Hoid's Immortality?

[TheShogun he/him]

So we've seen Hoid doing things hundreds and even thousands of years apart. And yet he's never even described as "old."

 

So I see three possibilities:

 

1) Time Travel. Hoid has a TARDIS or some such thing which allows both Worldhopping AND Timehopping. However I don't think this is likely.

2) Worldhopping causes you to miss time. These planets are all rather far apart, so I suppose it's theoretically that when you Worldhop, you show up there later than you left, and how much later is based on the distance and the speed of light and such.

3) Hoid is immortal (or at least doesn't age.). This is the most likely, in my opinion, since we've seen tons of other characters live wicked long lives: Taln, Vasher, and The Lord Ruler, to name a few.

 

So what's the secret to Hoid's agelessness? He isn't of the 5th heightening, we know that (Siri would have noticed.)

He probably isn't doing the Lord Ruler's thing, seeing as he's not a Terrisman. 

 

So what is it? Do we have WoB?

[Kurkistan he/him]

We have a bit of WoB.

 

Source:

THE_VIKACHU ()

How old is Hoid? Or better yet (to avoid any trickiness), how many years has he lived through?

 

BRANDON SANDERSON

He's been alive since Dragonsteel. However, he may not have spent all of that time awake and alert.

[Kadrok she/her]

I was pretty sure we also had WoB that he had still lived longer than he should have.

 

He could be of the Fifth Heightening, and just hiding it like some of the other characters do, although we don't know a great deal about the mechanics of that and whether it is viable.

 

He could also have visited Elantris, and become an Elantrian, although the mechanics of AonDor working on other planets, and whether the immortality could function that far away from Elantris is another issue.

 

I highly doubt he's doing something as haphazard as compound youth.

[Moogle]

I do have something of a theory that all Investiture slows your aging, and Hoid does have quite a lot of it. There was a WOB in the recent Waygate thing where Brandon mentioned that Hoid is the most powerful non-Shard in the Cosmere. I'd peg his immortality as being from one of the many, many magic systems he apparently has figured out, but my theory of Investiture slowing aging could be feasible for him.

 

Normally, though, only greatly extended lifespans seem to happen in the case where you have enough Investiture that it shows with physical side effects (glowing from Elantrians, color-auras of Awakeners), but I doubt we've ever seen Hoid's true appearance, so...

Edited January 19, 2014 by Moogle

[Kurkistan he/him]

@Kads

 

You're right. Quote incoming.

 

Source:

ERIC LAKE ()

Can Hoid jump through time? If so, can Shards jump through time?

 

BRANDON SANDERSON

Hoid, so far, has only moved forward in time. He has not 'lived' all of those years, but has used some time dilation techniques. That said, he is far older (both in relative and real time) than a normal person can live.

[Haradion Drogon]

For me, this reeks of Cadium Bubles.

Now Hoid didn't obtain Lersaium until a while later, but we know from Light Weaving that, sometimes the same powers develop seperatly from different systems...

 

I am guessing another magic system we haven't seen yet.

 

Or, he might have some kind of magical Statis Chamber... Given that the cosmere will eventually become sci-fi.

[Moogle]

For me, this reeks of Cadium Bubles.

Now Hoid didn't obtain Lersaium until a while later, but we know from Light Weaving that, sometimes the same powers develop seperatly from different systems...

 

I am guessing another magic system we haven't seen yet.

 

Or, he might have some kind of magical Statis Chamber... Given that the cosmere will eventually become sci-fi.

 

Cadmium bubbles or a stasis chamber wouldn't explain how he's older than a regular human even despite all the time dilation going on. From his perspective, he's lived longer than 80 years in other words.

[Haradion Drogon]

Hmm. Sanderson likes to mess with us...

 

We are making a few asumptions here...

Now I think about it, we don't know how long Yolen-ians usually live. There are plenty of legends in greek mythology, hell, even in Jewish/Christian mythology, that the "first" generation of humans, lived unusually long life spans. Adam for instance, is stated to have lived nearly 1000 years.

In greek mythology, the Promethian Humans, were said to live shorter lifespans than the first generation of humans... Its baseless speculation, but since Yolen was the origin of human life in the Cosmere, perhaps they have some special properties - such as apparently, the ability to get access to every magic system (granted, they are not born with it).

[Chlehrma]

1. He could have the fifth heightening and learned to mask it.

2. He could have mastered Aon Dor and be using illusion to hide his appearance as an elatran--galls don does describe him as having white hair though he dies it.

3. Since he has a bead of lerasium and is a fermuchemist, he could be compounding youth.

4. He could be rewriting his own history using forging in some way

5. He could know of some way to suspend aging while in a sleep state.

6. Etc.

[Swimmingly he/him]

Every magic system (or conjunction of two on Scadrial) we've seen so far has a way to stave off aging, though Roshar is ambiguous. Given that Hoid is said to be the most powerful non-shard entity in the cosmere, it's not inconceivable that he's found immortality.