Ale the Metallic Conjurer

Reactions after Secret History Part 1: Empire I've finally started Secret History. I've heard it's very important to Mistborn and the Cosmere, so this is something I want to take my time reading. I'll be posting my reactions to each part, starting with Part 1: Empire. This part was short but had a surprising amount of info. I'm beyond happy to see Kelsier again. "I am hope" always gets me and I SCREAMED in the final scene of book 6. It seems like Secret History will reveal different sides to Kelsier's personality. Here, I saw his fear of death and unwillingness to pass away, his drive to discover the truth behind secrets, his justified lack of faith in God, regret for hurting Vin and the crew. And the absolute BALLS to punch God then finesse God! That was totally unexpected, comedy gold right there! The words Spiritual Realm and the capital C word - Connection - showed up. I remember from book 6 that Connection is a Spiritual Realm property, includes Connection to lands, and includes Connection between people (i.e. Connection between Handerwym and koloss). I'm confident the magic system of The Emperor's Soul manipulates the Connection within the souls of people and objects. Guess I shouldn't be shocked it's in the workings of Allomantic malatium (gold too?). Here I bear witness Rashek's final moments. It's honestly depressing. I would've loved to seen Rashek's personality from his POV or the Firsts, people very close to him. And even though he was a scumbag, he was essential to Preservation's Plan. I like to theorize Rashek was either religiously motivated or had a duty to protect Scadrial once he glimpsed Preservation’s Plan. But lost his sense of devotion after so long. I don’t think Rashek just starting out would’ve silenced Fuzz or called him an impotent mouse I’m surprised to learn Ruin was attacking Preservation even before his release. So the hologram must be showing a representation of Preservation taking Ruin’s attacks and losing his mind. The passage about Ruin’s alterations is pretty shocking as well. At this time, no one knew about the Terris Prophecies or religion outside of Alendi’s logbook and kandra. But there were the Steel Ministry and the 600+ religions studied by Keepers. We know from WoBs and book 3 implications that Preservation wrote the Terris Prophecies and hid gems from Ruin in all of humanity’s religions. IIRC those gems were hidden to help the Hero of Ages his gambits would lead into. My speculation is Ruin wasn’t just altering Sazed’s rubbings. He was altering Alendi's logbook, the Keepers’ copperminds, the Keepers’ texts, and the Steel Ministry’s texts. And it appears Preservation has been actively writing stuff that Ruin altered. Pretty hypocritical for Pres to dislike Ruin for “making the religion all about him” even though Pres did the same thing A lot about Preservation in this section. Fuzz is a living contradiction. He's the god of stasis, yet he accepts that death is the natural progress of things... Though, The Plan is a contradiction to begin with. And it doesn’t seem like his planning was as certain as I thought. When I look back to the Mistborn Trilogy, one of my personal gripes was Preservation and mortals outsmarting/overcoming Ruin around the time he appeared to Vin at Fadrex. But it turns out I might be wrong lol. Fuzz didn’t foresee that Kelsier would have a 100% chance of dying by letting the Lord Ruler kill him, or at least didn't foresee it as a likely possibility. He even said futuresight is cloudy - made of many possibilities. He didn’t understand why Ruin let Kelsier use malatium. And all these distortions are definitely because his mind has been degrading for millennia. It seems like Fuzz - Leras - Preservation - knew the Well of Ascension wouldn’t trap Ruin/Ati forever, that he would break free eventually. So he set up gambits that **might** eventually come to fruition, like the army of atium Mistings preventing Ruin from regaining his full power. I have to respect the fact Fuzz’s mind has been dying for millennia, yet he has the cognition to manifest holograms that move and have conversations wiyj every dying soul. As well as the cognition to watch the fight between Kelsier and the Inquisitor. Going back to Rashek, my theory is Fuzz's anger at Rashek's death is an instance of Preservation not remembering this part of the plan. The way I see it, Rashek needed to die for many of Pres’ gambits to come to fruition, cuz Rashek would’ve killed or captured the pawns like Vin, or Sazed, or the mistfallen. But Preservation can’t remember this. There's the magic number sixteen! The mistfallen! I remember that Harmony said Preservation hid clues about the number sixteen, before he imprisoned Ruin. Guess this means Preservation set up the snapping Mists before the imprisonment, planting unaware Allomancers over the course of thousands of years. Setting up the gambit of Allomancers who can burn Ruin’s atium. To close off the post, I gotta call crap on Fuzz's claims. There’s no way Kelsier is the only person in history to punch him or beg for revival. I suspect whatever he did to Kelsier is a gambit that’s part of the plan... which I don't remember well lmao. Was the plan made when Fuzz was smarter the Terris Prophecies and the Hero of Ages? Hot take: I love the gambit but the concept of atium Mistings is overly convoluted. I think the mistfallen should’ve been an army of Mistborn. The canon mistfallen had normal Mistings and atium Mistings. So why not create a bunch of Mistborn? Theory: If malatium is much stronger at the moment of death, then the same should apply to electrum or atium - visions of a person’s possible future or a possible future of the entire world (à la Elend’s duralumin + atium). I think this is a possible way Preservation gave the Terris Prophecies. Maybe he gave visions of the future to dying Terris people during the moment of death.

Thanks for the warning. I haven’t yet read Stormlight, so this will be an interesting experience lmao.

