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Hi MadRand. Would you mind providing a link to the source of that WoB? Anyway, the eyes are one of the ten Body Focuses associated with the Essences. I've always thought that the Body Focuses were integral to how humans access Investiture on Roshar, and we see Shallan deliberately blinking her eyes when taking her Memories, so I think she's actually performing a Body Focus-based Investiture when doing that. I've theorized before that each Surgebinder has access to the abilities of two Orders, even if they can only join one Order. I'm not even talking about Orders that share the same Surge... For example, Kaladin can heal his wounds, which based on the table of the Essences is likely an ability of the Edgedancers (Vev Order/Lucentia), even though we see him Windrunning (Jes Order/Zephyr) most of the time, and those two Orders do not share Surges. So Kaladin has access to both Zephyr and Lucentia powers. If my theory is correct, Shallan probably has access to an additional Essence aside from Blood, and perhaps that's where her Memory ability comes from. Edit: Found something in the Interlude-That-Must-Not-Be-Discussed that contradicts my theory. Oh well.

I live in the Philippines. I don't think we'll be winning new Steelhunt codes any time soon, Kadrok, not unless Brandon gives some away online. Anyway, good luck to everyone who can participate in the hunt! :-) And please hurry up because I want to see the new Cosmere-related info sooo bad...

I can see that as a possible way to read the memories stored in a Coppermind, the way a ghost can pass through walls and see what's inside. That would be very useful. But in order to actually take a stored attribute like, say, Strength, I imagine you will have to convince the metalmind that you are its owner. At least, that's my theory about it.

Ooh! It's nice that my old Feruchemy threads are being revisited. I noticed there were some formatting problems in the thread-starting post, so I went and fixed that. Sorry if that caused any confusion. I've already heard the theory that you can store all your Identity in an Aluminummind (achieving a complete lack of Identity) and then gain access to another person's metalminds. My objection about that theory is that if metalminds use their owner's Identity as a "key" to unlock their contents, how would a lack of Identity possibly equate to that key? Why should a metalmind allow someone access just because he doesn't have any discernible Identity? One theoretical way to tap another person's metalminds using Aluminum Feruchemy is if a Feruchemist can store another person's Identity by touching that person while activating an Aluminummind. Then once you have his Identity, obviously you could now tap his metalminds. I don't have any evidence that this "Identity theft" thing is possible, though.

Obtain Allomancy-grade metals (assuming I already know the correct ratios for the alloys). Immediately start Compounding Gold Feruchemy to make a bunch Goldminds, and embed those in my body Miles-style. Collect my one million dollars from James Randi (asking him to keep my powers a secret; I'm sure he'd be very glad to). Live my dream life. No need to tell you the details; suffice to say a million dollars initial capital plus TLR's powers should be enough to achieve it. A thousand years of a relatively modest but pleasant life? Count me in! I think a more interesting question, though, is what you would do if you were the Lord Ruler. What if you were Rashek, standing in front of the Well of Ascension on that fateful moment after killing Alendi? What would you have done differently? How would you solve the problem of the Deepness and Ruin's growing influence? How would you have handled the knowledge that the same threat would return in a thousand years? Edit: I suppose my plot-related questions belong more in the actual Mistborn discussion forum than in here.

Yeah, thanks a bunch for doing this give-away, Joe ST!

I also would like a free signed book, preferably one that has never been in contact with any kind of fire.

I've been re-reading Orson Scott Card's Ender series in anticipation for the Ender's Game movie later this year. So far, I finished Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, Shadows in Flight, and First Meetings. I also took the time to read the new prequels Earth Unaware and Earth Afire. Tonight I'm starting with Shadow of the Giant, then after that perhaps I'll end the re-read with Ender in Exile. There were several books in the Ender series that I just didn't like, so I'm skipping those. I remember not even bothering to read the rest of the "Piggies" story line after the snore fest that was Speaker for the Dead. Also, does anyone else agree with me that Achilles de Fladres is an awful one-dimensional character and is one of the worst villains of all time? I just hate the guy. He ruined Shadow of the Hegemon and Shadow Puppets for me, and I really, really hope he won't be making an appearance in the movie.

Ah, so your understanding of Hemalurgy was the correct one, not mine. Congrats, Shardlet!

I can imagine Realmatic Rithmatists living on Sel, where the manifestations of Investiture are form-based. Here are some similarities between Selish magic and Rithmatics: The Rithmatic lines remind me of the geometric shapes of Aons. Shadowblazes and the Forgotten are like Seons and Skaze The Inception ceremony is like a combination of the Shaod and the process of bonding with a Seon (well, really, it's more like the Nahel Bond with spren on Roshar, but let's focus on Sel here) The requirement to use chalk is similar to Forgery's ink requirement and Bloodsealing's blood requirement

Hi there, Wherethewindgoes! I myself have speculated before (as part of a very complicated set of wild theories) that Voidbringers had Death->Damnation->Resurrection cycles just like the Heralds. It's nice to know someone else thought of that idea. It's fun making these kinds of speculations while we still have nothing but a few tantalizing clues about the Voidbringers. As for the Parshmen slaves, I think it's probable that there was a (seemingly) good justification for enslaving them in the past, but it would be nice if the protagonists could find a way to abolish slavery and make peace with the Parshendi in the end.

