Wit

[JosephOfHathsin]

So I'm reading Words of Radiance finally and I've come to the chapter of Shallan meeting Wit before her fathers death, and reading the coppernet I've come to the same conclusion as others that what Hoid puts in his drink is most likely allomantic metal, more specifically though that it is likely brass and copper. Does anyone else think it likely that Hoid soothes Shallan into remembering? Also how many characters has Hoid met while they were younger? Is he going all Richard Alpert from Lost and meeting these characters beforehand of what is to come? Cause tbh I'm down with that, Storms I'm down with that.

[DSC01]

I'd say that there is pretty much a 100% chance that he Soothed and/or Rioted her, but I wouldn't say that what's going on with meeting Shallan is necessarily a Richard Alpert-esque type thing. Hoid uses some kind of feruchemy to get where and when he needs to be, but we really don't know much about it yet. It does seem, though, that his interaction with Shallan was very important. It encouraged her to work hard at preventing her family from self-destructing, which was a part of her path to Radiancy. I just don't think there's any real plan at work (now that I think about it, maybe that is exactly like Lost...).

 

Now, with Kaladin, it doesn't seem that they met at all before the Shattered Plains, but Hoid does interact with him twice at pivotal times, and the stories he tells help Kaladin on his journey. So he pretty clearly is trying to influence events. I think it's just an extension of what he does in other books, though. The only reason he's taking such a direct role on Roshar, instead of lurking in the background and subtly influencing things is that he thinks the stakes for the Cosmere are much higher with Odium involved (who he has admitted to holding a grudge against).

 

The one character besides Shallan that we can say that he definitely did meet before the story begins (besides all the people who know him as Wit, of course) is Rock. It isn't clear whether that is really all that important in the grand scheme of things or if it was a chance meeting, but Rock did meet him, apparently right when he arrived on Roshar. 

 

An interesting observation: Hoid seems to have arrived on Roshar via Shardpool, but I really don't think he needs to use Shardpools in order to worldhop. If not, then chances are good that he arrived on Roshar on the occasion that Rock observed him, having come directly from Sel, where the odd conditions mean that one does have to use a Shardpool to worldhop, regardless of one's natural ability to travel via Shadesmar. Anyway, that's not really on-topic--just an observation.

[IndigoAjah]

Sigzil clearly knows him too

[Zea mays]

So do Zahel and Jasnah.

[DSC01]

Yeah, I forgot about Sigzil and his training. Zahel probably knows Hoid from Nalthis, though, and I was lumping Jasnah in with those who simply know Hoid because he's Wit. I'm sure that he spent plenty of time pulling strings in his capacity as Wit, and that would include interacting with Jasnah, but I was thinking of people who would have met him outside of that role.

[Lilamal]

URMAGURD!!!!!!!!!!!! Hoid is awesome. He is in Dragonsteel, Warbreaker, The Stormlight Archive, Elantris, Mistborn and much, much more!!!

[CarolaDavar]

DragonSteel(said on Brandon sanderson's website) Is Hoid's backstory. Sadly, there are going to be no more books of DragonSteel for about a decade(one he finishes SA)

[DSC01]

Little known fact about Hoid: per WoB, if he gets decapitated, his body will grow back a new head. Random dumb thing I'd like to ask Brandon: if he got decapitated on Sel, would his head grow back a body, instead? 

[Rasarr]

Little known fact about Hoid: per WoB, if he gets decapitated, his body will grow back a new head. Random dumb thing I'd like to ask Brandon: if he got decapitated on Sel, would his head grow back a body, instead? 

 

So... if you cut him in half, would you get two Hoids? 

 

More seriously, though, a question I'd like to ask is whether decapitating him with Nightblood or a Shardblade would preclude the head re-growth. Also, where do you suppose he got this particular skill from? Something native to Yolan, a side effect of being a Sliver or did Hoid find a way to become a double-gold Twinborn or somesuch? 

[DSC01]

So... if you cut him in half, would you get two Hoids? 

 

More seriously, though, a question I'd like to ask is whether decapitating him with Nightblood or a Shardblade would preclude the head re-growth. Also, where do you suppose he got this particular skill from? Something native to Yolan, a side effect of being a Sliver or did Hoid find a way to become a double-gold Twinborn or somesuch? 

 

Nightblood and Shardblades sever the soul, and Hoid's Regrowth power heals the soul, specifically. If I recall correctly, someone asked that specific question, and Brandon said that he would still heal. My guess is that his healing is something like double gold but isn't exactly the same. I think that his feruchemy must be very different than the Scadrian version. Where are his metalminds? It seems very unlikely that they've been there all this time, but no one ever remarked on him wearing bracers and rings and earrings and such. Those would qualify as unusual attire in most of the places he's been. If they're all inside his body, then the feruchemy still works differently than Scadrian feruchemy because the couple of times internal metalminds are mentioned, it seems like they are small back ups, not primary stores.