Everything about The Bands of Mourning is a bundle of pure fun. It’s just like an Indiana Jones adventure! The breakout character this time is definitely Steris. I was shocked to find out a character could develop so much in such a small amount of pages. But, Sanderson did it with Steris. And to me, she’s insanely relatable. I was literally saying aloud “SHE’S JUST LIKE ME FR ” So much I could gush about her omg. Wax x Steris is better than Vin x Elend. There, I said it. I also started to become a fan of Wax’s character arc - his arc of finding his true position in the world. Wax’s arc feels more subtle than the Era 1 characters and his personality is definitely more rigid than them, but I think I can appreciate it. Allik was hilarious. Wayne x MeLaan was pretty wholesome and fun. Marasi is always great The highlight of this book’s plot was definitely the Southern Scadrians and their Metallic Arts technology. A complaint I’ve had about the Mistborn Saga is that its world and history either feels too small or too shallow, even though there are reasons. This book definitely didn’t eliminate it, but it did mitigate it. The Southern Scadrians’ mask culture sounds intriguing, AND THEIR TECH!!! I’m so excited to find out more about them. Another highlight of the plot, even though it came during the Sanderlanche, was the conversation between Wax and Harmony. This helped me realize that Sazed is still Sazed, but a Sazed that realizes the complexities of being God. Apart from the issues behind the Shard of Harmony mentioned in book 5, it seems like he’s trying to be different from Ruin or Preservation. I love that Sanderson made this clear. And I love the implications (confirmations?) that he planned out many things. Harmony’s speech about choices made me cry I’m shook by the Sovereign twist lmao. Kelsier is the Sovereign?! What the hell is going on?! I have several theories but I’m sure some will be answered in Secret History and Lost Metal.

The Bands of Mourning chapters 30 - epilogue In chapter 30, Marasi discovers the wonders of hot chocolate ️ Steris negotiates a deal with Jordis. The kandra get the Bands of Mourning for safekeeping, Jordis gets the Hunters’ ship (which is decades outdated ), and trade might start between the Basin and the Malwish people. I have faith that nothing will go wrong. Wax and Marasi talk about their experience wielding the Bands. I love it! Telsin got away. Wax, once again, has someone to hunt. Steris and Wax got married!!!!!!!! Congratulationssssss!!!!!! STERIS KISSED HIM!!!! Chapter 31 is fantastic. The marriage Wax comforting Wayne about shooting Telsin. Wax’s speech about shuffling through life. Jordis and Allik saying goodbye. Aradel’s reaction to the airship. Marasi is making it big. And her obsession with Trell is continuing. The Set has Faceless Immortals of its own. HARMOMY! DO YOUR DAMN JOB! I hope this means Trell created their own kandra rather than corrupting THE kandra. Cuz if they corrupted some of THE kandra, OH BOY! And this specific kandra kamikaze’d themself and Suit! The Set has plans to destroy Scadrial after “recent advances,” which I guess they’re referring to the inability to replicate ettmetal bombs? While the South has functional bombs? Or it could be the discovery of the Bands of Mourning? So good news, it seems like Trell’s sight over Scadrial isn’t as great as Harmony’s overseeing the South and knowing of the Bands and ettmetal tech. Bad news, Trell wants to kill everyone. I’m thinking ettmetal is Harmony’s God Metal, and that makes me feel good about Sazed/Harmony’s plans In the final POV, it turns out the coin Hoid gave Wax is a coppermind medallion. He tapped the Sovereign’s memory. Half normal eyesight, half steesight. Like an Inquisitor’s eyesight, I think. The Sovereign is walking through the South, and turns out it only has mildly cold weather. His arm, lined with a network of scars layered atop of one another, as if by scraping the skin time and time again. The haunting word he’d spoken echoed in Wax’s mind. “Survive.” The Sovereign wasn’t Rashek. It was the Survivor, with a nail in his eye! Kelsier is the Sovereign! I have so many questions!!!!! THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING!!!!

The Bands of Mourning chapters 23 - 29 Loved the cons and tricks behind the Bands' true form and location. Steris admitted she loves Wax, as well Steris and Marasi having a loving sibling moment, are definitely highlights of this book. Wax and Harmony's conservation will definitely be a highlight of Era 2, and completely changes my perspective on Harmony. This talk and his frustration with the stagnation of Elendel really show he's trying to be better than his predecessors. The way I see it, he's not trying to wind everything down like Ruin. But he's also not trying to be a coddling force who removes all the world's pain or change, like how a cognizant Preservation... might be? Pretty hard to tell when The Plan involved many aspects that seem counterintuitive to maintaining the status quo. That wasn't Sazed, and it doesn't seem like Harmony either. I’m glad that Harmony, even if he could have a more open view of Hemalurgy, doesn’t seem to be rejecting Ruin’s attributes. I gotta love the mention of Harmony’s futuresight and his insight into Wax’s mind. It shows he really thought about all future possibilities before deciding Wax needed to go through pain for the world’s sake. And am I the only one who got the sense he planned things out during this book? Wax does mention Harmony puts His lines about Trust remind me of what Preservation (and his agents) did throughout his several thousand year long plan, but moderated with the Shard Ruin and Sazed’s outlook. He trusted Wax to be in line with most of Harmony's future possibilities - to deal with Paalm. He was confirmed to have maneuvered Marasi into a position where she can do good for Elendel She’s probably the most politically admirable, socially conscious person in the Era 2 crew, so I bet Harmony is subtly threading her into to changing Elendel society into something different. Considering his response about the "tiny spark" on Scadrial was "Trust," it seems like he maneuvered Marasi into tapping the Bands of Mourning. He probably put Wayne in place, considering his thefts, trades and disguises create a lot of important leads. Not sure about Steris, but I speculate she was put in place to moderate the Era 2's crew's more impulsive decisions. She plans for so many things. Wax doesn't hide a gun, she hides a gun. No one hides medallions, she hides a medallion that saves Allik's life. I think at any rate he planned things out so the Era 2 crew stops the Set from obtaining the airship's ettmetal bomb and the Bands of Mourning. Speaking of the Bands of Mourning, they're a ridiculously OP cheat code. And really, really, really, weird. Marasi’s perception with the Bands was very abnormal. Her steelsight expanded from just metals, to pointing to trace metals, to everything around her (including metals) glowing. She’s powerful enough to Push on trace metals in stone, Hemalurgic spikes, and probably the trace metals in people. She’s leaking mists. Though TBF with her, she was tapping everything and burning every metal she swallowed. Wax on the other hand... I don't know. The way I read it, Wax was tapping and burning metals at a more conservative rate than Marasi. And yet, basically the same thing happened to him. Wax with the Bands is powerful enough to rip the coin inside Suit’s mouth. His steelsight is stronger than ever - going farther and to smaller pieces of metal than ever before. He leaks mists, just like Marasi. Wax tapped zinc and thought about many scenarios, over the course of half a page, in the time it took Suit to say a single word. The weirdest thing is that for a moment, it seems as if his steelsight connected to the Investiture or souls within all metal, minds and men. The Bands of Mourning didn't come across as a metalmind, especially as they aren't created with the same process as medallions. They seem more like mediums for a mini-Ascension, like Vin drawing in the Mists themselves or Preservation's pawns using the Well of Ascension. Oh yeah, Suit is a great antagonist. Telsin is... there and the twist was mid. Telsin has no character lmao.

