Theory: Bloody Tan's Nature

[Kairos]

So, in the second chapter of Shadows of Self, Wax thinks he sees Bloody Tan. This stood out to me. We know there's something fishy about him, but as far as I can tell, no one figured it out yet. I decided to give it a shot.

I was discussing this with a non-sharder friend, and he suggested that Tan could have been Koloss-blooded. I initially dismissed that as impossible, but it got me thinking. What if Tan wasn't human? If you recall, his layer from AoL was filled with skeletons. What uses skeletons? Kandra. And thus I posit my theory: Bloody Tan was a Kandra, and faked his own death.

[Kaymyth]

So, in the second chapter of Shadows of Self, Wax thinks he sees Bloody Tan. This stood out to me. We know there's something fishy about him, but as far as I can tell, no one figured it out yet. I decided to give it a shot.

I was discussing this with a non-sharder friend, and he suggested that Tan could have been Koloss-blooded. I initially dismissed that as impossible, but it got me thinking. What if Tan wasn't human? If you recall, his layer from AoL was filled with skeletons. What uses skeletons? Kandra. And thus I posit my theory: Bloody Tan was a Kandra, and faked his own death.

 

Alternatively:  Whatever caused Wax to think he saw Bloody Tan is the same thing that is causing that Steelrunner to think she's seeing her dead brother.  Maybe a kandra, but it seems more likely something related to whatever force was manipulating Miles.

[Curious Anamaximder]

My personal opinion on Bloody Tan in SoS is that Wax could be going mad or he is spiked. 

[Kurkistan]

I feel like I should have seen some variant on "Tan was a kandra the whole time" before, but I can't recall it, and the idea of him being a rogue kandra does allow a pretty easy explanation for any resurrection. The Blessings would also make him susceptible to influence by non-Harmony forces (if there are any of note) looking to drive someone insane.

[Kairos]

Alternatively: Whatever caused Wax to think he saw Bloody Tan is the same thing that is causing that Steelrunner to think she's seeing her dead brother. Maybe a kandra, but it seems more likely something related to whatever force was manipulating Miles.

You're right, in that instance it doesn't look like a Kandra, but to me, the skeletons line up far too nicely for it to not be a Kandra. Going off what Kurkistan said, if there is a Rogue Kandra out there, it's a good possibility something is controlling it, some shardic power, which combined with Hemalurgy would make the power the cause of the Steelrunner's visions.

The only problem is a meta-analysis one, where in something that Sanderson didn't intend to be a major episode in the over-arching Mistborn saga is there room for a shardic power of that level?

[+tabitreader]

Bloody Tan cannot have Hemalurgic powers from spiking people and then spiking himself.  I recall quite clearly that the most difficult thing about that "messy" art is the precision of the placement of the spike into the spiritual web.  Unless Harmony guided Marsh's hands to place the spike(s) perfectly, then it's botched surely just as the Lord Ruler experimented with Hemalurgy for 1000 years and never made any advances.

 

Bloody Tan is described as having a small frame with gentle hands, so he cannot have the Koloss blood that was earlier mentioned.

 

Bloody Tan cannot have Atium because the Lord Ruler's old bracers are most likely in Marsh's forearms at the time of this posting, about 2 weeks prior to Shadows of Self release. (So excited!!)

 

Bloody Tan was delighted to tell Wax about him seeing the "nails" in (presumably) Marsh's eyes and he describes there are forces "moving us." Harmony, duh.

 

Simplest scheme:  Harmony knows about Wax and Lessie's 1-2-3 head shot routine, he sends ol' Iron Eyes (Marsh) to Bloody Tan at some point and explains how it's all done. Or has 1 of the 2 known Kandra to study up and play Bloody Tan making sure that Wax returns to Elendel to work on bigger projects.  Either of the 2 ways, Harmony has taken a great interest in Wax n Wayne and Harmony is allowed to help both sides, remember the firearms trunk that was teleported when Wax asked and was told he cannot meddle too much, well, if he can help Wax, he can hurt Lessie for the greater good.  

 

I'm brand new here and not sure how to censor a sentence on here, so I leave it up to a moderator to censor this suspected spoiler:

 

"I believe that Harmony cannot hold the powers much longer and he is grooming Wax to take his place at the end of the 4th book The Lost Metal."

 

Please discuss.  With 2 Mistborn books coming out so close together, I am ecstatic for intrigue and speculation into Brandon's plan for Scadrial.  Especially the Southern Peoples of Scadrial.

[natc]

Besides risk of personality corruption from the shards (which seems to have already started quite a while ago. Sazed, not meddling? Surely you jest!) I don't think there's much reason that he can't hold it indefinitely. Ati and Leras lasted Adonalsium knows how long, and Sazed's only had 300 years.

