The Bands of Mourning Chapter 2 Discussion.

[Curiosity he/him]

Has anyone considered that this kandra is worried about Harmony falling apart? What if he's asking about Investiture and Identity because the Shards are warping Sazed's Identity? What if Paalm's death is causing him to realize that there are conflicts between his original goals? What if he is realizing that humanity isn't what he thought they were ("You should have had the radio a century ago")? What if he loses control of Ruin and Preservation?

 

Don't be Discord, Saze. Harmony, no.

[Kadrok she/her]

Not sure if you could Compound stolen Identity and make yourself permanent aluminumminds to keep this up forever... I am inclined to say that Compounding aluminum should be possible, but WoBs always RAFO it.

Weird. Why wouldn't it be possible given how Compounding works (reprogram the metal to key into a different power).

 

 

I call those 'renewable' attributes (weight, speed, probably warmth, determination, etc.) I actually think that aluminum stores a depletable attribute (such as memories, investiture, etc.)

Ooooh, good terminology. I'm going to steal that. Though is Investiture really a depletable attribute? What are you going off? Based on MAG it isn't.

 

Edited December 15, 2015 by Kadrok

[baby he/him]

We just got a WoB in the Orem signing that Investiture is a finite resource, if that's what that was pertaining to. 

 

[01:04:44]

chasmfriend’s son: Is there a finite amount of Investiture?

Brandon: Yes.

 

EDIT: here it is

Edited December 15, 2015 by Once-ler

[Moogle]

Weird. Why wouldn't it be possible given how Compounding works (reprogram the metal to key into a different power).

 

It's mainly Kurk who put forth the theory, but the proposed theory is that you need to burn a metal Allomantically for a split second before you can burn it and get Feruchemical attribute out. This makes your aluminummind disappear before you can Compound it.

 

I'm also a little uncertain myself that it'll work straightforwardly because of how aluminum has weird effects in magic systems, even though I don't agree with Kurk's theory.

 

Edit: Kurk posted the WoB here.

Edited December 15, 2015 by Moogle

[Kadrok she/her]

Ah! Thank you both! Have upvotes. Sorry if I seem behind, I haven't been coming here as frequently as I used to, so I'm behind on WoBs.

[SmurfAquamarineBodies he/him]

I was under the impression that it was not Harmony who wanted them, but a "kandra researcher". Given Harmony is distracted, I'm feeling reasonably confident this is happening due to the kandra's own initiative.

 

Ah. Interesting.

[DSC01 he/him]

There's a WoB somewhere that says that Compounding aluminum wouldn't do much of anything, if I recall correctly. So however Identity works, Compounding isn't very useful in relationship to its use. 

[Kadrok she/her]

There's a WoB somewhere that says that Compounding aluminum wouldn't do much of anything, if I recall correctly. So however Identity works, Compounding isn't very useful in relationship to its use. 

Oooooh. Interesting. Source?

[baby he/him]

INTERVIEW: Sep, 2012

Cosmere Q&A - 17th Shard (Verbatim)

FIREARCADIA

Is there any use to being a Copper compounder, from a feruchemical point of view? I think the same point would also apply to an Aluminium compounder.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Some combinations, like some abilities themselves, aren't really that useful. That said, being able to compound copper...that could do some things. Aluminum, not so much.

This was three years ago, so maybe things might have changed though.

Edited December 15, 2015 by Once-ler

[Kaymyth she/her]

Loved Wayne in disguise as Gordon Ramsay.

 

Really, I think we can just shorten this to, "Loved Wayne." 

 

I suspect that he wasn't really convinced. Wayne isn't above telling someone what they want to hear to avoid a discussion he doesn't want to have.

He's often able to make things go his way by just pretending that they are as he wants them (via his various disguises), and I think he extends that to parts of his life that aren't going to change. I thought it was very interesting to find out that Wayne isn't as clueless about Ranette as we had previously thought. But he wants Ranette to love him, so he pretends that she's always on the verge of coming around, even though he's known for years that it's just not going to happen.

So when Marasi tells him he needs to move on, bringing up a very good reason that his pretending that he's going to win her over is indeed just pretending (that she had a girlfriend), he goes along with it. He doesn't want to talk about it.

That's my take, anyway.

 

I don't know, I think this is showing us a hint of character growth (finally!)  I think it makes sense in context; there was definitely a hint of MeLaan finding him interesting in SoS.  It might be that this rang a few bells in the back of Wayne's head to make him actually start thinking in terms of, "Oh, hey, there actually might be some chicks out there who would actually dig me?"  It's easy to stay hung up on someone forever if you don't believe you have any other prospects.