If I remember correctly, the woman was said to be darker than most Terriswomen. She was at Kelesina’s party dancing with Wax. Oh Harmony, ever the sly dog. So he’s been hinting to Wax and the kandra the existence of the much more advanced Southern Scadrians. Hinting towards people with the radio, aviation, bombs, advanced understanding of the Metallic Arts etc. Though in this case, I wouldn’t be surprised if both the Set and Southern Scadrians have the radio. This passage from BoM chapter 22:

Hey everyone! Good to see you here Colors! Hope you’ve been enjoying my reactions ^.^ The Bands of Mourning chapters 11 - 22 Been learning about the Southern Scadrians and their Metallic Arts. I’ve been hoping Sanderson would reveal what was outside the Final Empire, but I never expected this Unkeyed metalminds, primer cubes, Excisors, medallions, Firemothers and Firefathers. AIRSHIP! AIRSHIP! ETTMETAL BOMBS! I finally get a peek of another section of Scadrial! Except foe Arcane, I never thought magic and technology could blend together so well. Now I got theories about some of this stuff and the Metallic Arts of each Southern culture. Can't forget to talk about the strange events and people: Hoid giving what I assume is a Southern coin, the Terriswoman asking Wax about Crashers, Devlin, Edwarn's voice box (walkie-talkie?), radar seemingly being part of Wilg's navigational system etc. Steris, MeLaan and Marasi keep being absolute delights. Sanderson got so much better at writing female characters

Well this is awkward. I finished the book and forgot to give updates Shadows Chapter 19 - Epilogue Soooo Wax flew to the Field of Rebirth. We get peeks at the information and holy books created by or related to Harmony, as well as the new world's founders. AT LEAST EIGHTY VOLUMES FROM HARMONY?! Poor Dockson allegedly had his document ignored lmao. Plenty of things dedicated to the Survivor, as expected. Though apparitions caused by Kelsier during the old world's final days were mentioned, which I found very mysterious. But considering I learned the bombshell that Kelsier was a host of Preservation, this may not be too mysterious. It's interesting there are Originator quotes written in metal. And replicas of the Bands of Mourning were mentioned, which I found very sus. Nothing like that was indicated in the Final Empire’s days or the rewriting of the world. Then we see everyone's favorite wolfhound again!!! I missed Mr. Snippy Wolfhound so much!!! Small note, I can never tell if steelsight and ironsight lines are attached to piercing metal or not. Anyway, we learn kandra subtly impersonate positions like priests. This has me thinking it could be a route Harmony uses to maneuver people like Marasi. Or on a more obvious level, this could be a route to give his desired agents Pathian earrings. Like how MeLaan gave Wax his earring. We get a good bit of worldbuilding on Kredik Shaw's basement. Bet those people crapped their pants when Vin destroyed Kredik Shaw. Though now I have the hardest rusting time knowing whether or not the Shards can influence and hear the people in caverns or not TenSoon mentioned Vin and it got me crying omfg. And we learn many things about the kandra. I love the kandra’s role in this story. We get a new Hemalurgic construct which is more sus than the Bands of Mourning. I imagine them as giant mutant dogs with human hands and faces. She made them with just one spike… which is sus. The Lord Ruler had direct tutelage from the God of Hemalurgy, gained godlike knowledge from a piece of the God of Allomancy, and later became the most experienced and knowledgeable and powerful Metalborn on the planet. Even with all these attributes, the Lord Ruler couldn’t create more than three races of Hemalurgic constructs. And his constructs were created with anywhere from 2 - 9 spikes. The 2 spiked ones needing to be born from blobs created from a Shard’s power. So how is a mere kandra making all these advancements in Hemalurgy??? I think Bleeder, and possibly the Set, are working for a foreign Shard of Adonalsium. The way I see it, only a Shard’s divine intervention can teach mortals of Hemalurgy. Or at least teach them how to make advancements. Now that I said that I may or may not think Harmony played a role in Spook experimenting with Hemalurgy. Too much happens I can't describe because I got Paalm brainrot. Sorry for the disappointing summary but QWHEUBVSIFSVDHVDWBFGTBPEJWDLCAS. RIP PAAAAAALM!!! storm you Sazed. I'm disappointed in Sazed. Poor Wax. Steris is great for comforting him. Paalm was so tragic and so competent, I already miss her. Trell is terrifying. I might like Era 2's antagonists more than Era 1's. And I started Bands! I am the worst at giving updates! These books go by so quickly! Bands Prologue - Chapter 10 This entry is shaping up to be absolute PEAK! Sanderson didn’t sideline the situation with Lessie, so I’m actually starting to get into Wax as a character. Steris jumped from meh to “I will sacrifice my life to protect her.” Marasi is still “I will sacrifice my life so she doesn’t have to protect me.” Wayne finally stop being a douche with women, and his relationship with MeLaan is so refreshing!!! The comedy is top-notch as usual!!! Always great to see more of the kandra. The hints of the true potential of the Metallic Arts are absolutely terrifying. Identity manipulation and Investiture manipulation to make Feruchemy widespread. Wiping metal reserves with a touch. Whatever the rust that Leeching cube was?! I got a theory on how Blessings are different from koloss or Inquisitor spikes. I think Harmony is personally behind the Bands of Mourning and kalkis. Unless the Lord Ruler had a redemption arc as a ghost after death, there’s no way he had the selflessness to create them. At best, he might’ve made it as a contingency plan for Ruin’s release. But he definitely wouldn’t have had enough aluminum or nicrosil to make the Bands. The supposed >340 year history of the Bands is a red flag as well. I think the Bands and their history might be a long con/plan orchestrated by Harmony. I’m sure the kalkis won’t be mentioned again, but it’s fun to dream.