[Kaymyth]

Besides risk of personality corruption from the shards (which seems to have already started quite a while ago. Sazed, not meddling? Surely you jest!) I don't think there's much reason that he can't hold it indefinitely. Ati and Leras lasted Adonalsium knows how long, and Sazed's only had 300 years.

 

And arguably, holding a Shard with opposing intents would actually provide some insulation for the personality corruption.  Save for the hands-off stasis effect, they mostly cancel each other out.

[Moogle]

And arguably, holding a Shard with opposing intents would actually provide some insulation for the personality corruption.  Save for the hands-off stasis effect, they mostly cancel each other out.

 

They don't cancel out. There's a WoB floating around which I can't find which notes that both ruin and preservation are important to Sazed/he considers them both important in people's lives. If someone could provide it, I'd appreciate it!

[WeiryWriter]

They don't cancel out. There's a WoB floating around which I can't find which notes that both ruin and preservation are important to Sazed/he considers them both important in people's lives. If someone could provide it, I'd appreciate it!

 

Is this what you are looking for?

 

 

[Reddit - Jul 14-17, 2015]

 

zotsandcrambles

 

You've mentioned that a person's personality eventually erodes and is replaced by the will of the shard they hold. Besides Harmony, are there any Shards holders that are still actively and significantly defying the intent of their shard?

 

Brandon Sanderson

 

Yes.

 

Kellsier

 

Is Harmony ([sazed], for instance) actively trying to fight against it's shard intent?

 

Brandon Sanderson

 

Its intent(s) match Sazed very well, actually, and he has the philosophy that these natural powers are best minded and not dominated. So while he pushes back against the inaction holding both of them has caused, he appreciates and understands the need for both. I'd say he has less "push back" than some others.

[Kaymyth]

They don't cancel out. There's a WoB floating around which I can't find which notes that both ruin and preservation are important to Sazed/he considers them both important in people's lives. If someone could provide it, I'd appreciate it!

 

I meant more in an 'overwhelming the original personality' way rather than a Shardic intent way.  Basically, that Sazed may have a little bit more wiggle room in keeping his core self intact, each Shard trying to pull in a different direction, with himself balanced in the middle.

 

But, I absolutely could be wrong, which is why I qualified it with 'arguably'. 

 

EDIT:  Yeh, I didn't quite get it right.  I was in the same ZIP code, at least, but on the woefully wrong street.

Edited September 26, 2015 by Kaymyth

[Kairos]

Bloody Tan cannot have Hemalurgic powers from spiking people and then spiking himself.  I recall quite clearly that the most difficult thing about that "messy" art is the precision of the placement of the spike into the spiritual web.  Unless Harmony guided Marsh's hands to place the spike(s) perfectly, then it's botched surely just as the Lord Ruler experimented with Hemalurgy for 1000 years and never made any advances.

 

Bloody Tan is described as having a small frame with gentle hands, so he cannot have the Koloss blood that was earlier mentioned.

 

Bloody Tan cannot have Atium because the Lord Ruler's old bracers are most likely in Marsh's forearms at the time of this posting, about 2 weeks prior to Shadows of Self release. (So excited!!)

 

Bloody Tan was delighted to tell Wax about him seeing the "nails" in (presumably) Marsh's eyes and he describes there are forces "moving us." Harmony, duh.

 

Simplest scheme:  Harmony knows about Wax and Lessie's 1-2-3 head shot routine, he sends ol' Iron Eyes (Marsh) to Bloody Tan at some point and explains how it's all done. Or has 1 of the 2 known Kandra to study up and play Bloody Tan making sure that Wax returns to Elendel to work on bigger projects.  Either of the 2 ways, Harmony has taken a great interest in Wax n Wayne and Harmony is allowed to help both sides, remember the firearms trunk that was teleported when Wax asked and was told he cannot meddle too much, well, if he can help Wax, he can hurt Lessie for the greater good.  

 

I'm brand new here and not sure how to censor a sentence on here, so I leave it up to a moderator to censor this suspected spoiler:

 

"I believe that Harmony cannot hold the powers much longer and he is grooming Wax to take his place at the end of the 4th book The Lost Metal."

 

Please discuss.  With 2 Mistborn books coming out so close together, I am ecstatic for intrigue and speculation into Brandon's plan for Scadrial.  Especially the Southern Peoples of Scadrial.

 

First, I think it is possible for him to spike himself, especially as a Kandra. However, that is a good point, it does seem to indicate he's working with someone at least.

 

Right, I don't think he's got Koloss blood.

 

Probably no atium either, though I'm curious as to why you think Marsh has the bracers. I thought Hoid had them. 

