Hoid??

[little wilson]

Wow. I really need start looking around before posting my theories. I said almost the same thing in that thread, before I saw this....

You could be right. Hoid could be the old man. I personally don't think he is. I think Hoid is simply listening in to the conversation between Elend, Spook, and the old man, and then also later when El and Spook are talking--since this is where El mentions the Well.

I just think that the old man is more well-known among the Terris people since he's pretty much leading them, and so wouldn't be some new guy (even if he is disguised as a Terrisman). It would work. If Hoid is among the refugees, he would've seen El and Spook come, and I'll bet he knows exactly who Elend is, and would eavesdrop on whatever El said, just to get more in the loop of what's happening down south and why El isn't in Luthadel...

[Plasman]

well brandon says that he makes an actual appearance and that one of the characters notices something odd about him but moves on quickly. the only other refugees specifically mentioned in the scene are the Terrisman who gives the old man and elend tea and the small group of terris soldiers. hoid could be one of these, though i still think it is the old man. he's the only one with a speaking part and despite this, is left without a given name.

[little wilson]

Hmm. After re-reading Brandon's answer and El's talk to the old man I think I may have to agree. At first I thought Brandon wouldn't give it away so easily of where to look for Hoid, but...with the way he worded his post, I think he did. The whole "I knew what Hoid had been up to all this time, and had placed him in a position where several characters could run into him" and then continuing about his perceptions of where the Well was...and then learning from the implication.

I would've thought Hoid would make an appearance earlier, but....there are some odd things about the old man:

The elderly steward nodded, his head shaking. He didn't seem particularly frail--actually, he had that same air of controlled dignity that most stewards exhibited--but his body had a slow, chronic tremble.

Elend notices it, and then pretty much moves on. Interesting....But yes. I do believe we (or you) have found Hoid. Granted, we needed Brandon's clue, and it would make it that much sweeter if we'd been able to find it ourselves, but oh well (plus I doubt any of us would've thought to consider Hoid as the elderly steward if we hadn't been directed to this section). We still found him. That's good enough.

[Plasman]

we'll say we both found him  though i would like some kind of confirmation before we celebrate. Ookla?
so now the question is, why was he shaking so "oddly"? was he just not used to the climate? is all this planet hopping, shard searching awesomeness having some kind of an effect on his body? was he just cold?

[little wilson]

Sweet. We can share this glory....Although I think it's only right that you get more. Since I doubted it at first. Even if I did come over to the dark side (light side? Hmm...) pretty quick.

Oh, and definitely confirmation is needed. But even if it isn't the elderly steward, it's going to be someone else in this general area. I just think it now makes the most sense that if this IS Hoid's appearance part, it's the steward. Because you're right--he's never named. And that's actually kind of odd as well. But Brandon even said that if he had've given a name, it wouldn't have been Hoid. And he was deeply undercover. All of which fit for the steward.

And yes. That is a very good question. Why is he shaking? I guess it could be the climate...Maybe the sudden change, since they're now traveling south and he's been up in Terris for a while, and adjusted to that climate there....And maybe the sudden warmer climates coupled with the fact that he is pretty old could make him shake....I'm probably wrong about that.

[Plasman]

i think the answer would be more obvious if we knew more about Hoid's motivations. what is he doing with all of these shards anyway?

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Hey all, here's the official word from the Brandon Sanderson camp:

The information that Tage revealed a couple pages above should not be taken as canon. Tage is in a position to know more than other people here, but he's still speculatively making some connections that don't quite tell the actual story. Specifically, Hoid's presence in the oldest Dragonsteel book should be considered unconfirmed.

Both Dragonsteel books are non-canon until something gets published, and no one except Brandon has even read the end of LIAR OF PARTINEL—Brandon stopped giving it to the writing group a couple years ago at about the three-quarter mark. While aspects of both books should get published eventually it will be in a markedly different form—which should be very obvious to people who have read the oldest Dragonsteel book once WAY OF KINGS comes out.

[Ari54]

Thanks Ookla. Out of curiosity, is Dragonsteel or Liar the elder book in that series?

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Dragonsteel was written earlier, but Liar takes place much earlier.

[firstRainbowRose]

IN answer to where Hoid is in WoA: He thought you were pretty much right.  What he meantioned was looking for a line that talks about Elend noticing a guy who seems more comptent then the rest, and after that taking like a paragraph and a half to rantionalize it.  I explained that it was a guy while El was talking to Spook about Vin and he said that sounded pretty much right.

[Red, White, and Joker]

So... Brandon told me that I needed to hop on the forums and "help pool available resources", as APPARENTLY he's told me something rather relevant that you guys don't know yet about the Hoid phenomenon...

At present time... The one thing that is jumping to my mind is what Hoid says to Siri in Warbreaker:

“Thank you,” Siri said quietly. “It was good of you to speak of it. Tell me, where did
you lean such an. . .unusual method of storytelling?”

Hoid looked up, smiling. “I learned it many, many years ago from a man who didn’t
know who he was, your majesty. It was a distant place where two lands meet and gods have
died. But that is unimportant.”

As for the place where two lands meet and gods have died, I'm relatively sure that it's not Scadrial. I'm fairly sure that the description is much closer to is the world where Way Of Kings takes place. (firstEggnogToast, would you please remind me of the names of the two places shown on the rough maps that EUOL passed around today?)

He also did mention to me how Hoid gets from world to world. It was an obscure reference at the time (we all know how Brandon is, random words that hold no meaning when he mentions them).. but we'll save that discussion for a later time. 

See if we  can't get some good discussion going on about Hoid again.

[Miyabi]

0.0

Mr. J. can I get a page number for that. . . It think something may have just hit me.

[Red, White, and Joker]

It's on page 350. Very end of chapter 32.

[Miyabi]

Now that I think about it, didn't Hoid go by Topaz for a while?  If so I think I have a good bit about him figured out now. ;]

EDIT:: Gir!  I wonder how fast I could get Dragonsteel again! D: 

EDIT EDIT:: Even if he isn't Topaz I have just figured out A LOT.

[Red, White, and Joker]

I think that we all have parts of the greater puzzle... We really just need to pool it all together... Take all the crap that is scattered about this thread, and consolidate it into one big post, maybe start a new thread for all that we know about him... and then another with sightings...

And as for Dragonsteel... I recall Brandon saying that he's incorporating parts of it into WoK...