I'm hurt and confused. And I'm not sure how to feel, and I love it for that. Shadows of Self is completely different than its preceding book. It is different from even the Mistborn trilogy. There are themes of the stagnation of political systems, religious tension, the ethics and morals of what line God should, could, might have on interfering with the lives of his creations. After finishing off the book, I genuinely had no idea what to think about Harmony, Trell's puppeteering, Bleeder's campaign, or the state of Elendel. Something that annoyed me about Era 2's books off the bat was the noble system. There's no state sponsored murder or rape, and the nobles are more like businessmen. But it still felt like nothing changed over the last 340 years. I kept thinking... wow, this is what Kelsier died for?! This is what Vin and Elend fought to protect?! I started off hating everyone - Harmony, the Senate, constables, Wax, even Spook - for not erasing the noble system. But while reading the book I kept thinking about Sazed's limitations due to wielding the Shard of Harmony, his stance on free will, his subtle maneuvering of Wax and Marasi... and kept thinking about real life. I came to the realization that being in the role of God comes with a lot of nuance on guiding mortals. I connected the stagnation of Elendel back to the history of the US... how even though centuries has passed, many abhorrent systems are masked by seemingly more human systems. Governments are still being controlled by nobles and aristocrats, just in a different flavor. Policing has so many issues it could take 1000 years to solve. Even after finishing the book, I still think the noble system should've been completely erased. But now I'm thinking if that would've fundamentally changed things. The US doesn't have monarchs, nobles, slave plantations, or aristocrats. But corporations, billionaires, politicians, and the upper class get away with a lot, they find ways to obtain power and avoid accountability. Would Harmony be right if he gave the divine mandate of "I DECREE NO NOBLES FOR ALL OF TIME!" At that point is free will a choice? I started off blaming Harmony for not making a democratic world with no nobles. Ended off having… weird feelings about him. Like... MeLann brings up a great point about the kandra impersonating witnesses to testify against people. If Harmony allowed that, that could be a dangerous precedent. But then there's Bleeder. Bleeder is easily my favorite antagonist in the series. She's incredibly competent, her body horror is gruesome horrific, and her climax is depressingly tragic. May she rest in the Beyond. Poor Wax. This is the thing that has me feeling weird about Harmony. This hurts cuz of Sazed. storm Sazed. storm Sazed. I knew Harmony would’ve become a Chessmaster, but not like this. Sazed isn’t supposed to manipulate people. Sazed isn’t supposed to cause trauma to people But Sazed is, unfortunately, the Hero of Ages. Harmony seems to be foreseeing a great disaster caused by Trell. I’m pretty sure he’s trying to thread towards a future possibility that will save Scadrial from this disaster. He must think about the future of the entire world. It hurts that he moved Wax this way, but would there really have been any difference if he left Wax completely alone? The Set - puppets of a Shard of Adonalsium - would've subtly caused turmoil on Elendel. What if he told Wax he was hunting Lessie? TenSoon said it himself. Harmony saw the future, saw that Wax wouldn't go through with it. Bleeder - another puppet of a Shard - would've succeeded in her goals. Sure he could've maneuvered someone else, but it opens a new can of worms! I love the hints of Trell being a far scarier antagonist than it appears. I love the advancements and possibilities of Hemalurgy Trell is responsible for. Shadows of Self does a far better job than The Hero of Ages presenting gray morality in the motives and plans of gods. It also does a far better job at presenting a smart and clever antagonistic deity. I think with the conflict between Ruin and Preservation, Sanderson wrote many things that made Ruin appear too much like "the bad guy." He can say Preservation has a dark side, but we never saw it. The one reprehensible thing Preservation could've been completely responsible for - the Deepness **killing** people - ended up being the result of his frayed mind. He could've been solely responsible for the Deepness covering the Sun and killing plants, but that ended up being caused by Ruin. Ruin spoke with too much malice and joy of killing all life and destroying everything. Apart from his attributes being fundamental aspects of life and the Universe, there was no possible way I could've seen his stance as having any sort of value. Sanderson also wrote too many things that made Ruin's planning so far behind Preservation's. Preservation felt like a Xanatosian genius even on his deathbed. Ruin was a petulant child. Ruin wasn't kind, or patient, or particularly clever, or have long-spanning schemes when Sanderson presented him in the spotlight. Don't even get me started on his futuresight lmao. And tbh I don’t get why Sanderson wrote a being of death and destruction as the opposite of stasis and stability. Is he trying to say in life and creation, everything either stays the same or everything dies? I know that wasn’t his intent, but it came across that way. It’s haphazard in retrospect, and I don’t understand why that was the direction after the beauty of Kelsier’s rebellion. I still love the concept of Ruin and Preservation’s conflict, but I think it could’ve been much more developed. More nuanced. Ruin could’ve been far more of a Chessmaster or represented a different concept. With Harmony and Trell... I'm not as certain who's the good or bad guy. And so far, Trell's schemes are genuinely complex, layered, and terrifying. Even the Set are scary. Marasi grew a lot, as expected. Wayne didn't grow but he was still so much fun. Love the new dynamic of Wayne and MeLaan, who's also pretty great. ARADEL IS A MAN!!! There wasn't much of Steris this book. But she vastly improved in such a short time! Feels like she hides a lot but is actually a warm person. Look at the ending Well done, Sanderson. I give Shadows of Self ️️️️️/5.