[King's Twit]

Nightblood and Shardblades sever the soul, and Hoid's Regrowth power heals the soul, specifically. If I recall correctly, someone asked that specific question, and Brandon said that he would still heal. My guess is that his healing is something like double gold but isn't exactly the same. I think that his feruchemy must be very different than the Scadrian version. Where are his metalminds? It seems very unlikely that they've been there all this time, but no one ever remarked on him wearing bracers and rings and earrings and such. Those would qualify as unusual attire in most of the places he's been. If they're all inside his body, then the feruchemy still works differently than Scadrian feruchemy because the couple of times internal metalminds are mentioned, it seems like they are small back ups, not primary stores.

 

What if his sword is one of his metalminds? He doesn't always have that on him, but he does always have it as Wit on Roshar, I think.

 

The sword is described as being silver, but that is from the POV of other characters who may not know what it really is.

 

What other metals look similar to silver? Aluminum does, and feruchemical identity seems like one of the things that may be the most versatile if you know what you are doing.

 

Chromium looks like silver, and feruchemical luck is one of the things that is speculated (was it confirmed by WoB?) to be how Hoid uses his Feruchemy to be where he needs to be and at the right time.

 

Atium was described to look like silver, I think. Hoid is immortal somehow, he could be using atium compounding to do so.

 

Cadmium is somewhat silvery. If Hoid does have access to allomancy, he could be compounding allomantic cadmium to 'jump' through time as Brandon says that he does. It's theorized that this involves burning Cadmium and then immediately storing the Investiture in a metalmind, so if he was doing that regularly (or constantly) he would need a metalmind at hand.

 

There are probably others of the metals that could be confused with silver, but those are the most interesting and likely possibilities to me. Personally I'm inclined to it being chromium, since Hoid seems to be using it all the time to always end up in the right place.

 

edit: I meant to mention this when I made the post, but hiding metal under your clothes also isn't too hard. You couldn't have a bunch of big, bulky metalminds like a Keeper's copperminds, but you could hide plenty of thin bracelets and anklets and bracers and other things as long as you wore long sleeves and pants. Plus wan't he always wearing a military uniform? I think those are described as being stiff and starched, which would make hiding metals underneath them even easier.

Edited January 21, 2016 by King's Twit

[DSC01]

The sword could be nicrosil, too. We don't know how that works yet, but I imagine that if you have a lot of different powers, you could use stored Investiture to power any of them. I got the opposite impression as you about the military uniform. I would think that a snug uniform would be really bad at hiding bracelets and stuff. The things is, Hoid's version of feruchemy might not even rely on metal. All magic on Scadrial relates to metal in some way, but that's a characteristic of the planet itself more than of the magic systems. If a form of Lightweaving or Awakening had developed there, it would have involved metal somehow. 

[taveren]

hoid himself said a shardblade wouldn't do much to him but how well do you think he could take a hit from nightblood or more then one hit

[DSC01]

I guess that really depends on how his healing actually works--in particular, just how deep the well of Investiture is that fuels his healing. Hasn't it been confirmed that Nightblood basically is a Shardblade? I don't think it should make too much of a difference.

[hoidhunter]

Another interesting fact about Hoid...apparently he loves bacon...but then again...I think most people do...

[The Ninja Yodeler]

Another interesting fact about Hoid...apparently he loves bacon...but then again...I think most people do...

Yes. But does he like bacon with maple syrup? That's the true mystery in my eyes.

[Weltall]

I guess that really depends on how his healing actually works--in particular, just how deep the well of Investiture is that fuels his healing. Hasn't it been confirmed that Nightblood basically is a Shardblade? I don't think it should make too much of a difference.

I think the WoB was something like 'an attempt to create a Shardblade by someone who didn't know exactly how Shardblades work' and something about Nightblood being an order of magnitude more powerful.

 

Either way, if Hoid thinks he can survive a soul-severing Shardblade decapitation or even having his head lopped off the old fashioned way, I'm not sure Nightblood would do much more to him. Brandon has called Hoid virtually unkillable and implied that he would be one of the last two charactes left standing if all his protagonists got into a brawl with all their powers so I assume that includes Vasher+Nightblood.

[taveren]

i think it was orders of of magnitude plural. its the difference of turning eyes to smoke vs turning entire bodys and walls to smoke. also i wonder how long he could hold nightblood without haven't to sheath him someone should ask brandon that at a signing

Edited January 23, 2016 by taveren

[Fiddler]

Nightblood and Shardblades sever the soul, and Hoid's Regrowth power heals the soul, specifically. If I recall correctly, someone asked that specific question, and Brandon said that he would still heal. My guess is that his healing is something like double gold but isn't exactly the same. I think that his feruchemy must be very different than the Scadrian version. Where are his metalminds? It seems very unlikely that they've been there all this time, but no one ever remarked on him wearing bracers and rings and earrings and such. Those would qualify as unusual attire in most of the places he's been. If they're all inside his body, then the feruchemy still works differently than Scadrian feruchemy because the couple of times internal metalminds are mentioned, it seems like they are small back ups, not primary stores.

 

I can't recall, that we have ever seen Hoid in the nude. So he could very well have a bunch of armrings on his upper arm and/or some rings on his legs.

 

Rings and earrings are not required for Feruchemy and are actually not that good, since you can only store a very limited amount of Investiture in them.

 

edit: spoilertags, since this is not SA

Edited January 23, 2016 by Fiddler