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What's ham purpose in the story?


king of nowhere

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Don't get me wrong, he's a nice character and I like him. I wish we had seen more of him.

But in a story, you don't add redundant characters. Especially not when you already remark that you don't have enough space to expand everything, as brandon did many times in the annotations.

And so it seems to me that poor ham has no narrative role, nor a particular role in the crew. he's supposed to be the fighter, but the crew mistborn already cover that well enough. In fact, we haven't seen him fight on-screen once. Unless we count whalloping marsh on the head at the end of book 2 (why didn't they finish off the unconscious inquisitor, by the way?)

He is mentioned fighting alongside soldiers somtimes, but he never does anything that soldiers could not do. He never provided much to the crew, and I can't think of a single time where he significantly affected the plot that couldn't have easily done by someone else (like in the decision to not send koloss against the city in book 3).

I wonder why brandon didn't cut him out from the planning stage. He just doesn't seem the writer that would add in a redundant character just because he likes it.

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I imagine it was largely so Kelsier wouldn't have to do all the exposition on Pewter.
 

I don't recall exactly, but I think he may also be the only one described as devoted to leading the army they assemble.
The others are involved, but Ham is the general and most involved in that aspect.

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Well for one, I think Brandon was committed to having a Named misting if each type on the crew, except maybe a lurcher and coinshot.  This was kind of expounded upon in book:

 

Quote


I underestimated Kelsier, Vin thought. I assumed that he was less skilled than the Mistings because he’d spread himself too thin. But that wasn’t it at all. This. This is his specialty—Pushing and Pulling with expert control.
And iron and steel are the metals he personally trained me in. Maybe he understood all along

 

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Having someone to explain each facet of a Mistborn's power seems like a valid reason to include him. As Serack said, Ham was more focused on pewter than Kelsier, so he was able to teach Vin the finer details of fighting with it (they spent a lot of time sparring together off-screen). The rest of the crew have more plot significance than Ham, but he did give depth to the crew, such as when he talked/debated with Breeze. Personally, I prefer depth more than plot significance.

Ham did have connections to the Luthadel garrison, which is where they first learned of Yeden's attack on the Holstep garrison.

Edited by Artemos
replaced pronoun with Vin
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Ham did a lot behind the scenes. Both in the army, and with his pewterarms, much like how Breeze had his soothing and rioting teams. 

Ham was security and muscle not just in himself, but in the people he ran who we don't meet. 

The "team" save for Dox in his administrative role, and Spook who was a package deal with Clubs, weren't personally running their portions of the plan. They were all essentially leaders of their own groups in collaboration. 

Edited by Calderis
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15 hours ago, Wyndlerunner said:

He also needed a character that could bounce off of Breeze. I'm fairly confident that their dynamic was enjoyed by most readers. In a way, he's Breeze's foil

I enjoyed their banter a lot. It was great to read their discussions.

And I think Ham had two main roles:
1) as a teacher for Vin, because it makes no sense that Kelsier is perfect in every metal. Therefore someone who could teach her pewter was needed.
2) he needed someone to train the army, who really knows what he does, before Yeden took over.

So he wasn't redudant, he was simply a character we didn't get to see that much.

But we also didn't get to see that much from Marsh either, and his role was vital for the both Eras.

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We actually do see Ham fight, I believe. When Kelsier saves the prisoners, just before the Inquisitor fight. 

Otherwise, he adds depth, and also the role of general and ”main soldier guy”. For example, one character needs to train Yedens army in TFE, and one character needs to be in charge of the day-to-day routines of Elends army in HoA, especially when Demoux is gone. 

Edited by Toaster Retribution
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The technique Ham teaches Vin, practicing conserving your quick burning metals, is integral to her first solo fight with another mistborn who had more atium than her. Vin's unparalleled skill as a mistborn is a key element of the series and the key to that is that she was trained by a experts with each metal.

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I don’t really think he’s got anything to do with the plot.

much like how sazed, despite being an important character and the only keeper throughout most of the trilogy, I think his main purpose is to give Vin wisdom and support from time to time, at least in the first book.

in the same way, I think ham is there simply to pose philosophy so we can see different characters viewpoints whiteout it feel in like Brandon is just dumping exposition on us.

also the fact that he has a family makes the whole crew seem more grounded and puts more consequences behind their actions.

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Does every aspect of a novel has to have a purpose? Read Breakfast of Champions by Vonnegut; its just a bunch of random encounters and thoughts. Sometimes books are driven by more than plot. My two cents anyways...

Edited by Ammanas
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