I’ve made it to chapter 20 of Shadows of Self. Honestly, making chapter reactions to Era 2 is really hard. The chapters are very short and there isn’t much meat to the books, even though they’re very fun. I’m really liking the political and religious themes of Shadows of Self.

During my brief hiatus, I read 8 chapters of Shadows of Self. Already loving this book!!! Prologue - Sanderson’s always been great with his prologues. Lessie bounced off Wax and it was so entertaining. Loved seeing baby Wax with a more easygoing personality and less skill, and a more quiet baby Wayne. I always love when stories show off characters in their younger years. I have the same question as Wax, though. Where had Lessie keep the crossbow? Chapter 1 - Damn. They’re all dead. And nothing of value was lost! Is anyone else frustrated nobles and their petty bullcrap still exist on Scadrial? Chapter 2 - Love the chase sequence. Coinshot vs Coinshot fights are always fantastic. Loved the glimpses of Marasi's increased confidence. The lack of love between Wax and Steris is kinda depressing, or am I misreading it? Chapter 3 - Wayne talking to his hat is going in my favorite Mistborn moments. And you gotta love his accent impersonations On Marasi's side I wasn't expecting crude humor, or the channeling of the Ascendant Warrior's energy to explode a man's head. The humor was tame, but I'm surprised to see it in a Sanderson novel. I loved that this chapter was the glimpse into Elendel’s common folk and disenfranchised. Something I noticed is that Wayne has scars. Wouldn’t his Bloodmaking mend the skin of the scars? Chapter 4- The crime scene and the possibility of a Steelrunner killer was absolutely bloodcurdling. The tongue being removed gave me shivers. This book might be a recognition arc for Marasi. Chapter 5 Welp, Steelrunners are insane. You're telling me a Steelrunner is so fast they make four gunshots sound like a single gunshot? Even worse that this is a smart Steelrunner. Anyway, this was a long and really fun chapter. I appreciate that each of the different POVs have a different tone. Wayne's POV starts off comedic (well done btw) but ends off kinda depressing. Wax's POV is insightful. Feels like there's an identity crisis going on with Wax. Marasi's POV is... enlightening? Gave us a peek of even Elendel's citizens being frustrated by the police and government, which I loved. I found out some worldbuilding bits about the Terris: 1) the Terris language was dead but Harmony included it in the Words, and 2) the Terris people no longer live in the North. #1 is interesting cuz there are so many ways this could've done. Harmony analyzing the history of the world, its people and texts. He could've analyzed the inherited information of a Terris linguistics Keeper. He could've analyzed Ruin's manipulation of the Keeper and Worldbringer copperminds, which I guess happened over the course of at least 2000 years. It's also interesting because... what language were Sazed, Tindwyl and stewards speaking in the trilogy? #2 makes me sad. From a worldbuilding perspective, I honestly don’t know whether to see this as a positive or negative. Though I think I see the intent behind this change, and respect it. It's interesting the broadsheet story and now Idashwy’s disappearance are mentioning spirits of dead loved ones. Very interesting. I think these are either kandra or Harmony reviving people (or using Shard level Forgery to give the illusion of revival). Chapter 6 The constable needs a drink for acknowledging that the protestors shouldn't be blamed much, and that something needs to change. I understand Wax's rebuttal, but for once I think he needs to rust himself. But the star of this chapter is that Idashwy's killer knows Hemalurgy!!! They must've used a pewter spike. The stakes bumped up so quickly omg. This is bad. But good news, seems like Ironeyes and Harmony foresaw something like this was going to come. For Harmony, I already suspected something was up once he revealed he sent Wax and conveniently recovered Wax’s trunk. So my guess with this case is that Harmony foresaw a Hemalurgic killer would, could, might appear within a year. So he sent Marsh to give Spook’s book to Marasi and Wax, in preparation for when the event happens. I know it's claimed Marsh gave the book out of his own free will, and I'm sure his free will's there. But I'd be surprised if Harmony wasn't giving some kind of direction. For Marsh, I wonder whether he’s using conventional prediction and knowledge, or magical foresight. I bet he’s still alive because of atium Compounding, and we know he had a duralumin spike in book 