The One Who Connects

I just figured it was a Hoid joke, like Instant Noodles.

This response is a whole line of "don't know" points. We don't know if the gold identity is storable. *English (United States) spellcheck software doesn't count storable as a word. Fascinating.. You should need to store your own identity before you can tap a different one, and at that point we don't know if the Metalmind is still able to be tapped. It should be doable, but I don't know for sure. We don't know if tapping a new identity is a change or an effect. An effect would only last so long as you are tapping, a change would be the new "non-storing" default. You would need a lot of Aluminumminds to be prepped for any occasion. You'd need a Coppermind to remember which Identity is which

Ok, some of what I am about to say may not be confirmed, but rather the popular opinion. The way I, and some others, understood it is that (at first) Marsh had the most spikes because he was the hardest for Ruin to control. The extra spikes more susceptible to Ruin's control, and made him more dangerous. Win-win for Ruin. As for why other Inquisitor got it and not Marsh, the WoB stands. "Some were granted the spike for reasons I haven't spoken of yet." We don't know because Brandon hasn't decided to tell us. As for compounding, they had to figure that out on their own. TLR and Ruin both left them in the dark. The main reason Marsh figured it out to begin with is because he was there when Sazed theorized on how TLR did it at the end of Book 1. I have absolutely no idea. I reread Inkthinker's wording, and it only talks about his 22 spikes in the context of "just before Harmony." I still don't see a way that he could get all the way back to Kredik Shaw after facing Elend, find and place the F-Atium spike, and find a underground safehouse in the time it took for Vin to lose it, attack Ruin, and Sazed to take up both the Shards and remake the world, so I still see him getting the Spike a little before the battle against Elend. After rereading the thread with Inkthinker's info, I think I have it figured out. Credit to PorridgeBrick for the idea. In Preservation's altered Metallic Arts, Atium was in the Temporal quadrant. Gold spikes are theorized to steal Feruchemical powers in that quadrant. Cadmium and Bendalloy got replaced with Atium and Malatium, so those are out. They don't even know what F-Electrum does at that point in time, the only other power worth having in that segment is F-Gold, which Marsh already has. So PorridgeBrick posited that his second Gold spike gives him F-Atium, something that cannot be replicated in the modern era. So this is my answer: He knows the bindpoint to get Gold Healing, since he has a spike granting that. It's the only Gold spike other than F-Atium worth having, so he would know which spike it was. He finds a dead Inquisitor with a different Gold spike, takes it and places it in the same location on himself. The only other reasonable explanation is he "glimpsed" the needed information from Ruin when he inhabited his mind to make other Inquisitors, like the prologue of HoA.

So he's basically only limited by what gets suggested to him? That actually sounds like a good deal. Oh yea regular Parshendi. We do tend to forget about the rank and file when people say "Villain" as evidenced by the suggestions. If there's enough description in book for him to work with, by all means let him try it.

I found said revelation from earlier. It doesn't say piercings specifically, but the concept is there. Also, in case it hadn't been expressly stated in this thread yet, you do in fact store all the powers individually.

I did get Arcanum Unbounded for Christmas.. I just took the lack of any mention of a change, in or out of spoiler tags, to mean that it still hadn't been answered, so I keep with Brandon's response until being corrected

Nightblood is... difficult to categorize that way.

Szeth seems too obvious of a choice, and he has official art already. If your artist wants to do some fancy poses or camera angles, then it could still work. I feel like he's done enough Plate-clad figures for now, so maybe not Eshonai or Sadeas. Taravangian perhaps? Actually, is he limited to Stormlight characters? It'd be nice to get some artwork of Dakhor Monks, twisted bones and all. The Cosmere fan-base can never get enough of The Lord Ruler either.

I remember a different WoB on a similar note, which I believe may have been about leeching a non-piercing Metalmind, like Sazed's jewelry. That, they would have to be actively tapping for it to be leeched. On the subject of Chromium affecting piercings: Since it burns "target's entire metal reserves" wouldn't that mean that using Duralumin + Steel should burn any Steel piercings you have since they both affect your "entire reserve of said metal(s)"?

Upvote purely for cleverness. Well done. I... yea that is a wacky one. We've speculated that the Intent of Hatred would allow him a decent level of future-sight, so the patience for a plan like this is feasible enough. Depending on the overall size and terrain of the battlefield and/or Odium's forces, I am not sure if he could direct enough of them to that area and not have them wander off in search of better prospects. I mainly add this because (to me at least) "passage by a waterway" implies some form of choke-point rather than a clearing that Taln and Co. could be swarmed from all sides in. . . . I'm gauging the odds of it having been a trap vs a rout based on the geography of the area after the battle. What have we become?

The Cognitive aspect of healing perhaps? Take Kaladin and his branding. If he somehow pulled the same trick Kelsier did and had a source of healing, I imagine those marks would show up on his new body anyway. I will admit that it is entirely within Kelsier's mental state to manually recreate the famed Scars of Hathsin if he so chose. I interpreted that as it not giving him some godlike power like Marsh's F-Atium spike does, just some base level ability. I am... unsure about the specifics of stapling his soul into a body, but I imagine he still had to make a spike the only way he knew how.