I'm not sure if you've seen Wetlandernw's reply to your comment on Whelan's article: I am no sword expert so I really have no opinion on the matter. As for the rest of the scene depicted in the cover, I'm really starting to worry about Kaladin. Szeth has had a lot more experience with Windrunning, and we can see here that Kaladin doesn't even have Shardplate when they finally face each other. My only hope is that Szeth has run out of Stormlight by that point, or that Syl has an awesome trick up her sleeve to help Kaladin fight Surgebinding Shardbearers.

So, two Cosmere stories this year. For me, that makes up for the WoR delay. Can't wait!

Invested objects like Metalminds and Hemalurgic spikes are known to be somewhat resistant to the effects of other forms of Investiture. (Could someone please post the relevant WoB? I'm on my phone right now. Thanks!) That could be why Gold Feruchemy can't push Metalminds out of the user's body.

Right now I'm trying to finish Douglas Hoftadter's "Gödel, Escher, Bach", which I started reading around January but has been sitting almost forgotten until recently. Also, I'm following two on-going Harry Potter fanfics: Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by Eliezer Yodowsky of Less Wrong, and Harry Potter and the Natural 20. But mostly I just read blogs, Wikipedia articles, and API documentations. Yeah, I gotta get myself a new real novel to read soon.

Ah, so that's why using "investiture" as a search keyword didn't work. Thanks Shardlet! *upvotes* Well, yeah, we know that Odium has already Splintered at least three Shards that we know of (Dominion, Devotion, and Honor), so we know he likes breaking others. That kind of goes with being the personification of hatred. But I don't think English grammar allows "the Broken One" to be interpreted as "the One Who Breaks".[1] That's why I think Odium itself could be in a broken state right now, even with a single holder (i.e. Rayse). [1]Not that I have any authority when it comes to the English language... I'm not even a native speaker.

Yeah, Odium has already Invested on Roshar (I'll let the quotemasters find the relevant WoB). I think it's possible that the Odium Shard is so attuned to the concept of hatred that it even hates itself, and that Rayse now holds a bunch of Odium Splinters that won't even combine after being held by the same person. That might explain the "Broken One" moniker.

Just to be clear, I am aware that a Hemalurgist can steal from any person in the Cosmere. That's kind of basic Cosmere info already. What I'm saying is that in order for you to be a Hemalurgist (someone who can spike himself to gain stolen attributes), your body and your spirit should be capable of handling Hemalurgic spikes. I think that's what Brandon meant by needing the "right spiritual and genetic codes". He can't have been talking about "any aspect you want to steal", Isomere, because some steal-able things like Memory (Copper Hemalurgy) are not based on your spiritual or genetic codes. He must have been talking about the power to use Hemalurgy itself. We need to remember basic Realmatic theory here. You can, for example, receive tons of Breath from a Nalthian, but you won't be able to Awaken things without having the proper Investiture to do so. Similarly, you can try spiking yourself with however many Hemalurgic spikes that you can find, but they won't do anything (except injure or kill you) unless you have the proper Investiture to handle them. That's what stealing Innate Investiture is for. And since you need Scadrian Innate Investiture to use Hemalurgy, I reckoned the Hemalurgic bind points are part of that Innate Investiture. To go back on topic, the necessity of stealing Scadrian Innate Investiture in order to steal other things Hemalurgically leads me to my theory about the Hemalurgic property of lerasium-atium. I could be wrong, though. For all I know, Innate Investiture is something only pure atium can steal.

Before I continue, I've got to ask: Do you think "bind points" have some purpose other than Hemalurgy? I call them "Hemalurgic bind points" because I believe they only exist in people who can use Hemalurgy (i.e. those who have the "right spiritual and genetic codes" for Hemalurgy). If you think otherwise, then that would explain why you say all non-Scadrians have bind points as well. Anyway, since Hemalurgy is part of what "the genetics and Realmatic interactions of Scadrial allow for", I concluded that you need Scadrian Innate Investiture to use Hemalurgy. And since I also believe (as I stated above) that bind points only exist in people who can use Hemalurgy, I naturally also believe that you need Scadrian Innate Investiture to have bind points. Hence my theory about the use of lerasium-atium alloys in Hemalurgy. May I ask how you think a non-Scadrian can "take the power" to use Hemalurgy from someone else? I already have my theory: He can get a lerasium alloy spike, stab a Scadrian with it, then spike himself to create Hemalurgic bind points (modifying his sDNA in the process). Yeah, it sounds paradoxical to say that you have to spike yourself before you can spike yourself, but considering lerasium's role in Allomancy (i.e. you burn this metal to be able to burn metal), I think it fits lerasium's nature perfectly. But if you have an alternative theory, I'm all ears! As for the Shardblade thing, here's how I think you could steal it: 0. Make sure that you have Hemalurgic bind points. If not, go steal some! Otherwise... Find the correct spike that can steal Shardblades (probably an atium alloy of some sort... or just atium). Stab a Shardbearer through the heart (the usual place that Hemalurgy victims are stabbed). His Shardblade connection (among lots of other things, if you used pure atium) should now be in the spike. At this point, the Shardbearer should be dead, and normally the Shardblade should already appear, ready for you to just grab... except your victim was a Herald of the Almighty, and the Honorblade is now in Damnation with him. But no worries! Spike yourself in the proper bind point (assuming that you already have bind points). Voila! You've just stolen a Herald's Honorblade!

