[Secret History Spoilers] Kel & Earrings

[KidWayne he/him]

So, does anyone have any thoughts about how/why Kelsier visibly appears when Spook makes the decision "against his better judgment" to put the hemalurgical earring in his ear?

 

This seems like it could be proof that Kelsier holds some portion of Ruin. However, it could just as easily be that Kelsier's greater Connection to Ruin and/or Spook enables him to use certain Ruinous abilities (like being in the Cognitive Realm and talking to people in the Physical Realm who have spikes and/or broken minds).

 

I put forth that this strange occurrence is a function of Kelsier's strong Connection to Spook as well as his disproportionately larger connection to Ruin (compared to his connection with Preservation). Kel was able to influence Spook because of Spook's broken mind and the addition of the earring allowed Kel to appear to Spook and communicate with him fully. The only thing this doesn't answer is how the earring affects Spook's connection to Harmony. Thoughts?

 

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Other Questions to Consider:

[1] Shouldn't using a hemalurgical earring connect Spook to Sazed?

[2] Shouldn't the earring experience be audio-only (like Wax's conversations with Harmony in Era 2)?

[3] Does Kel's visibility have to do with the physical proximity of Kelsier's Cognitive Shadow to Spook in the Cognitive Realm?

[4] If #3 is "yes", does this mean that Spook's earring would allow him to see a nearby Shade visiting from Threnody? Why or why not?

[5] What influences Connection? How is it increased or decreased? Are there different rules governing how it affects people vs. places?

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Full Disclosure: I really loathe the 'Kelsier holds Harmony's excess Ruin' theories, so I'm hoping someone has a way to explain this event that doesn't involve that. It helps me to note that even though we see a good amount of interaction between Sazed and Kelsier in MSH, we DO NOT see Sazed bestowing Kelsier with any powers or portions of his shards. If anything, we see Sazed withholding information from Kelsier that would enable him to affect the Cosmere in a more meaningful way.

[natc]

Well, obviously it's not audio only since pewter-spike Spook and Vin can see Ruin with their spikes in, disguises aside.

It just wouldn't do to risk agitating Wax into unintentionally shooting his own coach, like he said.

[KidWayne he/him]

Ok, that makes a certain kind of sense, but why is spook communicating with Kelsier via earring in the first place? Connection to Spook or possession of excess Ruin? And is Harmony in on the 3-way call?

Edited February 5, 2016 by KidWayne

[Landis963 he/him]

Ok, that makes a certain kind of sense, but why is spook communicating with Kelsier via earring in the first place? Connection to Spook or possession of excess Ruin? And is Harmony in on the 3-way call?

 

I assume it's Connection to Kelsier, plus the mental trauma of the War of Ash (lovely name for it), plus the pre-existing hole in his spiritweb from the pewter spike.  And I'd be very surprised if Harmony was not aware of Kel's shenanigans on some level.  

[Rasarr she/her]

 And I'd be very surprised if Harmony was not aware of Kel's shenanigans on some level.  

 

My theory is that Saze knows perfectly well what Kel's up to and manipulates events subtly behind his back, figuring the best way to make him do what Harmony wants is to make him think it was his idea all along. Or Kel's unwittingly advancing Sazed's plans with no imput from Harmony's side and Sazed decided to stand back and let him continue, for the same reason as above.

[Landis963 he/him]

My theory is that Saze knows perfectly well what Kel's up to and manipulates events subtly behind his back, figuring the best way to make him do what Harmony wants is to make him think it was his idea all along. Or Kel's unwittingly advancing Sazed's plans with no imput from Harmony's side and Sazed decided to stand back and let him continue, for the same reason as above.

 

Yerp.  Harmony's perfectly well aware of what Kel's doing, and either doesn't care enough to stop it or outright approves of it.  (Preservation, for instance, would very much approve of Kel's efforts to save the SoScad people, while Ruin would appreciate the continued use of Hemalurgy.) 

