How do Mistwraiths reproduce?

[Honorless he/him]

Do they use the genitalia of the organisms that they've consumed? Do they just divide asexually like cells?

Do they have genders? Kandra seem to but I don't know how that might correspond to actual reproductive capacity since they're shapeshifters and creating new Kandra requires Hemalurgic spikes and a Mistwraith not a Kandra mommy and Kandra daddy or Kandra and a clinic. Kandra gender is probably a matter of self-identification rather than reproduction.

[Merrickz he/him]

How much of Mistborn have you read?

[NameIess]

2 minutes ago, Merrickz said:

How much of Mistborn have you read?

I think he's read all of it. (Meaning the Cosmere)

[Honorless he/him]

11 minutes ago, Merrickz said:

How much of Mistborn have you read?

What he said: 

8 minutes ago, Nameless said:

I think he's read all of it. (Meaning the Cosmere)

 

Please, or else this question would haunt me

 

And oh, I'm aware of the WoBs regarding the complications with the Kandra and human biological similarities and compatibilities. Like with DNA and whether modern medical equipments, it was thinking about that that made me ask this question

Edited May 2, 2020 by R J

[Merrickz he/him]

If you've read HoA 

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

All the Mistwraiths are turned Feruchemists from the past. With the 1st Gens being Rashek's packmen friends. Therefore, there are a set number of Mistwraiths that were created when Rashek converted them all. And every generation a number are brought forward and become full Kandra. So I wouldn't say they can reproduce. As for Gender either that'd have to be a subjective thing where they are the gender they feel they are. Or it's influenced by their past Terris self and what gender they were, but that's purely speculation as I don't know what Brandon has said.

 

[Honorless he/him]

7 minutes ago, Merrickz said:

If you've read HoA 

Spoiler

All the Mistwraiths are turned Feruchemists from the past. With the 1st Gens being Rashek's packmen friends. Therefore, there are a set number of Mistwraiths that were created when Rashek converted them all. And every generation a number are brought forward and become full Kandra. So I wouldn't say they can reproduce. As for Gender either that'd have to be a subjective thing where they are the gender they feel they are. Or it's influenced by their past Terris self and what gender they were, but that's purely speculation as I don't know what Brandon has said.

 

Spoilers are allowed here  And like I said, I've read Mistborn in its entirety

I don't think that's true, all of the Mistwraiths couldn't have been from Rashek's Ascension. I mean, they are hunted, they are killed, they are relatively c

Edited May 2, 2020 by R J
Umm, what happened here, why can't I edit this?

[Merrickz he/him]

Quote

However, even gods can make mistakes, I have learned. Rashek, the Lord Ruler, thought to transform all of the living Feruchemists into mistwraiths. However, he did not think of the genetic heritage left in the other Terris people, whom he left alive. So it was that Feruchemists continued being born, if only rarely.

This oversight cost him much, but gained the world so much more.

This is the quote from the 68th Epigraph of HoA. This is as far as I know the only mention of how a Mistwraith is created

[Honorless he/him]

...as I was saying before that weird malfunction happened

they were relatively common during the Final Empire and easy to encounter out in the far off Dominions and even in the Central Dominion away from the population centres. No way could their numbers have remained stable enough for that to happen

[Merrickz he/him]

Sorry I apologise I didn't read fully, they have a lifespan of 50 years and can breed. This is from a WOB Brandon did. I hadn't read this till now sorry

Quote

Sazed Sees Mistwraiths

I worry that I didn't get to show mistwraiths very much in this book. It's not that big of an issue—they're only a minor world feature, and are only tangentially important. Still, they're a part of the kandra past and culture, and I want readers to understand what they are and what they have to do with the kandra life cycle.

Remember, all of the kandra save for the First Generation were born first as mistwraiths. That race of creatures breeds true, and has only a fifty-year lifespan. They die off, but birth new members. Taking one of those new members and adding spikes to them, however, awakens them and brings them sentience. They're part human, just like the koloss who remember having once been human.

 

[Merrickz he/him]

I don't think Brandon ever got into the nitty-gritty of how they actually breed, never seemed like his sort of thing to write about. NO MATING!!!

[Honorless he/him]

14 minutes ago, Merrickz said:

Quote

However, even gods can make mistakes, I have learned. Rashek, the Lord Ruler, thought to transform all of the living Feruchemists into mistwraiths. However, he did not think of the genetic heritage left in the other Terris people, whom he left alive. So it was that Feruchemists continued being born, if only rarely.