3. Maybe he burned atium + duralumin to see a future vision? Then again if he's being guided, or nudged, or instructed by Harmony he'd be puppeteered by far superior futuresight anyway. I'm very surprised Spook experimented with Hemalurgy. Also, apparently coating spikes in blood prevents Hemalurgic Decay. Chapter 7 Hoid spotted. His job today is a coachman. Why is he a coachman lmao. At least he was doing important things in Sel. This was the doozy. Wax and Harmony were talking. Lots of implications about lots of things. So first, we got the confirmation Wax's Pathian earring is a Hemalurgic spike given to him by a kandra. I am shocked! Shocked! Well not that shocked. Then we got a funny moment of Wax almost shooting the coach. Then we get a passage about the effects of firing the gun, the cost, the compatibility of the new wood paneling, and when Miss Grimes would bring it to the shop. This must be a glimpse of Harmony's futuresight. No surprise he has it, but if it’s a combination of Preservation and Ruin’s futuresight (did he ever use it?) capabilities, then there are a lot of implications. Harmony calls himself the Hero of Ages. As always, that gives me chills. I'm sure he discovered a virtually infinite amount of plans connected to Alendi, Rashek, Vin, and the true Hero. So I'm happy to see him confidently pronouncing himself as the Hero. And I'm hoping Sanderson someday takes off the veil on the previous Heroes and the original prophecies. Turns out Harmony can control a person pierced by too much Hemalurgy. Koloss with their four spikes, and Inquisitors with their minimum of 9 spikes certainly count. But I'm wondering why kandra with their two spikes fall under this threshold. Maybe it has to do with their original structure as mistwraiths? I'm guessing one spike (and possibly the resulting insanity?) pierces the soul enough they can speak to or influence the kandra's mind, but not completely control them. I wonder if they can speak to a mistwraith. And I wonder what Harmony meant when he said Bleeder disobeyed a Contract with him. Speaking of, turns out Preservation hears people's thoughts while Ruin speaks to minds. Each only had one-half of telepathy, and supposedly it's only when a person is pierced by a spike. So uhm, to me this sounds too fishy. Just before this sequence and during Wax's final battle with the Vanishers, Harmony heard Wax’s thoughts when he didn’t wear the earring. Sounds like Harmony is lying about his mind reading being limited to spike bearers. And I remember a certain epigraph said if a person doesn’t wear a Hemalurgic spike, but is unstable, it makes them more susceptible to Ruin’s influence. I'm probably overthinking but I always read this as Ruin naturally having the ability to speak to the minds of stable people without spikes. What if Harmony is, to some extent, pretending to be impotent? However, Bleeder can hide from Harmony's divine sight and learned to take powers. This is terrifying and seems like a genuine sign of impotence. But at the same time, Harmony doesn't sound completely blind to her devices. He can speak to Bleeder, hear her thoughts, and spot her obvious actions. And he knows how she's switching out spikes. After all this, Harmony gives Wax a vision of his being. And we get juicy stuff on how he's handling being God. He's not doing a good job. I think there’s conflict between Sazed the host and the Shards (or Shard?) he holds. I theorize this is occurring because Harmony is the embodiment of balance and neutrality. Or it could stem from Harmony being an expression of Ruin and Preservation’s combination... that leaves him unable to act. They must be in perfect balance between the need for life (and protection) and the need for death (and destruction and chaos). Sazed wants to act, but Harmony can only act if both life or death are present in Sazed's actions. Or perhaps it can only act if balance and neutrality are present in Sazed's actions? But Discord from the Terris Prophecies could act Harmony mentions that the radio should've been introduced a century ago, and "other people." This is juicy af. Finally he reveals he has other human agents. He said he maneuvered Marasi into a position that would help the city. That’s a small quote, but has lots of implications going forward. What is Harmony’s plan for Marasi? BTW, Harmony using Marasi - a statistics focused person - as a pawn has me wondering how Shards would understand statistics. I just gotta gush about Marasi calling out the corrupt constables. She's grown so much and anyone who exposes pigs deserves my love Here we go! Harmony's agents off to save the city!