[Moogle]

 

INTERVIEW: Sep, 2012

Cosmere Q&A - 17th Shard (Verbatim)

FIREARCADIA

Is there any use to being a Copper compounder, from a feruchemical point of view? I think the same point would also apply to an Aluminium compounder.

BRANDON SANDERSON

Some combinations, like some abilities themselves, aren't really that useful. That said, being able to compound copper...that could do some things. Aluminum, not so much.

This was three years ago, so maybe things might have changed though.

 

I'm curious about this WoB - it came out after AoL, so was he thinking specifically of a Double Aluminum Twinborn when he said this? It's not quite the same thing as saying that Compounding identity is not very useful if he was thinking specifically of Twinborn interactions.

 

I had forgotten about it in any case, so I'll have to revise the chances of the Bands being aluminumminds down a bit.

[Landis963 he/him]

The mention of identity makes me think that whatever the Bands are, they may actually be useable (their owner being centuries dead and all). I don't see how whatever's stored in them could be worth significant effort though.

 

The atiumminds alone are priceless, regardless of their contents.  The rest... in this world of ferrings, I can agree.  Even the ironmind doesn't seem quite worth it, not for Wax anyway (his power comes from storing weight, not just tapping), and the goldmind, while a bit fuller than Wayne is used to, doesn't seem much to write home about (we can basically assume that all his metalminds were basically full because Compounding).  Unless hacking Identity allows one to tap someone else's preexisting metalminds but not store in them, in which case the copper and zincminds become priceless, perhaps even more priceless than the atiumminds.  (Can you imagine, the stored memories of the Lord Ruler himself?  It'd be a dramatic insight onto Pre-Catacendre history, both before and after the Lord Ruler's Ascension.)

[hypatia she/her]

Wayne in this chapter reminds me of a son who tries to destroy the new marriage of his father.

Since SoS I was asking myself, what he is hiding behind his proclaimed "love" to Ranette - now there's a possible answer: He don't want to move on.

Not from Ranette, from Wax.

Since 15 years he has wraped his life around Wax and neither Lassie nor Ranette were threaten him to build a life of his own.

With Maresi Wayne sees a way to remain in the old relationship, but in Steris he is sensing a possible danger to force him to move on.

I don't buy he was trying to prevent the wedding because of Wax, he is doing it because of himself.

Now I hope Maresi will be able to convince him to let go and he isn't about to do something really stupid...like trying to kill Steris....

Perhaps he's right and Wax will figure out he was behind this sabotage - but it will backfire in favour of Steris.

[Voidus]

No one wants to discuss Steris name-dropping the cosmere?

[DreamEternal]

No one wants to discuss Steris name-dropping the cosmere?

Why should we? It is just like saying "Universe". Brandon just "translated" it as part of his plan to slowly bring the cosmere connections to the main plot.

[Stormgate he/him]

Wayne in this chapter reminds me of a son who tries to destroy the new marriage of his father.

Since SoS I was asking myself, what he is hiding behind his proclaimed "love" to Ranette - now there's a possible answer: He don't want to move on.

Not from Ranette, from Wax.

Since 15 years he has wraped his life around Wax and neither Lassie nor Ranette were threaten him to build a life of his own.

With Maresi Wayne sees a way to remain in the old relationship, but in Steris he is sensing a possible danger to force him to move on.

I don't buy he was trying to prevent the wedding because of Wax, he is doing it because of himself.

Now I hope Maresi will be able to convince him to let go and he isn't about to do something really stupid...like trying to kill Steris....

Perhaps he's right and Wax will figure out he was behind this sabotage - but it will backfire in favour of Steris.

You just made Wayne give me the feels. I hope you're happy.

[Noblehunter]

Two extropolations from the Kandra approaching Wax right before the wedding: he was under a time constraint that prevented required him to show up then and pursue the faint hope that Wax would help OR the kandra was ordered to to approach Wax but actually didn't want him on the job so picked a terrible time to ask. Then when Wax refused he could go to his real choice: Marasi.

[Zea mays she/her]

Wayne in this chapter reminds me of a son who tries to destroy the new marriage of his father.

Since SoS I was asking myself, what he is hiding behind his proclaimed "love" to Ranette - now there's a possible answer: He don't want to move on.

Not from Ranette, from Wax.

...

...

Perhaps he's right and Wax will figure out he was behind this sabotage - but it will backfire in favour of Steris.