 

Not necessarily,  I don't think Harmony was influencing him. 

 

Okay, that makes sense, but it just seems....wrong. I don't think Sazed would do that. Personally, I think my theory make more sense with the characters. 

 

Glad you joined up. For future use, you make spoilers by doing this without spaces: then whatever you want to hide. [/ s poile r]  

 

I don't think that's the case, it doesn't seem likely, Sazed has barely held the Shards for any significant length at all. 

 

Join the club, I'm pretty excited too, two this close is pretty awesome. 

 

Edit: Also, an alternate explanation for the steelrunner just hit me. She could be Bloody Tan. In other words, if he's a kandra, he could have killed her via hemalurgy, stole her powers, and taken her form to spread more chaos. It would also explain his crazy reflexes in AoL. 

Edited September 27, 2015 by Kairos

[natc]

Simce Bands of Mourning will eventually be released, I'd imagine the bracers will probably be somewhere actually reachable. So for once, probably not Hoid's fault.

Not that Marsh would need them either. They were sold off right after TFE.

[Malim]

 

First, I think it is possible for him to spike himself, especially as a Kandra. However, that is a good point, it does seem to indicate he's working with someone at least.

 

It is quite possible.  Ten-Soon did just that when he stole Ore-Seur's blessing.

[Kairos]

It is quite possible. Ten-Soon did just that when he stole Ore-Seur's blessing.

That's true, I completely forgot about that, it's a good precedent.

On a side note, does someone with more knowledge of Hemalurgy than me know if bind points work differently for Kandra?

[Kaymyth]

That's true, I completely forgot about that, it's a good precedent.

On a side note, does someone with more knowledge of Hemalurgy than me know if bind points work differently for Kandra?

 

Given that their anatomy is completely different from a human's, I imagine it'd have to.

[Kairos]

Okay, on Kandra Hemalurgy, I found two quotes. Here is the most relevant:

If a Kandra eats a bead of Larasium, can he burn it? Alternatively can he gain allomancy via hemalurgy?

BRANDON SANDERSON

Yes on both counts.

I wasn't sure if Kandra could gain powers, but apparently they can, which lend credence to my theory.

[natc]

They don't have much anatomy to speak of really. Though I recall when TenSoon escaped and retrieved OreSeur's spikes, he deconstructed some of his wolfhound organs so that he can reform them in an impaled state.

Wonder how the bind points work for a mass of amorphous muscles . . .

[Ascendant Warrior]

There's a WoB that's currently escaping me that kandra are able to move their bindpoints to the spikes, rather than having to place the spikes in the correct position. If anyone can find it, that would be great.

[Kairos]

There's a WoB that's currently escaping me that kandra are able to move their bindpoints to the spikes, rather than having to place the spikes in the correct position. If anyone can find it, that would be great.

Edit: Nevermind, found it.

2. Yes. And that would work, better than you think, because Kandra have fluid bind points. But too many spikes can be dangerous to the psyche, even with Ati not messing things up.

Edited September 28, 2015 by Kairos

[Kairos]

Revelation time chapter 6.

I'm storming right. Hemalurgic kill. It's got to be Tan, who I'm more and more convinced is a Kandra. Poor Idawashy, she never had a chance.

Also, how can you hope to fight a Steelrunner Kandra?

[Argent]

Also, how can you hope to fight a Steelrunner Kandra?

 

Oh, come on, it's got to be practically trivial for a kandra to assassinate someone. A moderately skilled one should be able to impersonate somebody the victim will trust for a few seconds - and it doesn't have to be a good disguise either, the kandra would only need a few moments. Even a regular ambush might work.

[Michael Portz]

Oh, come on, it's got to be practically trivial for a kandra to assassinate someone. A moderately skilled one should be able to impersonate somebody the victim will trust for a few seconds - and it doesn't have to be a good disguise either, the kandra would only need a few moments. Even a regular ambush might work.

 

@Argent: Yeah, but you weren't answering Kairos question, or?

 

Also, how can you hope to fight a Steelrunner Kandra?

 

[Argent]

I... don't know. I think I was answering a "how would a kandra fight a Steelrunner" kind of question, which now that I am using my actual eyes to read, is not the case. =\

[Baine]

I just posted this in the SoS Chapter 6 discussion, but I think it's relevant:

 

 Remember the earrings that the followers of Harmony put in when they pray? I'm pretty sure that it has a slight Hemalurgic charge that allows Harmony to communicate with them.

 

Wax has his earring, so the question is, was he wearing his Hemalurgic earring when he saw Bloody Tan? Perhaps someone is hijacking Harmony's Earrings and making Wax see things like Ruin did to Vin.