Her]

I doubt that considering he only has a single bead of Lerasium. I would imagine he would use it for something more important. Though we don't actually know what can be stored in Lerasium through Feruchemy so you could be right, but I don't think it's very plausible.

[Moogle]

Well, the Lord Ruler's bracers weren't pure atium. It does seem a waste, though. Still, you can separate alloys.

[Shardlet he/him]

Parting out metals from alloys is almost always very difficult.  And usually destructive in the sense that at least one species is no longer in metallic form (e.g., dissolved by acid).  Most alloys get trickier than that when separating because most metals are reactive to commonly used acids.  Gold is one of the easier to separate out because gold id non-reactive to most acids.  I suspect TLR's bracer were not alloyed with atium, but rather served as mountings for the atium.

[Kadrok she/her]

Honestly I am convinced that Hoid is a full Feruchemist, so this is unsurprising to me. A good piece of evidence to confirm my position though, as Kurk notes.

 

As for the mechanical way of using the metallic arts, I wonder if it is more or less effective than the Northern way...

[Moogle]

As for the mechanical way of using the metallic arts, I wonder if it is more or less effective than the Northern way...

 

Almost certainly more effective and useful, though likely not in the same areas. You get easy "mag-lev" trains with the ability to push metals (and hovercraft, and jetpacks, and better guns...). It's incredibly likely that machines can control metals much more precisely than Allomancers. I'm not sure if they can replicate Feruchemy? There's also probably no limit to the amount of metal they can consume (if there is, just hook two machines up together), and so they're probably stronger. That said, a full Mistborn is likely much more useful at assassination and a lot of things only humans can do.

 

If Scadrial ever develops robots/artifical intelligence though, the Northerners better watch out.

 

... Suddenly I am super excited for the third Mistborn trilogy.

Edited September 10, 2013 by Moogle

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

Was thinking about this yesterday. If we believe Hoid has full Allomantic powers, then I think he's probably been using his Soothing/Rioting powers on people. Like the reason he was able to have Elokhar keep him around. Maybe he was 'rioting' Kaladin's curiosity when he was playing the flute and was talking to him?

[Shardlet he/him]

Although Hoid took a bead of lerasium, the epigraph leter in TWoK seems to indicate that he has not burned it to become an allomancer.

[Kadrok she/her]

I wouldn't be surprised if he was already an Allomancer, and thus didn't need the bead.

[Moogle]

Although Hoid took a bead of lerasium, the epigraph leter in TWoK seems to indicate that he has not burned it to become an allomancer.

 

I'm honestly not sure about this.

 

Let me first assure you that the element is quite safe. I have found a good home for it. I protect its safety like I protect my own skin, you might say.

 

I can imagine quite a few interpretations of this.

• Hoid burned the lerasium to become an Allomancer. He is now the 'home' of it, and by protecting himself he protects it.
• Hoid is using it, or an alloy of it, as a metalmind. By wearing it, is protecting it like he protects his own skin.
• Hoid is keeping the lerasium on him, and not actually doing anything with it.
• Hoid has actually just stashed it somewhere safe, maybe not even on Roshar.

There's quite a few more, but you get my point. The passage is incredibly vague, and finding a 'home' for it just confuses the heck out of me, because I doubt he'd let it out of his sight. I don't believe he's burned it to become an Allomancer, but it is definitely not ruled out. It seems a waste of the potential of it, but if Hoid did become an Allomancer, he'd be another Lord Ruler, so it's definitely not the worst option.

 

Really, I'm just trying to convey my vast sense of confusion here. Hoid does that to me.

[Gamma Fiend he/him]

I think he may have possibly already had Allomancy powers and is using the Lerasium for feruchemy possibly? Like the atium bracers TLR used in his arms?

[Galavantes]

My theory is that Hoid can actually use all of the cosmere powers. Due to the fact that he is a human created by Andolsium before being shattered. We know he can use at least some feruchemy, and we know he has a breathe. Throw in lightweaving and we have 3 totally seperate magic systems. I see no reason that it should stop there.

[Serial]

My theory is that Hoid can actually use all of the cosmere powers. Due to the fact that he is a human created by Andolsium before being shattered. We know he can use at least some feruchemy, and we know he has a breathe. Throw in lightweaving and we have 3 totally seperate magic systems. I see no reason that it should stop there.

 

I'm not sure if ALL powers is correct or not.  I don't think he could use the powers in Elantris, though I suppose he may have been able to use them but just didn't.  I do think he can use, at least, most of the powers though.

Edited September 16, 2013 by Serial

[happyman he/him]

I'm not sure if ALL powers is correct or not.  I don't think he could use the powers in Elantris, though I suppose he may have been able to use them but just didn't.  I do think he can use, at least, most of the powers though.

 

My guess is that he probably has a way of making even Elantrian-style magic work.  Or, if not that, he has access to magics which can duplicate most things Selian-magics can do.

[Chaos he/him]

Oh, tee hee, good catch. Though... hmmm.

No, I shouldn't say anything. I shall simply say " " and leave it that for you to stew on.

[Kurkistan he/him]

Oh, tee hee, good catch. Though... hmmm.

No, I shouldn't say anything. I shall simply say " " and leave it that for you to stew on.

 

Can I at least ask who that is directed towards? 

Edited September 17, 2013 by Kurkistan

[Unknowingly he/him]

How do we know that Hoid has lost fingers in the first place?

[WeiryWriter he/him]

How do we know that Hoid has lost fingers in the first place?

 

It's explained in the quote in the OP.

[killersquirrel59 he/him]

If he has access to most forms of magic in the cosmere and knows about them, could he be soulstamping himself to have different powers when he needs them? He needs to be an Allomancer for  a bit? Maybe 5 years ago he did take that bead of Lerasium in this stamped reality. Then let that stamp break and he's back to normal. If he's already a Feruchemist as confirmed by Brandon, he doesn't need to soulstamp for that (and couldn't anyway since it's genetic), but he could gain many other traits through soulstamping as long as he knew they existed and how they were acquired. He couldn't gain AonDor as that appears to be tied to that region, but could likely gain ChayShan or the bone bending power of Dakhor as both of those appear to simply be trained. He could certainly gain Breath from a soulstamp, simply adjusting his life to being one where he acquired extra Breaths and learned Endowment.

[Voidus]

If he has access to most forms of magic in the cosmere and knows about them, could he be soulstamping himself to have different powers when he needs them? He needs to be an Allomancer for  a bit? Maybe 5 years ago he did take that bead of Lerasium in this stamped reality. Then let that stamp break and he's back to normal. If he's already a Feruchemist as confirmed by Brandon, he doesn't need to soulstamp for that (and couldn't anyway since it's genetic), but he could gain many other traits through soulstamping as long as he knew they existed and how they were acquired. He couldn't gain AonDor as that appears to be tied to that region, but could likely gain ChayShan or the bone bending power of Dakhor as both of those appear to simply be trained. He could certainly gain Breath from a soulstamp, simply adjusting his life to being one where he acquired extra Breaths and learned Endowment.

We still don't know that Soulstamps could give new forms of Investiture, particularly since Brandon has recently revealed that Feruchemical gold couldn't heal allomancy that's been Hemalurgically stolen.