Windrunner

This is interesting. If not all Inquisitors have the same spikes built into them then it makes me wonder, Where is the dividing line between humans and Inquisitors? I know they aren't human anymore but they can still have children with humans. (would those kids have Allomancy even though their parent got it through Hemalurgy?) I mean are there a certain number or type of spikes that makes an Inquisitor not a human anymore? Or is any human that is spiked with an Allomanic or Feruchemic attribute considered an Inquisitor? If that's true this would mean Vin is technically an Inquisitor!

While I agree that Endowment (or any other Shard really) could give up their powers, I don't think that Endowment is going to be driven to give itself away because Brandon said that Shards don't try to apply their intent to themselves. I got the quote by Brandon below from the Principe of Intent topic, so if you really want to find the original interview its from you should ask Chaos. I think if its true for three other Shards it should hold true for Endowment as well

I was under the impression that "seeing" with iron and steel and their extra power came from being savants. I can't find the quote but I'm pretty sure that Marsh said that he had been blind when he became an Inquisitor and after flaring those metals for a while he began to see more easily. I'm sure that savant level powers would be enough to overcome any regular Mistborn, even accounting with Hemalurgic decay.

Why would Endowment need to switch Shardholders? I don't know why they would want to, intent will influence you no matter how new you are to the power. Even Rashek was in a preservative mode at the Well, and he held only a Sliver of Preservation. Did something in Warbreaker suggest that Endowment changes Shardholders, or is it just the fact that Brandon keeps RAFOing this question? Personally I think he might just be teasing us a little bit, Endowment always felt female to me but that's just my gut talking, I can't cite any evidence.

I've got one question that is semi on topic about the steel alphabet. Are their any patterns in the symbols that show the attributes of the metal? Like any patterns that you've noticed so you could look at the symbol for pewter and go, "oh, that's the Physical, internal, pushing metal because of these attributes in the symbol, like location or number of the spikes or location and number of the rings? The only one that I've been able to find is that if the dot is on the inside it is pushing, and if it is on the outside it is pulling. Maybe I'm insane and the symbols are just there to look cool but the fact that dots are in a pattern makes me wonder if there are other more subtle patterns that anyone can catch

I'm going to have to disagree with you here. You can't compound traits that you're storing, so all you have to use is regular storing. I doubt that anyone goes around at anything less then half their weight, because like Wax says, if you don't weigh much it gets hard to move around. Also with heat, I'm pretty sure that a lot of that comes from chemical reactions that go on inside your body. Just because you've stopped compounding heat, doesn't mean that your body stops living, and so those chemical reactions give you heat. I don't think that's something that can turn off. Storing breath, I'm kind of on the fence about this one. Just because you don't need air would that shut off your body's subconscious impulse to breathe? I'm sure that you could hold you're breath consciously but I don't think that would stop you're body from continuing to naturally breathe when you are able. Similar points for determination, would your mind stop whatever chemical reactions give the mind determination? Maybe, I think this is more likely then your body forgetting that it needs to breathe.

Hmm, I think it's semi-ironic, however it also makes a certain amount of sense. Sure their powers can be used for killing and destruction, but its just like how they received their powers, Snapping to Preserve themselves in a moment of danger. The connection to Preservation is so the Allomancer can use their magic to preserve themselves, and everything else worth saving even if it requires destruction. However it is a kind of brutal, ends justify the means Preservation.

Thanks for this! I searched but I couldn't locate it anywhere. I think that the first things to notice here are some obvious contradictions, how could an Inquisitor burn a spike, if they had to have been killed by it in order to access its power? Brandon obviously changed his mind here on what he wanted to do with spike burning, which throws everything said here into question. I think we are interpreting this quote differently, you see Inquisitors burning eye spikes, while they are in their head, I see them removing a spike from their eye, and then burning it. I can't tell from the question which they meant. But one thing to notice is that when Vin has her earring in, she never feels an extra store of bronze in her reserves, even when she is completely out of metals in the Lord Ruler's or Yomen's dungeons. If she was able to burn that spike she would have felt it. Sorry about this, I wasn't very clear. I meant not compounding ever again, so I obviously wasn't paying attention. I don't think he was burning these atiumminds, they were already filled with age from when he had previously burned other the atiumminds that he had stored age in while in his secret sanctum. You are however right in saying that he wasn't compounding while Vin was killing him, just tapping massive amounts of age. I think you are probably right on here, I think this is what is so dangerous about compounding, if Miles ran out of gold he would be screwed. I totally forgot that stopping compounding could be dangerous, although for some things, like weight, body heat or maybe some of the cognitive or temporal attributes, it really wouldn't matter.

