The Comprehensive Kandra Thread

[SarahG]

I imagined the gift of presence to be hearing Preservation. Like hearing Ruin would drive you crazy, but hearing Preservation would keep you sane, calm your fears etc.

Interesting.  I like it.  It fits well with kandra's belief that they are of Preservation.

[VegasDev]

Interesting.  I like it.  It fits well with kandra's belief that they are of Preservation.

That's part of the problem. Brandon has left all these little clues, that if you fit them together form these nice little plausible theories, but they may all be red herrings to throw us off from what is right in front of our eyes. Perhaps these theories are like Alendi, they just fit together too perfectly. Brandon has conveniently given us little tidbits in his annotations that help support many of our theories after most certainly reading them on his forum. He has given us sample chapters that might be worded just slightly differently than in the printed form. I mean, I know there were grammatical errors* in the last one he posted that hopefully did not make it to the book. Hmmmmm.

*Example: This betrayal had ended with of his master's death.

[SarahG]

Well, not everything that fits is a red herring.  Some things that fit might be actual foreshadowing and true hints to the secrets of the book.  So I still say, I like your theory that the kandra's Gift of Presence is related to Preservation.

[VegasDev]

So I still say, I like your theory that the kandra's Gift of Presence is related to Preservation.

Yeah, I do too. When it says:

But TenSoon had the Blessing of Presence. His mind would not give in easily. Sometimes he cursed the Blessing for keeping him from the blissful relief of madness

I am given the impression that 'Presence' is an active force. What better force to keep you sane than that of Preservation?

[Omelethead]

All right, I just read/scanned 5 pages, and I didn't see this mentioned anywhere. Why do kandra require atium to buy their Contract? Kelsier mentions using the last of his atium to buy OreSeur (before he robs Keep Venture), and later in the Final Empire (I think it's towards the end) someone says how difficult it is to get a kandra, because they only accept atium as payment.


Anyone know why that is?

[VegasDev]

We had discussed this prior. Below is the agreed upon most plausible explanation. Not really.

Atium must be Kandra eggs which they are trying to get back. The female Kandra morphs into a gelatinous ooze, sinks down into the ground and leaves her geode for the male to inseminate. Man, I would hate to work in the pits....

[Peter Ahlstrom]

That's the best theory anyone's come up with?

[VegasDev]

That's the best theory anyone's come up with?

Nothing was really proposed that I am aware of; I'll come up with a good theory tomorrow.

[spejoku]

If atium's the crazy supermetal, maybe the Kandra use it for their own magic system, like how Mistborn use it to see the future and Themalurgists (I really hope that's the right one) use it to store age (from the glossary in WOA).  Atium seems to have time altering properties.   Maybe the Kandra need tons of Atium to break free of their weakness to Allomancy.

Of course, the LR could have used the whole gigantic Atium store to buy tons of kandra contracts, but that doesn't make sense when he knows he can just manipulate them.

I dunno.

[Qarlin]

Maybe the Kandra consume it to gain blessings, like the Blessing of Presence.

Maybe it's used to gain intellect; sharpen the mind; to raise a Mistwraith to a Kandra.

Maybe they knew it was what was most valuable to humans, and therefore made themselves as expensive as possible.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Maybe they have to swallow it in order to reach sexual maturity.

Oh wait, that's {{spoiler}}.

[VegasDev]

Maybe they have to swallow it in order to reach sexual maturity.

Oh wait, that's {{spoiler}}.

I'm assuming this is tied to Yomen since that is the character you would be. Like maybe he has to procreate with thousands of women to repopulate the world and needs his Viagra to get the job done.

[Qarlin]

So they do need to consume something to achieve different stages of development? Interesting.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Maybe I was talking about a spoiler for a completely different Brandon series.

[Chaos]

Maybe Ookla's just screwing with us. After October 14th, a lot of his mysteriousness will be dispelled. Your clock has a limit, Ookla!

I agree that Blessing of Presence could be Preservation.