The Comprehensive Hemalurgy Thread

[Shost]

This is a pretty wild theory, but you all love it, dont you?

lol of course we do. and who knows, maybe he did have some hemallurgic piercings before hand. maybe those were what kwann spoke of. or maybe he got some more when declaring himself the hero. either way i think he was a hemallurgist.

[Comatose]

What I meant by the manner in which he recieved his piercings, I was talking about if their was a ritual sacrifice or not.  I'm guessing not because if there were, wouldn't that be something he would have written about in his log book.  I'm pretty sure the piercings were unique to Alendi to mark him as the hero because he says Rashek was jealous of him and thought he wore the piercings unjustly.  Why would Rashek think it was unjust for a Khlennium person to wear Khlennium piercings?  Also I'm pretty sure they are referred to as the piercings of the hero, which means they were probably unique to Alendi.  It's true the piercings could be hemalurgic, but it could also be they are jsut related to the well spirit.  The Hemalurgists we see in the book depend so much on Allomancy, that I find it hard to believe they existed separately.

[Shost]

i agree that the piercings were unique. but i think they were given in ritual sacrifice. and i don't think that Alendi would have mentioned it in the logbook because it seems that the Anticipation was pretty well known. in which case the ritual piercings would be practically common knowledge (especially to him) and so why go into too much detail?

[darxbane]

You could all be right about the piercings coming from the Terris.  My angle was that Rashek hated the fact that a Khlennium was chosen as the hero of Terris prophecy.  If the piercings were a source of power, and another Khlennium tradition that was somehow infused with Terris prophecy, would he not hate that, as well?  I could be wrong about the Terris, but I don't feel they would be into the whole human sacrifice thing.  They were (and still are) keepers of knowledge.  They may have even been pacifistic by nature.

[Shost]

hmmm...but does it have to be human sacrifice? maybe they could sacrifice a goat or something like that like the Greeks did. lol i'm just being the devils advocate here.

[darxbane]

I know what you mean!  The belief is that a blood sacrifice is involved, but to what level?  The story lends little to the rules; even Allomancy is not fully understood yet.  It could just be assumed that the person needs to die.

[Shost]

It could just be assumed that the person needs to die.

too true. could be like pirates of the caribbean (the first one?) where he only pricked her when we all assumed he was gonna cut her throat.

[darxbane]

Exactly.  I actually thought the same thing about the first Pirates movie. 

[walkwist]

Different direction: I'm curious about Zane and the healing properties of hemalurgy.

If Zane had a spike through his chest, he must at least have had hemalurgy's advanced healing abilities or the spike should kill him.  If that were the case, why did Vin's stab kill him so quickly?  Not enough spikes?

[cloversprite]

Are we completely sure Zane's dead?  As I recall, there was no body disposed of....

This thread is so interesting; I love all of y'all's speculations! (Makes me realize just how much I tend to read on the surface and not dig out the deep details until the umpteenth read-through  )

[Kelsier]

Has anyone noticed the similarities between the word Hemallurgy and Metallurgy? It's possible this is the word Brandon twisted to come up with this name. Metallurgy, as some of you may know already, is the study of metals. You can probably see where I'd draw the connection.

Of course, this doesn't mean much—I just thought I'd mention it.

[Comatose]

Yes, Zane is definately dead, we've been through this on another thread, and God's words telling him he's not really insane, are the last he heard.

[Chaos]

On the matter of the human sacrifice, I believe it must be human. I am very certain that when Marsh was Inquisitor-ized in MB1 there were a bunch of dead human bodies around him. In the Conventical of Seran, there were human bones in there, too.

The Lord Ruler and the Inquisitors are pretty vicious, but I think if they could make the sacrifice without using humans, they would.

[Comatose]

Now another question, do the people being sacrificed have to be of one nationality.  In this case, do they have to be Skaa?  And if so then why.  Maybe the Hemalurgy really is a Skaa power, and that's why the Lord Ruler wouldn't let them breed, however, the power can be passed on through blood.  I'm just spinning thoughts around of course, but I think it's a possibility.

[darxbane]

Skaa are encouraged to breed, so they can be easily disposed of without hurting the workforce.  It is the Terris who's breeding is controlled.  Skaa is just another word for Peasant; they are not a separate race from the nobles.       
Yes, all three magic systems have references to metal in them: Hemaglobin and Metallurgy becomes Hemallurgy (Blood Metal), Ferris (Iron) and Alchemy becomes Feruchemy, and Alloy with the suffix "mancy" to make Allomancy.  It is interesting that Hemallurgy seems to be the most descriptive of the three.  Feruchemy and Allomancy sound like abilities.  Hemallurgy, however, seems to describe the process more than the magic.  Metallurgy is not just the study of metals, but also the  process of combining metals to make alloys. 

The number of spikes, as well as what they are made of, must be a factor.  I also think they would kill the subject even if it wasn't necessary to ensure knowledge of the process was not leaked.  If the Skaa learned how to create beings to challenge the Inquisitors, it would make the Lord ruler's job more difficult.  Remember, this is a person who required Skaa women to be killed after Nobles bedded them, just to ensure the Skaa would not gain Allomancy, and executed Skaa nonstop for 7 hours after the Rebel army was defeated.  They didn't even win the battle!