Sorry, I don't mean to be a buzzkill but you are burning lerasium the first time you ingest it. This is from the 17th Shard interview with Brandon in September of 2010. (I wish I knew how to put that in the quote heading) The function of pure Lerasium is to increase a person's connection to Preservation, that increased connection makes them a Mistborn as a side affect.

Do you have a quote for that? I was under the impression that they could burn spikes but only if they took them out of their body and actually shaved them and swallowed them. Since Brandon has made a big deal out of how he wants metals to be used like we metabolize food I don't think you can burn just any metal piercing the body. It has to be in the stomach. I also remember reading that burning would be painful because the burner would actually be grafting the sDNA of the the person who was spiked to their own. The pain would end up rendering them unconscious, If you want me to actually find the quotes I'll check the Brandonothology. I'm certain he does though. This is how compounding works, the only reason Brandon didn't actually show him burning goldminds is probably because it's implied, the magic is explained well enough that we don't actually have to see him do it in order to understand whats happening. Why is it dangerous to stop? The only compounding I see being dangerous to stop is age, because if you were old enough you would die without it. If he stopped tapping gold he wouldn't become sickly or anything, he would just go back to having the health of a normal person (maybe with a bit of decreased immunity because he wasn't used to being sick). I don't think Miles had to be constantly tapping gold, it was more along the lines of an addiction. He was so addicted to not being able to get sick, or have headaches, or feel pain, that he was mentally dependent on the goldminds, but not physically.

I'm pretty sure that the fact that all the cosmere books were in chronological order is just a coincidence. After all Alloy of Law just broke this pattern, and I don't think that Brandon has even confirmed that Dragonsteel is the last cosmere series he will write. It seems likely that it will be but I don't think that means that it happened last.

Ah! That makes sense. If you can world-hop with Shadesmar, then I'm sure you can get anywhere you want in the worlds, provided you know where it is. Umm kind of. In the HoA Q&A Peter confirmed that there was at least one other piece of Lerasium at the Well, and the only other person who seems to have any possible motivation to secretly take a piece of Lerasium is Hoid.

I don't have the Way of Kings with me, but when Shallan writes Jasnah her letter and is waiting for her to find it, it says that there are only nine types of gemstones used in the spheres. It did not say however, which type of gem was not used. I'll look for the exact quote and put it up as soon as possible. I imagine it is either Heliodor, or Zircon, because I can't remember ever seeing those types of gems used as currency. I wonder if there is any reason that one of the gems wasn't used.

Thank you! I was looking in the wrong spot the whole time. I'm sure you're right about Hoid listening in on them, which is interesting. If he found out so close to when Vin took the power he either hustled to Kredik Shaw with an Allomancer buddy before Vin found the Well, or sneaked in afterward, which suggests that the Well does produce Lerasium every time it refills, or else Vin would have seen the extra bead there.

Hi, I know bout the Cosmere and Shards and everything but I had a question about Hoid, and I figured that this would be the best place to ask it, rather then starting up a new topic. My question is, where specifically, is Hoid in WoA? I know he left the footprints in Kredik Shaw and took the Lerasium from the Well of Ascension. However, I heard that Hoid disguises himself as a Terrisman, and overhears, Vin or Elend or someone else, talking about the Well and he gets a hint that helps him figure out where it is before them. I've combed the book and missed it every time, so can anyone help me out here?