Maybe, but I don't think so. Here are some WoB that suggest non-Scadrians would need to do something first before being able to receive Hemalurgic charges: I interpret that to mean receiving Investiture via Hemalurgic bind points requires Scadrian sDNA. If you don't have that, you'll need to steal it from someone who does (via a lerasium-atium spike, for example). Here's another one: The "right spiritual and genetic codes" in the first sentence seems to refer to the Innate Investiture of Scadrians. The same should go for the second sentence as well. Since you need to steal a Scadrian's Innate Investiture to use Hemalurgy, it makes sense that Hemalurgic bind points are tied to Scadrian Innate Investiture. Also, if everyone in the Cosmere had Hemalurgic bind points, they could certainly discover Hemalurgy by accident.

Could be. I suppose using just a tiny bit of lerasium would make more sense economically-speaking. My theory states that you can have alloys that have more lerasium and alloys that have less. By the way, it seems I've contradicted what I've said before about the god metal alloys. My original theory was the exact opposite of what I posted above in terms of which alloy would be external and which would be internal. My bad. I guess now I'll have to ponder which version I prefer.

As Windrunner said, other Shards (though perhaps not all of them) could grant temporal powers, not just Ruin. Also, remember that while Atium Allomancers get their power directly from Ruin, they are still using Preservation's system (Allomancy), so it makes sense that not all of Ruin's attributes and limitations would manifest. If you want to see Investiture manifested in the most Ruin-like ("Ruinous"?) form, then you should look at Atium Hemalurgy. As for the godmetal alloy (lerasium-atium), here are my current theories: For an alloy that is more lerasium than atium: Allomancy: Turns you into a Seer. Feruchemy: Stores ability to store age (Atium Feruchemy), which could then be tapped by another person to turn into an Atium Ferring. Hemalurgy: Steals Scadrian Innate Investiture, giving a non-Scadrian person Hemalurgic bindpoints. Possible limitation: the bindpoints received will only accept atium spikes, making the person an "Atium Hemming" (my term ). For an alloy that is more atium than lerasium: Allomancy: Turns the next person who touches you into a Seer (he'll basically be stealing the Investiture). This is because atium has an external Allomantic property (affects others, not the user), and I think this property will win out if there is more atium in the alloy. Feruchemy: Stores age, which can then be tapped by anyone to turn younger without becoming a ferring. Hemalurgy: Steals any Innate Investiture in the Cosmere. I also theorize that alloying an equal amount of atium and lerasium is either impossible (they will refuse to combine), useless (the alloy won't be Allomantic), or extremely dangerous.

I like this theory. I've often wondered why they didn't do a follow-up question about atium when Brandon revealed that Hoid has a bead of lerasium. Anyway, I think Rashek's bracelets would be the obvious choice for Hoid if he wanted to get an atium sample for his collection. I wonder what Hoid would do with atium. I don't see atium's Allomantic or Feruchemical properties being of any use to him (given what he already has). I suppose he could perform Hemalurgic experiments, especially if he knows how to Hemalurgically charge spikes without killing people.

Here's my opinion. After the Recreance, training in the Surgebinding arts became a rarity, and so the kingdoms had to rely only on non-Surgbinding ways of fighting. This led to an advancement in "normal" martial arts, including new swordfighting techniques, etc. This is why Dalinar's way of fighting wasn't familiar to that Knight Radiant in his vision. I think that the first post-Recreance non-Surgebinding sword masters named the stances after the Essences for purely symbolic purposes. Perhaps they still recalled the time when warriors could magically manipulate the Essences in battle, and they wanted to connect their new fighting techniques to that glorious past. But I also like MadRand's theory that the Essence a stance was named after reflects the attributes of that stance. Edit: By the way, I think the stances aren't for Shardbearers only. They aren't "Shardblade forms", but rather are "swordfighting forms". I mean, if Dalinar could use Smokestance with a poker, then obviously any Lighteyed officer should be able to use it with a normal sword. (Note that only Lighteyes are allowed to carry swords in Alethi society.)

I deliberately spoiled myself regarding Sazed being the Hero of Ages. I still immensely enjoyed reading that part, though. I can understand why people don't like spoilers, but I love 'em! In fact, I would've totally hated the ending of Well of Ascension if I hadn't known it in advance. I really dislike unexpected downer endings. My favorite unspoiled "what the?" moment was when Dalinar gave up his Shardblade.