This oversight cost him much, but gained the world so much more.

This is the quote from the 68th Epigraph of HoA. This is as far as I know the only mention of how a Mistwraith is created

That is how they (meaning, their kind) were first created but how do they reproduce?

Some of the WoBs regarding Mistwraiths and Kandra (like the one pitching the possibility of training the former) do seem to imply they were not all once human, the Terris Feruchemists that Rashek transformed using the power of the Well

Edit: the site just glitched so I didn't read your new posts till I posted this

No mating, huh? Hmm... well, it is something that he'll have to answer eventually

Do we have any answers/theories/ more hints or indications? 

Edited May 2, 2020 by R J

[18th Shard he/him]

I think it is evident from the above annotation that both koloss and kandra are human, Spiritually and Cognitively (albeit with some disabilities/blockage). Physically, of course, they are their own thing. That being said, I would suspect from that fact, in addition to the fact he uses the word 'breed', that mistwraiths and koloss, at least post-Catacendre, mate sexually. The exact mechanics of how that mating occurs physically are neither revealed (or interesting or necessary to me). Kandra/mistwraiths do have genders, though that is subject to their own manipulation (at least by kandra).

[Honorless he/him]

5 hours ago, 18th Shard said:

I think it is evident from the above annotation that both koloss and kandra are human, Spiritually and Cognitively (albeit with some disabilities/blockage). Physically, of course, they are their own thing. That being said, I would suspect from that fact, in addition to the fact he uses the word 'breed', that mistwraiths and koloss, at least post-Catacendre, mate sexually. The exact mechanics of how that mating occurs physically are neither revealed (or interesting or necessary to me). Kandra/mistwraiths do have genders, though that is subject to their own manipulation (at least by kandra).

Mistwraiths having genders, I don't recall seeing that anywhere, is that from a WoB, a hidden passage in the books? 

And eh, it's interesting to me

Edited May 5, 2020 by R J

[18th Shard he/him]

Quote

wiresegal

Are most kandra comfortable in any body configuration, or is MeLaan being comfortable in any gendered body an outlier? (i.e. do female kandra usually prefer female bodies, etc). And if this is common among kandra, is it because their long lives lead to introspection and self-examination, or is it just part of the species psychology?

Also, it's mentioned that kandra can "smell" whether another kandra is male or female, biologically. Does a transgender kandra have a different "scent?" What about nonbinary? And if they don't smell different, can they change what they "smell" like? (without using any magic beyond their shapeshifting)

Brandon Sanderson

You find a lot more kandra like MeLaan in the later generations. Generations who were allowed to develop a stronger, independent kandra culture separate from always being integrated with human culture. However, I'd say that almost every kandra, by nature of their physiology, spends a good time exploring both genders. I wouldn't call MeLaan an outlier.

Kandra learn very extreme control over their bodies, and can choose which scent to express and which gender (even to other kandra) to present. This includes a neutral scent, or some mix or something new, if they so decide. Remember that a kandra who wants to hide who they are, even from other kandra, is fully capable of doing so. Under current in-world technology, even blood tests would not be able to distinguish a kandra from the form they have decided to take.

Skyward Pre-Release AMA (Oct. 29, 2018)

 

[Honorless he/him]

49 minutes ago, 18th Shard said:

 

But that's Kandra, not Mistwraith

This question really has no answer yet, huh?

Edited May 5, 2020 by R J

[18th Shard he/him]

Kandra are simply mistwraiths that have been given Spikes, which remove a Cognitive and Spiritual blockage that prevents them from being sentient. Physically, the only difference is a pair of spikes.

[Karger he/him]

I personally always assumed that they reproduce asexually like jellyfish just because that is the earth creature they seem most similar to.  They could produce sexual organs if needed and they might but I don't think we know one way or the other.

[Honorless he/him]

7 hours ago, 18th Shard said:

Kandra are simply mistwraiths that have been given Spikes, which remove a Cognitive and Spiritual blockage that prevents them from being sentient. Physically, the only difference is a pair of spikes.

Yeah, and that's a big difference. Kandra are Hemalurgic entities resulting from Mistwraiths. Mistwraiths are people with Cognitive blockage created by the Lord Ruler while holding the Well's power.

It's like Pikachu and Raichu

[Raphaborn]

I have always assumed that they reproduce sexually, and have genders. In this case, your sex (male or female) as Mistwaith which (usually) defines your gender as Kandra. Although Kandras is much more flexible on this issue.

Edited June 15, 2020 by Raphaborn