I rather agree with your assessment of Wayne. I also think he is rather under-estimating Wax's reaction to his "prank". Wax will figure it out, and I expect him to get seriously pissed at Wayne, and at least kick him out of his house. (they will, of course, eventually reconcile, either by the end of this book or the next one)

 

I am now more convinced that Wax was under some kind of emotional allomancy when walking towards the altar, and I suspect the person who organized that is

Steris herself. By now she has come to  care about Wax, and admires his character. She believes he is only going along with the marriage because of obligations to his house, and that a love-less marriage will make them both miserable in the long run. Knowing that any kind of accident and outside sabotage will only make him more determined to go through with it, she wanted Wax to decide to cancel the marriage himself. 

[hypatia she/her]

@ Stormgate

Yes, rather...

@ Zea Mays

No doubt they will reconcile (if Wayne really won't do something stupid..).

On the other hand - at the moment Wax isn't on Steris side to 100% (perhaps 70 - 90%), but with Wayne forcing him to decide between her and himself this can become even more.

[Citadel16 he/him]

Moogledit: This post and the links in it do not actually contain unreleased Bands content/spoilers. Don't panic!

 

---

 

crap. I think I may have just ruined the entire bands of mourning.

 

 

She gasped, spinning, reaching for her purse. Wayne just raised his cup to
the newcomer, who rounded the counter with a slow step. It was the man in the
brown suit and bow tie. No, not the man. The kandra.

 

“If you’re here to persuade me to persuade him,” Wayne said, “you should know
that he doesn’t ever listen to me unless he’s pretty drunk at the time.” He
downed the wine. “ ’S probably why he’s lived so long.”

 

“Actually,” the kandra said, “I’m not here for you.” He turned to Marasi,
then tipped his head. “My first choice for this endeavor has rejected my
request. I hope you don’t take offense at being my second.”

 

Marasi found her heart thumping quickly. “What do you want?”

 

The kandra smiled broadly. “Tell me, Miss Colms. What do you know about the
nature of Investiture and Identity?”

 

sigh...

 

if you want some pretty nasty and probably real(I cant guarantee anything, for after all this is sanderson) spoilers for the plot of BoM go here and here

 

edit! Yay! no real spoilers means good things for my expectations.

Edited December 16, 2015 by warriormark16

[ccstat he/him]

I strongly disagree about the emotional allomancy guesses. I think Wax has some real issues and is still emotionally raw enough to be affected by a genuinely difficult reminder of his pain. Calling it allomantic manipulation makes his struggle cheap and undermines the obstacles he faces.

[StormingTexan he/him]

Liked the mention of the Marewill petals. Interesting the ceremony involves that and the ash girls. I love the Era 1 tidbits. The Vin perception was a little weird though but I guess a few centuries of elaboration will do that. 

 

Got to admit I love every scene with Wayne in it but the moving on thing made me cringe a little. I like the theory here though that Wayne is really the one having a hard time moving on and didn't necessarily ruin the wedding just for Marasi. I am really liking the Era 2 cast more and more though even with all the frustrating romance. 

 

Man I think Brandon is having some fun with us on these chapters. I guess I don't really notice his cliff hangers when reading a full book because I go right on to the next chapter. Or he is just feeling extra torturous this holiday season.

[GoddessIMHO]

Yes, it is quite fun. I was curious about one thing: the kandra specifically said that the person he had selected for the task had refused to do it. So who is this kandra? What is his mission?

 

So again we have Kandra going off on their own. This did not go well when Bleeder did it and left her susceptable to outside influence. I agree this is a different circumstance, but as the saying goes: the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

[splinters]

"Just cosmic chance rolling the dice anytime I pass, and always hitting all ones. There seems to be a poetry to it."-Steris

 

Maybe I'm looking too much into it, but could she be a Feruchamist storing luck (becoming unlucky)? Or is there something greater at play here? In some ways being unlucky could be useful sometimes.

 

Is there a chance that Steris has any Terris blood?

[GoddessIMHO]

I strongly disagree about the emotional allomancy guesses. I think Wax has some real issues and is still emotionally raw enough to be affected by a genuinely difficult reminder of his pain. Calling it allomantic manipulation makes his struggle cheap and undermines the obstacles he faces.

 I agree. Steris obviously sees this but every time she confronts Wax with the reality, he denies it. I think she is in love with Wax and would let him go because she wants him to be happy and not "trapped" with someone he doesn't want. She told him to forget the idea that he has to do this to pay back what her house has invested in him during chapter one. So why is he doing this to her? How does he think it would make her feel to share a bed with someone who had to grit their teeth and force themselves to say "I do"? Talk about a buzz kill.