Here

Well Belzedar posited that Division was reducing molecular cohesion, like you say. They posited that Division and Cohesion both affected molecular cohesion. They felt that they were opposites, so I felt that since one end can split things apart, the other could bind things together. On the note of being overpowered, Illumination, which Shallan uses for Lightweaving, has the potential to alter light waves into a laser (like the Death Star, oh wait ) but the Stormlight required would be ridiculous, not to mention her lacking the technical prowess to even comprehend a laser. I can totally see Division being able to split molecular/atomic bonds, but either not in any huge capacity due to available Stormlight (atomic scalpel anybody?), or not actually at the molecular/atomic level until they can actually envision the concept. As for your last point, maybe Cohesion can't go any lower than normal molecular cohesion, and Division can't go any higher than normal. Edit: Current times could have Division be something more like an acid, eating away at something. Assuming they understand acids in their world..

Really? I must've missed that revelation. On a side note, I thought that only his Atium bracers pierced the skin, as Vin could push/pull on his jewelry during their fight (and learning why that's a bad idea ) It's a trivial difference at this point, since having one ring among many piercing the skin is something Vin would never notice in that situation.

I think Wyndle attempted to explain that as once she has used all the "energy" from the food, she attempts to use any spare energy she has in her body, which could account for the weakness afterwards.

I agree with more or less all of your understanding of the situation in your post. This part stood out to me though, and it falls to someone more knowledgeable than I to confirm/deny this. The highlighted sections make it sound like your soul could be sufficiently "broken" enough for a Spren bond purely from using an Honorblade too much. You'd have to live the right lifestyle (and possibly give up the Honorblade) but it seems theoretically possible, which is why I feel like this is too easy.

I swear I remember someone pointing out that he said something like "nearly a skeleton" in this thread, but I cannot find it. Regardless, your scientific paragraph does make it seem impossible to end up like as just bones in any short time period. As for him being overconfident and letting himself get decapitated or stabbed, that made me think of something. Cometaryorbit suggested spiking out his F-Gold with a Pewter spearhead. I just realized why that would not work if he had any Goldminds in his stomach ready to burn. This

2 things about this statement. Per Inkthinker, he got his F-Atium spike just after Vin ascended, which is before his fight with Elend. Coincidentally, this is also when Ruin would've been most distracted by his plan going off the rails. Secondly, SH spoilers: I don't think you need to spoiler BoM, since they integrated the spoiler board now.

R&P did specifically create Scadrial and all life on it. Granted, they had a pattern to work off of that is pretty much Adonalsium's handiwork. The man makes a good point. What say you, Cloud Farren?

Where did Jezrien get this information, and is it true? The whole thing is speculation, and Ishar's motives aren't clear, but it's an intriguing possibility. I imagine any of the normal soldiers, or some surviving Radiants that likely helped him out defending the area could corroborate that story. And Kalak accepts that line as "typical Taln, too stubborn for his own good." which I'll admit is there to make it more believable to us, the readers. Come to think of it, I don't think any troops he had with him would leave him behind to help out elsewhere long enough for Ishar to attack him. Or rather, I have a hard time believing that Talenel "stubborn to the point of immortality" 'Elin would hold back at the waterway while the battle was still going on and just let his troops take care of whatever may still be alive. The prelude starts just after Kalak kills a Thunderclast, so we know some of those were still alive out there. Secondly, if Ishar showed up and Taln did send his troops out with an "I'll be right behind you." I imagine they would suspect something if he was somehow dead, especially given whatever hell he stomped by the waterway earlier.

You're correct about the specific word use, but without the full context of Ishar's understanding, "he thinks" and "he believes" may still be synonymous, regardless of how certain he is. We don't know yet. For example: "I think this will work." And "I believe this will work." I can use both of these sentences to imply uncertainty, or to imply being fairly certain. It's all dependant upon my tone of voice when I say it. According to the New Oxford English Dictionary, "think" is defined as: I personally feel that using "think" to imply uncertainty is a trope in its own right. One that became pretty popular (as I used it in my prior post ), but the definition leaves plenty of room for it to be used when you are of the opinion that something will work. Technically, neither of them would mean the Ishar is certain, as both "think" and "believe" are opinions in that context. If he was certain, Ishar should've said "I know" or "I'm certain" Lastly, as Kalak's "you're broken too" revelation implies, Jezrien is not completely sure if they are making the right choice. I definitely agree with you there.

Well, this is lovely. The Word of Inkthinker I was remembering gives Marsh 10 spikes when TLR died, and not 11 like I remembered. From this thread, back in 2014. Spoilered purely for size. His numbers give him 2 in the eyes and the linchpin spike at the top of the spine, as the book does. His written image only has 7 in the chest though, so therein lies the discrepancy. (As Eilemelie has just noted) Also, for the OP, here is a section of the above spoiler area for you and spike placement Along with his tip that "symmetry is preferred."

Quoth the Coppermind: It does not have a source note citation on it. However, I remember hearing something quite similar from Inkthinker in an old thread about Marsh's spikes. As I am currently on mobile, that is gonna be a hassle to look up and quote to here. I'll try and find it, and edit this post when I do. If someone who isn't on mobile can find it and link it here, that'd just be convenient.

Power level does seem a bit overused. If we are measuring investment levels, Era 2 Mistings would be a baseline of 1, as Brandon has said that the power has diluted as much as it can. If we had a way of comparing how much weaker each generation gets as they drift further from the Lerasium, that would speed things up quite nicely. Ex: 15 gen from Le to weakest, make the levels 1 - 15, etc.. It would also cancel out Hemalurgic spike issues, since they are.. (We'll say 80% of the normal power level, if they get placed in with minimal loss) by knowing what Gen. it takes that % extra from.

Of note to the Aon itself being time or age, Brandon has used several variants of "old" and "very old" to talk about the Ire. I don't know how much of a big deal that actually is, but I thought I'd point it out.