I know this is a short book but it’s tradition for me so, here we go To start with off, I learned a lot from the Ars Arcanum lmao. And it’s written just like an in-universe document This marks the first time Investiture has been properly mentioned in Mistborn. IIRC the Words of Founding hint at certain attributes of Investiture or the Shards, but the terms weren’t named. And apparently there are three… categories? End-positive, end-neutral, and end-negative. It seems like end-positive forms of Investiture are drawn from the corresponding Shard. Now it turns out Allomancy isn’t fueled by the metal! Instead the metal is the key to… I guess it would be the fueling “gate” that is the Shard of Preservation/Harmony. I love the phrase “Allomancy is brutal, raw, and powerful.” I learned the Allomantic powers for cadmium, bendalloy, chromium, and nicrosil. Bendalloy is so rusting awesome, mate. Cadmium has its uses (16 apologies to Marasi). Nicrosil is… interesting, sounds like duralumin applied to others. Chromium sounds very dangerous. “hardwritten into their spiritweb…” I’m sure there are other implications, but I was right! Allomancy is caused by the soul, not genetics! That’s why Hemalurgy can steal the ability to use it! Feruchemy is end-neutral, so I guess end-neutral Investiture comes from the user’s own body. The really interesting thing here is that Feruchemy seems to be categorized based on the three Realms! (bless you Shai ). Some in the Physical Realm, some in the Cognitive Realm, and some in the Spiritual Realm! The Spiritual Realm powers are apparently being heavily experimented by the Terris. \_PLEASE\_ tell me I get scenes of the Terris community!!! I love the trilogy, but the sidelining of the Terris are one of my biggest issues with it. And apparently inbreeding of Feruchemists is mentioned. So that’s why Ferrings and Twinborn exist! No more Feruchemists with all powers. Sad but this makes me excited to see the competency of less powerful magic users. **Cool but weird Feruchemical powers** Cadmium stores breath… which is wtf. I can see many ways how Gaspers could do wrong. Goddamn, cadmium can never catch a break on the scale of usefulness. I’m gonna need Harmony to tell me how these could possibly be useful. Especially in an era where oxygen tanks aren’t accessible. Though to be fair, I can see both powers being useful for special ops or explorers. Being a bendalloy Subsumer is my wet dream. I can gorge on sweets without feeling like trash. Bendalloy Compounders got it good Being an electrum Pinnacle sounds like a psychological nightmare. Even though I struggle with demotivation and self-esteem issues I’m not certain about wanting this power. Mania absolutely doesn’t sound pleasant. I’m curious how this would affect people with chronic depression or mental “instability.” **New Feruchemical powers I don’t understand** Chromium Spinners store fortune, manipulating their luck. This sounds very useful. I’d like to talk about how it might play on a divine scale. This power is ultimately fueled by two Shards of Adonalsium… I think manipulation of fortune is a factor of why Ruin and Preservation’s plans were seamlessly pulled off. Make events unlucky here, lucky there, and they could subtly lead mortals without anyone knowing. Aluminum Trueself is an awesome name for a Ferring. It’s also… esoteric. What even is this? It stores spiritual sense of identity… Okay? What are the filling and tapping effects And I didn’t think aluminum could ever be affected by mortal magic Duralumin Connecters sound like the ultimate assassins, thieves or politicians. Store spiritual connection, and it sounds like you can sneak anywhere. A character in the broadsheet was a Connecter who could sneak past \*\*koloss.\*\* Tap spiritual connection, and you become the most charismatic person around. I wonder if the Lord Ruler used Feruchemical duralumin in his conquest of the world. I think Harmony is manipulating spiritual connection so Wayne can make his trades. If God manipulates it, Wayne can sneak anywhere and make any trade without others getting suspicious. Harmony sent Wax, could he have sent Wayne? Welp, nicrosil Soulbearers are a new headache. Ever since I learned the word Investiture from Elantris AA I thought Feruchemists were storing Investiture in their metalminds? Now it turns out Soulbearers specifically store Investiture in nicrosilminds? So what the hell are other Feruchemists storing Looks like this quartet of Feruchemical powers are the ones with feelers in the Spiritual Realm. **Hemalurgy** Hemalurgy is end-negative focused in the Spiritual Realm - the soul. Not hard to see why. There’s killing people to steal soul pieces, the Law of Hemalurgic Decay, and probably other things I’m forgetting. Considering it can make an infinite amount of horror movie monsters, I understand why the author is so interested in it. Though it sounds like the author is a person from another planet - like Hoid. I don’t think I wanna see foreigners experiment with Hemalurgy. Harmony’s powers are pretty terrifying, and I forgot how terrifying Ruin could’ve been ~~if Sanderson didn’t throw him the Idiot Ball too many times.~~ Despite this, IDK how to feel about Hemalurgy being unknown. It’s a scary art, but I don’t think it’s evil. Kinda like Ruin… in a way. The personality of the users (or monsters) might be evil. The ways it’s used might be evil. But the art itself is neutral, I think. A bit like Allomancy. And from the vibe I got from Rashek being unable to make new Hemalurgic constructs, it feels impossible to make advancements in Hemalurgy without divine intervention. There must be a way to make Hemalurgy ethical.. right? “…and the only known practitioners of it now are the kandra, who **(for the most part)** serve Harmony.” Uhm, for the most part? What u not telling me mysterious author? Speaking of this, I thought the koloss would be practicing Hemalurgy. Does the birth of new koloss work differently now? Something called God Metals is mentioned, which I guess would be atium and the Mistborn maker candy. And there can be 16 God Metal alloys each, usable in Allomancy. And there could metalminds made of God Metal alloys …. hmmm **Theories:** 1. Harmony has a plan in motion connected to the nonexistence of Mistborn. I know people say interbreeding is the cause, but I believe the complete lack of Mistborn is too clean for interbreeding to be the sole cause. Not even Spook’s line of Allomancers had a Mistborn, yet even a Tineye could bore one. I believe Harmony rewrote all Scadrian souls to remove Mistborn from existence. 2. Harmony also has a plan connected to Marsh giving Marasi and Wax that book. I know Marsh said his action is separate from Harmony’s will, but I’d be surprised if he had absolutely no involvement. Main reason I say this is because the broadsheets confirm Marsh and the kandra have been appearing all over Elendel, and there's one instance of possible revival. 3. Is Kelsier still around??? Marsh said Wax is doing Kel’s work 4. Trell, men of gold and red, the final metal. Hmm. Don’t have a theory on this, but it’s ominous.