[happyman he/him]

Yerp.  Harmony's perfectly well aware of what Kel's doing, and either doesn't care enough to stop it or outright approves of it.  (Preservation, for instance, would very much approve of Kel's efforts to save the SoScad people, while Ruin would appreciate the continued use of Hemalurgy.) 

 

Or considers it to be outside his mandate, much like the mess that Wax and Lessie got themselves into.

[Senor Feesh]

People keep talking about Harmony as though his motivations can be boiled down to a mashup of "What Preservation would do" and "What Ruin would do". That seems like a TERRIBLE oversimplification. He isn't Preservation OR Ruin, he's something new. I'm sure his motivations are something also something far more nuanced.

[natc]

He's only new in the sense that they've never had two opposing intents in one shard and double power, really. Both intents still function and pressure him, the only unique situation is in finding where the two don't contradict explicitly, which is where he gets leeway.

[Landis963 he/him]

People keep talking about Harmony as though his motivations can be boiled down to a mashup of "What Preservation would do" and "What Ruin would do". That seems like a TERRIBLE oversimplification. He isn't Preservation OR Ruin, he's something new. I'm sure his motivations are something also something far more nuanced.

 

Of course, especially early on in his tenure when the Intents haven't taken over yet.  My main point was that letting Kelsier run rampant appeases the two Intents somewhat, which allows Harmony the leeway he needs to consider the topic from all the angles.  

[KidWayne he/him]

He's only new in the sense that they've never had two opposing intents in one shard and double power, really. Both intents still function and pressure him, the only unique situation is in finding where the two don't contradict explicitly, which is where he gets leeway.

Really? I was thinking that his new intent, Harmony, was his goal. Sazed is trying to balance opposites and allow them to co-exist in a collectivist sense.

For example, Sazed would very much like the concept of multiculturalism in the real world and he would likely meddle to try and balance out extremism of all kinds.

[natc]

That seems more like a personal vendetta than anything . . . most of his remarks on the "essence" of his current self is that it understands the need for both preserving and destruction, and that his power is actually keeping himself chained. Whether he might actually like the duality aside, the two original intents are definitely still pulling on him simultaneously.

In fact he seems to bring up death and protecting a lot and is basically completely hands-off on other matters like technology, while ironically moving people around all the time to try to put casualties in a reasonable range.

[emailanimal he/him]

We have two choices: either Sazed knows about Kelsier's conversations with Spook, or he does not. 

 

The chain of events makes much more sense if Sazed does know.  We have sufficient proof from the Wax and Wayne books that Sazed can both talk to someone spiked (like Ruin does) and hear what they say (like Preservation does).  When Spook puts a spike in his ear, he *by all rules we know* establishes a link with Sazed. There are no two ways around it - we saw, on the example of Wax how this works, and we know that this is an essential part of Pathianism.

 

 So, if Spook is connected (with a lower-case "c") to Sazed via the spike/earring, and Kelsier appears in front of him, there is only one logical conclusion, based on what we know so far. Kelsier is doing it on Sazed's behalf.  He may not be doing Sazed's bidding exactly, but the conversation may have gone as follows: 

 

KELSIER: We need to watch after Spook. He needs help.

 

SAZED: Yeah, I know, but I've also got to be in 400 other places at the same time, and I need to go an reanimate all the kandra to boot.

 

KELSIER: Well?

 

SAZED: You know what - the kid trusts you. And I know what you did for him [points to his head, which now contains memories of Kelsier holding Preservation]. Can you, you know... go there and be with him for a while?

 

KELSIER: [doing his best mental impersonation of Mr. Burns] Oh, yeah, sure, if you want me to... I can encourage the kid... Can you make me manifest in the Physical Realm?

 

SAZED: It is done so, my friend.

 

Curtain.

[Stormgate he/him]

It could be that having a damaged Spiritweb allows greater connection to the goings on inside the Cognitive Realm, specifically the presence of Shards and, in Kelsier's case, Cognitive Shadows.

Remember, Kelsier was already able to communicate with madmen, as well as those who were spiked. He lost this power after he Ascended, but presumably regained the power of communication. So, the communication power of madmen was added to the power of the spikes, allowing Kelsier to physically manifest.