A little off topic here but if The Stormlight Archive, and the Second Mistborn trilogy happen concurrently, then I guess that MIGHT (heavy emphasis here) have been where Hoid vanished to during the Way of Kings

I can't find the quote right now but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that there is supposed to be another Expanse on the bottom left behind where the Shadesmar label is. I think it said they took it off because that was the only place the Shadesmar label looked good or something. Edit: Found it! This quote is by Peter Ahlstrom from the Observation on Shardesmar topic. Where did you get 5 for Yolen? That's the world of Dragonsteel right? And I thought that Dragonsteel was set before the Shattering of Andonalsium, but I could be wrong about that. It would be cool if this map did show all of Shadesmar!

This is so exciting! Although I was so sure that Skai's Shard was Unity, I think Dominion fits a lot better with the magic. While this makes sense I disagree. I think that they are opposites like Ruin and Preservation. They are two opposite reasons for following someone. You believe in an idea or follow a person, either because of your Devotion, or because they have Dominion over you. The two Shards being opposites also fits with my theory that only opposite (or maybe paired?) Shards can form a balance magic like Feruchemy or ChayShan.

I always wondered if maybe since some of the metals stole the little bits of Preservation inside people, the Human Attributes, (Iron Zinc Tin and Copper) that the remaining metals stole the part of Ruin inside people. I'm not sure what the Ruinous Attributes would be though. I'm pretty sure in the back of the Hero of Ages it just called this quadrant the Temporal Metals. I would check it myself but I lent my book to my dad.

I always saw this somewhat differently. I thought that the fact that Ruin and Preservation were such perfect opposites was the reason they couldn't create separately. Anytime one tried to do something major, the other blocked him. I know that creation isn't Preservation but if he's creating to preserve I don't see why he wouldn't be able to create something. Ruin after all builds things up to destroy. I think that if they had been on separate planets they would have had no problem creating things on their own.

I think I can answer this one. This is from the back of the hardcover copy of the Way of Kings when it's talking about their supposed victory over the Voidbringers. This seems to me to be very much in line with Odium's intent, he would want hatred to divide all of mankind, but giving them a common enemy only brings them together in their struggle for survival. As much as I would like to see an anti-Andonalsium it seems like this would be a better plot line if Brandon ever decides to write a conflux book.

Yes! Thank you for asking him this. I was worried that maybe this was a plot hole or something, and either Brandon would have to contrive some solution afterward, or he would have to cut Marsh from future books. Since he kind of side stepped saying how Marsh got his Feruchemical Age storing abilities I think there is something interesting going on here. I like the idea that Sazed is keeping him alive the best.

There are pretty cool! I liked the hanging one alot. The whole grandfather paradox solved thing went straight over my head though. Whenever I hear quantum anything my brain shuts down. Oh, Some1else, what page is the Dalinar quote in your sig from? I've read the Way of Kings so many times but I've managed to miss that one completely. It's one of the best lines I have ever read!

No hurry or anything like that but is there a time that you guys are trying to have the interview posted by? I'm trying to decide whether or not I want to buy the RPG for the Feruchemical Table of Metals and the new content and it would really help me decide if I could hear about it from the people who made it.

One of the things that I've been wondering since I found out that Marsh was now immortal, thanks to the same trick the Lord Ruler used, is how? As I understand it, the Lord Ruler would fill an atiummind with youth, then burn it with Allomancy creating a new metal that gave him a larger amount of youth than he put in. Then he would store all the new age again and live off of that. So in order for Marsh to perform the same trick he would have to be able to both burn and store Atium. My question is why would Marsh have a Hemalurgic spike to give him the ability to store age? The Lord Ruler certainly didn't give it to him because he wouldn't't want another immortal. Ruin planned on destroying the world, so he wouldn't have bothered giving Marsh the ability to store Atium if he just planned on killing him. So then, how did Marsh end up with the ability to store Atium? The only possibility I have been able to come up with is that maybe Ruin gave it to Marsh as a sort of fail-safe. Ruin might have been worried that Vin would suceed in thwarting his plan for the apocalypse, so he wanted at least one immortal servant to help him in case he had to start again. Does anybody have any better ideas than this one, or maybe an explanation from Brandon? To me at least this idea seems a little weak so I would welcome any clarity.