Very late on this, but thanks. I also want to expand on Harmony’s Ascension, but I should definitely finish Era 2 before doing this. And tbh some ideas I have are fanfiction territory lol.

Ah, I get it. I should put it in my profile lol. Save everyone the headache

Thanks for making me hyped I think I’ve mentioned this before. I’ve read Elantris and Emperor’s Soul, but haven’t yet read Stormlight Archive.

I finished The Alloy of Law right before the end of 2023!! I had an absolute blast with it!! Wax, Wayne and Marasi were a rusting hoot together! Wax’s deductions of the Vanishers’ crimes were some of my favorite parts of the book. Marasi’s criminal theories and growing friendship with Wax and Wayne were very entertaining. Wayne is EASILY the funniest Cosmere character so far. Wayne has too many lines of comedy gold. I knew I’d love him after “tea’s poisoned.” I thought each of the three MCs had a surprising amount of depth. Marasi grew a surprising amount in such a short number of chapters. I was flabbergasted that her cadmium power saved the day. Wayne’s backstory of killing a father kinda tugged on my heart. I think Wax’s ongoing trauma over killing Lessie was a nice touch, and I hope Sanderson doesn’t sideline it. I loved Miles both as an antagonist and a character. As an antagonist, he was very competent with a horrifying power. Ever since watching Hellsing Ultimate I realized the horror of regenerators. They’ll just keep coming back from any wound, and their healing looks disgusting at certain points. Miles’ power did not disappoint. He was a Pewterarm without being a Pewterarm. And as a character, I really like him. His frustration with the justice system is very relatable. He felt his actions weren’t helping people, as if he was stuck in a cycle. His dislike of Elendel feels like something you’d see in our world - a prominent city believed to be manipulating a poorer city. I wish he survived the book’s events. The advancements of Allomancy and technology took this book to a new level. Whether it’s Wax’s Twinborn combo or Miles’ Compounding, gunplay interwining with Steelpushing, aluminum’s negation of magic, or Ranette’s Ironpulling interacting with the tech of her home. I never knew magic could combine so well with tech and guns. I was flabbergasted at the ridiculous limits of Wax’s Steelpushing, astounded by Miles’ healing output and the ridiculous number of embedded gold, and amazed by Wayne stealing DIO’s whole rusting flow. Tbh I’m still in awe from Wax and Wayne killing like 30 Vanishers, and the train fight, and Wayne having whole conversations in the time it takes to utter a single word. It’s even crazier that these are feats done with less raw power than Vin, Kelsier, and especially the Lord Ruler. No wonder both gods wanted the Lord Ruler to die. I have several theories cuz of the lack of Mistborn, broadsheets, and the Sanderlanche. My main theory is that Harmony has a plan in motion.

I actually finished reading a third book before the year ended The Alloy of Law was so much fun!!! I never knew magic could combine so well with tech. All the main characters had a great combination of charm and depth, especially Miles and Wayne. Loved Wax and Marasi too. The comedy was very good imo. I’m pretty sure Harmony has a plan in motion.

That WoB was made in 2008, before Brandon likely brainstormed the potency of things like gold Compounding. This one hasn’t aged well. Alloy of Law Chapter 11 admittedly acknowledges feats like this could be rumors: Alloy of Law Chapter 15 confirms these rumors are fact:

One Piece meme reference They aren’t. Miles can heal from shooting himself in the face point-blank with a shotgun. The Lord Ruler was storing health for far longer, has far greater understanding and experience in Feruchemy, and has far stronger Allomancy so presumably his gold Compounding alone would be miles stronger than Miles. Healing from decapitation or burnings would be casual for the Lord Ruler.

I learned offscreen Haki and made it to Chapter 16. Almost done! Chapters 12-15 This book is so much fun!!! I love how Sanderson has developed the Metallic Arts - aluminum, Twinborns and Compounding, guns interacting with Allomancy, Ranette’s Ironpulling affecting tech etc. As for the characters, Wax and Wayne are a lot of fun but have a surprising amount of character insight!! Marasi is also fun and I feel like she’ll grow a lot. The antagonist Miles Hundredlives is surprisingly deep, and his power is lowkey body horror.

I think this is precisely what will happen in the Elantris sequels. I think some mysterious events in Elantris 1 were parts of a precognitive plot by Devotion and Dominion, to hand down the Shards to a new Vessel (or two). Especially now that I know, cuz of this thread, that the first Elantrians and the city of Elantris existed before their gods' deaths. I also think the Shaod could've been a power programmed by Devotion to advance her schemes. If the Dor returns to the Spiritual Realm I think it would remove the "location affects strength" limitation of Selish magic.

Hiyas, hiyas! Welcome to the Shard! Nice to meetcha!

Chapter 11 Rust and Ruin, Miles is a regenerator!! Coming from a Hellsing fan those are one of the worst powers to fight! Our Big Bad is a regenerator and his second in command is a koloss blooded Pewterarm - the ultimate healer and tank builds lol. I finally learned what Compounding is!! So this is what Sazed meant w/ his theory on burning metalminds. This is terrifying! This mf rumored to have healed from a point-blank shotgun blast to the face So uhm, gold Compounding this is what the Lord Ruler used to do insanity like heal from a skeleton????? Speaking of which he’s called the Sliver now. Love these nods to FE’s important people. I love the new world seeing them as myths, religious figures and legends I learned that Marasi is an Allomancer - Pulser. Slow down time around herself. Uhm sorry to further deflate your balloon Marasi, but your power sucks. I appreciate your effort to be a confident girlboss, but you need a better power. Green Goblin voice: “Anyone else getting deja vu?” Closer than I should have. Absolutely love they included names of the crew and the Empire’s major figures. Though a city named after Rashek is… yeah…

I don’t want to bring current events into this but since Brandon made an analogy with the isolationism of the Jews, I have to wonder if ancient atrocities happened to the Terris ancestors.

The semester is over! I’m back to reading! Chapter 10 Wax and Marasi’s heart-to-heart was beautiful. It’s been a while since I read a full Sanderson novel, last one I read was Elantris. This was the kind of depth I loved in Shai from TES, and I think Wax and Wayne will have some depth too. Wayne’s comedic moments were great too, but that’s expected lol. Especially like the scene where they radiate Lego Batman energy: Wayne: “Wax, it’s been 5 years. You still owe me 16 notes.” Wax and Marasi: “Rust off.” We get some of the new world’s terminology, with this Field of Rebirth. It’s enough to make a grown man cry Looks like Spook made tombs dedicated to Vin and Elend I love and miss those three so much Marewill flowers... Nooo wayyyy, dedicated to Mare??? Another reference to the Originators, but this time we get a clear definition. The people cradled by Harmony in the caverns. Earlier chapter said 1/5th of the numbers were Terris. The World of Ash sounds like a Soulsborne DLC It was mentioned the Words of Founding had drawings and plans for Elendel. I’m probably looking too deep into this, but it sounds like Harmony could already gaze into the future (future, future). Unless it’s Spider-Man related I haven’t heard the name Miles in awhile. Miles Dagouter… I remember his name from the earlier chapters! With an epithet like Hundredlives, I have to wonder what Twinborn combo he’s got.